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COMMENTARY ON MALACHI, CHAPTER ONE An oracle of the word of the Lord to Israel by means of his messenger (v.1). Y SPEAKING of an oracle of the word he implies reception of the prophecy from God. The blessed prophets, you see, received through the Holy Spirit knowledge of future events; to some people they directed advice and correction , not singling out on their own initiative whatever they chose nor giving false information to individuals, but interpreting what came from God and sincerely and irreproachably conveying to others the words from on high.1 So he is saying that the prophecy he received came from the Lord, thus suggesting that the prophetic word did not convey what kind of harsh and calamitous event was due to befall the people of Israel nor what commendation of their upright life—rather, it was correction directed at priests and people. That is the way you will understand the phrase by means of his messenger: the oracle to Israel came to the one called messenger, who was conducting or discharging the ministry of prophecy, Malachi being called messenger for reasons I have already explained. Take it to heart. I have loved you, says the Lord (v.2). He bids them give no idle reception to what will be said; (549) rather, they should do so enthusiastically and with deep attention and understanding . It is necessary, you see, for those due to hear the divine words to be so inclined, as the benefit coming from them is considerable and very abundant when communicated to their minds. The divinely inspired David, remember, also sings some286 1. While Didymus and even Theodore made much of this word “oracle,” le ˉmma, as suggesting ecstatic possession of a prophet, Cyril, in meeting it at the beginning of Habakkuk, Nahum, and Deutero-Zechariah, and warned by Jerome of its Montanist interpretation, had restricted himself to saying that it implies only a prophet’s direct influence by God as distinct from personal invention . COMMENTARY ON MALACHI 1 287 where, “I hid your sayings in my heart in case I should sin against you”; it is possible, in other words, it is possible for the person hearing to give the impression of not hearing if the words do not affect the mind but, as it were, merely fly off the tongue of the speaker and then strike the bodily ear and are considered idle and virtually unintelligible. One of the holy prophets refers to such words in this way, “Lo, a foolish and senseless people, who have eyes and do not see, ears and do not hear.”2 Consequently, the prophet therefore urges them in these words, Take it to heart, that is, lay up the divine words interiorly even in your heart, understanding the force of the oracles from on high and giving them full acceptance because I have loved you and accorded you complete benignity, compassion, and regard befitting those who are loved. Now, it is a further and well deserved example of his reproaching them for repaying him with evil for good when, after being accorded love, they ought to have responded to all the pleasing gifts by rejoicing with simplicity, zeal, and enthusiasm. After all, if it is wrong not to want to make recompense to people like ourselves, what grounds would there be in the case of God, who has richly provided us with everything for our satisfaction, for anyone (550) not to want to repay him for his gifts, especially when it befits really sensible people to say, “How shall we repay the Lord for all his bounty to us?”3 You said, How have you loved us? Was not Esau the brother of Jacob, says the Lord, and did I not love Jacob but hate Esau? I made his territory a wasteland, and his inheritance a house of desolation (vv.2–3). At times the Jews were punished by the onset of the divine wrath for the manifold acts of impiety: they went off into captivity, their land ravaged, houses ruined, and Jerusalem burned along with the divine Temple. The occasion of this suffering of theirs was their opting to abandon their obligations towards God and to entertain little regard for the Law. So when God said he loved them even dearly, it was natural for them to recall the hardships of the captivity and actually say, How have you loved us? In his wise providence the God of all bypasses what had happened...

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