Matthew Poole and continuators on Malachi 3:5

5 And I will come near to you to judgment , and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers , and against the adulterers , and against false swearers , and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages , the widow and the fatherless , and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me , saith the LORD of hosts.

Either God the Father, or Christ the Messiah, to whom the Father hath committed all Judgment, Iohn 5.22.

You have spoken as if you thought I was far off, but by what I do, you shall see, I am near to you, and you shall [illegible: 1 word] my hand, that you may believe I am a God of Judgment, and they happy who wait for him, and they miserable who fall under his Judgments.

O Jews, not those very persons Mala[illegible: 1 letter]hi preacht to, but those who should be then living, when the Messiah cometh, which was more than 400 years after Malachi's preaching, by which time his Hearers were all dead.

Against the wicked to whom he would be what fire is to the dross in the Furnace, to the Righteous what the fire is to purer parts of the Gold: He will consume the Wicked, he will refine the good, he will be terrible to both in doing this.

In that he will be a Witness, they may be assured, that they should not be quitted in Judgment for want of Evidence, and in that a swift Witness they may be sure he will come in timely enough against them. And farther yet, he that comes near as Judge to call them to an account, was alwaies near them to observe all they did, all they spake, or thought, and he will be near, as Witness against them.

Sorcery was forbidden, and God testifies his detestation of the sin, and such as practice it, Deut. 18.10, 11, 12, 13, 14. the people of God who may consult with their God, his Word, and Prophets, do very abominably if they consult with the Devil; a sin their Fathers learnt among the Egyptians, a sin they had learnt among the Chaldeans during the Captivity, and practised under the second Temple.

Who transgressed the Law of Nature, and of God, Exod. 20.14. Deut. 5.18. and 22.22. and were by the Law to dy for it.

Perjury, against which Zech. 5.3, 4. and God hateth this sin, Zech. 8.17.

Either detaining it, or lessening it, Ier. 22.13. Iames 5.4.

Who should be relieved, Deut. 24.19, 20, 21. not oppressed, Isa. 1.17.

Such are not only those who have lost their Fathers by Death, but all friendless ones, God requires us to assist, and help such, not oppress them, Psal. 82.1, 2, 3, 4.

Pervert Judgment, or wrest the Law, or admit false Witness against a stranger. Not doing right is ill, though to an Enemy, but 'tis a crying sin to do wrong to a Stranger, and God will punish it when it cryeth, as he did upon your Fathers, Ezek. 22.7. with 13, 14, 15, 16.

Neither reverence my precepts to keep them, nor tremble at my threats to prevent the execution of them by declining the sins I threaten. Irreligion is root of all these oppressions, and God will punish them.

Marginal references: Or, defraud.