John Trapp on Malachi 1:2

Verſe 2. I have loved you ſaith the Lord] Thou haſt loved us (might they reply) whileſt we were willing and obedient. Thou loveſt them that love thee, Prov. 8.17. and ſheweſt mercy to thouſands of them that love thee and keep thy commandements,Lam. 5.22. Exod. 20. But now thou haſt utterly re ecled us, thou art very wroth againſt us. Nay ſaith God, I do love you, ſo Tremelline renders this Text: I am Jehovahs, I change not, Chap. 3.6. I do reſt in my love, and will ſeek no further, Zeph. 3.17. Surely Iſrael hath not been forſaken nor Judah of his God, of the Lord of Hoſts, though their land was filled with ſin againſt the Holy One of Iſrael, Jer. 51.5. Thus it was before the captivitie. But how after? See Zach. 1.17. The Lord had profeſſed before, that he had been ſore diſpleaſed with their Fathers, verſe 2. and it appears ver. 3, 4. they were no better then their Fathers: all which notwithſtanding, ſee a ſweet promiſe, ver. 17. Cry yet ſaying, Thus ſaith the Lord of Hoſts, My cities through proſperity ſhall yet be ſpread abroad, and the Lord ſhall yet comfort Zion, and ſhall yet chuſe Jeruſalem. There are four Yets in the Text, and all very gracious ones: to ſhew, that the fulneſſe ſinne in us doth not abate the fulneſſe of love in God toward his people. And the ſame in effect is thankfully acknowledged by thoſe holy Levites at their ſolemn faſt, held much about the time of our Prophet Malachy, Nehem. 9. where they make a catalogue of the many fruits and expreſſions of Gods love to themſelves and their fathers. Beſides extraordinary favours not a few, he gave them good Lawes, verſe 13. good Sabbaths, verſe 14. his good ſpirit to inſtruct them. 20. He forſook them not when they dealt proudly againſt him, 16, 17. but crowned them with outward comforts, 21, 25. afflicted them when they provoked him, 26, 27. ſent them Saviours when they cryed to him, 27. after often revolts, was often intreated, 28. with held his worſt and conſuming judgements for a long time, 30, 31. And was there not love in all this? Might not God well ſay, I have loved you? Ribera thinks there is an Apoſiopeſis in the words, as if God would have ſaid more: but very grief breaks off his ſpeech, out of a deep ſenſe of their deteſtable ingratitude. David hath ſuch an abrupt expreſſion, Pſal. 116.1. I love: becauſe the Lord hath heard my voice. Such a pang, ſuch a paſſion he felt, that he was not able to ſay, I love the Lord, but I love, and ſo[illegible: 1 letter]breakes off abruptly. The like whereunto may here be conceived of God; who cannot endure to have his love loſt, his grace undervalued, as it was by theſe obſtreperous Queſtioniſts, who put him to his proof, as thoſe did, Jer. 2.25.

yet ye ſay, wherein haſt thou loved us] Their late captivity and calamity ſo ſtuck ſtill in their ſtomacks, that they could not ſee wherein he had ſhewed them any love. But had they conſidered Daniels weekes, they might have known that (beſides their free election, all bleſſings flowing therefrom, as verſe 3.4.5.) for their ſeventy years captivity, they had ſeven ſeventies of years granted them afterwards for the comfortable enjoyment of their own countrey. Sed ingrato quod donatur, deperditur, ſaith Seneca. And Amare non redamantem eſt amoris impendia perdere, ſaith Hierome. All's loſt that is laid out upon an unthankfull people, who devoure Gods beſt bleſſings as bruit beaſts their prey: haunch them up and ſwallow them, as ſwine do ſwil: bury them as the barren earth doth the ſeed: uſe them as homely, as R[illegible: 1 letter]chel did her fathers gods, which ſhe laid among the litter, and ſat upon; yea, ſighting againſt God with his own weapons (mercies, I meane) as John. did againſt Ichoram with his own meſſengers, as David did againſt Goliath with his own ſword, as Benhadad againſt Ahab with that life that he had given him: as i[illegible: 1 letter] God had hired them to be wicked &c.

was not Eſau Jacobs brother] Did they not both tumble in a belly?Iſay 51.1. were they not both digged out of the ſame pit, hewen out of the ſame rock? and yet (as the great Turk, and his brethren born of the ſame parents, the eldeſt is deſtined to a diadem, the reſt to an halter, ſo here) Eſau, though the elder, and heire, was rejected, at leaſt he was leſſe loved (for ſo the word hated is to be taken, Gen. 29.31. Luke 14.20. M[illegible: 2 letters]. 10.37.) Jacob though the younger and weaker (for Eſau was born a manly childe, born with a beard, as ſome think, and was therefore called Eſau, that is, Factus & perſ[illegible: 3 letters]us pilis, a man already, rather then a babe) yet was Gods beloved one. And ſo were his poſterity too, the people of Gods choyce, above the Edomites; who were now left in captivity at Babylo[illegible: 1 letter], when as the Jews were returned into their own countrey: yea, for the Jews ſakes, and as a teſtimony of Godslove to them, were theſe Edomites ſtill held captives, and their land irreparably ruinated becauſe they ſhewed themſelves mercileſſe, and bloody in the day of Jeruſalems calamity, Obad. 10.11. Pſal. 137.7. God had charged the [illegible: 1 letter]raelites, ſaying, Thou ſhalt not abhor an Edo[illegible: 3 letters]te: for he is thy brother Deut. 23.7. But as E[illegible: 1 letter]au began betime to perſecute Jacob, briſtling at him, and bruiſing him in their mothers womb Gen. 25.22. ſo his poſterity were bitter enemies to the Church, joying in her miſery, and joyning with her enemies. wherefore thus ſaith the Lord God, I will alſo ſtretch our mine hand upon Edom, and will cut off man and beaſt from [illegible: 1 letter]t &c. Ezck. 25.13, 14.

yet I loved Jacob] And preordained him to a crown that never fadeth, as Paul expoundeth this text Rom. 9.13. of election to eternal life, which is the ſweet[illegible: 1 letter]ſt and ſureſt ſeal of Gods love. Let us ſecure our election (and ſo Gods ſpecial love to our ſouls) by thoſe two infallible marks 2 Theſ. 2.13. Firſt, belief of the truth, that particularity and propriety of aſſurance. Secondly [illegible: 6 letters]ſication of the Spirit, [illegible: 3 letters]o the obedience of the truth. And as God loved Iacobs perſon, ſo he loved his poſterity the Iſraelites above all other people: not becauſe they were more in number, or better in diſpoſition, ex meliore luto &c. But becauſe the Lord loved you, therefore be ſet his love upon you, and choſe you, ſaith Moſes D[illegible: 1 letter]ut. 7.7, 8. the ground of his love was wholly in himſelf; there being nothing in man, nothing our of Gods ſelf, that can primarily move, and incline the eternal immutable, and omnipotent will of God. The true original and firſt motive of his love to his creature is, the good pleaſure of his will. See. Eph. 1.5. where all the four cauſes of Election are ſhewed to be without us.