John Trapp on Malachi 3:9

Verſe 9. Ye are curſea with a curſe] Vuig. ye are curſed with penury and ſcarcity of victuals, according to Deut. 28.23. &c. and ſo great was this peoples poverty, that they were forced for food to ſell not their fields only, but their ſons and daughters Neh. 5. They had pinched on Gods ſide, and he had paid them home in the ſame kind: they thought in the famine to have kept the more to themſelves, and they had the leſſe, for keeping from him that which was his. A juſt hand of God upon all church-robbers: for moſt part they are alwayes in want and needy, their wealth melting away as ſnow before the ſun, and their fields of blood purchaſed with the ſpoiles of Chriſt, proving as unfortunate and fatall to them as the gold of the Temple of Tholoſe did to Scipio's ſouldiers: of which whoever carried any part away, never proſpered afterward. What get men by ſuch a detiny that ſhall prove their fatall deſtiny? Say they leave the gold behind them, yet they are likely to carry the guilt to hell with them Iem. 5.1, 2. yea to cough in hell, as Latimer phraſed it, unleſſe they make reſtitution, to diſgeſt in hell, what they have devoured on earth, as Auſtin. Becauſe Pharaoh faith the river is mine own, therefore faith God, I will dry up the river Ezek. 29.3, 9. The Merchant that denyeth to pay his cuſtome, forſeits all his commodities: ſo here.

for ye have robbed me] And therefore I have curſed you. God never puniſheth people, but there is juſt cauſe for it, could they but ſee it: but that the are hardly drawn to, as here, and Eſay 26.11. the root of the matter is in themſelves, as job ſpeakes in another caſe; the plague of their own hearts 1 King. 8 38. procureth them all the miſchief, and may ſay to them as the heart of Apo[illegible: 4 letters] us the tyrant ſeemed to ſay to him; [non-Latin text not transcribed] who dreamed one night that he was ſteaed by the Scythians, and boyled in a caldron, and that his heart ſpake to him out of the kettle, It is I that have drawn thee to all this. Let men therefore, when under any miſery, lay their hand upon their heart, thruſt their hand into their beſom with Moſes, they ſhall be ſure to bring it out lepious: let them turn ſhort again upon themſelves, and ſay every man, What have I done? what evill have I committed, or at leaſt admitted? what good have I omitted, or intermitted? Profane Eſau, beguiled of the bleſſing cryes out of his fathers ſtore, of his brothers ſubtlety: not a word of his own prophaneneſſe in ſlighting and ſelling his birthright: he had forgot ſince he did eat and drink, and went his way Gen. 25.4. The leruſalem-Paraphraſt adds, that he alſo deſpiſed his portion in the world to come, and denyed the reſurrection. But this he never taketh notice of. So Pompey beaten by Caeſar out of the field blamed the divine providence for his ill ſucceſſe: when he ſhould rather have faulted his own retchleſſe ſecurity (that he never conſidered into what place he were beſt to retire if worſted) and eſpecially his ſacriledge not long before that defeat, when he ſackt Jeruſalem, and ranſackt the Temple. He might have conſidered what became (a little before his time) for the ſame offence of Alcimus, 1 Maccah. 9.54, 55, 56. 2 Maccah. 3.24, 25. and 4.39, 41.42. and 5.15, 16. and 13.4, 8. and 15.30. 34 Heliodorus, Lyſimachus, Antiochus, Menclaus, and Nicanor, all notorious Church-robbers, and all hang'd u in gibbets, as it were, for example and admonition to all that ſhould come after. Sacriledge is a ſhare (ſaith Solomon, Pro. 20.25.) that 1. catcheth ſuddenly. 2. holdeth ſurely. 3. deſroyeth certainly. Cavete.

even this whole nation] The diſeaſe was grown Epidemicall, like that which Phyſicians call corruptio totius ſubſtantiae, or that which: he Prophet Eſay alſo complaineth of chap. 1.5, 6. The whole head is ſick, the whole heart is faint &c. This ſin of ſacriledge was grown Nationall: there was a conjuncture of all ſorts in this wickedneſſe; a rabble of rebels they were, ripe for judgement: yea though Gods judgements were upon them, yet they perſiſted Neh. 13.18. and encreaſed wrath Ezra. 9.13. God had ſmitten them, but they ſorrowed not:Ier. 5.3. but to be revenged on him, as it were, for laying famine upon them, they took away his tythes &c.