translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: MAL

label: NET study note

text: This messenger of the covenant may be equated with my messenger (that is, Elijah) mentioned earlier in the verse, or with the Lord himself. In either case the messenger functions as an enforcer of the covenant. Note the following verses, which depict purifying judgment on a people that has violated the Lord’s covenant.


text: The refiner’s fire was used to purify metal and refine it by melting it and allowing the dross, which floated to the top, to be scooped off.


text: The tithes and contributions mentioned here are probably those used to sustain the Levites (see Num 18:8, 11, 19, 21-24 ).


text: The people’s public display of self-effacing piety has gone unrewarded by the Lord . The reason, of course, is that it was blatantly hypocritical.


text: The scroll mentioned here is a “memory book” ( סֵפֶר זִכָּרוֹן , sefer zikkaron ) in which the Lord keeps an ongoing record of the names of all the redeemed (see Exod 32:32 ; Isa 4:3 ; Dan 12:1 ; Rev 20:12-15 ).


text: The Hebrew word סְגֻלָּה ( sÿgullah , “special property”) is a technical term referring to all the recipients of God’s redemptive grace, especially Israel ( Exod 19:5 ; Deut 7:6; 14:2; 26:18 ). The Lord says here that he will not forget even one individual in the day of judgment and reward.