1.

For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.

Malachi 4:1. Behold, the day cometh— This is a continuation of the discourse in the preceding chapter; and would be more properly joined to it, than made the beginning of a new chapter.

2.

But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.

Malachi 4:2. The Sun of righteousness— The Lord Jesus Christ; consequently, the day, of which it is said in the preceding verse that it shall burn as an oven, is not the day of the last judgment, but of the destruction of the Jews, which immediately followed the coming of the Sun of righteousness. Houbigant; who renders the last clause, And ye shall leap as calves going out of their stall.

3.

And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the LORD of hosts.

Malachi 4:3. Ye shall tread down the wicked— This seems to refer to the miracles of the rising church; by which the wicked, through divine grace, yielded and submitted themselves; for there could be no other way employed for their subjugation to the Gospel by Christians as such. See Houbigant.

4.

Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments.

Malachi 4:4. Remember ye the law of Moses— "Because your republic can no otherwise subsist, till the Sun of righteousness shall arise, than by your observance of the law of Moses, especially as you are to have no prophets till the forerunner of the Messiah."

5.

Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD:

6.

And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.