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1 The burden of the word of the LORD to Israel by Malachi. 2 I have loved you, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother? saith the LORD: yet I loved Jacob, 3 And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness. 4 Whereas Edom saith, We are impoverished, but we will return and build the desolate places; thus saith the LORD of hosts, They shall build, but I will throw down; and they shall call them, The border of wickedness, and, The people against whom the LORD hath indignation for ever. 5 And your eyes shall see, and ye shall say, The LORD will be magnified from the border of Israel. 6 A son honoureth his father, and a servant his master: if then I be a father, where is mine honour? and if I be a master, where is my fear? saith the LORD of hosts unto you, O priests, that despise my name. And ye say, Wherein have we despised thy name? 7 Ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar; and ye say, Wherein have we polluted thee? In that ye say, The table of the LORD is contemptible. 8 And if ye offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? and if ye offer the lame and sick, is it not evil? offer it now unto thy governor; will he be pleased with thee, or accept thy person? saith the LORD of hosts. 9 And now, I pray you, beseech God that he will be gracious unto us: this hath been by your means: will he regard your persons? saith the LORD of hosts. 10 Who is there even among you that would shut the doors for nought? neither do ye kindle fire on mine altar for nought. I have no pleasure in you, saith the LORD of hosts, neither will I accept an offering at your hand. 11 For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering: for my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the LORD of hosts. 12 But ye have profaned it, in that ye say, The table of the LORD is polluted; and the fruit thereof, even his meat, is contemptible. 13 Ye said also, Behold, what a weariness is it! and ye have snuffed at it, saith the LORD of hosts; and ye brought that which was torn, and the lame, and the sick; thus ye brought an offering: should I accept this of your hand? saith the LORD. 14 But cursed be the deceiver, which hath in his flock a male, and voweth, and sacrificeth unto the LORD a corrupt thing: for I am a great King, saith the LORD of hosts, and my name is dreadful among the heathen.
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[AD 420] Jerome on Malachi 1:1
(Chapter 1, Verse 1) The burden of the word of the Lord to Israel by the hand of Malachi. LXX: The assumption of the word of the Lord upon Israel, by the hand of his angel. What the word 'onus' means, that is, a burden, which in Hebrew is called 'Massa' (), and by Aquila is called 'ἅρμα', or what 'λῆμμα' means, that is, assumption, which the Septuagint and other interpreters have also translated, we have mentioned in other prophets. For even Nahum writes: The burden of Nineveh: The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite (Nahum 2). And Habakkuk: The burden which Habakkuk the prophet saw (Hab. I). And Zechariah: The burden of the word of the Lord in the land of Adrach, and Damascus shall be his rest (Zech. IX and XII). And again in the following: The burden of the word of the Lord upon Israel. Let us be content with this explanation: and now let us say only this, that the burden of the word of the Lord to Israel, or as the LXX say, upon Israel, is indeed heavy because it is called a burden, but it has something of consolation in it, for it is taken not against Israel, but to Israel. For it is one thing when, for example, we write to him or them, and another thing when we write against him and him: because in the former, there is a part of friendship, whereas in the latter, there is an open confession of enmity. And it must be known that when Israel was taken captive, that is, the ten tribes, they were indiscriminately called by the former name, while the two tribes, Judah and Benjamin, were called Israel. And when it is said, 'In the hand of his angel,' or Malachi, take 'hand' to mean 'works.' And it came to pass in the hand of Haggai, and in the hand of Jeremiah, and in the hand of Moses, the word of God was made. For in their hands is iniquity, and their right hand is filled with gifts, and their hands are full of blood, in them the word of God does not happen; but those who wash their hands among the innocent (Psalm 25). And whoever Pilate attempted to wash his hands, so that he would not consent to the blasphemies of the Jews (Matthew 27), of whom the Psalmist rejoices, saying: He led me out over the waters of refreshment (Psalm 22, 2). Concerning this water, the Lord promises through the prophet: I will sprinkle you with the cleanest water (Ezekiel 36). But whoever is a sinner, is intoxicated by the Babylonian cup, and it is said about him: Thorns are born in the hand of the drunkard (Proverbs 26, 9).

LXX: Put on your hearts. This is not found in Hebrew, but I believe it was added from Haggai, in which we read: And now put on your hearts from this day and onward (Haggai II, 16). Therefore, after the title of the prophet or the preface, it must be understood in two ways: Put on your hearts, that is, pay attention and consider, as mentioned above: The assumption of the word of the Lord on Israel in the hand of His Angel. Or carefully pay attention to what will be said afterwards, so that you may not know them with the ears of the body, but with the understanding of the mind and heart, and make for yourselves treasures in which you may receive the riches of the words of God; and let wisdom act confidently, when your hearts have been enlarged, and when the heart has been filled with the words of God, cast out evil thoughts that come from the heart, such as murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts (Matt. XV), and the rest, and fulfill what the Savior said: He who has ears to hear, let him hear (Luke VIII, 8).

I have loved you, says the Lord. Yet you say, 'In what have you loved us?' Was not Esau Jacob's brother? says the Lord. Yet I have loved Jacob but Esau I have hated. I have laid waste his hill country and left his heritage to jackals of the desert. If Edom says, 'We are shattered but we will rebuild the ruins,' the Lord of hosts says, 'They may build, but I will tear down, and they will be called the wicked country, and the people with whom the Lord is angry forever.' And your eyes will see, and you will say: Let the Lord be magnified beyond the border of Israel. LXX: I have loved you, says the Lord: and you said, in what have you loved us? Was not Esau brother to Jacob, says the Lord: yet I loved Jacob, but Esau I hated: and I have made his borders a desolation, and his inheritance a dwelling of the desert. For Idumea will say, it is destroyed: let us return and rebuild the desolate places. Thus says the Lord almighty: They themselves will build, and I will destroy: and they will be called the borders of iniquity, and the people over whom the Lord has prepared until eternity. And your eyes shall see, and you shall say: The Lord is magnified upon the borders of Israel. Israel, that is, Judah, to whom the word of God was accustomed to be made and the vision of the Lord, is compelled to bear his burden and the weight of the heaviest punishments, in order to cast off more grievous sins and to feel through torments what he did not feel through benefits. And lest the punishment may seem unjust upon his own, the Lord subjoins: I have loved you: For whom the Lord loveth, he chastiseth; but every son whom he receiveth, he correcteth. (Hebrews 12:6). And in saying, I have loved, the present denies, while it confesses the past. They respond there with the rashness with which they sin, forgetting His benefits: 'In whom have you loved us?' To which the Lord says: 'In order that I should be silent about other things, I will discuss your origins, the beginnings from which you came, before you were born, indeed before Rebecca conceived Esau and Jacob in her womb (Gen. 25): I loved you in Jacob, I hated the Edomites in Esau.' The apostle Paul, expounding this passage in a mystical argument, writes to the Romans, connecting two testimonies together, one from Genesis and one from Malachi: 'But even Rebecca also, having conceived of one, even our father Isaac.' For when they were not yet born, nor had done anything good or bad, that the purpose of God according to election might stand: not of works, but of him that calleth, it was said to her: The elder shall serve the younger. As it is written: Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated (Rom. 9:10, et seqq.). For this saying: Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated, is referred to the Book of Genesis, and to the prophet Malachi. And not only she: For when they were not yet born, nor had done anything good or bad, that the purpose of God according to election might stand: not of works, but of him that calleth, it was said to her: The elder shall serve the younger. As it is written: Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated (Rom. 9:10, et seqq.). For this saying: Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated, is referred to the Book of Genesis, and to the prophet Malachi. And not only she: Before the twins were born or had done anything good or evil, in order that God's purpose in election might stand: not by works but by him who calls she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” Just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.” (Romans 9:10, et seqq.). For when they were not yet born, nor had done anything good or bad, that the purpose of God according to election might stand: not of works, but of him that calleth, it was said to her: The elder shall serve the younger. As it is written: Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated (Rom. 9:10, et seqq.). For this saying: Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated, is referred to the Book of Genesis, and to the prophet Malachi. And not only she: Before the twins were born or had done anything good or evil, in order that God's purpose in election might stand: not by works but by him who calls she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” Just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.” (Romans 9:10, et seqq.). For when they were not yet born, nor had done anything good or bad, that the purpose of God according to election might stand: not of works, but of him that calleth, it was said to her: The elder shall serve the younger. As it is written: Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated (Rom. 9:10, et seqq.). For this saying: Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated, is referred to the Book of Genesis, and to the prophet Malachi. And not only she: Before the twins were born or had done anything good or evil, in order that God's purpose in election might stand: not by works but by him who calls she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” Just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.” (Romans 9:10, et seqq.). But if Edom, that is, Esau, shall say: We are destroyed indeed, but we will return and build up the ruinous places; thus saith the Lord of hosts: They shall build up, and I will throw down: and they shall be called the borders of wickedness, and the people with whom the Lord is angry for ever. And your eyes shall see, and you shall say: The Lord be magnified upon the border of Israel. If a son be a father, where is my honour? And if a master be a lord, where is my fear? saith the Lord of hosts. The Jews falsely flatter themselves that the Edomites, Romans, and Israelites prophesy about the end of the world: that when the Roman empire, that is, the Idumean empire, is destroyed, the kingdom of the world will come to the Jews. We have spoken these things, laying the foundations of history: now let us come to the spiritual understanding. Israel, a man, or rather, a person perceiving God, or as I think better, most upright before God, is loved by the Lord, and wants to know the reason for his love in himself. And the Lord answered, that Esau and Jacob, being born from the same stock, that is, vices and virtues proceed from one source of the heart: while from the freedom of our will, we lean in whichever direction we desire; but the former vices are born through infancy, childhood, and youth, which afterwards stronger age refines and supplants. The elder brother is rough and bloody (Gen. XXV): he delights in hunting, forests, and beasts. He lives a small and simple life, dwelling innocently in his home. God turns the borders of Edom, that is, the earthly and bloody ones, into solitude, and does not allow anything to grow or last on the land. But if impudent wickedness tries to rebuild what has been destroyed by the word of God, the Lord declares himself an adversary to their efforts to restore vice. And once all the boundaries of the enemies have been overthrown, then we can see with our own eyes the Israelites and all the saints saying: Let the Lord be glorified in their borders, all those who have their minds fixed on God (Wisdom 11). Moreover, love and hatred of God arise either from His foreknowledge of future events or from His works. Otherwise, we know that God loves all things and hates nothing that He has created; but He properly avenges those who are enemies and rebels against His own charity. And on the contrary, He hates those who desire to rebuild what has been destroyed by God. However, God is said to hate anthropopathetically: to weep, to grieve, to be angry; so that when we hear of His hatred towards the wicked, we may avoid what we understand God to hate.

Source: Commentary on Malachi
[AD 1781] Richard Challoner on Malachi 1:1
MALACHIAS, whose name signifies The Angel of the Lord, was contemporary with NEHEMIAS, and by some is believed to have been the same person as ESDRAS. He was the last of the prophets, in the order of time, and flourished about four hundred years before Christ. He foretells the coming of Christ; the reprobation of the Jews and their sacrifices; and the calling of the Gentiles, who shall offer up to God in every place an acceptable sacrifice.
[AD 56] Romans on Malachi 1:2-3
I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh: Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises; Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen. Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel: Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed. For this is the word of promise, At this time will I come, and Sara shall have a son. And not only this; but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac; (For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;) It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. [Malachi 1:2-3] What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might show my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Malachi 1:2
Furthermore, who would be so impiously foolish as to say that God cannot turn the evil wills of people—as he wills, when he wills and where he wills—toward the good? But when he acts, he acts through mercy; when he does not act, it is through justice. For “he has mercy on whom he wills, and whom he wills, he hardens.” Now when the apostle said this, he was commending grace, of which he had just spoken in connection with the twin children in Rebecca’s womb: “Before they had yet been born or had done anything good or bad, in order that the electing purpose of God might continue, it was said of them, ‘The elder shall serve the younger.’ ” Accordingly he refers to another prophetic witness, where it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I have hated.” Then, realizing how what he said could disturb those whose understanding could not penetrate to this depth of grace, he adds, “What therefore shall we say to this? Is there unrighteousness in God? God forbid!” Yet it does seem unfair that, without any merit derived from good works or bad, God should love the one and hate the other. Now if the apostle had wished us to understand that there were future good deeds of the other—which God, of course, foreknew—he never would have said “not of good works” but rather “of future works.” Thus he would have solved the difficulty; or rather he would have left no difficulty to be solved. As it is, however, when he went on to exclaim, “God forbid!” he proceeds immediately to add (to prove that no unfairness in God is involved here), “For he says to Moses, ‘I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will show pity to whom I will show pity.’ ” Now who but a fool would think God unfair either when he imposes penal judgment on the deserving or when he shows mercy to the undeserving? Finally, the apostle concludes and says, “Therefore it is not a question of him who wills nor of him who runs but of God’s showing mercy.”

Source: Enchiridion 25:98
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Malachi 1:2
Who are these that reply to God, who speaks to Rebecca? She had twin sons of one conception of Isaac our father. “The children were not yet born nor had done any good or evil (that the purpose of God according to election might stand).” The election was of grace, not of merit. It is the election by which he does not find but makes elect—“that it was not of works but of him that calls, that the elder should serve the younger.” To this sentence the blessed apostle adds the testimony of a prophet who came along afterward: “Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated” to give us to understand plainly by the later utterance what was hidden in the predestination of God by grace before they were born. For what did he love but the free gift of his mercy in Jacob, who had done nothing good before his birth? And what did he hate but original sin in Esau, who had done nothing evil before his birth? Surely he would not have loved in the former a goodness which he had not practiced, nor would he have hated in the latter a nature which he himself had created good.

Source: LETTER 194
[AD 542] Caesarius of Arles on Malachi 1:2
At the very beginning of the world, of those two sons who were born of Adam, Abel the younger is chosen, while as a figure of the unfaithful Jews, Cain the older one is condemned. Afterward, in the time of Abraham, the same figure is fulfilled in Sarah and Hagar. Sarah was sterile for a long time as a type of the church, while Hagar as a figure of the synagogue bore a son at once. Hence it is that the younger son Isaac is received into the inheritance, but Ishmael, who was older, is driven away. This fact also seems to have been fulfilled in those two: Jacob the younger was loved by God, while Esau was rejected according to what is written: “I have loved Jacob but hated Esau.” This figure is also known to have been fulfilled in those two sisters whom blessed Jacob had as his wives: Rachel, who was the younger, was loved more than Leah the older. In fact, of the former was born Joseph, who was to be sold in Egypt as a type of our Lord and Savior. That Leah was bleary-eyed while Rachel was beautiful in countenance is also significant: in Leah is understood the synagogue; the church is indicated in Rachel. A man whose bodily eyes are afflicted with inflammation cannot look at the brightness of the sun. Similarly the synagogue, which had had the eyes of its heart filled with jealousy and envy against our Lord and Savior as with poisonous floods, could not gaze upon the splendor of Christ, who is “the Sun of justice.”

Source: SERMON 104:1
[AD 1781] Richard Challoner on Malachi 1:2
I have loved Jacob: I have preferred his posterity, to make them my chosen people, and to lead them with my blessings, without any merit on their part, and though they have been always ungrateful; whilst I have rejected Esau, and executed severe judgments upon his posterity. Not that God punished Esau, or his posterity, beyond their desert: but that by his free election and grace he loved Jacob, and favoured his posterity above their deserts.
[AD 380] Apostolic Constitutions on Malachi 1:6
And indeed Balaam the prophet, when he had corrupted Israel by Baal-peor, suffered punishment; and Caiaphas at last was his own murderer; and the sons of Sceva, endeavoring to cast out demons, were wounded by them and fled away in an unseemly manner;22 and the kings of Israel and of Judah, when they became impious, suffered all sorts of punishments. It is therefore evident how bishops and presbyters, also falsely so called, will not escape the judgment of God. For it will be said to them even now: “O you priests that despise my name, I will deliver you up to the slaughter, as I did Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon fried in a frying pan,” as says Jeremiah the prophet.

Source: CONSTITUTIONS OF THE HOLY APOSTLES 8:1.2
[AD 420] Jerome on Malachi 1:6
Be obedient to your bishop and obey him as your spiritual father. Sons love and slaves fear. “If I am a father,” he says, “where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is my fear?” In your case one man combines in himself many titles to your respect. He is at once monk, bishop and uncle. But the bishops also should know themselves to be priests, not lords. Let them render to the clergy the honor that is their due that the clergy may offer to them the respect which belongs to bishops.

Source: LETTER 52.7
[AD 420] Jerome on Malachi 1:6
(Verse 6.) The son honors the father, and the servant his master: if therefore I am a father, where is my honor? and if I am a master, where is my fear? says the Lord of hosts. LXX: The son glorifies the father, and the servant his master will fear. And if I am a father, where is my glory? And if I am a master, where is my fear? says the Almighty Lord. Although before you were born, I began to love you like sons: yet choose how you will call me, either father or master. If you are a father, give your father the respect that is due, and show the appropriate devotion to your parent. If you are a master, why do you despise me? Why do you not fear the master? However, he is speaking to those who have returned from the Babylonian captivity under Zerubbabel and the son of Josedech, and the priest Ezra, and Nehemiah, and have constructed an altar, but have not yet built the temple, nor have they rebuilt the walls of the city, and nevertheless they remained in their former sins, not venerating God with love or fear. But what we have called glory, or honor, is one word both among the Greeks, δόξα, and among the Hebrews 947 כָּבוֹד (Chabod), but for the sake of the Latin language we have used the word honor. For even in the Gospel where the Lord speaks and says: Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you (John 17:1), it is read as δόξασον among the Greeks, that is, glorify. But many Latin translators have rendered this passage as honorifica. At the same time, let us consider that a son and a servant in the Holy Scriptures are chosen by will, not by necessity of nature. For whoever receives the spirit of adoption becomes a son of God; but whoever receives the spirit of servitude becomes a servant of God in fear (Rom. VIII). Therefore, God desires first that we be His sons and that we do good willingly. If we wish to attain this, let us at least be His servants and depart from evil through fear of punishment. We read in a negative light the sons: We were children of wrath, and sons of Gehenna (Ephesians 2:3), whom the Pharisees, going around the sea and land, worthy progenitors of torments (Matthew 23). And Judas the traitor is called the son of perdition (John 17); and in the eighty-eighth psalm it is written about the Lord: The son of iniquity will not be able to harm him (Psalm 88:23). Also in Hosea, the sons of fornication are called, who are generated from a prostitute mother, of whom it is written: Your mother has fornicated (Hosea 2:5). And in the Gospel, the sons of the devil are criticized: You are born from the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father (John 8:44). We read the sons in a positive sense, as sons of God: Whoever received him, he gave them power to become sons of God (John 1:12). And sons of wisdom, proclaimed by the Gospel: Wisdom is justified by her children (Matthew 11:19). And sons of Abraham: Amen, amen, I say to you, God can raise up sons of Abraham from these stones (Matthew 3:9). And the apostle's children: My little children, for whom I am in labor again until Christ is formed in you (Galatians IV, 19), and many similar passages. Therefore, the Son honors, or glorifies, the Father, according to what is written: Let your light shine before men, so that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven (Matthew V, 16). The servant also honors his master, but not with the same love as the son; rather, it is implied from the common rule that the son honors his father and the servant his master; yet Almighty God, knowing the difference between a son and a servant, seeks glory from the son and fear from the servant: For the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Ecclesiastes I, 16), so that we may pass from the fear of servants to the glory of sons.

Source: Commentary on Malachi
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Malachi 1:6
We must consider what it is that we have been commanded to pray for—commanded by him from whom we learn to pray for and through whom we obtain what we pray for. He says, “In this manner shall you pray: ‘Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.’?” In every kind of petition we ought first to try to gain the good will of the one we are petitioning. And the praise is usually placed at the beginning of the prayer, where in this instance our Lord has bidden us to say nothing else than “our Father who art in heaven.” Praise of God has been expressed in many manners of speech. Anyone can see this as he reads those forms of praise scattered widely here and there throughout the sacred Scriptures. But nowhere is there found any instruction for the people of Israel to say “our Father” or to pray to God as a Father. To them he has been proposed as a master, for they were servants; that is, they were as yet living according to the flesh. When I say this, I am referring to them when they received the commandments of the law which they were ordered to observe, for the prophets frequently point out that this same Lord of ours would have been their father as well, if they did not stray from his commandments. For instance, there are the following expressions: “I have begotten children and exalted them, but they have despised me,” and, “I have said, ‘You are gods and all of you the sons of the most high,’ ” and, “If I am a master, where is my fear? And if I am a father, where is my honor?” Even if we were to disregard those prophetic sayings that refer to the fact that there would be a Christian people who would have God as their Father—in accordance with that saying in the Gospel, “He gave them the power of becoming children of God”—there are still many other expressions whereby the Jews are reproved for the fact that by committing sins they refused to be children. The apostle Paul says, “As long as the heir is a little child, he differs in no way from a slave,” but he reminds us that we have received the spirit of adoption, by virtue of which we cry, “Abba, Father.”

Source: SERMON ON THE MOUNT 2:4.15
[AD 435] John Cassian on Malachi 1:6
“There is a great distinction, then, between the fear that lacks for nothing, which is the treasure of wisdom and knowledge, and the one that is imperfect, which is called “the beginning of wisdom.” This latter has punishment in itself, and it is cast out from the hearts of the perfect upon the advent of the fullness of love. For “there is no fear in love, but perfect loves casts out fear.” And in fact, if the beginning of wisdom consists in fear, what but the love of Christ will be its perfection, which contains in itself the fear of perfect love and which is no longer called the beginning but rather the treasure of wisdom and knowledge? Therefore there are two degrees of fear. The one is for beginners—that is, for those who are still under the servile dread. In regard to this it is said, “The slave shall fear his master,” and in the Gospel, “I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know what his master is doing.” And consequently he says, “The slave does not remain in the house forever.” For he is instructing us to pass from the fear of punishment to the fullest freedom of love and to the confidence of the friends and sons of God. And the blessed apostle, who had long since passed beyond the degree of servile fear, thanks to the power of the Lord’s love, disdains lower things and professes that he has been endowed with greater goods. “For,” he says, “God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power and love and self-control.” Those who burned with perfect love of the heavenly Father and whom, from slaves, the divine adoption had already made sons he also exhorts in these words: “You have not received a spirit of slavery again in fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption, in which we cry out, ‘Abba, Father.’ ”

Source: CONFERENCE 11:13.4-6
[AD 465] Maximus of Turin on Malachi 1:6
Last Sunday I spoke at sufficient length for the correction of those who do not give thanks to the Creator for the divine gifts that they enjoy and who, while benefiting from heavenly kindness, like ungrateful and unworthy persons do not acknowledge the author of kindness. They are ungrateful, I say, who neither fear God as slaves do their master nor honor him as children do their father. God says through the prophets, “If I am a master, where is my fear? If I am a father, where is my love?” That is to say, if you are a slave, render the master service of fear; if you are a son, show your father a reverent love. But when you do not give thanks, you neither love nor fear God; hence you are an insolent slave or a proud son. The good Christian, therefore, ought always to praise his Father and Master and to do all good things with a view of his glory, as the blessed apostle says: “Whether you eat or drink or do anything, do all for the glory of God.”

Source: SERMON 73:1
[AD 420] Jerome on Malachi 1:7
(Verse 7) To you, O priests, who despise my name, and you say: 'How have we despised your name?' You offer on my altar defiled bread, and you say: 'How have we defiled you?' By saying that the table of the Lord is despised. LXX: You, O priests, who despise my name, and you say: 'How have we despised your name?' You offer on my altar polluted bread, and you say: 'How have we polluted it?' By saying that the table of the Lord is despised ÷ and what remains, you have despised ÷ But what follows: And what remains you have despised, we have marked with an obelus, because it is not found in the Hebrew, and it has been added from the following verses. To you, therefore, O priests, who despise my name, this discourse is directed: you who have returned from Babylon, fearful of past servitude, should have turned to the Lord with a full heart. And not only do you not do this, but imitating Cain, you respond with arrogant words against God, and you ask Him whom hidden things do not deceive, and it is said: Wherein have we despised thy name? (Gen. IV) so that with the impudence of dissimulation, you may cover the wound of conscience. Do you want to know in what way you despise my name? You offer on my altar polluted bread: that is, the bread of offering, which according to Hebrew traditions, you yourselves should sow, you yourselves should reap, you yourselves should grind, you yourselves should cook. And now you take whatever you please from the midst, and with a reckless voice you respond, and you say, in what way do we pollute them, or you? For while the sacraments are violated, he himself, of whom they are sacraments, is violated. But we can interpret this in the following way: In what you say, the Lord's table has been despised, referring to the fact that, when they returned from Babylon and the temple had not yet been rebuilt, they dwelled in huts and in the ruins of the ancient city. They only built an altar, but it did not have the same glory as the previous one, and they believed that the sanctity of the religious practice was lacking because there was no ambition for construction. We have drawn thin lines to highlight the spiritual explanation that must be imprinted. He reproaches the divine word to bishops, as well as to neglectful priests and deacons, whether because we are of the priestly and royal lineage, or because all those who are baptized in Christ are considered (or should be considered) in the name of Christ. Why do they despise the name of God? And when asked in what way they have despised His name, He reveals the reasons for their offense: 'You offer on my altar polluted bread,' He says. We pollute the bread, that is, the body of Christ, when we unworthy approach the altar, and when we, dirty, drink the world's blood, and say, 'The table of the Lord has been despised.' Not that anyone would dare to say this, and not that anyone would think of uttering such an impious thought with a wicked voice, but the deeds of sinners despise the table of God. We can also say this: The Doctor of the Church who makes the spiritual bread and distributes it to the people, if he speaks to the people and flatters the rich either for human glory or for worldly gains that follow glory, and honors sinners, and according to James, welcomes those who come to him with gold rings (James 2), and rejects the holy poor, despises the name of God, defiles the bread of teachings, and hurls insults at God himself, thinking that the table of his writings is a common table of idols and secular teachings.

Source: Commentary on Malachi
[AD 420] Jerome on Malachi 1:8
(Verse 8) If you offer the blind animal for sacrifice, is it not evil? And if you offer the lame and sick animal, is it not evil? Offer it to your governor; see if he is pleased with it or accepts your face, says the Lord of hosts. LXX: For if you offer the blind animal for sacrifice, is it not evil? And if you offer the lame and sick animal, is it not evil? Offer it to your governor; see if he receives you, if he accepts your face, says the Almighty Lord. We learn more fully about the diversity of victims and what should or should not be offered in Leviticus (Lev. 21 and 22). Therefore, the priests and Levites, gatekeepers and singers, and the servants of Solomon who returned from Babylon, including those whose names were listed by Ezra, offered illicit victims to God, namely blind and lame animals, and those weakened by various infirmities (1 Esd. 2); for this is what is meant by 'languid,' encompassing everything in one word. If you were to offer gifts to your leader, would he not reject them? Would he not consider it an injustice done to him? And yet, you dare to offer this to God, when you do not dare to give it to humans? It would take too long to explain the mysteries of all the sacrifices; I will only speak about those that are contained in this present chapter. The victim of the soul is blind, as it is not enlightened by the light of Christ, nor does it have an eye that gazes upon the Gospel (Matthew 6). The prayer of the petitioner is lame, as it approaches prayer with a divided mind and listens to the people of the Jews: How long will you limp with both feet? (1 Kings 18:21) And weak, and covered with all infirmity, which does not have the power of Christ God, and the wisdom of God. Prayers of this kind, which are without the light of truth, and do not have firm traces of wisdom, decay with various weaknesses, if they are offered to the leader of the Church, or to any educated and wise teacher, will they not be rejected, and fall into contempt for him who dared to offer such things?

Source: Commentary on Malachi
[AD 649] Sahdona the Syrian on Malachi 1:8
Such was the offering of the murderous Cain that was rejected. He had been told by God, “If you act well, I will receive it.” Such again were all the offerings of the Israelites that were rejected, whereby they received the curse of the prophet who says, “Cursed is the man who has a ram in his flock, and he vows and sacrifices to the Lord one that is sickly.” He rebukes and reproaches them, saying, “Try offering it to your ruler, to see if he will be pleased with it or show you favor; this is what the Lord says.” So how will any address made to God during the ministry of prayer that shows any contempt prove acceptable to God—an address that is full of all sorts of distractions, that is sickly and broken up by interruptions? This sort of thing would not be acceptable even to the most insignificant of human beings if he were thus addressed. The offering of turbulent prayer and the ministration of a heart that shows contempt are exactly like the sacrifice of a blemished ram.

Source: BOOK OF PERFECTION 18
[AD 420] Jerome on Malachi 1:9
(V. 9) And now beseech the face of God that he may have mercy on you: for by your hand has this been done, if in any way he may accept your faces, says the Lord of hosts. Who is among you that shut the doors, and kindle my altar to no purpose? LXX: And now beseech the face of your God, and pray to him: these things have been done by your hands, if I may accept your faces, says the Lord Almighty: because even among you the doors shall be closed, and my altar shall not be kindled for nothing. In this place, the Seventy interpreters differ greatly from the Hebrew truth: and where the interpretation is different, it is necessary that the meaning also be different. Because you have offered blind, lame, and weak victims, for you have done all these things that I have said: repent, if in any way God will have mercy on you, for there is no one among you to the very end, not even a high priest, not a priest, not even a Levite, not a singer, and not even a doorkeeper, and the one who sets fire on the altar for burning sacrifices, who should not receive payment for his work from me. However, when he says this, he means tithes of all the crops that are offered by the people. By this, it is shown that servitude to the Lord is more acceptable, which does not demand a reward in the present. Hence the Apostle preaches the Gospel for free (1 Thess. 2); and he works with his hands night and day, so as not to be a burden to anyone, and he testifies that this glory of his free preaching to the Gentiles should by no means be diminished (2 Thess. 3). Furthermore, LXX others suggest a much different meaning: O priests, who offer weak sacrifices, turn to repentance, and seek the face of the Lord and pray for the works of your hands. But what it brings forth: If I 951 take your faces, I do not know if it agrees with the exhortation of repentance. For no one says, pray to me, and I will not spare you. It follows: In you the doors will be closed, namely, those of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Where the Savior says: I am the door (John 10:9). Or in other words: The doors of the Scriptures will not be opened to you, nor will you be able to understand the holy of holies or know the sacraments of the Lord; nor will you be able to offer incense on his altar, because your prayers will not reach him. And what is said to be given freely, we interpret as meaning without reward: those who follow this understanding that we now explain turn it into a favor, so that they do not have the grace to serve at the Lord's altar.

Source: Commentary on Malachi
[AD 165] Justin Martyr on Malachi 1:10
“And the offering of fine flour, sirs,” I said, “which was prescribed to be presented on behalf of those purified from leprosy, was a type of bread of the Eucharist, the celebration of which our Lord Jesus Christ prescribed, in remembrance of the suffering which he endured on behalf of those who are purified in soul from all iniquity. [This was prescribed] in order that we may at the same time thank God for having created the world, with all things therein, for the sake of humankind, and for delivering us from the evil in which we were, and for utterly overthrowing principalities and powers by him who suffered according to his will. Hence God speaks by the mouth of Malachi, one of the twelve [prophets], as I said before, about the sacrifices at that time presented by you: “ ‘I will have no pleasure in you,’ says the Lord, ‘and I will not accept your sacrifices at your hands. From the rising of the sun to the going down of the same, my name has been glorified among the Gentiles, and in every place incense is offered to my name, and a pure offering: for my name is great among the Gentiles,’ says the Lord, but you profane it.” [So] he then speaks of those Gentiles, namely us, who in every place offer sacrifices to him, that is, the bread of the Eucharist and also the cup of the Eucharist, affirming both that we glorify his name and that you profane [it]. The command of circumcision, again bidding [them] always to circumcise the children on the eighth day, was a type of the true circumcision, by which we are circumcised from deceit and iniquity through him who rose from the dead on the first day after the sabbath, [namely, through] our Lord Jesus Christ. For the first day after the sabbath, remaining the first of all the days, is called, however, the eighth, according to the number of all the days of the cycle, and [yet it] remains the first.

Source: Dialogue with Trypho 42
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Malachi 1:10
The Jews did return from Babylon, they did recover the city, they did rebuild the temple, and they did offer sacrifices. But it was only after all this that Malachi predicted the coming of the present desolation and the abolition of Jewish sacrifices. This is what he said speaking in God’s behalf: “ ‘Shall I for your sakes accept your persons?’ says the Lord God almighty. ‘For from the rising of the sun, even to its setting, my name is glorified among the nations; and everywhere they bring incense to my name, and a pure offering. But you have profaned it.’ ”

Source: DISCOURSES AGAINST JUDAIZING CHRISTIANS 5:12.3
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Malachi 1:10
After their captivity in Babylon the Jews did rebuild their temple and restored the place where they were allowed to observe all the rituals according to the law. But now the power of Christ, the power that founded the church, has also destroyed their restored temple. And their prophets foretold this and showed that God would reject Judaism and introduce a new way of worship.

Source: DEMONSTRATION AGAINST THE PAGANS 43
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Malachi 1:10
Scripture did not pass over in silence the rejection of the Jews. Notice how the prophet Malachi foretold this too. “Behold, among you the doors will be shut, and fire will not be kindled on my altar for anything.” He also foretold who would now pay God worship. “From the rising of the sun to its going down, my name has been glorified among the nations.” And again he said, “And in every place incense is offered to me and a pure sacrifice.” Do you see how he made clear the nobility of worship? How he showed that the new worship had a special honor and differed from the old? Worship will not be confined to a place or a way of sacrifice, nor will it consist in savor or smoke or omens; it will be a different ritual.

Source: DEMONSTRATION AGAINST THE PAGANS 7:1
[AD 420] Jerome on Malachi 1:10-14
(Verse 10 seqq.) I have no pleasure in you, says the Lord of hosts, and I will not accept an offering from your hand. For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering. For my name will be great among the nations, says the Lord of hosts. But you profane it when you say: 'The table of the Lord is polluted, and its fruit, its food, is despised.' And you have said: 'Behold, we have labored and blown it away', says the Lord of hosts. And you have brought in the lame, and the sick, and you have brought in an offering: will I accept it from your hand? says the Lord. LXX: It is not my will in you, says the Lord Almighty, and I will not accept a sacrifice from your hands, for from the rising of the sun to its setting my glorious name is among the nations, and in every place incense is offered to my name, and a pure sacrifice, for great is my name among the nations, says the Lord Almighty. But you have defiled it by saying, 'The table of the Lord is polluted, and its fruit, its food, is despised.' You also say, 'These things are from affliction,' and you scoff at them,' says the Lord Almighty. You bring stolen goods, lame or sick animals, and offer them as sacrifices. Should I accept them from your hands?' says the Lord Almighty. The rule of Scriptures is this: When a clear prophecy about the future is given, do not diminish what is written by uncertain allegories. So now, specifically, the Lord's message is addressed to the priests of the Jews, who offer the blind and the lame and the sick for sacrifice, so that they may know that spiritual victims will succeed the carnal victims. And not the blood of bulls and goats, but incense, that is, the prayers of the saints, are to be offered to the Lord, not in one province of the world, Judea, nor in one city of Judea, Jerusalem, but in every place, an offering is to be made, not unclean, like the people of Israel, but clean, like in the ceremonies of the Christians. For from the rising of the sun even to its setting, the name of the Lord is great among the Gentiles, as the Savior says: Father, I have manifested your name to men (John 17:6). And when, he says, my name shall become great among the Gentiles, oh you princes of the Jews, you have defiled it and continue to defile it. Thus, the prophecy covers both the future and the present time. But therefore, oh priests and princes of the Jews, in every place a clean offering is presented to me, and my name is great among the Gentiles, because you say the Lord's table is defiled, and what is placed on it is contemptible with the fire that devours it. The people, upon returning from Babylon, built an altar made only of random and unpolished stones, according to the book of Ezra (Ezra 1:6), without a temple, without city buildings, without the construction of walls, and they believed that the worship of the religion was of lesser value because it lacked the adornments of the temple. To them, the Lord says: Do you think that the altar and the burnt offerings and the sacrifices placed on it are polluted? Do you also think that the fire, which consumes the sacrifices, is polluted? You do not understand that the almighty God does not seek gold, gems, or a multitude of sacrifices, but rather the will of those who offer. 953. But those who think that the altar should be understood as the table on which the loaves were placed, how can they interpret what follows, when I do not see at all the fire that devours it: for the fire does not devour the loaves of the offering, which were always exchanged for new ones instead of the old ones, and taken away to be used by the priests (Leviticus 2:4). Or certainly it should be understood in this way: You have defiled my name by saying: What good is it if we offer the best? Whatever is offered must be consumed by fire. But the fruit of the altar is fire, and the food of fire is the offerings of the host or the holocaust. And it is not enough that you spoke blasphemy in the previous discourse, but you also said this: 'Behold, we have labored and blown away what we had, says the Lord of hosts.' The meaning of this statement is as follows: You said, 'We have returned from captivity, we have been plundered by our enemies, we have labored greatly on a long journey, we are poor, whatever we could have, has been consumed by the hardships of the road. Whatever we have, we offer.' And by saying this, you have blown away your own sacrifices, that is, you have made them unworthy by my exhalation. Or as it can be read in Hebrew: 'And you have blown me away by saying this.' You have done injury not to the sacrifice, but to me, to whom you were sacrificing. Therefore, I will by no means accept that from your hand, says the almighty Lord. Some think that this is specifically said to the Jews because their offerings are unclean and polluted, and sacrifice is transferred to the Gentiles. It should be understood as pertaining to the priests of the Church who offer sacrifices to the Lord negligently. But if we accept this, then the offerings must be transferred again from the Church to another religion. And just as I read the Gospel, so again what is not yet future will happen in accordance with the Gospel. They also refer to the contaminated table of the Lord in holy Scriptures, if they are understood differently than they are written.

Source: Commentary on Malachi
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Malachi 1:10
Now I turn to Malachi. This man, prophesying of the church which by Christ’s power has now expanded far and wide, takes on the person of God to say to the Jews: “ ‘I have no pleasure in you,’ says the Lord of hosts, ‘and I will not receive a gift from your hand. For from the rising of the sun even to the going down thereof, my name is great among the Gentiles, and in every place there is sacrifice, and there is offered to my name a clean oblation for my name is great among the Gentiles,’ says the Lord of hosts.” Now if we see that everywhere in our time, “from the rising of the sun to the going down thereof,” this sacrifice is being offered by Christ’s priests according to the order of Melchizedek, and if the Jews are in no position to deny that their sacrifices, rejected in the first verse, have come to an end—how is it that they can be looking for another Christ? They read the prophecy; they see its fulfillment before their very eyes. Why can they not realize that he must have been the Christ to fulfill it, since nobody else could?

Source: City of God 18.35
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Malachi 1:10
Lastly, O Jews, if you try to distort these prophetic words into another meaning according to the dictates of your heart, you resist the Son of God against your own salvation.… The house of Jacob or Israel is the same people, both called and cast off—not called in respect to some and cast off in respect to others, but the entire house called to walk in the light of the Lord.… The reason why the house had been cast off was because its people were not walking in the light of the Lord, or some of the house certainly were called and others cast off in such a way that without any separation having been of the Lord’s table as regards the sacrifice of Christ. Both called and cast off were under the same old sacraments, to be sure; both those who walked in the light of the Lord and observed his precepts and those who rejected justice and deserved to be abandoned by it. If you choose to interpret these testimonies in this manner, what are you going to say and how will you interpret another prophet who cuts this reply away entirely, shouting with unmistakable manifestation: “ ‘I have no pleasure in you,’ says the Lord almighty, ‘and I will not receive a gift of your hand. For from the rising of the sun even to the going down my name is great among the Gentiles, and in every place sacrifice is offered in my name, a clean oblation: for my name is great among the Gentiles,’ says the Lord almighty.”

Source: IN ANSWER TO THE JEWS 9
[AD 100] Didache on Malachi 1:11-14
And on the Lord’s day, after you have come together, break bread together. Break bread and offer Eucharist, having first confessed your offenses, so that your sacrifice may be pure. But let no one who has quarreled with his neighbor join you until he is reconciled, lest your sacrifice be defiled. For it was said by the Lord, “In every place and time let there be offered to me a clean sacrifice, because I am the great king;” and also, “and my name is wonderful among the Gentiles.”

Source: The Didache, Chapter 14
[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Malachi 1:11
And it is astonishing that Moses is called Moses even among us and each of the prophets is addressed by his own name. For Christ did not change the names in them but the understanding. And he changes it there that now later we might not pay attention “to Jewish fables” and “endless genealogies,” because “they turn their hearing away from the truth indeed but are turned to fables.” He opened, therefore, the wells and taught us, that we might not seek God in some one place but might know that “sacrifice is offered to his name in every land.” For it is now that time “when the true worshipers worship the Father neither in Jerusalem nor on Mount Gerizim “but in spirit and truth.” God, therefore, dwells in the heart. And if you are seeking the place of God, a pure heart is his place, for he says through the prophet, “ ‘I will dwell in them; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God,’ says the Lord.”

Source: HOMILIES ON GENESIS 13:3
[AD 345] Aphrahat the Persian Sage on Malachi 1:11
Purity of heart constitutes prayer more than do all the prayers that are uttered out loud, and silence united to a mind that is sincere is better than a loud voice of someone crying out. My beloved, give me now your heart and your thought, and hear about the power of pure prayer; see how our righteous ancestors excelled in their prayer before God and how it served them as a “pure offering.” For it was through prayer that offerings were accepted, and it was prayer again that averted the flood from Noah. Prayer has healed barrenness, prayer has overthrown armies, prayer has revealed mysteries, prayer has divided the sea, prayer made a passage through the Jordan. It held back the sun, it made the moon stand still, it destroyed the unclean, it caused fire to descend. Prayer closed up the heaven, prayer raised up from the pit, rescued from the fire and saved from the sea.

Source: ON PRAYER 1
[AD 380] Apostolic Constitutions on Malachi 1:11
He has in several ways changed the baptism ritual of the priesthood and the divine service, which was confined to one place, for instead of daily baptisms he has given only one, which is that into his death. Instead of one tribe, he has pointed out that out of every nation the best should be ordained for the priesthood; and that rather than their bodies, their religion and their lives should be examined for blemishes. Instead of a bloody sacrifice, he has appointed that reasonable and unbloody mystical one of his body and blood, which is performed to represent the death of the Lord by symbols. Instead of the divine service confined to one place, he has commanded and appointed that he should be glorified from sun rising to sun setting in every place of his dominion.

Source: CONSTITUTIONS OF THE HOLY APOSTLES 6:4.23
[AD 390] Gregory of Nazianzus on Malachi 1:11
And in addition to what has been said, it is good with our head cleansed, as the head which is the workshop of the senses is cleansed, to hold fast the head of Christ, from which the whole body is fitly joined together and compacted, and to cast down our sin that exalted itself, when it would exalt us above our better part. It is good also for the shoulder to be sanctified and purified that it may be able to take up the cross of Christ, which not everyone can easily do. It is good for the hands to be consecrated, and the feet. [One is consecrated] that they may in every place be lifted up holy and that they may lay hold of the discipline of Christ, lest the Lord at any time be angered; and that the word may gain credence by action, as was the case with that which was given in the hand of a prophet. The other [is consecrated] that they be not too swift to shed blood or to run to evil, but that they be prompt to run to the gospel and the prize of the high calling and to receive Christ who washes and cleanses them. And it would be good if there is also a cleansing of that belly which receives and digests the food of the word. Do not make it a god by luxury and the meat that perishes. Rather, give it all possible cleansing and make it more spare, that it may receive the Word of God at the very heart and grieve honorably over the sins of Israel. I find also the heart and inward parts deemed worthy of honor. David convinces me of this when he prays that a clean heart may be created in him and a right spirit renewed in his inward parts, meaning, I think, the mind and its movements or thoughts.

Source: ON HOLY BAPTISM, ORATION 40:39
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Malachi 1:11
Whether betrayers of the divine books ordained Caecilian, I do not know; I did not see; I heard it from his enemies; it’s not declared to me by the law of God, or by the preaching of the prophets, or by the holy psalms, or by the apostles of Christ or by Christ’s words. But the testimonies of the entire Scripture proclaim with one voice that the church, with which the sect of Donatus is not in communion, is indeed spread throughout the entire world. “In your seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed,” said the law of God. “From the rising of the sun even to the going down, there is offered to my name a clean offering, for my name is great among the Gentiles,” said God through the prophet.

Source: LETTER 185:5
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Malachi 1:11
You have all just now been born again of water and the spirit, and can see that food and drink upon this table of the Lord in a new light, and receive it with a fresh love and piety. So I am obliged by the duty I have of giving you a sermon and by the anxious care by which I have given you birth, that Christ might be formed in you, to remind you infants of what the meaning is of such a great and divine sacrament, such a splendid and noble medicine, such a pure and simple sacrifice, which is not offered now just in the one earthly city of Jerusalem, nor into that tabernacle which was constructed by Moses, nor in the temple built by Solomon. These were just “shadows of things to come.” But “from the rising of the sun to its setting,” it is offered as the prophets foretold, and as a sacrifice of praise to God, according to the grace of the New Testament. No longer is a victim sought from the flocks for a blood sacrifice, nor is a sheep or a goat any more led to the divine altars, but now the sacrifice of our time is the body and blood of the priest himself. About him, indeed, it was foretold so long ago in the psalms, “You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.” That Melchizedek, priest of God the most high, offered bread and wine when he blessed our father Abraham, we gather from reading about it in the book of Genesis.

Source: SERMON 228B.1
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Malachi 1:11
To him it was said, “You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek.” For you seek a sacrifice among the Jews; you have none after the order of Aaron. You seek it after the order of Melchizedek, though finding it not among them; but through the whole world it is celebrated in the church: “From the rising of the sun to the setting thereof the name of the Lord is praised.” “And they sowed fields and planted vineyards and got fruit of corn,” at which that workman rejoiced who said, “not because I desire a gift, but I seek fruit.” “And he blessed them, and they were multiplied exceedingly, and their cattle were not diminished.” This stands. For “the foundation of God stands sure, because the Lord knows them that are his.” They are called “beasts of burden” and “cattle” that walk simply in the church yet are useful; not deeply learned but full of faith. Therefore, whether spiritual or carnal, “he blessed them.”

Source: EXPLANATION OF THE PSALMS 107:8
[AD 749] John Damascene on Malachi 1:11
It was with bread and wine that Melchizedek, the priest of the most high God, received Abraham, when he was returning from the slaughter of the alien tribes. That altar prefigured this mystical altar, even as that priest was a type and a figure of the true archpriest, who is Christ. For “you,” he says, “are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.” This bread was prefigured by the loaves of proposition. This is quite plainly the pure and unbloody sacrifice which the Lord, through the mouth of the prophet, said was to be offered to him from the rising of the sun even to its going down.

Source: ORTHODOX FAITH 4:13
[AD 1781] Richard Challoner on Malachi 1:11
A clean oblation: Viz., the precious body and blood of Christ in the eucharistic sacrifice.
[AD 1781] Richard Challoner on Malachi 1:13
Behold of our labour: You pretended labour and weariness, when you brought your offering; and so made it of no value, by offering it with an evil mind. Moreover, what you offered was both defective in itself, and gotten by rapine and extortion.