Malachi 1:14

But cursed be the deceiver,.... A cunning, crafty, subtle man, who thinks and contrives, speaks and acts, in a very artful and deceiving manner; though some derive the word from יכל, "to be able";

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.

Now comes a thunder-clap from heaven against sinners, who were before reproved. Cursed be the deceiver; the hypocrite, that doth deceive man, and would deceive God; the false heart, that intends one thing and pretends another, would seem to offer a sacrifice of the best, but puts God off with the worst. A male; a perfect male, such as God requireth and accepteth. Voweth: in vows God required very perfect and unblemished offerings, ,19; but there are jugglers that vow corrupt things, when they have what is perfect, and should vow that. And sacrificeth unto the Lord a corrupt thing; solemnly sacrificeth the worst, wholly unfit for acceptance. Any thing but the best we have is this corrupt thing, for the best we have is justly commanded, and that only is acceptable to the Lord. I am a great King; very full of majesty, and therefore will by no means be slighted. My name is dreadful among the heathen: heathens reverence this name, and will do so when converted, and you Jews ought not to undervalue it. Now comes a thunder-clap from heaven against sinners, who were before reproved. My name is dreadful among the heathen: heathens reverence this name, and will do so when converted, and you Jews ought not to undervalue it.

Malachi 1:14 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.Ver. 14. But cursed be that deceiver] Cursed with a curse both verbal and penal; temporal and spiritual, Malachi 3:9. These last light heavy, such as are hardness of heart and horror of conscience, though less observed; because they come into the deceiver’ s bowels like water, and like oil into his bones; they soak and sink into his soul insensibly, Romans 1:28 Matthew 27:5 Psalms 109:18. He hath his death about him (as we say of one that hath drunk poison, or eaten an Italian fig), though he fall not down dead immediately. He is accursed, and he shall be so, as, in a contrary sense, Isaac said of his son Jacob, He is blessed, and he shall be blessed. But usually the visible vengeance of God dogs the deceiver at the heels; his sin finds him out, and lays him open to others, as an accursed person. This was Cain’ s case and curse, Genesis 4:15. God sets a mark upon him; probably it was the perpetual trembling of his hands and whole body, through the horror of his conscience. So, not long before, when Adam had played the deceiver, and hearkened to that old impostor, the subtle serpent, God spared him, but cursed the ground (as the Persians, when their noblemen’ s sons had made a fault, hanged up their coats and whipped them in their presence): "Cursed is the ground for thy sake: thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth," Genesis 3:17. And the truth is, it was never beautiful nor cheerful since that curse inflicted; but lies bedridden, waiting for the coming of the second Adam to free it from that heavy curse, Romans 8:20. The barren fig tree felt the power of Christ’ s curse even to admiration, Matthew 21:20 "For when the disciples saw it, they marvelled, saying, How soon is the fig tree withered away!" They might marvel well enough; for the fig tree is the most juiceful of any tree, and bears the brunt of winter-blasts without withering. But the blasts of Christ’ s mouth are more powerful. He can blow men to destruction, Job 4:9., as so many dust-heaps; yea, frown, not some single fig tree only, but the whole vineyard to desolation. "It is burnt with fire, it is consumed: they perish at the rebuke of thy countenance," Psalms 80:16. Men may curse, and no hurt follow; "the curse causeless shall not come," Proverbs 26:2. Micah’ s mother cursed when she lost her money, Judges 17:2; but who cared or fared the worse for that? And the like may be said of Julius Palmer the martyr’ s mother, when he craved her blessing upon his knees, she drove him out of doors for a heretic, and said, God’ s curse and mine go with thee.

(14) Some consider that two cases are mentioned in this verse. (1) One who acts deceitfully (by offering a female as a burnt offering, which is contrary to the Law, while there is in his flock a male); (2) and one who makes a vow (to offer a sacrifice of peace offerings, for which either a male or a female was allowable, provided it were without a blemish: Leviticus 22:23), and then offers an animal that has a blemish. But it is better to understand but one case to be mentioned—viz., that of a man who vows, and while he has a male in his flock offers a female with a blemish. A female without blemish would be admissible as a vow offering, but a male without blemish would be the most valuable, because it could be offered as a burnt offering, whereas a female could not; while a female with a blemish would be the very worst, and actually illegal. A man is not bound to make a vow, but if he make one his offering should be of the very best, just as he would not dare to offer to a king or to his ruler (Malachi 1:6) anything but the best. How cursed, then, must he be who, while he possesses the best, deliberately makes a vow to God, and then offers Him the very worst.

Verse 14. Cursed be the deceiver] Those who act thus, as they cannot elude God's notice, so neither shall they escape his curse. And voweth, and sacrificeth - a corrupt thing] The history of Ananias and Sapphira, Acts 5:1, c., is a complete comment on this. It was high time to break up this corrupt service and after this time God does not appear to have paid any regard to it, for he sent them no other prophet.

14. a corrupt thing] or, a blemished thing, R.V. The word is feminine, and the meaning may perhaps be, that for a perfect male, which he has in his flock and therefore could offer, as the law required (Leviticus 22:18-19), he substituted a blemished female.

Cursed is the deceiver - o “The fraudulent, hypocritical, false or deceitful dealer, who makes a show of one thing, and doth or intends another, nor doth to his power what he would make a show of

14. To the specific condemnation of the priests is added a curse upon all Israelites whose worship is insincere. The deceiver — One who seeks to deceive Jehovah in the manner described in the succeeding clauses.