Commentaries:
Barnes' Notes
And He shall sit - o as a King and Judge on His throne, with authority, yet also to try accurately the cause of each, separating seeming virtues from real graces; hypocrites, more or less consciously, from His true servants.
He shall purify o the sons of Levi - These had been first the leaders in degeneracy, the corrupters of the people by their example and connivance. Actually Acts 6:7, "a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith." Barnabas also was a Levite. Acts 4:36. But more largely, as Zion and Jerusalem are the titles for the Christian Church, and Israel who believed was the true Israel, so "the sons of" Levi are the true Levites, the Apostles and their successors in the Christian priesthood.
It was through three centuries of persecutions that the Church was purified by fire.
That they may offer - , literally "and they shall be unto thy Lord offers of a meal-offering in righteousness," i. e., they shall be such, and that, habitually, abidingly. Again, here and in the next words, "and the meal-offering of Judah shall be pleasant unto the Lord," it is remarkable, that the "meal-offering," to which the holy eucharist corresponds, is alone mentioned. Of bloody offerings Malachi is silent, for they were to cease.
In righteousness - , as Zacharias prophesied, "that we might serve Him in holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our life."
Other Barnes' Notes entries containing Malachi 3:3:
1 Samuel 2:17
Job 28:1
Psalms 66:10
Proverbs 25:5
Isaiah 4:4
Isaiah 6:7
Haggai 2:6
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