Malachi 1:5

5 You will see these things with your own eyes. And you will say, 'The Lord is great, even outside the borders of Israel!'"

Malachi 1:5 Meaning and Commentary

Malachi 1:5

And your eyes shall see
The destruction of the Edomites, and their fruitless attempts to rebuild their desolate places; and the difference between them and the Israelites, who were returned to their own land, and inherited it, when they could not; and the love of God to the one, and his hatred of the other:

and ye shall say, The Lord will be magnified from the border of
Israel;
Aben Ezra interprets it, ye that dwelt in the border of Israel shall say, the Lord shall be magnified, or let him be magnified; let greatness and glory be ascribed to him for what he has done: or, as Kimchi, give him praise and greatness because you are dwelling in your border, and their border is desolate; and your border is called the border of Israel, but theirs the border of wickedness; and so the Targum,

``let the glory of the Lord be multiplied, because he hath enlarged the border of Israel;''

and, according to Jarchi, the sense is, he shall show his greatness from our border, to make it known that we are his people: all show and own that God had loved them more than others, and therefore they ought to have honoured and obeyed him, in which they were deficient, and so ungrateful.

Malachi 1:5 In-Context

3 but I hated Esau. I destroyed his mountain country and left his land to the wild dogs of the desert."

4 The people of Edom might say, "We were destroyed, but we will go back and rebuild the ruins." But the Lord All-Powerful says, "If they rebuild them, I will destroy them. People will say, 'Edom is a wicked country. The Lord is always angry with the Edomites.'

5 You will see these things with your own eyes. And you will say, 'The Lord is great, even outside the borders of Israel!'"

6 The Lord All-Powerful says, "A child honors his father, and a servant honors his master. I am a father, so why don't you honor me? I am a master, so why don't you respect me? You priests do not respect me. "But you ask, 'How have we shown you disrespect?'

7 "You have shown it by bringing unclean food to my altar. "But you ask, 'What makes it unclean?' "It is unclean because you don't respect the altar of the Lord.