Behold, I send. He answers them: What you desire—that the God of justice reveal Himself, immediately punish the wicked, and reward the righteous—cannot occur in the present age. For the world is now still a realm of free choice and trial, and everything must proceed according to the way of nature so that people remain free to do good or evil and there remains room for trial, reward, and punishment. If the Holy One, blessed be He, were to reveal Himself in His glory, it would no longer be conceivable for anyone to commit an evil deed, since even for a minor sin he would be punished immediately and removed from the world, and all would fear to do evil. Therefore, this path—by which Hashem Himself will go forth to His creatures to judge them and govern them in this manner—has not yet been cleared or prepared in the present age. Only after the world has been perfected will “Behold, I send My messenger, and he shall clear this path before Me.” First, a prophet will go forth in Hashem’s name and clear this path of every stumbling block—that is, he will bring the world to repentance. Then, once the world has been perfected and the path prepared, “Hashem whom you seek will suddenly come to His Temple.” Hashem will then come to dwell in His Temple below and walk among you. At that time, “the messenger of the covenant whom you desire—behold,” he has come, for the messenger will arrive before Hashem, Hashem of Hosts. He is the messenger who will bring the world into the covenant of Torah and faith and into the covenant between humanity and God. Our Sages explained that this is Elijah, the messenger of the covenant, who will come first to turn many away from sin and who displayed zeal for the covenant at Shittim and in the days of Ahab.

But who can endure? At that time, who will be able to endure even the day of His coming? Even before Hashem Himself appears, no one will be able to withstand the overwhelming fear produced merely by the arrival of that day. How much more so, who can stand when He appears? At the moment of His revelation, no creature will be able to stand. For He is like a refiner’s fire: He will remove all impurities, like fire that refines metals and removes their dross. He is also like the soap of launderers: just as launderers’ soap removes even the smallest stain from a garment and purifies it completely, so will He purify Israel. That is, the wicked, who resemble dross, He will remove by the fire that consumes them; and the righteous He will also cleanse, removing every stain from them until they are like a clean, pure, and whitened garment.

And He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver. After refining away the dross—the wicked—which will occur immediately upon His appearance, He will then sit permanently and continue to refine and purify even the silver. That is, He will refine once more even the good people who remain after the dross and the wicked have been separated, like one who refines a second time pure silver from which the dross has already been removed and which is already properly called silver. As it is written, “Silver refined in a furnace upon the earth, purified seven times.” And He shall purify the sons of Levi: He will purify even the tribe of Levi, who resemble silver. And He shall refine them like gold and silver. This purification will resemble the refining of gold and silver: because gold is more precious, it requires greater refinement than silver, and greater care is taken to remove its impurities. Likewise, He will refine the sons of Aaron within the tribe of Levi more thoroughly than the other members of the tribe. And they shall be those who present an offering to Hashem in righteousness: the priests who serve Hashem by presenting offerings before Him will be only those who belonged to Hashem through righteousness—that is, through good deeds between man and God, which fall under the category of righteousness. As explained in Ezekiel, chapter 43, only the priests descended from Zadok will be fit to offer sacrifices in the future Temple. The other priests who did not remain steadfast in their righteousness will not approach the altar to offer a sacrifice to Hashem.

And it shall be pleasing to Hashem. Then the offering of Judah shall be pleasing as in the days of old. Our Sages explained “as in the days of old” to mean the days of Moses, and “as in former years” to mean the days of Solomon, when fire descended from heaven and consumed the burnt offering; so shall it be in the future. Another interpretation: “As in the days of old” means the days of Noah, and “as in former years” means the days of Abel, when idolatry did not yet exist. That is, idolatry will likewise cease to exist in those days, and Hashem will be One and His name One.

And I will draw near. That is, what you seek—that Hashem be present among human beings in this age to judge the righteous and the wicked and immediately dispense their rewards and punishments—cannot occur until the future time of the world’s perfection. Then, not even the slightest form of sin will be found, for Hashem will enter into judgment by fire. The present age, however, is a world of free choice, change, and trial, and therefore cannot be governed in this manner. Nevertheless, although I conduct Myself toward idolaters through concealment, allowing the world to follow its natural course and the wicked to prosper until the appointed end, when I will sit in judgment over all the nations, I will draw near to you for judgment even before that future time. Therefore, He says, “And I will draw near,” indicating that He will come before the distant appointed time. This means that His judgments upon Israel will not remain as distant from them as they are from the idolatrous nations. Although this judgment will not be like that of the future age, when He will refine away even the slightest impurity and minor sin, nevertheless, I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers and the adulterers and those who commit other grave transgressions. Against these I will be a swift witness even before that distant future time. This is because I cannot refrain from punishing you until your measure of sin is full, for you would then be utterly destroyed. This is the meaning of what follows:

For I, Hashem, have not changed My word or My promise at any time. I promised the forefathers that I would not destroy you; and because I have not changed My promise, you, the children of Jacob, have not been consumed. I am therefore compelled to exact punishment from you for your sins immediately, before your measure of sin becomes full, at which point you would deserve total destruction. But regarding the idolatrous nations, whom I did not promise that I would not destroy, I wait until their measure is full, and then they are utterly destroyed. Our Sages similarly interpreted this verse in the first chapter of Sotah, teaching that the Holy One, blessed be He, exacts punishment from Israel little by little. They cite this verse as proof: “I, Hashem, have not changed”—I have never struck a nation and then struck it a second time, for it is destroyed by the first blow; “but you, the children of Jacob, have not been consumed.” They thus explained that He punishes Israel immediately so that they will not be destroyed when their measure of sin becomes full.

From the days. He begins to rebuke them for failing to separate the priestly gifts and tithes. He says: From the days of your forefathers, you have departed from My statutes, for they too were not careful about the priestly gifts and tithes. I therefore warn you: Return to Me, and I will return to you. Because of the sin of neglecting the priestly gifts and tithes, the rains are withheld, for the laws of heaven depend upon these statutes. When you departed from the statutes of the priestly gifts and tithes, I removed the laws governing rain and produce; but if you return to Me, I will return to bestow rain and blessing.

Will a man rob? Is it proper for a person to rob God by withholding what is due to Him? And when you say, “How have we robbed You?”—it is through the tithes and the priestly gifts, which are Hashem’s portion.

With a curse. In particular, you gain nothing from this theft, for through it you are cursed with a curse; nevertheless, you continue to rob Me. And the whole nation does this, not merely a few individuals.

Bring. He explains the meaning of “Return to Me, and I will return to you”: Bring the entire tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be sustenance in My House for the Levites who guard the Temple and the priests who serve in the House of Hashem. They are like members of Hashem’s household, whose sustenance is His responsibility. And test Me, if you please, in this. Although it is forbidden to test Hashem, as it is written, “You shall not test Hashem,” this is permitted, because it is not a test but an examination. There is a distinction between testing and examining: one who tests something seeks to discover whether it possesses a capacity beyond what has previously been known of it—for example, testing whether gold has the power of magnetic attraction. One who examines something, however, determines whether it conforms to its ordinary nature—for example, examining gold to see whether it is free of impurities. If the blessing were produced through nature and the influence of the stars, this would constitute a test, since nature cannot provide more than its natural limits allow. But I promise: I will open for you the windows of heaven and pour out blessing for you beyond the limits of nature. The blessing will continue until there is no limit, for a blessing that comes through the natural heavens necessarily has a boundary, and upon reaching that boundary one must say, “Enough.” But Hashem’s blessing, which comes miraculously, has no boundary and will never be told, “Enough,” for it will continue increasing without end. This is therefore not a test but an examination, since the blessing comes from Hashem’s treasury, where it does not exceed His power. Moreover, because He has already promised the blessing, this merely examines whether He will fulfill His word. Thus, our Sages related that Reish Lakish heard a child say, “Tithe so that you may become wealthy.” He asked him, “Is it permissible to test God?” The child answered, “In this manner it is permissible, as it is written, ‘Test Me, if you please, in this.’” The child meant that this does not fall within the category of the forbidden testing of Hashem; it is merely an examination, and no prohibition was given against examination.

And I will rebuke. For your sake, I will also rebuke the locust that devours the produce, so that it will not destroy the fruit of the soil; likewise, the vine will not miscarry its fruit.

And they shall call you fortunate. Consequently, all the nations will consider you fortunate when they see that yours is the land in which Hashem delights, which He blesses and over which He exercises His Providence.

They have been strong. After initially mentioning their question concerning the prosperity of the wicked, from which they sought to prove that there is no Providence or justice—as stated, “Everyone who does evil is good in the eyes of Hashem,” or, “Where is the God of justice?”—and after giving them the answer to this question, He says that your words have still been strong against Me. You have not accepted the preceding answer, but persist in arguing against Me and attempting to refute My words, for—

You have said. That is, they reply that although the preceding answer resolves the difficulty posed by the prosperity of the wicked, the suffering of righteous people who have not sinned yet live lives of misery still remains unexplained. Therefore, you have said, “It is futile to serve God.” This means that such service provides no benefit, either to the One served or to the one who serves. It does not benefit the One served, for one cannot say that Hashem desires this service because He needs it; that would be a futile and meaningless claim, since Hashem has no need of our service: “If you are righteous, what do you give Him?” Concerning this they say, “It is futile to serve God.” Nor does it benefit the servant, for one might say that Hashem commanded this service not for His own need but so that the servant might receive a reward for it. Concerning this they say, “What profit is there in our having kept His charge?” We have gained nothing from it, for we have walked mournfully before Hashem of Hosts. We have labored in vain in our service and have received no reward whatsoever; on the contrary—

And now we call the arrogant fortunate. They do not labor to serve Hashem, yet those who practice wickedness have also prospered and have lost nothing. They have even tested God to see whether He could punish them, yet they escaped, for no harm whatsoever befell them.

Then. That is, the true God-fearing people, who do not serve in order to receive a reward, also discussed these matters with one another. From them they concluded that this world is not the world of reward and punishment, but the world of trial. The very fact that the righteous suffer in this world elevates their service to a higher level: they serve neither from fear of punishment nor in expectation of reward, but from exalted reverence for Hashem, since they do not expect to be rewarded in this world for their service. This is pleasing in the eyes of Hashem, who knows all hidden things. And Hashem attended and heard, and a book of remembrance was written before Him. Although He did not reward them in this world for their good deeds, He recorded their deeds in the special book kept before Him as a remembrance for those who fear Hashem and contemplate His name. For the very fact that they remained steadfast in their faith despite the many evils and troubles that befell them demonstrates that they truly fear Hashem. Their fear is not self-directed fear—that is, fear of punishment—but fear of Hashem, the awe of His exaltedness. They do not serve with reward or recompense in mind, but only to sanctify His unique name. They serve without intending to receive a reward, and at that time they were inscribed in this book as a remembrance.

And they shall be Mine, says Hashem, as a treasure for the day that I prepare. The order of the words is: “And they shall be My treasure for the day that I prepare.” Hashem stores up for them a treasure—a precious store reserved for that day. Just as they served Him out of love, so shall they be a treasured possession to Hashem and receive a precious, treasured reward. And I will have compassion upon them, as a man has compassion upon his son who serves him. A servant or laborer who works for wages is paid immediately; but a son who serves his father out of love is not paid at once. Instead, his father prepares a lasting treasure for him, one that will endure for generations and never be lost. Likewise, those who serve out of love, without expectation of reward, are not rewarded in this world, which is transitory and in which their reward would also pass away. Rather, He stores up their reward to give them in the future, in the eternal world, where their reward will be great, everlasting, and without limit.

And you shall return. At that time, you will return to this world by rising in the resurrection of the dead, and you shall see the difference between the righteous and the wicked. You will also see a distinction among the righteous themselves: between one who serves God and one who does not serve Him. That is, between one who serves out of love, whose ultimate purpose is to serve God, and one who serves in expectation of reward or from fear of punishment. The latter does not serve as a true servant should—without regard for receiving a reward—for this is the manner of a hired laborer, not a servant. When one serves in order to receive a reward, the primary purpose of the service is his own benefit, rather than the service of God. Thus, our Sages said in tractate Hagigah: “Is not ‘the righteous’ identical with ‘one who serves God’? Rather, both ‘one who serves Him’ and ‘one who does not serve Him’ are completely righteous. Yet one who reviews his lesson one hundred times cannot be compared to one who reviews it one hundred and one times.”

For behold, the day is coming. He depicts the Day of Judgment, when the fire of punishment will burn like the fire of a furnace. Because of their wickedness, the wicked are destined to be consumed by this fire like straw, and the day will set them ablaze until neither root nor branch remains of them.

And it shall shine. But for you who fear My name—the righteous who served out of love—righteousness, meaning the good deeds they performed, will be like a shining sun. Therefore, He calls it “the sun of righteousness.” This sun will bring healing in its wings from the burning heat. The image is that the Divine light will be revealed in both of its aspects, for light contains both illumination and fire: it will reveal its illumination to the righteous and its fire to the wicked, as it is written, “The light of Israel shall become a fire,” as I explained there.

And you shall go forth and spread out like calves of the stall—the calves brought in to thresh the grain, which eat while treading it beneath their feet. He now explains what they will thresh:

And you shall trample the wicked. They will tread the wicked beneath their feet until they become like a crushed mass, for they will be like ashes beneath the soles of your feet. The burning heat will consume them and reduce them to ashes, and you will tread upon those ashes until they become a compacted mass.

Remember the Torah of Moses. With these words the prophet concluded his message. This was the final prophecy, after which no prophet or seer would prophesy again until the time of the End. He therefore informed them that from then onward they should no longer expect to receive the word of Hashem through prophecy. Instead, they must remember the Torah of Moses, observe everything written in it, and allow it to instruct them in what they should do.

Behold. Before the coming of the great day, prophecy will return to you through the greatest of the prophets, Elijah the prophet, who will then reveal himself.

And he shall turn. He will bring the entire world to repentance. He will turn the hearts of the children who have been led away from the Torah of their forefathers back toward their fathers, so that they return to the religion and Torah of their ancestors; and through this, he will turn the hearts of the fathers toward their children. He explains why Elijah will be sent in advance at that time to set the people upon the proper path: lest I come suddenly and strike the entire land with utter destruction. He will therefore first send the messenger of the covenant to bring them to repentance and prepare them before Hashem comes to judge the earth; then sovereignty shall belong to Hashem.