Malachi 3:17 - And they shall be Mine, says Jehovah of Hosts, for the day that I will make up My treasure. And I will pity them as a man has pity on his son who serves him. -- Green's Literal.
HAD Jehovah sent us forth to seek Jesus' bride, we might have gathered in some whom he rejects as unworthy -- because we are unable to read the heart. This thought should make us very humble, gentle and meek toward all, and very trustful of Jehovah, and very much inclined to look for his leading in respect to our labors as his servants, just as Samuel looked to Jehovah in connection with the anointing of David. -- Based on excerpt from the article, "The Lord Looketh on the Heart", Watch Tower, July 15, 1903.
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The Hebrew word rendered as "treasure" above is a form Strong's Hebrew #5459, which is often transliterated as segullah. Brown-Driver-Briggs give this word the meaning of "valued property", "peculiar treasure". In our text above it is singular, but in the next sentence, the Hebrew text refers to this singular "treasure" by using a plural form which rendered above as "them". Thus, while viewed as a singular treasure, that singular treasure is made up of many individuals.
We know that the nation of Israel is often referred to as God's "holy/peculiar people". Likewise, those who belong to Christ in this age are also designated as God's "holy/peculiar people". In our text, however, Jehovah appears to be referring to the result of the work being done in the present age. As applied to the church, it would be the time when "we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a full grown man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ." (Ephesians 13, World English) This work is done by God in us, for as the apostle stated: "I planted. Apollos watered. But God gave the increase." -- 1 Corinthians 3:6. -- Ronald R. Day, Sr.
References:
Bible Hub's Hebrew Analysis of Malachi 3:17
Commentaries on Malachi 3:17
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