The Hebrew word for fuller in Malachi is kâbaç, kaw-bas’; a primitive root; to trample.

We study the meanings behind ancient words of languages so old that the language itself has evolved. Our English dictionary includes how a word is misspelled or mispronounced as well as new usages or definition. English is so fluid it is difficult for some of us to keep track of current listings.

God knows about our abuse of language. The will of God is not frustrated by our failure to communicate properly. It is true that we often do use the wrong word by mistake. Some of us more than others. Sometimes it comes down too typing to fast and not editing our posts.

Self-editing will allow some mistakes to slip threw. It happens. That does not mean that God cannot use our tiny flaws to touch someone in a way we have not intended.

We that write and teach and correct and study diligently may get so busy in our conscious efforts that we forget it is God who is in charge of what is on our hearts.

I ramble from time to time in personal conversations and exasperate my listeners to the point of wanting to scream at me to stop belaboring the point. Did that expose impatience in the listener? Could God use my bad habits to speak to someone about their own faults?

I will repeat myself sometimes when I perceive that someone is not listening. Will that be used of God to point out how easily someone is distracted?

We are all imperfect creations with our own little quirks. That does not hinder God from using us in ways we did not intend or even aware of in the moment.

As an example of understanding, after the pastor has given his sermon, in the congregation, axe others what they heard that was meaningful.

Malachi 3:1-3 English Standard Version

¹ “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. ² But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap. ³ He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the Lord.

As we return to these passages in Malachi let us extinguish the notion that soap is used in the forging process. A refiner’s fire is used on molten metal to remove impurities but the metal has not been formed into any usable shape. The association between the forge and the finished shape requires a fuller to be used in the blacksmithing process. Associating the term fuller here with that process is an error which is a mistake easily made.

The Hebrew word for fuller in Malachi is kâbaç, kaw-bas’; a primitive root; to trample.

The use of the word was in reference to the trade of washing clothes by stomping on with the feet, hence the need for soap. This is meant to illuminate the garments to be cleansed which are used to identify ones status within the community. It matters not your position, but rather the need for a clean wardrobe. No one should be ashamed.

This can take us back by way of remembrance to a comment about the trampling under of His feet.

Psalm 91:13 English Standard Version (ESV) You will tread on the lion and the adder; the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot.