Malachi 4

Clinton R. Gill Commentary On Malachi 4BEHOLD, THE DAY COMETH Malachi 4:1-6 Malachi 4:1 —The association of fire with the final judgement is a theme which runs throughout much of the Scriptures. Daniel describes it vividly. (Daniel 7:9-10) The Psalmist sang of it. (Psalms 1:3) Peter affirms it at some length. (2 Peter 3:7-10) Malachi promises that those who feel this final fire will be with­out hope of springing again to life. They will be without branch or root. (See Amos 2:9)) Malachi 4:2 —The prophet does not, however, limit his vision of the coming day to that of doom. In contrast, he presents the effects of its coming on God’ s people. On those who fear His name the sun of right­eousness shall rise with healing in its (His) wings. Here is one of the most picturesque descriptions of the Messiah to be found in the Old Testament. To dissect it is to destroy it. Suffice it to say, that as the sun is the light and source of life to all the eaith, so the Christ is the light and giver of life to the true worshipper. Malachi 4:3 –When this day comes, and the wicked are punished by fire while God’ s people aire freed from all care, the question of Mal 3:15 will finally be answered. Jesus’ rehearsal of the fate of the rich man and Lazarus is a fine illustration of this truth, (cf. Luke l6:19-ff) The unrighteous rich who lord it over the righteous poor will, in that day, find their situations completely reversed … eternally and completely. In out present day, when churches have become pre-occupied with alleviating the temporal needs of men, regardless of their spiritual con­dition, and when making a profit in business has become, to some, im­moral regardless of the good that may be done with such wealth, the idea that the iniquities of this life will be rectified in the next is passe to some. In the presence of this spiritual blindness, God’ s people dare not lose sight of our obligation to be concerned for men’ s temporal needs in Jesus’ name. (cf. Matthew 25:31-46 Matthew 25:1 John 3:16-18) But this concern can, by no form of logc, negate the coming day of judgement Nor can such concern negate the fact that the injustices of wicked men who prey upon the righteous and deprive the weak obviously go unpunished here and now. Honesty, in business, is not always the “best policy” for those whose chief purpose is personal gain. Just as surely as this is so, so does the justice of God demand a day’ of reckoning. For those who come to Christ, the day of reckoning was held on Calvary (Romans 3:25-26). For those who do not fear God, the time of reckoning is yet to come and it will. Malachi 4:4-6 —Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, even statutes and ordinances. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of Jehovah come. And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the chil­dren, and the heart of the children to their fathers; lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.The Old Testament Scriptures close with a prophetic plea to God’ s people to remember the law of Moses. It would be some four hundred years before Jehovah would speak again. In the interim, if they are to survive as His people, the law must be remembered. Special attention is called to the statutes, that is those portions of the law dealing with religious ceremony. These ceremonies, as we have seen, were designed to keep visually and tangibly before the people an object lesson of the coming Lamb of God. If they were to fall into disuse before He came, Calvary would indeed be hard to comprehend. Fortunately, they did not fall into disuse. During the Maccabean period and shortly thereafter (c. 160 B.C.), the party known as the Pharisees came into being for the express purpose of maintaining the literal outward observances of the statutes governing the Mosaic cere­monies in worship. Regrettably the Pharisees became obsessed with the letter to the neglect of the spirit of these observances, but they did. quite significantly, preserve the form. In calling for remembrance of the law, Malachi does so in such a way as to provide the people one last term of its covenant meaning. The burden of the last Old Testament writer was delivered to a stiff­necked and rebellious people. They prided themselves on being Jehovah’ s people, but he bluntly declared, “I have no pleasure in you, saith Je­hovah of hosts.” (Malachi 1:10) They thought they could play fast and loose with God, but Malachi reminded them of the greatness of Him with Whom they had to do, (Malachi 1:14) In their faithlessness, Mal­achi reminds them of the covenant, and told them flatly they were breaking it. (Malachi 2:1-9) He despaired of the nation as a whole and of the race as a race. He foresaw the coming of a terrible day in which this proud and wicked people would be utterly consumed. But the remnant would survive, made up of those who individu­ally feared Jehovah (Malachi 4:2) and thought upon His name. That is, those who had come to understand the true character of the eternal God and His purpose for all men. (Malachi 3:16) These faithful would be spared only because they had fulfilled God’ s covenant conditions (cf. Exodus 19:5-6) laid down on Mount Horeb (Sinai). Those who were so spared would be God’ s true Israel; all the rest were doomed.

Verse 1 Malachi Chapter Four This brief chapter of six verses is, in the Hebrew Bible, included with Malachi 3. It is an appropriate and exciting close to the Book of Malachi, to the voice of Prophecy, and to the Old Testament Canon of the Bible. “For behold, the day cometh, it burneth as a furnace; and all the proud, and all that work wickedness, shall be stubble; and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith Jehovah of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.“This is a reference to the final judgment, at which time God will make a summary end of wicked and rebellious men. The unique survivors of that holocaust will be those from all ages, the people of God, the redeemed in Christ. Neither Christ, nor any of the apostles, ever softened or reduced the intensity of this promise in any manner. John the Baptist, revealed later in the chapter as the forerunner of the Judge, used exactly the same figure: “But the chaff he will burn up with unquenchable fire” (Matthew 3:12). Christ himself spoke of, “The eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 12:42). Peter spelled it out at some length, “The heavens that now are, and the earth, by the same word have been stored up for fire, being reserved against the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men” (2 Peter 3:7). It is of no consequence whatever that wicked men simply do not believe this; God will accomplish it just the same. “But a righteous God would not destroy all men!” That is what the ante-diluvian world thought; and the same God who promised that he would not again destroy the earth with a flood, has also promised a second and terminal destruction by fire. My God give men the grace to believe what he has revealed. Verse 2 “But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth and gambol as calves of the stall.“Note that we have capitalized “Sun of Righteousness,” as in the Authorized Version, there being no sufficient reason whatever for writing it “sun of righteousness,” as in our version and many others. Clinton R. Gill is the only commentator we found who spoke out against the popular fad of denying the identity of Christ in this passage. He wrote: “Here is one of the most picturesque descriptions of the Messiah to be found in the Old Testament. To dissect it is to destroy it. Suffice it to say, that as the sun is the light and source of life to all the earth, so the Christ is the light and giver of life to the true worshipper."[1]“The Sun of Righteousness was understood by the fathers, from Justin downwards, and nearly all the earlier commentators to be Christ, who is supposed to be described as the rising sun.[2]… At least as early as the time of Coverdale (1535), the sun of righteousness was understood to be Jesus. This interpretation is continued in “The Translators to the Readers” of the King James Version: “But when the fullness of time drew near, that Sunne of Righteousness, the Son of God should come into the world."[3] (Neither Keil nor Lewis, however, accepted this). To us, there are insurmountable obstacles to accepting the current scholarly position regarding this passage. We confess a positive certainty that they are all wrong about it. The instinct of the ancients regarding who is meant by the Sun of Righteousness is a far better guide than the doubts of the world’s current crop of scholars. What is the reason for denying the reference here to Christ? It hinges, absolutely, upon the use of a feminine pronoun with the Hebrew word for “sun,” which is also feminine here: The Hebrew uses a feminine pronoun “her wings” to agree with sun ([~shemesh]) which is a feminine noun in Hebrew.[4]The thing that astounds us is that none of the scholars suggests “emending” this text to remove the difficulty. They never hesitate to “emend it” in order to create a difficulty! But what about this reference to the sun as feminine? The Hebrew Bible uses both masculine and feminine references to the sun. J. M. Powis Smith stated that: “It is usually masculine, but it is feminine here and in Genesis 15:17; Jeremiah 15:9; Nahum 3:17, and Isaiah 45:8."[5] In all of these passages, “sun” is clearly a reference to the solar orb; and so it must be considered here. And that celestial body cannot represent anyone ever heard of on earth, except the Lord Jesus Christ. Certainly, it is far more likely that Our Lord is indicated here than it is that, “The Babylonian sun-god Shamash” should be considered as having any “connection with the sun of righteousness'"[6] mentioned here. How amazing it is that liberal scholars who cannot find Jesus anywhere in the passage can discover the heathen sun-god of ancient Babylon! The witness of the whole Bible identifies God (and Christ) with the sun, or the rising sun: "He (God) shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth (<a href="/bible/parallel/2SA/23/4" class="green-link">2 Samuel 23:4</a>) ... Jehovah God is a sun and a shield (<a href="/bible/parallel/PSA/84/11" class="green-link">Psalms 84:11</a>) ... The Dayspring (the sun-rising) from on high shall visit us (<a href="/bible/parallel/LUK/1/78" class="green-link">Luke 1:78</a>) ... There was the true light (Christ) even the light that lighteth every man, coming into the world (<a href="/bible/parallel/JHN/1/9" class="green-link">John 1:9</a>) ... I am the light of the world (<a href="/bible/parallel/JHN/8/12" class="green-link">John 8:12</a>) ... Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead; and Christ shall shine upon thee (<a href="/bible/parallel/EPH/5/14" class="green-link">Ephesians 5:14</a>) ... Ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the Day-Star (which is the sun, of course) arise in your hearts (<a href="/bible/parallel/2PE/1/19" class="green-link">2 Peter 1:19</a>). "The Sun of Righteousness" here in Malachi fits Jesus Christ alone, and no other. No idiosyncracy of Hebrew grammar can hide this fact which is as clear as the sun at perihelion! One other notable testimony should be observed. If the passage here has a feminine cast (and it does), why do all the late versions translate, "sun of righteousness with healing in its wings?" The answer is, that they know the feminine does not fit here, and so they must substitute the neuter. Why not substitute the masculine, as did the translators of the KJV? That, at least, has the advantage of being in line with what the passage has to mean. The de-personalization of this promise of the "Sun of Righteousness" is widely advocated. Hailey has this: "Righteousness itself is the sun that shall arise with healing in its rays or beams. This divine righteousness will be as accessible to all as is the light from the rays of the sun."[7]However, there is no righteousness, nor was there ever any, apart from the Lord Jesus Christ. "The righteousness of God through the faith of Jesus Christ" (<a href="/bible/parallel/ROM/3/22" class="green-link">Romans 3:22</a>) is that righteousness revealed "in the gospel" (<a href="/bible/parallel/ROM/1/17" class="green-link">Romans 1:17</a>); and that must be identified as the only righteousness that ever arose to shine over the Messianic age. Thus, there is absolutely no way to get Christ out of what is plainly meant here. Any theory that abstract, impersonal, righteousness, shall rise over the human race like fog from the great swamp, is certainly a novel and unheard of postulation. The position cited from Harley is the current, popular interpretation, followed by the vast majority of scholars today. Deane, for example, said it was, "This Divine righteousness that shall beam upon them"[8] that fear the Name of God. Despite the many concurrent opinions supporting this removal of personality from this passage, such views are unacceptable. Righteousness is simply not an impersonal quality. Righteousness is one of the names of God: Israel shall dwell safely; and this is his name whereby he shall be called: JEHOVAH- (<a href="/bible/parallel/JER/23/6" class="green-link">Jeremiah 23:6</a>) Jerusalem shall dwell safely; and this is the name whereby she shall be called: JEHOVAH- (<a href="/bible/parallel/JER/33/16" class="green-link">Jeremiah 33:16</a>) The meaning of JEHOVAH- is "The Lord Our Righteousness"; and let it be noted that Jeremiah used it in connection with both masculine and feminine words, Israel being masculine, Jerusalem being feminine; and, since Malachi's word for the fleshly Jews was no longer "Israel," but Jerusalem (feminine), that may account for his use of the feminine here. And here the reference is to the New Jerusalem, the Bride of Christ. Bennett offers the ingenious suggestion that: "The KJV, "Sun" with a capital letter is not a reference to a personal agent, but rather to a figurative representation of righteousness itself. It was not the prophet's purpose to predict Christ personally in this phrase, but to contrast what the day of judgment would present to the righteous with that which it would present to the wicked."[9]The weakness of this and all similar views lies in the invariable principle seen throughout the Bible that the judgment is not to be some automatic development, rising unaided and spontaneously from the populations of earth. It will be a personal judgment, conducted by Jesus Christ himself. Thus, the very nature of the thing alleged to be meant here forbids its separation from Divine Personality, in this case, as we believe - CHRIST. As for the notion that "it was not the prophet's purpose here to predict Christ," it must be affirmed that "the Lord's coming suddenly to his temple" (<a href="/bible/parallel/MAL/3/1" class="green-link">Malachi 3:1</a>), the forerunner "Elijah" sent to prepare the way before him (<a href="/bible/parallel/MAL/3/1" class="green-link">Malachi 3:1</a> <a href="/bible/parallel/MAL/4/5" class="green-link">Malachi 4:5-6</a>), and the "Great and terrible day of the Lord" (<a href="/bible/parallel/MAL/4/5" class="green-link">Malachi 4:5</a>) point squarely to the Lord Jesus Christ, and to no other. "Unto you that fear my name ..." This identifies the people upon whom the "Sun of Righteousness will arise with healing in his wings." The mention of "My Name" is significant. The reference is to the name of God, JEHOVAH-, The Lord Our Righteousness; thus the key to knowing what the "Sun of Righteousness" actually is, or rather WHO he is, stands at the head of the passage. Dentan noted that, "To fear my name’ means `to practice reverently my religion.’"[10]“And ye shall go forth and gambol as calves of the stall …” This is an agricultural metaphor from the care and feeding of livestock. Such carefully protected and cared-for animals exhibit a quality of playful happiness that appears most desirable. Verse 3 “And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I make, saith Jehovah of hosts.“McFadyen disapproved of what God here revealed: “In their joy, they would frisk like calves, and part of that joy would be to trample the wicked like ashes under the soles of their feet. This ugly vindictive trait reminds us how fierce the temper of the later time could be."[11]If this text is read, it must be clear that nothing in it speaks about the joy the saved shall receive from trampling the wicked or seeing them punished. There is nothing vindictive, ugly, or mean in God’s Word here, or anywhere else. What is revealed is the fact: (1) that the gross wickedness of mankind shall be burned up like stubble, (2) that the ashes will remain, and (3) that a new generation of God’s people would tread upon the ruins and remains of what preceded it. Many of earth’s great cities today are built upon the ruins of previous cities and civilizations; and the citizens of those cities are not vindictive or hateful because they are “treading” upon the ashes of former generations. Instead of complaining about what is perceived as a flaw in the character of God, men should heed what he said; for it is sure to come to pass. The destruction of the earth by fire at the end of this age, and the coming of the “new heaven and the new earth” prophesied by the apostles of Christ, leave unanswered the question of where the new heaven and the new earth will be located. Will our planet be completely removed, and a new sphere become the home of the redeemed, or does “destruction,” or “burned up” refer to a purging of the old location, which would be the site of the new? There could be a clue to the answer here. The ashes of the old will lie beneath the feet of the new. If this is correct, it would correspond to the first destruction of the earth by water. “It overflowed with water … perished.” Yet in that instance also, the remains of the old lie beneath the feet of the new. Verse 4 “Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, even statutes and ordinances.“The last three verses of Malachi are generally rejected and downgraded as an interpolation, gloss, or editorial addition to the prophecy of Malachi. As Gailey put it: “The final verses of the Book of Malachi are probably a postscript by a pious scribe, seeking to provide a suitable conclusion for the Book of Twelve (Minor) Prophets as well as for the Book of Malachi."[12]Such views are erroneous. There could be no truth at all in the allegation that this passage has any other source than the prophet who wrote the rest of the book; and even Malachi was a source secondary, God Himself being the author of the prophecy “through Malachi.” The destructive critics speak of “the editor.” What editor? There is no evidence in this prophecy or anywhere else on earth of there ever having been an “editor.” If there was one, he could not have been a Jew, for nor Jew in a thousand years would ever have closed the book with the threat of a curse upon the whole earth! So the alleged “editor” must have been a pagan, but when did the Jews allow the pagans to edit their Holy Scriptures? Furthermore, our Lord Jesus Christ himself affirmed the last two verses of this book as a genuine word from God, a true prophecy of the coming of John the Baptist to be the Herald and forerunner of the Christ. How could some interpolator, “pious scribe” (he must really have been “pious”), or editor have appended a holy, genuine, and marvelously fulfilled prophecy from God, doing so in the fraudulent act of palming off his “postscript” as an authentic portion of another man’s prophecy? One simply has to be both naive and gullible to accept the nonsense shamelessly advocated by critical enemies of the Bible. One rather timid commentator suggested that after all, “perhaps Malachi could have written these verses.” As a matter of fact, no one ever known except Malachi could have written them. “The law of Moses …” The mention of Mount Horeb, the name given in Deuteronomy for Mount Sinai, in the same clause here indicates that Deuteronomy was in the mind of the prophet. One thing that has been revealed vividly throughout the Twelve Prophets is the prior existence of the Pentateuch. All of the Minor Prophets addressed Israel in respect of the prior sacred covenant that existed between them and God; and the countless examples of appeal to specific instances of the sacred law demonstrated that at the time of these prophets, the Law of Moses was a unified whole, understood and accepted by all the people (at least in theory), and that the Pentateuch is prior to and earlier than any of the Minor Prophets. “Even the statutes and ordinances …” This reference to specific parts of the Mosaic law indicates that there was a certain complexity in it, and that all of it, even the details of it, were to be respected and obeyed. Scholars differ as to just which provisions were called “ordinances,” and which were called “statutes.” Verse 5 “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible days of Jehovah come.““Elijah …” Did this mean that Elijah who was “caught up” to the Lord, and who therefore, apparently did not die, -that he would return to prepare the way before the Lord? (2 Kings 2:1-12). Of course, the Jews generally understood this to mean that the same Elijah the Tishbite would be the one who returned. There was a strong tradition among the Jews that continues to the present day, to the effect that the literal, self-same Elijah the Tishbite, would in time return. The Feast of Purim among the Jews until this day sets a plate, goblet, and empty chair for “Elijah”; and so the myth is perpetuated. The LXX, notoriously wrong in many instances, actually translated this place, “I will send you Elias the Tishbite.” That is not what God said, nor is it what God meant. The Septuagint (LXX) introduction of a literal identification with Elijah the Tishbite into this promise of God’s sending “Elijah the prophet” was but another example of how the Jews had “improved on the Word of God” to compel its conformation with their interpretations and prejudices. We may be certain that when the Pharisee sent to inquire of John the Baptist if he was “Elijah,” that they presented the question in terminology that identified him as the Tishbite; for, at least, that is the question that John the Baptist answered, saying, “I am not” (John 1:21). The Jewish religious hierarchy had accepted that false interpretation of a literal return of Elijah for over four centuries before Christ came; and this shows that wrong interpretations long “accepted” are still, nevertheless, wrong. However, the religious “false shepherds” of Israel were without excuse for their error. (1) An angel of God had appeared in the temple, breaking a four-century absence of any such wonder. The angel had appeared to Zacharias from the right hand side of the altar of incense saying: “Thy wife Elizabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John … He shall be great in the sight of the Lord … He shall go before his face in the Spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to walk in the wisdom of the just; to make ready for the Lord a people prepared for him” (Luke 1:13-17). If there had been any spiritual discernment whatever among the whole roster of Pharisees, Sadducees, Herodians, scribes, and Elders of Israel, - if they had possessed the slightest degree of spiritual perception, they would instantly have recognized John, the son of Zachariah and Elizabeth, as the divinely appointed fulfillment of this remarkably specific promise in Malachi. Elijah would be, not the literal Tishbite, but a new personality going forth “in the spirit and power of Elijah.” Note that the very terminology of Malachi was quoted by an angel of God, “hearts of the fathers to the children,” etc. Of course, this divine revelation was rejected out of hand by the Pharisees, because it contradicted their literal view that the Tishbite was meant. Nevertheless, as Keil said: “This address of the angel gives an authentic explanation of Mal 4:5-6 : the words, “and the heart’ of the children to the fathers” being omitted, as implied in the turning of the heart of the fathers to the children, and the explanatory words, “and the unbelieving to the wisdom of the just,” being introduced in their place."13 John the Baptist himself adopted the very type of clothing worn by Elijah the Tishbite, the raiment of camel’s hair, and a leather thong around his waist, indicating that John himself was fully conscious of his identity with Elijah prophesied by Malachi. It was a clever bit of maneuvering on the part of the Pharisees to extract from John the Baptist the words, “I am not”; and the only way that could have been accomplished was for their question to have made an affirmative answer impossible, asking, “Are you Elijah the Tishbite?” If those ancient hypocrites had looked upon John with honor, had received the baptism that he preached, and had paid strict attention to the very clothing that he wore, to say nothing of the words of an angel of heaven, they would instantly have known that he was that “Elijah which was to come.” (3) The testimony of Christ that John the Baptist was indeed “that Elijah which was to come” (Matthew 17:12-13) was within a few years certainly, and much earlier probably, available to the Pharisees; but they even refused that testimony, and have continued till this day “the empty chair” routine at the annual feast of Purim! (4) The Pharisees knew that, “The Son of David,” whom they expected to ascend the throne of the literal David in Jerusalem, would nevertheless not be “the literal David,” but another of his posterity and in his likeness. It is true that there were differences in the situations as regarded Elijah and David; but the principle of two distinct personalities being stamped with a single designation was one with which they were already familiar; and they should have had no trouble at all applying it to the two Elijah’s, (1) the Tishbite, and (2) the son of Zecharias. (5) Jesus doubtless knew that the literal view of the Tishbite’s returning to earth would continue to be advocated and used by Satan throughout history; and, therefore, Jesus Christ presided over a literal return of Elijah on the mountain of transfiguration, in which event Moses and Elijah met Jesus upon the holy mountain and carried on a conversation with him in the hearing of Peter, James, and John. Whether or not the Pharisees knew of this until afterward is immaterial. They surely learned of it eventually. “That Elijah” promised by Malachi was John the Baptist. If one thinks it is a mystery why the Pharisees did not understand this, let him try to explain why a scholar like Smith would exclaim: “There is no warrant for going beyond what is written here and refusing to accept the language at its face value!"[14] The reason for such a view lies in the adamant fundamentalism of liberal scholars in all scriptural passages where a literal view contradicts spiritual truth. It was this spirit which denied the death of Jairus’ daughter on the grounds that Jesus had said, “She is not dead, but sleepeth.” (See a full discussion of the disease of “Fundamentalism Among Liberals” in my commentary on James-Jude, p. 289.) “Before the great and terrible day of Jehovah …” Deane did not identify the messenger “Elijah” ofMalachi 4:5 with the messenger that was foretold as preceding the “messenger of the Covenant” in Malachi 3:1, giving as the reason the following: “The latter (in Malachi 4:5) comes before the first advent of our Lord, the former appears before the day of judgment."[15] However, there is actually no impediment to receiving the messenger mentioned in Malachi 3:1 as the same messenger mentioned in Malachi 4:5. Peter himself identified, “The day of the Lord, the great and notable day” and “The great and terrible day of Jehovah” (Joe 2:31; Acts 2:17-20) as being the same. That “That DAY” was identified with Pentecost on one occasion (by Peter) and with the final judgment on another (by Malachi) is no problem. The frequent expression in all the Minor Prophets regarding “that day,” “the last days,” “the latter days,” and “in those days,” etc … all pertain to the Messianic Age, that is, all of the time between the first and second Advents of Christ. There is a melding and blending by all prophets of events in the Messianic times which actually are separated by vast intervals of time. Jesus himself continued this characteristic by prophesying the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple and the coming of the final judgment with a single set of answers, some portions of which are applicable to one event, some to the other, and some to both alike. (See Matthew 24.) That the two messengers of Mal 3:1 and Malachi 4:5 are identical is evident. “The thought in Malachi 4:5 is parallel to that of Mal 3:1. Prior to the Day of the Lord, a heaven-sent messenger would prepare the way."[16] “The prophet (Elijah) in 4:5 is usually identified with the messenger of Mal 3:1. Both will appear in order to make preparation for the coming of the Lord to judge his people."[17]Verse 6 “And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers; lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.“All except the last clause of this verse was discussed in the notes on the preceding Malachi 4:5. “Lest I come and smite the earth with a curse …” This verse could not have been written by any Jew who ever lived, except by the true prophet of God, Malachi. That no pious scribe, editor, or interpolator wrote it is inherent in the fact that Jews have never accepted this verse at all, even while knowing it to be a genuine part of the prophecy; and this accounts for the fact of none of their versions of the Old Testament allowing this verse to stand as the conclusion. In order to avoid it, they repeat one of the previous verses after verse 6, thus making the repeated verse to be the conclusion. Thus, the Old Testament Canon closes with an admonition for “those who fear God’s name” to keep the sacred Law, and to wait for the great Herald who would usher in the age of Messiah by calling the people to repentance and identifying the Christ himself, a mission gloriously and faithfully fulfilled by John the Baptist, whose witness of Christ is as eloquent as any found upon the sacred page: “Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the World.” It is a most significant truth that no other prophet appeared between Malachi and John the Baptist. The bitter prophecy of Hos 3:4-5, began at this point to be fulfilled. Many true souls grieved over the long spiritual drought: We see not our signs: There is no more any prophet; Neither is there among us any that knoweth how long! (Psalms 74:9). All of God’s prophets had done their work, but the people had rejected them all. There was no further word that God could send. The hardened and rebellious nation would continue to exist (according to God’s holy purpose); but the precious fellowship of other days was gone forever. A hint of all this may be found in these final six verses. This promise that God would send Elijah, who had left the earth four hundred years previously, was, “A promise which suggests that the age of the prophets is now felt to be over."[18] When that Elijah appears, his business will be that of restoring the broken harmony. In the meanwhile, let the true followers of God keep the sacred Law and await the unfolding of the purpose of the Almighty. Charles Box Commentary On Malachi 4The Work of John The Baptist- Malachi Four -The last words of the Old Testament pointed to the New Covenant and the coming Messiah who would bring redemption. The coming of the Christ to the earth had to do with the destruction of wickedness. Some wickedness will be destroyed by forgiveness of sins and sinners becoming new creatures in Christ. Paul wrote, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” (2 Corinthians 5:17) Other wickedness will be destroyed at the final judgment. John recorded these sobering words, “And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” (Revelation 20:15) This little chapter looks at both the destruction of sin by forgiveness and by judgment. Malachi 3:18 closed with the words, “Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.” The thought of this verse was that those under the New Covenant would have a much better understanding of right and wrong. They would live under the perfect law of liberty. James wrote, “But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.” (James 1:25) The people of Malachi"s day had so mixed good and evil that they could make no distinction between the two. The people said they were doing good when they were, in fact, doing evil. They wearied the Lord with this attitude. (Malachi 2:17) Malachi four begins with the word “for” or for this reason God would send his strict gospel and people would easily understand the distinction between right and wrong. Malachi wrote, “For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.” (Malachi 4:1)The Messiah would make salvation possible. But before his coming John the Baptist would come in the likeness of Elijah. Malachi 4:1 The Judgment is certain – Malachi 4:1 : Judgment is coming but the righteous will be delivered. One of the main reasons why it is so important for people to obey the gospel is coming judgment. We read, “And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.” (Acts 17:30-31) The wicked will face a fiery and certain judgment. “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.” (Revelation 21:8) The fiery judgment will be so complete that God said “it shall leave them neither root nor branch.” John the Baptist taught this same idea of a burning fiery judgment when he said Jesus would baptize “with fire.” He said, “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire.” (Matthew 3:11) “The day of judgment is certain to come. And it will be like a red-hot furnace with flames that burn proud and sinful people, as though they were straw.” There will not be a branch or a root left. The All-Powerful God promised this judgment. Malachi 4:2-3 Redemption is possible – Malachi 4:2-3 : Redemption is better than the healing rays of the sun. “But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the LORD of hosts.” Those who fear the Lord and honor Him will have a glorious deliverance. Those who fear the Lord are those who hold Him in awe or reverence. They are faithful and obedient to the Lord. As the sun shines throughout the world the gospel of Christ is preached worldwide to bring healing to those who are lost in sin. Zecharias, the father of John the Baptist, referred to the Messiah as the “dayspring from on high” or the “sunrise.” “And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways; To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins, Through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us, To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.” (Luke 1:76-79) God"s people (those freed from sin by the Messiah) go forth as fattened calves just released from the stall. Malachi 4:4 Remember the Law of Moses – Malachi 4:4 : As the book of Malachi closed and as the Old Testament closed a final exhortation was given to the Jews to be obedient to the Law of God. The next law for the Jews and all creatures would be the New Covenant of our Lord Jesus Christ. God said, “Do not ever forget the laws and teachings I gave my servant Moses on Mount Sinai.” The simple instruction is “obey the Word of God.” People cannot disobey the Law of God and claim to be faithful to Him. How important is obedience to God? In the gospel of John we read, “If you love me, you will obey what I command.” (John 14:15) You are never more like Jesus than when you are obeying the will of God. Knowing God, serving God and having a personal relationship with God is dependent upon our obedience to God.

Obedience is not an optional matter if you wish to go to heaven. In your obedience you will be blessed, but as with all of God"s promises there is a prerequisite. You must obey! Malachi 4:5-6 John was to prepare the way for the Messiah – Malachi 4:5-6 : The Lord promised to send the prophet Elijah before that great and terrible day came. He was to lead children and parents to love each other more so the land could be spared of doom. There is no doubt that this is a reference to John the Baptist. We read, “And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him. But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John. And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth.

For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother"s womb. And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” (Luke 1:12-17) People would be united under Christ. Malachi pointed to John who was to prepare the way for Jesus, “And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force. For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. And if ye will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come.” (Matthew 11:12-14) Let us be people of God who are prepared for our Lord"s second coming!

Malachi 4:1 Burn as an oven (a furnace). Fire is often spoken of in connection with the day of judgment and the advent of the Judge. It is a symbol of the holiness of God, which consumes all impurity, and also represents the punishment inflicted on the ungodly (Psalms 1:1 to Psalms 6:8; Isaiah 10:17; Isaiah 66:15, Isaiah 66:16; Daniel 7:9, Daniel 7:10; Joe 2:30; 1 Corinthians 3:13; 2 Peter 3:7, etc.). The LXX. adds, “and it shall burn them.” Stubble (see note on Obadiah 1:18); or, perhaps, chaff, as Matthew 3:11, Matthew 3:12. Root nor branch The ungodly are regarded as a tree which is given up to be burned so that nothing of it is left. The same metaphor is used by John the Baptist (Matthew 3:10; comp. Amos 2:9). The Hebrew text includes this chapter in Matthew 3:1-17. Malachi 4:1 The Divine fire.“The day cometh that shall bum as an oven.” Fire is one of the most familiar figures of the Divine working. It is one of the forces which man most dreads when it gets beyond control. And it is the force on which man most relies for the purifying of the good and the destruction of the evil. The fire of the oven is fire at its intensest. A hole is dug in the ground, a fire of stubble is kindled in it; by this time a large stone is heated, and on the stone the bread can be baked. Malachi has already dealt with the refining power of the fire of God.

That which is good is freed and cleansed and improved by means of it. The prophet does not see the whole of the features of the day of God; only those which are directly related to the condition and needs of the people in his day. Every prophet is one-sided; and we must learn from all if we would apprehend the whole of truth, even concerning the Divine fire. Malachi had to adapt his teachings to some who were sincere but mistaken. To them the Divine fire is disciplinary. “He shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver.” But he had also to adapt his teachings to some who were wilfully and persistently wrong. To them the Divine fire is, In some sense, destructive consuming. “The proud shall be stubble, and the day that cometh shall burn them up.” There are two things characteristic of the Divine fire, which are suggested by the double figure of refining and consuming. I. THE OF THE DIVINE FIRE DEPENDS ON WHAT IT ON. This is one of the most marked peculiarities of common fire. It scatters water; it melts wax; it destroys wood; it hardens clay; it purifies metal. It makes silver valuable; it makes dross worthless. And so with the Divine fire. The apostle dwells on its testing power (1 Corinthians 3:13); but here its actual moral effect on differing characters is indicated. Take classes of character in Malachi’s time, and show the different effects which Divine dealings had upon them. Take types of character now, and show how Divine dealings soften or harden. II. THE DIVINE FIRE IS OF THE FORMS OF THINGS, NOT OF THINGS. Science now explains that common fire destroys nothing; it only Changes the forms and relations of things. When the state of the wicked is irremediable by any existing moral forces, then their form and relation must be changed. As in the time of the Flood, humanity had to be put in new conditions. God’s fire destructions always begin a new regime.— R.T. Malachi 4:2 The Sun of Righteousness. The sun which is righteousness, in whose wings, that is, rays, are healing and salvation. This Divine righteousness shall beam upon them that fear the Name of God, flooding them with joy and light, healing all wounds, tee moving all miseries, making them incalculably blessed. The Fathers generally apply the title of “Sun of Righteousness” to Christ, who is the Source of all justification and enlightenment and happiness, and who is called (Jeremiah 23:6), “The Lord our Righteousness.” Grow up; rather, gambol; σκιρτήσετε; salietis (Vulgate). “Ye shall leap!” comp. Jeremiah h 11). The word is used of a horse galloping (Habbakuk Jeremiah 1:8).

The happiness of the righteous is illustrated by a homely image drawn from pastoral pursuits. They had been, as it were, hidden in the time of affliction and temptation; they shall go forth boldly now, free and exulting, like calves driven from the stall to pasture (comp. Psalms 114:4, Psalms 114:6; So Psalms 2:8, 17). Malachi 4:2 The Sun of Righteousness.In Malachi 4:1 and Malachi 4:2 we are once more presented with the twofold aspect of a Divine fact. (See homilies on Malachi 3:2 and Malachi 3:6.) “Dies irae, dies ilia.“But “that day” need not be a “day of wrath.” It may be memorable, admirable, as the day of full salvation. As the first coming of Christ was for the “rising again” of some, “that they which see not might see” (John 9:39), so at his second coming, though “revealed from heaven in flaming fire,” he shall be “admired in all them that believe;” for he shall bring “rest” and full redemption to them (2 Thessalonians 1:6-10). The great and terrible day of the Lord will have both a bright and a dark side, like the cloud that came between the Egyptians and the Israelites. To “the proud and all that do wickedly” it will be a day of utter destruction. It will “burn like an oven,” fire burning more fiercely in a furnace than in the open air. The wicked, having made themselves like “the dry tree,” “ready for the burning,” will be consumed root and branch, with no hope of renewed life such as might survive the stroke of the feller’s axe (Job 14:7-9).

These threats are applicable to all times of judgment, when “the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud … and upon all the cedars of Lebanon,” etc. (Isaiah 2:12-17). We may see fulfilments of them in successive epochs of judgment, from the troublous times that followed the days of Malachi down to the destruction of Jerusalem and the judgment of the great day.

Similar figures of destruction by fire justify this extended application (Psalms 21:9, Psalms 21:10; Isaiah 5:24; Isaiah 10:17, Isaiah 10:18; Nahum 1:5; Zephaniah 1:18; Matthew 3:12; 2 Peter 3:7-10). But such times need be no terror to the faithful servants of God, for “unto you that fear my Name shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in his wings. As we do not confine the prediction of the day of the Lord to any one day, so we do not limit the promise of “the Sun of Righteousness” to any one person. Whenever a signal manifestation of God’s righteousness is displayed on behalf of his servants, it is like the rising of the sun on a dark, cold, and unhealthy land. But the manifestation of the righteousness of God in the Person and work of Christ so far excels all other manifestations that we may limit our further application of the words to our Lord Jesus Christ, “that in all things he may have the pre-eminence.” What the sun is to the material world, the Messiah is to the moral world. The following blessings are suggested by the figure.

1. Light after darkness. Such is Christ to all men (John 1:4, John 1:9), especially to his own countrymen (Luke 1:78, Luke 1:79; Matthew 4:12), but in a deeper sense to all that followed him (John 8:12). He brought the light of truth (Isaiah 9:2), for he was himself” the Truth.” Where he rises, like the dawn, upon the benighted and bewildered traveller, he guides into the way of peace and of salvation. The light of truth shows us “the paths of righteousness” (Psalms 143:8, Psalms 143:10).
2. Warmth after cold (Psalms 19:6). Christ not only gives light, but life. His presence causes that spiritual warmth which is a life giving power. He is “a quickening Spirit” (John 5:21, John 5:25; John 6:47, etc.). There is a spiritual as well as a solar chemistry. The beams of the Sun of Righteousness both enlighten, warm, and quicken (1 Corinthians 1:30).
3. Health after sickness. The figure of “wings” may allude to the rays of the sun, or perhaps to the breeze which in many hot regions, especially in the zones of the trade winds, begins to blow over the land early in the morning, bringing freshness and health with it. The Jews had a proverbial saying, “As the sun riseth, infirmities decrease.” Christ, when in our midst, scattered around him blessings of healing, both physical and spiritual. At Jericho he brought sight to blind Bartimaeus and life to dead Zacchaeus. So is it wherever he rises, like the light of life, on the souls of men (Psalms 147:3; Isaiah 57:19; Ezekiel 47:12; 1 John 5:11, 1 John 5:12).

The terms “righteousness” and “healing,” being very comprehensive, remind us of the blessings brought by Christ at both his first and second comings. At the first advent he diffused the rays of righteousness, whereby he both justifies and sanctifies those who turn to him, just as the sun imparts light, life, and joy to all who turn towards it. At the second, he will own the righteousness which he gave, and will exhibit it, cleared of all the misjudgments of the world, before men and angels. By his first advent he gave spiritual healing, justification, and all its allied blessings, summed up in the royal gift of “eternal life.” At his second he will bring full salvation, when, as one has said, there shall be “understanding without error, memory without forgetfulness, thought without distraction, love without simulation, sensation without offence, satisfying without satiety, universal health without sickness” (Isaiah 55:1-13 :20, 21; Revelation 21:23; Revelation 22:1-5). Malachi 4:2 The healing sunrise.“The Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in his wings.” “As the rising sun diffuses light and heat, so that all that is healthy in nature revives and lifts up its head, while plants that have no depth of root are scorched up and wither away, so the advent of the reign of righteousness, which will reward the good and the wicked, each according to his deserts, will dissipate all darkness of doubt, and heal all the wounds which the apparent injustice of the conduct of affairs has inflicted on the hearts of the righteous” (W.H. Lowe). The figure of “healing in his wings” may be illustrated by the fact that, off Smyrna, every morning about sunrise a fresh gale of air blows from the sea across the land, which from its wholesomeness and utility in clearing the infected air is always called “the doctor.” I. THE WORLD UNDER THE OF EVIL. Represented by those dark, depressing, unhealthy days when there is no light in the sky, and the damp mists lie low. Then the plants droop, the flowers do not care to open, and the leaves hang. The song birds are silent, and the hours drag on wearily. To the good the darkness of prevailing evil sentiment, evil opinion, evil practice, is necessarily afflictive. These things make an unnourishing atmosphere and bad circumstances. When the darkness of evil prevails in As Malachi saw the people in his day, they were in the gloom of triumphant self-will, and there was no sunlight of God in their sky. That sunshine was his hope for the future. II. THE WORLD IN THE LIGHT OF . And that time he saw dawning when Messiah should appear. The birth of the Babe of Bethlehem was the strong sunrise of righteousness. Picture the dawning of the sun in full, clear strength after weeks of dulness, damp, and disease. How the sunbeams dry up the mists, warm the chilled earth, waken the music of the birds, make the flowers smile, and gladden man’s heart. “Notice these flowers all around us, how they turn smiling to the sun’s ardent gaze, bend forward in seeming reverence, throw open their pretty cups, and cast around their sweetest perfume.

So, when the Sun of Righteousness shines, all moral goodness joyously responds. Evil slinks away into the shadows. When that Sun shines on through the eternal day, man’s answering goodness may flourish abundantly."— R.T. Malachi 4:3 Ye shall tread down the wicked (comp. Micah 4:13). They who were once oppressed and overborne by the powers of wickedness shall now rise superior to all hindrances, and themselves tread down the wicked as the ashes under their feet, to which the fire of judgment shall reduce them. In the day that I shall do this; rather, as in Malachi 3:17, in the day which I am preparing. Malachi 4:3 The secret of triumph over wickedness.The figure of “treading ashes” is suggested by the previous figure of “burning.” When the wicked are burned up in the fire of God, all their power to injure the good will be gone. They will but be as ashes of the oven, ashes spread abroad, ashes made a path to walk over. The tone of the prophet is not one of glorying over the fate of the wicked, but of rejoicing in the removal of the hindrance which the wicked ever put in the way of God’s faithful servants. I. THE ILL ESTATE OF THE GOOD WHEN THE WICKED, OR GODLESS TRIUMPH. This may be illustrated in every sphere.

1. The National. Illustrate from the times of Jeremiah, when a godless party held power in the state, and tried to force an Egyptian alliance. Or from the times of Malachi, when formalist and careless Levites were corrupting the religious sentiments of the people. Or from the state of the Jewish nation in the time of our Lord, when the fountains of religious and secular authority were corrupt, and the crucifixion of ideal virtue was a possibility. Show in what an evil case good people, who feared the Lord, were placed at such times. See the sufferings of Jeremiah and of our Divine Lord. So there are national times now when evil sentiment prevails, and the servants of God have to “keep silence,” because it is an “evil time.”
2. The intellectual. The deistic age of our grandfathers was an evil time for devout believers. This critical age of ours is a time of sore strain for those who would preserve the simplicity of faith. The same truth may be illustrated in the smaller spheres of family, or school, or business. Whenever self-indulgence, bad sentiments, or evil characters have power, those who would live godly, sober, and righteous lives are sorely put to it. Though for them this need be but culturing discipline, the treading on the camomile plant that makes it yield freely its fragrance. II. THE ILL ESTATE OF THE WICKED WHEN THE GOOD, OR GOD FEARING, TRIUMPH. This can be treated without any unworthy glorying over the disabilities of others. The point may be illustrated in every sphere, national, political, social, intellectual, or in the smaller spheres of the family, the school, the business, the Church. The point to dwell on is the distress of the wicked, not from personal suffering, hut from their inability to do mischief. We may rejoice that the wicked are made helpless by the triumph of goodness.— R.T. Malachi 4:1-3 The day of the world’s retribution.“For, behold, the day cometh that shall burn as an oven,” etc. A graphic representation of these verses is given by Stanley: “The day spoken of was to be like the glorious but terrible uprising of the Eastern sun, which should wither to the roots the insolence and the injustice of mankind; but as its rays extended, like the wings of the Egyptian sun, God should, by its healing and invigorating influences, call forth the good from their obscurity, prancing and bounding like the young cattle in the burst of spring, and treading down under their feet the dust and ashes to which the same bright sun had burnt up the tangled thicket of iniquitous dealing.” These words lead us to consider the day of the world’s retribution. I. IT WILL BE A DAY TO THE WICKED. “Behold, the day cometh that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.” Primarily this may refer to the destruction of Jerusalem, which was indeed a time of judgment, but it points on through the whole period of retribution. Mark two things.
3. How this retributive period regards the wicked. They are “stubble;” without life, beauty, or value; utterly worthless. They may be wealthy, learned, influential; yet they are nothing but “stubble,” destitute even of one grain of moral wheat.
4. How this retributive period will destroy the wicked.II. IT WILL BE A PERIOD TO THE . “But unto you that fear my Name shall the Bun of Righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.” This language may be regarded as indicating the blessedness of the world to a good man.
5. It is a world of solar brightness. “The Sun of Righteousness” arises on the horizon of his soul. There are souls that are lighted by sparks of their own kindling, and by the gaseous blaze springing from the bogs of inner depravity. All such lights, whether in the forms of philosophic theories or religious creeds, are dim, partial, transitory. The soul of a good man is lighted by the sun. The sun: The soul of the good man is lighted by something more than the brightest lights of human genius; something more, in fact, than moon and stars; lighted by the Sun himself, the Source of all light and warmth and life. Christ is the Light of the good.
6. It is a world of Divine rectitude. “Sun of Righteousness.” “The kingdom of God is within you.” Eternal right is enthroned. God’s will is the supreme law. The meat and drink of godly souls are to do the will of their Father who is in heaven. Such a soul is right:
7. It is a world of remedial influence. “With healing in his wings.” The sun’s beams are in Scripture called his wings (Psalms 139:9). The soul through sin is diseased, its eyes are dim, its ears are heavy, its limbs are feeble, its blood is poisoned. The godly is under remedial influences. The beams of the “Sun of Righteousness” work off the disease, repair the constitution, and enable it to run without being weary, and to walk without being faint. There is a proverb among the Jews that “as the sun riseth, infirmities decrease.” The flowers which droop and languish all night revive in the morning.

The late Mr. Robinson, of Cambridge, called upon a friend just as he had received a letter from his son, who was surgeon on a vessel then lying off Smyrna. The son mentioned in his letter that every morning about sunrise a fresh gale of air blew from the sea across the land, and from its wholesomeness and utility in cleansing the infected air the wind was called “the doctor.” Christ is the Physician of souls. 4. It is a world of buoyant energy. “Ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.” See the calf which from its birth has been shut up in the stall, let forth for the first time into the green fields of May, how full of buoyant energy! it leaps, and frolics, and frisks. This is the figure employed here to represent the gladsomeness with which the godly soul employs its faculties under the genial beams of the “Sun of Righteousness."— D.T. Malachi 4:4 If the people would meet the judgment with confidence and secure for themselves the promised blessings, they must remember and obey the Law of Moses. Thus the last of the prophets set his seal to the Pentateuch, on obedience to which depended, as of old (see Leviticus 26:1-46.; Deuteronomy 28:1-68.), so now, the most abundant blessings. My servant. Moses was only the agent and interpreter of God. The origin and authority of the Law were Divine. Horeb.

The mention of the mountain would remind the people of the awful wonders that accompanied the promulgation of the Law (Exodus 19:16, etc.; Deuteronomy 4:10-15) For all Israel Not merely for the people who heard the Law given, but for the nation unto all time. Nor could they be true Israelites unless they observed the terms of the covenant then made. With the(even) statutes and judgments. These terms, which explain the word “Law,” include all the enactments, legal, moral, ceremonial. Malachi might well remind the people of their duty, and thus support Nehemiah in his struggle to win them to obedience (see Nehemiah 9:38; Nehemiah 10:29). The LXX. places this verse at the end of the chapter, probably because the original conclusion (verse 6) was thought too harsh to be left as the close of the Old Testament.

The Jews had a feeling that books in the Bible should end with the name Jehovah. In the case of Isaiah and Ecclesiastes, they repeated, after the last verse, the last but one. Malachi 4:4 Loyalty to God’s revealed will.It was characteristic of the restored exiles that they endeavoured exactly to reproduce the old Mosaic system; but there was a grave danger involved in their effort. They could not precisely reproduce everything. There must be some adjustment to the very different social and religious sentiments and relations. But those who claimed the authority to make the adjustments would be almost sure to carry their authority too far, and claim to alter and amend the very laws and rules. Under the guise of translation, adaptation, and amplification, the new law of the rabbis became established; and the mischief that it had become in the time of our Lord is evident in its actually overlaying the revealed Law of God, and making the Jehovah religion a burden beyond bearing. Malachi seems to foresee the mischievous growth of an evil which had already begun in his time, and in this closing passage of his work solemnly calls the people back to the unquestionable and unrivalled authority of the Horeb revelation given to Moses.

It is the great recall that has been again and again found necessary in the course of the ages. It is the recall needed today. “To the Law and to the testimony; if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them” (Isaiah 8:20). I. THE SIGN OF IN GOD’S PEOPLE. Practical interest in God’s revealed Word. The old Jew had none of the difficulties which modem infidelity and modern criticism have put in our fathers’ way and in ours. Our fathers were troubled by being assured that a book revelation was impossible. They might have confidently, yet meekly replied, “But here it is.” We are troubled by being told that the Bible is not at all what we think it to be, and is not trustworthy. We may quietly reply, “Whatever it is, it is ‘a lamp to our feet and a light unto our path.’” Treatment of the Word is the best test of the godly life. II. GOD’S WORD SHOULD BE KEPT IN MIND, It is designed to replenish our life at its fountains of thought, knowledge, and feeling. Therefore the prophet says, “Remember ye the Law of Moses.” Keep it in mind; freshen the memory continually. III. GOD’S WORD IS BEST KEPT IN MIND BY KEEPING IT IN THE LIFE. “If any will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine.” Practical obedience is of the utmost importance in the Christian life. Malachi 4:5 Elijah the prophet. This is not the same personage as the “messenger” in Malachi 3:1; for the latter comes before the first advent of the Lord, the former appears before the day of judgment; one comes to prepare the way of the Lord, and is followed immediately by Messiah’s coming to his temple; the other is sent to convert the chosen people, lest the land be smitten with a curse. There seems to be no valid reason for not holding the literal sense of the words, and seeing in them a promise that Elijah the prophet, who was taken alive from the earth, shall at the last day coma again to carry out God’s wise purposes. That this was the view adopted by the Jews in all ages we see by the version of the LXX; who have here, “Elijah the Tishbite;” by the allusion in Sir 48:10; and by the question of our Lard’s disciples in Matthew 17:10, “Why then say the scribes that Elias must first come.” Christ himself confirms this opinion by answering, “Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things.” lie cannot be referring here to John the Baptist, because he uses the future tense; and when he goes on to say that “Elias is come already,” he is referring to what was past, and he himself explains that he means John, who was announced to come in the spirit and power of Elias (Luke 1:17), but of whom it could not be said that he “restored all things.” The same opinion is found in the Revelation (Revelation 11:3, Revelation 11:6), where one of the witnesses is very commonly supposed to be Elijah. It is argued by Keil, Reinke, and others, that, as the promise of King David in such passages as Jeremiah 30:9; Ezekiel 34:23; Ezekiel 37:24; Hosea 3:5, etc; cannot imply the resurrection of David and his return to earth, so we cannot think of an actual reappearance of Elijah himself, but only of the coming of some prophet with his spirit and power. But, as Knabenbauer points out, for the attribution of the name David to Messiah, long and careful preparation had been made; e.g. by his being called “the rod of Jesse,” the occupant of David’s throne, etc.; and all who heard the expression would at once understand the symbolical application, especially as David was known to have died and been buried.

But when they found Malachi speaking of the reappearance of “Elijah the prophet,” who, as they were well aware, had never died, of whose connection with the coming Messenger they had never heard, they could not avoid the conclusion to which they came, viz. that before the great day of judgment Elias should again visit the earth in person. This prophecy concerns the very last days, and intimates that before the final consummation, when iniquity shall abound, God will send this great and faithful preacher of repentance, whose mission shall have such effects that the purpose of God for the salvation of Israel shall be accomplished. We may therefore assume that in the gospel the appellation “Elias” stands both for John and for Elijah himself; for the messenger who prepared the way for Christ’s first advent, and for the prophet who was to convert the Israelites before the judgment day; for him who came in spirit and power, and him who shall come in bodily presence. The great and dreadful day. The day of final judgment. No other crisis could be named in such terms (see Joe 2:31, whence the words are taken). Malachi 4:5 The mission of the second Elijah.There is no reason for doubting that John the Baptist is referred to. Our Lord’s allusions to John as fulfilling this prophecy should suffice to settle the question. There need be no difficulty in admitting John to be the second Elijah, if we apprehend the figurative and poetical character of the prophetical Scriptures. One who would do for his age a similar work to that which was done by Elijah for his age would, in Scripture, be called an Elijah. There is no occasion whatever for imagining that any miraculous reappearance of Elijah was in the mind of Malachi, or a part of his prophetic message. The Jews overpressed a literal interpretation, and to this day they earnestly pray for the coming of Elias, which, they assume, will immediately precede the appearance of Messiah.

Dean Stanley says, “Elijah was the prophet for whose return in later years his countrymen have looked with most eager hope It was a fixed belief of the Jews that he had appeared again and again, as an Arabian merchant, to wise and good rabbis, at their prayers or on their journeys. A seat is still placed for him to superintend the circumcision of the Jewish children. Passover after Passover the Jews of our own day place the paschal cup on the table, and set the door wide open, believing that that is the moment when Elijah will reappear. When goods are found, and no owner comes; when difficulties arise, and no solution appears, the answer is, ’ Put them by till Elijah comes.’” Twice in her season of decay, The fallen Church hath felt Elijah’s eye, Dart from the wild its piercing ray,… The herald star, Whose torch afar Shadows and boding night birds fly.” (Keble.) Matthew Henry, in a few skilful sentences, suggests the likenesses and the contrasts of the two Elijahs. “Elijah was a man of great austerity and mortification, zealous for God, bold in reproving sin, and active to reduce an apostate people to God and their duty. John the Baptist was animated by the same spirit and power, and preached repentance and reformation, as Elias had done; and all held him for a prophet, as they did Elijah in his day, and that his baptism was from heaven, and not of men.” Rabbi Eliezer closes a curious chapter on repentance with these words: “And Israel will not make great repentance till Elijah— his memory for blessing!— come.” For fair comparison of the two Elijahs, it is necessary to make careful comparison of the times to which they were sent, noticing the essential sameness underneath the manifest differences. Rabbinism had really driven the spiritual religion of Jehovah from the land in John’s days, just as the Astarte form of Baalism had driven the Jehovah worship from Israel in the days of Elijah. The two men may be compared in relation to— I. THEIR PERSONS. In each case there was an arresting personal appearance, and an unusual power of personal impression. In each case we have a man markedly different from surrounding men. This is noticeable in the dress, but more in the men themselves. And their mission largely lay in their personnel. Men minister for God in what they are in figure, countenance, and impression. II. THEIR HABITS. Both were wilderness men, whose very food was a reproach of prevailing luxury. Their indifference to personal pleasure declared their absorption in their work for God. III. THEIR . Both were sent to be forerunners of a coming God, in grace, to his people. Both were sent to call the people to repentance. Turning—turning the people to God, was the work of both. Both had to make the same abrupt demand. IV. THEIR SPIRIT. Both were absolutely loyal to Jehovah. Both were perfectly fearless of all consequences in doing their work. Both were stern in their tone, and saw the sterner side of truth. Both were humanly weak in times of unexpected strain. V. THEIR . That characterizes the work of all who have preparing work to do. Neither Elijah nor John could count up results. To both life work might seem a failure. To Elijah, in a mood of depression, it did. But no life is incomplete that is but a piece of a whole, if, as a piece, it is complete. That is a comforting truth for the two Elijahs, and for us who now may have but pieces of work given us to do.— R.T. Malachi 4:6 He shall turn, etc.; i.e; taking the preposition, rendered “to,” in the sense of “with,” he shall convert one and all, fathers and children, young and old, unto the Lord. Or, in agreement with the versions, he shall bring back the Jews then living to the faith of their ancestors, who rejoiced to see the day of Christ (John 8:56); and then the patriarchs, who for their unbelief had disowned them, shall recognize them as true Israelites, true children of Abraham. Others explain— He shall unite the Jews who are our fathers in the faith to us Christians who are their children (see Luke 1:17, where the angel Gabriel quotes part of the passage, and applies it to John the Baptist). The heart. Here not the seat of the intellectual powers, but of love and confidence, which lead to union and concord. Lest I come and smite the earth with a curse; or, smite the land with the ban.

This is an allusion to the ban threatened in the Law, which involved extermination (see Leviticus 27:29; Deuteronomy 13:16, Deuteronomy 13:17; Deuteronomy 20:16, Deuteronomy 20:17). So Elijah shall come and preach repentance, as the Baptist did at Christ’s first coming; and unless the Jews listen to him and turn to Christ, they shall be destroyed, shall share in that eternal anathema which shall fall on the ungodly at the day of judgment. Malachi 4:4-6 The sufficiency of God’s successive revelations.The introduction of the appeal in Malachi 4:4 between the predictions and promises of Mal 4:2, Malachi 4:3 and Malachi 4:5, Malachi 4:6 has at first sight an appearance of abruptness. The promise of Mal 4:5 lay in the indefinite, and as we know the distant, future. Malachi proved to be the last of the prophets of the old covenant. In the long interval between Malachi and John the Baptist there were times when Israel looked and longed for a new prophet to arise (1Ma 9:27; 1Ma 14:41). though sometimes this was only for the purpose of settling very unimportant questions (e.g. 1Ma 4:41-46). But all the while they had in their hands a revelation from God that was amply sufficient for their present guidance, and the right use of which would prepare them for further blessings and preserve them from wrath to come. We are thus reminded of the truth of the sufficiency of God’s revelations for those to whom they are granted. We may apply this truth— I. TO GOD’S . The declarations of God’s truth and of his will to Adam and the patriarchs were less definite than when “the Law came in beside” (Romans 5:14, Romans 5:20). But though in one sense “exceeding broad” as compared with the multifarious laws of Moses, they were sufficient to produce a conviction of sin (e.g. Genesis 4:7; Genesis 42:21, Genesis 42:22, etc.), and therefore of the need of forgiveness, and to enable men to walk with God (Genesis 5:24; Genesis 6:9). So is it with the heathen (Romans 1:20; Romans 2:14, Romans 2:15). The revelations through the worlds of matter and of mind are sufficient as a rule of life, though not as a means of full salvation (comp. Acts 10:35, “acceptable” ( δεκτὸς) and Acts 4:12). II. TO THE LAW OF MOSES. This answered all needful questions as to the character and the will of God. Moses, the first writer in the Bible, and his Law are honourably mentioned by the last writer, this fact supplying one out of many testimonies to the unity of the Bible. Similar witness to the value and the sufficiency of the Law of Moses “for the time then present” is borne by Christ. The prophets came not to supersede but to expound the Law, to bring out the fulness of its morality, and to apply its fundamental teachings to the changing scenes of national life (Isaiah 8:20; Jeremiah 34:12-14, etc.). Moses and the prophets “received not the promise” (Hebrews 11:32, Hebrews 11:39), yet Christ could say, “Salvation is of the Jews” (John 4:22). III. TO THE . Upon us “the ends of the ages are come” (1 Corinthians 10:12). Yet there is an eternity beyond. We cannot believe that God has spoken his last word to the sons of men. Now we know in part. There are treasures of wisdom and knowledge still hidden in Christ. At times we long to have fuller access to them.

We should be thankful if some infallible living teacher could expound to us “the book,” or guide us in the path of duty. But we find ourselves between two great epochs, the first advent and the second. We live in what a distinguished writer has called one of the great “pauses” of the world. “Miracles have ceased. Prophecy has ceased. The Son of God is ascended. Apostles are no longer hare to apply infallible judgment to each new circumstance as it arises, as St.

Paul did to the state of the Corinthian Church.” The written Word must be our appeal, and the Divine Spirit, leading each believer into the truth, must be our Interpreter. He may show us fresh truths in the old familiar Word, just as Christians after the destruction of Jerusalem saw further and fuller meaning in our Lord’s predictions of his second coming.

But the revelations of doctrine and duty in that written Word are all we now need, and all we have a right to expect. If there are future revelations, they are among “the secret things” that “belong unto the Lord our God;” it is “those things that are revealed” which “belong unto us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words” of God’s Law (Deuteronomy 29:29). Then we may expect to “see greater things than these” (Matthew 13:12). As the Old Testament closes with promises of larger blessings (Acts 4:5, Acts 4:6), so does the New Testament (Revelation 21:1-7, Revelation 21:9-27; Revelation 22:1-5). We know that a glorious future awaits the sons of God (1 John 3:1, 1 John 3:2). Yet in the midst of the most glowing promises occur awful threats.

Here we read of “the great and dreadful day of the Lord” and “the curse.” In the New Testament we find, embedded in its final chapters, such words as Revelation 21:8; Revelation 22:11, Revelation 22:15, Revelation 22:18, Revelation 22:19 (like traces of a past volcanic eruption and warnings of a future one amidst the flowers and foliage of some sun lit mountain). These warnings emphatically bid us “remember the Law,” take heed to that gospel of Christ which comes to us with all the authority of a law (Acts 17:30; 1 John 3:23), and is all that we need for salvation.

The Jews, who would be wiser than the prophet, insert the fifth verse again, and read it a second time, because Malachi ends so awfully. But the Creator of men’s hearts knew best how to reach the hearts he had created. In a somewhat similar way some Christians would not end God’s present revelation where he ends it. In Christ’s description of “the last day” which is revealed to us, they would, as it were, after Matthew 25:46, read again Matthew 25:34, and apply it to all. They would interpolate their own speculations of what God may do among the revelations of what God would have us to do. Instead of pursuing such a perilous path, we bid men “remember.” We point them back to the only and unchangeable Saviour and the unalterable gospel (John 3:18, John 3:36; Galatians 1:8, Galatians 1:9), which is all that we need for salvation, and “whereunto we do well that we take heed,: etc. (2 Peter 1:19). Malachi 4:5, Malachi 4:6 The day of Divine manifestation.The margin of the Revised Version gives the rendering with, as preferable to to, in the clause, “And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children,” etc. Then the reference is to the work and influence of the second Elijah on all classes of society, on the hearts of both fathers and children. Keil, however, suggests a more difficult, yet more likely, explanation of the verse, “The fathers are rather the ancestors of the Israelitish nation, the patriarchs, and generally the pious forefathers …. The sons, or children, are the degenerate descendants of Malachi’s own time and the succeeding ages.” The Messiah is designed to be the bond of union for them all. What arrests attention in these closing verses of the Old Testament canon is that the stern side of Messiah’s mission gains exclusive prominence. That sterner side specially interested the judgment prophets of Israel’s degenerate days.

And it was more particularly suitable for Malachi, because the very form of evil that was to hinder Messiah was beginning in his day. Malachi saw rabbinism taking root. I. THE OF MESSIAH’S DAY FOR THE JEWISH NATION. All days of God, all Divine manifestations, are necessarily two sided. They are dealings with moral beings, and their results must depend on the response of the moral beings. Every day of God must be a “‘savour of life unto life, or of death unto death.’ What the coming of Christ was to Simeon and Anna, to the disciples, and to the Church of all the ages, we are constantly dwelling on. That is the bright and sunny side of Messiah’s mission.

But we may ask— What was Messiah’s coming to the officials of the Mosaic religion, and for the Jewish nation that rejected him, under the leading of those officials? It was their last opportunity, their final testing. It proved them to be beyond moral recovery. It removed the last check, and their woe came. Their house was left unto them desolate.” II. THE OF CHRIST’S DAY FOR THE SELF-WILLED IN EVERY AGE. For Christ’s test of the Jewish nation did but illustrate the test that he is, wherever and whenever he comes. Men reject him still at a peril which they seldom recognize. There is the stern side to a preached gospel. Christ proclaimed as Saviour makes forevery man a new and overwhelming condition for the testing of the judgment day.— R.T.

Malachi 4:1

Malachi 4:1. The preposition for is used to connect the present passage with the one immediately preceding it in chapter 3: 18, The strictness of the Gospe l in its requirements as to the Citizens of the new kingdom is the subject. (See Acts 17:30 and 1 Peter 4:17-18.) We also recal1 the many instances where Christ showed the contrast between the old and the new, He would refer to certain liberties that bad been tolerated in “old time” and then say “but I say unto you,” etc. This strictness of the new law is figuratively referred to as an oven fOr burning refuse. Leave them neither root nor branch refers to the complete condemnation and rejection of the ways of stn that was to be manifested by Christians.

Malachi 4:2

Malachi 4:2. The healthful effects of the Gospel of Christ is likened to the warm and healing rays of the sun. Go forth is from puwsu which Strong defines, “To spread; figuratively act proudly,” Moffatt renders it to “leap.” The verse as a whole means that the citizens in the kingdom of Christ were to be blessed with great spiritual strength and activity.

Malachi 4:3

Malachi 4:3, We know that Christians are not permitted to use any kind of literal violence against Sinners, hence this treadIng of them is explained by the comments on verse 1. And we know this “burning” and “treading” did not reter to the time after the judgment day, for it was to occur in the day that I shall do this, referring to the time of the Gospel age.

Malachi 4:4

Malachi 4:4. A last exhortation is given to the Jews of the time of Malachi, that they should remember the law of Moses. There was never to be another law of government given to them until that one so forceably predicted in this book ot the prophet.

Malachi 4:5

Malachi 4:5. But while no other written law was to be given before that new age is usbered into the world, tbere was to be a man sent just before that time to speak orally to the Jews by way of preparation for the new law. That man was to have the power and spiritual strength of Elijah. Dreadlul day means that the kingdom of Christ would be severe against sinners (see comments on verses 1 and 3), but would be respected by the righteous.

Malachi 4:6

Malachi 4:6. The phrases of this verse refer to the reformative work that was to be accomplished by this Elijah (or John the Baptist). Without the effects of this forerunner and the new kingdom to follow, the whole world would have suffered the wrath or an outraged God.