Deeper Commentary
Malachi Chapter 4
Malachi 4:1 For, behold, the day comes, it burns as a furnace; and all the proud, and all who work wickedness- This is the day of final judgment just spoken of in Mal. 3:16-18. Note that pride is the epitome of wickedness. Likewise to the Lord, humility was the very epitome of righteousness (Mt. 5:5 cp. Ps. 37:29).
Will be stubble; and the day that comes will burn them up, says Yahweh of Armies- The burning of straw (s.w. stubble) is the language of condemnation at the harvest of the last day in Is. 10:17; 25:10; 1 Cor. 3:12.
That it shall leave them
neither root nor branch- Root and branch were both words used of the
Messianic shoot and branch who could have arisen at the restoration; see
on Zech. 3:8; 6:12, the root and branch of David (Rev. 5:5). These
possibilities were finally fulfilled in the Lord Jesus, but His salvation
will not be available for the proud and wicked who shall be burnt up in
the last day.
Malachi 4:2 But to you who fear My name- The imperfect but
repentant minority of Malachi's time of Mal. 3:16,17. It seems Malachi is
addressing them directly as his audience at this point.
Shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing in his rays- We noted on :1 that the salvation of the Lord Jesus will not be available for the wicked at the last day; but "to you", the faithful minority responding to Malachi, the coming of Messiah would be a time of healing and salvation [the two ideas are combined in the same Hebrew word]. We note that He returns to those in Israel who already fear the Name. Israelite repentance is a condition for the Lord’s return. He is the sun of righteousness in that He is the basis for the righteousness imputed to them; for we noted on Mal. 3:17 that even the repentant remnant are "spared" by grace, they are treated as totally obedient to the covenant (see on Mal. 3:17) when in fact they were not. We note that even at the Lord's coming, we will require 'healing'. This is tacit recognition that we die imperfect and "we shall be changed" at His coming.
But the healing in His rays or wings of His garment (Heb.) is of course true now. Understanding that leads to faith in His healing. The faith of the sick woman who grabbed the hem or wings of His garment is commended by the Lord (Mk. 5:34; Mt. 9:20)- when it was due to her understanding of the significance of the hem of the Lord's robe that she had touched Him. She had perceived the connection with the High Priest's hem; perhaps too she had added Job's comment about our touching but the hem of God's garment into the equation. And certainly she perceived that the sun of righteousness of Mal. 4 had healing in his hems / wings of his garment.
You will go out, and leap like calves of the stall- As we struggle in our daily battle with the flesh, it is necessary to keep our eye on that split-second moment of total acceptance by our Lord. We will burst out, mentally and physically, like stalled calves given freedom for the first time. Ps. 68:1-3 speak of how the rejected will be chased away, but the righteous will "be glad" and "exult before God: yea, let them exceedingly rejoice", after the pattern of Israel's ecstasy after their deliverance at the Red Sea.
"Then shall thy light break forth as the morning [i.e. you'll have a
part in the Lord's glory, Mal. 4:2], and thine health shall spring forth
[cp. Mal. 4:2 springing forth as stalled calves]... and thy righteousness
shall go before thee [our good deeds recited by the Judge]... then [at the
judgment seat of Christ] thou shalt call, and the Lord shall answer; thou
shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am" (Is. 58:6-9). If we show mercy to
the desperate now, we won't necessarily have our prayers automatically
heard in this life. But in the poverty and desperate need of the judgment,
our cries will be heard on account of our generous, forgiving response in
this life.
Malachi 4:3 You shall tread down the wicked- This is the language of God's treading upon the wicked Egyptians (Hab. 3:13). But "the wicked" in the context are the wicked amongst God's people (:1; Mal. 3:18). The faithful will then discern them for who they are (Mal. 3:18), whereas in this life, and particularly at Malachi's time, it must have been difficult to perceive who were genuine and who were not. Just as we cannot discern now between wheat and weeds. The destruction of the wicked abusers of God's people seems to be part of the same process as the destruction of the wicked amongst God's people. They will be "condemned with the world". This is one of the passages which imply that the rejected will be physically annihilated by the Lord. Given the terrible descriptions of the mental anguish of the condemned, this would essentially be a merciful act. It may be that many will die in the judgments which come upon the world. But it could be that others are simply put out of their agony by the Lord. Some now in the ecclesia will be dashed to pieces by Him (Rev. 2:27), and Malachi implies that the faithful will play a part in the destruction of their wicked brethren.
For they will be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I make, says Yahweh of Armies- The idea of burning feet turning the wicked to ashes is precisely that of the cherubim (s.w. Ez. 1:7). As often intimated in Zechariah, the faithful are to become identified with the cherubim.
Malachi 4:4 Remember the law of Moses My servant, which I commanded to him
in Horeb for all Israel, even statutes and ordinances- This was so
that the curse for disobedience to the law would not come upon them (:7).
The faithful minority of Mal. 3:16,17 are bidden remember the actual law,
because the priests were teaching it wrongly (see on Mal. 2:8). It was
"for all Israel", not just for an enthusiastic minority. And all of that
law was still binding upon Malachi's generation, every statute and
ordinance; whereas the priests were teaching that only some parts needed
to be attended to.
Malachi 4:5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great
and terrible day of Yahweh comes- As explained on Mal. 3:1, the
restored community could still have seen a Messiah figure arise if they
had responded to the messenger of the covenant preparing His way.
'Malachi' was that messenger, as was the priesthood. But they failed to
respond, and so the prophecies were rescheduled and reapplied to another
priest, John the Baptist, who prepared the way for the true and full
Messiah. So if Israel would receive it, John the Baptist was the Elijah
prophet. The course of fulfilment of prophecy was conditional upon whether
John succeeded in turning the hearts of Israel back to the fathers or not;
on preparing them for the great and terrible day of the Lord. Brethren as
varied as John Knowles and Harry Whittaker have all recognized in their
expositions that the Kingdom
could have come in the first century had Israel received John
as Elijah. But they would not. And so another Elijah prophet is to come in
the last days and prepare Israel for her Messiah. “If ye are willing to
receive him, this is Elijah which is to come” (Mt. 11:14 RVmg.) says it
all. More details about him are noted on Rev. 11. He need not be the
literal resurrected Elijah, although that is possible; recall how the Lord
Jesus is called "David", when He is not David but in the spirit and line
of David (Hos. 3:5; Ez. 34:23 etc.). The Elijah prophet who was to herald
the Messianic Kingdom
could have
been John the Baptist- if Israel had received him. But they
didn’t, and so the prophecy went down another avenue of fulfilment. It
could be that :6 implies that there is still the possibility that even the
latter day Elijah mission could fail.
Malachi 4:6 He will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and
the hearts of the children to their fathers- Through the preaching of John, he turned men’s hearts- the idea of
repentance, being brought about by the preacher (Mal. 4:6).
Such is the power of our preaching, the
possibility which our words of witness give to our hearers. We have such
power invested in us! If we are slack to use it, the Lord’s glory is
limited, and the salvation of others disabled.
Israel were out of step with their fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Jacob, Levi, Moses and "Elijah" have just been mentioned (Mal. 1:2; 2:4,6; 3:3-4). The appeal of the latter day Elijah is to return to the promises made to the fathers, which are the essence of the new covenant. The turning of the fathers' hearts to the children need not imply that the fathers are still alive; the idiom of the passage means that the hearts of the children and the fathers will be at one with each other. Lk. 1:16,17 interprets "the heart of the children to the fathers" as meaning "the disobedient to the wisdom of the just".
Elijah was only interested in demonstrating Yahweh's
superiority over Baal, but it is questionable whether he made any lasting
converts from Baal worship to Yahweh. Because he wasn't interested in
people- at least initially. He was removed from his post after his
shameful intercession against Israel in 1 Kings 19. But we must
square this against Malachi's apparently strange comment that Elijah in
future will turn the heart of the fathers to the children and vice versa.
This makes sense once we understand that Baal worship involved child
sacrifice, as the preceding section in 1 Kings 16 makes clear. This
created tension and no "heart" between fathers and children, and vice
versa. After his demotion, Elijah carried on believing- and we can assume
that he "got it". His future work will therefore involve caring for
people, and turning fathers and children towards each other in that they
have quit Baal. Elijah will finally learn from his immaturity, and become
people focused. LXX has "(who shall turn again) the heart of a man to his
neighbour".
Lest I come and strike the earth with a curse- The ultimate salvation of the earth / land of Israel and its people is still conditional, upon their response to the Elijah prophet. There is no automatic salvation just because a day on the calendar has arrived. Salvation is intensely personal and human response is absolutely essential; and that is the appropriate finale of the prophecy. And yet if the last word of the Old Testament is "curse", the first recorded word of the Lord Jesus is "Blessed".
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