Malachi 2:17 Fourth verbal exchange
The fourth section is a rebuke for
the people’s lack of trust in the Lord. It begins with the fourth verbal
exchange. The Lord’s statement against them is that they are causing him to
become weary with their words. They object, by asking how that is so. They have
wearied the Lord by saying “all doing evil are good in the eyes of the Lord and
he delights in them”, or “where is the Lord of judgment?” Both these statements
are going to be dealt with. First the second, with the coming of the Lord, and
then with what really happens to the ones doing evil.
Malachi 3:1-2 The Lord’s Messenger, the Lord and the messenger of the Covenant
In response to the second statement, the Lord says that he is
sending his messenger[1]
and he will prepare (וּפִנָּה)[2] the way before him. Suddenly,
the lord (הָאָדוֹן)[3]
who the people are seeking will enter into his temple. The messenger of the
covenant, in whom the people are delighting, will enter. Normally instead of הָאָדוֹן we have
had יְהוָה. We have good reasons to believe that it refers to the same
person. First because the Septuagint translates it κύριος and secondly, because
the individual entering his temple (הֵיכָלוֹ) which can only be appropriate if it referred to the Lord
himself.
So far we have three people mentioned: the messenger who prepares the
way, the Lord entering his temple, and the messenger of the covenant. The first
two are definitely distinct, but who is the messenger of the covenant?
This messenger of the covenant is placed in parallel to the Lord. To
connect these two we can look to Jeremiah 31 where the messenger of the
covenant can be something in the future connected with Jesus’ prophetic
ministry. It would seem from the following verse that only talks about the
coming of one person, so the Lord and the messenger of the covenant are the
same person.
The beginning of Malachi 3 connects well with other parts of the Bible. In
Matthew 11, John the Baptist is seen as the one preparing the way for the Lord,
“the Elijah who was to come (Mat 11:14). John the Baptist has a significant
role in all the gospels he is doing the preparatory work. After him, the people
are then waiting for the Lord. In Exodus 23:20 the Lord send his angel ahead of
the people to bring them to a place he had prepared for them. In this case, the
angel prepare the way for a new era, also talked about in Jeremiah 31, the
prophetic era is coming to an end.
Malachi 3:3-5 Purifying and Cleansing
With the entering of the Lord, and the coming of the messenger of the
covenant who are the same person, comes purifying and cleansing judgment. These
are the same things John the Baptist says about Jesus in Matthew 3:11.The
positive aspect of the refining is given in Malachi 3:3-4, and the negative
aspect in verse 5.
The purifier will sit (וְיָשַׁב) and cleansing silver and he will cleanse
the sons of Levi and he will purify them as gold and silver, and then will bringing
an offering to the Lord in righteousness. The offering of Judah and
Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as they were before. A cleansing of the
priests produces a trickle affect which then falls upon all of Judah and
Jerusalem.
In verse 5 we have the negative side of judgment. This verse shows
what really happens to those doing evil. The Lord will draw closer to them and
he will bear witness against sinners: sorcerers, adulterers, those who lie,
those who extort the wages of their hired worker, those who oppress widows and
orphans, and deal badly with the sojourner. The Lord is coming to judge, and
they, they will not fear him.
[1] מַלְאָכִי « my
messenger » has been translated as a name « Malachi » in Malachi
1:1, but here it is exactly the same and remains “my messenger”. In Malachi 2:7
the priests are called messengers of the Lord, and so we can see that there
seems to be a connection between prophets, priests and messengers of the Lord.
We see this also when we see that Jeremiah was a priest (Jer 1:1) and so was
Ezekiel (Ezekiel 1:3).
[2]
In the piel means to make clear, free from obstacles, Brown, Driver, Briggs, The Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English
Lexicon, 815.
[3] This is the first time this form appears in this writing.
No comments:
Post a Comment