Chapter Four

Conclusion of the Third Discourse: 1–3. Future punishment of the wicked and reward of the righteous. 4–6. Elijah the prophet as the Forerunner of the day of the Lord.

(Mal 4:1-3.) The wicked—concludes the prophet his discourse, begun in the preceding chapter—will be destroyed on the day of God’s judgment, while the righteous will receive a reward and will rejoice.

Malachi 4:1. For behold, the day comes, burning like an oven; then all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble; the day that comes will burn them up, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. The wicked will not always prosper. With the coming of the day of the Lord—that is, the day of God’s judgment—they will disappear like stubble quickly disappearing when thrown into a red-hot oven (cf. Isa 5:24); nothing will remain of them, neither root nor branches (the root is they themselves, the branches are their children).

Malachi 4:2. But for you who revere My name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall. For the pious, the sun of righteousness, which does not always shine now, will rise—that is, they will receive a reward corresponding to their merits before God, or, in other words, salvation (cf. Isa 45:8). They will play about, like calves that have been in stalls for a long time and are let out to run.

Malachi 4:3. and you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when I act, says the Lord of hosts. To trample the wicked underfoot was a reward for the Old Testament righteous, who in this way became instruments of God’s wrath. Cf. Mic 4:13. Tikhomirov, however, explains this expression in the sense that the wicked will be harmless to the righteous. (Mal 4:4-6.) Since, with the general, almost, unfaithfulness of the Jewish people to Jehovah, the future judgment of God must be extremely destructive for this people, the Lord, out of pity for it, will send before the coming of the judgment a special prophet, something like Elijah, who must prepare the way for Him and level the abyss separating the most holy God-Judge from the sinful people, and also reconcile the Jews to one another. (Mal 4:4.) “Remember the law of Moses My servant, which I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and the ordinances.” Having said what terrible punishment awaits the wicked, the prophet points out the means by which this punishment may be avoided. One must keep the Law of Moses. In this is shown the entire worldview of the post-captivity Judaism, which placed all its strength in the observance of the Law of Moses. Concerning Horeb, as the mountain of legislation, Malachi speaks in agreement with the indication of the Book of Deuteronomy (Deut 4:1-15).

Malachi 4:5. Behold, I will send you the prophet Elijah before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes. To bring the Jews to obedience to the Law, the Lord will send a special exhorter, or herald, as has already been said in verse 1 of chapter 3. But whom did the prophet Malachi mean by this exhorter—the prophet Elijah? The Jews saw here a prediction of the actual coming of the famous prophet Elijah known from the history of the Old Testament, who was to appear again on earth and specifically to the Jews, before the coming of the Messiah (see Matt 17:10-11; John 1:21). This Jewish belief was reflected in the translation of the verse under consideration by the Seventy, who instead of the phrase “the prophet Elijah” placed “Elijah the Tishbite,” that is, the well-known prophet Elijah, a native of Tishbe. According to the interpretation of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself and the Evangelists, under Elijah here we should understand, first of all, John the Forerunner (see Matt 17:10-13; Luke 1:17), that is, therefore, Elijah in a figurative sense of the word, a prophet in the spirit and power of Elijah. Finally, according to the interpretation, almost universal, of the Fathers and teachers of the Church, here, besides the indication of John the Forerunner, who was the forerunner of the first coming of Christ, there is also an indication of the actual coming of the famous prophet Elijah, who shall appear on earth before the second coming of Christ (Chrysostom, Theodoret, and others). Since this “Elijah the prophet” must appear before the “day of the Lord, great and terrible,” it is clear that he should be identified with the “Angel” or herald who will also appear before God’s judgment, and about whom it is said in verse 1 of chapter 3, where it is undoubtedly a matter of John the Forerunner. Therefore, from an exegetical point of view, it is more correct to acknowledge that interpretation which was given to this place in the early times of Christianity (besides the Gospel writers, St. Justin Philosopher also referred this passage to John the Baptist). Yes, here the prophet means a prophet in the spirit and power of Elijah, that is, John the Baptist, and calls him Elijah in the same sense in which Jeremiah called the future ruler of Israel “David” (Jer 30:9; cf. Ezek 34:23). And the Fathers and teachers of the Church themselves did not reject such an explanation. But, at the same time, there are no obstacles to accepting also their interpretation, by which here may be found a prediction of the personal appearance of Elijah before the second coming of Christ. As with regard to all messianic prophecies, here one can apply that method of explanation by which almost every prophecy can be explained in relation both to the nearest events and to the events which must come to pass at the end of times. When, however, comparing this passage with Rev 11:3-13, the Fathers of the Church had even more grounds for interpreting Malachi’s prophecy about the prophet Elijah as relating not only to John the Forerunner, but also to the actual prophet Elijah.

Malachi 4:6. and he will turn the hearts of parents to their children and the hearts of children to their parents, so that I will not come and strike the land with a curse. The activity of the prophet who will appear before the coming of the Messiah will consist in turning the hearts of fathers to their sons and vice versa. Here it is most natural to see an allusion to the disagreement existing between the old and young generation of the post-captivity Judaism. Apparently, the older generation disapprovingly regarded the actions of the younger (perhaps the conclusion of marriages with pagan women, cf. Mal 2:11), and that insisted on the correctness of its views. From this the Jewish community weakened in its strength, and God calls upon, or will call upon through the prophet who is to come, the Jews to reconciliation among themselves. The prophecy of Malachi (Mal 3:1-8 and Mal 4:5-6) is read as a reading on the feast days of St. John the Forerunner (February 24, May 25, and August 29), from which it is clear that the Orthodox Church sees here a prediction of the activity of John the Forerunner.