An Analysis of Malachi 1:1-14 and 3:16-4:6
According to LaSor et al. (415), scholars generally agree that Malachi was written sometime between the 5th-6th centuries B.C., and there are primarily two arguments used to support this. First, in Malachi 1:8 the word פַּח is used to refer to a civil magistrate, which is a “Persian-era” term. This lends itself to a post-exilic date for Malachi not only because of the Persian influence, but also because Judah had a king (not a governor) prior to being exiled. Second, the whole of 1:1-14 speaks of the sacrificial priesthood as an on-going ministry, which would suggest that Malachi was being written while the Temple was rebuilt, placing it firmly in the Second Temple period. In addition, Pitre (974-975) points out how Malachi makes no mention of Nehemiah or his reforms, despite things like mixed marriages with Gentiles presenting a current problem (2:11 cf. Neh 13), which further lends itself to a date between 450 B.C. and 500 B.C., the two dates that scholars are most comfortable with. As such, the prophetic book seems to be addressing Judahites who were living in a somewhat restored nation, yet who remained unsatisfied with their current state of affairs, and were thus acting ungrateful towards Yahweh (cf. Mal 1:2, 6). If this is the case, then 1:1-14 appears to serve as a thinly veiled threat that God will take a new bride from among the Gentiles if His current bride persists in disobedience (cf. 1:10-14); and 3:16-4:6 warns God’s people to carefully observe the Torah of Moses, lest they be found wavering on the Day of Judgment, when an eschatological prophet comes back to set things right.
To begin, the only one speaking in both 1:10-14 and 3:16-4:6 is Yahweh. Even in 1:1, “The oracle of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi,” the name “Malachi” translates to “messenger,” which many scholars (both ancient and modern) have taken to mean that this is not a personal name, but only a declaration that this book contains the words of Yahweh Himself (Klein, 19-20). Regardless of who wrote this text, the point remains that a heavy emphasis is placed on the fact that, through and through, this is an oracle directly from Yahweh to His people.
When it comes to identifying the genre, Malachi presents an interesting dichotomy. On the one hand, 1:1-14 seems to focus on condemning Israel for her disobedience to Yahweh. Indeed, there even seems to be an implied threat that, just as Yahweh hated Esau and brought the land of Edom to ruin (1:1-4), so can He do the same to Jacob; for if Israel cannot offer pure sacrifices to Yahweh, then He will be sure to find Gentiles who can (1:11, 14). On the other hand, 3:16-4:6 reads like an oracle of both judgment and salvation. Those who practice wickedness will be condemned, but the righteous will be spared, “[even] as a man spares his son who serves him” (3:17). For the wicked, the Day of the Lord will burn them to stubble, yet “for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings” (4:1-2); the fiery sun that burns evildoers will bless those who are obedient to Yahweh. Malachi ends with this dual theme of judgment and salvation by promising that the prophet Elijah will come back in order to “turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers,” however the final statement is a warning to take heed, “lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction” (4:6).
Furthermore, these two texts are full of repetitions that help underscore Malachi’s overarching theses. In 1:1-14, the most oft repeated theme is that of sacrifice. Israel’s priests “despise” the name of Yahweh by offering “polluted food” on His altar (1:6-7), they “pollute” and “profane” the Lord’s table by offering blemished animals (1:12-13), and so the first chapter ends: “Cursed be the cheat who has a male in his flock, and vows it, and yet sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished” (1:14). This is contrasted with an apparent prophecy about the Gentiles, who one day will offer “a pure offering” to Yahweh “in every place” on earth (1:11). This pairs well with the next repeated image, which is that of the sun. The same passage says that Gentiles will make pure offerings to Yahweh “from the rising of the sun to its setting,” and we see this eschatological sunrise take place in 4:2, “the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings.”
Another repeated concept in Malachi is the consistent portrayal of Yahweh as Israel’s Father. This begins in 1:6 with Yahweh asking why, if He is the nation’s Father, Israel does not honor Him as such. This is seen again in 3:17 when Yahweh speaks of Himself sparing His people, “as a man spares his son,” and in 4:5-6 when Elijah is prophesied to “turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers,” clearly a reference to the relationship between Yahweh (the Father) and Israel (the child). As mentioned above, perhaps the most pervasive theme throughout Malachi is the contrast between judgment and salvation. The prophecy opens with a reminder that God saved Jacob but condemned Esau (1:2-5), and the first chapter’s thinly veiled threats become explicit in 3:18, when the Day of Judgment reveals “the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him.” Those who serve Yahweh will be blessed by the rising sun of righteousness, and those who do not will be devoured by its flame (4:1-2).
When it comes to the usage of similes and metaphors, our two passages have a few. In 1:8 God uses a metaphor to describe how offering polluted sacrifices to Him is like offering them to the governor. If even a human ruler will not accept such a disgrace, how much less will the divine King (cf. 1:14)? Once again, 4:17 uses a simile to describe how Yahweh is “like a man who spares his son.” In 4:1 we are told that the Day of Judgment is coming, “burning like an oven” for all of the arrogant and evildoers, and it goes on to metaphorically describe this judgment as “leav[ing] them neither root nor branch,” that is, leaving the wicked completely ruined. After this, 4:2-3 further describes how the righteous will “go out leaping like calves from the stall” on the Day of Judgment, because the wicked will be like “ashes under the soles of [their] feet.” As for personification, we have already seen how Yahweh is personified as Israel’s Father, and Israel as His child, however this is not the only image used. In 1:6 and 1:14, Yahweh is also personified as Israel’s “master” and “king,” which is why the nation is portrayed as a slave/subject who must “serve” her divine Lord (cf. 3:17-18). And of course, Yahweh is shown to be the very “sun of righteousness” who rises with healing for the righteous, but blazing fire for the wicked (4:2).
Additionally, these two texts have an interesting usage of poetic devices. It seems that 1:1-14 forms a parallelism that repeats twice. The pattern goes like this: (a) God’s love and mercy, (b) the Lord’s name is great among the Gentiles, and (c) sacrifices have become polluted. We see (a) in 1:2, “‘I have loved you,’ says the Lord,” (b) in 1:5, “Great is the Lord beyond the border of Israel,” and (c) in 1:6-7, “O priests, who despise my name… By offering polluted food upon my altar.” This repeats again with (a) in 1:9, “entreat the favor of God, that he may be gracious to us,” (b) in 1:11, “For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations,” and (c) in 1:12, “But you profane it when you say that the Lord's table is polluted, and its fruit, that is, its food may be despised.”
Likewise, 3:17-4:6 appears to be a chiasm. It consists of (a) and (a’) that show Yahweh as a Father and Israel as a child: “I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him” (3:17), “he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers” (4:6); followed by (b) and (b’) that show a distinction between the righteous and the wicked on the Day of Judgment: “Then once more you shall see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him” (3:18), “But for you who fear my name… You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall… for [the wicked] will be ashes under the soles of your feet” (4:2-3); and it centers around (c), which is a warning to watch out for the coming of the Day of the Lord, “Behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven” (4:1). It could also be argued that 4:1-3 is its own chiasm, that begins and ends with the Lord setting the wicked “ablaze” (4:1) and reducing them to “ashes” (4:3), and centers around this blazing sun “ris[ing] with healing in its wings” for the righteous (4:2), a theme we have already highlighted.
Moving on to perhaps the most utilized device throughout Malachi, we can turn our attention to the prophet’s usage of intertextuality. Right off the bat we are reminded of the story of Jacob and Esau, “Jacob I have loved, Esau have I hated” (1:2-3), which obviously comes from Genesis 25-33. However, this is not just an arbitrary reference to highlight some vague notion of God’s sovereign election, rather we are supposed to remember what actually happened in that story. God “loving” Jacob and “hating” Esau does not mean that He willed Esau’s condemnation, rather it means that He, like Rebekah, preferred Jacob to inherit the covenant, hence, “Isaac loved Esau… but Rebekah loved Jacob” (Gen 25:28 cf 25:23). But that is not all. We are supposed to recall that, at the end of this Genesis narrative, Jacob and Esau were reconciled with one another, and the former blessed the latter (33:4-15), revealing that God actually did love Esau in the sense of willing him to inherit the blessing, albeit through Jacob. This same dynamic is at play in Malachi 1:1-14, where it begins with God’s apparent condemnation of the Gentiles (Esau/Edom embodying non-Israelites), yet there are scattered promises of the nations being redeemed (1:5, 11, 14).
Indeed, this theme goes even deeper. When the conflict between Jacob and Esau began, and Jacob had to flee for his life, we are told that “the sun had set” (Gen 28:11). Yet when Jacob’s trials were over, at last, “The sun rose upon him… And Jacob lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, Esau was coming” (32:31, 33:1). The rift between Jacob and Esau was healed with the rising of the sun. It comes as no surprise, then, that Malachi says the nations will worship Yahweh “from the rising of the sun to its setting” (Mal 1:11), and that the eschatological in-gathering of Israel and the Gentiles takes place when “the sun of righteousness rise[s] with healing in its wings” (4:2). Thus, the story of Jacob and Esau is not merely an intertextuality, but also an essential framing device for the whole of Malachi’s thesis. That thesis being: Israel will bless the Gentile nations, just as Jacob blessed Esau, and just as Yahweh promised Abraham that, “through your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed” (Gen 22:18).
Another important textual allusion that is employed by Malachi has been pointed out by John Sailhammer in his book, The Meaning of the Pentateuch. Sailhammer observes that, when considered in its canonical context, Malachi 4:4-5 is a callback to Deuteronomy 18:15-19 and 34:10. In order to see this, it must be understood that traditionally, Deuteronomy and Joshua mark the “canonical seam” between the Law and the Prophets, and Malachi and the Psalms serve this same role for the division between the Prophets and the Writings. As such, Sailhammer notices a parallel between the end of Deuteronomy, which contains an instruction to watch out for the coming “prophet like Moses” (Deut 34:10 cf. 18:15-19), and the end of Malachi, which says to watch out for the coming of Elijah (Mal 4:5). This parallel is strengthened when we consider the fact that both Joshua (which canonically follows Deuteronomy) and the Psalms (which canonically follow Malachi) contain a command to “meditate on the Law of the Lord day and night” (Josh 1:8, Ps 1:2), almost as if to say, “meditate on the Torah so that you will be prepared for the arrival of the eschatological prophet.” This is perhaps the logic that would underlie Jesus of Nazareth’s harsh rhetoric towards the teachers of the Law in 1st century Judea, “If you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me” (Jn 5:46).
Further, the existence of a kind of “typology” between Moses and Elijah does seem to be present in the Old Testament, with both of these figures dwelling among Gentiles (Ex 2:15-22, 1 Kg 17:8-24), confronting political rulers with a message of divine judgment (Ex 4:21-22, 1 Kg 18:1), crossing a body of water (Ex 14:22, 2 Kg 2:8-9), appointing successors for themselves (Deut 34:9, 2 Kg 2:15), and disappearing mysteriously afterwards (Deut 34:6, 2 Kg 2:11-12). Thus, it is entirely possible that Malachi’s “Elijah” is intended to be the same figure as Deuteronomy’s future “Moses.”
With those two major intertextualities out of the way, I will just point out a few smaller ones. Malachi 1:11’s reference to Gentiles making “pure” sacrificial offerings to Yahweh, combined with 3:3’s prophecy that “the sons of Levi” will be “refined,” is likely an allusion to Isaiah 66:20-21, which prophesies a future where Gentiles serve as “priests and Levites” in the Lord’s Temple. Moreover, Malachi 1:6, “A son honors his father… If then I am a father, where is my honor?” is obviously drawing on the Fifth Commandment, “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you” (Ex 20:12). Since this is the first commandment with a promise concerning the inheritance of the land, and Malachi presents it in the context of a judgment oracle, the undertone of Yahweh’s question in Malachi 1:6 seems to be, “if you do not honor me, you will lose the land you have just been restored to.” Other clear references to different parts of the Hebrew Bible include the necessity of a sacrifice being unblemished (1:14), a requirement found in Exodus 12:3-14, and the consistent talk of a coming eschatological Judgment Day (Mal 4:1, 4:5, etc.) that is echoed across the major and minor prophets (cf. Isa 2:12, 13:6, 9, Ezek 13:5, 30:3, Joel 1:15, 2:1, 11, 31, 3:14, Amos 5:18, 20, Obadiah 15, Zeph 1:7, 14, Zech 14:1). The last one I will note is a very interesting theme that pervades the Hebrew Scriptures, but is especially found in Exodus 13-14. Just as one and the same “sun of righteousness” burns the wicked but blesses the righteous in Malachi 4:1-3, so too does the same “pillar of fire” provide light to the Israelites in Exodus 13:21-22, but darkness to the Egyptians in 14:24.
At this point, the theology of Malachi should be (at least somewhat) evident. Malachi 1:1-14 is all about how there is a division between Israel and the nations, just as there was between Jacob and Esau, on account of only one of them receiving the covenant. However, Jacob Israel has not been obedient to this covenant, and a Day is coming when the Gentiles will be. As such, Malachi emphasizes the fact that it is “those who fear the Lord” (3:16) who will be spared on the Day of Judgement, whether they be Judahites or Gentiles. When the rift between Israel and the nations is healed with the rising of the sun of righteousness, this very act will reveal all of the true followers of Yahweh, making “the distinction between the righteous and the wicked” manifest (3:18), with the righteous being refined and healed by the sun’s flame (4:2 cf. 3:3), and the wicked being consumed by it (4:1, 3). The overarching thesis of Malachi, then, is that it does not matter whether one is a Jew or a Gentile, what matters is that their offerings to the Lord are pure (1:7 cf. 1:11), and that they fear Him (4:2). Hence, the prophecy ends with an apparent warning to “Remember the law of my servant Moses,” because the prophet like Moses, the eschatological “Elijah” whom the Lord will send, is coming to bring either blessings or curses (4:4-5), and you had better be ready for the Day on which he arrives.
References:
Lasor, William Sanford, et al. Old Testament Survey: The Message, Form, and Background of The Old Testament. William B. Eerdmans, 1994.
Pitre, Brant. Catholic Introduction to the Bible: The Old Testament. Ignatius, 2018.
Klein, George. “Introduction to Malachi.” Criswell Theological Review, 1987.
Sailhamer, John H. The Meaning of the Pentateuch: Revelation, Composition and Interpretation. IVP Academic, 2009.