Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Malachi 4:5

Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD:

5. Elijah the prophet ] The reading of the LXX., “Elijah the Tishbite” ( ), has been thought to indicate their belief that the actual return of Elijah to earth is here foretold. Some have traced the same belief in the appropriation by the Son of Sirach to the literal Elijah of Malachi’s description of the work of the coming prophet ( Mal 4:6) ( Sir 48:10 ); though it may well be doubted whether the passage proves anything more than his acquaintance with our prophecy. The belief, however, was certainly current among the Jews in our Lord’s time (Mat 17:10; Mar 9:11; Joh 1:21). Nor does it follow that the belief was unfounded, because He Himself distinctly claims the prophecy for John the Baptist, identifying him at the same time with the “messenger” foretold by Malachi (Mat 11:10; Mat 11:14; Mat 17:12-13). The prophecy had a first fulfilment in the Baptist, who went before the face of the Lord “in the spirit and power of Elijah”, to do the work here described (Luk 1:17). In one sense he was “Elias which was for to come”; but in another sense, and on his own confession (Joh 1:21), he was not. For the prophecy awaits a second and (as some believe) more literal fulfilment; and as the typical Elijah came before Christ’s first Advent, and “they knew him not, but did unto him whatsoever they listed”, so before His second Advent shall another Elijah come “and shall restore all things.” (Mat 17:10-13).

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Behold I will send (I send, as a future, proximate in the prophets mind) you Elijah the prophet – The Archangel Gabriel interprets this for us, to include the sending of John the Immerser. For he not only says Luk 1:17. that he shall go before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elias, but describes his mission in the characteristic words of Malachi, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children: and those other words also, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, perhaps represent the sequel in Malachi, and the hearts of the children to the fathers; for their hearts could only be so turned by conversion to God, whom the fathers, patriarchs and prophets, knew, loved and served; and whom they served in name only. John the Immerser, in denying that he was Elias, Joh 1:21 denied only, that he was that great prophet himself. Our Lord, in saying Mat 11:14, This is Elias, which was for to come Mat 17:12 that Elias is come already and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed, met the error of the scribes, that He could not be the Christ, because Elias was not yet come. When He says Mat 17:11, Elias truly shall first come and restore all things, He implies a coming of Elijah, other than that of John the Immerser, since he was already martyred, and all things were not yet restored. This must also be the fullest fulfillment. For the great and terrible Day of the Lord is the Day of Judgment, of which all earthly judgments, however desolating, (as the destruction of Jerusalem) are but shadows and earnests. Before our Lords coming all things looked on to His first coming, and, since that coming, all looks on to the second, which is the completion of the first and of all things in time.

Our Lords words, Elias truly shall first come and restore all things, seem to me to leave no question, that, as John the Immerser came, in the spirit and power of Elias, before His first coming, so, before the second coming, Elijah should come in person, as Jews and Christians have alike expected. This has been the Christian expectation from the first. Justin Martyr asked his opponent Shall we not conceive that the Word of God has proclaimed Elias to be the forerunner of the great and terrible day of His second Coming? Certainly, was Tryphos reply. Justin continues, Our Lord Himself taught us in His own teaching that this very thing shall be, when the said that Elias also shall come; and we know that this shall be fulfilled, when He is about to come from heaven in glory. Tertullian says Elias is to come again, not after a departure from life, but after a translation; not to be restored to the body, from which he was never taken; but to be restored to the world, from which he was translated; not by way of restoration to life, but for the completion of prophecy; one and the same in name and in person. Enoch and Elias were translated, and their death is not recorded, as being deferred; but they are reserved as to die, that they may vanquish Antichrist by their blood.

And, in proof that the end was not yet , No one has yet received Elias; no one has yet fled from Antichrist. And the ancient author of the verses against Marcion; , Elias who has not yet tasted the debt of death, because he is again to come into the world. Origen says simply in one place, that the Saviour answered the question as to the objection of the Scribes, not annulling what had been handed down concerning Elias, but affirming that there was another coming of Elias before Christ, unknown to the scribes, according to which, not knowing him, and, being in a manner, accomplices in his being cast into prison by Herod and slain by him, they had done to him what they listed. Hippolytus has , As two Comings of our Lord and Saviour were indicated by the Scriptures, the first in the flesh, in dishonor, that He might be set at naught – the second in glory, when He shall come from heaven with the heavenly host and the glory of the Father – so two forerunners were pointed out, the first, John, the son of Zacharias, and again – since He is manifested as Judge at the end of the world, His forerunners must first appear, as He says through Malachi, I will send to you Elias the Tishbite before the great and terrible day of the Lord shall come.

Hilary , The Apostles inquire in anxiety about the times of Elias. To whom He answereth, that Elias will come and restore all things, that is, will recall to the knowledge of God, what he shall find of Israel; but he signifies that John came in the spirit and power of Elias, to whom they had shown all severe and harsh dealings, that, foreannouncing the Coming of the Lord, he might be a forerunner of the Passion also by an example of wrong and harass. We understand that those same prophets (Moses and Elias) will come before His Coming, who, the Apocalypse of John says, will be slain by Antichrist, although there are various opinions of very many, as to Enoch or Jeremiah, that one of them is to die, as Elias.

Hilary the Deacon, 355 a.d., has on the words, I suppose God hath set forth us the Apostles last; He therefore applies these to his own person, because he was always in distress, suffering, beyond the rest, persecutions and distresses, as Enoch and Elias will suffer, who will be Apostles at the last time. For they have to be sent before Christ, to make ready the people of God, and fortify all the Churches to resist Antichrist, of whom the Apocalypse attests, that they will suffer persecutions and be slain. When the faithless shall be secure of the kingdom of the devil, the saints, i. e., Enoch and Elias being slain, rejoicing in the victory, and sending gifts, one to another as the Apocalypse says Rev 11:10 sudden destruction shall come upon them. For Christ at His Coming, shall destroy them all. Gregory of Nyssa quotes the prophecy under the heading, that before the second Coming of our Lord, Elias should come.

Ambrose , Because the Lord was to come down from heaven, and to ascend to heaven, He raised Elias to heaven, to bring him back to the earth at the time He should please. The beast, Antichrist, ascends from the abyss to fight against Elias and Enoch and John, who are restored to the earth for the testimony to the Lord Jesus, as we read in the Apocalypse of John.

Jerome gives here the mystical meaning; God will send, in Elias (which is interpreted My God and wire is of the town Thisbe, which signifies conversion or penitence) the whole choir of the prophets, to convert the heart of the fathers to the sons, namely, Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the patriarchs, that their posterity may believe in the Lord the Saviour, in whom themselves believed: for Abraham saw the day of the Lord and was glad. Here, he speaks of the coming of Elias before their anointed, as a supposition of Jews and Judaizing heretics. But in commenting on our Lords words in Matthew, he adheres twice to the literal meaning. On Mat 11:14-15, Some think that John is therefore called Elias, because, as, according to Malachi, at the second coming of the Saviour. On Mat 17:11-12, Elias will precede and announce the Judge to come, so did John at His first coming, and each is a messenger, of the first or second coming of the Lord: and again concisely, On Mat 17:11-12, He who is to come in the second Coining of the Saviour in the actual body, now comes through John in spirit and power; and he speaks of Enoch and Elias as the two witnesses in the Revelation, since, according to the Apocalypse of John, Enoch and Elias are spoken of, as having to die.

Chrysostom , When He saith that Elias cometh and shall restore all things, He means Elias himself, and the conversion of the Jews, which shall then be; but when He saith, which was to come, He calls John, Elias, according to the manner of his ministry.

In Augustines time it was the universal belief. , When he (Malachi) had admonished them to remember the law of Moses, because he foresaw, that they would for a long time not receive it spiritually, as it ought, he added immediately; And I will send you Elias the Thisbite etc. That when, through this Elias, the great and wonderful prophet, at the last time before the judgment, the law shall have been expounded to them, the Jews shall believe in the true Christ, i. e., in our Christ, is everywhere in the mouths and hearts of the faithful. For not without reason is it hoped, that he shall come before the Coming of the Saviour, as Judge, because not without reason is it believed that he still lives. For he was carried in a chariot of fire from things below; which Scripture most evidently attests. When he shall come then, by expounding the law spiritually, which the Jews now understand carnally, he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children.

Cyril of Alexandria, his antagonist Theodoret, and Theodore of Mopsuestia, who was loose from all tradition, had the same clear belief. Cyril; It is demonstrative of the gentleness and long-suffering of God, that Elias also the Tishbite shall shine upon us, to foreannounce when the Judge shall come to those in the whole world. For the Son shall come down, as Judge, in the glory of the Father, attended by the angels, and shall sit on the throne of His glory, judging the world in righteousness, and shall reward every man according to his works. But since we are in many sins, well is it for us, that the divine prophet goes before Him, bringing all those on earth to one mind; that all, being brought to the unity through the faith, and ceasing from evil intents, may fulfill that which is good, and so be saved when the Judge cometh down. The blessed John the Baptist came before Him in the spirit and power of Elias. But, as he preached saying, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make His paths straight, so also the divine Elias proclaims His then being near and all-but-present, that He may judge the world in righteousness. Theodoret; , Malachi teaches us how, when Antichrist shall presume on these things, the great Elias shall appear, preaching to the Jews the coming of Christ: and he shall convert many, for this is the meaning of, he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, i. e., the Jews (for these he calls fathers, as being older in knowledge) to those who believed from the Gentiles. They who shall believe through the preaching of the great Elias, and shall join themselves to the Gentiles who seized the salvation sent to them, shall become one church.

He hints, how when these things are done by Antichrist, Michael the Archangel will set all in motion, that Elias should come and foreannounce the coming of the Lord that the then Jews may obtain salvation. And on this place, Knowing well, that they would neither obey the law, nor receive Him when He came, but would deliver Him to be crucified, He promises them, in His unspeakable love for man, that He will again send Elias as a herald of salvation, Lo, I will send you Elias the Tishbite. And signifying the time, He added, Before the great and terrible day of the Lord shall come: He named the Day of His Second Coming. But He teaches us, what the great Elias shall do, when he comes, Who shall bring back the heart of the father to the son etc. And pointing out the end, for which Elias should first come, Lest I come and smite the earth utterly. For lest, finding you all in unbelief, I send you all to that endless punishment, Elias will first come, and will persuade you, O Jews, to unite you indissolubly with those, who from the Gentiles believe in Me, and to be united to My one Church.

Theodore of Mopsuestia paraphrases: In addition to all which I have said, I give you this last commandment, to remember My law, which I gave to all Israel through Moses, plainly declaring what they ought to do in each thing, and as the first token of obedience, to receive the Lord Christ when He cometh, appearing for the salvation of all men: Who will end the law, but show His own perfection. It had been well, had you immediately believed Him when He came, and known Him, as He whom Moses and all the prophets signified, Who should put an end to the law, and reveal the common salvation of all men, so that it should be manifest to all, that this is the sum and chief good of the whole dispensation of the law, to bring all men to the Lord Christ, Who, for those great goods, should be manifested in His own time. But since, when He manifested Himself, ye manifested your own ungainliness, the blessed Elias shall be sent to you before the second Coming of Christ, when He will come from heaven, to unite those who, for religion, are separated from each other, and, through the knowledge of religion, to bring the fathers to one-mindedness with the children, and in a word, to bring all men to one and the same harmony, when those, then found in ungodliness, shall receive from him the knowledge of the truth in the communion with the godly thence ensuing.

The African author of the work on the promises and predictions of God. (between 450 and 455 a.d.)

, Against Antichrist shall be sent two witnesses, the prophets Enoch and Elijah, against whom shall arise three false prophets of Antichrist.

Isidore of Seville 595 a.d.; , Elias, borne in a chariot of fire, ascended to heaven, to come according to the prophet Malachi at the end of the world, and to precede Christ, to announce His last coming, with great deeds and wondrous signs, so that, on earth too, Antichrist will war against him, be against him, or him who is to come with him, and will slay them; their bodies also will lie unburied in the streets. Then, raised by the Lord, they will smite the kingdom of Antichrist with a great blow. After this, the Lord will come, and will slay Antichrist with the word of His mouth, and those who worshiped him. , This will be in the last times, when, on the preaching of Elias, Judah will be converted to Christ.

To add one more, for his great gifts, Gregory the Great. , It is promised, that when Elias shall come, he shall bring back the hearts of the sons to their fathers, that the doctrine of the old, which is now taken from the hearts of the Jews, may, in the mercy of God, return, when the sons shall begin to understand of the Lord God, what the fathers taught. , Although Elias is related to have been carried to heaven, he deferred, he did not escape, death. For it is said of him by the mouth of the Truth Himself, Elias shall come and restore all things. He shall come to restore all things; for to this end is he restored to this world, that he may both fulfill the office of preaching, and pay the debt of the flesh. , The holy Church, although it now loses many through the shock of temptation, yet, at the end of the world, it receives its own double, when, having received the Gentiles to the full, all Judaea too, which shall then be, agrees to hasten to its faith. For hence it is written, Until the fullness of the Gentiles shall come, and so all Israel shall be saved.

Hence, in the Gospel the Truth says, Elias shall come and shall restore all things. For now the Church has lost the Israelites, whom it could not convert by preaching; but then, at the preaching of Elias, while it collects all which it shall find, it receives in a manner more fully what it has lost. , John is spoken of as to come in the spirit and power of Elias, because, as Elias shall precede the second Coming of the Lord, so John preceded His first. For as Elias will come, as precursor of the Judge, so John was made the precursor of the Redeemer. John then was Elias in spirit; he was not Elias in person. What then the Lord owned as to spirit, that John denies as to the person.

Whether Elijah is one of the two witnesses spoken of in the Apocalypse, is obviously a distinct question. Of commentators on the Apocalypse, Arethas remarks that as to Elijah, there is clear testimony from Holy Scripture, this of Malachi; but that, with regard to Enoch, we have only the fact of his being freed from death by translation, and the tradition of the Church. John Damascene fixed the belief in the Eastern Church. In the West, Bede e. g., who speaks of the belief that the two witnesses were Elijah and Enoch, as what was said by some doctors, takes our Lords declaration, that Elijah shall return, in its simple meaning. (on Mat 17:11; Mark 9.) Yet it was no matter of faith. When the belief as to a personal Antichrist was changed by Luther and Calvin, the belief of a personal forerunner of Christ gave way also.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Mal 4:5-6

Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet.

Malachis predictions

Of the prophecies relating to the Messias some were so obscure, and had such an appearance of inconsistency, if applied to one and the same person, that they could not well be understood, till the event reconciled and unfolded them; for which obscurity many good reasons have been assigned. But it is reasonable to suppose, that as the time of Christs coming drew nearer, the later predictions concerning Him should be more distinct and plain than the former.

I. Explain the prophecies of Malachi relating to the Messias. The Jews, after their deliverance from Babylon, were free from idolatry, but in other respects they were base and wicked; and as unsettled people go from one extreme to another, they had exchanged a pagan superstition for a kinder religious libertinism and cold indifference; and this nation, which had once adored any and every idol, was become remiss in the worship of the true God. Malachi reproaches the Jews for their ingratitude to God, who had so lately showed them so much favour and mercy. He accuses them of irreligion and profaneness; he tells them that God abhorred their offerings, and would raise up to Himself better worshippers amongst the Gentiles. Then the prophet proceeds to declare the coming of a very considerable person. The passage indeed describes two persons. The messenger, and another person who, being called the Lord, and having a prophet to go before Him, must be one of the highest dignity. This same person is also called the Angel of the Covenant. He is to come suddenly, and to come to His temple. He should make and confirm a covenant between God and men. Who may abide the day of His coining? How few will be found fit to appear before Him! He may be compared to fire which tries metals and purges them from dross, and to soap which cleanses garments; for He shall pass a just and impartial judgment upon the lives and doctrines of His people, distinguishing false opinions from the Word of God, and false appearances of holiness from true piety. He shall find religion greatly corrupted, and the priests and Levites as bad as those whom they should instruct; but He shall correct all that is faulty, and so reform the worship of God that it shall be again acceptable to Him. The day of His coming shall be destructive to the wicked. A new Elijah was to prepare His way. He was to make converts by his ministry, but not to produce a general messenger.

II. The completion of these predictions. Jesus fulfils these predictions. He came suddenly; came to His temple; was the messenger of the covenant; was a refiner s fire; purified the sons of Levi; freed the law and the worship of God from all defects and innovations, from all that was superfluous, burdensome, and temporary. Jesus Christ arose as a Sun of Righteousness with healing in His wings. His coming was truly the great and terrible day of the Lord. The prophecy of Elijahs coming was fulfilled in John the Baptist. He might be, not improperly, said to turn the hearts of the people, and to restore all things, as he did all that was requisite for that purpose. Elias in Malachi was to prepare the way of the Lord: to turn the hearts of men, and to call the Jews to amendment: not to cause a general conversion of the Jews; to convert several and thereby to save them from destruction. John the Baptist was like Elias in his prophetic office; in living in a corrupted age; in fervent zeal; in restoring decayed religion; in rebuking vice; in suffering persecution for righteousness sake; in offending wicked princes by reproving them for their sins; in austerity of life, in habit, and in dwelling in retired places. By the ministry of our Lord and His apostles is that remarkable passage in Malachi fulfilled. From the rising of the sun, unto the going down of the same, My name shall be great among the Gentiles. (J. Jortin, D. D.)

The herald of the day of the Lord

The last of prophets, who heralds the day of the Lord, is to restore the spiritual continuity between the generations of Gods people; he is to bring the spiritual fathers of the race to recognise in the men of his own age their spiritual sons; he is to make the men of his own age welcome with the affection of sons their spiritual progenitors. He is to restore spiritual continuity, lest God come and smite the earth with a curse. For breaches of spiritual continuity, that is, religious revolutions, are almost always disastrous. There are times, indeed, when God has willed nations to break with the past. But such exceptional moments we need not now consider. Breaches of religious continuity are not always permanent. The incoming of some flood of new knowledge may antiquate received statements of the current religious teaching, and the men of the new learning may revolt from what seems like intellectual bondage, and yet after all it may appear that what they revolted against was rather the parody of their faith than their faith in its true character, and a harmony between the combatants may yet be arrived at again, which is a victory of the faith, but not a victory to either side. There are reformations and counter-reformations; these are revolts and reactions. There are blindnesses in part which happen to our Israels, which may be necessary to let loose new and suppressed forces, and which may lead at last to reconciliation. There are revolts which are not apostasies. But so it is not always. There are breaches which are never healed, at least in this world. And in any case such losses of spiritual continuity are terrible evils. More and more, as we go on in life, we feel our responsibility for making the best of the heritage which the past has bequeathed to us–the heritage of Christian creed and character. Verily, we have entered into the labours of other men. How are we to get the old religion to recognise the men of our day? How are we to turn them from the one to the other! Let a man get at all into the heart the Christian religion, and he becomes conscious at once that what that religion corresponds to is nothing which is changeable in human nature. Knowledge grows and past knowledge is outgrown; criticism develops, and its method alters, and a past criticism is a bygone criticism. But underneath all these developments there does lie a humanity that is permanent. The dress, the circumstances of a particular epoch fall easily off the Christ, and He stands disclosed the spiritual Lord of all the ages. The consciousness to which He appeals, the need of God, the desire for the Divine Fatherhood, the sense of sin, the cry for redemption, the experience of strength which is given in response to the self surrender of faith, the union of men of all sorts and classes in the fellowship of the Holy Ghost–this consciousness, this experience, does not belong to any one age or class. It belongs to us now as much as to the men of old. The pledge that a Catholic religion is possible lies in the recognition (in the moral and spiritual departments only) of a Catholic humanity, which may be dormant in superficial ages and men, but can everywhere be awakened by lifes deeper experiences or the profounder appeals of the men of God. How then are we to play our part, in keeping unimpaired, or in restoring, the spiritual continuity of our age with the past?

1. The task is to be wrought out in the character by spiritual discipline. Christianity finds its chief witness in life, in character. All down the ages it is character which has been the chief instrument in propagating the truth. The Christian character is sonship; something which is peculiar to Christianity; much more than mere morality, or abstinence from sin. It is the direct product of a conscious relation to the Divine Father, a fellowship with the Divine Son, a freedom in the Spirit. Christian sonship is the direct outcome of Christian motives, and its chief evidence lies in itself. Certainly the chief witness for Christ in the world is the witness of Christian sonship. Here then is your first vocation–realise and exhibit the temper of sonship. It is developed by generous correspondence with the movement of Gods Spirit within us, by constant ventures of faith and acts of obedience: it comes of the deliberate and regular exercise of those faculties of the spirit to which Christ most appeals, of prayer, of self discipline, of faith, of self-knowledge, of penitence. The obligation of keeping up the spiritual continuity of the generations, presses with especial force on the Churchs teachers. The prophetic office of the Church consists in the permanent function of maintaining an old and unchanging faith, by showing its power of adapting itself to constantly new conditions; it is to interpret the old faith to the new generation, with fidelity to the old, and with confidence in the new. The old dogmas are to many men, and to many of the best men, as an unknown tongue. The prophetic office of the Church is to interpret the unknown tongue of old doctrine till they speak in the intelligible language of felt human wants. How is this to be done? By knowing the wants. By being in touch with the movements. There is a special sense in which the task of maintaining spiritual continuity down the generations belongs to the Christian student. Two things are necessary, as for the pastor: the knowledge of the old, and the appreciation of the new. The Christian student will study with reverent care, irrespective of modern wants, the genius of historical Christianity: making himself at one with the religion of Christ in that form in which it has shown itself in experience most catholic, most capable of persistence through radical changes, least the product of any particular age, or state of feeling. So with frankness and freedom he will study the conditions of the present. Mostly the same person does not do both these things. There is much work before us to emancipate Christianity from the shackles of mediaeval absolutism, of Calvinism, of mere Protestant reaction, and to reassert it in its largeness, in its freshness, and in its adaptability to new knowledge and new movements. We live in an age of profound transition, socially and intellectually. What is wanted is for the same people to take measure of the ancient faith, and to discern the signs of the times. (Canon C. Gore, M. A.)

The gilt of prophecy the supreme need of our age

A strange and weird figure is this of the prophet Elijah, the Tishbite. A unique person, with a unique mission. John the Baptist was one of his spiritual successors, and the greatest. Athanasius, perhaps, was another, and Martin Luther, and perhaps John Wesley; or, at least, these latter have been like Eliseus, catching up his mantle, baptised with a potion of his spirit. They have been the men who have accomplished the great social and spiritual revelations of the world. Rough, earnest, strong-willed men most of them, not given to mince their words or to stand upon courtesies; but they have been the men to keep alive the flame of religion, and to prevent its dying out. Mark their ages, and then compare the work of the man with the needs of his age. There were giants in the earth in those days, and people say we shall never see giants again. The individual grows less as the world grows more. Knowledge has got to be so diffused, and the elements of life so manifold, society so vast and complicated, that an Elijah whom all would recognise as a messenger from God seems impossible. The age of prophets, at least of Elijahs of the old type, has passed away. Yet, though no Elijah, there may be an Elisha; though no Isaiah, yet a Malachi. St. Paul tells us that prophecy is the highest gift bestowed by Christ upon His Church; and it is certain that all who feel that our call is to proclaim Gods truth to men may well pray to be endowed with a portion of it. Whatever spiritual gifts may have been necessary or profitable to the Church at other times, I am persuaded that the gift of prophecy is the most necessary and profitable now. Men felt the difference between a Paul and a Philetus, for Paul spoke in demonstration of the Spirit and of power. A man may well pray for a portion of this power, and for grace to use it in the noblest cause. It is not eloquence, it is not popularity, it is not the power of attracting the crowd; it is something impalpable, but most real, when men bend their wills and hearts and consciences before the uttered truth. It is strange how even educated men misread the signs of the times. This age wants, and is prepared to receive, not the priest, but the prophet: not the man who claims to stand between them and God, and says, No access to the Heavenly Father but by me; but the man who can teach the truth, and help them, in their blindness, and waywardness, and ignorance, to discern the way of peace and righteousness. The prophet must be in earnest, or men will not receive him as a prophet; must himself believe his message, or he will carry no conviction to his hearers. We have a message able to stir the most phlegmatic feeling, and to arouse the dullest conscience, if only we knew how to deliver it. If our own hearts have found out the secret, we can speak of present peace and joy in believing, of the kingdom of God standing in righteousness, of the nearness of a Father to us in our dangers, difficulties, troubles. There are those who can speak of these things with a strange and moving power, and their arguments will rise high above the clouds of doubt and speculation, till they seem to bring us almost face to face with God. Such men are in very truth the Lords prophets; such teachers build on immovable ground the fabric of faith. They are sure and trustworthy guides; for they are leading men to God through grace by the ways of holiness: they have themselves travelled, or are now travelling the road; they are testifying to us out of their own experience; they speak that which they know. It is a faith thus quickened, and faith cometh by hearing, that vitalises sacraments and prayers and worship. Without such faith, all these things are dead; with it they become living, quickening powers. It is the spirit of the prophet, before all other gifts, that the Churches need to enable them to evangelise the world. (Bishop Fraser.)

And He shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children.

The reconciliation of the old and young

I. The prophet was thinking of what may fairly be called a time of transition. The passing from one dispensation, or order of things, to another. Such a period was that under Moses, when the people passed from a patriarchal to a national life. The bringing in of the only begotten Son was the greatest event of the sacred history. All that had gone before seems trivial in comparison with it. It was a change from law to grace, from a religion limited to one nation to a universal faith, from a system of rite and ceremony to one of inward spirit, But all times of great change are full of danger. They give great anxiety to all thoughtful minds. Ours is a time of transition, and the grave danger of our times is, the possibility of estrangement between the fathers and the children, i.e., between the old and the young. The fathers are disposed to be conservative; the older we get the harder we find it to receive new thoughts, or accustom ourselves to new ways. So when the fathers see the children entering on new ways, adopting new methods, forming new parties, there is a danger that their hearts should be turned away from them and on the other hand, the young are disposed to that which is new; their minds are receptive and plastic. They are tempted to think their fathers ways and thoughts are old-fashioned, to underrate the good of the past, and to leave their fathers behind.

II. Our duty in such a time of transition. There is a duty peculiar to such an age. To fulfil it was part of the mission of John the Baptist. He did much to break the abruptness of the transition from the one dispensation to the other.

1. The duty of the fathers to the children. That the fathers should recognise the new needs, and the new powers of the children.

(1) We should not repress their thoughts, though they may differ from ours. Few things are more harmful to the young than repression. Doubt and difficulty, closed within the heart, grow more and more. Bring them out into the light of loving sympathy, and they often almost vanish away.

(2) Nor shall we condemn. Condemnation has often made a searcher after truth into a determined heretic.

(3) Let us foster and encourage the good rather than trouble ourselves too much about the error. We are all too anxious to root up weeds. A vigorous growth in the corn will do much to weaken the growth of the weeds.

2. The duty of the children to the fathers, the young to the old. The children should recognise the value of the institutions and traditions which they inherit from their fathers. The opinions of the fathers are certainly entitled to respectful consideration. Age should prejudice you not against them, but in their favour. Be not swift to remove the ancient landmarks.

III. Our safe guard in such a time of transition. There is a certain deep interest in this as the last word of the Old Testament. It is filled with the hope of one who should be the messenger of the Highest; but lying close behind it is the thought and hope of Him whose way should be thus prepared. We think not of the herald, but of the King before whose face he went. The true safeguard amid the perils of our day is in Christ. The young may outgrow the special forms in which His doctrine has been cast, but they cannot outgrow the Christ. Christ, rightly regarded, meets the needs of old and young. It is absurd to talk of outgrowing Jesus Christ. He is the true gathering point for the old and the young. (W. Garrett Horder.)

Religion in the Family

The family is a radical and fundamental organisation and agency in human society. It is the original source of authority, government, morality, and religion. Without family ties, family government and discipline, family virtue and piety, the Church could not exist, and society would quickly relapse into anarchy and barbarism, and fall to pieces. Here are the roots of godliness, of self-government, of right development. Is it any marvel, then, that God guards the family sanctity and life with such jealousy, and lays upon the marital and parental relations such solemn sanctions and obligations? There is no more alarming sign of the times than the decay of family religion. And the decay is not superficial but radical, and the effects are far reaching, disastrous, and permanent. Family government is fearfully relaxed, family religious instruction is almost a thing of the past, parental restraints have come to be obnoxious, children have lost reverence for their parents, the home altar, in ten thousand households, is broken down, and the children even of Christian parents grow up without the fear of God, without Christian training and restraint, and go forth into the world, wholly unprepared to resist temptation, or to meet the responsibilities of life. We must have a speedy and grand revival of family religion, or we are doomed. Nothing else can stay the tide of religions declension, in faith and in practice, the tide of demoralisation that threatens to make a clean sweep of social integrity, of law and order, and self-government. We must heed the Divine warning uttered by Malachi, or God will smite us with a still more fearful curse. (J. M. Sherwood, D. D.)

Our debt to childhood

There are encouraging hints that the study of the young is not to be always undervalued. One is, the careful observation of child-life which men of science are beginning to make simply in the interests of science. Legislators also are beginning to see that in order to have good citizens we must educate the young. The Church needs to establish an early tutelage of her children. In the old New England meeting-house all was stately and sterile, rigid and unattractive, to the children. Notice some of the advantages of the modern method of youthful Sabbath instruction.

1. Children learn more in company than alone. It is good to see truth through the eyes of others.

2. There are elements in the Church which are brought out by the effort to discharge our debt to the young. Here is a field for lay activity. It is an inexplicable fact, that a teacher, or some one outside the family, will sometimes get nearer the childs heart than the dearest home-friend. How can we all co-operate? As this enlarging interest in childhood is the hope of the world, so the growth of this spirit of helpfulness in individual lives is the guarantee of the healthful and happy development of Christian character. (Jesse B. Thomas, D. D.)

Parental responsibilities

Malachi, in his last chapter, prepares the people for the long silence of revelation by two words, of which one is a promise, and the other a precept. The command is, to walk by the law of Moses. The promise is, that in due time the Messiahs forerunner, coming in the spirit and power of Elijah, shall usher in the solemn yet glorious day of Christ, by his preparatory ministry. This was to be the next prophet whom the Church was entitled to expect. But his work was to be prominently a revival of parental fidelity and domestic piety. The work upon fathers and mothers was to be far more than the removal of domestic alienations. It was to embrace a great revival of parental and filial piety, an awakening of parents hearts to the salvation of their children, and the docile seeking and reception of parental instruction by the children. This revival of domestic piety and parental fidelity is necessary to prevent the coming of the Divine Messiah from being a woe instead of a blessing to men. Gods way of promoting revival is, not to increase the activity of any public, and outward means only, but to turn the hearts of the parents to the children. The duty of parental fidelity is equally prominent in both dispensations.

1.The old terminates with it, the new opens wire it. This is the connecting link between both. The fidelity of the parents ought to imply the docility of the children. The duties are mutual.

I. The urgency of parental responsibility appears in a solemn manner from the nature of the parental relation itself. Wherever human society is, there a parent is. Every human existence begins in a parental relation. The glory of the Divine beneficence towards the human race appears in this, that the parents, without alienating anything of their own immortality, are able to multiply immortalities in ever-widening and progressive numbers. Here are the two facts which give so unspeakable a solemnity to the parents relation to his children. He has conferred on them, unasked, the endowment of an endless, responsible existence. He has also been the instrument of conveying to this new existence the taint of original sin and guilt. Can the human mind conceive a motive more tender, more urgent, prompting a parent to seek the aid of the great Physician, for dealing with the spiritual disease which they have conveyed?

II. From the unique and extensive character of parental authority. Men win be held accountable according to the extent of the powers intrusted to them. The trust is that of immortal souls. Let the extent of the parents legitimate or unavoidable power over his children be pondered. Neither Divine nor human law gives the parent a right to force the tender mind of the child, by persecutions, or corporeal pains or penalties; or to abuse it, by sophistries, or falsehoods, into the adoption of his opinions. But this power the providential law does confer: the parent may and ought to avail himself of all the influences of opportunity and example, of filial reverence and affection, of his superior age, knowledge, and sagacity, to reinforce the power of truth over the childs mind, and in this good sense to prejudice him in favour of the parental creed.

III. But this power has suitable checks and guards. One is found in the strict responsibility to which God holds the domestic ruler. Another is found in the affection which nature binds up with the parental relation.

IV. The parents influence for good and evil will be more effectual than any other. As parents perform or neglect their duties, the children usually end in grace or impiety. The parent has the first and all-important opportunity. Application–

1. The education of children for God is the most important business done on earth.

2. The Church-membership of the children of believers may be reasonable and scriptural. (R. S. Dabney, D. D.)

Family government

True family government is instituted for the sole benefit of the governed. The true end of government is to make the pathway to virtue and morality easy, and the pathway of crime difficult and full of peril.

I. The vast importance of family government. Of Abraham it was said, He will command his children. Neglect of commanding is seen in the failure of Eli. By turning the hearts of the fathers to the children, the text means that the chief duty of every father is to bring his children to God. In every ease where family government has been enforced the pious parents have fully realised the truth of the glorious promise, Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it. We may learn the importance of family government from the teachings of all the greatest philosophers and statesmen, of all ages and climes. The Greeks and the Romans, the rulers of the world, and our grander Old English and Puritan fathers, all taught and practised family government. Every pastor knows that young converts who have had no family government make as a general thing worthless Church members. The last argument on the importance family government, is the happiness of the child. An ungoverned child is a bundle of bad passions, a seething volcano of untamed and ungovernable passions, hating everybody, and hateful to everybody.

II. How shall i govern my child? Lay down seven golden rules.

1. Begin, continue, and end in prayer.

2. Begin early.

3. Be tender.

4. Be firm.

5. Have no partiality among your children.

6. Let father and mother be united.

7. Imbue the soul of your child with reverence for God and right.

A strong wall, and safe quarantine, may be made of four great laws. No bad company; no idle time; no fine clothes; and make home happy. (Rufus C. Beveleson, D. D.)

The home school

With this verse the Old Testament ends. So far down had Malachi come towards the Messiah, that the East was already growing bright with His coming. He predicts the end of sacrifices, and the coming of a more glorious era. What were the words that, when the last record was ended, were to come with blessed undulations down to our time? See the text. The institution nearest to the heart of society is the family. The most important office in society is the parental office. The sphere of each family is small, but the number of these spheres is incalculable. As each drop is small, but the sea is vast, so is it in society. Families are the springs of society. Declension in religion will be found to be accompanied with carelessness in the family; and the earliest steps of religious reformation ought to take place in the family. If all the families of a nation were to reform, the nation would be reformed. All preparation for Gods work should begin in the household. Many persons are for ever running round for revivals, careless of home, neglectful of children, and seeking their own pleasurable excitement, frequently in a kind of religious carnival. Any conception of religious culture and life that leaves the family out, or that is at the expense of the family, is fundamentally wrong, and in the end cannot but be mischievous. The divinity of revivals may be tested by their effect on the family. If religious excitements make home dull, and parental and filial duties and religions tame and tasteless, they may be suspected of being spurious, carnal, worldly.

I. Parents are responsible to God and to human society for their children. It is a responsibility assumed by every parent, to look after the welfare, temporal and eternal, of his child.

II. This responsibility is just. Because God has framed the family so that nothing can exceed the advantage which parents have in rearing their children. They take the child before all other influences. None gains ascendency over the child before the parent. The parent receives the child in a condition perfectly fitted to be moulded and stamped. The child comes to us with all natural adaptations for taking impressions. It is sympathetic, trustful, and imitative. The hardest work we have to do in this world is to correct the mistakes of parents in the education of their children. The parent receives the child into an involuntary atmosphere of love, which is that summer in which all good dispositions must grow. Justice, and all other feelings, in the family, act in the sphere, and under the control, of parental love. Nowhere else is love so much the predominating element. Love is the atmospheric condition in which we are to mould and teach the child. Besides, the family is sheltered from contact and temptation and interruption. The family is the only institution in which one can repel all invasion and all despotism from state and from meddling priests. God has nut our children into our hands with the declaration that they are His; that they have in them the germ of immortality, and that He commits them to our charge that we may fit them for the future life that is prepared for them.

III. The destiny of a child renders it worthy of a parents whole heart, thought, and time. Your child is given to you to be brought up in the manner best calculated to qualify it for the life to come. Your supremacy over it is absolute. With such a charge it is worth while to stay at home. Sometimes mothers think it is bard to be shut up at home with the care of little children. But she who takes care of little children takes care of great eternities.

IV. When a child has gone forth from parental care, parental neglect cannot be made up to it. Some alleviation there may be, and some after-refuge, but there can be no complete remedy. There is no way of compensating for neglect to sow the seed at the proper time. The most precious legacy that a parent can give to a child is that throughout all its after life it should in connection with everything that a wise and true and just and pure and spiritual call to mind father and mother. (H. Ward Beecher.)

Decay of family power

The text is in the form of a prediction. The object and effect of Elijah s coming mission shall be what is set forth in the text, namely, to reform mankind and bring the world back to those elementary principles or institutes ordered of old for human improvement and salvation. The special mission of John the Baptist was that of a reformer. He come to preach repentance. Degeneracy and corruption were so deep-seated and universal that it was necessary to begin at the beginning; not with the church or the state or society, but with the family, the fountain of moral influence; and build up again the family constitution which irreligion and vice had overthrown. We have here, then, the Divine plan of reforming and saving mankind. This prophetic utterance has application to all ages and nations. Christianity is Gods ordained instrument to plant and extend His kingdom on earth; and, contrary to the teachings of the schools and the expectations of the wise, it shall not do this by the power of the state, by the force of law, by ecclesiastical organisms, by the influence of fraternities, or by means of patronage, learning, and wealth, but by simply recognising and working the original elemental principles of society; by simply turning the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers. The Gospel seeks to accomplish the mission of life by the power of family religion–by invigorating and purifying the family constitution, by drawing close and sanctifying the bonds of domestic affection and life, and if it fails to do this it fails of its end. Affection is the great family bond and the chief element of power in domestic life. And Christianity appeals powerfully to the affections of our nature. There is a mighty force in it to excite and purify, to strengthen and exalt our nature. A family not under a religious training and influence is a fountain of social corruption. Here are the sources of infidelity and vice and disorder, of social, political, and religious declension and overthrow. Is there a widespread corruption of morals pervading society? Depend upon it, the main and primary cause of it all may be traced up to the family. This fundamental, elementary justification is not honoured, but abused and perverted. There are three fundamental agencies by which Divine wisdom seeks to reform and save the world–the family, the state, and the Church. They sustain most intimate relations to each other. They underlie all goodness, all prosperity, all order. The family is more radical than the others, and they cannot exist without it. It is a wonderful arrangement, this division of the whole human family into little separate communities, each community a little government, a miniature world by itself–marriage the foundation, love the bond, and Divine authority the governing power. Such an arrangement, simple as it is, touches all the elementary and radical principles of human nature. The family power is the fountain of all moral power in the world. Without such an agency we cannot see how religion could ever have gained a footing in it. During all the patriarch ages the family alone preserved the knowledge and worship of God. We cannot estimate the full value of such an agency. We cannot tell all its vital bearings on the kingdom of Christ, on the world at large. Where the family power is neglected or perverted religion has nothing to build upon. The only way to build up Christs kingdom is to make the family what it should be. The household must be sanctified. There is no agency that can be substituted for the family. It is a shallow and miserable philosophy which would set it aside, or endeavour to improve upon it. It belongs to all time, to universal humanity. (J. M. Sherwood.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 5. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet] This is meant alone of John the Baptist, as we learn from Lu 1:17, (where see the note,) in whose spirit and power he came.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

I will send; though the spirit of propheey cease for four hundred years, yet at the expiring of those years you shall have one sent, as great as Elijah, and therefore he is now called Elijah, that shall prepare Messiahs way.

Elijah; not the same in person who reproved idolatrous Israel, who destroyed Baal, though both Jews and many Christians would gladly have it so, in favour of some errors they have adopted and would maintain. But this person here called Elijah was John Baptist, as is clear from Mat 17:12-13,

Elias is come, and they have done to him whatsoever they listed. Then the disciples understood that he spake of John the Baptist. And he was that Elias, if they would receive him, Mat 11:14. Elias, was to come when Malachi lived; Elias was come, and the Jews had ill treated him, and Herod had beheaded him, when Christ here lived; this Elijah then was John the Baptist, who came

in the spirit and power of Elias, Luk 1:17, and therefore bears his name in this prophecy.

The prophet; who foretold Christ the true Messiahs sudden manifestation, who indeed was already among them, but had not yet diseovered himself; on whom he persuades the Jews to believe, and receive his person and his law, Luk 1:15-17; Mar 1:7,8; who was greater than a prophet, Mat 11:9; nor doth Johns denying himself to be a prophet, Joh 1:21, in their sense contradict this.

Before; that is, immediately before; so he was born six months before Christ, and began his preaching but few years before Christ began to exercise his public office.

Great: this day was great indeed, yet it is not the day of the last and great judgment, though the Jews perversely affirm it to evade the acknowledgment of Messiahs being already come. But this day of Messiah was great for the alterations he was to make in worship and church affairs, taking down the Mosaic ceremonies and enlarging the church; great for the miracles he wrought, and empowered others to do; great for the reconciliation between God and man, for the conquering of Satan, and casting him out of his throne. It was great too against the Jews his obstinate enemies.

Dreadful: it was a time of vengeance executed upon a people whose sins were full ripe; and such sufferings fell on the Jews at that time, as may very well be an emblem of the day of judgment, and which may be remotely meant hereby. But the first, the literal and plain, meaning of the words refer to the times of vengeance upon the Jews from either the birth, or first preaching, or death of Christ to the final desolation of the city and temple, and irrecoverable overthrow of their government, of which Christ speaks at large, Mt 24; Mr 13; which places point out first the sad and dismal miseries of the Jews, and next, by accommodation, the end of the world and last judgment. Such a description of this day, Joe 2:31, by St. Peter interpreted and applied to this day of Christ, Act 2:20, more fully clears this. The Lord; Jesus Christ, preaching to the Jews, calling them to repentance, reproving their sins, encouraging their compliance, threatening their impenitence, and labouting to gather the children of Jerusalem together under his wings, but they would not, Mat 23:34-39; and therefore at last destroying by the Romans these obstinate and incorrigible sinners.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

5. I send you Elijahas ameans towards your “remembering the law” (Mal4:4).

the prophetemphatical;not “the Tishbite”; for it is in his official, not hispersonal capacity, that his coming is here predicted. In this sense,John the Baptist was an Elijah in spirit (Luk 1:16;Luk 1:17), but not the literalElijah; whence when asked, “Art thou Elias?” (Joh1:21), He answered, “I am not.” “Art thou thatprophet?” “No.” This implies that John, though knowingfrom the angel’s announcement to his father that he was referred toby Mal 4:5 (Lu1:17), whence he wore the costume of Elijah, yet knew byinspiration that he did not exhaustively fulfil all that isincluded in this prophecy: that there is a further fulfilment(compare Note, see on Mal3:1). As Moses in Mal 4:4represents the law, so Elijah represents the prophets. The Jewsalways understood it of the literal Elijah. Their saying is, “Messiahmust be anointed by Elijah.” As there is another consummatingadvent of Messiah Himself, so also of His forerunner Elijah; perhapsin person, as at the transfiguration (Mt17:3; compare Mt 17:11).He in his appearance at the transfiguration in that body on whichdeath had never passed is the forerunner of the saints who shall befound alive at the Lord’s second coming. Re11:3 may refer to the same witnesses as at the transfiguration,Moses and Elijah; Re 11:6identifies the latter (compare 1Ki 17:1;Jas 5:17). Even after thetransfiguration Jesus (Mt 17:11)speaks of Elijah’s coming “to restore all things” as stillfuture, though He adds that Elijah (in the person of John theBaptist) is come already in a sense (compare Ac3:21). However, the future forerunner of Messiah at His secondcoming may be a prophet or number of prophets clothed with Elijah’spower, who, with zealous upholders of “the law” clothed inthe spirit of “Moses,” may be the forerunning witnessesalluded to here and in Re11:2-12. The words “before the . . . dreadful day ofthe Lord,” show that John cannot be exclusively meant; for hecame before the day of Christ’s coming in grace, not before Hiscoming in terror, of which last the destruction of Jerusalem was theearnest (Mal 4:1; Joe 2:31).

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet,…. Not the Tishbite, as the Septuagint version wrongly inserts instead of prophet; not Elijah in person, who lived in the times of Ahab; but John the Baptist, who was to come in the power and spirit of Elijah, Lu 1:17 between whom there was a great likeness in their temper and disposition; in their manner of clothing, and austere way of living; in their courage and integrity in reproving vice; and in their zeal and usefulness in the cause of God and true religion; and in their famous piety and holiness of life; and in being both prophets; see Mt 11:11 and that he is intended is clear from Mt 17:10. It is a notion of the Jews, as Kimchi and others, that the very Elijah, the same that lived in the days of Ahab, shall come in person before the coming of their Messiah they vainly expect, and often speak of difficult things to be left till Elijah comes and solves them; but for such a notion there is no foundation, either in this text or elsewhere. And as groundless is that of some of the ancient Christian fathers, and of the Papists, as Lyra and others, that Elijah with Enoch will come before the day of judgment, and restore the church of God ruined by antichrist, which they suppose is meant in the next clause.

Before the coming of the great and, dreadful day of the Lord; that is, before the coming of Christ the son of David, as the Jews r themselves own; and which is to be understood, not of the second coming of Christ to judgment, though that is sometimes called the great day, and will be dreadful to Christless sinners; but of the first coming of Christ, reaching to the destruction of Jerusalem: John the Baptist, his forerunner, the Elijah here spoken of, came proclaiming wrath and terror to impenitent sinners; Christ foretold and denounced ruin and destruction to the Jewish nation, city, and temple; and the time of Jerusalem’s destruction was a dreadful day indeed, such a time of affliction as had not been from the creation, Mt 24:21 and the Talmud interprets s this of the sorrows of the Messiah, or which shall be in the days of the Messiah.

r T. Bab. Eruvin, fol. 43. 2. & Gloss. in ib. s T. Bab. Sabbat, fol 118. 1.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Elijah The Prophet’s Coming Before The Messiah

Verses 5, 6:

His Two Fold Coming

Verse 5 promises that the Lord would send Elijah, prince of the prophets, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord’s coming in fiery judgment to the earth, 2Th 1:7-10. In two senses He was to send Elijah, in his official position, the Spirit of Him in prophecy: 1) First, as represented in John the Baptist, which our Lord acknowledged at His first coming; John the Baptist was Elijah in the spirit, Luk 1:16-17; But not the literal Elijah, Mat 11:14; Joh 1:21; Though John the Baptist wore the costume of Elijah, he knew that he did not fulfill all that was spoken of in this prophecy. As Moses represented the Law, v. 4, so Elijah represents the spirit of true prophets. Peter affirms after Pentecost that Elijah was yet to come to restore or for the restitution of all things, Act 3:21; Acts 2) Second, Elijah also represents the spirit of the two witnesses of prophecy, the church and Israel, that shall witness for 42 months in Jerusalem, before the revelation of the anti-christ, or the man of sin, Rev 11:1-6. Though Jesus affirms that Elijah had come already, Mat 17:10-13. He also spoke of his future coming “to restore all things”, evidently through the spirit of the redeemed Jews who shall make morning and evening oblations and sacrifices during the first half of the 70th week of Daniel’s prophecy, during which time 144,000 Jews will be saved; Dan 9:26-27; Rev 7:4-8; Rev 11:1-6; Rev 12:7-14; This event is also alluded to 2Th 3:3-10. All this is yet to come before the great and dreadful day of the Lord, Joe 2:31.

Verse 6 prophesies that he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart or affections of the children to their fathers. Luk 1:16-17; Act 21:20. This alludes primarily to the second coming of Christ; for His first coming was to set the hearts of the family member against family member, Mat 10:34-36; Mic 7:6; Joh 9:18. Should they not be turned He would smite the earth with a curse, rather than restore it to the father, Act 3:21; 1Co 15:23-28; 2Th 1:10. When Israel returns in repentance to accept the Lord she shall be grafted in again, Rom 11:20-21. While the apostate, heathen of the earth shall be smitten; Those who of Israel receive Him at the preaching of the spirit of Elijah will have a glorious place in the restoration and restitution of all things, Zec 12:10-14. Let each who reads this give heed to the more sure word of prophecy, 2Pe 1:19. For His word is true from the beginning, Psa 119:160. The failure of Israel was ended with a curse warning in the last verse and word of the Old Testament. And our Lord’s sermon on the mount is punctuated with “blessings,” or promised prosperity, to those who heard and obeyed Him, Mat 5:2-12.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

The Prophet continues the same subject; for having testified to the Jews, that though God would for a time suspend the course of prophetic teaching, they yet had in the law what was sufficient for salvation, he now promises the renovation of the Church; as though he had said, “The Lord will again unexpectedly utter his voice after a long silence.” Isaiah speaks on the same subject, prophesying of the return of the people, when he says,

“

Comfort ye, comfort my people, will our God say.” (Isa 40:11)

There is an emphatic import in the use of the future tense. So also in this passage, the Prophet declares that prophetic teaching would be again renewed, that when God showed mercy to his people, he would open his mouth, and show that he had been silent, not because he intended to forsake his people, but as we have said, for another end. At the same time he shows that the time would come, when his purpose was to confirm and seal all the prophecies by his only-begotten Son.

This passage has fascinated the Jews so as to think that men rise again; and their resurrection is, — that the souls of men pass into various bodies three or four times. There is indeed such a delirious notion as this held by that nation! We hence see how great is the sottishness of men, when they become alienated from Christ, who is the light of the world and the Sun of Righteousness, as we have lately seen. There is no need to disprove an error so palpable.

But Christ himself took away all doubt on this point, when he said, that John the Baptist was the Elijah, who had been promised; (Mat 11:10 🙂 and the thing itself proves this, had not Christ spoken on the subject. And why John the Baptist is called Elijah, I shall explain in a few words. What some say of zeal, I shall say nothing of; and many have sought other likenesses, whom I shall neither follow nor blame. But this likeness seems to me the most suitable of all, — that God intended to raise up John the Baptist for the purpose of restoring his worship, as formerly he had raised up Elijah: for at the time of Elijah, we know, that not only the truth was corrupted and the worship of God vitiated, but that also all religion was almost extinct, so that nothing pure and sound remained. At the coming of Christ, though the Jews did not worship idols, but retained some outward form of religion, yet the whole of their religion was spurious, so that that time may truly be compared, on account of its multiplied pollutions, to the age of Elijah. John then was a true successor of Elijah, nor were any of the Prophets so much like John as Elijah: hence justly might his name be transferred to him.

But someone may object and say, that he is here called a prophet, while he yet denied that he was a prophet: to this the answer is obvious, — that John renounced the title of a prophet, that he might not hinder the progress of Christ’s teaching: hence he means not in those words that he ran presumptuously without a call, but that he was content to be counted the herald of Christ, so that his teaching might not prevent Christ from being heard alone. Yet Christ declares that he was a prophet, and more than a prophet, and that because his ministry was more excellent than that of a prophet.

He says, Before shall come the day, great and terrible. The Prophet seems not here to speak very suitably of Christ’s coming; but he now addresses the whole people; and as there were many slothful and tardy, who even despised the favor of God, and others insolent and profane, he speaks not so kindly, but mixes these threatenings. We hence perceive why the Prophet describes the coming of Christ as terrible; he does this, not because Christ was to come to terrify men, but on the contrary, according to what Isaiah says,

“

The smoking flax he will not extinguish, the shaken reed he will not break; not heard will his voice be in the streets, nor will he raise a clamor.” (Isa 42:3.)

Though then Christ calmly presents himself, as we have before observed, and as soon as he appears to us, he brings an abundant reason for joy; yet the perverseness of that people was such as to constrain the Prophet to use a severe language, according to the manner in which God deals daily with us; when he sees that we have a tasteless palate, he gives us some bitter medicine, so that we may have some relish for his favor. Whenever then we meet with any thing in Scripture tending to fill us with terror, let us remember that such thing is announced, because we are either deaf or slothful, or even rebellious, when God kindly invites us to himself. It follows —

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

(5) Elijah.There is no more reason to suppose that this refers actually to Elijah the prophet, and that he is to appear upon earth, than to imagine from Hos. 3:5; Eze. 24:23; Eze. 37:24; Jer. 30:9; that David himself is to come again in the flesh. When John the Baptist answered the question of the deputies of the Sanhedrim, Art thou Elias? by I am not, he simply gave a negative reply to their question, which was formulated on their misapprehension. On the other hand, that John the Baptist is the messenger of Mal. 3:1 and the Elijah of this verse is shown conclusively (as far as Christians are concerned) by Luk. 1:16-17 before his birth, by Mat. 3:1-12, Mar. 1:2-8, Luk. 3:2-18, at the commencement of his ministry. Moreover, our Lord Himself assured the people that John was this messenger and Elijah (Mat. 11:10, seq.; Luk. 7:27, seq.), and His disciples that he had appeared, and not been recognised (Mat. 17:11, seq.; Mar. 9:1, seq.). Finally, it is a significant fact that these two greatest of Old Testament prophets, Moses and Elias, who are mentioned together in this last prophetic exhortation, are the two who appeared with Christ on the Mount of Transfiguration, when all that which is contained in the Law and the prophets was about to be fulfilled.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

Mal 4:5-6. Behold, I will send you Elijah, &c. This prophesy, says Bishop Chandler, is a repetition of that in chap. Mal 3:1 only the name of the messenger is added to it, with the manner of his preparing the way, which is declared to be spiritual: he shall turn the hearts of the fathers with the children; and of the children with the fathers (as Kimchi properly renders the particle al); that is to say, he shall do his part to cause a national reformation to convert fathers and children all together from their evil practices, and restore a true sense of religion, which was then dwindled into form, and so remove the curse, the utter excision denounced upon this land, namely Judaea; lest I come, and smite the land with a curse. The coming of the day of the Lord, and Jehovah’s coming to smite the land with a curse, is the coming of the Lord, Messiah; which should prove a terrible time to the wicked Jews, though to the godly he should arise as the Sun of righteousness. It was the universal opinion when Christ was upon earth, received by the learned and unlearned, the governors and the people at large, that Elijah should usher in the Messiah, and anoint him: all expected that Elijah should first come, and restore all things; and long before that, the son of Sirach grounded it on the passage now before us. Thus he speaks to the true Elijah: Thou wast ordained for reproof,(thou wast written of as a type) in after-times to pacify the wrath of the Lord’s judgment, before it break into fury, and to turn the heart of the father unto the son, and to restore the tribes of Jacob; which is part of the Messiah’s office, Isa 49:6. The Jews have not since varied from this notion: in all their later prophets the coming of Elijah and of the Messiah are usually mentioned together; and this is the reason why they pray so heartily for the coming of Elijah, even without mention of the Messiah; because the coming of the one, according to Malachi, infers the other. But it is neither said nor implied in the text, that Elijah the Tishbite should come in person: if any one else came in the spirit and power of Elijah, Malachi’s words were fulfilled; who meant no more that Elijah should rise again, than Hosea and Jeremiah did that David should be restored to life, in order to reign over Israel and Judah, when they prophesied that the tribes should hereafter serve David their king. It is common with them to describe persons by the names of others whom they resemble in the most eminent qualities. And as it is not said, so it could not be intended, here, that Elijah should come again in person. Whoever he was, he must precede the final destruction of the Jews, which has been over 1700 years ago, and no real Elijah come to warn them of it, as is confessed by them. But, take the words as they are interpreted by the very learned Grotius, and the sense is easy, and the completion manifest. “After me you shall have no prophet for a long time: the next shall be the harbinger of the Messiah, in whom prophesy shall revive. He shall be another Elijah for zeal, for courage, austerity of life, and labour for reformation.” The fact is allowed by the Jews, that prophesy was sealed up with Malachi, and to be restored in the days of the Messiah. Had they been able to receive it, they would have concluded that John the Baptist, in whom this gift did revive, must be therefore the Elijah of Malachi: for all the people held John as a prophet, Mat 14:5; Mat 21:26. The Sanhedrim, astonished at his preaching and actions, thought that he must be Elijah; that prophet in Moses, or the Messiah: and many of the scribes and pharisees, as well as the rest of the country, went to be baptized of him, confessing their sins; Joh 19:25. Mat 3:5-7. His preaching exactly answered the description of it by Malachi. As Elijah was to notify the coming of the day that shall burn, &c. Mal 4:1 that great and dreadful day, wherein the Lord, Messiah, shall smite the land of Jewry with a curse; so did John the Baptist exhort to repentance from this motive, that the kingdom of God was at hand; and to flee from the wrath to come, for there was one to come after him, mightier than he, whose fan was in his hand, to purge the floor, and to burn the chaff with unquenchable fire; Mat 7:10-11. Josephus confirms the account given of him in the sacred historians: “It was the opinion of the Jews,” says he, “that Herod’s army was cut off by the Arabs, through God’s just judgment, for the sake of John, who was surnamed the Baptist. For he killed that excellent man, who stirred up the people to the exercise of all virtues, especially piety and justice, and to receive his baptism, which he assured them was grateful to God, if to purity of body they added purity of life, and first cleansed their souls, not from one or two, but every sin. But when the people resorted in numbers to him, greedy of his doctrine, and ready to do any thing by his counsel, fearing what might be effected from so great authority of the man, he imprisoned and then slew him.” Antiq. lib. 18: cap. 7. If there were nothing else for it, the fulfilling of his predictions demonstrated John to be a true prophet: for, as John had foretold, Jesus suddenly after him appeared in the temple, preaching likewise repentance for remission of sins, and warning the Jews of the impending desolation of their country; which he executed accordingly, as he threatened he would, within a few years after they put him to death, and rejected his doctrine. No such events fell out at any time before; and these at this time came up to the words of the prophesy. The events, therefore, are another proof of the sense of the prophesy. The coming of John the Baptist as a prophet, and of Jesus as the Messiah, and the final destruction of Judaea following their coming, according to their preaching, is a plain evidence, that they only were intended in the present prophesy. See Bishop Chandler’s Defence, p. 64, &c. We shall have occasion to speak more on this subject when we come to the history of John the Baptist in the Evangelists; and in the meantime have great pleasure in recommending the reader to the very ingenious Dr. Bell’s “Inquiry into the Divine Missions of John the Baptist and Jesus Christ.”

REFLECTIONS.1st, The coming of Christ, spoken of in this chapter, for the destruction of Jerusalem and the wicked Jews, is the type and figure of his appearing at the last for the perdition of the ungodly; and the day of their final judgment will be the day of final recompence for the faithful saints of God.

1. The Lord Jesus will be a consuming fire to the wicked. Behold, with surprise and terror, the day cometh, the evil day, which the transgressor put far away, that shall burn as an oven; when the wrath of God shall be revealed, and the fire be kindled around the devoted city; and all the proud, the scribes and pharisees who rejected the Lord Jesus; and all that do wickedly, the apostate Jewish people; shall be as stubble to the devouring flames; and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of Hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch; the whole nation being destroyed, and the city and temple burnt and razed to their foundations.

Thus in the great day of the wrath of the Lamb, he shall be revealed from heaven in flaming fire, taking vengeance on the proud, the self-righteous, and unhumbled sinner, who trusted for salvation on his own doings and duties; and on all that do wickedly, the careless and profane, who know not God and obey not his Gospel; they shall be all devoted to destruction, and fuel for the flames, and cast together into the everlasting burnings of hell, where their worm never dies, and their fire is not quenched.

2. He will be a reviving sun to his people. Unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; he led his people out of Jerusalem to Pella, when it was ready to be destroyed; and more generally on all his believing people he thus arises, when first they yield in faith to his gracious invitations, and he then calls them out of darkness into his marvellous light; he is their sun, the fountain of all spiritual light and life; by his bright beams they are quickened, bring forth fruit abundantly, rejoice before him, and walk in the light of truth, which leads the faithful soul to the mansions of glory. He is their Sun of righteousness, shining without spot himself, the author of everlasting righteousness to his faithful people, and the powerful and effectual agent, who by his mighty working transforms them into his own image of righteousness and true holiness: in his wings, his rays of light and grace, there is healing; our spiritual diseases are cured, the native darkness of the mind removed, and our sin-sick souls restored to health and strength by the genial influences of his reviving beams: and in the resurrection-morn with brighter lustre shall this glorious sun appear, and shine for ever upon his glorified saints.

3. In consequence of this, ye shall go forth, either out of Jerusalem to Pella, where the Christians found a place of refuge; or rather, the faithful shall go forth to walk in the light of the Lord, rejoicing in his salvation, steadily advancing in the path of grace, and running with delight the way of God’s commandments; and grow up as calves of the stall, fat and well-liking; so replenished shall they be with the influences of God’s spirit, and fed with the bread of life, strengthening and increasing with the increase of God. And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be as ashes under the soles of your feet, in the day that I shall do this, saith the Lord of Hosts: the wicked Jews who persecuted them shall now be burnt with their cities, and trod into the dust. Thus when the conquests of the Redeemer shall be completed, and death itself destroyed, then shall the wicked be brought low, and every foe that troubled God’s saints be trodden under foot; while the triumphs of the glorified shall be everlasting. See the Notes.

2nd, The canon of the Old Testament now receives a solemn close. The Jewish people are to expect no more prophets till the great forerunner of the Messiah appears; and therefore,
1. They must keep stedfast to the law and the testimony, and be guided only by God’s past revealed will. Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments, moral and ceremonial; all which would have a direct tendency to lead them to Christ; for which purpose the law was their schoolmaster, and it must now be their only rule, in contradistinction to the corrupt glosses which their teachers shortly after began to put upon it. Note; The word of God alone, exclusive of all traditions and human expositions, must be our rule; the labours of others may assist our inquiries after truth; but, after all, we must call no man master; one is our master, even Christ, and he has promised that we shall be taught of him; and by prayer and meditation on his word, humbly desiring to know his mind, he will lead us into all truth.

2. They must live in the constant expectation of the Messiah, and his forerunner John the Baptist. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet, one in the spirit and power of Elijah, Luk 1:17 one in zeal, courage to rebuke sin, piety and austerity of manners resembling him, Mat 11:14 before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord, when, for the rejection of the true Messiah, wrath to the uttermost should be poured out upon their land, and their city and temple be utterly destroyed; Act 2:20. He shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, or of the fathers with the children; both one and the other by his preaching shall be turned to Christ, and directed to the Lamb of God, who is come to take away the sin of the world; lest I come and smite the earth with a curse, which would be the certain consequence of their rejecting the Lord’s Christ, and which visibly remains upon the Jewish people to this day.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

DISCOURSE: 1277
ELIJAH TO PRECEDE OUR LORD

Mal 4:5-6. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: 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 advent of our blessed Lord has been foretold from the beginning of the world. No sooner had man in Paradise fallen, than God promised him a Saviour in that seed of the woman, who should bruise the serpents head [Note: Gen 3:15.]. From that time has it been predicted with increasing clearness by many successive prophets, that so he might be easily and clearly discovered at the period of his arrival. At last, the Prophet Malachi foretold the very person who, as his harbinger, should precede him, and point him out to the people.

The day of his arrival is here, as well as in the Prophet Joel, called, the great and terrible day of the Lord. But St. Luke, quoting the Prophet Joel, calls it the great and illustrious day of the Lord [Note: Compare Joe 2:31 and the text, with Act 2:20. ]. And it was, indeed, both illustrious and dreadful: for then did God himself become incarnate, for the salvation of all who would believe in him; but then also were inflicted, on those who rejected him, such judgments as were altogether unprecedented in the annals of the world [Note: Luk 21:22-27.]. Truly, from that day to this, has their whole land been smitten with a most dreadful curse.

The prophecy before us closes the canon of Scripture under the Mosaic dispensation, and is peculiarly worthy of our closest attention. In two points of view I propose to consider it:

I.

As evincing the truth of Christianity

In this view this prophecy is considered by all who have written on the evidences of our holy religion
[It was a prophecy pre-eminently insisted on at the time of our Saviours advent. When our blessed Lord had manifested to his disciples his glory on the mount of transfiguration, where he had conversed with Moses and Elijah, he charged them that they should tell no man what things they had seen, till the Son of Man were risen from the dead. Upon which they asked him, Why say the Scribes that Elias must first come [Note: Mar 9:9-11.]? that is, Why, now that we have had this accumulated evidence of thy Messiahship, are we to conceal it from others, more especially since it is, in part at least, that very evidence which the Scribes, and all who are instructed in the prophecies, are looking for? Moreover, when almost the whole of the Jewish nation flocked to Johns baptism, the rulers sent priests and Levites to him, to inquire, Whether he was himself the Christ; or whether he was Elijah, whom they expected as his Forerunner [Note: Joh 1:19-21.]? Hence it appears that the people at large expected, about that time, the literal accomplishment of this prophecy.

And accomplished at that time it was. Previous to Johns conception in the womb, the angel, who announced to his parents Gods merciful intentions towards them, said of him, 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 [Note: Luk 1:16-17.]: in other words, he shall fulfil the prophecy of Malachi, which you are all now expecting to see accomplished. Our blessed Lord yet more strongly declares, that John was the person ordained of God to fulfil that prophecy. John, being shut up in prison, and hearing of the miracles which Jesus had wrought, sent two of his disciples to Jesus, to inquire, whether he was the predicted Messiah; or whether they were to look for some other person to sustain that office? Our Lord referred them to the miracles which he wrought before their eyes, in proof of his Messiahship; and then expressly declared concerning John, that he was that very Messenger, whose coming the Prophet Malachi had foretold; and that very Elias also, of whom the same prophet had spoken as the precursor of the Messiah: If ye will receive it, this is Elias which was for to come [Note: Compare Mat 11:10; Mat 11:14. with Mal 3:1; Mal 4:5-6. See: also Mat 17:11-13.]. And here you will see, that our Lord himself explains the two prophecies as relating to one and the same person; the messenger being Elias, and Elias the messenger.

The messenger then, even Elijah, having come, and borne his testimony to Jesus as the Messiah; the Messiah is come, and the religion introduced by him is of divine authority; or, in other words, Christianity is true.]
The objections by which the Jews would set aside this conclusion, though plausible, are of no real weight
[A Jew would say, It is confessed by all, that Elias must come before the Messiah: but John was not Elias: yea, when expressly interrogated upon that subject, he himself plainly and unequivocally stated, that he was not Elias [Note: Joh 1:19-21.]: therefore Elias not having appeared, the Messiah cannot be yet come; and, consequently, Christianity is an imposition upon the world.

This being one of the strong-holds of Judaism, it must be overthrown, before we can hope to convert the Jews to Christianity.
It is said by the Jews, that, because Elias did not personally appear, the prophecy before us cannot have been fulfilled. But I will ask a Jew; Are you not told, by Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, and Hosea, no less than six times, that in the latter day your whole nation, Israel as well as Judah, shall be restored, and that they shall be united under one Head, even David, who shall be king over them all for ever [Note: Compare Jer 30:9. Eze 34:23-24; Eze 37:24-25. Hos 3:5.]? But is there any learned Jew that expects David personally to come and reign on earth again? Have not all commentators, both ancient and modern, agreed, that the person here spoken of is the Messiah; who yet is called David, because he was typified by David, and shall inherit, as it were, his throne? Then why may not John, who came in the spirit and power of Elias, bear his name; when, in fact, there was as striking a correspondence between the two, in their whole office and character, as can be conceived? If an absolute identity of person be dispensed with in the one case, it may also be dispensed with in the other: and, so far as that is concerned, the objection falls to the ground.

But it is said, that John acknowledged that he was not Elias. True; he did so. The Jews supposed him to be Elijah the Tishbite, or probably Jeremiah: but he declared he was neither the one nor the other: but, at the very time that he declared this, he informed them, that he was the Forerunner of the Messiah, even the person whom Isaiah had described as a voice crying in the wilderness. They said to Him, Who art thou? that we may give an answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself? He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the Prophet Esaias [Note: Isa 40:3. with Joh 1:22-23.]. Now, there is not a learned Jew in the universe who does not interpret this passage of Isaiah as referring to the Forerunner of our Lord: and therefore we see, not only that our blessed Lord assigned that office and character to John, but that John himself claimed it, at the very time that he denied himself to be Elijah the Tishbite: and it is remarkable, that our blessed Lord, in asserting his own Messiahship, appealed to the testimony of John as decisive of the point; and thus put all his adversaries to silence. When the chief priests asked him by what authority he did the things which they saw, he answered by putting another question to them: The baptism of John, was it from heaven, or of men? And, when they saw to what a dilemma they were reduced, and declined giving him an answer, he disdained to give any reply to their question; which, in fact, needed no answer at all; for it was self-evident, that if John was indeed a prophet, as he had clearly proved himself to be, his testimony must be received; and Jesus, of whose Messiahship he had testified, must be the Messiah.

Thus, then, have we shewn, that there was no necessity for Elijah personally to come, in order to fulfil this prophecy: it was sufficient that John came in the spirit and power of Elijah, and fulfilled all that the person spoken of in my text was to execute. That he did this, he himself declared: and, when his testimony was appealed to as decisive, the Jews themselves were put to silence. The objection, therefore, which the Jews found on this passage, is obviated; and the truth of Christianity is proved from the very passage which the Jews adduce to overthrow it.]

The prophecy, however, may be considered yet further,

II.

As illustrating the scope and intent of Christianity

That which was the primary scope of Johns mission was, to bear witness to Christ. But, in conjunction with this, his office was to turn men to God, and thus to prepare them for Christ as his peculiar people. And these are the two great objects of Christianity in the world:

1.

To convert men to God

[It was said of John, He shall turn many to the Lord their God [Note: Luk 1:16.]. This he was to effect amongst persons of every age in life, and every order in society: he was to turn the heart of fathers to their children, and the heart of children to their fathers. According to the general effect of divine truth, it must be expected that the Gospel will create only division in families, setting the father against the son, and the son against the father [Note: Luk 12:51-53.]: but his ministry was to operate rather in a contrary way, bringing all the nation, as it were, old and young, to an earnest and harmonious expectation of the Messiah; fathers with their children, and children with their fathers. And thus the Gospel is to work on all, without exception; so that they may move harmoniously, like a river turned by the tide, up towards the fountain-head. However contrary to nature this may be, even like a river ascending a lofty mountain, it shall be effected: for the mountain of the Lords house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and all nations shall flow unto it [Note: Isa 2:2.]. Wherever it prevails, it produces this union, this harmony, this progress contrary to the course of nature [Note: Php 2:2.]: and if, either in individuals or communities, it fails of this object, it is published in vain, and the grace of God is so far received in vain.]

2.

To prepare men for Christ

[This was done by John, to a very extraordinary degree: for, in a very short space of time, a few months at the utmost, there went out to him Jerusalem, and all Juda, and all the region round about Jordan; and were baptized by him in Jordan, confessing their sins [Note: Mat 3:5-6.]. He went before the face of the Lord, to prepare his ways; to give knowledge of salvation to them, for the remission of their sins [Note: Luk 1:76-77.].

And this is the great scope of the Gospel ministryto preach Christ crucified [Note: 1Co 1:23.]; and to bring all to behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world [Note: Joh 1:29.]. Every faithful minister has, like John, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord [Note: Luk 1:17.]. It is said in the book of Revelation Let us be glad, and rejoice, and give honour to Him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted, that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints [Note: Rev 19:7-8.]. And may I not say, that we ministers are assistants to the Bride? O blessed office, to prepare you, brethren, for that great solemnity, when you shall be for ever united to the heavenly Bridegroom! Gladly would we see you adorned with all the graces of the Spirit, Gladly would we see you habited in white raiment from head to foot, without one spot, that should be unsuited to your high character [Note: Rev 3:4.]. And we do indeed account it an honour to be instrumental, in any measure, to the preparing of you for this glorious consummation. Beloved brethren, concur with us in this good work. Attend to all the counsels which are given you from the Lord; and readily adopt every method which he has ordained for your purification; that, when you come into his presence, you may find the most cordial acceptance with him, and receive at his hands a crown, of glory that fadeth not away [Note: Est 2:12; Est 2:17. with 1Pe 5:4.].]

END OF VOL. X.

Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)

I cannot but suppose that Elijah, and not John the Baptist, is intended here. I do not presume to say so much, but I venture to think it. Malachi had already declared the coming of John the Baptist, as the Lord’s forerunner, in the days of his flesh; and therefore there needed no note of admiration, saying, behold! in speaking of him again. Moreover, the awful day of God here spoken of, as burning like an oven, should seem to refer more to the day of judgment than to the first coming of Christ, which is always called glad tidings of good and great joy to all people. And as at the resurrection of Christ many saints arose from the grave: Why may not Christ’s second coming be so commemorated? Add to these, that as Elijah did not die the natural death of all men, but was carried up to heaven in a whirlwind, is it not possible, that when Christ returns to reign on earth, Elijah may be among those that shall reign with him? What the events of that reign upon earth may be, I presume not to say; but from the book of the Revelations, which describes in some measure the wonderful history, I can see no objection to the idea, that Elijah is here meant, and not John the Baptist. See Rev 20 throughout. However, I beg the Reader to ponder well the subject, and look to God the Spirit for instruction in it. I only add on this Chapter, and indeed on the whole volume of the Old Testament together, that it is somewhat remarkable the close of it should be with the word curse, as the New Testament, in the word Gospel, implies in its very title at the opening, blessing. If, however, Reader, it meant to say, that out of Christ everything is a curse, it is certainly as true as it is significant. And then it will equally follow, that in Christ everything is a blessing, which is a glorious and incontestable truth. The Lord hath united both Testaments, that while in one we read our condemnation, in the other we may, through grace, discover our deliverance; and as in Adam all die, in Christ all shall be made alive. Amen and Amen.

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Mal 4:5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD:

Ver. 5. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet ] Not Elijah the Tishbite, as the Septuagint corruptly read; and the Popish expositors make no small use of it, to prove that the Pope is not antichrist, because Enoch and Elijah are not yet come, and yet are to come in his time, before the day of judgment (as they fondly fable), to preserve the elect in the faith of Christ, and to convert the Jews. But we have better interpreters of this text. 1. An angel, who applies it to John Baptist, Luk 1:17 Luk 1:2 . Christ, that angel of the covenant, Mat 17:10-11 ; Mat 11:14 . Hear ye him, against all antichrist’s agitators. St Mark begins his Gospel with these very words of Malachi, to let us know that this Elias is the Baptist, who is called Elijah the prophet, because of the like gifts, calling, and ministry, office of reforming habit, people with whom they dealt, &c. The like almost may be said of Luther, a third Elias for boldness, courage, zeal, knowledge, success, &c. But yet we see no footing in this text for Lucas Osiander’s conceit, viz. that the prophet here pointed at Luther as well as at John Baptist; and that men must receive his doctrine, or else look to be smitten with a curse. Howbeit this is more passable and possible than that of the Jesuits, who presume to control Christ’s own exposition; and infer, that as the devil stirred up Luther to call the Pope antichrist, so God raised up them to resist Luther. But what a mad fellow was that Spaniard (of whom Severus Sulpitius writeth) that professed himself, first, to be the prophet Elias, and afterward, when he had gained authority, to be the Christ; carrying himself so cunningly in his collusion, that Bishop Ruffus was led away with the error, believing in him, and adoring him as God; for which he was justly deprived of his dignity! Had we not need receive the truth in the love of it, lest God give us up to the efficacy of error, 2Th 2:10 ? lest being first infatuated, we be seduced, and then being seduced, we be damned, as Austin glosseth on that text?

Before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord ] Great, in respect of the good, and dreadful, or horrible, in respect of the wicked, as Montanus interprets it, paralleling it with Mat 3:12 . Or great, because it shall be a beginning of great changes, both to the godly and the ungodly; and dreadful to the bad, yea, and to the best also at first, till they have recollected and better bethought themselves, as another senseth it; as taking it of the last day, which is the general mistake of Popish expositors, and that upon this ground, because Christ’s first coming was an acceptable time, and a day of salvation. But though it be so to God’s people, yet to others it was terrible, as hath been shown: See Trapp on “ Mal 3:2 “ and is so described, Luk 2:34 ; Luk 3:9 ; Luk 3:17 ; Luk 19:44 ; Mat 21:44 ; Isa 11:4 . He shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with his two-edged sword he shall slay the wicked. See the like, Rev 2:16 . And by his ministers he doth it still, 2Th 2:8 2Co 2:15-16 2Co 10:6 . Vengeance is as ready in Christ’s hand as in the minister’s mouth, for the disobedient. Some read the words thus, Before the day of the great and dreadful Lord come: like as others read that, Jas 2:1 , Have not the glorious faith of our Lord Jesus Christ in respect of persons. Both readings are good, and the text will bear both.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Mal 4:5-6

5Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the LORD. 6He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse.

Mal 4:5 I am going to send Elijah the prophet The rabbis (i.e., b. Sanh 118a), the Septuagint, and some early Church fathers were expecting Elijah, the prophet, to return literally (cf. Sir 48:10 ff). Elijah and Moses met with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration (cf. Mat 17:4). However, the words of Jesus seem to relate this passage to John the Baptist (cf. Mal 3:1; Mat 11:7-14; Mat 17:10-13; Mar 9:11-13; Luk 1:17). John denies this title in Joh 1:19-23, but apparently he was denying that he was Elijah reincarnated.

the great and terrible day of the LORD This day is characterized in two ways:

1. great, BDB 152, these two descriptions are often used together (i.e., YHWH’s acts of redemption, cf. Deu 10:21; Job 5:9; Job 9:10; Job 37:5; Psa 71:19; Psa 106:21)

2. terrible, BDB 431, KB 432, Niphal PARTICIPLE. Its basic meaning if fear or awe. Therefore, it can stand for

a. a day of judgment

b. a day of the awesome deeds of YHWH

1) used of YHWH Himself in Deu 10:21; 2Sa 7:23; Psa 47:3; Ps. 68:36; Psa 76:8; Isa 64:2. He is great and awful (cf. Deu 7:21; Deu 10:17; Neh 1:5; Neh 4:8; Neh 9:32; Dan 9:4)

2) used of YHWH’s name in Deu 28:58; Psa 99:3; Psa 111:9; Mal 1:14

3) YHWH’s coming day in Joe 2:11; Joe 3:4; and here

Mal 4:6 He will restore This VERB (BDB 996, KB 1427, Hiphil PERFECT) is used often in Malachi (cf. Mal 1:4; Mal 2:6; Mal 3:7[thrice],18; Mal 4:6, see notes at Mal 3:7). This is the regular Hebrew word for repentance (lit. turn or turn back). In this context it has a double focus:

1. return the post-exilic community to the faith of their fathers

2. return stability to the family structure of the faith community

curse The literal word is herem (BDB 356, cf. Lev 27:28-29; Deu 25:16-17; Jos 6:17 and 1Sa 3:15 ff). This is the term which is used of something being dedicated to God, and it becoming so holy that it must be completely destroyed.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

This is a study guide commentary which means that you are responsible for your own interpretation of the Bible. Each of us must walk in the light we have. You, the Bible, and the Holy Spirit are priority in interpretation. You must not relinquish this to a commentator.

These discussion questions are provided to help you think through the major issues of this section of the book. They are meant to be thought provoking, not definitive.

1. What is the cultural setting of Mal 3:14?

2. Explain the book of remembrances.

3. How is service related to our righteousness before God? (cf. Mal. 4:18)

4. Explain the two unique terms found in Mal 4:2 and how they relate to the Messiah.

5. Is John the Baptist the predicted prophet Elijah?

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

Elijah the prophet. Called thus, only here, and in 2Ch 21:12. Elsewhere, always “Elijah the Tishbite”, to indicate his own person; but here “Elijah the prophet “because had Israel received Messiah, John the Baptist would have been reckoned as Elijah (see notes on Mat 17:9-13, Mar 9:11-13): and, at His last supper, the wine, representing His blood, would have been (as it will yet be) reckoned as “the blood of the (New) Covenant”, as foretold in Jer 31:31-34. Heb 8:8-13; Heb 10:15-17; Heb 12:24).

day of the LORD. See note on Isa 2:12, Isa 2:17; Isa 13:6, &c.

the LORD. Hebrew. Jehovah. App-4.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

I will: Mal 3:1, Isa 40:3, Mat 11:13, Mat 11:14, Mat 17:10-13, Mat 27:47-49, Mar 9:11-13, Luk 1:17, Luk 7:26-28, Luk 9:30, Joh 1:21, Joh 1:25

great: Mal 4:1, Joe 2:31, Act 2:19, Act 2:20, Rev 6:17

Reciprocal: 1Ki 18:37 – thou hast turned 1Ki 19:8 – Horeb Isa 2:12 – the day Isa 13:6 – for the day Eze 13:5 – the day Zep 1:14 – great Zec 14:1 – General Mat 3:4 – his raiment Mat 11:10 – General Mat 16:14 – Elias Mat 17:3 – Elias Mat 24:27 – the coming Mar 6:15 – it is Elias Mar 8:28 – Elias Luk 1:76 – thou shalt Luk 7:27 – Behold Luk 9:19 – John Joh 1:6 – a man Joh 3:28 – but Act 3:21 – the times 1Th 2:16 – for 2Pe 1:16 – coming 2Pe 3:10 – the day 1Jo 2:28 – at his Rev 20:4 – the souls

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

THE SECOND ELIJAH

Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.

Mal 4:5-6

Let us look a little into the state of things when Malachi wrote.

I. It was not a time of open disregard of God, or rebellion against His religion.Time was when there was a sharp line drawn between those who were, and those who were not, worshippers of the true God; so that it was only the very determined who were good at all. It was different now. All were nominally Gods worshippers, but scarcely any were in earnest about it. Idolatry was gone by. No doubt that was a great gain. But it was not everything. Men may leave off one sin, but they may fall into another. And so it was now.

II. A man who has broken off his bad ways and become respectable, has to ask himself, Have I broken with sin?If not, he may see his own picture in these rebukes of the prophet Malachi.

III. Again, what rule do you follow in you ordinary life?

IV. Yet there is a voice of mercy as well as of anger in this last utterance of Old Testament prophecy.If Christ was to come suddenly into His Temple, still He would not take them unawares. Before His coming He would send them His forerunner, who should give them a last warning to prepare themselves by interior holiness for the benefits of His Advent. Every year are these warnings read in our ears. These Advent calls to repentance are Christ messages to us.

Illustrations

(1) Just as Elijah, in the degenerate days of Ahab, when Baal was predominant, and the worshippers of Jehovah shrunk out of sight, rallied to his side those who were faithful in secret, and recreated, one might say, the people of God, so should this promised prophet do in the degenerate days contemplated by Malachi. He should come, as the New Testament says, in the spirit and power of Elijah, and be, like him, the instrument of a great moral revival. It is not easy to say precisely what is meant by turning the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to the fathers. What the words suggest to the modern reader is that family dissensions about religion were one of the crying evils of the time, and that the prophet was to subdue these, and teach the passing generation and the rising one to understand and consider each other.

(2) John came in the spirit and power of Elijah, and prepared for the coming of Jesus. He preached a great repentance, and to a considerable extent secured it. Even the outward aspect of his life recalled Elijah, and still more his fearless denunciation of evil, the persecution he had to endure for righteousness sake, and the limitation of his nature and his work. The most striking proof of his success is the fact that the first and most eminent of the disciples of JesusSimon, Andrew, James, and Johnhad all been before in the circle of the Baptists followers.

Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary

Mal 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.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

Mal 4:5. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet The first prophet that I shall send to you, after him who now speaks to you, will be Elijah the messenger, that shall go before the Messiah to prepare his way. In him the spirit of prophecy shall be revived; and he shall be another Elijah for zeal, for courage, austerity of life, and labour for reformation. It was the universal opinion in Christs time, received by the learned and unlearned, the governors and the common people, that Elijah should usher in the Messiah, and anoint him; all expected that Elijah should first come and restore all things; and long before that time the son of Sirach grounded his expectation of him on the passage now before us: see Sir 48:10. The Jews have not since varied from this notion: in all their later writings the coming of Elijah and of the Messiah are usually mentioned together; and this is the reason why they pray so heartily for the coming of Elijah, even without mention of the Messiah, because the coming of the one, according to Malachi, infers the coming of the other. But it is neither said nor implied in the text that Elijah the Tishbite should come in person, but only that one should come in the spirit and power of Elijah, and when such a one did come, Malachis words were fulfilled; who meant no more that Elijah should rise again, than Hosea and Jeremiah did that David should be restored to life, in order to reign over Israel and Judah, when they prophesied that the tribes should hereafter serve David their king. Whoever this Elijah was, he must, according to the next clause of this verse, precede the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord, that is, the time of the final destruction of the Jewish city, temple, and commonwealth, which events actually took place near one thousand seven hundred years ago, and no other Elijah than John the Baptist, followed by the Messiah, came to warn them of it, as is confessed by them.

It is allowed by the Jews as a fact, that prophecy was sealed up with Malachi, and that when he died the Holy Spirit was taken away from Israel. They expected, however, that it would be restored in the days of the Messiah, and they ought, therefore, to have concluded that John the Baptist, in whom this gift did revive, must be the Elijah of Malachi: for all the people held John as a prophet, Mat 14:5; Mat 21:26. Even the members of the Sanhedrim, astonished at his preaching and actions, (see Joh 1:19-25,) thought he must be Elijah, or that prophet, namely, the Messiah, mentioned by Moses: and the scribes and Pharisees, as well as the rest of the country, went to be baptized of him, confessing their sins, Mat 3:5-7. Add to this, that his preaching exactly answered the description given of it by Malachi. As Elijah was to give notice of the coming of the day that should burn as an oven, Mal 4:1, that great and dreadful day, wherein the Lord, Messiah, should smite the land of Judea with a curse: Mal 4:6; so did John the Baptist exhort to repentance, from this motive, that the kingdom of God was at hand, that wrath was coming, from which they ought to flee, and that the person coming after him, who was mightier than he, with his fan in his hand, would thoroughly purge his floor, and burn the chaff with unquenchable fire: see Mat 3:2; Mat 3:7; Mat 3:10-11; and Bishop Chandlers Defence. The reader will be pleased to see the sacred historians account of John confirmed by a wise, learned, and well-disposed Jew, who was not a Christian, namely the well-known historian Josephus: It was the opinion of the Jews, says he, that Herods army was cut off by the Arabs through Gods just judgment, for the sake of John, who was surnamed the Baptist. For he killed that excellent man, who excited the people to the exercise of all virtues, especially piety and justice, and to receive his baptism, which, he assured them, would be pleasing to God, if to purity of body they added purity of life, and first cleansed their souls, not from one or two, but every sin. But when the people resorted in numbers to him, eager to hear his doctrine, and ready to do any thing by his counsel, fearing what might be effected through so great authority of the man, he first imprisoned and then slew him. Antiq., lib. xviii, cap. 7.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

4:5 Behold, I will send you {e} Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and {f} dreadful day of the LORD:

(e) This Christ interprets of John the Baptist, who both for his zeal, and restoring or religion, is aptly compared to Elijah; Mat 11:13-14 .

(f) Which as it is true for the wicked, so does it waken the godly, and call them to repentance.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

The Lord promised to send His people Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of the Lord arrived. An angel later told John the Baptist’s parents that their son would minister in the spirit and power of Elijah (Luk 1:17). Yet John denied that he was Elijah (Joh 1:21-23). Jesus said that John would have been the Elijah who was to come if the people of his day had accepted Jesus as their Messiah (Mat 11:14). Since they did not, John did not fulfill this prophecy about Elijah coming, though he did fulfill the prophecy about Messiah’s forerunner (Mal 3:1).

This interpretation has in its favor Jesus’ words following the Transfiguration, which occurred after John the Baptist’s death. Jesus said that Elijah would come and restore all things (Mat 17:11). Whether the original Elijah will appear before the day of the Lord or whether an Elijah-like figure, similar to John the Baptist, will appear remains to be seen. Since Jesus went on to say that Elijah had come and the Jews failed to recognize him, speaking of John (Mat 17:12-13), I prefer the view that an Elijah-like person will come.

What John did for Jesus at His first coming, preparing the hearts of people to receive Him, this latter-day Elijah will do for Him at His second coming. Evidently the two witnesses in the Tribulation will carry out this ministry (Rev 11:1-13). Who the witnesses will be is a mystery. Evidently one of them will be an Elijah-like person. These men will do miracles as Elijah and Elisha did.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)