Malachi 4: The Editor of Malachi Presents His Card to the Lord
Chapter 4: The Editor of Malachi Presents His Card to the Lord
4 "Remember the law of my servant Moses, the decrees and laws I gave him at Horeb for all Israel.
5 "See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes.
6 He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction."
Verse 4 is a categorical imperative. To fulfill this command, Israel established laws and regulations. Israel tried to bear the burden of the categorical imperative through various codes of conduct. However, the situation revealed in Malachi, as well as in other prophetic books, indicates Israel's rejection of the categorical imperative. It is the impotence of the command.
Here, the editor of Malachi, like other prophets, does not despair. Verse 5 is a line of hope, shared heart-to-heart between the Lord and the editor, before the great and dreadful day of the Lord. The gap between verses 4 and 5 is just one verse, but the chasm is wide and deep. The editor rushed from writing verse 4 to verse 5 in haste, indicating an urgency in his heart, as if his feet were on fire. Why did the editor have to write verse 5? Why does the editor anticipate the prophet Elijah?
The editor finds hope in Elijah, the representative of the prophets of Israel. "Turning the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers," reflects the embodiment of verse 4. Humans may render the categorical imperative powerless, but the Lord must break through the various laws humans have established to realize the command. This is the last card the editor of Malachi presents to the Lord, a stark self-awareness of humanity and true repentance. If the prophet Malachi received the word of the Lord, then this is the only card the Lord extends to past, present, and future generations.
God desires to give His heart to His people as much as He wishes His people to give their hearts to Him. It's about a communion of hearts. When this happens, the weak legal regulations collapse. David ate the consecrated bread, which was not lawful for anyone but the priests to eat, simply because he was hungry, not for any grand reason. Yet David did not die. On the other hand, Uzzah, while transporting the ark of God, touched it when the oxen stumbled and died. 2 Samuel 6 records that God struck him down because of his error. Both crossed the boundaries set by the law, yet one lived, and one died. God knows the depths of a person's heart more than the deepest waters. God extends His card of heart to both the surviving David and the deceased Uzzah. This is the eschatology of hope in Christianity. The editor of Malachi wisely foresees the impossibility of realizing the categorical imperative of verse 4 and is compelled to write verse 5. God empathized with the editor's earnestness, and ultimately, Jesus declared that the Elijah the editor longed for had already come.
4 "Remember the law of my servant Moses, the decrees and laws I gave him at Horeb for all Israel.
5 "See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes.
6 He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction."
Verse 4 is a categorical imperative. To fulfill this command, Israel established laws and regulations. Israel tried to bear the burden of the categorical imperative through various codes of conduct. However, the situation revealed in Malachi, as well as in other prophetic books, indicates Israel's rejection of the categorical imperative. It is the impotence of the command.
Here, the editor of Malachi, like other prophets, does not despair. Verse 5 is a line of hope, shared heart-to-heart between the Lord and the editor, before the great and dreadful day of the Lord. The gap between verses 4 and 5 is just one verse, but the chasm is wide and deep. The editor rushed from writing verse 4 to verse 5 in haste, indicating an urgency in his heart, as if his feet were on fire. Why did the editor have to write verse 5? Why does the editor anticipate the prophet Elijah?
The editor finds hope in Elijah, the representative of the prophets of Israel. "Turning the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers," reflects the embodiment of verse 4. Humans may render the categorical imperative powerless, but the Lord must break through the various laws humans have established to realize the command. This is the last card the editor of Malachi presents to the Lord, a stark self-awareness of humanity and true repentance. If the prophet Malachi received the word of the Lord, then this is the only card the Lord extends to past, present, and future generations.
God desires to give His heart to His people as much as He wishes His people to give their hearts to Him. It's about a communion of hearts. When this happens, the weak legal regulations collapse. David ate the consecrated bread, which was not lawful for anyone but the priests to eat, simply because he was hungry, not for any grand reason. Yet David did not die. On the other hand, Uzzah, while transporting the ark of God, touched it when the oxen stumbled and died. 2 Samuel 6 records that God struck him down because of his error. Both crossed the boundaries set by the law, yet one lived, and one died. God knows the depths of a person's heart more than the deepest waters. God extends His card of heart to both the surviving David and the deceased Uzzah. This is the eschatology of hope in Christianity. The editor of Malachi wisely foresees the impossibility of realizing the categorical imperative of verse 4 and is compelled to write verse 5. God empathized with the editor's earnestness, and ultimately, Jesus declared that the Elijah the editor longed for had already come.