{"id":79851,"date":"2020-09-12T22:14:07","date_gmt":"2020-09-12T19:14:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=79851"},"modified":"2020-09-12T22:14:07","modified_gmt":"2020-09-12T19:14:07","slug":"behold-i-will-send-you-elijah-the-prophet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/behold-i-will-send-you-elijah-the-prophet\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cBehold, I Will Send You Elijah the Prophet\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[],"acf":{"old_id":"79851","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":34243,"related_cahpter":"567","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"The last verse, and the very last verse\r\n\r\n","content":"

Chapter 2 concluded with the challenge: \u201cWhere is the God of justice?\u201d (2:17; see <\/span>our comments to Chapter 1 <\/span><\/a>on the dialogic structure of Malachi). Our chapter opens with the retort: \u201cBehold, I am sending My messenger (<\/span>mal\u2019akhi<\/span><\/em>) to clear the way before Me, and the Lord whom you seek shall come to His Temple suddenly. As for the angel (<\/span>mal\u2019akh<\/span><\/em>) of the covenant that you desire, he is already coming\u201d (3:1).<\/span><\/p>\n

The identity of these angels\/messengers is debated. Targum Yonatan treats them as common nouns (<\/span>mal\u2019akha<\/span><\/em>, in Aramaic), while Rashi simply recorded their functions: the former \u201cto eliminate the wicked,\u201d and the latter \u201cto avenge the [violation of] the covenant.\u201d Ibn Ezra, however, identified the former with \u201cMessiah, son of Joseph,\u201d a pre-messianic figure who will wage wars on behalf of Israel but die in the attempt, and \u201cthe Lord is the angel of the covenant; the two are synonymous.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Malbim, on rabbinic authority, gave quite a different interpretation:<\/span><\/p>\n

The angel will precede the coming of the Lord of Hosts. He is the angel who will enter the world into the covenant of Torah and faith, and in the covenant between themselves and God. The Sages said that this is Elijah, angel of the covenant, who will come earlier in order to return many from sin, as it was he who was zealous for the covenant in Shitim, and in the time of Ahab.<\/span><\/p>\n

The zealous Elijah of the era of Ahab is the prophet whose feats are told in the Book of Kings, particularly 1 Kings 19:10, 14: \u201cI have surely been zealous for the Lord, God of Hosts.\u201d The reference to Shitim, the wilderness site where the Israelites were seduced by the women of Midian, becomes intelligible in light of the rabbinic identification of the Prophet Elijah with its hero, Phineas, on whom God bestowed \u201cHis covenant of peace\u201d (see the previous chapter) \u201cbecause he was zealous for his god\u201d (Numbers 25:12).<\/span><\/p>\n

In our comments to Chapter 1, we noted that Malachi was regarded by the Sages as the last prophet of Israel. That would make Malachi 3:24 the last verse of biblical prophecy: \u201cHe shall reconcile parents with children and children with their parents, so that, when I come, I do not strike the whole land with utter destruction.\u201d However, since it is unseemly to end on a note of catastrophe, the custom is to conclude with a repetition of the penultimate verse (just like the Book of Isaiah):<\/span> \u201c<\/span>Lo, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before the coming of the awesome, fearful day of the LORD.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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