Verse by Verse Men Bible Study | Malachi 4:4-6 | The Book of Malachi скачать в хорошем качестве

Verse by Verse Men Bible Study | Malachi 4:4-6 | The Book of Malachi

Malachi 4:4-6 “Remember the law of my servant Moses, the statutes and rules that I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.” BACKGROUND God’s final words in Malachi point back to Moses, and forward to the coming of Elijah. In the Old Testament, Moses and Elijah were important figures. Moses was associated with the law, and Elijah with the prophets. Scholars often call these last three verses of Malachi as postscripts, or appendices. The first postscript is Mal 4:4 which looks to the past and encourages the people of Israel to follow the Law of Moses. The second is Mal 4:5-6, which sets its eyes on the future, promising that God will send Elijah the prophet “before the great and awesome day of the LORD.’’ As Moses and Elijah were key characters in Israel’s history, there are some surprising things that they have in common. They both fasted for forty days, just like Jesus did in the wilderness. They also both traveled to Mount Horeb (Mt. Sinai) and met with God. Moses met Him in a burning bush (Exod 3:1) and Elijah in a cave (1 Kings 19). Moses led the Children of Israel away from the gods of Egypt, and Elijah led them away from Baal. Both even performed miracles in the name of YHWH. In the New Testament, Jesus met with Moses and Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration (Matt 17, Mark 9, Luke 9). And many believe that the two witnesses appearing prior to the second coming in Revelation 11, are none other than Moses and Elijah. These men are called “prophets” in Rev 11:10, and were able cause a drought, turn water into blood, and strike the world with plagues (Rev 11:6). Elijah and Moses of the OT performed these same miracles. REMEMBER THE LAW OF MOSES “Remember the law of my servant Moses, the statutes and rules that I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel.” In this verse, God points the people back to the Law of Moses. To remember (_zakar_) not only means to be reminded of something but also to act accordingly. The law (Heb. _torah_) of Moses refers to the commands of the covenant code given by YWHW at Mount Sinai (Exod. 19 – 24), and again in the region of Moab near Mount Nebo (Deut. 1:5–6; chs. 5 – 26). Later, the expression the Torah, or ‘law of Moses’ would be come to mean all of the first 5 books of the Old Testament, also called Pentateuch, meaning the five scrolls. BEHOLD I WILL SEND ELIJAH “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes.” The fifth and final “Behold” in Malachi. This time, announcing that God will be sending Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD. Most believe that John the Baptist was the Elijah referred to in this verse When John the Baptist was first announced, the angel Gabriel visited John’s father in the temple. Quoting Malachi, he said: “He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” Luke 1:16-17 When the disciples asked Jesus about this verse, He replied: “To be sure, Elijah comes and will restore all things. But I tell you, Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but have done to him everything they wished. In the same way the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands. Then the disciples understood that he was talking to them about John the Baptist.” Matt 17:10-13 However, it is complicated. When asked directly, John denied being Elijah: “They asked him, ‘Then who are you? Are you Elijah?’ He said, ‘I am not.’ ‘Are you the Prophet?’ He answered, ‘No.’ Finally, they said, ‘Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?’ John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, ‘I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.’” John 1:21-23 Another complication is that the great and awesome day of the LORD didn’t happen