In this article, the missional significance of the delay of the Day of the Lord in the postexilic book of Malachi will be studied, employing a missional hermeneutic. First, the canon-historical meaning of the relevant eschatological texts in Malachi 3 will be established. Attention will be paid to the historical and literary context of Malachi in which his precursor, Joel, is pivotal. Second, the New Testament appropriation of Malachi 3 in Matthew’s Gospel is assessed. To conclude, a proposal how Malachi’s motif of the delay of the Day of the Lord can best be missionally re-employed in the present time, will be presented. Hence, apart from a brief note on missional hermeneutics, the missional origin of the text of Malachi, the missional motivation for the delay and the role of the Day of the Lord in modern missiology will be studied.
Bible and mission is not the first topic that comes to mind when reading the book of Malachi. Apart from Malachi 1:11, 14,
First, the Malachi text is hermeneutically studied in its own historical and canonical context. Canon-historical hermeneutics are applied here (McConville
As the last part of The Book of the Twelve,
In this section, Malachi’s own perspective on the Day of the Lord in 2:17–3:7a and 3:13–21, will be studied against the background of Joel’s prophecy. This will lay the foundation for its appropriation in the New Testament and for its re-employment in the missional ministry of the current Christian community of faith. First, a short overview will be given of the social and spiritual condition of the postexilic Jewish people in their sparsely populated and geographically diminished homeland which gave rise to the judgement preaching of Malachi. Second, a summary of Joel’s treatment of the Day of the Lord motif will follow next: it will provide the literary context for the discussion of the two images of divine judgement, refiner’s fire and burning furnace, used in Malachi 3. This section ends with a theological assessment of Malachi’s message of the Day of the Lord, focusing especially on the motif of its delay.
The socio-economic situation in Yehud was dire. Natural calamities such as locust plagues and droughts ravaged the agrarian subsistence economy (Jl 1:4–7; Ha 1:6, 9–11; 2:15–17; Ml 3:10–11). The population numbered at most 20 000 to 30 000 people and was vulnerable to the threat of external and internal enemies. Heavily taxed by their Persian overlords, they had also to cope with the costs of the upkeep of the occupation troops (Lipschitz
The temple in Jerusalem had been rebuilt and the cult restored since 515 BCE. However, Malachi’s critique of the cult and its officials was fierce (Ml 1:10). The problems addressed by him rose from the decline of the cult in the temple where God was supposed to dwell (Ha 1:2–9; Boda
As can be expected from a book that was included in the Twelve (Nogalski
The introduction of divine judgement in Malachi, to be effectuated on the Day of the Lord, followed the postexilic prophetic tradition that found its most powerful representative in Joel. His book is structured around the Day of the Lord as the day of judgement against Israel (Jl 2:11), but also against the nations (Jl 3:2), with a promise of a glorious Zion-centred future beyond judgement, already starting in the present for those among God’s people who feared his name (Jl 2:32; 4:18–21), but with a promise of ultimate destruction for God’s enemies (Jl 4:14–15), including those of his own people who would not repent and turn back to him in compliance with the obligations of the covenant as stipulated in Deuteronomy 28–30.
The concept of
The first perspective is historical in nature. It refers to a theophanic intervention in the space-time history of postexilic Yehud (Jl 1:15) that soon will occur, as could be read from the ‘sign of the time’ – the harbinger of the imminent Day of the Lord: the extraordinary locust plague and subsequent drought (Jl 1:2–12), eventually followed by invading enemies from the North (Jl 2:1–11), that ravaged the countryside and threatened the basic necessities of life (Dt 28:38–40, 45; Dillard
But because of God’s ‘zeal’ for his land and its people, (Jl 2:18; Pettus
The second perspective on the Day of the Lord is proto-apocalyptic by nature (Cook
Joel’s response was to point them to what had already happened as fruit of their repentance (Jl 2:18–19),
Summarising Joel’s Day of the Lord teaching, Allen (
The distinction, made in Joel, between the imminent and the ultimate Day of the Lord should be noted (see footnote 5 above). It is not about two different days, temporally separated from each other. It is an apocalyptic image, symbolically referring to one and the same day located somewhere in space-time history, looked at from two different perspectives: the imminent, historical one and the apocalyptic, ultimate one. The first perspective shows that divine judgement can be averted; the second one that it is irrevocable. Eschatological restoration and destruction are reverse sides of each other, held together in covenantal tension
The people’s complaint that God is not faithful to his covenant promises (Ml 2:17) is dispelled in Malachi 3:6
This concurs with the announcement that God had already sent ahead his messenger (Ml 3:1a) who would prepare his forthcoming arrival as judge (Snyman
There is no scholarly consensus around the identity of the messenger. In this article, the option of a non-messianic, prophetic figure is followed (Wielenga
Fire in a burning furnace will leave nothing behind but ash (Ml 3:21). It calls up the image of ultimate destruction. It is used in the context of arrogant refusal by the majority of the people to face the consequences of their negligence of the covenant and of their subsequent accusation of God for the deplorable conditions that are of their own making. Different from Joel, Malachi’s Day of the Lord preaching did not target the hostile nations; rather, only God’s own people were marked out for judgement. God’s ultimate intervention would bring separation between those who feared the Lord and revered his name, and those who did not, beyond judgement, care (Ml 3:14–15). The first ones would be remembered
The ultimate Day of the Lord is coming. In Malachi its description is less apocalyptically coloured than in Joel, but its expectation is not less realistic. In Malachi, just as in Joel, the pastoral motivation for his eschatological preaching must be noted. Irrevocable as the coming of the ultimate Day of the Lord may be, it is not a fate that, come what may, will happen. The historical imminent and the apocalyptic ultimate perspectives are coalescing in their pastoral intention: to activate a wholehearted return to God and a law-compliant life in expectation of the definite restoration of justice beyond final judgement (Ml 3:20).
This sole concentration on the restoration of God’s people themselves, was not fruit of an exclusivist concern in Malachi’s discourse. Consistent with other postexilic prophetic voices, this pastoral initiative would have consequences in the world of nations (Ml 1:5, 11, 14) beyond the people’s borders and boundaries. The exclusion of the nations in Malachi is therefore not an expression of early Jewish particularism (Wielenga
Malachi’s concentration on divine judgement for God’s own people on the Day of the Lord, suggests a particular trend in the postexilic eschatological discourse that distinguishes him from Joel. From Joel 4:9–21 (cf. Hg 2:6–9; Zch 14:6–19; Is 65:17–25), one can conclude that the advent of the ultimate Day of the Lord has been definitely decided upon by a God sovereignly in control of history. Nevertheless, in Malachi, the fulfilment of this eschatological promise looks to be deferred by the spiritual crisis the people as temple community found themselves in. This necessitated the time-consuming ministry of the messenger of Malachi 3:1a, preparing the people for divine judgement, and thus opening up the opportunity of penitential return to God. The deferral of the effectuation of divine judgement should therefore be seen in a positive light: it gives the afflicted people, the remnant of Israel, but also, by implication, the nations, the opportunity to avert judgement. Simultaneously, the delay of the promised restoration of eschatological justice, symbolised by the image of a rising sun with healing in its wings, will be perceived as a negative effect of the messenger’s ministry. Fulfilment of the eschatological prophecy is going to take much longer than could possibly be apprehended, but it is given with the conditional character of those promises. Divine mercy, on the one hand, and divine justice, on the other, should be kept together in covenantal tension (Hays
Therefore, another aspect of Old Testament eschatology must be considered. As Hays (
In conclusion, the possibility of a delay of the Day of the Lord is not mentioned in Malachi’s dialogues with the people, but it is, nevertheless, a reality rooted in the covenantal relationship between God and his people. The delay of the ultimate restoration on the Day of the Lord and the consummation of history has, as its reverse side, the deferral of the destruction of all that opposes the God of Israel, the Creator and Lord of history. In this light, the partial fulfilments of the eschatological promises, as in Joel 2:18–19 or Malachi 2:2 and 3:3–4,
Because of space constraints, only the ministry of John the Baptist, the eschatological Elijah (Ml 3:23–24), will be studied within the gospel tradition, focusing on Matthew with his many apocalyptic motifs and symbols (Gurtner
In 1st century CE Judaism, the coming of the eschatological prophet, in accordance with Deuteronomy 18:18 or Malachi 3:23, was urgently awaited. Elijah who, at his death, bodily ascended straight into heaven (2 Kngs 2), was the designated candidate for a new eschatological ministry on earth (Ml 3:24).
John’s image of an axe already at the root of the tree, about to be burnt, refers to the ultimate judgement that he himself expected to happen in the near future. This is underscored by John’s description of Jesus’ work as baptising with fire (Mt 3:11–12; Lk 3:16–17; 12:49) that in this context is a clear indication of Jesus bringing divine judgement (Miller
In his response (Mt 11:4–6; Lk 7:21–23), Jesus did not refute John’s expectation of a final judgement on the ultimate Day of the Lord (Mt 11:20–24, cf. 13:49–50). But in conformance with the prophecy of Malachi, the ultimate Day of the Lord is deliberately deferred to an unspecified time in the future to create space for Jesus’ own ministry of preaching and healing, erecting the signs of the messianic age to come (Is 35:1–10; 61:1; Mt 11:4–5)
Subsequently, this delay of final judgement also causes the ongoing suffering of those who were baptised by Jesus with the Holy Spirit (Mt 11:6, 28–30). The emphasis in Matthew is on the suffering for the sake of Jesus and his ministry (Mt 5:10–12; 10:24–28). Besides, the delay of the Day of the Lord, breaking in at the time that the Lord returns as divine judge, also presumes the protraction of evil and suffering in all spheres of life. The interim time is the time of grace and the time of suffering simultaneously, both a fruit of the gracious prolongation of the in-between time until a future date, known only to God (Mt 24:36, 42, 44; Ac 1:7).
In conclusion, the principle of conditional fulfilment of eschatological promises is at work in Matthew regarding the ministry of John the Baptist in conformance with Malachi 3. The time, allocated to the response of the audience to the preaching of John, Jesus, and later the disciples (Mt 28:16–20), should be taken seriously in the assessment of the eschatological delay. This whole process of delay does not jeopardise the divine consummation of history, portrayed with apocalyptic images in Joel, Haggai, Zechariah or 3 Isaiah, or Revelation. Rather, in this process, the interim time is urgently moving forward to its destined, imminent end, even though no sensible word can be said about its speed and its date. The perspective of imminence should encourage within a covenantal framework that stresses the faithfulness of a sovereign God, but that of delay should activate his people, appealing to their covenantal responsibility.
In this section, missional conclusions will be drawn from the preceding canon-historical investigation into Malachi’s eschatological discourse and its appropriation in Matthew. First, a brief outline will be given of the missional hermeneutics employed in this article; second, the missional origins of Malachi will be pointed out; and third, the missional significance of the delay of the Day of the Lord in Malachi, as mediated by Matthew, will be elucidated.
The attempt to read Malachi missionally, flows from the premise that the Old Testament, just like the New Testament, is an inalienable part of the canon of the Scriptures of the Christian community of faith – the proper locus for a theological reading of the Bible with a missional hermeneutic (Bartholomew
Reading Malachi missionally as part of this canonical meta-narrative, one is faced with the question why the Malachi text has been transmitted, even written down and included in the Twelve to become part of the Old Testament canon at all. It is the contention of this article that Malachi, as part of the Bible, is a product of the
Focusing now on the question of the missional significance of the delay of the Day of the Lord in Malachi, as confirmed by Matthew, first, the relationship between the messenger’s ministry in Malachi 3:1a (with its parallel in Mt 3:1–2) and the mission mandate to the apostles as formulated in Matthew 28:16–20 will be considered (Fernando
Mission, as defined in Matthew 28, focuses on making disciples out of all the nations, incorporating them in the new community through baptism and teaching them all that Jesus had commanded in Matthew 5–7, for instance. In conformance with Malachi 3:1a and Matthew 3:1–2, and Jesus’ own earthly ministry, this ministry
The deepest motivation for this delay has already been formulated by Joel and Malachi (Jl 2:18–19; Ml 1:2–5), and is confirmed by Jesus’ words in John 3:16 or Paul’s in 2 Corinthians 5:14. Mission is fruit of God’s love for the world in Jesus Christ which compels the church to get involved in the
For that reason, in Matthew 24:14, mission is mentioned among the signs of the time that matter (Beasley-Murray
In modern missiology, divine judgement is not an issue that receives much attention. Towner (
From the missional ministry of the Christian community of faith, a careful and balanced approach is required towards this theme of divine vengeance and judgement, but it should not be deleted from its missional agenda. However, threatening speculations with violent phantasies about eternal damnation and hell (LeHaye and Jenkins) should not be part of this agenda. Biblical images, referring to these realities, are apocalyptic notions that are not intended to literally describe what is beyond human comprehension. They are meant to confront the world with the seriousness and consequences of the choice for or against Jesus Christ as the eschatological Lord of Malachi 3:1b.
This article attempted to read the postexilic minor prophet, Malachi, missionally, focusing on the delay of the Day of the Lord. The conclusion that this motif is missionally relevant also for the present-day Christian community of faith, should convince Bible scholars that a missional hermeneutic occupies a legitimate place among the Bible reading tools of the profession.
The author declares that he has no financial or personal relationships which may have inappropriately influenced him in writing this article.
See Hill (
The volume of literature on the Book of the Twelve (the Twelve onwards) is still expanding (see e.g. Boda
For the dating of the book of Joel, see apart from Nogalski (
The literature on Joel and the Day of the Lord theology is extensive (see e.g. Pettus
What is intended here is not two temporally separated days. Proto-apocalyptic images should not be misconceived as literal descriptions of historical realities. Cook (
Pettus (
Theologically, one could point here to the influence of the deuteronomic covenant concept: the covenant, unilaterally established by God, is bilaterally functioning, that is, it assumes human co-operation (Wielenga
One can distinguish between prophetic and apocalyptic eschatology, but not separate each from another (see Grabbe & Haak
In this article, Cook (
Sins are not mentioned in Joel (Talstra
The verbal tenses in Joel 2:18–19 should be understood as
For a comprehensive, accessible introduction to a biblical theology of repentance, see Boda (
Also, in Haggai 2:3–7, a small beginning (temple foundations) received an apocalyptic-eschatological ending, centred on God dwelling in the fully reconstructed temple on Mount Zion (Wielenga
The tension between eschatological restoration and destruction is an integral part of the two-sided covenantal relationship between God and his people with its promises both of blessing and curse (Dt 28–30). Drs C.J. (Kees) Haak, Theological University Kampen, Netherland, suggested the term
Snyman’s demarcation (
See Jeremiah 5:18, 30:11 and 46:28 for a pre-exilic reference to this type of statement of faith (‘not yet consumed’).
For the non-messianic option, see Snyman (
The task the eschatological Elijah must perform according to Malachi 3:24 (Van der Woude
Nogalski’s equation (
The same charge of Jewish particularism is incorrectly levelled against Ezra-Nehemiah (Wielenga
The conditional fulfilment of eschatological prophecies touches on the doctrine of divine providence in, among others, Reformed theology (König
See Wielenga (
For Elijah as prophet, ranked at the same level as Moses, see Chapman (
In Matthew 17:3, Elijah was present on the Mount of Transfiguration together with Moses. He and John were clearly not identical in the estimation of the Early Church.
See Philips, Janse van Rensburg and Van Rooy (
These signs signified that with Jesus’ advent, the age to come had already been inaugurated, encouraging the readers to await with patient impatience the consummation of that age (cf. the famous eschatological already or not yet distinction).
For an interesting example of missional reading of the Old Testament (Ex 15:1–18), see Russell (
This is not to say that this lens is the only legitimate one through which to read the Bible (Bartholomew
Here the difference between Old Testament and New Testament, concerning mission, should be mentioned. It often referred to with the terms
The same can be said about the intra-Jewish ministry in Matthew 10 (Hagner
The prayer for an urgent return of Christ amid suffering remains valid. Again, the covenant is the framework within which both the needed advent and the granted delay are kept together in tension.
One finds in Matthew, too, the dual perspective on the imminent and ultimate eschatological blessing and judgement. In Matthew 24, they are correlated (Hagner
See also Bosch’s treatment of ‘comprehensive salvation’ (
See Van der Kooi and Van den Brink (