Malachi 3:13–4:3

3:13 The Lord’s initial charge against Judah involves more than merely rude or inconsiderate speech. The same phrase is found in 2 Samuel 24:4 and 1 Chronicles 21:4, where David overrules Joab’s advice. The Judahites seem to be not only dishonoring God with their speech but also forcefully insisting on their cynical theology (confirmed by the particular phrasing beginning Mal. 3:15, which might be paraphrased, “From now on, we are calling . . .”). Their minds are made up.

3:14–15 The charge of injustice against God is the same as in 2:17. On the one hand, they feel that serving God has made their lives worse (3:14). This is the implication of the question in verse 14: their service in God’s presence causes mourning, not joy. They have nothing to show for their labor, so their service is in vain. On the other hand, it seems to them that moral and spiritual rebels run free and prosper (v. 15), a complaint about those within the Judahite community who were defying God. Although the people’s complaint is not limited to priests, verse 14 alludes to temple service. “Keeping God’s charge” is frequently used of Levitical duties in the sanctuary (Num. 3:7, 28, 32; 18:3–5; Ezek. 40:45–46; 44:14–16), recalling the use of ʻabad (“serve”) for ritual worship in the tabernacle (cf. Ex. 3:12; 4:23; 10:26; 12:31; 13:5) and the command in legal texts to rejoice before God there (Lev. 23:40; Deut. 12:7; 16:1; 27:7). As is often the case in Malachi and other parts of the OT, the people’s relationship with God finds its heart in the temple—but, in contrast to other passages in the OT, here their service produces only mourning, not joy.

3:16 For the first time in Malachi, there is a positive response to the prophet’s preaching: instead of a second rebuttal from the people (as in 1:6–7 and 3:7–8), a group within the community takes counsel together. The verb for speaking in verse 16 (a form of dbr) is the same as in verse 13, forming a hopeful contrast: instead of continuing to complain, and without any direct command from God, they discuss their response to the prophetic word. The book written “before him” produces a similar contrast with Israel’s complaint of mourning “before the LORD” in verse 14. The complaint directly before God’s presence dissolves into repentance before him. Even happier is God’s attention to their response before the book of remembrance is mentioned, registered with two separate verbs. Although the phrase “the LORD paid attention and heard” would fit easily at the end of the verse, its earlier location implies God’s attention to his people’s repentance.

The “book of remembrance” is similar to references to a book belonging to God seen elsewhere in the OT; most often the context suggests a record of those who belong to him (Ex. 32:32–33; Dan. 12:1; cf. Rev. 20:15), while Psalm 139:16 reveals a book narrating the course of the lives of God’s saints. Sometimes God’s enemies are erased from his book (Ps. 69:28), while Exodus 17:14 records (in a phrase very similar to this verse) a book to remember the Lord’s perpetual antipathy toward Amalek. Official public lists of Israelites were also kept (Neh. 7:5; 12:23; Ezek. 13:9), and there is a single reference to a Persian “book of remembrance” of Persian royal history (Est. 6:1). Even if this practice is not otherwise well known, these other books suggest this “book of remembrance” records a list of those within the community who publicly recommitted themselves to the Lord. (As we will see, the meaning of “treasured possession” in Mal. 3:17 and the discriminatory nature of the judgment in 4:1–3 support this.) The other OT references listed above suggest this is God’s book, written “before him” in heaven by a recording angel, by which he records those within the postexilic community who have repented of their cynicism. This remnant remains within God’s realm of blessing, much in contrast to the complaint voiced in the previous verses.

The verse ends by specifying that those in this book fear God and esteem his name. Fearing God in the OT connotes basic reverence and devotion as the basis of any relationship with him (Deut. 10:12; Job 1:1; Prov. 1:7). To “esteem” God’s name is a phrase not found elsewhere in the OT, but it makes sense against the background of Malachi 3:13–15: complaining of the futility of serving God is the opposite of thinking of God’s fame and reputation above one’s own comfort (cf. 1:11, 14).

3:17–18 We hear the Lord’s response to the repentance of verse 16. He promises, “They will be mine—my treasured possession, on the day I am making” (AT). The constant emphasis on the day of the Lord in 4:1–3 (“on the day I am making” is exactly repeated at the end of 4:3), together with the future tense verbs in 3:17–18, suggest that God is making a promise that will come into effect at the day described in 4:1–3. A “treasured possession” (segullah) refers to the private property of a king amid his ownership of everything in his kingdom (1 Chron. 29:3; Eccles. 2:8). Israel as a whole is given this distinction—in explicit contrast to the other nations—in Exodus 19:5; Deuteronomy 7:6; 14:2; 26:18. Unusually within the OT, this term is applied to a faithful remnant within the larger community of God’s people: those in the book of remembrance will personally belong to God on the coming day.

The verb “spare” (Mal. 3:17) can also mean “have pity on” (Ezek. 16:5; Joel 2:18). Both senses are probably in view: God will renew his compassion on these God-fearers, as any father would, and spare them from the coming judgment. These God-fearers will see that the complaint of Malachi 3:14–15 is groundless: God will act to make evident the distinction between righteous and wicked, between the one serving God and the one serving self. In making this promise, he implies that the complaint in verses 13–15 is not entirely a problem of perception on Judah’s part; the value and benefit of serving God and the distinction between the righteous and the wicked are not (yet) fully realized. At the same time, of course, the Lord’s insistence on the coming distinction between these two groups should vitiate any jealousy of the wicked who prosper in this life.

4:1 If 3:17–18 lays out the God-fearers’ hope, 4:1 shows how these expectations become a reality. Although many other prophetic texts describe God’s action “on that day,” and God’s direct appearance is often described in terms of fire, this prophetic text is unique in describing the day itself as burning up the wicked. In Malachi’s deployment of these common prophetic themes, the fire of God’s appearance reduces the arrogant and evildoers of 3:15 to ash; there is no escape, and whatever temporary gains they made before that day are forever consumed. This judgment is both swift and total: the day is twice described as “coming,” and neither root nor branch is left. The coming distinction between righteous and wicked (3:18) will be unmistakable.

4:2–3 The ESV correctly expresses the contrast between verses 1 and 2 by stating, “But for you.” “Fearing God’s name” (cf. v. 2) combines the two phrases in 3:16 (“feared the LORD” and “esteemed his name”) for those recorded in the book of remembrance, indicating they receive this promise. The promise’s imagery is consistent with that of 4:1 even while shifting it: for the God-fearers, this day holds not unquenchable fire but a shining sun. This is most likely a metaphor for the fiery theophany of the Lord on that day.

In the OT, the Lord is explicitly compared to a sun only in Psalm 84:11, although in a few other places he “shines forth” (cf. Deut. 33:2 and Isa. 60:1–2, which use the verb translated “rise” in Mal. 4:2; Hab. 3:3 has a similar image). The context of Psalm 84 shows that the metaphor clearly connotes blessing and protection. The image of the sun means the same here: God-fearers will be protected from the judgment of Malachi 4:1 and will enjoy God’s blessing, like the well-fed, carefree, playful animals of verse 2. Malachi qualifies this sun as a sun “of righteousness” to connect this blessing and judgment to the complaint of God’s treatment of the just and unjust in 3:13–15. This “righteous” sun works the judgment and blessing called for earlier in the passage. The healing this sun brings should be understood in relation to blessing: healing in the OT is not limited to recovery from illness but includes restoration from all kinds of tragedy and loss (cf. 2 Chron. 7:14; Ps. 107:20; Prov. 4:22; 6:15; Jer. 8:15; 14:19; 33:6). This healing sun restores the God-fearers to fullness of life and peace.

The reference to the sun’s “wings” is strange to us, but Malachi’s original audience would have been reminded of the chief Persian deity Ahura Mazda, commonly portrayed with a winged sun disk. In a Persian context, a king portrayed within this winged sun disk was under the blessing and protection of the deity. Malachi’s image is not a compromise with pagan religion but a hint that the blessing and protection Persian worship promises is found actually in the Lord. There are numerous other examples of Yahweh appropriating roles or actions from pagan deities in order to convince his people that he is the only God who can actually perform the salvation other gods promise; the Lord’s sending of a storm in 1 Kings 18 to humiliate the storm god Baal is one prominent instance.

Malachi 4:3 shows what the frolicking animals are trampling on: the wicked of 3:15 and 4:1. The explanatory phrase “for they will be ashes” clarifies that the God-fearers do not themselves execute judgment; the wicked are already burned up in the coming day. But the God-fearers do participate in this judgment and the restoration of moral order. Whatever evil remains is stomped on and crushed into nothing by God’s own people. The mourning of God’s servants as the wicked enjoy everything good in life is resolved decisively as God’s servants themselves are given a role in the restoration of all things.

Passages of Scripture looking forward to the judgment of the wicked, and even envisioning some role for God’s people in it, easily offend modern sensibilities. While modern unease with passages like this is understandable, it is worth remembering that a key characteristic of the wicked in the OT is unrepentant and violent selfishness. Limiting ourselves to the prophets, the wicked are described as preying on others (Jer. 5:26), making a habit of violence (Ezek. 7:11), enriching themselves by robbing others (Mic. 6:11), twisting justice (Hab. 1:4), and creating moral and social chaos where everyone suffers (Isa. 1:21–23). Although God excludes no nation from his worship (Mal. 1:14), his kingdom cannot come, nor his reign be fully realized, without destroying this evil and the people who give themselves to it. In fact, without this judgment, it would truly be useless to serve God (3:14). And if the Lord gives his servants some limited role in the restoration of right on that great and final day, will we refuse? Is our sense of justice more refined that God’s?