Tweet
Originally posted by Darfius
View Post
It also depends, in part, not on what the text of Malachi might mean to us, but instead, on what the NT writers, and the community they were part of, made of it. The NT writers, like Jesus Himself, show great respect for Scripture. That did not prevent them using it with considerable freedom: for instance, when St Matthew quotes Hosea’s words “Out of Egypt I have called my son”, St Matthew is referring to Jesus, whereas Hosea is referring to (the kingdom of) Israel.
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage...1&version=NASB
Or there is St John 15: the self-identification of Jesus as the True Vine presupposes knowledge of Psalm 80.8:
“8 You transplanted a vine from Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it.
9 You cleared the ground for it,
and it took root and filled the land.
10 The mountains were covered with its shade,
the mighty cedars with its branches.
11 Its branches reached as far as the Sea,[a]
its shoots as far as the River.[b]”
Verse 8 following is about the people Israel - the Psalmist was not referring to Jesus. But Jesus, or St John, applies the Vine-imagery to Jesus. St John 15.1 is not an exegesis of Psalm 80.8, but an application of it, to Jesus, in the new theological setting created by the Christian community’s recognition of Jesus as the Messiah. The ancient text is understood in a fresh way, in a sense that cannot be found in the text as it stands.
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage...0&version=NASB
The point of all this is, that the OT source of a NT quotation or a use of the OT text will not necessarily have any obvious connection to how that quotation or use functions in the NT.
“That great and dreadful day” may refer to the Crucifixion, which is described in imagery which echoes these words of Zephaniah 1:
“14Near is the great day of the LORD, Near and coming very quickly;
Listen, the day of the LORD!
In it the warrior cries out bitterly.
15A day of wrath is that day,
A day of trouble and distress,
A day of destruction and desolation,
A day of darkness and gloom,
A day of clouds and thick darkness,
16A day of trumpet and battle cry
Against the fortified cities
And the high corner towers.
17I will bring distress on men
So that they will walk like the blind,
Because they have sinned against the LORD;
And their blood will be poured out like dust
And their flesh like dung.
18Neither their silver nor their gold
Will be able to deliver them
On the day of the LORD’S wrath;
And all the earth will be devoured
In the fire of His jealousy,
For He will make a complete end,
Indeed a terrifying one,
Of all the inhabitants of the earth.”
This passage may, with others, be behind St Matthew 27:
“45From the sixth hour until the ninth hourg darkness came over all the land. 46About the ninth hour, Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli,h lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”i
47When some of those standing there heard this, they said, “He is calling Elijah.” 48One of them quickly ran and brought a sponge. He filled it with sour wine,j put it on a reed, and held it up for Jesus to drink.49But the others said, “Leave Him alone. Let us see if Elijah comes to save Him.”k50When Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, He yielded up His spirit. 51At that moment the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth quaked and the rocks were split. 52The tombs broke open, and the bodies of many saints who had fallen asleep were raised. 53After Jesus’ resurrection, when they had come out of the tombs, they entered the holy city and appeared to many people.54When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified and said, “Truly this was the Son of God.”“
https://biblehub.com/bsb/matthew/27.htm
IMO, the events of verses 45 & 51-52 show that the Crucifixion was “that great and terrible day”. Elijah had come, since the events attending his coming had occurred. For first came the Baptist, “in the spirit and power of Elijah” - and then, not long after, the events of Malachi’s “great and dreadful day” occurred. If this is correct, verse 49 has a double meaning: as a misunderstanding of the Words of Jesus (by those present at the Crucifixion), and as an unknowingly accurate description of what had just happened (as appreciated by Christians).
Malachi speaks of “that great and terrible day” - Zephaniah (and others) provide imagery that explains what Malachi meant. IMO, St Matthew’s theology of Christ adopts the imagery in Zephaniah, in order to present the Crucifixion as the day referred to by Malachi. And maybe not just the Crucifixion: it could be, that entire earthly Life of Jesus is “that great and terrible day”, climaxing in the Crucifixion - and the Fall of Jerusalem, though separated from the Life of Jesus by about 40 years, is perhaps regarded as part of “that day”.
As for Ezekiel 37, it was fulfilled, & perhaps also began to be fulfilled, in St Matthew 27.51-53.
Personally, St John Baptist was not Elijah. So he denied, when asked, that he was. But in function, he was. Since he was not altogether certain of the Messianic Identity of Jesus, it would make sense if his understanding of his own function was incomplete. One must also allow for the shaping of the Christian text by Christian theology, faith & tradition.
It is never necessary to throw any passage of Scripture into the trash.
Comment