Original Research

‘Remember the law of Moses’: Malachi 3:22 in prophetic eschatology, with a missional postscript

Bob Wielenga
In die Skriflig/In Luce Verbi | Vol 53, No 1 | a2452 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/ids.v53i1.2452 | © 2019 Bob Wielenga | This work is licensed under CC Attribution 4.0
Submitted: 04 February 2019 | Published: 02 July 2019

About the author(s)

Bob Wielenga, Unit Reformed Theology, Faculty of Theology, North-West University, Potchefstroom, South Africa

Abstract

This study investigates the function of Malachi 3:22 in the context of prophetic eschatology as reflected in Malachi’s message about the delay of the expected Day of the Lord, which focuses on the charge to ‘remember the law of my servant Moses (…) I gave him at Horeb for all Israel’. This article examines the question how this charge serves the purpose of awaiting in the interim time the advent of the Day of the Lord. Firstly, a textual analysis is given of Malachi 3:22 in the context of the body of the book. Secondly, an eschatological application of the text is attempted with the help of selected texts from Deuteronomy 12:5, 11 (on worship) and 24:1–4 (on the treatment of women), addressing the problems in Malachi 1:6–2:9 and 2:10–16. Thirdly, the missional inferences of Malachi 3:22 for the present time are condensed in a postscript.

Keywords

Prophetic eschatology; Interim-ethics; Law of Moses: Dt 12: Name of God; Dt 24: Fair treatment of women

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Crossref Citations

1. The God who hates: The significance of Esau/Edom in the postexilic prophetic eschatology according to Malachi 1:2–5 with a systematic theological postscript
Bob Wielenga
In die Skriflig/In Luce Verbi  vol: 56  issue: 1  year: 2022  
doi: 10.4102/ids.v56i1.2822