Thursday, May 28, 2020

J.R. Dummelow on "Elijah" Being a Generic Term for a Forerunner

In his commentary on Mal 4:5-6, J.R. Dummelow understood OT “Elijah” to act as a generic term for any forerunner, similar to how Joseph Smith used NT “Elias” to denote a forerunner, too:

 

Though John the Baptist was the last and greatest Elijah before that great ‘Day of the Lord,’ when ‘the Word was made flesh,’ there had been other fulfilments of Malachi’s words before his time, as there have been since. Whenever the old order changes, giving place to new.,’ God sends the word an Elijah. (J.R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible [London: Macmillan and Co., 1909], 615)

 

Further Reading

 

“Elias” as a “Forerunner” in LDS Scripture