If “lord”
(אדוֹן) is Yahweh, who is the messenger of the covenant? Again a definitive
answer is not possible. However the best suggestion is that he is the “angel of
Yahweh,” who represents Yahweh many times in earlier references and who is
interchangeable with him on some occasions (Gen 18:1, 2, 17, 22; 19:1). Wallis
thinks that we should look to references such as the interpreting angel in Zech
1:13; 2:2; 4:4; 5:10; or to references to angels in Dan 7:16; 8:16; 9:21 for
our clue. S. R. Driver may be right when he says, “The messenger of the
covenant is a synonym for ‘the Lord’ (אדוֹן),--notice ‘whom ye desire,’ parallel
to ‘whom ye seek’—i.e. Yahweh, not in Himself, however, but in a representative
form” (Driver 318). (Ralph L. Smith, Micah-Malachi [Word Biblical
Commentary 32; Waco, Tex.: Word Books, 1984], 328)
