Translation:
Just as the
rising and setting sun,
so is my name great among the nations.
In every place incense and pure offering
are presented to my name,
because my name is great among the nations,”
says Yahweh of Hosts. (David L. Petersen, Zechariah 9-14 and Malachi [Old
Testament Library; London: SCP Press, 1995], 174)
On the use of “setting sun” instead of “setting
of the sun”:
f. Reading kěmimmizraḥ
instead of kî mimmizraḥ. The author establishes an apt analogy to
express the cosmic significance of Yahweh’s name. NRSV et al. improperly
constrain the image by limiting the analogy to daylight hours. (Ibid., 176)
Commentary:
[11] This sense of closure is enhanced by the ensuing formulation, Mal.
1:11. The introductory clause provides the warrant for Yahweh’s ability to do
just what he had said he would do. Yahweh is, according to v. 11, powerful. In
a well-crafted figure of speech, Yahweh announces the extent of his greatness
with respect to the rising and setting sun (cf. Ps. 113:3). He then compares
this dominion to his name’s greatness “among the nations.” However, just as the
motif of Yahweh’s greatness is used for a specific effect in Mal. 1;5, namely,
to demonstrate his greatness and loyalty to Israel, so in Mal. 1;11 the author
if concerned with a specific issue, proper ritual activity for the veneration of
Yahweh. Earlier in this pericope, the author had condemned specific forms of
improper ritual practice, namely, the offering of defiled animals, and had
improper ritual practice, namely, the offering of defiled animals, and had pronounced
and end to normal ritual activity associated with the Jerusalem temple and its
personnel. But, if sacrifice at the temple is to cease, what forms of ritual
behavior might continue? Malachi 1:11 addresses this issue.
There is
considerable debate about the significance of Mal. 1:11. The syntax is
difficult as is the meaning of muqṭār, which may be translated incense.
But why is there reference to incense and/or a pure offering at this point in
the text? At least this may be offered by way of response: incense and offering,
in almost meristic fashion, refer to the panoply of Israelite offerings,
especially if the incense here alludes to that burned inside the hêkāl.
M. Haran has argued that “the Old Testament itself assumes that the customary and
proper place for the ritual use of incense is the temple alone,” and this
despite the fact that there were several different forms of incense offerings
(for example, there was a difference between censer/courtyard and altar/hêkāl
incense). If Haran is correct, Malachi has transformed this notion of the
Jerusalem temple as the sole place for ritual practice and opened up geographically
the veneration of Yahweh.
The basic
purpose of Mal. 1:11 seems to be this. Proper ritual outside Jerusalem, even
outside Israel, can occur. Whether the author knew about Yahwistic shrines at
Elephantine, Leontopolis, Samaria, in the Transjordan, we cannot be sure. But
the point is clear, whether or not appropriate ritual occurs in Jerusalem,
Yahweh’s name will be appropriately venerated in other venues. (Ibid., 183-84)
