And he shall turn the
heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to the
fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse. (Mal 4:6 [Heb 3:23])
Commenting on this well-known Old
Testament prophecy, Pieter Verhoef (at the time of writing, Professor Emeritus
of the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa) wrote the following, showing that the
prophecy reflects a rather “Open” view of the future:
The seriousness of
Elijah’s mission must be conceived of in the light of the possibility that he
might not succeed. The consequences are introduced by the “conjunction of
rejection,” Heb. pen, “lest,” “otherwise” (see Driver, Tenses, §
41; GKC, § 107q). (Pieter A. Verhoef, The Books of Haggai and Malachi [NICOT;
Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1987], 343)
With respect to the grammatical sources he
cites supporting this reading, here they are reproduced for reference:
Lastly, the imperfect
is used after final conjunctions, as לְמַֽעַן, בְַּעַבוּר in order that, פֶּן lest; further, after
אוּלַי perhaps, the other
similar words. S.R. Driver, A Treatise on the Use of the Tenses in Hebrew
[1874], § 41)
(3) In dependent clauses after final conjunctions (§ 165 b), as אֲשֶׁר, Gn 11:7 (אֲשֶׁר
לֹא יִשְׁמְעוּ that they may not understand); בַּֽעֲבוּר Gn 21:30, 27:4, 19, Ex 9:14,
&c.; לְמַ֫עַן אֲשֶׁר Nu
17:5; לְמַ֫עַן Dt
4:1, Ps 51:6, 78:6, and אֲשֶׁר יַעַ֫ן Ez
12:12, in order that; לְבִלְתִּי that … not,
Ex 20:20, 2 S 14:14; also after פֶּן־ that not, lest, Gn 3:22, 11:4, 19:15, &c.; cf. also the
instances introduced by וְלֹא in
§ 109 g.—In Lv 9:6 such an imperfect (or jussive? see the examples in § 109 f)
is added to the expression of the command by an asyndeton, and in La 1:19 to
the principal clause simply by וְ: while they sought them
food וְיָשִׁ֫יבוּ אֶת־נַפְשָׁם to refresh their souls (cf. also La 3:26, it is good and let him hope, i.e. that he should hope); so after an interrogative clause, Ex 2:7.
Finally also in a relative clause, Ps 32:8 בְּדֶ֫רֶךְ־זוּ תֵלֵךְ in the way which thou
shouldst go. (Friedrich Wilhelm Gesenius, Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar [ed. E.
Kautzsch and Sir Arthur Ernest Cowley; 2d English ed.; Oxford: Clarendon Press,
1910], 318 [§ 107q])
