But unto you that
fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings,
and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves as the stall. (Mal 4:2 [Heb 3:20])
in its wings. Most interpreters
combine the figurative use of the wings of a bird with the rays of the sun,
while attaching to it alternative meanings, for instance, as symbol of
protection with reference to a hen and her chickens (Luther), or of rapid
movement (Reinke), while the majority of interpreters follow Wellhausen in his
reference to the comparable motif of the sun depicted as a wing disk in Near
Eastern religion and culture. The similarity between the “wings” of the
sun-righteousness and the winged disk of Israel’s Umwelt is indeed
remarkable. In the astral religions of the ancient Near East the sun did play a
major role. The sun-god Shamash was the god of righteousness and the protector
of the poor. The possibility of such an association in the metaphor of our text
with similar notions in the religion and culture of that time cannot be
ignored. Nevertheless, there is an aspect that we must not forget. The sun disk
of the Assyrians and Persians was a symbol of dominion and therefore a sign of
violence or destruction will be found, but healing, redemption, everlasting
life, and peace. (Pieter A. Verhoef, The Books of Haggai and Malachi [NICOT;
Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1987], 330-31)
