Thursday, May 11, 2023

Ralph L. Smith on Malachi 3:1

  

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)

 

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