A second key to understanding Mormon’s use of Malachi
3:1/3 Nephi 24:1 in Moroni 7 is recognizing the texts’ mutual emphasis on God
the Father as the subject of divine action. Jesus’s teachings in 3 Nephi
consistently emphasize God the Father as the ultimate source of all divine
action. Mormon’s speech reflects a similar paradigm. In 3 Nephi passages in
which Jesus quotes scripture, he often substitutes “the Father” for the divine
title yhwh (e.g., 3
Nephi 20:35, quoting Isaiah 52:10; cf. also 3 Nephi 21:9 quoting Habakkuk 1:5). Moreover,
instead of using the usual collocation “saith the Lord” (nĕʾum
yhwh, literally “utterance of Yahweh”), Jesus similarly
substitutes “the Father”: “saith the Father.”
We should further note here that in the 3 Nephi
version of the Malachi text, the term “Father”/”fathers” (ʾāb/ʾābôt) helps to form an inclusio that
brackets the text from 3 Nephi 24:1 (“Thus saith the
Father unto Malachi … “) to 3 Nephi 24:25–26: “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord:
and he shall turn the heart of the
fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to
their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse” (Malachi 4:5–6 [MT
3:23–24]; 3 Nephi 25:5–6). Another significant part of this inclusio is the very similar phrases hinĕnî šōlēaḥ and hinnê ʾānōkî šōlēaḥ,
both rendered “Behold, I will send … ” in the KJV.
The similarity of these two phrases in addition to
the structure of the text of Malachi 3:1 and 4:5–6 (MT 3:23–24), leads to a
natural association of the Malachi/my messenger prophecy with the Elijah
prophecy. Indeed, according to the NT Gospels, Jesus saw Malachi’s “messenger”
(Malachi 3:1) prophecy as somewhat interchangeable with his Elijah prophecy
(Malachi 4:5–6 [MT 3:23–24]), perhaps as an interpretive Gezera Shawa on the verb šālaḥ, or “send.” Regarding John the Baptist’s
Aaronic priestly role, Jesus stated: “But what went ye out for to see? A
prophet? Yea, I say unto you, and much more than a prophet. [For] this is he,
of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger [ton
angelon mou] before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before
thee.” (Matthew 11:9–10; Luke 7:26–27). To this he then adds, “and if ye will
receive it, this is Elias [Elijah], which was for to come” (Matthew 11:14; see
also JST Matthew 17:11; Luke 1:17; JST John 1:21-22). Joseph
Smith’s interpretation of the angel of Revelation 7:2 (D&C 77:9; see also
D&C 110:12) and John the Revelator (D&C 77:14) as fulfillments of the
promised Elias attests the great flexibility with which the two Malachi
prophecies could be interpreted and understood. (Matthew L. Bowen, “Messengers
of the Covenant,” in Ancient Names in the Book of Mormon: Toward a Deeper
Understanding of a Witness of Christ [Salt Lake City: Eborn Books; Orem,
Utah: Interpreter Foundation, 2023], 382-83)
Samuel Zinner, personal communication,
March 1, 2023, posits that one possible reason for the identification of Jesus
with Elijah/Elias in JST John 1:28 “is that when John was killed, the spirit of
Elijah passed from him into Jesus. (Ibid., 383 n. 53)
Further
Reading:
