Malachi brings the Book of Prophets to a close with a nod to the first and greatest - and to the one who will outlast them all. If you’ve started your Seder prep you probably know who I’m talking about. How DID Elijah archive superstar prophetic status? Malachi may have something to do with it.
The last official prophet begins his third and last chapter with the promise that God’s messenger - a play on his own name - Malachi -- will be sent ahead of the end of times to prepare the people for the final showdown. It’s not clear who that messenger will be and what exactly the role is. It may be what’s implied at the end of the chapter.
The rest of the chapter meanwhile includes the allusion to the end of times when religious upheavel will occur, with a measure of justice, and a lot of the familiar ultimate utopian tropes familiar from previous prophets.
When it comes to close the book, it may be that Malachi, or whoever wrote and placed this book right where it is, was quite aware of the dramatic role as the prophetic finale. He’s telling us something about the future but also about the ending of the prophetic age and the beginning of the next phase of Jewish history and leadership.
Who will be the ones to instruct the people with divine law? And who will be the ones to carry the mantle of the mystery? And perhaps the most important question -- what will be the repair needed to help us handle what is yet to come?
Malachi concluding words are dramatic, and may be familiar, as they are chanted aloud in synagogues on the shabbat just before Passover, known as the Great Shabbat -- partially because of the adjective ‘great’ that appears in the second to last sentence of this chapter:
זִכְר֕וּ תּוֹרַ֖ת מֹשֶׁ֣ה עַבְדִּ֑י אֲשֶׁר֩ צִוִּ֨יתִי אוֹת֤וֹ בְחֹרֵב֙ עַל־כׇּל־יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל חֻקִּ֖ים וּמִשְׁפָּטִֽים׃
הִנֵּ֤ה אָנֹכִי֙ שֹׁלֵ֣חַ לָכֶ֔ם אֵ֖ת אֵלִיָּ֣ה הַנָּבִ֑יא לִפְנֵ֗י בּ֚וֹא י֣וֹם יְהֹוָ֔ה הַגָּד֖וֹל וְהַנּוֹרָֽא׃
וְהֵשִׁ֤יב לֵב־אָבוֹת֙ עַל־בָּנִ֔ים וְלֵ֥ב בָּנִ֖ים עַל־אֲבוֹתָ֑ם פֶּן־אָב֕וֹא וְהִכֵּיתִ֥י אֶת־הָאָ֖רֶץ חֵֽרֶם׃
“Be mindful of the Teaching of My servant Moses, whom I charged at Horeb with laws and rules for all Israel.
I will send the prophet Elijah to you before the coming of the great, and terrible day of YHWH.
He shall reconcile parents with children and children with their parents, so that, when I come, I do not strike the whole land with utter destruction.”
Malachi 3:22-24
Moses gets his place of honor here, as the OG prophet that got the whole thing started - not just the birth of the nation but also the prophetic tradition.
But then Elijah becomes the one to mark the end of time -- and to serve as family therpaist? These last lines have intrigued many generaitons of readers.
Prof. James A. Diamond has an interesting theory here:
“Mal. 3:24 is the source for the tradition that Elijah will be the harbinger of the messianic age. That age normally conjures a vision of universal disarmament and global harmony..
However, Elijah’s messianic role anticipates far less grandiose accomplishments. Malachi entrusts Elijah simply with reconciling the hearts of fathers with their children, and the hearts of the children with their fathers.
Perhaps that other event in Elijah’s life- his spectacular ‘death’- provides a clue to why resolving familial conflict is of messianic proportions and why Elijah in particular is the one to realize it.
When Elijah’s time came to die, his disciple Elisha would not let go of his spiritual father. Exasperated, Elijah offered him the potential of surpassing his own prophetic power, on condition that Elisha witnesses his death- if you see me as I am being taken from you, this will be granted to you; if not it will not (2 Kings 2:10). What this dramatically conveys is that Elijah’s successor/son needed to accept the end of an era and the impossibility of simply parroting his spiritual father to advance. By conditioning Elisha’s future on observing his own departure from the scene, Elijah teaches a valuable lesson- that continuity with the past must also be balanced by a sober acknowledgment of its passage to enable progress.
The greatest source of conflict between generations is a result of parents viewing their children as clones of themselves rather than independent human beings with their own aspirations. Releasing the child to shape his own destiny is the defining battle of parenthood. Like Elijah, parents must encourage children to let go and chart their own futures. The messianic age can never materialize if growth is measured in terms of how closely one generation duplicates the previous one. It is precisely Elijah therefore who will reconcile successive generations by warning them that their love for each other does not entail acting as mirrors of each other. To be trapped by the past is to preclude advancing beyond it and inhibiting the advancement toward the messianic apex of history.”
When Elijah comes visiting this Passover, we hope he’ll bring along prophetic visions that will help us heal the current crisis, reconcile some of the bitter divides between us, especially between siblings turned rivals, and among the generations; move us closer to the liberation we are always yearning for.
Perhaps it has to with the intentions we have, when and if we choose to open the door to the prophetic this coming Passover, and always, and are able to let go of what we know towards new and improved chapters and realities for all of us.
When reflecting on this last chapter of the prophets, Rabbi Sacks wrote:
“The last chapter is not yet written. The Messiah has not yet come. Until then, the story continues – and we, together with God, are the co-authors of the next chapter.”
The book of prophets is closed, for now, opening the door to the poetic. Next: Pslams.
Image: Mark Podwal, Elijah's Cup, 2011
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