Глава IV

Mal.4:1-3: For behold, the day will come, burning like an oven, and all the proud and the workers of iniquity will be like stubble, and the approaching day will burn them, says the Lord of hosts; He will leave neither root nor shoot from them. But for you who fear My name the Sun of righteousness will rise, and healing will be on His wings, and you will go out and play like bulls from the herd. And you will trample down the wicked, for they will be [as] ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I prepare, says the Lord of hosts. LXX: “Behold, the day is approaching, burning like an oven, and all foreigners and all who do injustice will be like stubble. The approaching day will burn them up, says the Lord Almighty, and neither root nor branch will remain of them. And on you who fear My name, the Sun of righteousness will rise, and healing will be on His wings, and you will go out and play like bulls freed from their bindings and you will trample on the wicked, and they will be [as] ashes under your feet in the day that I am preparing, says the Lord Almighty.” Since the wicked with their speeches caused grief to Me and said: Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of God and such are pleasing to God, and also: He who serves God is vanity, and: What advantage is it that we have kept His commandments and walked sorrowfully before the Lord of hosts (above: verse 18), and since those who fear God and reverently meditate on His name spoke each to his neighbor against their foolish words, pointing out what pertains to the fear of God; then the Lord listened to them and heard them and wrote a book of remembrance for those who fear God and reverently meditate on His name; and promises that when the day comes, He will have them as an inheritance and will spare them, as a man spares his son who serves him. Now He inspires this in more detail in the words: Behold the day comes, i.e. the day of judgment, which will be light for saints and darkness for sinners; this day will be as fiery as a furnace or a furnace, so that all the wicked will be turned into stubble and burned by the flames of the furnace. And when it burns and turns to ashes, it will not leave in them any root or shoot of their malice. This speaks of what the wicked must endure on the day of judgment. Regarding those who fear the name of God, it is said that something opposite will happen to them, namely: The Sun of righteousness will rise for you who fear my name, because It [or: because] will be all in truth and will not tolerate hiding either good or evil, virtues or vices. And salvation will be on His wings, or rays, since He will carry those healed through repentance on His shoulders, according to what is said in Deuteronomy: “He stretched out his wings and received them, and on His shoulders he carried them” (Deut. 32:11). Then those who in this life are imprisoned will come out; and they will rise up like bulls in a herd, or bulls freed from their bindings. Therefore, the Apostle says: “I desire to be released and to be with Christ” (Phil. 1:23) in order to go out and rise up, freed from the bonds that bound him, like the calf and sacrifice of the Lord. But he is not content with only this end of joy: he will still trample on the wicked when they turn to dust. Therefore, the following promise [imprecation – spell] is made to the righteous: God will quickly wipe out [or: may he wipe out] Satan from under your feet (Rom. 16:20). And Abraham, recognizing himself as nothing more than dust in comparison with the majesty of God, exclaimed before the Lord: “I am earth and dust” (Gen. 18:27). Therefore he will contemplate the Sun of righteousness, and will rest among those who will be his portion and will ascend to the heavenly, on His own wings. And the one who, out of his pride, said: “I will set my throne above the stars and will be like the Most High” (Is. 14:13-14), will be brought down to the earth and will be like dust under the feet of the saints when the day of the Judge of the Lord comes. Mal.4:4: Remember the law of My servant Moses, which I gave him on [mount] Horeb [Oreb] for all Israel, [containing] commandments and judgments. In the future, righteous retribution according to deserts will be accomplished, when the all-consuming flame will finally destroy the root and branches of the proud, and for those who fear the Lord the Sun of righteousness will rise and healing will be on His wings. Therefore, remember the law of Moses My servant, which I gave to him on Mount Horeb, which is also Sinai, for all Israel as a commandment and for judgment. And since the Apostle says: “The law is spiritual” (Rom. 7:14) and blessed David exclaims: “Open my eyes, and I will meditate on Your wonders” (Ps. 119:27), and since everyone ate heavenly manna, and all the people of Israel drank from the same subsequent stone, and this stone was Christ (1 Cor. 10:3-4), then believers in Christ should spiritually preserve, keep the commandments of the law that God gave at Horeb (הרב), which means dryness, for through it all the moisture [dirt] of vices is dried up and under the influence of the rays of the Sun of righteousness the filth of lusts evaporates. The Lord spoke to all Israel, who contemplate God with their minds, and about whom it is said: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God” (Matthew 5:8). Mal.4:5-6: Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes, and he will turn the heart of the fathers to the children and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest he come suddenly and smite the earth with a curse. LXX: “Behold, I will send you Elijah the Tishbite before the great and glorious day of the Lord comes, so that he may turn the heart of a father to his son and the heart of a man to his neighbor, lest he come suddenly and smite the earth to its end.” After Moses, whose commands, as we have shown, must be observed spiritually, He says that he will send the prophet Elijah, denoting the law with the name of Moses, and the prophecies with the name of Elijah, as Abraham also says to a certain rich man dressed in purple: “They have Moses and the prophets, let them listen to them” (Luke 16:29). And the Lord Savior, during the transfiguration on the mountain, had Moses and Elijah in white robes talking with Him, who told Him that He would suffer in Jerusalem (Mark 9), for the law and the whole face of the prophets foretell the suffering of Christ. So, before the day of judgment comes, and before the Lord strikes the earth with a curse, either at the end, or suddenly, as the LXX translated, for this is what the word ἀρδ ή ν means, the Lord will send in the person of Elijah - which means: my God - and coming from the city of Thesvah - which means: conversion and repentance - the whole face of the prophets, who would convert the heart of the fathers, i.e. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and all the patriarchs, so that their descendants would believe in the Lord Savior, in whom the patriarchs also believed, for “Abraham saw the day of the Lord and rejoiced” (John 8:56), or the heart of the Father towards the son, i.e. the heart of God is towards everyone who receives the spirit of sonship; and the heart of the sons to the fathers, so that Jews and Christians, who now disagree with each other, come into agreement through the same confession of Christ. Therefore, it is said to the apostles, who erected a seedbed of the Gospel throughout the world: “In place of your fathers, children were born to you” (Ps. 44:17). Indeed, if Elijah does not turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to the fathers before the great and terrible day comes - great for saints and terrible for sinners - then the true and righteous Judge will strike with a curse not heaven and not those who are in heaven, but the earth, i.e. those who do earthly things. The Jews and Judaizing heretics assume that before the Anointed One they expect, Elijah will come and restore everything. Therefore, according to the testimony of the Gospel, Christ is asked the question: “What is it that the Pharisees say that Elijah is coming? Christ answered those who asked: Indeed, Elijah will come, and if you believe, he has already come” (Mark 9:11-13), meaning by Elijah John [the Baptist].