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Malachi

About this book
Chapter 4

1 “For indeed the day is coming, burning like a furnace, and all the arrogant evildoers will be chaff. The coming day will burn them up,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. “It will not leave them even a root or branch. 2 But for you who respect my name, the sun of vindication will rise with healing wings,⁠ and you will skip about like calves released from the stall. 3 You will trample on the wicked, for they will be like ashes under the soles of your feet on the day that I am preparing,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. 4 “Remember the law of my servant Moses, to whom at Horeb I gave rules and regulations for all Israel to obey.⁠ 5 Look, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of the Lord⁠ arrives.⁠ 6 He will turn the hearts of the fathers to the sons,⁠ and the hearts of the sons to their fathers10,⁠ so that I will not come and strike the earth with judgment.”

Texts in conversation

Compare Joshua 1:7 and Malachi 4:4

Hebrew Bible

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Summary

Joshua and Malachi repeat similar calls to remember the Torah, forming a frame around all the prophetic books. This pattern suggests the prophets were edited and arranged together to highlight their role as reflections on the Torah’s teachings.

Passages

Joshua 1:7

Hebrew Bible
7 Make sure you are very strong and brave! Carefully obey all the law my servant Moses charged you to keep. Do not swerve from it to the right or to the left, so that you may be successful in all you do. 8 This law scroll must not leave your lips. You must memorize it day and night so you can carefully obey all that is written in it. Then you will prosper and be successful. 9 I repeat, be strong and brave! Don’t be afraid and don’t panic, for I, the Lord your God, am with you in all you do.” 10 Joshua instructed the leaders of the people: 11 “Go through the camp and command the people, ‘Prepare your supplies, for within three days you will cross the Jordan River and begin the conquest of the land the Lord your God is ready to hand over to you.’” 12 Joshua told the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh: 13 “Remember what Moses the Lord’s servant commanded you. The Lord your God is giving you a place to settle and is handing this land over to you.
600–501 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Joshua

Malachi 4:4

Hebrew Bible
3 You will trample on the wicked, for they will be like ashes under the soles of your feet on the day that I am preparing,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. 4 “Remember the law of my servant Moses, to whom at Horeb I gave rules and regulations for all Israel to obey. 5 Look, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of the Lord arrives.
500–401 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Malachi

References

"... the formation of the Torah is important for the question of theology in the Hebrew Bible not only with regard to the orientation of the final redaction. It is also meaningful in terms of the external interpretive texts that followed in its wake. First to be mentioned here is the reinterpretation of the Former (Joshua–2 Kings) and Latter (Isaiah–Malachi) Prophets as commentary on the Torah. This reinterpretation would have taken place in various stages. Although the literary substance of Joshua–2 Kings and Isaiah–Malachi is of course older than the formation of the Torah, in the wake of the Torah’s formation, this text complex was evidently reworked and provided with a new orientation ... Especially important, however, is the inclusio created by Joshua 1:7, 9 and Malachi 3:22–24 [ET: 4:4–6] surrounding the whole canonical section of the Neviʾim (Joshua–Malachi). This inclusio subordinates the Neviʾim to the Torah, which thereby presents itself to the audience as the interpretation of the Torah ..."
Konrad Schmid, Is There Theology in the Hebrew Bible?, CSHB 4 (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2015), 101.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Joshua 1:7 and Malachi 4:4

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