“For look, the day is coming, burning like a furnace, when all the arrogant and everyone who commits wickedness will become stubble.
The coming day will consume them,” says the Lord of Armies, “not leaving them root or branches.
But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings, and you will go out and playfully jump like calves from the stall.
You will trample the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day I am preparing,” says the Lord of Armies.
Malachi 4:1-3
Oh my goodness, we’ve already reached the final chapter in Malachi! But it’ll take a few weeks to move through it. Last time we saw a Book of Remembrance written before Yahweh of those who felt fearful reverence toward Him and sought obedience. He promised to carefully treasure and protect them, as well as pointing out, once again, it will be obvious those who worship Him and those who do not. Today we see both fear and hope in Yahweh’s words.
Let’s break down the whole first section before we come back together and chat about it:
“For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven…”
Behold is our familiar hinneh (lo, behold!), and coming is bo (to come, go, go out, advance). Burning is ba’ar – brutish, take away, burn, cause to eat up, feed, heat, kindle, consume (by fire or by eating). And oven is tannur – portable stove, fire pit; From niyr – lamp, candle, light; meaning to glisten
Lo and behold, the day will surely come consuming like a fire…
“And all the presumptuous, yes, all who do wicked…”
Here all the presumptuous is kol zed – insolent, arrogant, proud. And yes, all who do is kol asah (accomplish). Wickedly is rishah we’ve seen recently – evildoer, guilt; Feminine of resha’; wrong (especially moral)
Indeed, everyone who is arrogant, all who accomplish morally wicked deeds…
“Will be stubble and shall burn up…”
Stubble is qash – stubble, chaff, straw; burn up, set on fire, flaming, kindle, to lick, i.e. (by implication) to blaze; and shall burn them up is lahat – to blaze up, flame, aflame, breathe forth fire, consumed, set them ablaze.
Will be chaff set ablaze…
“That will leave them neither root nor branch…”
Here neither leave is lo azab – leave, abandon, loose, forsake, commit self, fail, fortify, help, leave destitute, refuse, permit. Root is shoresh – base, deep root, depths, soles; bottom, heel; From sharash; a root (literally or figuratively). And nor branch is anaph – boughs, branch; From an unused root meaning to cover; a twig (as covering the limbs).
The Day will abandon both their evil deeds and the deep roots giving them life.
When put all together, this reads:
Lo and behold, the day will surely come consuming like a fire, where indeed everyone who is arrogant, all who accomplish morally wicked deeds, will be chaff set ablaze. On this Day, I will abandon both their evil deeds and the deep roots giving them life.
Deep breath, because this is serious. The Bible, and Jesus Himself, do not apologize for talking about hell. And those of us who believe in its reality do well to ask for broken hearts for those who do not know Him. Because the certainty in these words (behold, surely, indeed, will be) is not to be missed. It’s as if the prophet can see what’s coming as God relays this Message. Behold! Look!
I’m in Matthew in my personal devotions, and I was struck for some reason this morning about how, when Jesus officially began His ministry, the word He chose was, “Repent!” He went to God’s chosen people first, and the assumption was the faithful were offering sacrifices, following the Law. And yet, the first thing out of the Savior’s mouth was, “Change your ways! Turn around! The Kingdom is here!”
While it sounds harsh, it only takes a look at the news to realize how much arrogance and moral wickedness is out there. Whether it is those given authority instead wickedly and abusively wielding it, or those taking advantage of the young or vulnerable in evil ways. We know, don’t we, that there are things that deserve punishment? That there’s a difference between good and true, wrong and evil?
The Good News is He promises there will come a Day He will take care of it all. The harsh news is we all deserve such a Day. And He made sure I had my share of falling short this week so as to not be looking down on anyone in my own perceived righteousness. Because the Best News is any who turn, all who repent, can be rescued from themselves.
“But to you who fear my Name…”
Oh good, some reassurance. Here fear is our familiar yare, and Name is shem again (name, renown, report, as a mark or memorial of individuality; by implication honor, authority, character; possibly “from sum [through the idea of conspicuous position]- to place, appoint, pay attention, required.”)
But to those who have reverence for my Name, renown, and conspicuous position…
“Shall arise the sun of righteousness…”
Arise is zarach – to rise, come forth, dawned, risen, arise, rise up, as soon as it is up; properly, to irradiate (or shoot forth beams), and sun is shemesh – sun, battlements, daylight, east side, sundown, sunrise, sunset, west; From an unused root meaning to be brilliant; by implication, the east; See also Beyth Shemesh (“Sun Temple”). Righteousness is tsedaqah – right, merit; honesty, justice, righteous, vindication.
…the brilliant light, like the sunrise, will shoot forth beams of justice and right living and vindication…
“and with healing in His wings…”
Healing is marpe – healing, cure, health; brings healing, composure, incurable, remedy, soothing, tranquil, sound, wholesome, yielding; From rapha’; properly, curative, a medicine, a cure; deliverance; and wings is kanaph – wing, extremity, bird, corner, covering, edge, fold, garment, skirt.
…with the remedy, cure, deliverance in its covering…
Put together we have:
But to those who have reverence for my Name, renown, and conspicuous position, the brilliant light, like the sunrise, will shoot forth beams of justice and right living and vindication, with the remedy, cure, deliverance in its covering.
I love this visual of beams of sunlight and righteousness shooting forth, curing those under it.
Maybe this hits a nerve for you. Do you have people in your life who need healing? Desperate for a cure? We probably all do. I just this week watched the episode of The Chosen in which James asks for healing from Jesus and doesn’t receive it. Jesus is neither harsh and unfeeling nor unwilling and unable to heal Him. It was simply not what He had for him in this life.
So what do we do with verses like these, promising streams of light with healing in their wings? The same thing we do with all of God’s Word: trust the heart of Him Who wrote it. All healing will come one Day. In the meantime, we have a God Who walks with us in pain, fear, disappointment, depression, brokenness and sin. I don’t know how else any of us could do this.
“And you shall go out, fat like calves stall-fed…”
Go out is yatsa – to go or come out, go, come out, brought forth, upheld, assuredly, break out, shoot forth; fat is puwsh – up, spring about, grow up, be grown fat, spread selves, be scattered; to spread; figuratively, act proudly. Calves is egel – calf; From the same as agol (round, circular) a (male) calf (as frisking round), especially one nearly grown (i.e. A steer). And stall-fed is marbeq – fatted, stall; From an unused root meaning to tie up.
And you will most assuredly come forth like grown but frisky calves stall-fed…
Cattle imagery isn’t my forte, but I did just have a rousing game of fetch with my pup outside in the Sunday afternoon sun. Talk about playfully jumping – he was having the time of his life! It seems to me the difference being pointed out in our verse and this definition is a cow having to search for pasture and one who is being given everything it needs. He simply can go out, leaping and playing, because he’s being taken care of. Like a sheep with a Good Shepherd. That is how free we can be when we fear God in obedience.
“And you shall trample the wicked…”
This one means exactly what it says: trample is asas – to press, crush, tread down; wicked is rasha from last time – wicked, criminal; evil, evil man, guilty, offender; condemned, ungodly, that did wrong; from rasha’; morally wrong; concretely, an (actively) bad person.
And you shall tread those who do evil…
“For they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet…”
Ashes is epher – ashes, dust, and under is tachath – underneath, below, instead of. Soles is kaph – hollow or flat of the hand, palm, sole (of the foot), a pan, branch, foot, handful hollow, middle, palm, paw, power, sole; From kaphaph; the hollow hand or palm (so of the paw of an animal, of the sole, and even of the bowl of a dish or sling, the handle of a bolt, the leaves of a palm-tree); figuratively, power, spoon; and feet is regel – accompany feet, follow, footstep, heels, hoof, journey, swift-footed; be able to endure, according as, after, coming, follow, haunt, journey; from ragal; a foot (as used in walking); by implication, a step.
For they shall be dust below the hollow of your feet.
This one, at first glance, seems unnecessarily harsh. I understand God taking vindication on those who persist in wickedness. But why must those who fear Him tread on them like dust under their feet? I sought some commentary to help guide my thoughts:
“Malachi uses tsedâqâh, righteousness, instead of ישׁע, salvation, with an allusion to the fact that the ungodly complained of the absence of the judgment and righteousness of God, that is to say, the righteousness which not only punishes the ungodly, but also rewards the good with happiness and salvation…And not only will those who fear God be liberated from all oppression, but they will also acquire power over the ungodly. They will tread down the wicked, who will then have become ashes, and lie like ashes upon the ground, having been completely destroyed by the fire of the judgment.” (Source)
I hadn’t connected the dots that this was one thought from Yahweh. Not only is He indeed righteous and will undoubtedly take vengeance on evil, but He is pointing out that those who fear Him will not be able to help but see it. The wicked will be as ash on the ground at the blazing furnace of the coming Day. Whether they want to or not, the righteous will be treading on them like dust.
This commentary section also pointed more than once to Isaiah 26. So let’s look into a small section of that:
He humbles those who dwell on high,
he lays the lofty city low;
he levels it to the ground
and casts it down to the dust.
Feet trample it down—
the feet of the oppressed,
the footsteps of the poor…
But when grace is shown to the wicked,
they do not learn righteousness;
even in a land of uprightness they go on doing evil
and do not regard the majesty of the Lord.
Isaiah 26:5-6, 10
Once more we have the arrogant brought low, but did you notice whose feet are trampling on them? The oppressed and poor. Because He is a God of justice, those who have been broken down by wicked systems will have their vindication when He judges. And why? Because those who do wickedness refuse to repent. They do not want to learn righteousness. They choose their will be done.
“On the day that I do this…”
I is ani – I Myself, and do this is asah – to accomplish.
On the day when I Myself will accomplish this, says the God of Angel Armies.
Indeed, our salvation and honor depend on Him. He is the One with the Cure, the One Who will accomplish this all in perfectly loving justice. On Him we can rely.