Malachi 4 Sermon Dump

Malachi 4

4:2. sun of righteousness with healing in its wings. The sun of righteousness here is bringing justice. Throughout the ancient Near East solar deities are connected to justice. It is not unusual in the Old Testament for Yahweh’s work to be depicted using this metaphor of solar terminology. “Healing in its wings” is a symbolic use of the wings of a bird with the rays of the sun. The wings denote protective care (hence the healing). An ancient Near Eastern motif in astral religions has the sun depicted as a winged disk. This is especially pervasive in the Persian period.

4:4. Horeb. Horeb was another name for Mount Sinai, the place where God revealed himself to Moses and gave him the Ten Commandments. Its precise location is uncertain, and there are at least four possible locations in the southern Sinai argued by scholars to be Mount Sinai: Jebel Musa, Ras es-safsafeh, Jebel Serbal and a mountain near al-Hrob. For discussion of the location see comment on Exodus 19:1–2.