Abstract

KRUGER, Paul A.. Reconciliation between fathers and sons in Mal 3:24: A broader ancient near Eastern perspective. Old testam. essays [online]. 2011, vol.24, n.3, pp.628-651. ISSN 2312-3621.

In the history of Malachi exegesis the passage in 3:24 has always been a crux for interpreters. It relates to the coming of Elijah "to reconcile fathers and sons. " A wide array of suggestions have been advanced to explain the significance of this pronouncement, such as to view it (1) historically (in terms of the lifetime of the writer/s of the book), (2) or to see it as a metaphor (where the "fathers" symbolically represent the ancestors and the "sons" the Israelites), or (3) to take it as a literary device portraying a society in disarray, as was already proposed by Junker (1938) and Horst (1938). This contribution elaborates on the latter proposition and supplies more ancient Near Eastern comparative evidence (from the genres of the laments, wisdom and prophecy) to substantiate this claim.

        · text in English     · English ( pdf )