bad.

The fathers, from Justin downwards, understood by the Sun of righteousness Christ (Suicer p. 1320), and they have been followed by the majority of modern commentators.' This explanation is on the whole well-founded. According to chap. iii. 1, he through whom the godly are to become partakers of righteousness, with whose coming the Sun of righteousness rises, is the Angel of the Lord, the heavenly mediator of the new covenant, who fulfils its promises and threats, the Logos. But two things are to be observed in connexion with this explanation. (1). Its supporters discover here a distinct allusion to the person of Christ; he is said to be himself the Sun of righteousness, because righteousness is represented as the sun. The distinction, however, merely affects the form. For he, who causes the Sun of righteousness to rise, may also be regarded as the Sun of righteousness himself, just as the bringer of peace in Micah v. 4 is also called peace, and Jehovah is represented as the sun and light in Ps. lxxxiv. 12 and Is. lxvi. 19 (compare John i. 5, 9 and viii. 12). (2). They understand by righteousness, at least principally, the forgiveness of sins. Thus, for example, Luther explains the Sun of righteousness as meaning, "the sun which makes righteous, which emits such splendour that the people thereby become righteous, and are delivered from sins." The difference in this case is of a more essential character. The murmurers had asked for the judgments of righteousness, for God to give to every one according to his works, to the just and also to the unjust; and the prophet confines himself to the judgment, namely to the reward of the righteous and the punishment of the ungodly. Hence there is no allusion here to the forgiveness of sins. This was involved in the more general announcement, that God would send his messenger to prepare the way before him. Whoever permits this messenger to fulfil the duties of his office upon him will receive forgiveness of sins; but if any refuse, the wrath of God remaineth on them. When once the Lord himself has come to judgment, there is no longer any question of a change of relation towards him, but only of its manifestation. The passage before us, therefore, is parallel to Ps. cxii. 4, "unto the upright

1 For proofs see Joh. Heinr Majus, de Christo sole justitiae, Giessen 1710.

2

there ariseth light in the darkness."

Wings are attributed to the dawn in Ps. cxxxix. 9, as they are here to the sun, and also to the wind in Ps. civ. 3; in both passages to represent swiftness.' In this case, then, the wings are to be regarded either as furnishing the means by which the sun approaches swiftly with the healing that he brings, or as spread out over his own people to afford them warmth and protection, compare Ps. xxxvi. 8, xci. 4, and Matt. xxiii. 37. The latter is the better explanation. For it is the healing itself, not the rapidity with which it is effected, that is attributed to the wings. In the healing spoken of, there is an allusion to the healing, refreshing, and invigorating energy of the natural sun. The winter and night of suffering have thrown the righteous into a state of exhaustion and distress. The expression, "go forth," implies that their former condition was one in which they were shut up and imprisoned (Micah ii. 13; Ps. lxxxviii. 9). But now they are led out of their gloomy dungeons to the open fields, which are lighted up by the cheering rays of the sun.2

Ver. 3 (chap. iii. 21). “And ye tread down the wicked, for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet, in the day that I create, saith the Lord of Hosts."

In the figure of the ashes there is an allusion to that of the fire in ver. 19. According to the entire context, the contrast between the righteous and the wicked is of an inward character. The little flock has much to suffer from the ungodly multitude. The conflict arising out of this, is met by a reference to the day appointed by the Lord, in which everything will be entirely changed (Luke xxi. 38).

Ver. 4 (chap. iii. 22). "Remember ye the law of Moses, my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, laws and judgments.'

1 Macrobius (Sat. i. 19) "hoc argumentum Aegyptii lucidius absolvunt, ipsius solis simulacra pennata fingentes." Euripides. (Jon. v. 22) aμ' neλíov TTÉрVу Ooŋ. Virgil (Aen. viii. 396) nox ruit et fuscis tellurem amplectitur alis." On the pillar of Antoninus, Jupiter himself is represented under the image of a winged sun.

2 The meaning, "stall," which is given by many to

namely, a stall מרבק

in which cattle are confined, does not suit the expressions, "go out" and

skip." The latter indicate a state of freedom.

This injunction, to the great importance of which the Septuagint directs attention by placing it at the close of the whole book, and the Masoretes by the littera majuscula, was generally misunderstood by the earlier expositors, who interpolated the idea of provisionally. There is nothing to warrant such an interpolation; for Elias introduces nothing new; he only brings the old to life again, and the angel of the covenant does not come to teach and legislate, but to judge. There is also no inducement to make it. The law is referred to here (and this is the very point which has been overlooked), not according to its accidental and temporary form, but according to its essential character, as expressive of the holiness of God, just as in Matt. v. 17. In this light it is eternally the same in the eyes of God, and no jot or tittle of it can pass away.-It is only from this point of view, that we obtain a correct idea of the connection between the verse before us, and the adjoining verses both before and after. The prophet has announced a coming judgment, and here he traces it to its source, and shows at the same time in what manner the whole nation and every individual may successfully avoid it. The law of God and his people are inseparable. If the law is not fulfilled in the nation, it must be executed upon the nation. But before God accomplishes the latter, before he smites the land with the curse, he does everything to bring about a reformation, which is the only safeguard against the ban. He sends Elias, the prophet.-The two expressions, "my servant,” and "which I commanded him," serve to eliminate every human element from the law, and consequently to enforce the duty of observing it. Moses was merely an instrument; God was the law-giver. From this fact it necessarily followed,—as is expressly stated in the words, "for all Israel," that it did not merely apply to the generation to which it was originally given at Horeb, but that its demands extended to all generations. Compare Deut. xxix. 14, 15, "neither with you only do I make this covenant and this oath, but with him that standeth here with us this day

1 Thus, for example, v. Til says, "he enjoins this upon them, as long as they should continue in expectation of Christ and without the prophets, until Elias is sent." And Michaelis, "in the meantime attend to the instruction contained in the whole of the Pentateuch, more thoroughly than have hitherto done, until better things shine forth when I appear.'

ye

before the Lord our God, and also with him that is not here with us this day.'—The laws, which were afterwards given in the plains of Moab, are also included in the expression "in Horeb." For they were merely a continuation and further development; the foundation was fully laid at Sinai.-In the injunction "remember," there is an allusion to chap. iii. 7, "from the days of your fathers ye have gone back from my commandments." It is not without cause that the prophet exhorts them. He is not merely warning them against a future apostasy. The axe is already laid at the root. Let Israel of its own accord remember the law, before the Lord arouses it from its sleep of forgetfulness by the thunders of his righteousness.

Ver. 5 (chap. iii. 23). "Behold, I send you Elias, the prophet, before the great and terrible day of the Lord come."

There can be no doubt whatever, that Elias the prophet is identical with the messenger, whom the Lord will send to prepare the way before him (chap. iii. 1). If, then, we have already proved in our remarks upon that verse, that the reference there is to an ideal messenger, the personified preacher of repentance, the same proofs are equally valid in connexion with the passage before us. The same idea is expressed in both cases: before God proves himself to be the covenant God by inflicting punishments and bestowing blessings, he shows that he is so, by placing within the reach of the children of the curse the means of becoming the children of the blessing. Of course we must not separate the power of the Spirit of God from the outward mission. of his servants, and thus change the gift into mockery. There was no necessity to allude particularly to this, because it always accompanies the outward preaching, and in fact is in exact proportion to it; so that we may infer with certainty the amount of inward grace, from the extent to which the outward means of grace are enjoyed in any age.

and

The prophet appears to have had Deut. iv. particularly in his mind. The whole chapter contains an earnest injunction to fidelity in the observance of the law. are connected together in vers. 1 and 8, and Horeb is mentioned in ver. 15. Compare also ver. 5, "Behold I have taught you law and judgments, even as the Lord, my God, commanded me;" and ver. 14, "And the Lord commanded me at that time to teach you laws and judgments, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go to possess it; (see Lev. xxvi. 46).

The only point which we have to examine, in connection with this passage, has reference to the one thing which is peculiar to it, the designation of the messenger by the name of Elias. The reason for this must be sought in the prophet's own description of the office and work of the messenger and of Elias, namely, "to prepare the way of the Lord," and " turn back the heart of the fathers to the children and of the children to the fathers." Hence the messenger, as a reformer raised up by God, is called by the name of that one of the earlier messengers of God, who exceeded all the rest in spirit and power, who lived in a remarkably corrupt age, and whose rejection was followed by a particularly terrible day of the Lord, viz. first the calamities inflicted by the Syrians, and then the captivity of Israel, the ban, with which the land was smitten, because it did not realise its destination to be a holy land. The name of Elias recalled all these circumstances; when the people heard this name, they were wakeened out of their dream of self-righteousness, and found themselves placed upon a level with the corrupt generation of the time of Elias. The coming of the Lord in that former age afforded a firm foundation for his future coming. Again, the reason why Elias should be especially selected, becomes still more obvious, if we trace the view, which is very perceptible in the historical books, that he was the head of the prophetic order in the Israelitish kingdom, or rather in a certain sense the only prophet, inasmuch as his successors merely received the spirit indirectly;—a view, to which we are also led by the striking resemblance which the acts of Elisha bore to his own. We find a perfectly analogous resemblance in the case of Isaac and Abraham, Joshua and Moses. In 2 Chr. xxi. 12 there is brought to the king a writing from "Elijah the prophet," for Elijah as an individual had departed this life long before. In 1 Kings xix. 15, 16, the Lord says to Elijah, "thou shalt go and anoint Hazael to be king over Syria, and Jehu, the son of Nimshi, shalt thou anoint to be king over Israel." Elijah himself did not perform either of these acts; but Elisha anointed one (2 Kings viii. 13), and a pupil of Elisha the other (2 Kings ix. 4-6). Elisha, who modestly acknowledged that his relation to God was not originally the same as that of his leader, desired the portion of the first-born in his spiritual inheritance (m, 2 Kings ii. 9).