Discovery BoxMalachi 2:4 
Context2:4 Then you will know that I sent this commandment to you so that my covenant 1 may continue to be with Levi,” says the Lord who rules over all.
Malachi 4:2
Context4:2 But for you who respect my name, the sun of vindication 2 will rise with healing wings, 3 and you will skip about 4 like calves released from the stall.
Malachi 4:4
Context4:4 “Remember the law of my servant Moses, to whom at Horeb 5 I gave rules and regulations for all Israel to obey. 6
1 sn My covenant refers to the priestly covenant through Aaron and his grandson Phinehas (see Exod 6:16-20; Num 25:10-13; Jer 33:21-22). The point here is to contrast the priestly ideal with the disgraceful manner in which it was being carried out in postexilic times.
2 tn Here the Hebrew word צְדָקָה (tsÿdaqah), usually translated “righteousness” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV, NLT; cf. NAB “justice”), has been rendered as “vindication” because it is the vindication of God’s people that is in view in the context. Cf. BDB 842 s.v. צְדָקָה 6; “righteousness as vindicated, justification, salvation, etc.”
sn The expression the sun of vindication will rise is a metaphorical way of describing the day of the
3 sn The point of the metaphor of healing wings is unclear. The sun seems to be compared to a bird. Perhaps the sun’s “wings” are its warm rays. “Healing” may refer to a reversal of the injury done by evildoers (see Mal 3:5).
4 tn Heb “you will go out and skip about.”
5 sn Horeb is another name for Mount Sinai (cf. Exod 3:1).
6 tn Heb “which I commanded him in Horeb concerning all Israel, statutes and ordinances.”
