ABSTRACT The Moral World(s) of Malachi Studies of the Old Testament’s ethical dimensions have taken one of three approaches: descriptive, systematic, or formative. Descriptive approaches are concerned with the historical world, social context, and streams of tradition out of which OT texts developed and their diverse moral perspectives. Systematic approaches investigate principles and paradigms that encapsulate the unity of the OT and facilitate contemporary appropriation. Formative approaches embrace the diversity of the OT ethical witnesses and view texts as a means of shaping the moral imagination, fostering virtues, and forming character The major phase of this investigation pursues a descriptive analysis of the moral world of Malachi—an interesting case study because of its location near the end of the biblical history of Israel. A moral world analysis examines the moral materials within texts, symbols used to represent moral ideals, traditions that helped shape them, and the social world (political, economic, and physical) in which they are applied. This study contributes a development to this reading methodology through a categorical analysis of moral foundations, expectations, motives, and consequences. This moral world reading provides insight into questions such as what norms and traditions shaped the morals of Malachi’s community? What specific priorities, imperatives, and injunctions were deemed important? How did particular material, economic, and political interests shape moral decision-making? How did religious symbols bring together their view of the world and their social values? The moral world reading is facilitated by an exploration of Malachi’s social and symbolic worlds. Social science data and perspectives are brought together from an array of sources to present six important features of Malachi’s social world. These features highlight the social forces and circumstances that have motivated the community’s attitudes and choices. Additionally, these features impact Malachi’s rhetorical choices. For example, the imperial backdrop is significant for understanding Malachi’s moral world since the imperial symbol system and moral world contributed to the disorder confronted by Malachi. Core traditions preserved in Malachi’s text are assessed to identify his resonance and dissonance with the traditions that have long shaped the community’s symbolic world. This symbolic world provides the moral foundations for Malachi’s moral arguments. His message addressed originally to a specific community also provides focal points representative of the OT tradition that make it a conducive end to the prophetic corpus since it emphasizes central matters relevant to future communities facing moral world crises of their own. The second phase of the investigation considers how Malachi’s ancient ethical approach shares commonality with modern systematic and formative approaches to OT ethics. The foundations for his moral outlook derive from a belief system that has congruency with contemporary paradigms abstracted from the OT. Even more, Malachi employs methods similar to the formative approach by appealing to a diversity of moral traditions, prompting dialogue, and provoking the imagination of his community. The Moral World(s) of Malachi A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of Asbury Theological Seminary Wilmore, Kentucky In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation Committee: Dr. Bill T. Arnold, Mentor Dr. Michael D. Matlock, Reader Dr. John N. Oswalt, Examiner By Robert Alan Cope Fall 2017 Copyright 2017 Robert Alan Cope All rights reserved TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES ................................................................................ vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.............................................................................................viii ABBREVIATIONS ........................................................................................................... ix CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO MORAL WORLDS AND MALACHI............... 13 Approaches to OT Ethics.............................................................................................. 13 A Moral World Approach............................................................................................. 17 Malachi’s History of Interpretation .............................................................................. 33 Prospect and Aim of This Study ................................................................................... 59 CHAPTER 2: THE SOCIAL WORLD OF MALACHI................................................... 64 An Imperially Dominated Yehud.................................................................................. 66 An Economically Constrained Yehud .......................................................................... 82 A Small, Sparsely Populated Yehud............................................................................. 91 A Dismayed Yehud..................................................................................................... 102 A Family-Centered Yehud.......................................................................................... 106 A Divergent Yehud..................................................................................................... 110 CHAPTER 3: THE SYMBOLIC WORLD OF MALACHI ......................................... 116 A Symbolic World within the Social World............................................................... 119 YHWH Sebaoth – Israel’s King ................................................................................. 123 YHWH’s People: Israel .............................................................................................. 127 YHWH’s House: Temple............................................................................................ 132 YHWH’s Messengers: Priests & Levites.................................................................... 138 YHWH’s Covenants: A Covenant-Formed Israel ...................................................... 144 YHWH’s Torah: A Divinely Instructed Israel............................................................ 149 YHWH’s Tribute: A Gift-Bringing Israel................................................................... 151 The Day of YHWH..................................................................................................... 155 Synthesis and Implications ......................................................................................... 157 CHAPTER 4: THE MORAL WORLD OF MALACHI................................................ 163 Proclaim the Greatness of YHWH – Protector of Israel (Malachi 1:2-5)..................... 165 Honor YHWH Sebaoth – The Great King (Malachi 1:6-2:9)....................................... 172 Guard Your Character and Be Loyal (Malachi 2:10-16)............................................ 191 Expect YHWH – The God of Justice (Malachi 2:17 – 3:6) .......................................... 204 Test YHWH – God of Provision (Malachi 3:7-12) ..................................................... 214 Serve YHWH – The Righteous, the Wicked, and Day of YHWH (Malachi 3:13-21)... 221 Remember Torah and Renew Commitments (Malachi 3:22-24) ............................... 231 A Synthesis ................................................................................................................. 234 CHAPTER 5: MALACHI AND OTHER MORAL WORLDS ..................................... 239 Other Postexilic Moral Worlds ................................................................................... 239 Malachi and OT Ethics ............................................................................................... 257 CHAPTER 6: REVIEW AND CONCLUSIONS.......................................................... 277 Review of Aims and Method ...................................................................................... 277 v The Social World of Malachi...................................................................................... 278 The Symbolic World of Malachi ................................................................................ 280 The Moral World of Malachi...................................................................................... 282 Malachi and Other Moral Worlds............................................................................... 284 Implications for OT Ethics.......................................................................................... 284 Implications for the Study of Malachi ........................................................................ 286 TRANSLATION............................................................................................................. 290 BIBLIOGRAPHY........................................................................................................... 300 vi LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Figure 3-1 The Symbolic World of Malachi ...…………………………………………117 Table 4-1 Malachi’s Moral World ……………………………………………………. 237 vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation would not have been completed without the encouraging words and helpful suggestions received from numerous people to whom I am indeed grateful. I would like to specifically acknowledge my dissertation committee Dr. Bill Arnold, Dr. Michael Matlock, and Dr. John Oswalt for their insightful suggestions, clarifying questions, and steadfast encouragement. I also appreciate the friendly reminders and reassuring conversations of Patti Walker in the