DON’T SHOOT THE MESSENGER: READING MALACHI IN LIGHT OF ANCIENT PERSIAN ROYAL MESSENGERS IN THE TIME OF XERXES by R. Michael Fox Bachelor of Arts, 2004 Williams Baptist College Walnut Ridge, AR Master of Divinity, 2008 Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary Kansas City, MO Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Brite Divinity School in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Biblical Interpretation Fort Worth, TX 2014 DON’T SHOOT THE MESSENGER: READING MALACHI IN LIGHT OF ANCIENT PERSIAN ROYAL MESSENGERS IN THE TIME OF XERXES APPROVED BY DISSERTATION COMMITTEE: David M. Gunn Dissertation Director N. Blake Hearson Reader Darren J. N. Middleton Reader Jeffrey Williams Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Joretta Marshall Dean WARNING CONCERNING COPYRIGHT RESTRICTIONS The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted materials. 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CONTENTS ABBREVIATIONS .......................................................................................................... vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................................................................................x INTRODUCTION ...............................................................................................................1 CHAPTER 1 ~ ENTRENCHED TRAJECTORIES AND A NEW DIRECTION..............3 Malachi as Literature ...............................................................................................3 Malachi as Unimpressive Literature ............................................................3 Malachi as Either Poetry or Prose ................................................................7 Malachi as Several Disputations ................................................................10 Julia O’Brien’s Thesis that Malachi is a Covenant Lawsuit ......................12 Malachi’s Historical Context: Primary Perspectives .............................................15 The Consensus: Malachi is Postexilic/Persian Era ....................................15 Malachi as a Contemporary of Ezra and Nehemiah ..................................17 Malachi as Shortly Before Ezra and Nehemiah .........................................18 Andrew Hill’s View: Malachi during the Reign of Darius the Great ........19 Fine-Tuning Hill’s Thesis: Xerxes’s Reign as the Best Fit for Malachi....20 Thesis: A New Paradigm for Reading Malachi .....................................................22 The Royal Messenger Connection .............................................................23 Prior Observations of Messengers in Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi ...........25 Statement of Thesis ....................................................................................30 CHAPTER 2 ~ METHODOLOGY: ADAPATING MICHAEL WARD’S DONEGALITY FOR INVESTIGATING MALACHI’S ROOT MESSENGER METAPHOR .................31 Elaborating on “Root Metaphor” ...........................................................................31 Overview of Ward’s Planet Narnia .......................................................................34 Example: The Lunar Donegality of The Silver Chair ............................................39 Reconstruction ...........................................................................................39 The Lunar Poiema in The Silver Chair ......................................................42 The Lunar Logos of The Silver Chair ........................................................45 Adapting Ward’s Methodology .............................................................................47 CHAPTER 3 ~ RECONSTRUCTION: BUILDING A MESSENGER LENS FOR READING MALACHI .........................................................................................................................50 Royal Messengers in Achaemenid Persia ..............................................................51 From Cyrus to Darius: A Concise Overview .............................................51 Xerxes’s Empire.........................................................................................52 Persian Royal Messengers and the Province of Yehud .............................57 Conceptualizing Hebrew Prophets as Ancient Near Eastern Messengers .............68 A Long History of ANE Royal Messengers ..............................................68 Transformations in Neo-Assyrian Messengers and Hebrew Prophets/Prophecy .....................................................................................73 Conclusion: A Cultural Milieu a Conceptual Heritage ..........................................82 CHAPTER 4 ~ POIEMA: MALACHI’S MESSENGER DECORATIONS AND ROOT MESSENGER METAPHOR .............................................................................................84 Malachi’s Messenger Poiema ................................................................................85 Poiema in Malachi 1:1 ...............................................................................85 Poiema in Malachi 1:2–5 ...........................................................................91 Excursus 1: Love, Hate, and ANE Royal Messengers...................92 Poiema in Malachi 1:6––2:9 ......................................................................96 v Poiema in Malachi 2:10–17 .....................................................................106 Poiema in Malachi 3:1–7 .........................................................................114 Poiema in Malachi 3:8–12 .......................................................................120 Poiema in Malachi 3:13––4:3 ..................................................................125 Poiema in Malachi 4:4–6 .........................................................................133 Excursus 2: On Malachi’s Appendices ........................................133 Summary: Gradations of Decorations ..................................................................136 CHAPTER 5 ~ LOGOS: THE IMPACT OF MALACHI’S ROOT MESSENGER METAPHOR....................................................................................................................140 Rethinking Malachi’s Form .................................................................................141 Synthesis: Reading Malachi as a Royal Message ................................................143 Title: A Message from YHWH, the Great King (Mal 1:1) ......................143 A Report of the King’s Victory over Edom (Mal 1:2–5) .........................144 The King’s Displeasure (Mal 1:6––2:9) ..................................................145 Traitors! Yehud’s Unfaithfulness to the King (Mal 2:10–17) .................146 Reboot: My Messenger, Take Two (Mal 3:1–7) .....................................148 YHWH as the Gardener King (Mal 3:8–12) ............................................149 The Return of the King (Mal 3:13––4:3) .................................................150 The Return of the Messenger (Mal 4:4–6) ...............................................152 Towards Malachi’s Theological Message ...........................................................153 Rethinking Malachi’s Literary Quality ................................................................159 Towards Future Study ..........................................................................................161 Donegality and Biblical Interpretation.....................................................161 Malachi and Empire .................................................................................166 Summary ..............................................................................................................168 APPENDIX I: HISTORICAL OVERVIEW OF CYRUS, CAMBYSES, AND DARIUS ...........................................................................................................................170 BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................177 vi ABBREVIATIONS AB The Anchor Bible ABD The Anchor Bible Dictionary, ed. David Noel Freedman. 6 vols. New York: Doubleday, 1992. AIL Ancient Israel and Its Literature AJSL American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literature Anab. Anabasis (Xenophon) AnBib Analecta biblica ANET Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament, 3rd ed. J. B. Pritchard. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1955. ANTC Abingdon New Testament Commentaries ASV American Standard Version ATR Anglican Theological Review BAT Die Botschaft des Alten Testaments BDB Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs. The Brown- Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon. 7th Printing. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2003. Reprinted from Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, and Company, 1906. BHHB Baylor