Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD:
All Commentaries on Malachi 4:5 Go To Malachi 4
George Leo Haydock
AD 1849
Elias. Septuagint add, "the The bite "and St. Jerome (in Matthew xvii.) says, that Elias shall indeed come and restore all things.
Dreadful. Christ's first coming was in all meekness; but he will judge in terror. Hence the prophet's meaning is not that St. John , but that Elias shall come before the great day of the Lord. (Worthington)
Yet we may understand it of Christ coming into the world to preach, and again to judge. His first coming proved terrible to the perfidious Jews, whose ruin presently ensued. The destruction of Jerusalem was a figure of that which the world shall experience. (Calmet)
This shall be preceded by the preaching of Elias. (N. Alex. Diss. vi.)
This interpretation seems very striking and natural, though the prophet may have had the first coming of Christ and the ruin of the city chiefly in view. Our Saviour testifies that the Elias whom the Jews expected was already come, Matthew xi. 14., and xvii. 11., and Luke ix. 8. (Calmet)
