Malachi 4:6

"And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers; lest I come and smite the earth with a curse."

All except the last clause of this verse was discussed in the notes on the preceding Malachi 4:5.

"Lest I come and smite the earth with a curse ..." This verse could not have been written by any Jew who ever lived, except by the true prophet of God, Malachi. That no pious scribe, editor, or interpolator wrote it is inherent in the fact that Jews have never accepted this verse at all, even while knowing it to be a genuine part of the prophecy; and this accounts for the fact of none of their versions of the Old Testament allowing this verse to stand as the conclusion. In order to avoid it, they repeat one of the previous verses after verse 6, thus making the repeated verse to be the conclusion.

Thus, the Old Testament Canon closes with an admonition for "those who fear God's name" to keep the sacred Law, and to wait for the great Herald who would usher in the age of Messiah by calling the people to repentance and identifying the Christ himself, a mission gloriously and faithfully fulfilled by John the Baptist, whose witness of Christ is as eloquent as any found upon the sacred page: "Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the World."

It is a most significant truth that no other prophet appeared between Malachi and John the Baptist. The bitter prophecy of Hosea 3:4-5, began at this point to be fulfilled. Many true souls grieved over the long spiritual drought:

We see not our signs:

There is no more any prophet;

Neither is there among us any that knoweth how long!

(Psalms 74:9).

All of God's prophets had done their work, but the people had rejected them all. There was no further word that God could send. The hardened and rebellious nation would continue to exist (according to God's holy purpose); but the precious fellowship of other days was gone forever. A hint of all this may be found in these final six verses. This promise that God would send Elijah, who had left the earth four hundred years previously, was, "A promise which suggests that the age of the prophets is now felt to be over."[18] When that Elijah appears, his business will be that of restoring the broken harmony. In the meanwhile, let the true followers of God keep the sacred Law and await the unfolding of the purpose of the Almighty.