Yahweh as a „Swift Witness” in Mal 3:5b. God’s Prompt Action in the Face of Israel’s Religious Identity Crisis at the Beginning of the Fifth Century BC
Arnold Zawadzki
Instytut Nauk Biblijnych KUL , PolandAbstract
The article aims at the exegetical analysis of the imagery of God as a “swift witness” (Malachi 3:5b), against a backdrop of the Jewish biblical, inter-testamental and rabbinic traditions. By its reference to the deuteronomistic institution of the witness, which guaranteed the observance of the Sinaitic covenant, the image implicitly indicates a crisis of religious identity, as well as the crisis of the institutions connected with the temple – which were supposed to safeguard and cultivate this identity. The image of God as a “swift witness” who comes to his temple to execute judgment on those who break the Covenant, and to inaugurate the ultimate era of justice, is the prophet’s answer to all those who harbor doubt about God’s justice.Keywords:
witness, swift witness, God-witness, temple, witnesses of the Covenant, trial, executionZawadzki, A. (2015). Yahweh as a „Swift Witness” in Mal 3:5b. God’s Prompt Action in the Face of Israel’s Religious Identity Crisis at the Beginning of the Fifth Century BC. Verbum Vitae, 28, 181–209. https://doi.org/10.31743/vv.1658
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