Sinai to Malachi

From the giving of the Torah to the last page of Malachi, the Scriptures record what God’s people did with the lamp in their hands, and the blessing and the curse that followed. This chapter walks that road.

The Road from Sinai to Malachi

From the start there was one Torah for everyone who joined Israel.

Exodus 12:49 One Torah shall be for the native and for the sojourner who sojourns among you."

Moses wrote it down and commanded that it be read aloud at the Feast of Booths.

Deuteronomy 31:9-12 And Moses wrote this Torah and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who bore the ark of the covenant (berit בְּרִית ber-eeth') of the LORD, and to all the elders of Israel. And Moses commanded (tzivvah צָוָה tsaw-vaw') them, saying: "At the end of seven years, at the appointed time (moed מוֹעֵד mo-ade') of the year of release, in the feast (chag חַג khag) of booths, when all Israel comes to appear before the face of the LORD your God in the place which he chooses, you shall read this Torah before all Israel in their ears. Assemble the people, the men (ish אִישׁ eesh) and the women (ishah אִשָּׁה ish-shaw') and the little ones, and your sojourner who is within your gates, so that they may hear and so that they may learn, and fear the LORD your God, and observe to do all the words of this Torah;

The reading was not for the priests alone. Men, women, little ones, and the sojourner within the gates were all to hear it.

When Joshua led the people into the land, he was told where his success would come from:

Joshua 1:7-8 Only be strong and very courageous, to observe to do according to all the Torah which Moses My servant commanded (tzivvah) you; do not turn aside from it to the right or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go. This book of the Torah shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it; for then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall prosper.

The phrase “do not turn aside from it to the right or to the left” is worth keeping in mind, for it will be heard again.

Yet within one generation, this is written:

Judges 2:10-12 And also all that generation were gathered to their fathers; and there arose another generation after them, who did not know the LORD, nor the work which He had done for Israel. And the children of Israel did the evil in the eyes of the LORD, and served (avad עָבַד aw-bad') the Baalim. And they forsook the LORD, the God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and they went after other gods, of the gods of the peoples who were round about them, and they bowed down to them, and they provoked the LORD.

There arose “another generation after them, who did not know the LORD.” So God sent His prophets to call them back.

2 Kings 17:13 And the LORD testified against Israel and against Judah by the hand of every prophet, every seer, saying, "Turn back from your evil ways, and keep my commandments (mitzvot מִצוָה mits-vaw'), my statutes (chuqqot חֻקָּה khook-kaw'), according to all the Torah that I commanded (tzivvah) your fathers, and that I sent to you by the hand of my servants the prophets."

The northern kingdom did not listen and went into exile. And in Judah something happened that is hard to believe: the book of the Torah was lost inside the house of God.

2 Kings 22:8 And Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the scribe, "I have found the book of the Torah in the house of the LORD." And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it.

Imagine a nation whose founding charter has slipped behind a cabinet in the very building made to keep it, while the courts go on sitting and no one notices it is gone. That is what happened in the house of the LORD. When the book was read to King Josiah, this was his response:

2 Kings 22:11 And it came to pass, when the king heard the words of the book of the Torah, that he tore his clothes.

He tore his clothes.

Judah fell too, and in Babylon Daniel confessed the reason:

Daniel 9:11 And all Israel have transgressed your Torah, even turning aside so as not to listen to your voice; and there has been poured out upon us the curse and the oath that is written in the Torah of Moses the servant of God, for we have sinned against him.

The curse and the oath “written in the Torah of Moses” came exactly as written.

When the exiles came home, they gathered “as one man” and asked for the book:

Nehemiah 8:1 And all the people gathered as one man (ish) to the broad place which was before the gate of the waters; and they said to Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the Torah of Moses, which the LORD commanded (tzivvah) Israel.

Then they confessed their whole history in one prayer:

Nehemiah 9:26 And they were rebellious, and rebelled against You, and cast Your Torah behind their back, and they killed Your prophets who testified against them to bring them back to You; and they did great blasphemies.

Nehemiah 9:29 And You testified against them to bring them back to Your Torah; but they acted proudly, and did not listen to Your commandments (mitzvot), and against Your judgments (mishpatim מִשׁפָּט mish-pawt') they sinned — which if a man (adam אָדָם aw-dawm') does, he shall live by them — and they gave a stubborn shoulder, and hardened their neck, and did not listen.

“Which if a man (adam) does, he shall live by them.” Even in confession they called the Torah life. And the last book of the prophets closes with one command:

Malachi 3:22 Remember the Torah of Moses my servant, whom I commanded (tzivvah) at Horeb concerning all Israel, statutes (chuqqim חֹק khoke) and judgments (mishpatim).

“Remember the Torah of Moses my servant” is the last command of the Old Testament (YLV Malachi 3:22, Masoretic verse order; Malachi 4:4 in most English Bibles).

Those Who Obeyed Were Few

Yeshua said the same of the way of life: “there are few who find it” (Matthew 7:14). Yet through the lives of those few the Bible shows what obeying the Torah looks like. Look at whom the text praises, and read the reason it gives.

First comes Caleb, at the time when ten spies spread fear through the camp:

Numbers 14:24 But my servant Caleb, because another spirit (ruach רוּחַ roo'-akh) was with him, and he fully followed after me, I will bring him to the land where he went, and his seed shall possess it.

“He fully followed after me,” and he received the land.

Why Matthew 1:1 Names Two Men

The New Testament opens with one sentence:

Matthew 1:1 The biblos βίβλος bib'-los(book) of the genesis γένεσις ghen'-es-is(origin, genealogy) of Yeshua Messiah, son of David, son of Abraham.

Of all the fathers in the genealogy, Matthew names two first, David and Abraham. Why these two? Because God made His great promises of the Seed to these two men, and Scripture says plainly that both of them obeyed.

To Abraham God swore that in his seed all the nations would be blessed, and He gave the reason:

Genesis 22:18 and in your seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have listened to my voice."

When God repeated the oath to Isaac, He said what that listening had looked like: Abraham “kept my charge (mishmeret מִשׁמֶרֶת mish-meh'-reth), my commandments (mitzvot), my statutes (chuqqot), and my Torah” (Genesis 26:5).

To David God swore a throne forever:

2 Samuel 7:12-13 When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your seed after you, who shall come forth from your bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.

And Scripture gives David’s record in the same words as Abraham’s:

1 Kings 11:34 But I will not take all the kingdom out of his hand; for I will make him a prince all the days of his life (chai חַי khah'-ee), for the sake of David my servant, whom I chose, who kept my commandments (mitzvah מִצוָה mits-vaw') and my statutes (chuqqot).

1 Kings 15:5 because David did the right in the eyes of the LORD, and turned not aside from all that He commanded (tzivvah) him all the days of his life (chai), except only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.

David “kept my commandments (mitzvah) and my statutes (chuqqot)” (1 Kings 11:34), and he turned not aside “except only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite” (1 Kings 15:5). David sinned grievously, and the Bible names the sin. Confronted by the prophet Nathan, he repented, and the record of his life still reads that he kept God’s commandments. That is why David became the measure for the kings of Judah after him.

1 Kings 3:14 And if you will walk in my ways, to keep my statutes (chuqqim) and my commandments (mitzvot), as David your father walked, then I will lengthen your days."

“As David your father walked.” The same covenant that promised David’s throne also said what would happen if his sons forsook the Torah:

Psalm 89:31-33 If his sons forsake my Torah, and in my judgments (mishpat מִשׁפָּט mish-pawt') they do not walk; If they profane my statutes (chuqqot), and my commandments (mitzvot) they do not keep; Then I will visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with strokes.

In most English Bibles these are Psalm 89:30-32. So when Matthew writes “Yeshua Messiah, son of David, son of Abraham,” he is saying that here is the Seed promised to the two fathers who listened to God’s voice and kept His commandments. The angel told Mary that “the Lord God will give to Him the throne of His father David” (Luke 1:32). Zacharias sang of “the oath that He swore to our father Abraham” (Luke 1:73). Paul says the promise was to Abraham “and to your seed,” “that is, Messiah” (Galatians 3:16). And Ezekiel saw the age to come under the same David: “my servant David shall be king over them … and they shall walk in my judgments (mishpat), and keep my statutes (chuqqot), and do them” (Ezekiel 37:24).

Hezekiah and Josiah

2 Kings 18:3-7 And he did that which was right in the eyes of the LORD, according to all that David his father had done. He removed the high places, and broke the pillars, and cut down the Asherah; and he beat to pieces the serpent of bronze that Moses had made, for until those days the sons of Israel were burning incense to it; and one called it Nehushtan. In the LORD, the God of Israel, he trusted; and after him there was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor those who were before him. And he clung to the LORD; he did not turn aside from following him, but kept his commandments (mitzvot) which the LORD commanded (tzivvah) Moses. And the LORD was with him; wherever he went out he prospered; and he rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve (avad) him.

The text gives the reasons for Hezekiah’s praise one after another. He did right “according to all that David his father had done.” He broke down the high places, and even the bronze serpent Moses had made, because the people had turned it into an object of worship. “In the LORD, the God of Israel, he trusted.” “He clung to the LORD.” He “kept his commandments (mitzvot) which the LORD commanded (tzivvah) Moses.” And the result followed: “The LORD was with him; wherever he went out he prospered.”

2 Chronicles 31:20-21 And thus did Hezekiah throughout all Judah; and he did that which was good and right and true before the LORD his God. And in every work that he began in the service (avodah עֲבֹדָה ab-o-daw') of the house of God, and in the Torah, and in the commandment (mitzvah), to seek his God, he did it with all his heart, and prospered.

When he lay dying, this is what he asked God to remember: “how I have walked before you in truth and with a whole heart” (2 Kings 20:3). God added fifteen years to his life.

Then came Josiah:

2 Kings 22:2 And he did the right in the eyes of the LORD, and walked in all the way of David his father, and did not turn aside to the right or to the left.

“Did not turn aside to the right or to the left”: these are the very words God spoke to Joshua about the Torah. When the lost book was found, Josiah read it to the whole nation and led them into the covenant:

2 Kings 23:2-3 And the king went up to the house of the LORD, and every man (ish) of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the people, from small to great; and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant (berit) that was found in the house of the LORD. And the king stood by the pillar and cut the covenant (berit) before the LORD, to walk after the LORD and to keep His commandments (mitzvah) and His testimonies (edot עֵדוּת ay-dooth') and His statutes (chuqqot) with all the heart and with all the soul (nephesh נֶפֶשׁ neh'-fesh), to establish the words of this covenant (berit) that were written on this book; and all the people stood in the covenant (berit).

And Scripture gives him a praise given to no other king:

2 Kings 23:25 And like him there was no king before him, who turned to the LORD with all his heart and with all his soul (nephesh) and with all his might, according to all the Torah of Moses; and after him none arose like him.

“With all his heart and with all his soul (nephesh) and with all his might.” A reader who knows the Torah has heard those words before:

Deuteronomy 6:5 And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul (nephesh) and with all your might.

They are the words of the Shema. Josiah was praised because he loved God the way the Torah commands, and he showed that love “according to all the Torah of Moses.”

Ezra belongs on this list, for he “had set his heart to seek the Torah of the LORD, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statute (choq חֹק khoke) and judgment (mishpat)” (Ezra 7:10). So does Daniel, who would not defile himself at the king’s table, and who kept praying toward Jerusalem when it could cost him his life (YLV Daniel 6:11, Masoretic verse order; 6:10 in most English Bibles).

The Parents of the One Who Came as Elijah

The Old Testament closes with two sentences side by side. The first is “Remember the Torah of Moses my servant.” Then comes this:

Malachi 3:23-24 Behold, I send to you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the day of the LORD, the great and the dreadful. And he shall turn the heart of fathers to children, and the heart of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with utter destruction.

In most English Bibles these are Malachi 4:5-6. The earliest scene of the Gospel story brings us to the parents of that Elijah.

Luke 1:5-7 In the days of Herod king of Judea, there was a priest named Zacharias of the division of Abijah, and his wife was from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. They were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and dikaioma δικαίωμα dik-ah'-yo-mah(ordinances) of the Lord. And they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years.

The Bible calls them dikaioi δίκαιοι dik'-ah-yos, righteous, and tells us what their righteousness looked like: “walking blamelessly in all the commandments and dikaioma(ordinances) of the Lord.” They were old and childless, and God answered them:

Luke 1:13 The angel said to him, "Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John.

Luke 1:15-17 For he will be great before the Lord, and he will drink no wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with hagio(holy) pneuma πνεῦμα pnyoo'-mah(spirit) even from his mother's womb. And he will turn many of the sons of Israel to the Lord their God, and he himself will go before Him in the pneuma(spirit) and dynamis δύναμις doo'-nam-is(power) of Elijah, to turn the kardia καρδία kar-dee'-ah(hearts, soul-domain) of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous, to make ready for the Lord a prepared people."

Their son would go “in the pneuma(spirit) and dynamis(power) of Elijah, to turn the kardia(hearts, soul-domain) of the fathers to the children,” exactly as Malachi had said. The last word of the Old Testament is answered by a righteous couple who kept all the commandments, and by the son God gave them to prepare the way of the Messiah.

The Pattern

Abraham, Caleb, David, Hezekiah, Josiah, Ezra, Daniel, Zacharias, and Elizabeth: in every case Scripture gives the same reason for the praise. They listened to God’s voice, kept His commandments, and did it with all their heart. The first psalm describes them all:

Psalm 1:1-3 Blessed is the man (ish) who has not walked in the counsel of the wicked, and in the way of sinners has not stood, and in the seat of scorners has not sat. But his delight is in the Torah of the LORD, and in his Torah he meditates day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by streams of water, which gives its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither; and all that he does, he makes prosper.

The Other Side

The Bible does not hide the other side. The people who received the Torah broke the covenant.

Jeremiah 31:32-33 not like the covenant (berit) that I cut with their fathers in the day I took hold of their hand to bring them out from the land of Egypt—which My covenant (berit) they broke, though I was a master over them, declares the LORD. For this is the covenant (berit) that I will cut with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put My Torah within them, and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

“Which My covenant (berit) they broke,” God says, and in the same breath He promises to write His Torah on their hearts. The fault was never in the Torah, which is “holy and righteous and good” (Romans 7:12). The trouble lay elsewhere:

Romans 8:3-4 For what was impossible for the nomos νόμος nom'-os(law) — in that it was weak through the sarx σάρξ sarx(flesh) — God, by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful sarx(flesh) and concerning sin, katakrino κατακρίνω kat-ak-ree'-no(condemned) sin in the sarx(flesh), so that the dikaioma(ordinance) of the nomos(law) might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the sarx(flesh) but according to the pneuma(spirit).

The weakness was “through the sarx(flesh),” and God answered it by sending His Son.

The story, then, needed more than a lamp. It needed someone to conquer sin and death itself, and the order of His work was already written in God’s calendar.