SUMMARY
In response to the people wondering where God’s justice is, God promises to send an agent who will administer justice and judgment.
ANALYSIS
In response to God condemning the people for abandoning covenantal faithfulness to God and to spouses, the people return and ask where God’s justice is. Why do people who do evil prosper? This kind of talk wearies God, the prophet exclaims. Nevertheless, God promises to send a messenger. This messenger will inaugurate the day of the LordThe Day of the Lord, in prophetic writing, is the day of judgment when God will intervene directly in world affairs. As described in Zephaniah, for instance, God will sweep everything away. In Matthew's gospel God is described as gathering the elect on the day... More. But this day will perhaps be more than the people who cried out for justice bargained for. God will act as a master launderer or metallurgist, removing impurities and stains.
The list of sins that God is against here is particularly interesting:
- Sorcery
- Adultery
- Swearing Falsely
- Depriving Workers of Wages
- Oppressing Widows, Orphans, and Foreigners
- Failing to Fear God
This is a sort of postexilic list of threats to the community. Sorcery or magic opens the list and failing to fear God closes it. But between these spiritual bookends, is a sort of “social justice” core. It is as if the people are crying out for justice from God, and God returns the expectation of justice back to the people, asking how they might be depriving others of justice.
