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After admonishing them to give heed to the law of Moses, as he
foresaw that for a long time to come they would not understand it
spiritually and rightly, he went on to say, "And, behold, I will
send to you Elias the Tishbite before the great and signal day of the
Lord come: and he shall turn the heart of the father to the son, and
the heart of a man to his next of kin, lest I come and utterly smite
the earth." It is a familiar theme in the conversation and heart of
the faithful, that in the last days before the judgment the Jews shall
believe in the true Christ, that is, our Christ, by means of this
great and admirable prophet Elias who shall expound the law to them.
For not without reason do we hope that before the coming of our Judge
and Saviour Elias shall come, because we have good reason to believe
that he is now alive; for, as Scripture most distinctly informs us,
he was taken up from this life in a chariot of fire. When,
therefore, he is come, he shall give a spiritual explanation of the
law which the Jews at present understand carnally, and shall thus
"turn the heart of the father to the son," that is, the heart of
fathers to their children; for the Septuagint translators have
frequently put the singular for the plural number. And the meaning
is, that the sons, that is, the Jews, shall understand the law as
the fathers, that is, the prophets, and among them Moses himself,
understood it. For the heart of the fathers shall be turned to their
children when the children understand the law as their fathers did; and
the heart of the children shall be turned to their fathers when they
have the same sentiments as the fathers. The Septuagint used the
expression, "and the heart of a man to his next of kin," because
fathers and children are eminently neighbors to one another. Another
and a preferable sense can be found in the words of the Septuagint
translators, who have translated Scripture with an eye to prophecy,
the sense, viz., that Elias shall turn the heart of God the Father
to the Son, not certainly as if he should bring about this love of the
Father for the Son, but meaning that he should make it known, and
that the Jews also, who had previously hated, should then love the
Son who is our Christ. For so far as regards the Jews, God has
His heart turned away from our Christ, this being their conception
about God and Christ. But in their case the heart of God shall be
turned to the Son when they themselves shall turn in heart, and learn
the love of the Father towards the Son. The words following, "and
the heart of a man to his next of kin,", that is, Elias shall also
turn the heart of a man to his next of kin, how can we understand this
better than as the heart of a man to the man Christ? For though in
the form of God He is our God, yet, taking the form of a servant,
He condescended to become also our next of kin. It is this, then,
which Elias will do, "lest," he says, "I come and smite the
earth utterly." For they who mind earthly things are the earth.
Such are the carnal Jews until this day; and hence these murmurs of
theirs against God, "The wicked are pleasing to Him," and "It
is a vain thing to serve God."
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