Turning the Hearts of Fathers to Their Children...

David Berlinski, author of The Devil’s Delusion: Atheism and Its Scientific Pretensions, has described the Old Testament as “the greatest repository of human knowledge and wisdom in the history of civilization, anytime, any place. . . . It is an enormously complex, rich, and dramatic piece of work.”

   Have you ever given thought to the final two verses of this “complex, rich, and dramatic piece of work?” The reading is as follows:

 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction. (Malachi 4:5-6, ESV)

    The Bible, in one sense, always provides the best commentary on its contents. It gives explanation of Malachi 4:5-6 from the pen of Luke the beloved physician (cf. Colossians 4:14) who, some 400 years after Malachi, wrote the following:

 Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth. . . . And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared. (Luke 1:13-14, 16-17)

    G. Campbell Morgan elaborated on the fulfillment of Malachi’s prophecy as being found in the person and work of John:

    The fulfillment of that promise we all understand, was in the coming of John the Baptist. .  . . The interpretation of Scripture is always within itself, and the solution in this case is to be formed in . . . Luke i.16, 17. The heavenly messenger in announcing the coming of the Baptist [Immerser], says of him: “Many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. And he shall go before Him in the spirit and power of Elias”—mark how the very words and thoughts of Malachi’s prophecy are taken—“to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
. . . Write your history, total up your battles fought, and won, and lost, talk in praise of statesmen and politicians if you will—yet nothing has happened! . . . Parties are leaderless, and nations are all at unrest. . . .
   Elijah [John] came before the coming of Jesus long ago, and the hearts of the children were turned to the fathers by thousands through his preaching. . . . (118, 129, 131)

    The 19th century German scholar Carl Friedrich Keil described the early Hebrew prophet Elijah as one “called to his work as a reformer in Israel at a period which was destitute of faith and of the true fear of Jehovah” (471) The latter day Elijah (John the Baptist) was sent immediately preceding the coming of Jesus “for the purpose of promoting a change of heart in the nation” (470). Keil powerfully summarizes this in the following:

 This Elijah, according to ver. 6, is to lead back the heart of the fathers to the sons, and the heart of the sons to their fathers. The meaning of this is not that he will settle disputes in families, or restore peace between parents and children; for the leading sin of the nation at the time of our prophet was not family quarrels, but estrangement from God. The fathers are rather the ancestors . . . the patriarchs . . . the pious forefathers. . . . “The hearts of the godly fathers and the ungodly sons are estranged from one another. The bond of union, viz. common love to God, is wanting. . . . (472, emp. added)

    The National Fatherhood Initiative (fatherhood.org) is addressing “a father absence crisis in America.” It results in what it calls “a father factor” in nearly all of the societal ills facing America today. The crisis relates to what syndicated columnist Cal Thomas refers to in his 2020 book, America’s Expiration Date. Thomas writes:

 [L]et me summarize what I think are forces fighting against our values—values our culture desperately needs, beginning with the family. According to the much respected Pew research organization, only 46 per cent of American children live in a home with two heterosexual parents. . . . Contrast that with 1960 demographics that showed 73 percent of children living in what we once called an “intact family.” (159)

    “. . . Beginning with the family.” This is foundational. And, it begins with the biologic imperatives of maleness and femaleness and the durability of the heterosexual two parent family. My memory is triggered by two powerful observations with which I was confronted several years ago in the very community from which this article is being written. The first was spoken to me over 40 years ago by a high ranking law enforcement official. Describing those imprisoned in a major correctional institution for which he served as the chief administrator, he said: “With a few exceptions, all who are incarcerated here have one thing in common. They have no father image in the home.” The second observation was made more than 25 years ago by the editor of a well circulated newspaper. He wrote, “It is long past time for everyone to dispense with the destructive notion that the intact, two-parent, heterosexual family is no better or worse than any other family unit. On the contrary, it is the root of Western civilization.”

   What has happened to cause the obvious moral and spiritual decline in American culture? No doubt it is the case there are numerous contributing factors. However, with utmost certainty we know that “a father factor” is involved. Furthermore, we are certain that there will be no reformation, restoration, and revival of the land without “pointing to a better way, informed by history and especially by Scripture” (Thomas 163). Borrowing from both history and Scripture, not withstanding significant differences in context then and now, may the eternal principles of “turning the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers” be applied urgently by our generation, lest in some sense the Almighty “come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction” (Malachi 4:6).

 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother (this is the first commandment with a promise), “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land. Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” (Ephesians 6:1-4)

 Charles C. Pugh, III
Executive Director

WORKS CITED

Berlinksi, David. The Devil’s Delusion: Atheism and Its Scientific Pretensions. Uncommon Knowledge interview, unedited transcript. August 2011.

Keil, Carl Friedrich. Commentary on the Old Testament. Vol. 10: Minor Prophets. N.d. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1984.

 Morgan, G. Campbell. Malachi’s Message for Today. N.d. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1972.

 Thomas, Cal. America’s Expiration Date. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2020.