Lest I Come (Maranatha) and smite the Land with a curse (anathema)

 “See, I will send the prophet Elijah (1Ki 17:1; Mt. 11:14; 16:14) to you before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes. He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction.” Mal. 4:5–6

Let him be anathema. Against whom is the threatening in the prophet?

if any one doth not love the Lord Jesus Christ—let him be anathema! The Lord hath come! YLT. I pray that God will put a curse on everyone who doesn’t love the Lord. And may the Lord come soon. CEV. 1 Cor. 16:22 

[The Aramaic expression marana tha (“O Lord, come!”) can also be rendered maran atha (“our Lord has come”); it is used here by Paul without explanation W. Hall Harris III et al., eds., The Lexham English Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012)].

Linguistic research thus offers three equally possible meanings of Maran-atha: 1. The prayer “Lord, come” as a petition for the Parousia; 2. the confession “our Lord has come” (into the world in lowliness); 3. the statement “our Lord is now present” (i.e., in worship, and especially the Lord’s Supper).

 Decision between these possibilities can be made only on the basis of the origin of the word and the context of 1 C. 16:22 and Did., 10, 6. Karl Georg Kuhn, “Μαραναθά,” in Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, ed. Gerhard Kittel, Geoffrey W. Bromiley, and Gerhard Friedrich (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1964–), 469–470.

 These Aramaic words (‘the Lord is coming’) had passed into liturgical use: they expressed the hope that the Parousia would not be long delayed. An alternative reading is Marana tha (Lord, come!), (Rev. 22:20; cf. Rom. 13:12; Ph. 4:5; Jm. 5:8; 1 Pet. 4:7). Henry Wansbrough, ed., The New Jerusalem Bible (New York; London; Toronto; Sydney; Auckland: Doubleday, 1990), 1911.

The chief problem, accordingly, lies in the last part of the term. If the second half of the compound is held to be atha, the Fathers were right in taking it as a past tense (‘the’ or ‘our Lord has come’), and understanding the advent in the flesh as referred to.

 But the explanations they give of the apostle’s reference to this past event are far-fetched and unsatisfying; such as,

 ‘whoever does not love him waits in vain for another,’ or ‘he has come; hence the folly of opposing him’

—the words being assumed to be addressed to Jews: if spoken to Christians, they were thought to be designed to shame them for withholding love from one who has so humbled himself on their behalf, etc.

Joseph Henry Thayer, “MARANATHA,” in A Dictionary of the Bible: Dealing with Its Language, Literature, and Contents Including the Biblical Theology, ed. James Hastings et al. (New York; Edinburgh: Charles Scribner’s Sons; T. & T. Clark, 1911–1912), 242.

Maranatha, two Aramaic words meaning “our Lord has come.” (1 Cor. 16:22),

 an exclamation uttered in connection with the approaching judgment when the Lord returns

 (cf. Jude 1:14, 15). It was about these that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied:

 “Look! The Lord comes with tens of thousands of his holy ones to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly concerning all the ungodly acts that they have done in an ungodly way, and concerning all the harsh things ungodly sinners have said against him.” Spiros Zodhiates, The Complete Word Study Dictionary: New Testament (Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 2000).

Ten thousands of His holy ones. Cf. Deut. 33:2, Dan. 7:10. The angels are so called in (1 Enoch 81:5, those seven holy ones, probably the seven Watchers), as already in (Job 5:1, 15:15, Zech. 14:5, Dan. 4:13, 8:13). Robert Henry Charles, ed., Commentary on the Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament, vol. 2 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1913), 189,246

  And now, in reference to the words Maran-atha, very many commentators agree that this phrase is a certain form of excommunication, and that it is the highest and heaviest. “Thus (say they) is the extremist kind of anathema marked; as though he would say, 

‘Cursed be he to the coming, and in the coming, of the Lord.’ 

 They assert this to be the third kind of excommunication among the Jews, and think that it sounds the same with schammatha, and interpret God cometh to the same sense.

But let me, with the leave of so great men, speak freely what I think in this business.

 I have not found in my reading in any places, although I have sought diligently, in any Jewish writers that I have perused, where Maran-atha occurs once for a form of excommunication. Nor have I found in any Christian writer the least sign whereby might be shown in what place or in what Hebrew author that phrase is found in such a sense. Yea, to speak out plainer, as the thing is, I do not remember that I have found this phrase, Maran-atha, in any sense at all, in any Rabbinical or Talmudic writer, at any time, in any place.

What the apostle means by Maran-atha we shall more easily trace when we shall have observed this first, that the apostle chiefly directs the dint and stroke of this anathema and curse against the unbelieving Jews, who were most bitter enemies against the Lord Jesus and his gospel: which I cannot but think, being induced thereunto by these four reasons:

I. Because the Jews, above all other of the human race, loved not the Lord Jesus, neither yet do love him. The holy Scripture teaches this abundantly; unhappy experience teaches it. The pagans, indeed, love not Christ, because they know him not: but, because they know him not, neither do they hate him. The Turks, indeed, love not Jesus in that manner as the Christians do, but they do not hate him in that manner as do the Jews.

II. Because he speaks here in the language and dialect of the Jews, namely, in that Syriac phrase, Maran-atha. He had spoken Greek through the whole Epistle; he speaks Greek in all his Epistles: but when he speaks here in the Jewish language, the thing itself speaks it, without all controversy, that he speaks concerning the Jews.

 III. The Jews only of all mortals called Jesus accursed (1 Cor. 12:3.): therefore the apostle deservedly strikes them, above all other mortals, with a curse, rendering like for like. 

 IV. I, or rather doth the apostle, bring those words of Isa. 65:15, “You shall leave your name for a curse unto my chosen.” Hither also may be brought that of Mal. 4:5-6, wherewith the Old Testament is concluded, Lest I come and smite the land with (anathema) a curse. Lest I come: this is the same with that which the apostle saith, Maran-atha, the Lord cometh.

And I will smite with anathema, the same with that in this verse, Let him be anathema. Against whom is the threatening in the prophet? Against the unbelieving Jews. Against the same is both the threatening and curse of the apostle, taken (methinks) out of the very words of the prophet. And now you may easily fetch out the sense of the word Maran-atha.

 The holy Scripture speaks great and terrible things concerning the coming of Christ to punish the nation of the Jews, for their not loving, yea, hating Christ, and treading the gospel under foot.

It is called his ‘coming in his kingdom, in the clouds, in glory:’ 

which we observe elsewhere. So that I should much more readily interpret this expression Maran-atha, that is, our Lord cometh, in this sense, from this common manner of speech, and which is so very usual to the Scripture, than to run to I know not what Jewish form; which yet is not at all to be met with among the Jews.

  Scripture denominates the time of the Jews’ overthrow as “ ‘the day of the Lord,’ ‘the day of Christ,’ ‘his coming in the clouds, in his glory, in his kingdom.’ ” Christ’s first coming was marked by humility; he himself was ridiculed and hated and eventually murdered. His teachings were rejected and his followers persecuted.

 But on the day of the Lord, Christ will come to avenge himself on his enemies, specifically the nation of Israel which had rejected him.

 Many of the scriptural texts which mention the coming of Christ being “near” or “at the door” or “at hand” all refer to his coming to enact judgment on the Jews. 

 2 Thess. 2:2; Hebrews 10:37  These texts “must be understood of Christ’s coming in judgment and vengeance against that wicked nation.” John Lightfoot, A Commentary on the New Testament from the Talmud and Hebraica, Matthew-1 Corinthians, Acts-1 Corinthians, vol. 4 (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2010), 285.

NEARNESS OF THE PAROUSIA

Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. (Heb. 10:37; Jas. 5:8, 9) Phpl. 4:5

your gentleness ‘your forbearance’; the opposite to a spirit of contention and self-seeking. The gentleness stands in contrast to the-scrupulously righteous; severe in judgement, as being satisfied with less than his due, Arist. Eth. Nic. 5:10.

 The word is connected with quarreling, to be gentle, and to show every courtesy to everyone. (Tit. 3:2, comp. 1 Tim. 3:3), with  gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy. (James 3:17), with kind, good; merciful (Ps. 85:5), with (‘kind’, 1 Pet. 2:18), with kind, kindly (2 Macc. 9:27). This quality of gentleness and kindness was signally manifested in our blessed Lord Himself by the meekness and gentleness of Christ (2 Cor. 10:1).

  The nearness of the Lord’s advent is assigned as a reason for patient forbearance. So similarly in St James 5:8, You also must be patient... for the coming of the Lord is near. The expression The Lord is near is the Apostle’s watchword. In 1 Cor. 16:22 an Aramaic equivalent is given, Marana tha, whence we may infer that it was a familiar form of mutual recognition and warning in the early Church.

Compare Barnab. The day is near in which all things will be destroyed with the Evil One. The Lord and his reward is near. See also Luke 21:31, 1 Pet. 4:7. Thus we may paraphrase St Paul’s language here:

 ‘To what purpose is this rivalry, this self-assertion? The end is nigh, when you will have to resign all. Bear with others now, that God may bear with you then.’

 Joseph Barber Lightfoot, ed., Saint Paul’s Epistle to the Philippians, Classic Commentaries on the Greek New Testament (London: Macmillan and Co., ltd, 1913), 160.

 The whole argument for the anticipated near approach of the Parousia is clenched by the last word of the apostle, which comes with the greater weight as written with his own hand, and conveying in one word the concentrated essence of his exhortation,—‘Maran-atha. The Lord is coming.’ This one utterance speaks volumes. It is the watchword which the apostle passes along the line of the Christian host; the rallying cry which inspired courage and hope in every heart. ‘The Lord is coming!’ It would have no meaning if the event to which it refers were distant or doubtful; all its force lies in its certainty and nearness.

 Here the apostle repeats the well-known watchword of the early church, ‘The Lord is at hand:’—equivalent to the ‘Maran-atha’ of 1 Cor. 16:22. To doubt his full conviction of the nearness of Christ’s coming is incompatible with a due respect for the plain meaning of words; to set down this conviction as a mistake is incompatible with a due respect for his apostolic authority and inspiration. James Stuart Russell, The Parousia: A Critical Inquiry into the New Testament Doctrine of Our Lord’s Second Coming (London: Daldy, Isbister & Co., 1878), 213,246.

Let him be accursed; our Lord cometh

This greeting is written by me, Paul, with my own hand. If anyone does not love the Lord—let him be under a curse! Marana tha! The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you. My love be with all of you in Christ Jesus. Amen. 1 Cor. 16:21–24

But even if we (or an angel from heaven) should preach a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be condemned to hell! Gal. 1:8 [Grk. “let him be accursed” (ἀνάθεμα, anathema). The translation gives the outcome which is implied by this dreadful curse. Biblical Studies Press, The NET Bible, Second Edition (Denmark: Thomas Nelson, 2019).] 

In this place the apostle retorts the whole upon themselves, and says: If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let HIM be accursed, and devoted to destruction. This is not said in the way of a wish or imprecation, but as a prediction of what would certainly come upon them if they did not repent, and of what did come on them because they did not repent; but continued to hate and execrate the Lord Jesus; and of what still lies upon them, because they continue to hate and execrate the Redeemer of the world.

Anathema, maran-atha.] “Let him be accursed; our Lord cometh.” I cannot see the reason why these words were left untranslated. The former is Greek, and has been already explained; the latter is Syriac  maran-atha, our Lord is coming: i. e. to execute the judgment denounced. Does not the apostle refer to the last verse in the Bible? Lest I come and smite the land with a curse? Mal. 4:5–6

 And does he not intimate that the Lord was coming to smite the Jewish land with that curse? Which took place a very few years after, and continues on that gainsaying and rebellious people to the present day. What the apostle has said was prophetic, and indicative of what was about to happen to that people. God was then coming to inflict punishment upon them: he came, and they were broken and dispersed. Adam Clarke, The Holy Bible with a Commentary and Critical Notes, New Edition, vol. 6 (Bellingham, WA: Faithlife Corporation, 2014), 299,300.

Lest I; God or Christ, who indeed first tenders the blessings of grace and peace, and gives them to such as accept; but this the Jews would not, the rulers the priests, the body of the people, refused them: the next thing Christ (Lord and King, rejected and disowned) will do, is to curse and destroy. Smite the earth, the land of Judea, and the inhabitants of it, with a curse; which brings with it and ends in utter destruction; as at this day we read in the story of the Romans invading, subduing, captivating the Jews, and razing their city and temple. cp. Lk. 19:27; Jer. 18:23: Amos 9:4

 That time is past now one thousand six hundred and forty-four years since a stone was not left upon a stone, as was foretold by Christ, Matt. 24:2, since those unparalleled hardships and miseries befell the Jews, which no heart almost can read and not bleed at reading, (though at this distance of time,) and the sufferers so deservedly endured such a curse as leaves Jerusalem a desolate heap, and a perpetual monument of God’s displeasure against a people that finally sin against his sovereignty and his mercy. Matthew Poole, Annotations upon the Holy Bible, vol. 2 (New York: Robert Carter and Brothers, 1853), 1030.

 and your rulers profaned my sanctuary. So I brought destruction on Israel; I let my own people be insulted.” That’s why I don’t allow your priests to serve me; I let Israel be destroyed and your people disgraced. Isaiah 43:28 GNT:CEV.

If any man love not the Lord Jesus] This is directed immediately against the Jews. From 1 Cor. 12:3, we find that the Jews, who pretended to be under the Spirit and teaching of God, called Jesus αναθεμα, or accursed; i. e. a person who should be devoted to destruction:

Very many Jews that were magicians, exorcists, conjurors, wandered up and down, who boasted that they were endued with the Holy Ghost, taught much and did miracles; and yet called our Lord Jesus anathema. “But be ye certain (saith the apostle) that these men neither speak, nor act, nor are acted by the Spirit of God: ‘For no man, speaking by the Spirit of God, calleth Jesus accursed.’ ”

 On the other part also, the whole Jewish nation indeed denied that the Holy Ghost was given to the Gentiles. “The Holy Ghost (say they) dwells not upon any without the land of Israel.” Hence is that, Acts 10:45, “The believers that were of the circumcision were astonished that, even upon the Gentiles, had been poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost.”

“But (saith the apostle) when the Gentiles confess Jesus is the Lord, they do not this but by the Holy Ghost.” And so he instructs Christians, that they be not deceived by the crafty and magical spirits of the Jews; and in like manner he stops the mouth of the Jews, that they should not deny the Holy Spirit to be bestowed upon the Gentile Christians. John Lightfoot, A Commentary on the New Testament from the Talmud and Hebraica, Matthew-1 Corinthians, Acts-1 Corinthians, vol. 4 (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2010), 252–253.

 As Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these people, of corrupt mind and counterfeit faith, also oppose the truth. But they will not make much progress because, as in the case of those two men, their folly will become plain to everyone. 2 Timothy 3:8–9

The magicians tried to produce gnats by their secret arts, but they could not. There were gnats on both humans and animals. And the magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God!” But Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, just as the LORD had said.

 We seem to have a collocation of parallel ideas in Exodus and in the dominical tradition: the phrase “finger of God,” performing miracles/signs, viewing antagonists or protagonists as false, reference to the demonic (explicit in the Gospels, explicit in later Jewish interpretation), conflict between two spheres of power (or kingdoms). If so, then it suggests that Jesus appealed to the famous contest between Moses and the magicians of Pharaoh.

Jesus asserts that he casts out demons “by the finger of God,” not “by Beelzebul, the prince of demons.” This comparison may have typological meaning, implying that the power of God at work in Jesus’ ministry is commensurate to the power of God at work in the great deliverance from Egypt long ago.

 Just as God dismantled the kingly authority of Pharaoh and his gods (or demons) and transferred his people under his own authority, so now in Jesus’ ministry Satan’s kingdom is being dismantled, and Israel is being invited to embrace divine rule.

 for it is odd that Jesus says, “the kingdom has come upon you” (with emphasis added). Why not say, “upon us”? Does Jesus mean to distinguish between himself and his following, on the one hand, and those who disbelieve and oppose his proclamation, on the other?

 Is he suggesting that his critics oppose God and face judgment, just as surely as did Pharaoh and his magicians?

We cannot answer these intriguing questions with certainty. Perhaps Jesus has simply argued that his exorcisms offer clear proof of the truth of his proclamation of the kingdom: the kingdom of God has indeed arrived. But Jesus may have threatened his critics with the judgmental aspect of the kingdom (as seen also in the preaching of John the Baptist; cf. (Mark 1:7–8; Matt 3:7–12; Luke 3:7–9, 15–17): the exorcisms demonstrate that the rule of God (as opposed to the perverse rule of wicked men) has finally overtaken those who reject his authority. It is time to repent and accept God’s rule. Craig A. Evans, “Inaugurating the Kingdom of God and Defeating the Kingdom of Satan,” Bulletin for Biblical Research, Vol. 15, 2005, 71–72.

‘Let him be anathema.’ The word usually corresponds to the OT Hebrew word herem, Jos. 6:17. In the NT it is used once, Lk. 21:5, of votive offerings in the Temple. More often it acknowledges a curse on the speaker himself, should he not keep a solemn promise, Rom. 9:3, or it endorses a curse on another person for a serious sin, here, (1 Cor. 16:22; Ga 1:8, 9); see 1 Cor. 12:3; Rev. 22:3; The curse of destruction will be abolished.

See, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble; the day that comes shall burn them up, says the LORD of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. Malachi 4:1 Cf. 1 Pet 5:8. Rosenstiehl, L’Apocalypse d’Élie, p. 115, has cited the following parallels for the figure of fire-destroying stubble: Ex. 15:7; Isa. 5:24; Nah. 1:10; Mal. 4:1; Joel 2:5; James H. Charlesworth, The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, vol. 1 (New York;  London: Yale University Press, 1983).

One tradition that developed in the OT was the view that the world, which had once been destroyed by a flood, was threatened with a future destruction by fire. Cf. Zeph. 1:2–3, which recalls the flood imagery of (Gen 7:4, 23), and Zeph. 1:18. The fire imagery is a figure rooted in the practice of ḥerem [curse Or a ban of utter destruction; Mal. 4:6 ], which involved burning all the booty after a holy war.

 When the wicked are finally destroyed in a cosmic holy war, all things will be consumed by fire. Cf. Joel 2:30; 2 Pet 3:10. In the present text, however, it is the devil who is held responsible for the desire to consume men like fire and like water. Rosenstiehl, L’Apocalypse d’Élie, p. 80, sees the devil as the executive of God’s wrath against Sodom (fire) and against the sinners of Noah’s time (water). He also notes the imagery in Ex 15:4–7; Rev 12:15; and Hos 5:10, which is quoted in CD-B XIX 15-16.

They shall be visited for destruction by the hand of Satan. That shall be the day when God will visit. (MS. B: As He said,) The princes of Judah have become (MS. B: like those who remove the bound-boundary); wrath shall be poured upon them like water (Hos. 5:10). For they shall hope for healing but He will crush them. Geza Vermes, The Dead Sea Scrolls in English, Revised and extended 4th ed. (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1995), 103.

James H. Charlesworth, The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, vol. 1 (New York;  London: Yale University Press, 1983).

According to the Covenant which God made with the forefathers, forgiving their sins, so shall He forgive their sins also. But when the age is completed, according to the number of those years, there shall be no more joining the house of Judah, but each man shall stand on his watch-tower: The wall is built, the boundary far removed (Mic. 7:11).

 During all those years Satan shall be unleashed against Israel, as He spoke by the hand of Isaiah, son of Amos, saying,  (Isa. 24:17).

Terror and the pit and the snare are upon you, O inhabitant of the land

 Interpreted, these are the three nets of Satan with which Levi son of Jacob said that he catches Israel by setting them up as three kinds of righteousness. The first is fornication, the second is riches, and the third is profanation of the Temple. Whoever escapes the first is caught in the second, and whoever saves himself from the second is caught in the third (Isa. 24:18). Geza Vermes, The Dead Sea Scrolls in English, Revised and extended 4th ed. (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1995), 100. 

From the day of the gathering in of the Teacher of the Community until the end of all the men of war who deserted to the Liar there shall pass about forty years (Deut. 2:14). And during that age the wrath of God shall be kindled against Israel; as He said, There shall be no king, no prince, no judge, no man to rebuke with justice (Hos. 3:4). But those who turn from the sin of Jacob, who keep the Covenant of God, shall then speak each man to his fellow, to justify each man his brother, that their step may take the way of God.

And God will heed their words and will hear, and a Book of Reminder shall be written before Him of them that fear God and worship His Name, against the time when salvation and righteousness shall be revealed to them that fear God. And then shall you distinguish once more between the just and the wicked, between one that serves God and one that serves Him not (Mal. 3:18); and He will show loving-kindness to thousands, to them that love Him and watch for Him, for a thousand generations (Exod. 20:6). Geza Vermes, The Dead Sea Scrolls in English, Revised and extended 4th ed. (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1995), 105.

[Let us seriously examine into the evidences of our love to Christ; that if he should ask us, as he did Peter, “Lovest thou me?” we may be able to reply with him, “Lord, thou knows all things, thou knows that I love thee. Jn. 21:17” Let us tremble at the thought of subjecting ourselves to the judgments here denounced, and instead of presuming to speak against them as too severe, let us make it our constant endeavor to escape them. So shall death and judgment be divested of all their terrors; and Christ, whom we love, be the eternal portion of our souls.] Charles Simeon, Horae Homileticae: 1 and 2 Corinthians, vol. 16 (London: Holdsworth and Ball, 1833), 392.

Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood. Revelation 22:15