Matthew Montgomery Traces a Priestly Elijah Tradition in Malachi

Why Does Malachi End with Elijah?

The final verses of the Book of Malachi contain an unexpected reference to the prophet Elijah. After four chapters of prophetic discourse criticizing priests, people, and social practice, the book concludes with an eschatological vision: "Remember the instruction of my servant Moses... and lo, I will send you the prophet Elijah before the great and terrible day of the LORD comes" (Mal 3:23–24). Why Elijah? Why this particular figure? And what does this ending tell us about how the book was composed and understood?

Phinehas, Elijah and Priestly Tradition

In a 2026 peer-reviewed article published in Old Testament Essays, Matthew Montgomery argues that literary connections between the portrayal of Elijah in the books of Kings and the portrayal of Phinehas in Numbers contribute to an Elijah–Phinehas conflation that is already assumed in the Book of Malachi.

Both Elijah (in Kings) and Phinehas (in Numbers) are portrayed as figures who act with zealous intensity to defend God's covenant and priestly interests. Their shared attributes—priestly concern, covenantal zeal, and direct intervention in defense of proper worship—suggest that biblical authors made literary connections between these figures. Montgomery argues that the Elijah prophecy at the end of Malachi assumes and builds upon this established literary tradition.

How Inner-Biblical Interpretation Works

Montgomery's approach exemplifies a method called inner-biblical interpretation: the recognition that biblical authors sometimes drew on earlier biblical traditions, reinterpreted them, and created literary and thematic connections across multiple books. Rather than reading Malachi in isolation, Montgomery shows how the book activates and builds upon traditions already present in earlier biblical texts.

This method requires:

• identifying specific linguistic and thematic parallels between texts;
• determining whether those parallels reflect intentional literary allusion or coincidence;
• understanding how reinterpretation of earlier material serves the theological purposes of the later text.

Montgomery argues that the Elijah tradition, enriched by echoes of Phinehas, enabled the author of Malachi to present a prophetic figure who would challenge corrupt priests and establish proper worship—a concern central to the entire book.

From Malachi to the Masoretic Psalter

Montgomery's work does not limit itself to individual books. He also examines how inner-biblical interpretation functions within larger collections like the Psalter. His related research addresses how the arrangement and juxtaposition of psalms within the Masoretic Psalter creates meaning—how the placement of one psalm next to another produces interpretive effects that cannot be understood from either psalm alone.

This approach asks: How did ancient authors and editors use literary structure, arrangement, and allusion to shape the meaning of collections of texts? How did readers understand interconnections among different parts of the Hebrew Bible?

Matthew Montgomery at EHJ 2026

Matthew Montgomery will present "Neither Story nor Arbitrary: The Rhetoric of Juxtaposition in the MT Psalter" on 8 November 2026 at 22:00 CET. His EHJ presentation continues the intellectual work evident in the Malachi article: examining how biblical editors constructed meaning through literary arrangement and how readers might have recognized complex intertextual relationships.

Montgomery also has a peer-reviewed article published in the European Hebrew Journal itself: "An Intercessor Like Moses: A Key Component of the Psalter's Message," which continues his investigation of how the Psalter as a whole functions as a meaningful collection with deliberate theological architecture.