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The incorporation of Malachi in the Book of the Twelve Prophets was not the end of the redactional construction of major units in the canon. The Book of the Twelve became part of the corpus propheticum that included the books of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the Twelve. The attachment of the corpus propheticum to the deuteronomistic historical work created the second section of the canon, the “Nebiim,” which in turn was connected to the Torah. Thus the Malachi document formed the conclusion of the two-part canon of Torah and Nebiim that was accepted by most Jewish groups at the time of Jesus.³¹

If we read the Malachi document as the conclusion of the canon made up of Torah and Nebiim, independently of whether that was the intent of the authors of the foundational stratum, the closing passage, Mal 3:22–24 [4:4–6 ET] acquires a new dimension of meaning: the phrase “Torah of Moses” (Mal 3:22; NRSV “teaching of my servant Moses,” Mal 4:4) refers not merely to the laws of the Pentateuch, as the relative clause in 3:22b [4:4b ET] makes clear, but to the whole canonical section “Torah,” thus including the narrative material. The name Elijah (Mal 3:23a [4:5a ET]) in turn refers pars pro toto to the second canonical section, “Nebiim.” The expectation of the “day of Yhwh” may have been intended to express the crucial content of this section of the canon. Malachi 3:24 [4:6 ET] then emphasizes that in the history of this people what is essential is holding fast to the historical experience of the ancestors and combining that knowledge of tradition with new insights into God’s eschatological actions, if Israel wishes to endure in the presence of God.