understanding, and to action. It is no surprise, then, that this passage has become the classic text for the idea of call itself. (It is one of the passages that are always read at ordination services in the Church of England.) The second passage, much less famous, is Mal. 4:4–6. These words close the whole collection of the prophetic books. They exhort the people to remember the laws of Moses, and promises the return of ‘Elijah’ ‘before the great and terrible day of the LORD comes’. The law and
Page xii