The book ends with a closing section that points to Moses and Elijah. These two figures are models of faithfulness to the Lord. Moses represents the Law, and Elijah represents the Prophets (see Matthew 17:1–4). They are held up as examples for Malachi’s audience to follow.
In ancient Hebrew practice, these two appeals may have functioned as added closing messages for the scroll that contained the 12 Minor Prophets (the shorter prophetic books). If this is the case, the first closing message (Malachi 4:4) links the scroll to the Law of Moses. The second closing message (Malachi 4:5–6) connects the Minor Prophets to the Major Prophets (the longer books of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel).