Luke 1:17 ("fathers to the children")

[darinhouston]

Anyone have thoughts on what Luke means by "fathers to the children" here? (re: John the Baptist)

1:17 And he will go as forerunner before the Lord 52 in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers back to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, 53 to make ready for the Lord a people prepared for him.”

[mattrose]

I'm not really sure, but I'll take a guess

The angel was referring to the last verses of the Old Testament:

"See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes. 6 He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I will come and strike the land with a curse."

John the Baptist was to be viewed as the eschatological fulfillment of this passage, as you said. But what does "turn the hearts of the fathers to their children" actually mean? Well, there are some Old Testament passages that talk about how in times of crisis the fathers and the children will (whether symbolic or literal) eat each other. In other words, some people, in eschatological times will turn on their own families.

I think what Malachi and the angel were getting at is that John the Baptists ministry would also be eschatological (crisis oriented), but that he would be an agent of reconciliation rather than rebellion. Through his ministry, perhaps, fathers and children would learn to love each other (rather than eat each other!). Either people will find true reconciliation or they will find ultimate/extreme/deathly division (in other words, "or else I will come and strike the land with a curse").

The only other possible interpretation I can think of is that the 'heart' of fathers will become more childlike (in the appropriate ways) so that, through John the Baptist, people will be prepared to follow Jesus in simple child-like faith.

[darinhouston]

Thanks -- I'm interested in other thoughts, too -- my immediate impression was (and the simpler commentaries suggest) that this is a recognition of how fathers had failed in their mission to bring their children up in the ways of the Lord, and that JTB would be returning households to a focus on raising families in the admonition of the Lord. Other commentaries suggest (as you seem to) that it was more of a way to get at the bigger picture of divisions of all kinds. I'm mainly curious if he had in mind the specific "family-orientation" or the more general "culture of divisiveness" at large (I guess it could have been both).