Claim. Elijah’s mission to remove Satan’s influence from Israel was cut short when he ascended in the whirlwind, so Malachi prophesied his return — meaning a successor had to inherit and complete Elijah’s unfinished work of breaking the people’s ties with Satan before the Messiah could come.
Elaboration. Per 2.1. The Jewish Belief in the Return of Elijah: after Solomon’s transgressions thwarted the Temple ideal, God sent prophets to purify Israel. Elijah confronted the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel and cast down their altars — but “ascended to heaven in a whirlwind and a fiery chariot before he could complete his divine mission. Satan’s power revived and continued to plague God’s providence.” The Messianic way could not be made straight while satanic influence remained.
DP reads 5 (“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes”) not as a prediction of Elijah’s literal return but as a structural-providential necessity: someone must finish Elijah’s incomplete mission to prepare the way.
This atomic supplies the providential frame against which §2.2-§2.4 evaluate John the Baptist’s performance. JtB was sent precisely to complete the work Elijah left undone. Failure of JtB to fulfill this role is what eventually compounded the Jewish people’s disbelief and forced the cross.
Connects to restoration through indemnity: incomplete missions in the providence require successors to indemnify the lost foundation.
See also. dp-jewish-people-believed-jtb-over-jesus-due-to-credibility-gap, dp-jtb-was-elijah-by-mission-not-soul-transmigration