In the Stick of Joseph, when Yeshua visited the Nefites, he delivered to them the words of Mal’akhi, which the Nefites did not have in their sacred records. He specifically quoted Mal’akhi chapter 3 (Jewish chapter numbering, ch. 3-4 in Christian editions). In these verses, the Stick of Joseph reads almost exactly as the KJV with the exception of a single word (see 3 Nefi 11:1-5).  Where the KJV has “sun of righteousness” the Stick of Joseph has “son of righteousness” as follows:

But unto you that fear my name shall the Son of Righteousness arise with healing in his wings. And you shall go forth and grow up as calves in the stall; and you shall tread down the wicked, for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, says YHWH Tzva’ot. (3 Nefi 11:5)

This same phrase “son of righteousness” also appears in 2 Nefi 11:11 where the surrounding text (2 Nefi 11:5, 10-11) has many parallels with Mal’akhi 3 (3-4 KJV). The writings in 2 Nefi predate the days of Mal’akhi by centuries, so these parallels are either because 2 Nefi and Mal’akhi both have parallels to an earlier lost book, or these parallels simply occur because Nefi and Mal’akhi were inspired by the same Ruach HaKodesh.

The reading “son of righteousness” rather than “sun of righteousness” does not agree with any known version of Mal’akhi in any known manuscript or translation. Moreover, the words “son” (בן) and “sun” (שמש) look and sound alike in English, but are not at all similar in Hebrew.  

Some have suggested that the reading “son of righteousness” instead of “sun of righteousness” was an error of transcription resulting from Yosef ben Yosef dictating and his scribe transcribing the words he heard. However Yosef ben Yosef made no attempt to correct the readings of either passage in future editions when many other corrections were made.  

Perhaps, therefore, this was not an error of transcription, but an interpretive rendering much like the interpretive renderings found in the Targums. If so, it is a deliberate and important interpretive term, and also happens to square perfectly with other Jewish thought. One example of such thought involves the sixth of the ten Sefirot, known as tiferet, which is “often symbolized by the sun, also by the tree of life” (The Zohar; Soncino Press; Volume III Glossary, p. 420). 

We read in the Zohar concerning tiferet: 

“The Holy One, blessed be He, has a Son, whose glory shines from one end of the world to another. He is a great and mighty tree, whose head reaches heaven, and whose roots are set in the holy ground, and his name is ‘Mispar’ and his place is in the uppermost heaven, as it is written, ‘The heavens declare (me-SaPRim) the glory of God’ (Ps. 19:1). Were it not for this ‘Mispar’ there would be neither hosts nor offspring in any of the worlds”  (Zohar 2:105a).

This “glory” of the divine Son that “shines from one end of the world to another” indicates tiferet as Daniel C. Matt comments to this passage in the Pritzker Edition Zohar:

The word מספר (mispar), number, apparently refers to Yesod, the Divine Son whose power spans the lower sefirotic realm. The head of this cosmic tree reaches Tif’eret (symbolized by heaven), and its roots are embedded in Shekhinah (symbolized by earth). (The Zohar Pritzker Edition Volume 5; Daniel C. Matt; pp. 77-79 n. 221)

Though the above citations demonstrate the “Sun of Righteousness” is equated with the “Son of God,”  this passage Mal’akhi 3:19-20 (4:1-2 KJV) is never cited as a Messianic prophecy anywhere in the New Testament. However, elsewhere in Jewish thought, this passage is indeed cited as a Messianic prophecy. Consider the following:

“Moses asked: ‘Shall they remain in pledge for ever?’ God replied: ‘No, only until the sun appears’ that is, till the coming of the Messiah; for it says, But unto you that fear My name shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing in its wings (Mal. 3:20)” (Midrash Rabbah on Ex. 31:10). 

The expectation of healing in the “wings” of the Messiah is likewise interesting. The Hebrew word for “wing” in this verse of Mal’akhi is kanaf, a word that means “wing” or “corner.” This is also the Hebrew word for “corner” in Num. 15:3-41, where we are told to put the tzitzit on the “corners” of our garments. This word is also the word used for “skirt” in Zech. 8:23 where we read:

Thus saith the LORD of hosts; In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you. (Zech. 8:23 KJV)

In Matt. 9:20-22 and 14:36; persons were healed after touching Yeshua’s tzitzit because there was healing in his “wings.”

20 And, behold, a woman, which was diseased with an issue of blood twelve years, came behind him, and touched the hem of his garment:
21 For she said within herself, If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole.
22 But Yeshua turned him about, and when he saw her, he said, Daughter, be of good comfort; your faith has made thee whole. And the woman was made whole from that hour. (Matthew 9:20-22)

And besought him that they might only touch the hem of his garment: and as many as touched were made perfectly whole. (Matthew 14:36)

Likewise when Yeshua appeared in the Land Bountiful, he had the sick brought before him and he healed them:

2 And it came to pass that when Yeshua had thus spoken, he cast his eyes round about again on the multitude, and beheld they were in tears and did look steadfastly upon him, as if they would ask him to remain a little longer with them. And he said unto them, Behold, my bowels are filled with compassion towards you. Have you any that are sick among you? Bring them here. Have you any that are lame, or blind, or crippled, or maimed, or leprous, or that are withered, or that are deaf, or that are afflicted in any manner? Bring them here and I will heal them, for I have compassion upon you, my bowels are filled with mercy; for I perceive that you desire that I should show unto you what I have done unto your brothers at Yerushalayim, for I see that your faith is sufficient that I should heal you.

3 And it came to pass that when he had thus spoken, all the multitude with one accord did go forth with their sick, and their afflicted, and their lame, and with their blind, and with their dumb, and with all they that were afflicted in any manner; and he did heal them, every one, as they were brought forth unto him. And they did all — both they who had been healed and they who were whole — bow down at his feet and did worship him; and as many as could come for the multitude did kiss his feet, insomuch that they did bathe his feet with their tears. (3 Nefi 8:2-3)

How could Yosef ben Yosef have known that the word “sun” in Mal’khi’s phrase “sun of righteousness” was understood in the ancient Jewish texts to refer to the “Son” and that this passage of Mal’akhi was understood in the ancient Jewish literature as a Messianic prophecy about the Messiah’s ability to heal?  The interpretive rendering of “son of righteousness” in place of “sun of righteousness” once again demonstrates that the Stick of Joseph is an ancient Jewish record pointing to Yeshua as the Messiah as well as the “Son of the Holy One.”