Whenever we speak of the covenantal love of God, very often we speak with little comprehension as to what is involved in God extending to us His divine mercy!! We often speak with much indifference and with little thought. As such the impact of God's covenantal love is hardly realized in our daily lives, much less in our relation with one another.
In this book of Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament canon, we see that God's covenantal love shines even brighter in the midst of Israel's coldness and sins.
The word "Malachi" can be translated as "my messenger" or "my angel." Walter Kaiser says that it might be "an apocopated form for MALACHIAH which means "Messenger of the LORD" (Kaiser, 13). The following arguments for the interpretation of the Hebrew word "Melachi" are taken from:
The Jewish Encyclopedia; Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia; Word Bible Commentary; ISBE; Expositor's Bible Commentary; Malachi by W. Kaiser Jr.; and The Books of Haggai, Malachi, in The New International Commentary on the Old Testament by Pieter A. Verhoef.
a) The LXX superscription translates "beyad melachi" as "in or by the hand of his messenger." This is an appellation borrowed for convenience from Malachi 3:1 .
But this view changes the first personal pronoun of (melachi -- my messenger) to a third person pronoun (his messenger in the Greek). There is no evidence to justify such a change. The change tampers with the perfect Word of God and must be rejected.
b) In Rabbinical Literature: The Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel explicitly states that Ezra the scribe was "my messenger" in Mal. 1:1 ; Rabbi Nahum attributed it to Mordecai.
This is highly interpretive and not a conclusive argument. It must also be rejected as extra biblical.
c) The similarity in the titles of Zech. 9:1 ; 12:1 and Malachi 1:1 points to a secondary origin, and that these prophecies were originally handed down anonymously.
This argument is merely a hypothesis. Zech. 9, Zech. 10, Zech. 11, Zech. 12, Zech. 13, Zech. 14 is an integral part of the book and therefore not anonymous. Again this is a view to be rejected in totality.
d) The name (Melachi) was supposedly taken from Mal. 3:1 and has been introduced in the superscription as a Stichwort, indicating the author of the book.
If this is true then the editor was not very well informed because the rest of the sentence in Mal. 1:1 suggests the third person, and the borrowed word meaning "my messenger" does not suit the context. Who is this MY? (as if first person is speaking whereas the context assumes a third person).
e) In its present form the word "melachi" would not be a suitable name to give to any child.
This argument is highly subjective. Even if it is accepted that it is not a suitable name to give to a child, it may be appropriate to assume the meaning "messenger of the LORD." Then would this name not be suitable?
f) The name appears no where else in the Old Testament and that later history apparently knows nothing of the person by name.
It is true that the name "melachi" is not found elsewhere in the OT or in later Jewish literature, but this also applies to Habakkuk. This view against the proper name view is also rejected. It is a subjective and speculative view.
g) The words "by the hand of Malachi" were added by an editor to distinguish this prophecy from the so-called anonymous prophecies of Zech. 9, Zech. 10, Zech. 11 and Zech. 12, Zech. 13, Zech. 14 and to obtain the desired number of twelve Minor Prophets.
This is also unacceptable because the number of Minor Prophets would then become fourteen instead of twelve. This is a ridiculous line of argument that the insertion of the name Malachi was to have the number 12 in the Minor Prophets.
h) The absence of any reference to his father and place of birth.
This is true of Obadiah too whose father was not mentioned and Habakkuk whose place of birth was also unknown.
a) The analogy of the titles of other prophetic books in which reference is made to the author. E.g. Zech. 1:1 ; Mic. 1:1 ; Jonah 1:1 ; etc.
b) The fact that when the expression (beyad -- by the hand of) is used to indicate the human instrument of God's revelation, it is normally followed by a proper name. E.g. Genesis 38:20 ; Exodus 16:3 ; 35:29 ; 38:21 ; Lev. 10:11 ; 26:46 ; Num. 4:37 , 45 , 49 ; etc.
c) The tradition of the word as a proper name is very old, as is evident from the rendering of the Peshitta, Theodotion, Symmachus, and the Vulgate.
d) 2 Esdras, dating from the second century A. D., lists the twelve Minor Prophets, naming Malachias as one of the three lasts prophets with the remark that Malachias means "who is also called the angel [messenger] of the Lord."
e) The Greek form, (Malachias), appears also in the superscription of the book in the LXX. Hence the LXX's rendering, "his messenger," may be only a different form of the Hebrew phrase in the sense of "messenger of the Lord."
In the absence of any compelling evidence against the Proper Name View, it is concluded that "Melachi" is the name of the prophet who wrote the book of Malachi.
Other than what is mentioned in this book, we must admit that nothing more can be known about the person and personal circumstances surrounding Malachi's life.
Malachi is placed last, again not because it was considered that least important of the twelve, but rather tradition points to the book of Malachi as that which concludes the series of prophetic books. Tertullian considers it as "the transition link between the two dispensations, . . . and "the skirt and boundary of Christianity." The Jews referred to the book as the "seal of the Prophets" and as "the last among them." The final verses of the book argues convincingly that it has to be placed last to prepare the first coming of the Messiah as we are assured of His second coming in Malachi. Malachi 4:5-6 reads, "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse."
Another reason for the book of Malachi to be placed last was that the content of the book contains the last words of a whole generation of prophets through whom God had revealed Himself to them in a unique way.
After the conclusion of this book, the canon of God will remain silent for the next four hundred years or so.
Although there is no explicit statements telling us when the book was written, there are indirect evidence which allows us to determine the approximate date of the book.
This is a rather vague title for a dignitary representing a foreign government. This is a word used to indicate a "governor" in the time of the Babylonian and Persian empires. Israel was never under a foreign governor before the exile of 722 B.C. Thus the reference of it indicates that the Book was most likely written in the postexilic era.
Furthermore, the book presupposes the existence of a Temple in Israel (cf. Mal 1:7-8 ) which will exclude the Babylonian period. This would make the foreign power a Persian dignitary.
It is true that the normal title for a Persian governor was "tirshata -- Neh. 10 :1" the Persians probably took over the term "governor" from the Babylonians when they conquered them (cf. Esther 3:12 ; Neh. 5:14 ).
The governor mentioned in Mal 1:8 could not have been Nehemiah. If it had been Nehemiah, Malachi would surely have mentioned him just as Haggai who named the governor in his days, Zerubbabel.
These prophets stirred the people to build and complete the rebuilding of the second Temple in 515 B.C. (cf. Ezra 5, Ezra 6 ). In the case of Malachi, this event was already in the past (cf. Mal 1:10 ; 3:1 , 8 ) the distant past, because the charge against the people was that their worship had deteriorated to such an extent that the priests and people had to be reproved by the prophet with regard to their malpractice [cf. Mal 1:6-14 ; 2:1-9 ; 3:6-12 ].
The only historical evidence in Malachi is that of the destruction of Edom. Edom was destroyed by the Babylonians in 587 B.C. and by the Nabateans Arabs between 550 and 400 B.C. As mentioned above the former is not possible which leaves us with the latter possibility. But the range of 550 and 400 B.C. does not allow us to date the event with any degree of accuracy.
Malachi based several of his arguments upon the existence of the Law of Moses (cf. Mal 4:4 ), the book must be dated after Ezra arrived in Judah in 458 B.C. The reason is that Ezra was the one who restored the knowledge and authority of the Law of Moses to the people (cf. Ezra 7:14 , 25 , 26 ).
Furthermore, before Ezra's arrival in Judah, the money needed for Temple worship came from the royal revenues of Persia (cf. Ezra 7:15-17 , 20-24 ). It was only afterwards that the abuses mentioned in Malachi 1:6-9 could have sprung up.
Some of the concerns included:
* The marriage to heathen wives -- Mal. 2:11-15 ; cf. Neh. 13:23-27 ;
* Neglect in paying their tithes -- Mal. 3:8-10 ; cf. Neh. 13:10-14 ;
* Disregard of the Sabbath -- Mal. 2:8-9 ; cf. Neh. 13:15-22 ;
* Corruption of the priesthood -- MAL 1:6-14, MAL 2:1-9 ; cf. Neh. 13:7-9 ;
* Existence of social wrongs -- Mal. 3:5 ; cf. Neh. 5:1-13 .
Therefore, without being dogmatic, Malachi's ministry, assuming it to be in the same time period as Nehemiah, might be placed during Nehemiah's absence from Jerusalem which was between Nehemiah's two official visit to Jerusalem. Since Nehemiah ended his first governorship in 433 B.C., our conclusion is that Malachi was written a little after 433 B.C. and before Nehemiah's second visit (cf. Neh. 13:9-11 , 19 , 21 ).
The background of the book of Malachi should thus be understood against the facts recorded in NE 10:1-39, Nehemiah 11, Nehemiah 12 NE 13:1-5 on the one hand and in Neh. 13:6-31 on the other hand.
Political Climate at this time was closely linked with the Persian Empire. Under Darius I (522-486 B.C.), the same Darius who gave the Jews permission to rebuild the Temple (2 Chr. 36:22 , 23 ; Ezra 1:3 ; 6:3-12 ), the Persian Empire obtained its vastest extent. It stretches from the Indus valley in the east to the Aegean Sea in the west, from the Jaxartes in the north to as far south as Lybia.
The vastness and magnitude of this empire certainly posed a great temptation to the people of God. The Jews who were scattered far and wide made themselves at home whereas the Jews in Palestine disclosed their openness to this world empire that they were a people who lost their theocratic consciousness. Israel was a people who could not maintain their unique position as the treasured possession of the LORD, their God! The books of Ezra, Nehemiah and Malachi testified to this fact. E.g. a nation who is prepared to serve the Almighty God sacrifices which they would not offer to their foreign governor speaks volumes of their lost perspective in God as their Father and Lord (Mal 1:6 , 8 ).
Nehemiah's Reformation vigorously improved the living conditions of the people. The walls were rebuilt. The covetousness of the rich was rebuked. The priests were scolded for not doing their duties and made to do restitutions to the rightful owners those things which were obtained illegally. After all the preliminary work was accomplished the covenant was renewed. And the nation agreed to keep the Law of Moses and to maintain and upkeep the Temple services and worship. This took twelve years to accomplish. Nehemiah returned to Persia after that (cf. Neh. 12:44-47 ; 13 ; 6 ).
Nehemiah Returned to find the people back in their old ways. His reformation work did not last. The people were back in their old sins (cf. Neh. 13:6-31 ). The Sabbath was desecrated (Neh.13:15-22 ). Many Ammonites and Moabites were accommodated into the community life of the covenant people (Deut. 23:3-7 ). This was seen in the fitting of a room by Eliashib, the priest, for his relative Tobiah, an Ammonite, in the courts of the house of God (cf. Neh. 13:7-9 ). Men from Tyre sold their wares and fish openly to the people of Judah in Jerusalem on the Sabbath Day (Neh.13:16 ). Mixed marriages to heathen women were common (Neh.13:23-29 ). The children born to these families could not even speak the Hebrew language (Neh. 13:24 ). It is interesting to note that Nehemiah must have returned after an absence of a number of years since the children from these mixed marriages could talk by then.
It was to this kind of spiritual and political environment that Malachi preached. With the exception of the desecration of the Sabbath Day, all the sins mentioned by Nehemiah in Neh. 3:6-31 , are also found in the book of Malachi.
Some of the themes found in the book of Malachi include:
* their public worship -- (MAL 1:6-14, MAL 2:1-9 )
* their mixed marriages and divorces -- (MAL 2:17-17, MAL 3:1-5 )
* their negligence of the compulsory contributions to the Temple worship -- (Mal 3:6-12 )