Malachi
Purpose
Malachi is the last of the Old Testament prophets, ministering a generation after the temple had been rebuilt, and he addresses a people whose early zeal has cooled into cynicism and half-hearted religion. The book is structured as a series of six sharp disputations in which the LORD states a charge and the people respond with weary doubt — "How have you loved us?" "How have we despised your name?" — exposing a spiritual weariness that has settled into contemptible worship: priests offering blind and lame animals on the altar, people divorcing the wives of their youth to marry younger women, and everyone robbing God by withholding the tithe. Through it all the LORD reaffirms his covenant love, his hatred of treachery in marriage, and his demand that the priests teach true knowledge and walk before him with integrity. The book closes by turning the people's eyes forward: the Lord whom they seek will suddenly come to his temple, preceded by the promised messenger who will prepare the way; before that day Elijah the prophet will be sent to turn the hearts of fathers and children, lest the land be struck with a curse. Malachi is both the final diagnosis of Israel's post-exilic failures and the bridge into the long silence before John the Baptist.
Author
"Malachi" (meaning "my messenger"); identity otherwise unknown
Time Period
c. 450-400 BC, post-exilic, after the temple was rebuilt, likely in the era of Ezra and Nehemiah
Key Themes
- God's covenant love
- Corrupt priesthood
- Marriage faithfulness
- The tithe
- The day of the LORD
- The messenger
- Elijah
Outline
Introduction — the LORD's electing love (ch. 1:1–5): "I have loved you… Esau I have hated." First disputation — the priests' despised worship (ch. 1:6–2:9): offering blind, lame, and stolen animals; the Levi who turned many back from iniquity now corrupted; "give glory to my name." Second disputation — faithlessness in marriage (ch. 2:10–16): profaning the covenant by marrying the daughter of a foreign god; the LORD as witness between a man and "the wife of your youth." Third disputation — God's justice and the tithe (ch. 2:17–3:5): "Where is the God of justice?" — his messenger will refine the sons of Levi; "bring the full tithe… and test me… if I will not open the windows of heaven." Fourth disputation — the book of remembrance (ch. 3:6–12): the LORD does not change; return to me; and the distinction between the righteous and the wicked. Fifth disputation — the day that burns like an oven (ch. 3:13–4:3): your words have been hard against me; the evildoers will be stubble; for those who fear my name, "the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing." Closing promise — Elijah (ch. 4:4–6): remember the law of Moses; "I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD," to turn the hearts of fathers and children.