Introduction to the Book of Malachi

Table of Contents

• General Info
• Brief Survey
• Key Verses
• Author, Date and Recipients
• Historical Background & Timeline
• Themes, Purpose & Theology
• Interpretation Hints and Challenges
• Outline

General Info

As we mentioned in the introduction to Haggai, the last three books of the minor prophets, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi, are written by the divinely inspired post-captivity prophets and named respectively for each of the three authors.  The first to prophesy was Haggai, who was a contemporary of the second prophet Zechariah, and Malachi would follow several decades later.  Both Haggai and Zechariah prophesied to the returning Jewish exiles to their homeland of Judah (aka Israel) approximately twenty years after the initial wave of refugees arrived.  The final prophet of the Old Testament (OT) was Malachi who prophesied to the exiles who returned several decades later (see “Historical Background and Timeline” chapter below).  These final three books, along the the historical books of Ezra and Nehemiah, provide us with much valuable historical and spiritual information of the post-exilic period in the Middle Eastern region.

As the last book of the OT, Malachi corrects some of the false assumptions of the followers of the previous prophets, many of whom may have misinterpreted their prophecies concerning the restoration of the land of Israel as being fulfilled in the returns from exile under Zerubbabel, Ezra, and Nehemiah in the fifth century BC.  Malachi verified to his initial audience, and to Bible readers throughout the centuries, that those promises would not be fulfilled until the end of days.  Like other prophets, Malachi confirmed that, although many would be foreshadowed or partially fulfilled at the First Coming of Christ, the comprehensive fulfillment would not occur until the great and terrible day of the LORD when the sun of righteousness will arise with healing in its wings (4:1-5).

Malachi’s proclamations were followed by over 400 years of prophetical silence.  Although God remained silent during what was commonly called the intertestamental period, He was actively orchestrating the historical circumstances that, in the fullness of time (Gal 4:4-5), the Messiah would come to earth as the God-Man.  Yet, only with the coming of John the Baptist (3:1; see also Mt 3) does God again communicate with His people through the voice of a prophet.  Even though John the Baptist is found in the New Testament (NT), he is considered the last of the OT prophets, since the New Covenant (the words “testament” and “covenant” come from the same Greek word diatheke) was not ushered in until Christ had shed His blood on the Cross (Heb 9:14-17).

Regarding placement in the Protestant canon, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi are the last three books of the OT in the section called the “Minor Prophets”.  They undoubtedly were also placed there as a constant reminder to Israel of the First Coming of their Messiah who would usher in a New Covenant approximately five centuries later.  In the Hebrew Bible Canon, the twelve books of the minor prophets (along with Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel) are grouped into a section called the Nevi’im Aharonim, or the “Latter Prophets”.

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Brief Survey

The people of Israel who returned to Jerusalem from Babylon and Persia in 536 BC likely came with lofty hopes and expectations for a bright future.  Indeed, many of the prophets had painted a rosy and blessed future for the returning refugees.  The previous post-exilic prophets Haggai and Zechariah reinforced these high hopes by assuring the people that many blessings would come once the reconstruction of the Temple was complete.  Yet, during the ministry of Malachi, that probably began about 75-80 years after the rebuilt Temple was finished in 516 BC per Ezra 6:14-15, the promised blessings had still not come.  Not only that, but the people faced drought, famine, poverty, and  oppression instead.  Thus, their moral and spiritual state was rapidly deteriorating, bringing with it self-pride, apathy, and skepticism.  In this decaying environment, Malachi delivered six fairly brief messages in an attempt to correct their errant behavior and thinking, and to rekindle the faith of his people who had given in to discouragement.  He accomplishes this dual mandate in the context of reassuring the people that their covenant relationship with God is still intact.

Malachi begins in chapter 1 by reassuring the doubters that God still loves them (1:2-5) even though they were breaking the covenant by offering blemished sacrifices and keeping the best for themselves (1:6-14).  In chapter 2, the prophet delivers a second message, this one directed to the priests, warning them of false teachings and improper sacrifices (2:1-9).  The third message warns of breaking the marriage covenant through intermarriage with non-believers or with those who worshipped foreign gods, and by being unfaithful to, or divorcing their spouses (2:10–17).  Men in particular, had a responsibility to protect their wives.

The fourth message warns about injustice and declares that God will send His messenger to prepare the way for Him, an illusion to the coming of John the Baptist to herald the first coming of Christ (2:17-3:5).  The fifth message warns the people about withholding their tithes and offering, stating that this is akin to robbing God (3:6-12).  The sixth and final message warns against arrogance with respect to God, promises a renewal of the covenant and a scroll of remembrance for the faithful remnant, but also warns of a final fiery judgment for all evil doers (3:13–4:3).  The prophet then gives final instructions to remember God’s law, and ends the book (and the OT) with a second prophecy that God would send the Prophet Elijah to the Jewish people.  This prophecy was fulfilled over four hundred years later by John the Baptist (Mt 11:11-15).

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Key Verses

An oracle: The word of the LORD to Israel through Malachi.  “I have loved you,” says the LORD.  “But you ask, ‘How have you loved us?’ "Was not Esau Jacob's brother?” the LORD says.  “Yet I have loved Jacob, but Esau I have hated, and I have turned his mountains into a wasteland and left his inheritance to the desert jackals.” (1:1-3)

“Oh, that one of you would shut the temple doors, so that you would not light useless fires on my altar!  I am not pleased with you,” says the LORD Almighty, “and I will accept no offering from your hands.  My name will be great among the nations, from the rising to the setting of the sun.  In every place incense and pure offerings will be brought to my name, because my name will be great among the nations,” says the LORD Almighty. (1:10-11)

“And now this admonition is for you, O priests.  If you do not listen, and if you do not set your heart to honor my name,” says the LORD Almighty, “I will send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings.  Yes, I have already cursed them, because you have not set your heart to honor me.  Because of you I will rebuke your descendants; I will spread on your faces the dung from your festival sacrifices, and you will be carried off with it.  And you will know that I have sent you this admonition so that my covenant with Levi may continue,” says the LORD Almighty.  “My covenant was with him, a covenant of life and peace, and I gave them to him; this called for reverence and he revered me and stood in awe of my name.  True instruction was in his mouth and nothing false was found on his lips.  He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and turned many from sin.  For the lips of a priest ought to preserve knowledge, and from his mouth men should seek instruction--because he is the messenger of the LORD Almighty.  But you have turned from the way and by your teaching have caused many to stumble; you have violated the covenant with Levi,” says the LORD Almighty.  “So I have caused you to be despised and humiliated before all the people, because you have not followed my ways but have shown partiality in matters of the law.” (2:1-9)

Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me.  And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts. (3:1)

“For I the LORD do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.  From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them.  Return to me, and I will return to you, says the LORD of hosts.  But you say, ‘How shall we return?’  Will man rob God?  Yet you are robbing me.  But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’  In your tithes and contributions.  You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you.  Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house.  And thereby put me to the test, says the LORD of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need. (3:6-10)

Then those who feared the LORD spoke with one another.  The LORD paid attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the LORD and esteemed his name.  “They shall be mine, says the LORD of hosts, in the day when I make up my treasured possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him.  Then once more you shall see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him. (3:16-18)

“Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace.  All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and that day that is coming will set them on fire,” says the LORD Almighty.  “Not a root or a branch will be left to them.  But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings.  And you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall.  Then you will trample down the wicked; they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when I do these things,” says the LORD Almighty.  “Remember the law of my servant Moses, the decrees and laws I gave him at Horeb for all Israel.  See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes.  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.” (4:1-6)

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Author and Date

The author is identified in the opening verse, “A prophecy: The word of the LORD to Israel through Malachi”.  Since the Hebrew word malachi means “my messenger” or “Yahweh’s messenger”, some have suggested that the word in the first verse is referring to a title rather than a person, that is someone who is an authentic messenger of God.  While this is possible, we find it to be extremely unlikely.  Other writing prophets have referred to themselves as a true messenger (malachi) of God, but they also identify themselves by their proper name, usually in the opening verse of their respective books.  In fact, since all other previous OT prophetic books identified the author by their proper name in their introduction, it is almost certain that the author would have followed the same protocol.  Thus, we accept that the word Malachi is the proper name of the book’s human author, and the last writing prophet of the OT.  Of course, the Divine Author is the Lord God Himself.

According to Jewish tradition, Malachi was, like Haggai and Zechariah, a member of the Great Synagogue, a council originated by Nehemiah and presided over by Ezra.  This group of 120 Jewish prophets and priests returning from Babylon is thought to have determined the the final arrangement of the OT canon.  This council would later develop into the Sanhedrin, a group of Jewish leaders who had certain jurisdictions over religious and some civil matters.

Examining the date of the book’s writing, we are lead to the late fifth century BC, probably during the return of the Nehemiah-led refugees (~ 433 – 424 BC; see Neh 5:14; 13:6).  Sacrifices were being made at the reconstructed temple (1:7–10; 3:8) that had been finished under Haggai, Zechariah and the high priest Joshua in 516 BC (Ezra 6:13–15).  Many decades had passed since worship resumed in the Temple and the priests had increasingly become complacent and corrupt (1:6–2:9).  In addition, as we mentioned earlier, the people were growing more and more impatient in waiting for the promised blessings to come.  Additional clues regarding the date is Malachi’s reference to “governor” (1:8), which likely refers to the time of Persian dominance in Judah while Nehemiah was revisiting Persia (Neh. 13:6), and his emphasis on the law (4:4) is consistent with his contemporaries Ezra and Nehemiah (Ezra 7:14, 25, 26; Neh 8:18).  Other common threads between the writing of Malachi, Ezra and Nehemiah include marriages to foreign wives (2:11–15; Ezra 9, 10; Neh 13:23–27), withholding of tithes (3:8–10; Neh. 13:10–14), and social injustice (3:5; Neh 5:1–13).  Nehemiah returned to Jerusalem in 445 BC to rebuild the wall, but returned to Persia in 433 BC.  He would later return to Judah about 424 BC to help deal with the sins that Malachi described (Neh 13:6), which could mean that Malachi’s book may have already been written, or at least notes were available to Nehemiah about 424 BC.  In any case, we can say that Malachi was likely written almost a century after Haggai and Zechariah began to prophesy.

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Historical Background and Timeline

See Historical Background of the Minor Prophets, Chronology of the Minor Prophets and Chronology of the Monarchy Timeline for additional info.  Also, see the historical background of the post-exilic prophet Haggai for a brief overview of the divided Jewish kingdom and the post-exilic period prior to the ministry of Malachi.

We’ve provided much historical background information in the chapters above, so we’ll just attempt to focus on the big picture and a few fairly broad strategic elements.  After the first Jewish exiles returned to Jerusalem from Babylon and Persia, they began rebuilding their city and the Temple under the leadership of the governor Zerubbabel and the high priest Joshua.  About 20 years later, the work had stagnated, particularly on the Temple, so God sent the prophets Haggai and Zechariah (Ezra 5:1–2) to encourage the people to complete the work, which was finished in 516 BC.  It was largely a result of the stirring preaching of the prophets that the temple was finished in 516 BC (Ezra 6:14–15).

Little historical data is available concerning the next sixty years or so.  The next generation of Israelites however, were without strong leadership that had been provided by Zerubbabel, Joshua, Haggai and Zechariah.  It is no surprise then that, the people drifted further and further away from God and the strong spiritual foundation that He provided.  When news of this apostasy made its way back to Ezra, a very godly Jewish priest still living in Persia, he approached the Persian king Artaxerxes and obtained authority and financial aid to travel to Jerusalem (Ezra 7:7, 11–28).  He subsequently arrived in 458 BC and began preaching and carrying out reforms, but he initially met with only limited success.  When Nehemiah, also a Jew living in Babylon, arrived in Jerusalem thirteen years later in 445 BC, more comprehensive and far-reaching changes began to occur.  He was also sent with authority from Artaxerxes.  In fact, Nehemiah was the king’s appointed governor over Jerusalem, and thus was accompanied by army officers and cavalry that the king sent with him (Neh 2:1–9; 5:1–19).  Ezra and Nehemiah then worked together to lead the people back to God (Neh chapter 8; 12:26).  Thus, the ministry of Malachi may have coincided with the period of post-exilic reform by Ezra and Nehemiah.  We can’t be sure of this, but the sins of the people that Malachi criticized were similar to those that Ezra and Nehemiah were also addressing.

Finally, we return to the expectations of the Jewish people during the time of Malachi that we briefly mentioned in the “General Info” chapter above.   The people apparently expected that, just because they had returned to their homeland and rebuilt their temple, they could now just sit back and enjoy the unlimited blessings of God, but this assumption quickly proved false.  Not only did they expect nothing but peace and prosperity, which was often elusive, but they sometimes experienced droughts and other challenges.  They had understood many of the prophets oracles, but misunderstood the timing of their fulfillment.  They wanted all the blessing now, but many were meant for the end times.  This was true on a personal and a national level.  That is, they thought that the nation of Judah would rule over all other nations, but after the return of the refugees, Judah remained an relatively insignificant territory of about 60 hundred square miles, just slightly larger than the city of Los Angelos and with a population of perhaps 150,000.  To top it off, the first coming of their Messiah was still over 400 years in the future.

Thus Malachi had to correct this thinking, both personally, spiritually, and nationally.  He had to reassure the people that God’s eternal plan was exactly on schedule and would not fail.  The people had to keep living by faith and not by site, just a we are to do today.

See Historical Background of the Minor Prophets, Chronology of the Minor Prophets and Chronology of the Monarchy Timeline for additional info.

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Themes, Purpose and Theology

As we’ve mentioned above, the Jewish refugees were returning to their homeland with high hopes and aspirations.  Many of the prophets had painted a rosy picture of things to come.  Yet the Temple rebuilding project had been finished decades ago, but the promised blessing were still yet to come.  The people were still poor and oppressed, and their national sovereignty was still controlled by the Persians.  The prophets were correct in their predictions, but the people had misinterpreted the timing of their fulfillment.  This disillusionment led to a spiritual drought.  Thus the primary purposes of Malachi were to reprimand the people for their sinful attitudes and behaviors, to teach them the way back to their blessings, and to assure them of their eventual victory in the coming Messiah.  He reassured them that their loving and righteous God still cares for them and, in His perfect timing, would restore His people and judge their enemies (1:2-5).

Theologically, we see prophecies announcing the two comings of the Lord Jesus Christ.  The first coming would be heralded by His messenger, John the Baptist who will prepare the way for Him (3:1-5).  The closing chapter 4 of the book contains a prophecy of both the first and second comings with a second mention of the sending of Elijah (4:5-6), which as we noted, was fulfilled by John the Baptist (Mt 17:11–13).

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Interpretation Hints and Challenges

As with many of the writings from the prophets, recognizing and understanding the literary form is a primary key for proper interpretation.  We know that all scripture is inspired by God Himself (2Tim 3:16-17), but He also chose to work through human authors who also incorporated their own writing styles.  For example, we see varying styles even within the three post-exilic authors.  Haggai wrote in a very straightforward prose style that was easy to follow, while Zechariah included a hefty dose of apocalyptic language, particularly in his futuristic prophecies.  On the other hand, Malachi utilized an argumentative style similar to that used in legal and criminal trials, and often used the peoples’ own words against them, much like Jesus would later do with his critics (see for example, Mt 5:21-48).

Malachi typically made his argument in four stages.  He opened by making a claim of truth.  He then presented the peoples’ rebuttal, usually phased as a question and often using his opponents’ own words.  Next, the prophet gave his answers to his audience’s rebuttal by restating his original premise.  Finally, he gave any additional supporting evidence to further support his original truth claim.  Thus, he completely disarmed his opponents by removing all grounds for further argument.

Now, we turn to one particular difficulty that, at first appears very specific, but it actually balloons into a larger doctrine.  In the second and third verse of the book, we read (God speaking through Malachi), “... I have loved Jacob, but Esau I have hated...” (portion of 1:2-3).  At first glance, this appears to contradict with a number of verses that proclaim God as a God of love (Jn 3:16, 1Jn 4:16 etc).  As usual, the context provides the answer.  Reading the entire section (1:2-5) provides the clear answer that God is not speaking of the two men, but of two nations.

“...I have loved Jacob, but Esau I have hated, and I have turned his hill country into a wasteland and left his inheritance to the desert jackals.”  Edom may say, “Though we have been crushed, we will rebuild the ruins.”  But this is what the LORD Almighty says: “They may build, but I will demolish.  They will be called the Wicked Land, a people always under the wrath of the LORD (1:2-4).  The phrases in bold make it clear that God could not be speaking of two person, but of two nations.  Jacob and Esau were brothers (see Genesis chapters 25-28) who were born to be the namesakes for two nations (Gen 25:19-34).  Jacob, who God changed his name to Israel (Gen 32:27-28) was the namesake for the Nation of Israel, and Esau was the namesake of the Nation of Esau aka Edom.

To answer the broader question of whether God hates sinners in general, the short answer is no, but he hates all sin.  Thus when Psalms 5:5 states that God hates all workers of iniquity, the Psalmist is saying that God hates their sin.  Habakkuk 1:13 declares that God is too pure to look upon sin.  In Revelation 2:6, the Apostle John states that God hates “the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate”.

It particularly helps to understand that the hatred of God is much different than the hatred possessed by humans.  When we hate something, we’re usually speaking of an extreme loathing, an absolute determent of a person, group, or action, based on our won ever-changing personal standards.  We tend to hate both certain people and things, while God loves everyone, but hates specific things.  A popular saying is that “God loves the sinner, but hates the sin”.  This is a true statement, however we must never use this saying to minimize or condone the sin.

See also Interpreting Prophetical and Apocalyptic Literature for additional interpretive info regarding the literary genre typically used by the prophets.

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Outline

We have divided the Book of Malachi by its six basic messages plus its epilogue.

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