Finish Strong!, An Introduction to Malachi

Most of the minor prophets in the Old Testament spoke prior to the Babylonian captivity. But the last three prophets, those at the very end of the Old Testament, occurred after the exile, when the people of Israel have returned to Judah and are rebuilding the temple and the city. Haggai and Zechariah began their prophecies about 520 BC, as the temple was being rebuilt. (Haggai and Zechariah are explicitly mentioned in Ezra 5:1-2.) Malachi, the last Old Testament prophet, probably spoke around 460 BC, when Ezra and then Nehemiah were active.

Often the term "messenger" (Hebrew malak, Greek Septuagint angelos) is used to indicate a supernatural being. But it can also be used for a human messenger. Malachi's name means "my messenger." (Some argue that Ezra is the author.)

The message of Malachi, presented as a dialogue between God and the Jewish people, is that the people have fallen back from their enthusiasm for the second temple and the new country being created after the exile. Have the people learned nothing from the Babylonian captivity? 

Outline

The book of Malachi has only four chapters. 

• In the first chapter the priests are confronted for their contempt regarding God -- they ignore God's love for Israel and hold the sacrificial system in contempt. 
• The chastisement of the priests continues in chapter 2, where the people are scolded for breaking covenants, both the covenant of Moses and the covenant of marriage.
• The second chapter ends with a complaint about God's justice, a complaint that continues into the third chapter.
• A messenger of justice approaches in chapter 3, and there is a digression into the people's apathy for the tithe to the temple.
• Chapter 3 ends, and chapter 4 begins with a promise of rembrance of the righteous and a new day coming with this future messenger.
• The last three verses of the book summarize the message, looking back to the Mosaic Covenant and looking forward to the new day (brought in by Elijah.) Indeed, these three verses are a nice summary of the entire Old Testament.

(The ancient Hebrew manuscripts did not separate out chapter 4, but continue those six verses as part of chapter 3.)

Even after the exile, the people drift away from God. This has been going on for thousands of years and this summary is echoed in the New Testament by Paul in Galatians 4:21-31; even with all of the lessons of the Old Testament, we seem unable to throw off our broken humanity.

Resources and References

My practice is to read through the text from the New International Version (NIV), copied into the blog and italicized in blue.  At the head of each blue paragraph of text I place a short title; after the text I place my thoughts or comments in black.  I begin this process with my own reactions and thoughts and then supplement these comments with gleanings from a commentary or two.

The goal of this blog is to force us to read every verse thoughtfully, getting a deep picture for the text, as a whole.

I place hyperlinks in pink, created so that one can click on a link and see the linked site open in another window... and go down a rabbit hole if you wish!

For the book of Zephaniah, I have relied on the following resources:

• a commentary by Joyce Baldwin in Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi: An Introduction & Commentary (The Tyndale Old Testament Commentary Series) 1981.
• a commentary by Robert L. Alden in the seventh volume of the Expositor's Bible Commentary, Zondervan 1985.
• a commentary by Douglas Stuart in The Minor Prophets: A Commentary on Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, edited by Thomas Edward McComiskey, 2018. (Motyer has also been a major source for my study in Isaiah and Zephaniah.)

If I refer to Alden, Baldwin or Stuart in the notes, it is in reference to the commentaries above.

• The Bible Project videos are always excellent. I recommend their video on Malachi.
• Amongst the online commentaries provided by EasyEnglishBible, is an online commentary on Malachi.
• The Gospel Coalition now has a set of online commentaries. Their commentary on Malachi is here.

I place hyperlinks in pink, created so that one can click on a link and see the linked site open in another window... and go down a rabbit hole if they wish!

Like most Old Testament writings, there is considerable wordplay. There is alliteration, punning, chiasmi, and so on. I do not know Hebrew and lean on the commentators to alert me to some of these. 

After This...

As we end the three years of blogging on the Old Testament, I will begin the next year by returning to Genesis and updating and improving the old blog posts.