malachi

Background

Author.   Since Malachi means “My messenger,”[1] many have disputed this was really his name. If it is his name, that is all we know of the author. It is therefore an indifferent matter.

What is not indifferent, however, is the suggestion that the book of Malachi was originally part of a larger document which included Zechariah 9–14. (See Zechariah, Authorship for those arguments.) Malachi, like Zechariah, bears the marks of being from a single hand, whatever the name of the author.

Date of composition.   The book provides no direct indication as to its date. The few hints that exist point to a relatively late postexilic date, including the postexilic word for governor, pechah (1:8), the absence of reference to the temple reconstruction, and the generally degenerate state of Jewish religion. Social conditions also are parallel to the setting of Ezra and Nehemiah, such as stinginess respecting temple support, violation of the poor, and mixed marriages.[2] Thus a date in the second half of the 5th century, around 430, seems in order.

Historical setting.   See the background to Ezra-Nehemiah for details of the returns from Babylon. By Malachi’s day the temple had been rebuilt, completed perhaps 70–80 years earlier (516), and the rebuilding of the city walls probably took place right around the time of Malachi’s ministry. Serious malaise had set in on the poor residents of Judea, especially religiously. The people had grown skeptical regarding their calling and destiny under God, so that the Mosaic Law was largely ignored.

Argument

The book is composed of six messages plus a conclusion. The unifying theme is the divine warning to Israel that her defiled religion must be purified or else they will be judged at Messiah’s coming.

The prophecy is called an oracle or burden (massah; 1:1; cf. Zech 9:1; 12:1), suggesting a judgment theme. The first message—a defense of God’s elective love for Israel (1:2–5)—establishes that God has not wronged Israel, but that on the contrary Israel has wrongly charged God with rejecting her. God substantiates his love for Israel by his election of her in contrast to Edom, whom he has determined to tear down.

The second message (1:6—2:9), the longest of the six, establishes the charge of Israel’s most unworthy disrespect for God, evidenced by the offering of defiled sacrifices by the priests. The warning to reform their attitude and ways is conveyed by the threatening reminder of the Mosaic curse of infertility.

The third message (2:10–16) uses the example of Israelites’ treachery against each other and especially their marital infidelity to prove their violation of the covenant.

In the fourth message (2:17—3:6) God defends his justness against false charges (2:17) by announcing the coming of his covenant messenger to purify Israel and to purge her of covenant violators.

Having established his case in the preceding messages that Israel stands condemned with respect to the Sinai Covenant, God calls Israel in the fifth message to repentance (3:7–12). True repentance will be evident when Israel begins to pay the tithe faithfully (3:8–9). And true to the covenant terms, such faithfulness is guaranteed to be answered with the blessing of fertility (3:10–12).

The sixth message (3:13—4:3) shows that, in answer to the thoughts of some that God dealt with Israel strictly on a corporate basis, so that an individual’s behavior was indifferent, a distinction will be made between the faithful and the unfaithful in final judgment. The wicked individuals will be destroyed, while the reverent ones will be saved.

The conclusion brings the whole prophecy to a single message: Start keeping the Mosaic Law faithfully, or else expect the Mosaic curses to infest the land (4:4–6). The next voice you can expect to hear will be the new Elijah (introducing the “messenger of the covenant;” 3:1).

Outline

I. Introduction: A burden  1:1

II. First message: God’s elective love for Israel  1:2–5

A. The affirmation  1:2a

B. The demonstration: God’s opposition to Edom  1:2b–5

III. Second message: Rebuke of the priests’ contempt for God  1:6—2:9

A. The failure of the priests: defiled sacrifices  1:6–14

1. The charge: contempt for the Lord  1:6

2. The evidence: defiled sacrifices  1:7–8

3. The standard: reverent offerings  1:9–11

4. More evidence: disdain for offerings  1:12–13

5. The verdict: “Cursed is the cheat”  1:14

B. The warning to the priests  2:1–9

1. A curse of infertility for dishonoring God  2:1–4

2. Falling short of Levi’s example  2:5–9

IV. Third message: Judah’s domestic treachery  2:10–16

A. The charge  2:10

B. The first evidence: illegitimate intermarriage with idolaters  2:11–12

C. The second evidence: divorce from legitimate marriages  2:13–16

V. Fourth message: Defense of God’s justness  2:17—3:6

A. Judah’s unfounded charge  2:17

B. God’s answer of the coming Judge  3:1–6

1. Yahweh’s messenger of the covenant  3:1–2

2. His purification of Levi  3:3–4

3. His judgment of the wicked  3:5

4. His faithfulness to his covenant with Jacob  3:6

VI. Fifth message: God’s call to repent  3:7–12

A. The call to return  3:7

B. The evidence of returning: tithes  3:8–9

1. The charge of robbery  3:8

2. The result of robbery  3:9

C. The blessing of returning  3:10–12

1. Prosperity  3:10–11

2. Prominence  3:12

VII. Sixth message: Announcement of God’s differentiating judgment  3:13—4:3

A. The charge: Wickedness prospers  3:13–15

B. God’s promise: Fair and final judgment  3:16—4:3

1. He will spare the reverent  3:16–18

2. He will destroy the wicked  4:1

3. He will grant healing, joy, and victory to the reverent  4:2–3

VIII. Conclusion: Warning to be ready for Messiah’s coming  4:4–6

A. Call to keep the Mosaic Law  4:4

B. Prediction of “Elijah”  4:5–6

1. He will precede the day of the Lord  4:5

2. He will bring repentance, or else …  4:6