The Bible Book

173

See also: The Flood 40–41 ■ Covenants 44–47 ■ Esau and Jacob 54–55 ■ The Ten Commandments 78–83 ■

The Coming of Salvation 189 ■ The Final Judgment 316–21

M

alachi is the last book of

the Minor Prophets, or the

Twelve Prophets, and for

Christians, it is the last book of the

Old Testament. It is hard to know

when it was written, but use of

the word pechah (governor) in

1:8 fits the period after the Persian

conquest of Judah (539 bce) and the

building of the Second Temple.

Malachi means “my messenger,”

or “angel,” and Malachi says that

“God will send a messenger who

will prepare the way before me.”

Some believe this “messenger” is

Malachi, although the phrase is

also used by Jesus to describe John

the Baptist (Luke 7:27), leading

Christian commentators to see the

promised messenger as Christ.

Catalogue of rebukes

The text begins by invoking the

Genesis story of Jacob and his

brother Esau (see pp. 54–55), in

which Jacob is loved by God, and

receives His blessing, while Esau

is rejected. This sets the stage for

the remainder of the text, in which

God reminds the Israelites of His

covenants with the ancestors and

asks “Where is the respect due

me?” (1:6). He rebukes the priests

for not keeping the Law and the

people for disobedience; taking

wives who worship foreign gods;

and sacrificing blind, lame, or

diseased animals as offerings.

The book ends with a

proclamation that the Day of the

Lord will come, when “every evil-

doer will be stubble” (4:1) to be set

on fire. However, God renews His

WISDOM AND PROPHETS

SURELY THE DAY

IS COMING; IT WILL

BURN LIKE A FURNACE

MALACHI 4, THE DAY OF JUDGEMENT

IN BRIEF

PA S SAGE

Malachi 1–4

THEME

Wrath and judgment

SETTING

500–600 bce Judah.

KEY FIGURE

Malachi Prophet of Judah.

Christ sits above a rainbow in Crispin

van den Broeck’s The Last Judgment

(1560), recalling the rainbow that God

created as a symbol of his covenant

with Noah after the Flood.

covenant with the faithful and

states that He will send the prophet

Elijah—a precursor to the Messiah

in Judaism and to Jesus Christ in

Christianity—before striking the

land with “total destruction” (4:6). ■

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