The Book of Malachi

Lecture Notes from Minor Prophets of the Old Testament

Introduction

I. Who was Malachi?

--The name “Malachi” means “my messenger” (ykia;l]m' =mal^e'achi). Is it a name or a title?

--As a title, it is related to the Hebrew for “angel.” This would recognize that the prophet, who is responsible for the Book of Malachi was a messenger for Yahweh. Many scholars would argue that this is the point & that Malachi is simply a generic title.

--LXX reads ejn ceiri; ajggevlou aujtou`, “by the hand of his angel [=messenger].”

--Mal. 3:1 uses the exact same word, “my messenger,” referring to a future messenger who will precede Yahweh’s coming in judgment. This could suggest the title of the book came from this verse, i.e. the Book of Malachi is the work of the “messenger” in 3:1. This seems to be a reasonable suggestion to me, or at least some connection between 3:1 & 1:1 should be made.

--Whether Malachi was a title or a name is actually irrelevant, since the prophecy from the Lord is a prophecy either way! Whether we know the identity of the prophets does not change the fact that the message is from Yahweh.

--If Malachi is a name, then nothing is known about the prophet Malachi outside of the book that bears his name.

II. When did he preach?

--In the Persian period, note the Persian word for “governor” in 1:8.

--After 516, because the temple apparently is standing (1:10, 3:1, 10). These verses do not necessarily require that the temple be standing, since “temple” & “house” can be used metaphorically, but they do imply its existence.

--Perhaps near the time of Nehemiah, noting the common themes of both:

--Social & religious abuses (3:5, Neh. 5:1-13).

--Tithing (3:7-10, Neh. 10:37-39)

--Divorce & mixed marriages (2:10-16, Neh. 10:30, 13:23-29)

--This would suggest a date between 500-430 BCE, from before Nehemiah’s return & possibly during it as well.

III. Where did he preach?

--The message seems to be addressed to the leadership in Jerusalem.

IV. What was his message?

--Repent of sin & return to Yahweh. This theme involves social injustice, marriage & divorce, improper worship, & arrogance toward God.

--Reassurance of Yahweh’s care for His people. He is faithful to His covenant. He watches them & will judge and/or redeem.

V. The Book of Malachi

--Note the “Disputation” or perhaps “Diatribe” nature of the book. Each section is a dialogue between Yahweh & His people.

--Brief Outline

1:1 Superscription

1:2-5 Jacob & Esau

1:6-2:9 Word to the Priests

2:10-16 Judah’s Broken Covenant

2:17-3:5 The Messenger of the Covenant

3:6-12 Robbing God

3:13-4:3 A Word to the Arrogant

4:4-6 Final Words

Malachi 1-4

1:2-5—Jacob & Esau

--The people of Judah were in a desperate struggle. Life was hard, not at all the promised land that they had hoped for upon returning from Babylon exile. Thus they were questioning whether Yahweh loved them at all.

--Yahweh affirmed His love for them with the example of Esau/Edom. He has judged Edom by making their nation a desolate waste. Because of their apparent abuses of Judah after the Babylonian destruction, Edom was the object of several judgment oracles (i.e. Obadiah). God judged Edom.

--Does God “hate”?

--Perhaps so, but the words “love” & “hate” are sometimes used in covenant language & should probably be seen that way here.

--Yahweh has chosen (“loved”) Judah, but He has not chosen (“hated”) Edom. Because Esau/Edom is not the chosen people, their mistreatment of the chosen, Judah, has led to their total destruction, which will never be overcome.

--Yahweh affirms His greatness throughout the entire world. And yet He has loved & chosen the people of Judah.

--In Romans 9:13, 18, the apostle Paul quotes 1:2-3 to teach that God chooses whoever He desires (& also rejects whoever he desires). While this is indeed true, the actual point of Malachi is that Yahweh has chosen the people of Judah & that they continue to be His people. One might wonder, however, if this emphasis could help to reapply Romans 9 out of a predestination/ election debate & see it as a word of encouragement that we have indeed been chosen to Him to be His own people.

1:6-2:9—Words to the Priests

--1:6-14—Blemished Sacrifices

--The priests should have honored Yahweh as father & feared Him as master, esp. since they were especially chosen as Yahweh’s servants.

--Yahweh accused the priests of “despising” His name(=himself). Of course, the priests did not agree & questioned this accusation. To this, Yahweh answers.

--The priests have offered unacceptable sacrifices. They have offered animals that were blind, lame, sick, & blemished. These were unacceptable, i.e. unclean, according to the OT laws, yet the priests were willing to offer them.

--The Lord rejects these offerings. They make the Lord’ table, or altar, unclean. The priests, who were responsible to keep all things holy & clean to Yahweh, were the very ones polluting the worship!

--He uses language akin to Amos 5:21-25 in suggesting that someone needs to close the doors to the temple because He will not accept the offering.

--The priests respect & fear the governor more than Yahweh. They would never offer the blind, lame, or sick to the governor in taxes because he would never accept them.

Yet, they are willing to offer these things to Yahweh, the Lord of Hosts, the “great king,” whose name is great among the nations. [Are we guilty of this sin as well? Do we offer God second best & give our best to the state, the job, or the family? The best must belong to God. We must never give Him the 2^nd best!]

--2:1-9—Covenant with the Priests

--God had made a covenant with the tribe of Levi to be His priests. This may refer to or at least reflect the blessing of Moses in Dt. 33:8ff.

--The tribe of Levi had several responsibilities:

--They were guardians & teachers of the Law. They were to know it, teach it, and preserve it.

--Offer blessings for the people who came to worship. These blessings were considered blessings from Yahweh.

--Offer sacrifices to Yahweh for the people.

--The priests had broken their part of the covenant.

--As we just saw, they have offered unclean sacrifices, thus relinquishing their rights to serve as priests in the temple.

--In this passage we learn that they have ignored the Law of God & caused people to stumble. This is closely akin to the “shepherds” in Zechariah, who had scattered the sheep rather than gathering & caring for them. The priests have failed in their responsibilities to the covenant.

--Thus they will be judged as covenant breakers.

--Rather than “life & peace,” they will have dung on their faces, blessings turned into curses, & bring shame to the priests.

2:10-16—Judah’s Broken Covenant

--Judah is God’s covenant people. They have received the covenant blessings of Yahweh, yet they have broken that covenant.

--They have been “faithless” toward the covenant in two ways:

--Marrying the “daughter of a foreign god.” This is usually taken to refer to marrying foreign women, which is also a problem for Nehemiah. Apparently they had married non-Jewish women in the land around them. [However, some scholars take this to mean that they were worshiping idols, i.e. Hosea & committing adultery with Baal.]

--Divorcing their wives. They had broken the covenant with the “wife of their youth.”

--Yahweh says, “I hate divorce.” This is a strong statement concerning God’s attitude toward divorce.

--Has God changed His mind? NO! Thus, even today, we must avoid divorce when at all possible.

--The result of breaking the covenant is that their offerings are not accepting. This is the reason for their tears on the altar (v. 13). God will not accept our offerings if we disregard His expectations for us & ignore His laws.

2:17-3:5—The Messenger of the Covenant

--They have wearied Yahweh by delighting in evil. As Yahweh’s people they should have been a people of justice, but the priests have allowed the people to be complacent in matters of justice.

--The Lord affirms that He will come.

--“My messenger” will prepare the way for the Day of the Lord. Is this messenger Malachi or someone else? There is no way to be certain.[On the NT use of this term, see below on 4:5.]

--As in the earlier prophets, the Day of the Lord will be a day of judgment because of the lack of justice among God’s people—they commit adultery, practice sorcery, & oppress the laborers, widows, orphans, & sojourners.

3:6-12—Robbing God

--Breaking the covenant is tied to tithes. The law required that a tithe be brought to the Lord for the sustenance of the worship place & the priests. However, the people were not doing this.

--They were, then, robbing God. What a harsh charge!

--Do we rob God when we do not tithe? (see Mt 23:23; Luke 11:42)

--Failure to bring the tithe has apparently brought about the lack of physical blessings. Yahweh challenges them to test Him & see if He will not bless them if they are faithful in bringing the tithe.

--The call of Yahweh is to repent & return to Him.

--If they will return to Him, then he will return to them. This is a prominent theme in the prophets, as we have seen (i.e. Hosea 14:1-8).

3:13-4:3—A Word to the Arrogant

--The Arrogant

--They had grown tired of being faithful to Yahweh & His laws. They had neglected His Law & arrogantly exalt those who do evil. They test & escape, or so they think.

--In the “coming day” they will be burned up completely. Thus Yahweh will judge those are arrogant & complacent.

--Those who fear the Lord

--Yahweh has remembered those who have remained faithful. He has a “book of remembrance” for them.

--They will be blessed & healed in the Day of the Lord. This is a call to be faithful even when the expected results are not present. God will bless faithfulness & punish unfaithfulness.

4:4-6—Final Words

--Remember the Law—A concluding call to not forget their covenant relationship with Yahweh, which is based on the Law of Moses from Mt. Horeb (Sinai). The call is to remain faithful to Yahweh.

--Elijah is coming

--Elijah would be sent before the Day of the Lord. This is likely an expansion of the prophecy of Malachi 3:1.

--He would bring about repentance, i.e. turn the people’s hearts back to each other & to the Lord.

--Elijah is important in later Jewish & Christian writing:

--In Judaism, “Elijah’s cup” is place at the Passover table as a messianic hope. In many apocryphal texts, Elijah appears as a messianic or pre-messianic figure.

--The NT took applied “my messenger” in 3:1 & Elijah in 4:5 to John the Baptist (Mt. 3:1-6; 11:10, 14; Mark 1:2-4; Luke 1:16-17, 76-77, 7:27). Isaiah 40:3 are combined with these passages of Malachi in the NT to refer to John as Elijah coming to prepare the way for the Messiah, Jesus.