Malachi

Malachi’s Prophecy

The book of Malachi is the last prophetic book that exists before the canon, which focuses mostly on the indictments from God to the people for disobeying the covenant.[1] Consisting mostly of argumentative and logical stylistic elements, Malachi warns the people of Israel of the wrath that God will exhibit if they choose not to display complete commitment and recognize their personal fulfillment in their relationship with Yahweh. However, following each warning, Malachi bolsters the idea the Yahweh still loves his people, although previous acts may not demonstrate a belief in such love. In addition to Malachi’s forewarnings, reference is made to obstacles that stand in the way of the people and priests’ ability to show reverence to Yahweh.[2]

The belief of Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible is that the Book of Malachi was written in close affiliation to the Book of Zechariah, in which Malachi would be seen as the third part to the work of the Prophet Zechariah. The reasoning as to why this theory may be valid is that each message discusses how there exists an oracle of the word of God, and the omission of the third section of Zechariah to form the book of Malachi can be attributed as an editorial choice to complete the sacred number of twelve prophets.[3] The Book of Malachi can be attributed to a prophet with the name of Malachi, translating to “messenger;” however, it appears that the editor drew a fitting name for the author of the book. [4] Instead, the name Malachiah was to be considered more appropriate for having the meaning “messenger of Yahweh” which would coincide with such names as Isaiah and Jeremiah; although the prophecy of Malachi appears to be anonymous, no part of the book is seriously questioned. [5] Due to the book being anonymous, there is little information about the author; hence, what can be known is revealed in the book itself. A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Malachi’s interpretation is that Malachi...