Introduction to Malachi
Author - The prophet Malachi (whose name means “my messenger”)
Audience - Post-exilic Judeans
Setting
Around 460 B.C.
Probably during Ezra and Nehemiah’s leadership
During the reign of King Darius
Theme - Malachi’s fellow Israelites were guilty of corrupt worship and unethical behavior. He called the people to renewed covenant obedience.
Some scholars have argued that “Malachi” in Malachi 1:1 ought to be understood as a title, “my messenger,” rather than as a proper name. It appears more likely, however, that “Malachi” is a proper name, as it is interpreted by many other ancient sources.
The book of Malachi offers no clear pointer to the date of its composition. Nevertheless, most scholars agree that Malachi was probably a contemporary of Ezra and Nehemiah in the mid-fifth century B.C.
The mention of the temple (Mal. 1:10; 3:1, 8)
Reference to a governor (Mal. 1:8)
The rebuke of similar sins mentioned by Ezra and Nehemiah
The book is written entirely in prose. The dominant genre is satire. The primary vehicle in which the satire is embodied is a rhetoric of question and answer, as the people of Judah are pictured as asking a series of questions that God answers in an accusatory and condemning way.
Malachi’s ministry took place nearly a hundred years after the decree of Cyrus in 538 B.C., which ended the Babylonian captivity and allowed the Jews to return to their homeland and rebuild the temple (2 Chron. 36:23). This was some 80 years after Haggai and Zechariah encouraged the rebuilding of that temple with promises of God’s blessing, the engrafting of the nations, prosperity, expansion, peace, and the return of God’s own glorious presence.
To Malachi’s disillusioned contemporaries, these predictions must have seemed a cruel mockery. In contrast to the glowing promises, the harsh reality was one of economic privation, prolonged drought, crop failure, and pestilence.
CSB Study Bible - E. Ray Clendenen
The prophecy of Malachi emphasizes the message rather than the messenger; God is the speaker in about 47 of the 55 verses.
Malachi presented Judah's sins largely by quoting their own words, repeating their own thoughts, and describing their own attitudes.
Malachi was the last prophetic message from God before the close of the old testament. Malachi spoke to the hearts of a troubled people whose circumstances of financial insecurity, religious skepticism, and personal disappointments were similar to those often experienced by God's people today. Our God calls us to genuine worship, fidelity to Himself and to one another, and to expectant faith in what He is doing and says He will do in this world and for His people.
It seems that Malachi carried out his ministry some time during this period of post-exilic reform by Ezra and Nehemiah. The date of his book cannot be fixed with certainty, but the sins he rebuked were similar to those that Ezra and Nehemiah had to deal with.
The people apparently expected that because they had come back to their land and rebuilt their temple, they were going to enjoy the unlimited blessing of God. This did not prove to be so, and as a result people began to doubt whether God really cared for them. Malachi replied that the fault was on their side, not God’s. They had, by their sins, created barriers that hindered the flow and enjoyment of God’s love.
Malachi referred to no datable persons or events in his prophecy, so we must draw our conclusions from implications in the text and traditional understandings of it. The Talmud grouped Malachi with Haggai and Zechariah as post-exilic prophets.
Even after Ezra’s reforms and Nehemiah’s amazing success in motivating the Jews to rebuild Jerusalem’s wall, most of the people remained cold-hearted toward Yahweh. Priests and people were still not observing the Mosaic Law as commanded, as is clear from references in the book to sacrifices, tithes, and offerings (Mal 1:6; Mal 3:5). Foreign cultures had made deep inroads into the values and practices of God’s people. The Israelites still intermarried with Gentiles (Mal 2:11), and divorces were quite common (Mal 2:16). The spiritual, ethical, and moral tone of the nation was low.
Waiting for God
By now, the temple was rebuilt, sacrifice and feasts had resumed but the dramatic promises of the prophets like Haggai and Zechariah were still far from fulfillment. This left the nation discouraged and disappointed in what they thought were unfulfilled promises. This led them towards a low regard for God. Israel needed an assurance of God’s love and a challenge to their disobedience. - David Guzik
Malachi and his contemporaries were living in an uneventful waiting period, when God seemed to have forgotten His people enduring poverty and foreign domination in the little province of Judah. . . . True the Temple had been completed, but nothing momentous had occurred to indicate that God’s presence had returned to fill it with glory, as Ezekiel had indicated would happen (Ezekiel 43:4). . . . Generations were dying without receiving the promises (Hebrews 11:13) and many were losing their faith. - Joyce G. Baldwin