Malachi

Introduction to Malachi

Malachi is the final book of the OT. As it was written, Israel had returned from Exile, and they had reformed the nation of idol worship. And yet, as Malachi wrote, the nation had turned to faulty, formalistic worship of God.

Authorship

Scholars debate whether the word “Malachi” is a personal name (i.e. a proper noun) or a generic “messenger” (i.e. a common noun).

Arguments in favor of a GENERIC MESSENGER

The word Malachi (mal’akhi) literally means “messenger of Yahweh.” The Septuagint translated this as “his messenger,” rather than a personal name.

The Targum of Jonathan states that Ezra actually wrote the book, and the 4^th century church father Jerome agreed with this.

The Talmud states that Mordecai wrote the book (Megillah 15a).

Josephus doesn’t mention a prophet named Malachi—even when describing figures during this period (Antiquities, 11.4.1-8).

The NT authors cite the book (Mt. 11:10; 17:12; Mk. 1:2; 9:11-12; Lk. 7:27; Rom. 9:13), but they never cite Malachi’s name.

Arguments in favor of a personal name: MALACHI

Virtually all ancient Hebrew personal names had a meaning or translation. Thus, it shouldn’t surprise us to see a word that can be either a name or a common noun.

All of the prophets open their books with their names—not a generic title. If this is a common noun, then this would be the only example among the prophetic literature.

Later, Malachi uses the word to refer to a generic messenger in Malachi 3:1 (“I am going to send My messenger”). However, this usage later shouldn’t affect our understanding of this current usage.

Eugene Merrill summarizes, “Granting that the title reflects the name of the book’s author, this is about all that can be said on the matter. The prophet is named nowhere else in the Bible, and his own book says nothing more about him than the mere fact that the Lord spoke through him (1:1).”

Date

Malachi wrote in the fifth century BC. Archer dates the book to around 435 BC. Merrill writes, “As for the date of the book, its canonical location and ancient Jewish tradition place it in the postexilic period (Baba Bathra 14b). More precisely, it is the last of the prophets and therefore postdates Haggai and Zechariah, both of whom ministered in the last quarter of the sixth century BC (see Hag. 1:1; Zech. 1:1).” The Talmud usually groups Malachi with Haggai and Zechariah—other postexilic books (Yoma 9b; Sukkah 44a; Rosh Hashanah 19b; Megillah 3a, 15a).