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MALACHI
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MALACHI , the name assigned to the last See also:book of the Old Testament in See also:English (the last of the " prophets " in the See also:Hebrew See also:Bible), which according to the See also:title (Mal. i. I) contains the " word of Yahweh to See also:Israel by the See also:hand of Malachi." In See also:form the word means " my messenger." It could be explained as a contraction of Malachiah, " messenger of Yahweh "; but the See also:Septuagint is probably right in not regarding it as a proper name (" by the hand of His messenger "). Not only do we know nothing from See also:internal or See also:external See also:evidence of the existence of a See also:prophet of this name,' but the occurrence of the word in the title is naturally explained as derived from iii. 1: " Behold, I send my messenger " (cf. ii. 7). The prophecy must, therefore, be regarded as See also:anonymous; the title was added by the compiler ' A Hebrew tradition given in the See also:Targum of See also:Jonathan, and approved by See also:Jerome, identifies Malachi with See also:Ezra the See also:priest and See also:scribe.who wrote similar editorial titles to the anonymous prophecies beginning Zech. ix. 1, xii. 1. The contents of the prophecy fall into a See also:series of clearly marked sections, as in the See also:paragraph See also:division of the Revised Version. These apply, in various ways, the truth emphasized at the outset: Yahweh's love for Israel in contrast with his treatment of See also:Edom (i. 2-5). Israel's response should be a proper regard for the See also:ritual of His See also:worship; yet any offering, however imperfect, is thought See also:good enough for Yahweh's See also:altar (i. 6-14). Let the priests, who are responsible, take warning, and return to their See also:ancient ideals (ii. 1-9). Again, the See also:common Fatherhood of See also:God should inspire a right relation among See also:fellow Israelites, not such conduct as the See also:divorce of Israelite wives in See also:order to marry non-Israelite See also:women (ii. Io-16).2 The prevalence of wrong-doing has provoked See also:scepticism as to righteous See also:judgment; but the messenger of Yahweh is at hand to purge away indifferentism from worship and immorality from conduct (ii. 6). The See also:payment of See also:tithes now withheld will be followed by the return of prosperity (iii. 7-12). See also:Religion may seem useless, but Yahweh remembers His own, and will soon in open judgment distinguish them from the irreligious (iii. 13-iv. 3). The book closes with an See also:appeal to observe the See also:law of See also:Moses, and with a promise that See also:Elijah shall come before the threatened judgment.' The topics noticed clearly relate the prophecy to the See also:period of Ezra and See also:Nehemiah, when the See also:Temple had been rebuilt (i. to; iii. 1, 1o), the See also:province of See also:Judah was under a See also:Persian See also:governor (i. 8), and there had been See also:time enough for the loss of earlier See also:enthusiasm. The See also:majority of See also:modern scholars are agreed that the prophet prepares for the See also:work of those reformers (Ezra, 458; Nehemiah, 444, 432 B.C.). The abuses of which he particularly complains are such as were found rampant by Ezra and Nehemiah—See also:marriage with See also:foreign women (ii. 1i; cf. Ezra ix.; Neh. xiii. 23 seq.; Deut. vii. 3) and failure in payment of sacred dues (iii. 8 seq.; cf. Neh. x. 34 seq.; xiii. roseq:; Deut. See also:xxvi. 12 seq.). The priests have fallen into contempt (ii. 9) and have neglected what is still one of their See also:chief See also:trusts, the oral law (ii. 6 seq.). The priestly See also:code of written law was not promulgated until 444 B.C. (Neh. viii.–x.) ; " Malachi " writes under the See also:influence of the earlier Code of See also:Deuteronomy only,4 and must therefore belong to a date See also:prior to 444. The See also:independent See also:character of the attack on current abuses also suggests priority to the work of Ezra in 458. The prophecy affords an interesting and valuable glimpse of the See also:post-exilic community, with its various currents of thought and See also:life. The completion of the second Temple (516 B.C.) has been followed by disillusionment as to the anticipated prosperity, by indifference to worship, scepticism as to See also:providence, and moral laxity.' In view of these conditions, the prophet's See also:message is to reassert the true relation of Israel to Yahweh, and to See also:call for a corresponding holiness, especially in regard to questions of ritual and of marriage. He saw that " the disobedience of 2 See also:Torrey (Ency. Bib. c. 2908) holds that the reference here is purely figurative; " Judah has dealt falsely with the wife of his youth, the See also:covenant religion, and is See also:wedding a See also:strange cult." But he assigns the book to the 4th See also:century. ' This closing prophecy may possibly be a later addition (so See also:Marti) rounding off the prophetic See also:canon by reference to the two See also:great names of Moses and Elijah, and their characteristic activities. In this See also:case, " Elijah " will represent an See also:early See also:interpretation (cf. Ecclus. xlviii. to) of the " messenger," originally conceived as a purely ideal figure. The only other passage in the book whose originality is not generally accepted is that referring to mixed marriages (ii. II, 12). ° It is the Deuteronomic law that is most See also:familiar to him, as appears from his use of the name See also:Horeb for the See also:mountain of the law, and the Deuteronomic phrase " statutes and judgments " (iv. 4), from his See also:language as to tithes and offerings (iii. 8, to; cf. Deut. xii. I I ; xxvi. 12), and especially from his conception of the priesthood as resting on a covenant with See also:Levi (ii. 4 seq.). Malachi indeed assumes that the " whole tithe "—the Deuteronomic phrase for the tithe in which the See also:Levites shared—is not stored in each township, but brought into the See also:treasury at the Temple. But this was a modification of the Deuteronomic law naturally called for under the circumstances of the return from See also:Babylon, and Neh. x. and xiii. produce the impression that it was not introduced for the first time by Ezra and Nehemiah, though the collection of the tithe was enforced by them. See further, W.R.S. in O.T.J.C. ii. 425-427. ' Cf. See also:Stade's reconstruction, G.V.I. ii. 128-138. the brotherhood of all Israelites under their one See also:Father (ii. so), not merely as a ground of separation from the See also:heathen, but as inconsistent with the selfish and cruel freedom of divorce current in his time .3 The book is a significant landmark in the religious See also:history of Israel. Its emphasis on the observance of ritual finds fullest development in the Priestly Code, subsequently promulgated; its protest against foreign marriages is made effective through the reforms of Ezra and Nehemiah;' the influence of its closing words on later expectation is familiar to every reader of the new Testament.5 The See also:style of Malachi, like his See also:argument, corresponds in its generally prosaic character to that transformation or decay of prophecy which began with See also:Ezekiel; and See also:Ewald rightly called See also:attention to the fact that the conduct of the argument already shows traces of the See also:dialectic manner of the See also:schools. Yet there is a See also:simple dignity in the manner not unworthy of a prophet, and rising from time to time to poetical See also:rhythm. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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