Although there had been a few high points in Israel’s history, e.g., Joshua, David, and Josiah, the Jews had seemingly lost all opportunity to receive God’s favor since less than 100 years after returning from captivity, they had already sunk to a depth of sin that exceeded the former iniquities which brought on the Assyrian and Babylonian deportations. 13).Īs over two millennia of OT history since Abraham concluded, none of the glorious promises of the Abrahamic, Davidic, and New Covenants had been fulfilled in their ultimate sense. 424 B.C.), he vigorously rebuked them for these abuses in the temple and priesthood, for the violation of the Sabbath rest, and for the unlawful divorce of their Jewish wives so they could marry Gentile women (cf. When Nehemiah returned from Persia the second time (ca. Malachi rebuked and condemned these abuses, forcefully indicting the people and calling them to repentance. After being back in the land of Palestine for only a century, the ritual of the Jews’ religious routine led to hard-heartedness toward God’s great love for them and to widespread departure from His law by both people and priest. Ezra had returned in 458 B.C., followed by Nehemiah in 445 B.C. The temple had been rebuilt under the leadership of Zerubbabel (516 B.C.) and the sacrificial system renewed. Only 50,000 exiles had returned to Judah from Babylon (538–536 B.C.). 2, 3, in which Christ writes what He thinks about the conditions of the churches, here God writes through Malachi to impress upon Israel His thoughts about the nation. So it is likely that Malachi was written during the period of Nehemiah’s absence, almost a century after Haggai and Zechariah began to prophesy. 424 B.C.) to deal with the sins Malachi described ( Neh. to rebuild the wall, and returned to Persia in 433 B.C. They shared other concerns as well, such as marriages to foreign wives ( 2:11–15 cf. 13:6), while his emphasis on the law ( 4:4) coincides with a similar focus by Ezra and Nehemiah (cf. Malachi’s reference to “governor” ( 1:8) speaks of the time of Persian dominance in Judah when Nehemiah was revisiting Persia ( Neh.
Many years had passed since then as the priests had increasingly become complacent and corrupt ( 1:6–2:9). Sacrifices were being made at the second temple ( 1:7–10 3:8), which was finished in 516 B.C. Looking solely at internal evidence, the date of the prophecy points to the late fifth century B.C., most likely during Nehemiah’s return to Persia ca. Jewish tradition identifies him as a member of the Great Synagogue that collected and preserved the Scriptures. However, since all other prophetic books have historically identified their author in the introductory heading, this suggests that Malachi was indeed the name of the last OT writing prophet in Israel. It is pointed out that the name occurs nowhere else in the OT, nor is any background material provided about the author.
Some have suggested that the book was written anonymously, noting that the name, meaning “my messenger” or “the LORD’s messenger,” could be a title rather than a proper name. With this last work in the Minor Prophets, God closes the OT canon historically and prophetically. The title is derived from the prophecy’s author, Malachi.
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