Malachi

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IT HAS been years since God restored his people to their land. But they have lapsed into the very sins that brought about their captivity. God sends Malachi to remind his people that he loves them, but they have not returned his love. The priests have dishonored him and led his people astray. The men have married heathen women. And all have hardened their hearts to persist in their sins. Malachi gives them a final warning of the purifying day of the Lord; after this message God’s people would hear no more from him for four hundred years.

Vital Statistics

     ■  AUTHOR: Malachi.

     ■  DATE WRITTEN: Around 430 B.C.

     ■  PURPOSE: To confront the people with their sins of insincere worship and corruption and to restore their relationship with God.

     ■  THEMES: God’s love, the corruption of the priests, the sins of the people, the day of the Lord.