The dawn of a new age awaits God’s people.
The last prophet before the New Testament era, Malachi spoke to a people who felt betrayed. The Judeans were part of a movement to rebuild life in and around Jerusalem after decades of captivity in Babylon. But for all their hard work, they were dissatisfied with the outcome. At least some of the people remained impoverished. Relationships were strained. Faith seemed to bring no benefit to everyday life.
What Malachi revealed was that the people were the source of their own problems. When God reminded them of His love, they rejected His tender words (Mal. 1:2, 3). They brought blemished offerings before the Lord (1:8), and they sneered at worship (1:13). Corrupt priests had deserted their responsibility of leading the people to know God and follow His law (2:1, 6–8). The people abandoned their spouses (2:16), failed to pay tithes (3:8), and even accused God of loving evil (2:17).
After rebuking these sins, God revealed His plan to send a messenger to prepare for His own arrival (3:1). The Lord would come and consume sinners—adulterers, liars, unjust employers, and all who fail to stand up for widows, orphans, and foreigners. But for those who fear God, this “Sun of Righteousness” would arise and bring healing. His people would “go out and grow fat like stall-fed calves” (4:2). God would judge the wicked, but He would never abandon His followers (3:16).
With Malachi’s words, the prophets fell silent until the arrival of John the Baptist, the promised forerunner to Jesus, the “Sun of Righteousness” of Malachi’s prophecy.
Because the name Malachi means “My Messenger,” some scholars have suggested that Malachi is not the prophet’s name but a descriptive title of the book’s author (Mal. 1:1). Whatever his identity, Malachi probably lived in Jerusalem after the second temple was built, sometime in the fifth century B.C., perhaps around the same time as Nehemiah.
Key Verses in Malachi
• “Jacob I have loved; but Esau I have hated” (Mal. 1:2, 3).
• “From the rising of the sun, even to its going down … My name shall be great among the nations” (Mal. 1:11).
• “Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us?” (Mal. 2:10).
• “For the LORD God of Israel says that He hates divorce, for it covers one’s garment with violence” (Mal. 2:16).
• “Behold, I send My messenger, and he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple” (Mal. 3:1).
• “But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner’s fire” (Mal. 3:2).
• “The Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings” (Mal. 4:2).
• “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet.… And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers” (Mal. 4:5, 6).