Who was Malachi in the Bible?
Malachi is the man God chose to speak His final recorded words to Israel before four centuries of silence — and almost nothing is known about him except the message he carried. His short book closes the Old Testament with a portrait of a people who had come home from exile, kept up their religion, and lost their hearts.
The Last of the Prophets
Malachi speaks to the generation brought back from captivity in Babylon, and his position at the end of the Old Testament is not an accident of filing. Commentators read his closing words as the hinge between two eras:
J. N. DarbyThe prophecy of Malachi deals with the people brought back from the captivity of Babylon, and is most important because it shows the moral condition of the people after their return. Its last verses clearly close Jehovah's testimony to the people, until the coming of the one who would prepare the way of Jehovah — in a word, until John the Baptist. The law and the prophets were until John, and Malachi is openly, and by the nature of his testimony, the last.
After his message ended, God said nothing more for four hundred years, until a voice cried in the wilderness to prepare the way of the Lord.
A Man Known Only by His Name
We have no father's name, no hometown, no dates from his own hand. That silence has made his identity a matter of debate:
Arno Clemens GaebeleinWe know nothing of the person of this prophet. His name only is given in the record... Malachi means "my messenger" or "the messenger of Jehovah." ... One of the reasons for this theory is that "the first verse does not contain any further personal description, and that nothing is said about his father or place of birth." But Obadiah and Habakkuk show the same omissions... There is no reason to doubt that Malachi is the real name of the prophet.
Commentators differ here — some treat "Malachi" as a title rather than a personal name — but the anonymity is itself instructive. One writer puts it simply: even if the man is barely known, we should still know the burden of the word of the Lord that came through him.
When He Spoke
The book itself gives the clues. The rebuilt temple is running, priests are offering sacrifices, and a Persian-appointed governor rules the land:
Arend RemmersFrom these facts one concludes that Malachi lived around Nehemiah's time. Some scholars place Malachi's service before Nehemiah's time; others think he prophesied while Nehemiah had gone back from Jerusalem to the Persian court, or even that he ministered after Nehemiah's time. In any case we are speaking about the second half of the fifth century BC (probably 450–425 BC).
The Charge He Delivered
His quarrel is not with idols but with a shabby worship offered by men who thought they were doing fine. The priests brought God what they would never dare hand to a human official:
F. B. HoleIn Malachi's day the priests did not for one moment admit the charge laid against them. They rejected it, saying, "How have we despised your name?" This brought a more specific accusation about their offering "polluted food" on God's altar... The kind of offerings they were bringing meant that they treated "the table of the LORD" as something to be despised. It was not, we judge, that they were saying this in so many words, but that was what their actions declared; for, as we know, actions speak louder than words, and God knows perfectly how to interpret them.
The People Who Answered Back
The book has a distinctive rhythm: God states a fact, and the people dispute it. That back-and-forth is the whole diagnosis.
Hamilton SmithIf God reminds them of His love, they say, "How have you loved us?" (Mal. 1:2). If He rebukes them for despising His name, they say, "How have we despised it?" (Mal. 1:6)... If they are accused of having wearied the LORD, they say, "How have we wearied him?" (Mal. 2:17). If God charges them with robbery, they say, "How have we robbed you?" (Mal. 3:8)... If He begs them to return to Him, they say, "How shall we return?" (Mal. 3:7).
The Few Who Listened
In the middle of that hardness, a small group is singled out — and God writes their conversation down.
Raymond K. CampbellIn the book of Malachi we see this same remnant some years later... Still, we find among them those who were faithful to the Lord and met His approval. They were, so to speak, a remnant within a remnant... For them a book of remembrance was written, something we never hear of in the glorious days of Moses, Joshua, David, or Solomon.
Where His Message Points
Malachi does not end in the ruins he describes. He looks past them to a messenger, and past that to the Lord Himself.
Walter ScottSignificantly, the name Malachi means "My Messenger" (Mal. 3:1)... We have the coming of Jesus in grace referred to (Mal. 3:1), and His coming in judgment (Mal. 4:5). The opening words of our prophet are quoted by Paul (Rom. 9:13), while the closing words are cited by Jesus (Matt. 17:11-12).
Summary
- Messenger — his name means "my messenger," and it is nearly all we know of him; the man disappears behind the word he carries.
- Message — God's last word to Israel, spoken around Nehemiah's day to a people whose temple worked and whose hearts had gone cold.
- Mirror — the charge lands not through idols but through cheap offerings and the endless comeback "How have we...?"
- Minority — a remnant within a remnant fears the Lord, speaks together, and gets a book of remembrance written for them.
- Messiah — the book ends by pointing forward: a forerunner, then the Lord Himself, coming in grace and in judgment.