Who wrote the book of Malachi? Who was the author of Malachi?

We know nothing of the person of this prophet. His name only is given in the record. Critics have therefore doubted whether Malachi is really the personal name of the prophet, and many believe that it is merely an ideal name, given to the unknown person, on account of his message. Malachi means "my messenger" or "the messenger of Jehovah." The Targum Jonathan, an Aramaic paraphrase, adds after the name of Malachi, "Cujus nomen appelatur Ezra scriba," whose name is called Ezra the Scribe, thus claiming that the great and good Ezra is Malachi. But why should Ezra hide behind an assumed name? This is unworthy of the man, and more so of the Holy Spirit. Many of the leading expositors have accepted the theory that Malachi is the official name of the prophet, whoever he may have been. 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. Nor is it true that nothing was known historically of a person by name of Malachi. The Talmud has a statement which makes Malachi a member of the great synagogue, to which also the two post-exilic prophets Haggai and Zechariah belonged. Other traditions claim that he was of the tribe of Zebulun, born in Supha. There is no reason to doubt that Malachi is the real name of the prophet.

Malachi, the name of the last book of the OT, means “my messenger”. It might be an abbreviation of “ Malachjah” which has the meaning of “messenger of Jehovah”. Some do not hold “Malachi” as a first name but a designation. The same Hebrew word mal’achi is translated “Malachi” in chap. 1:1 and “my messenger” in chap. 3:1. We are not told any personal details of Malachi.

Malachi is the last of the three post-exile prophets. He does not give any detail about time and duration of his ministry. One can take from the book however that the temple in Jerusalem has been rebuilt and that the priests are offering sacrifices (Mal. 1:6-14). A governor (of the king of Persia) is reigning in the land (Mal. 1:8). The sad condition of the people is very much like the description of Nehemiah 13.

The Lord has not been pleased to give us much express information of the prophets in general, with the exception of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Daniel, and in a measure of Ezekiel and Jonah. Of the rest we know but little, and of none less than of Malachi. So much so that some have indulged in no small imagination about him, yea, have doubted, as learned men will doubt (none more probably), of his proper existence, some of course making him out to be anybody else than himself. I do not see what is the object or the profit gained by such speculations; or why people should suppose that he was not a man at all but an angel. It may be well briefly to allude to these dreams if it were only to show the exceeding want of good sense, to say no more, of such as indulge in them, and to caution souls against the trashy way in which they occupy themselves and their readers.

It is clear that God has an object where He does not speak as truly as where He does, and the essential difference of the prophet from others lies in his giving us not man's mind but God's revelations, though surely for the good of man. If then the person of the prophet be hidden, we may gather that it is best to leave it so. The design is only met by what God had to say. It seems plain however both by position in the canon and by internal character that the last of the prophets is to be classed with the last of the sacred historians, Malachi with Nehemiah, as Haggai and Zechariah are expressly with Ezra.

The last of the minor prophets. Nothing is recorded of the prophet's personal history, he is named once only. He was prophet near the time of Nehemiah's return to the land, and the prophecy reveals the moral condition of the people. The first chapter, while it shows their insensibility, shows also the sovereign love of Jehovah to them, a love on which His purpose depended. When charged with their sins, they asked wherein had they sinned. The answer is that they brought to the Lord that which was torn, the lame, and the sick, and had offered polluted bread upon Jehovah's altar: in effect saying, "The table of the Lord is polluted; and the fruit thereof, even his meat, is contemptible." This brought judgement upon those who were insensible to what was due to the Lord. Yet Jehovah should be magnified beyond the border of Israel, and His name be great among the Gentiles.

*It is interesting to note, especially in connection with chapter 3, that "Malachi" means the messenger of Jehovah. The prophet therefore, as was not unusual, had a typical character.