MALACHI SERIES 1: INTRODUCTION TO THE SERIES

I. THE MINOR PROPHETS Jonah, Amos, Hosea – Northern

Kingdom (Israel) before Assyria Joel, Micah, Zephaniah, Nahum,

Habakkuk, Obadiah – Southern Kingdom before Babylon

Ezekiel, Daniel – (major prophets) during Babylon

Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi – after return from Babylon

Most of the minor prophets have a threefold message: the sin of the people; the coming judgment of God; and the future restoration of Israel.

II. WHO WROTE THIS BOOK? The book is ascribed to Malachi, whose

name means “my messenger.” We know nothing about Malachi the

person.

~ But after all, he was a messenger and the important thing about a messenger is the message.

~ Malachi was concerned about being faithful, not being famous.

III. WHEN AND WHY WAS THIS BOOK WRITTEN? written sometime after 460 B.C. Nehemiah and Malachi – likely

contemporaries

Malachi encountered the same religious situation described in Ezra 9-10 and Nehemiah 8-13.

~ The people were backslidden, the priests were worldly, and the

nation was far from God. 1st return from Babylon (538-536 B.C.)

under Zarubbabel 2nd return (458 B.C.) under Ezra 3rd return (445-444 B.C.) under

Nehemiah

Nehemiah spearheaded reforms to help the poor and convinced the people to shun mixed marriages, to keep the Sabbath and to bring their tithes and offerings faithfully.

~ The people’s desire to return to their homeland had not translated into

a desire to walk with God.

~ As time passed, religious practices became meaningless

routines, with little attention given to God’s Law.

~ Malachi rebuked and condemned these abuses, forcefully indicting the people and calling them to

repentance. At the same time, as over two millennia of

OT history since Abraham concluded, none of the glorious promises of the Abrahamic, Davidic, or New Covenants had been fulfilled in the ultimate sense.

~ Despite a few high points in Israel’s history, the Jews seemed

determined to turn away from God’s favor.

THIS BOOK WAS IT WRITTEN TO CONFRONT THE SPIRIT OF COMPLACENCY AND INDIFFERENCE THAT SO EASILY OVERCOMES THE PEOPLE OF GOD.

IV. WHY READ AND STUDY THIS BOOK? Malachi holds a mirror before his

readers, helping us assess our relationship with the living God.

~ Do we believe He loves us? Does He have our wholehearted love and

obedience? Or are we only going through the motions of our relationship with Him?

~ God loves us with an unfailing passionate love and wants us

to return His love by demonstrating faithfulness, integrity, purity and justice in human relationships.

V. SOME FINAL PROPHETIC WORDS God’s final words in the Old Testament

include a promise: Mal 4:5. Malachi was most likely the last prophet

of the OT era. The last prophetic words from the Old

Testament still reveal hope in the coming of Christ the Messiah.

~ Malachi speaks of two messengers:

John the Baptist

Jesus Christ

~ And although the Book of Malachi closes the OT and marks the

beginning of 400 years of prophetic silence, Malachi, however, leaves readers with the striking proclamation, “Behold, He is coming” (Mal 3:1).