Malachi

Malachi is the last book of the Old Testament and the final voice of the twelve Minor Prophets. The name means 'my messenger,' and the prophet ministered roughly a century after the return from exile, likely around the time of Nehemiah (mid-400s BC). The temple had been rebuilt and the sacrifices restored, but the fire had gone out: priests offered blind and lame animals, men divorced the wives of their youth, tithes were withheld, and the people wearied God by asking where the God of judgment was.

The book is built as a series of disputes. God states a truth - 'I have loved you' - and the people answer back, 'Wherein hast thou loved us?' Round by round, God confronts the polluted offerings of the priests, faithlessness in marriage, robbery of God in tithes and offerings, and hard words spoken against him. Yet grace runs through the argument: God declares 'I am the LORD, I change not,' invites the people to prove him with the tithe and watch the windows of heaven open, and keeps a book of remembrance for them that fear him and think upon his name.

Malachi matters as the hinge between the Testaments. Its closing chapters promise a messenger to prepare the way before the LORD and the coming of Elijah before the great and dreadful day - prophecies the New Testament applies to John the Baptist. After Malachi comes four centuries of prophetic silence, broken at last by the voice crying in the wilderness.