The Book of Malachi
The following scripture that the student is studying is the prophetic book of Malachi in the Old Testament. It is the last book of the Old Testament and the last of the Minor Prophets. The intent of this student is to show that God loves through sin and through ones’ honest love and enduring obedience to Him, He will exalt and glorify. The Hebrew translation of the name Malachi is “my messenger” or “a message” (Strong 1527). Some scholars do not think that Malachi is the name of the author of the book but is rather the title of an anonymous prophet because there is nothing through the text that mentions Malachi by name (“Malachi”). It is highly unlikely that this book is written by an anonymous writer, it would be the only book in the Old Testament as such, however, at the time prophets and priests were called messengers and the wordplay of Malachi could have been used to address all those due to the content of the message because it brings the actions of the spiritual leaders into question. Some credited the writer of the book of Malachi to be the prophet Ezra (“Malachi”). Malachi is most likely used here as a proper noun. Malachi introduced the book as his oracle and it was a unique way in the Bible because no other prophet had introduced a book in such a way before. The Babylonian exile for some Israelites ended in 536 B.C. and the people of Judah returned to the province of Judea. This was east of the Mediterranean Sea and was south of Jerusalem. The estimated population of the time was considered to be about 150,000. The economic conditions of the times were less than desirable. There were long drought periods, no crops and pestilence (Mal. 3:10). The people were becoming discouraged and losing their faith in God (Mal. 1:17) because the recovery time of the regrowth of the economy was slow and they did not see the prosperity the Lord promised being fulfilled in an ever halting economy. There was no king being mentioned but a governor of the people was
Cited: Strong, James. “Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance”. Hendrickson Publishers, July 2011, p. 1527 “Malachi”. Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia. Web. 4 April. 2012. “Introductions to the Books of the Bible, Malachi”. NIV Study Bible. Zondervan, 2002. Work Consulted “Book of Malachi”. Theopedia. Web. 4 April. 2012. “An Argument of the Book of Malachi”. Bible.org. Web. 4 April. 2012.