Malachi, whose name means “my messenger” or “God’s messenger,” is the last prophet of the Old Testament. He lived in the second half of the 5th century BC. After him, there followed about 400 years of “silence” until St. John the Baptist and Jesus’ teachings. With Malachi’s prophetic book, the Old Testament concludes.
Malachi wrote at a time when the Jerusalem Temple had already been rebuilt and restored. The Judean people no longer worshipped false gods as they did before the Babylonian exile, but they were unfaithful and indifferent towards God. The people posed eight questions to God, and He answered them through the prophet Malachi. The responses begin with the words: “You ask…”
God tells them that He still loves them. He criticizes the priests for their indifference and neglect. They offered to God blind, lame, and sick livestock (Mal 1:8), while keeping the healthy ones for themselves. The people received a warning about divorce and mixed marriages with pagans who worshipped false gods. They are not steadfast in good: “For I, the Lord, do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed. From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from My statutes and have not kept them (Mal 3:6-7).”
The people thought it was not worthwhile to be good when the wicked escape and prosper. God calls them to repentance, praises the righteous, promises rewards to those who mend their ways, and judgment and punishment to the corrupt: “Then you will again distinguish between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve Him. For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble (Mal 3:18-19).”
Details of his life are not known, but interestingly, his prophetic book, one of the shorter ones, is quoted about 20 times in the New Testament.
