Of Malachi, personally, nothing is known; the name signifies "My Messenger" (Mal. 3:1).
This last book of the Old Testament closes with a dark and sorrowful picture of the moral condition of the returned captives. As time wore on, the state of the remnant was marked by rapid decline, so that in the days of our prophet a remnant out of it had to be distinguished (Mal. 3:16-18) from the mass which had grown corrupt and wicked. At the time of the prophecy, the people had been once more established in the land, although under Gentile sovereignty and permission; the temple had been rebuilt, a regular and genealogical priesthood, and the great body of Levitical sacrifice and feasts reinstituted, but the moral state of all, both priest and people was at the lowest possible ebb.
The sight presented by the closing prophet of the Old Testament is a most humbling one. The spirit of zeal for the glory of God and of worship characterized the remnant at the commencement of their return to the city and land of their fathers: here the spirit of unconcern for Jehovah and His interests, of unbelief and scorning, stamp their features upon them at the close. Contempt for all that formerly distinguished them in their early history, is terribly demonstrated in offering to God sacrificial animals expressly prohibited by the Levitical law. What an answer to the grace of Jehovah in thus offering polluted bread, and the blind, lame, and sick, yea, the blemished animals in sacrifice. What a contrast is presented in Mal. 1:11; if they are so utterly indifferent to the grace and glory of Jehovah, He knows how to vindicate His own blessed name, and within the compass of the prophetic word a richer, fuller exposition of the glorious future is not to be found than in those beautiful words: "For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same, My name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto My name, and a pure offering: for My name shall be great among the heathen, saith the Lord of Hosts." The earnest, lovely, and pleading expostulations of the Lord are received and answered in a high-handed reasoning spirit. Vision and prophecy were to be sealed up till the coming of John the Baptist, the immediate forerunner of Christ and greater prophet than all who had preceded him (Matt. 11:9-11). Elijah too is promised after Christianity and before the day of Jehovah—in the short interval lying between—who will wind up the prophetic testimony of our God. While John the Baptist was "The Messenger" (Mal. 3:1), he was also to faith the Elias to come (Matt. 11:14); on the other hand, Mal. 4, distinctly declares that Elijah will come to prepare Israel for the day of the Lord; this coming, therefore, is yet future.
The opening words of the prophet are quoted by Paul in Rom. 9:13; while the closing utterances are again and again referred to in the Gospels. Thus "the Scripture cannot be broken." The Divine inspiration of the whole is attested—repeatedly attested by our Lord, the apostles, and writers of the New Testament. While the prophets and holy men of old spake the "Word of the Lord," their testimony was not their own, but what they spoke and wrote in Jehovah's name was in the power and inspiration of the Spirit of Christ, which was in them (1 Peter 1:10-12).
GENERAL DIVISIONS.
1-The moral insensibility of the people to God and His worship. Mal. 1
2. -The sin and integrity of the ecclesiastical leaders of Judah. Mal. 2
3.-Jehovah coming in grace, preceded by His messenger—John the Baptist, with the remnant distinguished. Mal. 3
4.-Jehovah coming in judgment, preceded by His prophet Elijah. Mal. 4
NOTE.
The coming of Jesus in grace was heralded by John the Baptist (chap. 3:1). The coming of the Lord in judgment is to be introduced by the ministry of Elijah the prophet (chap. 4:5).