Book of Malachi
A call to return to God and a promise of the coming messenger (John the Baptist).
About the Book of Malachi
Malachi is the last book of the Old Testament and the last word before four centuries of prophetic silence. Written around 450 BC to a post-exilic community grown complacent and disillusioned, it closes the prophetic canon with both warning and promise. The name Malachi means "my messenger" — and the book is structured as a series of disputations in which God states a charge, the people push back with "How?" or "Why?", and God responds.
The charges are pointed: the priests are offering blemished sacrifices and despising God's name; the people are robbing God of tithes and offerings; men are divorcing their wives treacherously; the community is wearying God by calling evil good. Yet God's grief is that of a father, not merely a judge: "Have we not all one Father? Did not one God create us? Why do we profane the covenant of our ancestors...?"
The book ends with a promise that points forward to the New Testament: God will send His messenger to prepare the way before Him, and before the great and dreadful day of the LORD, Elijah will come. John the Baptist identifies himself in terms of Elijah's role, and Jesus confirms it. Malachi closes with Israel looking expectantly forward — and with the New Testament, the long-promised Messenger arrives.