14.0 Introduction Studies in Malachi

1. 14.0 Introduction & Studies in Malachi Studies in the Scroll of the Twelve

2. 1. Malachi: Date 1. �We can only estimate the date of Malachi's ministry....we know that the time was post-exilic because of the use of the Persian word PHT �governor� (1:8). The Temple had been rebuilt (1:10; 3:1,10). The Edomites had suffered a crushing blow evidently from some invader. Many scholars believe that the crushing blow refers to the invasion of Edom by Nabatean . . . . There is kinship between the book of Malachi and that of Nehemiah. The same social and religious conditions prevail in both, and Nehemiah instigates a reform to correct some of the social and religious abuses perhaps under the impetus

3. 1. Malachi: Date of Malachi ( Mal 3:5; Neh 5:1-13). Tithing is stressed in both (Mal 3:7-10; Neh 10:37-39). Divorce and mixed marriages were a problem in both (Mal 2:10-16; Neh 10:30; 13:23-29).... Nehemiah's first return to Jerusalem from Babylon can be definitely dated in 444 B.C. Therefore Malachi should be dated in the first half of the fifth century B.C.� [Smith, Word Biblical Commentary: Micah-Malachi, 298]

4. 1. Malachi: Date 2. �The theme with which Malachi deal and the images he paints make it abundantly clear that he is a child of the Persian period. Not only has the temple been rebuilt (Mal 1.10; 3.1, 10), but public worship is again carried on in it. At the same time, however, there was a loss of earlier religious enthusiasm. The return from Babylon brought with it none of the ideal glories promised by Deutero-Isaiah, and the completion of the temple was followed by disillusionment over the anticipated prosperity announced by Hag (cf. 1.7f, 2.7f) and Zech (1.7; 2.8).Unlike other prophets

5. 1. Malachi: Date who complain that the people put their trust in sacrifice to the detriment of righteousness and mercy (cf. Isa 1.11; Hos 6.6; Amos 5.21-24), Malachi deplores Israel�s parsimony both in the performance of temple worship (Mal 1.6-8, 12-14) and the payment of tithes (Mal 3.8-9). To the prophet, these deficiencies signify contempt for Yahweh. It is more likely, however, that poor harvests (Mal 3.11), trouble from neighbors (Neh 4.2f), Ezra 7.7f) and the general poverty induced by the Persian economic policy (cf. Neh 5) were the factors directly responsible for such behavior.

6. 1. Malachi: Date Cultic indifference (Mal 1.13), moral laxity (Mal 3.5), and skepticism regarding divine justice (Mal 2.17; 3.13f) were only secondary manifestations. Two other factors evidence the fact that Malachi belongs within the Persian period. As proof of Yahweh�s love for his people, the prophet does not call to mind the destruction of the oppressive Babylonian empire or the return of the people to their land. Rather, his love is demonstrated by the humiliation and devastation that is heaped upon Edom, Israel�s mortal enemy (Mal 1.2-5). Moreover, according to Malachi, Judah is

7. 1. Malachi: Date administered by a pcht (Mal 1.8), a term used in the Persian period �to designate the governor of a small satrapy or province.� [Glazier-McDonald, Malachi, The Divine Messenger, 14-15]

8. 2. Malachi: Social Conditions 1. There was famine, poverty, oppression, unfaithfulness to marriage vows, and to covenant vows. Moral and spiritual laxity, pride, indifference, permissiveness, and skepticism were rife." [Smith, ibid., 299-300] 2. "The conditions described imply that the return from the exile had not brought anything like the messianic age. The people has lost heart. Some wept (2:13), but others had become skeptical (1:2; 2:17; 3:14f). Adultery, perjury, oppression, and discrimination were characteristic (3:5). Organized religion was held in contempt (1:4; 3:7-12),

9. 2. Malachi: Social Conditions underscored by widespread marriage with unbelievers (2:10). Anything was good enough for the service of Yahweh (1:9f). The prophetic revelations that something new was necessary - a new heart, a new spirit, the law written on the heart, a shepherd who reflected perfectly the divine image - would be necessary if God's people were to walk in his ways." [Bush, LaSor, Hubbard, Old Testament Survey, 502]

10. 2. Malachi: Social Conditions 3. "The message of the body of Malachi, with its combination of cult-ritual concerns, prophetic themes, and diatribe against the presiding Zadokite priesthood, can therefore best be understood as arising among Levitical priests who feel that the present degraded state of the rival priesthood and the demoralized condition of the land substantiates their claims to legitimate priestly leadership in temple and community." [Hanson, Paul, Unpublished draft of a commentary on Malachi]

11. 3. Malachi, a name? "Malachi might have been the personal name of this prophet or it might have been a title, Malachi = �my messenger.� The LXX took it as a title and read �his messenger� rather than �my messenger.� The Targum adds, �...by the hand of my angel whose name is called Ezra the scribe.� But many recent scholars have supported the view that Malachi is a proper name. [Smith, ibid., 298]

12. 4. Malachi, Character Reconstruction 1. �Little . . . is know about the prophet Malachi. Like Obadiah, the superscription to his oracles traces no genealogical heritage. Malachi�s prophecies do betray a strong interest in the temple, priesthood, and the sacrificial system (cf. 1.6-13; 2.1-4, 8-9; 3.3-4, 6-11). Yet he speaks as one answering that system from the outside (cf. 1.6; 2.2). He possessed a knowledge of both the Deuteronomic (1.8; cf. Deut 15.21) and Priestly (3.10; cf. Num 18.21) legal traditions. Malachi was clearly a man of considerable personal piety, grasping the import of God�s holiness and the seriousness of personal sin

13. 4. Malachi, Character Reconstruction before God (cf. 2.17-3.4; 3.6-7; 3.13-4.1). His staunch convictions against idolatry (2.10-12), easy divorce (2.13-16), and social injustice (3.5) bespeak a man of commitment and integrity, a throwback to the days of the preexilic prophets. Malachi was also a man of some courage, as seen in his bold upbraiding of the influential priestly class and the social elite (cf. 1.1-14; 2.1-4; 3.2-4). Finally, Malachi demonstrates an important continuity with the covenantal message of earlier Hebrew prophets. He understood the priority of the internal attitude and motive over the external form (1.9-13; 2.2-3; 3.16-18; cf. Amos 5.12-15, 21-24;

14. 4. Malachi, Character Reconstruction Mic 6.6-8). He also understood the blessing and curse of God to be rooted in personal and corporate obedience or disobedience to the stipulations of the divine covenant (3.16-4.3). he recognized that the demands of covenant included a righteous ethic, a code of behavior consistent with the nature of God, the covenant maker (3.5-7; cf. Isa 1.15-20).� [Hill, ibid., 479] 2. �Malachi was a man of incisive moral force, contending boldly and independently against the abuses of his time. he found it necessary to impose a degree of discipline upon a demoralized people who

15. 4. Malachi, Character Reconstruction found life in Judah to be in total opposition to what the promises of Haggai and Zechariah had said it would be. As a result, the people were in danger of losing everything distinctive about themselves and their religion. This stress on discipline implies a degree of separation (cf. Mal 2.10-16), and it is the latter, the separation, which is usually described as a major tenet of post-exilic Judaism. Thus we see Malachi as one of the major contributors to the formation of normative Judaism.� [Glazier-McDonald, ibid., 18]

16. 5. Malachi�s Message 1. "The themes of the Book of Malachi were important ones for a community threatened from within by moral degeneracy and cultic decay. These themes both preserved classical early Yahwistic and prophetic concerns for justice and compassion in relation to all members of the community and kept alive the cause of upholding the integrity of a cultic and sacrificial system that played an important part socially in under-girding the identity of the Jews within the Persian Empire and economically in equitably redistributing the produce of the land. Though the conditions faced by Ezra and Nehemiah suggest that the reform movement coming to

17. 5. Malachi�s Message expression in Malachi remained largely ineffectual, it likely played a part in preparing the way for the two great reformers as they traveled from Persia to Judah on their mission of restoring stability to the land." [Hanson] 2. �Fisher summarizes the teaching of the disputations as follows: (1) Yahweh loves Jacob, (2) he is Israel�s father and desires honest worship, (3) he is the father of all Israelites and expects true faithfulness, (4) God wants honesty, not words, because he is just, (5) God is faithful to his word and wants genuine worship, (6) a repetition of God�s desire for honesty.� [Hill, ibid., 482]

18. 6. Malachi: Form �This disputational form of prophetic speech occurs elsewhere in the OT (e.g., Isa 40.27-28; Jer 2.23-25, 29-32; 29.24-32; Ezek 12.21-28; Mic 2.6-11), but in Malachi it constitutes the focal point of the book�s literary structure.� [Hill, ibid., 480]

19. 7. Malachi: Outline Superscription 1:1 Six Disputations: 1. God's Love 1:2-5 2. God's Honor and Fear 1:6-2:9 3. Faithlessness 2:10-16 4. God's Justice 2:17-3:5 5. Repentance 3:6-12 6. Speaking against God 3:13-4:3

20. 7. Malachi: Outline Two Appendices: 1. Admonition to remember the law of Moses 4:4 2. Announcement that Yahweh is sending Elijah to turn the hearts of the children to parent and vice-versa before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes 4:5-6

21. 8. Malachi: Question Patterns 1st Question 1:2-5 Q. How have you loved us? 1:2 R. I have loved Jacob, but hated Esau. 1:3 2nd Question 1:6-2:9 Q. How have we despised you name? 1:6b R. By offering polluted food at the altar. 1:7a 3rd Question 2:10-16 Q. Why do we break faith with one another? 2:10b R. (Because) Judah has broken faith (with Yahweh) 2:11

22. 8. Malachi: Question Patterns 4th Question 2:17-3:5 Q. How have we wearied him 2:17a R. By saying 2:17b Q. Where is the just God? 2:17b R. I am sending my messenger (as agent of justice). 3:1 5th Question 3:6-12 Q. How must we return? 3:7a R. Stop robbing me. 3:8a Q. How are we robbing you? 3:8b R. In tithes and offerings. 3:8b

23. 8. Malachi: Question Patterns 6th Question 3:13-14 Q. What have we spoken against you? 3:13a R. You have said: Keeping his word and doing penance is useless 3:14