He is one of the prophets of return from exile. His name means a messenger or an angel, and the Prophet himself borrowed it, as is accepted, from his own book 1:3, and perhaps this is what his feast service on January 3 suggests, as it makes us address him saying: “I have taken the title of an angel.”

Scholars have determined the date of this prophecy to be between 480 and 460 BC, because its content suggests that the people who returned from exile had rebuilt the temple and had been practicing worship there for a long time (1:10, 3:1 and 10; Ezra 6 : 15). The reality of the situation is that the prophets Haggai and Zechariah had refreshed the people with their promise of goodness if the temple was built, but harsh circumstances delayed the fulfillment of the promise. The people’s resolve weakened and their faith cooled, so they fell into the sin of indifference to the word of God, and they thought that all the prophets were deceivers, and they returned to their first sins (disdain rituals, their priests neglected preaching, practiced bribery, divorced their wives and married pagan women...) for which God punished them with captivity (Malachi does not seem to have known about the great reform carried out by Ezra in the year 440 BC, especially preventing the marriage of Jews to foreign women... Which confirms the history of prophecy that we mentioned earlier (F).

In this atmosphere tainted by betrayal, Malachi uttered his voice powerfully, making the priests and laity face their responsibilities towards the Lord and their neighbor. His prophecy consists of six speeches (1:2-5, 1:6-2:9, 2:10-16, 2:17-3:5, 3:6-12, 3:13-21), and appears in the form of a dialogue. Between God and His people, it is an echo of the arguments that the Prophet had with a deceitful people who loved to debate and evade: The Lord said: “I love you,” and they said: “For what have you loved us?”… This refrain is repeated eight times in the book.

Malachi declared, at the beginning of his prophecy, that God loves his doubting people who were blinded by drought and the distress of opponents from seeing this love. He presented to them a sign of his love, as he called them, while answering their first questions, to look at their enemies, the nation of Edom (the sons of Esau, Jacob’s brother), who had previously launched their invasions on the land of Palestine from their rocky strongholds that they had built in the southeast of the Dead Sea (present-day Petra). . This nation, against which “the Lord’s wrath was eternal,” was delivered into the hands of the Babylonians (Edom invaded Judah while the Babylonians were plundering Jerusalem after the siege of it in the year 587), and they will no longer stand up until the eyes of the people see it and say: “The Lord is great beyond the land of Israel” (1:5). This happy answer made the Prophet return to the people to remind them - after he had persuaded their ears to please them - of some of the things they had sinned against. So he began to ask them about the honor and reverence of God, which they despised (1:6), because they offer him vile sacrifices (blind, lame, sick, and stolen) that are not worthy of his holiness (1:7-14; see: Leviticus 22; Deuteronomy 15, 17). Then Malachi contrasts the offerings of the despised Jews of Israel with the Jews of the diaspora who offer incense to the name of God “and a pure offering” (1:11; perhaps he is talking, in this place, about the offerings of the pagans), to show the dissatisfaction of the Lord who always seeks renewed worship (the fathers saw, In this verse, an announcement of the worship of the New Testament that will spread throughout the inhabited world.

In the second chapter, the Prophet conveys a harsh commandment to the priests of Israel who deviated and led the people astray. He says: “If you do not listen and do not put it into your hearts to give glory to my name, says the Lord, I will send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings” (1-4), and by blessings he means material goods that It belonged to the Levites, who were entrusted with teaching the truth to be an example and turn “many away from iniquity,” because “the lips of the priest preserve knowledge, and from his mouth they seek instruction” (6 and 7). He reveals that the deviation of the priests will disgrace them and make them “inferior to all the people” (8 and 9). Then Malachi continues his struggle and warns the Jews (priests, Levites, leaders, and common people), who neglected the sanctity of marriage (10-15), against intermarriage with Gentiles, something that the Law warns against, for fear of falling into the worship of a “strange god” (11; Deuteronomy 7: 1-5). ). Which indicates that this intermarriage - which had a major impact on the decline and collapse of the nation during the era of the kings - worsened after the return from captivity. Then he rebukes them for divorcing their wives and replacing them with foreign young women. He explains that God is concerned with such matters, and He punishes them, because He requires “the preservation of the soul and the absence of treachery” not only in their relationship with Him but also with their neighbors (14-16).

The clearest person who spoke in the Old Testament about the coming of an angel who would “prepare the way” before God was Malachi (3:1). God is coming, and He reminds the deceivers to return to Him, and that is because He is coming to purify His people, purify them, and judge the sinners who do not stop defrauding the collection of the temple tax. To them, God says: “Bring all the tithes to the treasury house, so that there may be food in My house (which the Levites and priests may eat)” (3 : 1-10). Then he promises them the prosperity of the country if they understand that their good things come from God (3: 11-12) and He bestows them on those who fear Him and think of His name (16-18).

In conclusion, Malachi offers a solution inspired by the end of times (19-20). God is coming to settle his affairs forever, and he will burn the arrogant “until they have neither root nor branch left.” As for those who fear and honor him, they will bask, on that day, in the rays of his light, and he will give them “ "Healing." Then the Prophet reminds his listeners of the law of God that was given in Horeb (Sinai) “statutes and rulings” (22). This look back is the best solution for anticipating what God will do in the future if he “sends Elijah the prophet before the day of the Lord comes” (23) to announce the coming of the Messiah and pave the way for him (24); See: Matthew 11:14; 71,10-13; Mark 9:11-13).

My parish bulletin
Sunday, December 28, 1997
Issue 52