1. The first section of the prophet's message consists of two parts ; the first (i, 1-8) addressed to the people generally, in which .Jehovah, by his messenger, asserts his love for them, and proves it, in answer to their re- ply, '-Wherein hast thou loved us?" by referring to the punishment of Edom as an example. The second part (i, 6-ii, 9) is addressed especially to the priests, who had despised the name of Jehovah, and had been the chief movers of the defection from his worship and covenant. They are rebuked for the worthlessness of their sacri- fices and offerings, and their profanation of the Temple thereby (i, 7-14). The denunciation of their offence is followed by the threat of punishment for future neglect (ii, 1-3), and the character of the true priest is drawn as the companion picture to their own (ii, 5-9).
2. In the second section (ii, 10-16) the prophet re- proves the people for their intermarriages with the idol- atrous heathen, and the divorces by which they sepa- rated themselves from their legitimate wives, who wept at the altar of Jehovah, in violation of the great law of marriage which God, the father of all, established at the beginning.
3. The judgment, which the people lighth^ regard, is announced -svith all solemnity, ushered in by the advent of the Messiah. The Lord, preceded by his messenger, shall come to his Temple suddenly, to purify the land from its iniquity, and to execute swift judgment upon those who violate their duty to God and their neighbor. The first part (ii, 17-iii, 5) of the section terminates with the threatened punishment ; in the second (iii, 6-12) the faithfulness of God to his promises is vindicated, and the people are exhorted to repentance, with its attendant blessings; in the third (iii, 13-iv, 6) they are reproved for their Avant of confidence in God, and for confusing good and evil. The final severance between the right- eous and the wicked is then set forth, and the great day of judgment is depicted, to be announced by the coming of Elijah, or John the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ (Matt, xi, 14; xvii, 10-13).
IV. Style. — The diction of IMalachi offers few. if any, distinguishing characteristics. His language is suitable to the manner of his propliccy. Smooth and easy to a remarkable degree, it is the style of the'reasouer rather than of the poet. The rhythm and imagery of his writings are substantially those of the okl projihets, but they possess no remarkable vigor or beauty. We miss
the fiery prophetic eloquence of Isaiah, and have in its stead the calm and almost artificial discourse of the practiced orator, carefully modelled upon those fif the ancient prophets. His phraseology is accounted for by his living during that decline of Hebrew poetry which we trace more or less in all the sacred writings posterior to the captivity. In general the language is concise, clear, and polished, and the manner of introducing a new line of argument or a new range of thought is most striking. Here the peculiarity is to be noticed, that there is no longer the ancient dramatic manner display- ed, but a kind of dialogue has taken its place, which is carried on between God and the people or the priests, whose half-mocking questions are enlarged upon and finally answered with scorn by the mouth of the mes- senger. He seems fully aware of being the last of the sacred bards (iii, 1 and 22), and the epoch of transition from the glowing energetic fulness of the inspired seer, who speaks to the people as the highest poA\er sud- denh' and forcibly moves him, to the carefully studied and methodically constructed written discoursa, becomes strangely apparent in him. We find both the ancient prophetic improvised original exhortation, with its rep- etitions and apparent incongruities, and the artificially composed address, with its borrowed ideas weU arranged and its euphonious words well selected. This circum- stance has probably also given rise to the notion that we have only in his book a summary of his orations : a work containing, as it were, the substance only of his addresses, written out by himself from his recollections ■ — an opinion ^vhich we do not share. Of peculiarities of phraseology we may notice the occurrence of passages
like Ti^x crnK XC51 (ii, 3), "nrisb-b:? D^n noa
(ii, 16), etc.
V. Canonicity and Integrity. — The claim of the book of Malachi to its place in the canon of the Old Testa- ment has never been disputed, and its authority is estab- lished bv the references to it in the New Testament (Matt, xi, 10; xvii. 12; Mark i, 2 ; ix, 11,12; Luke i, 17 ; Eom. ix, 13). Philo, Josephus, Melito, Jerome, and other ancient authorities, mention it, and quote from it as in accordance with our present copies. Nor is there anything, either in its language or the circumstances of its time, the manners and customs touched upon, or its topographical and geographical allusions, that could give rise to the slightest critical suspicion.
Its text is one of the purest and best preserved, and no glosses to it are to be found in the Codd., such as had to be added to correct the corruptions of other books. The differences in the various ancient versions arise only from the differences of the vowels assumed or found bv the translators in their copies. The few variants which occur in the different texts are so unimportant that they do not call for any detailed remark.