but the Judge shall oome at a time when they look not for him, and shall punish evil-doers, exeouting swift judgment upon those who violate their duty to God and their neighbour, and separating from them the righteous, that the land may be purified and refined. Did the people complain that God was tardy in executing his promises? Let them see the cause in their own transgressions, their many rebellions against his authority, their neglect of tithes and offerings. If they did their dnty, he would reward them with fertility and abundance. They had dared to say that it was, a, vain thing to serve God ; they had confounded good and evil ; but the Lord cared for the pious, and would bring them to glory, while he con- demned the wicked as stubble to the fire. Therefore let all men observe the Law of Moses, and let them look for the coming of the great day of judgment, and the gracious appearance of the Lord's messenger Elijah the prophet ( eh. ii. 17; iv. 6). The distinctive character of the Messianic prophecies in this book consists in the announcement of the second Elijah, who should precede the advent of the Messenger of Jehovah, the Messiah himself, and in the statement of the universal and everlasting nature of Christ's sacrificial offering and mediatorial office. Combined with these two declarations is the account of the effects dependent on the advent of Messiah. That appearance shall be a day of fire, consuming the evil, purging away the dross, and making men fit to offer acceptable sacrifice; it will be also a day of light, bringing health and joy to those who fear God,
§ II. AUTHOR AND DATE.
The name Malachi is found nowhere else in Scripture. The LXX., in the title, calls him Ma.Xa.x{a;, It is probably contracted from Malaclii,jah, and means, "Messenger of Jehovah." Such abbreviations are n 01, uncommo11.. Thus we find A.bi for Abijah (2 Kings xviii. 2; 2 Chron. :xx.ix. 1); Plialti for Phaltiel (1 Sam. xxv. 44; 2 Sam. iii. 15). So probably Zabdi is the same as Zabdiel, Uri as Urijah. Absolutely nothing is known of his history; and as the Septuagint ( eh. i. 1) reads, instead of "by the hand of Malachi," lv xupl cl.yyl>..ov ai'.iTOv, "by the hand of his messenger," many have doubted whether the name is that of a person or of an office, an appellation given to an ideal messenger of God. Origen held that the book was written by an angel; others have argued that Malachi was a pseudonym for Ezra, who was the real author of the work, though one would have thought that the style and diction of the two writers were sufficiently uistinot to obviate any such supposition, and it is hardly possible that the authorship of so distinguished a man should have been forgotten when the canon was arranged. Besides, to all the prophetical books the writer's own name is prefixed. The use of a pseudonym or a symbolical name is unknown; and the authenticity of the con- tents of the prophecy is always testified by the naming of the autlwr lNTRODUCTJON TO
n.s one known to his contemporaries and approved by God. Me.le.chi, 1 herefore, is certainly a real person; and though there is no description of him in his book, neither his parentage nor his birthplace being mentioned, yet the same omission oocurs in the case of Obadiak and Habakkuk, of whose personality no doubt has ever a.risen. That the histories of Ezra and Nehemiah contain no notice of him or his prophetical work is easily accounted for by the fact that he exercised his ministry on or just before Nehemiah's second visit to Jerusalem, of which we have only the barest and most summary aooount (Neh. xiii. 7-31). From his trenchant references to the priesthood it is conjectured that he was a member of that body; but there is nothing further to support the notion. The absence of all authentic information concerning Malachi has been supplied by tradi- tion. The Talmud states that he was a member of the great synagogue, as Haggai and Zecbariah had been; and Pseudo-Dorotheus and Pseudo- Epiphanius assert that he was born in Sopha, or Supha, in the tribe of Zebulun, and died there while still young. No particulars of his life have been handed down even in mythical narrative. The general period of Me.la.chi's appearance as a prophet is easily deter- mined; but the definition of the exact date has some difficulties. It is plain, from the contents of the prophecy, that it was delivered when the Captivity was well-nigh forgotten, and after the temple was rebuilt and its worship had been for some time duly established; it is also evident that, as the prophet complains of the inferior offerings brought by the people, the time of the royal grant made to Ezra (Ezra vii. 20-26) had expired, and the necessary sacrifices were supplied by the inhabitants themselves. This was done without dispute or apparent reluctance in the earlier part of Nehemiah's administration, according to the engagement introduced by him (Neh. x. 32, etc.). No mention of any infringement of the resolution then passed is made in the Book of Ezra ; so it seems most probable that the abuses named crept in after Ezra's death, and during the time when Nehemiah was absent at the court of Persia (Neh. xiii. 6), which may have been an interval of two or three years. That Malachi prophesied during this interregnum, or at any rate at a period when Nehemiah was not acting as governor, has been deduced from the ex- pression in eh. i. 8, where, rebuking the people for daring to sacrifice imperfect animals, he says, "Offer it now to thy governor; will he be pleased with thee, or accept thy person?" Nehemiah, it is contended, prided himself on never having taken anything, even his dues as viceroy, from the people; therefore the governor here mentioned must be some other person. But this is by no means a necessary conclusion. The self- denying practice referred to belongs to the early years of his administra- tion, and may not apply to his later governorship. Further, the refusal to be burdensome io his countrymen did not extend to the non-acceptance Df present», without ·which no Oriental would come for a formal interview with a superior; and the prophet might well ask whether they would dare 'l'HE BOOK OF MALACHI. V