“Prophetic incidents, revelatory moments, are believed to have happened to many people in many lands. But a line of prophets, stretching over many centuries, from Abraham, to Moses, from Samuel to Nathan, from Elijah to Amos, from Hosea to Isaiah, from Jeremiah to Malachi, is a phenomenon for which there is no analogy.
…The prophets are shown the confusion on earth, rather than the glories in heaven. Their distinction was to sense the human situation as a divine emergency.”
Heschel, The Prophets
Malachi is the swan song of the prophetic lineage, and so it makes sense that it isn't quite clear who he is - and that perhaps this is a pseudonym that indicates the subtle shift from prophets to sages.
There is no information about him other than his name that might be a title. Malachi could mean ‘my messenger’ or ‘my angel’ and there is a long tradition that it’s actually the pen name of Ezra the scribe.
The 12th century Jewish- Spanish scholar Ibn Ezra commented:
“Some say that he was Ezra. In my opinion, his name was as it is written. He was the last of the prophets, which is why he cautioned, ‘Remember the Torah of Moses, My servant’ (3:22), because on his death Israelite prophecy ceased.”
Malachi shows up a century after the project of restoring Jerusalem has begun. Under Persian authorities, the limited province known as Yehud continues to grow, but under limiting conditions. Fierce enemies to the north and the south continue to resist their presence, and the passion seems to have left the people. The temple is up, the sacrificial system keeps the priests busy, but it’s become yet again a corrupt bureaucracy. The dreams of restoring Jerusalem as it once was meets a different reality. WIth no king or power, the people need a stronger story to keep them together. This is the social-political reality that Malachi is addressing.
He has a unique way of addressing the burning questions of his day: writing dialogues - seven of them in his 3 chapter book. Each consists of a statement, the listener’s response, and concludes with a rebuke or promise.
Perhaps he was writing prophetic plays? It’s often art that can offer the most critical critique of the public agenda, and Malachi has taken on a big task: Reform the temple rites and replace the religious leadership.
Whether or not Malachi is Ezra, the reality of the initial decades of the restored temple in Jerusalem in the 5th century BCE was a disappointing experience. As the role of prophets shifts, so will that of the priests - the kohanim, and their distancing from the Levites - the tribe once closely tied to the temple but now undergoing a shift. Malachi uses dialogue to echo the debate over who and how should operate in the temple, and by doing so also illustrates the miserable conditions of the time.
He address the priests whom he claims desecrate God:
מַגִּישִׁ֤ים עַֽל־מִזְבְּחִי֙ לֶ֣חֶם מְגֹאָ֔ל וַֽאֲמַרְתֶּ֖ם בַּמֶּ֣ה גֵאַלְנ֑וּךָ בֶּאֱמׇרְכֶ֕ם שֻׁלְחַ֥ן יְהֹוָ֖ה נִבְזֶ֥ה הֽוּא׃
וְכִֽי־תַגִּישׁ֨וּן עִוֵּ֤ר לִזְבֹּ֙חַ֙ אֵ֣ין רָ֔ע וְכִ֥י תַגִּ֛ישׁוּ פִּסֵּ֥חַ וְחֹלֶ֖ה אֵ֣ין רָ֑ע הַקְרִיבֵ֨הוּ נָ֜א לְפֶחָתֶ֗ךָ הֲיִרְצְךָ֙ א֚וֹ הֲיִשָּׂ֣א פָנֶ֔יךָ אָמַ֖ר יְהֹוָ֥ה צְבָאֽוֹת׃
You offer defiled food on My altar.
But you ask, “How have we defiled You?”
By saying, “YHWH’s table can be treated with scorn.”
When you present a blind animal for sacrifice—it doesn’t matter! When you present a lame or sick one—it doesn’t matter!
Just offer it to your governor: Will he accept you? Will he show you favor?—said YHWH of Hosts.
Malachi 1:5-7
Did the priests offer imperfect sacrifices - was that corruption, or poverty, or both? The word that Malachi names the governor is telling. The original is ‘Pecha’, the Persian title of their local governor.
The province was quite poor and struggling, with heavy taxes that the Pecha collected, with no acceptance of lesser dues. Through trying to get the people to up their game of religious fervor, he gives us a peek into the tensions of the day -- not unfamiliar to us.
Malachi’s rebuke of the religious system, addressing the cult leaders, comes next, an echo of the historical transition of religious transmission that defined his time, and perhaps ours, in what Heschel may have referred to when he wrote about “divine emergency.”
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