by Fr Gabriel-Allan Boyd
He lived only four centuries before the birth of Christ, during the time when the Jews were returning from captivity in Babylonian to their homeland in Jerusalem. In Hebrew, the name Malachi means, “My messenger,” or “My angel,” and his tiny, little book is the last in all the books of the Old Testament prophets, thus, the Holy Fathers refer to it as the seal of the prophets. After him, it would be four hundred years before the Prophet, John the Baptist would begin his message of preparing the way for the coming of Christ. Malachi begins the last chapter of his prophecies—which Jesus said was about the coming of John the Baptist—with a phrase that contains the literal meaning of Malachi’s name, “Hineni sholeach malachi, ufinnah derech lefanai.” That means, “Behold I send My messenger before Your face, who will prepare the way before You” (Malachi 3:1; Matthew 11:10). Thus, we celebrate his feast on January 3, just three days before Jesus’ baptism—Theophany—the most obvious place in the New Testament where God is revealed as Trinity. In the Orthodox Study Bible, Malachi’s book of prophecy is a very short one…a little sermon, divided into just three little chapters; foretelling the coming of Christ as the Sun of Righteousness (Malachi 3:20).
But, why should we care about the Prophet Malachi? What message could he have for our New Year, 2020?
Among Jewish rabbis, his identity has long been regarded as a bit of a puzzle. Some rabbis think that he’s actually Mordechai, from the fantastic Old Testament story of Esther…but that he’s referred to as Malachi because of his position as governor of Persia—a designation similar to that of an angel who’s subordinate to God. Other rabbis thought that the name, Malachi, was merely a pseudonym for the Old Testament man known as, Ezra the Scribe. Other rabbis believed that Malachi was neither Mordechai, nor Ezra, but an entirely different prophet altogether. Whichever one he was, he prophesied during the days of Nehemiah, a wise leader among the Jews during the time when they began rebuilding their long-uninhabited city.
Try to imagine the scene where Malachi lived and prophesied. The Jews had been living in captivity for 70 years. As they returned to their home in Jerusalem, they found their beloved, holy Zion had fallen into collapse, now giving way to an invasion of weeds. All that remained of the wall around Jerusalem and of the Jewish Temple were dismal piles of stone and rubble. Thus, coming home left them with a deep sense of disappointment and unrealized hopes for the people of God. The glorious promises that the prophets had uttered years before their captivity had very obviously not been visibly fulfilled. The life people experienced as they returned from captivity was very difficult. Politically, these Jews still had to succumb to the rule of the Persians. The harvest of their first crops had been decimated by a plague of locusts and it felt like everything they did to survive was met with devastation. Thus, the hearts of the former captives were overcome by indifference to God…or even resentment of Him. The thought of Israel being God’s chosen people felt like more of a joke than anything, and thus a kind of cynicism had increasingly penetrated into the practice of their worship and their daily devotion to God. They had left God and lost their faith.
So they sunk, more and more, into a distortion of Moses’ laws regarding their offerings and tithing and worship and their care for the things of God. And it wasn’t just the laity who had fallen into faithlessness. After being subject for so long to their people’s apathy, the priests also lost hope, becoming indifferent and cynical. Temple services had devolved to little more than the spiritless observance of traditional rites, performed merely by mechanical rote to very few, using the second-hand and distorted offerings brought by the people. The Israelites began taking pagans in marriage, some of them even abandoning their Hebrew spouses…adopting pagan practices…forgetting about God’s laws on how they should live. …and it resulted in a downward spiral of disheartening consequences on their lives.
Therefore, Malachi addresses his prophesies to people whose faith in God’s promises had become so overcome by skepticism and apathy that they no longer strove to live their lives around those promises. That’s something that makes the Prophet Malachi’s message rather contemporary, don’t you think? The goal of the prophet’s message was to re-ignite the fire of faith in a people whose spiritual embers were dying, reminding them of God’s love, who had chosen them…strengthening the resolve of those who truly know God to fulfill their duty with regard to His promise.
At the time of Malachi’s writing, a minimalistic version of the temple has only just been built, but people aren’t that interested in doing anything further. They’re more interested in taking care of their own lives, rather than in the care of God’s things. So, the Prophet wants the people to know that there’s a direct correlation between their enthusiastic care-of and devotion-to the ministries of the things of God…and the level of flourishing in their lives. The more devoted they are to caring for the glory and ministries of the Temple…the more their own personal efforts to care for their families would thrive. But, he also wants them to be aware that the opposite is true. If they continue along, only going through the motions, doing the minimum in caring for the things of God, then life would continue to have its various forms of locusts devouring their livelihood…and they would find their lives more frequently falling into ruins.
Nevertheless, the prophet Malachi’s chastising sermon is aimed at much more than merely the restoration of people’s moral character and their true worship of God. He especially wants to prepare them for the coming of the Lord. Many exasperated Jews had already begun to doubt whether the Messiah, who had been earlier foretold by the prophets, would ever truly come. So, the Prophet Malachi announces that the Lord will come unexpectedly…that His life would stand as the Judge of all people, including the Jews. However, they should repent, because, in the state that they are in, neither the priests nor the laity would be able to withstand the trial by fire to which the Lord would subject everyone at His coming. That’s why in His mercy for His chosen people, he would be sending them His great messenger—a new Elijah, who would again be sent to ignite their repentance. The meaning of this prophecy is revealed in Jesus’ words about John the Baptist, who prepared God’s people for the coming of the Messiah (Matthew 11:14). The very image of the Forerunner that Malachi uses is taken from the Persian custom of sending messengers out ahead, to announce the coming of the king, so that people might properly prepare to meet him. But if the messenger comes and finds that they’re unwilling to prepare, then the King’s coming will be an unpleasant surprise to them. This is the main theme of the prophet Malachi—to prepare people for the coming of the Forerunner—the new Elijah, who will turn them to the way of salvation (Malachi 3:1).
As we’re about to encounter the Trinity at Christ’s baptism, are you prepared to meet the King of Glory? How does your involvement in the care-for and ministries of God’s temple and the things of God stack up against your use of your God-given gifts for your own life instead? Does it feel like a plague of metaphorical locusts is constantly devouring every effort to flourish…leaving your life in a state of crumbling? Maybe it’s time to engage in some serious repentance in caring for the things of God.
