Malachi
Israelite / Jew Jew (post-exilic Judah) · Exile & Return · Old Testament
- Name means
- My messenger
- Role
- Last of the Old Testament prophets
- When
- c. 430 BC (traditional)
What they did
Rebuked the priests and people for careless worship, broken marriages and withheld tithes. He foretold the messenger who would prepare the way of the Lord.
Why it matters: the purpose of their role
He declared that God's name would be great among the Gentiles and looked ahead to the forerunner, fulfilled in John the Baptist, before Christ came.
Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts. Malachi 3:1 (KJV)
Bible references
The burden of the word of the LORD to Israel by Malachi. Malachi 1:1 (KJV)
For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering: for my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the LORD of hosts. Malachi 1:11 (KJV)
Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts. Malachi 3:1 (KJV)
Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse. Malachi 4:5-6 (KJV)
Family
Scripture records little about this person's family.