Malachi

The book of Malachi stands last in our arrangement of the Old Testament Scriptures for a reason.
It is the last message that God had for the Nation of Israel for 400 years. The name “Malachi”
means “my messenger”. The priests were supposed to be God’s messengers, Mal. 2:7. They had
failed at their task, but God promises to send His messenger, Mal. 3:1. After Malachi, God sent
no more prophets to Israel till John the Baptist who was the forerunner of Christ.
Throughout the book, God makes six different assertions. For each of them, He anticipates their
objection to that assertion. God states their denial of each of His statements and then answers it.
The first is an affirmation of His love for Israel, Mal. 1:2. But Israel asked, “In what way have
you loved us?” It seems that their doubting of God’s love is what led them to so much corruption
in Israel.
The book goes on to state that Israel had despised His name, defiled Him, wearied Him, and
robbed Him, Mal. 1:6-7, 2:17, 3:8. To each of these accusations, they responded by asking how,
or in what way, they had done these things. God answers each of these objections by laying out
the specifics of each charge against them.