Malachi, Malachias or Mal'achi (icon; ) was a Jewish prophet

Prophet

In religion, a prophet, from the Greek word προφήτης profitis meaning "foreteller", is an individual who is claimed to have been contacted by the supernatural or the divine, and serves as an intermediary with humanity, delivering this newfound knowledge from the supernatural entity to other people...

 in the Hebrew Bible

Hebrew Bible

The Hebrew Bible is a term used by biblical scholars outside of Judaism to refer to the Tanakh , a canonical collection of Jewish texts, and the common textual antecedent of the several canonical editions of the Christian Old Testament...

. He had two brothers, Nathaniel and Josiah. Malachi was the writer of the Book of Malachi

Book of Malachi

Malachi is a book of the Hebrew Bible, the last of the twelve minor prophets and the final book of the Neviim...

, the last book of the Neviim (prophets) section in the Jewish

Judaism

Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...

 Tanakh

Tanakh

The Tanakh is a name used in Judaism for the canon of the Hebrew Bible. The Tanakh is also known as the Masoretic Text or the Miqra. The name is an acronym formed from the initial Hebrew letters of the Masoretic Text's three traditional subdivisions: The Torah , Nevi'im and Ketuvim —hence...

. In the Christian Old Testament, the Prophetic Books

Names for books of Judeo-Christian scripture

This brief article distinguishes the various terms used to describe Jewish and Christian scripture. Several terms refer to the same material, although sometimes rearranged.- Jewish perspective :For Jews, the Bible means......

 are placed last, making Book of Malachi

Book of Malachi

Malachi is a book of the Hebrew Bible, the last of the twelve minor prophets and the final book of the Neviim...

 the last Old Testament

Old Testament

The Old Testament, of which Christians hold different views, is a Christian term for the religious writings of ancient Israel held sacred and inspired by Christians which overlaps with the 24-book canon of the Masoretic Text of Judaism...

 book before the New Testament

New Testament

The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....

. No allusion is made to him by Ezra

Ezra

Ezra , also called Ezra the Scribe and Ezra the Priest in the Book of Ezra. According to the Hebrew Bible he returned from the Babylonian exile and reintroduced the Torah in Jerusalem...

, however, and he does not directly mention the restoration of the temple

Second Temple

The Jewish Second Temple was an important shrine which stood on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem between 516 BCE and 70 CE. It replaced the First Temple which was destroyed in 586 BCE, when the Jewish nation was exiled to Babylon...

. The editors of the 1906 Jewish Encyclopedia

Jewish Encyclopedia

The Jewish Encyclopedia is an encyclopedia originally published in New York between 1901 and 1906 by Funk and Wagnalls. It contained over 15,000 articles in 12 volumes on the history and then-current state of Judaism and the Jews as of 1901...

 implied that he prophesied after Haggai

Haggai

Haggai was a Hebrew prophet during the building of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, and one of the twelve minor prophets in the Hebrew Bible and the author of the Book of Haggai. His name means "my holiday"...

 and Zechariah  and speculated that he delivered his prophecies about 420 BC

420 BC

Year 420 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Tribunate of Cincinnatus, Vulso, Medullinus and Atratinus...

, after the second return of Nehemiah

Nehemiah

Nehemiah ]]," Standard Hebrew Nəḥemya, Tiberian Hebrew Nəḥemyāh) is the central figure of the Book of Nehemiah, which describes his work rebuilding Jerusalem and purifying the Jewish community. He was the son of Hachaliah, Nehemiah ]]," Standard Hebrew Nəḥemya, Tiberian Hebrew Nəḥemyāh) is the...

 from Persia (Book of Nehemiah

Book of Nehemiah

The Book of Nehemiah is a book of the Hebrew Bible. Told largely in the form of a first-person memoir, it concerns the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem by Nehemiah, a Jew who is a high official at the Persian court, and the dedication of the city and its people to God's laws...

), or possibly before his return, comparing with ; with ).

According to the 1897 Easton's Bible Dictionary, it is possible that Malachi is not a proper name

Proper name

"A proper name [is] a word that answers the purpose of showing what thing it is that we are talking about" writes John Stuart Mill in A System of Logic , "but not of telling anything about it"...

, but simply means "messenger of YHWH". The Septuagint superscription is ὲν χειρὶ ἀγγήλου αὐτοῦ, (by the hand of his messenger).

External links

• Prophet Malachi Orthodox icon
  Icon
  An icon is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, from Eastern Christianity and in certain Eastern Catholic churches...
  
   and synaxarion
• The Oracle of Malachi - A verse-by-verse journey through Malachi, connecting 2,500 years ago with today.