Study From the Book of Malachi,1

                           Study From the Book of Malachi, 1

     Today is the first part of this series, “Study From the Book of Malachi.” This book is the last book of the minor prophets that been studied in the previous studies and also it is the last book of the Old Testament.

     Years after God restored His people and returned them to the Promised Land, they again backslide and began falling into the same kinds of sin that led God‘s judgment of the seventy years of captivity in Babylon. The priests led the people away from God and the Jewish men were marrying pagan women.

     Into this scene God sent the prophet Malachi. It is noticed that the Scripture was silent for around 400 years before the new prophet of the New Testament, John the Baptist appeared.

     The bible scholars explain that the book of Malachi came contemporary to the Book   of Nehemiah. The sins that the Jewish people repented at the time of the latter prophet returned again and even worse.

The author: is the prophet Malachi. His name means “My Messenger” or the “Messenger of Yahweh.” In two verses of his book, he declares the coming Messiah (the Lord Jesus”( see Mal. 2:7;3:1).

Theme: God’s people need to reform their rebellious habits in order to be prepared for the coming Messiah

Time: at the end of the prophetic period in Israel’s history, around 430 B.C .

Structure: 3 parts

1. Introduction of God’s promise to Israel, verses 1:1:5.
2. Rebuke of various kinds of unfaithfulness, verses 1:6-2:16
3. The prophecy of the coming of the Lord , verses 2:17-4:6