Malachi 1, Zechariah and Malachi

Zechariah

The purpose of Zechariah’s ministry was similar to that of Haggai; namely – to encourage the people to rebuild the Temple (Ezra 5:1-2).  However, their methods were quite different.  Haggai was a practical man who exhorted the people to work.  Zechariah was a visionary man who furnished the incentive to work through a revelation of Israel’s glorious future.  Hence, we find that God needs and can use both types of men.

This prophecy is unique in its Messianic emphasis.  Zechariah unfolds the events connected with the first and second advents of the Messiah.  It has been called “the most Messianic, the most truly apocalyptic and eschatological of all the writings of the OT.”  The book is genuinely Apocalyptic.  His visions remind one of Daniel and Revelation.

Zechariah’s theme is, “work for there is a glorious future ahead.”  Here is an outline:

·       The proclamations – Apocalyptic Visions of Encouragement, Ch. 1-6

·       The practical – Questions concerning fasts, Ch. 7-8

·       The predictions – Prophecies concerning Messiah, Ch. 9-14.

Here is a list of the 8 visions of Zech. 1-6:

·       The Angelic Horsemen, 1:1-17

·       The Horns and Smiths, 1:18-21

·       The Measuring Line, Ch. 2

·       Joshua the High Priest, Ch. 3

·       The Candlestick and Olive Trees, Ch. 4

·       The Flying Roll, 5:1-4

·       The Ephah and the Woman, 5:5-11

·       The Four Chariots, 6:1-8

Malachi

Even as Nehemiah wrote the last history of the OT – so Malachi gives us the last prophecy.  Once the voice of Malachi dies out there is silence for 400 years.  That silence is eventually broken by the voice of John the Baptist – “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, make straight the way of the LORD.”

Malachi’s emphasis is upon the Day of the LORD with its two-fold message of judgment and deliverance.  Hence Malachi’s theme is in harmony with the great stream of Hebrew prophecy as we have seen it developed in all the OT prophets.

His immediate message deals with certain evils practiced by the Jews.  The Jews had been restored from exile but they were again departing from YAHWEH.  The prophecy implies a people deadened to sin.  “They were in a spiritual stupor with no convictions … they were supercilious and sophisticated … they were peevish and petulant children who affected ignorance.  They pretended to know everything, but were woefully lacking in a knowledge of the essentials.”  The correspondence with “Christian America” is all too obvious.  These sins form the background for predictions of judgment.

Malachi uses the Socratic method of teaching – question and answer.  Note that there are seven sarcastic questions which the people ask God.  Each begins with “wherein” (i.e. “Oh, yeah?” or “You don’t say so!”).  This dialectic form of writing became the form of scholastic Judaism so common in the Lord’s day (cf. Pharisees and Sadducees).

The theme of Malachi is, real love is undying but will manifest itself in both rebuke and blessing.  Here is the outline:

·       God’s love, 1:1-5.

·       God’s condemnation affirmed, 1:6-2:17

·       God’s comfort assured, Ch. 3-4.

And that, my friends, concludes our survey of the OT.  May God bless your reading and study of that part of Scripture.