WAT.AnWTAft
563
KALA0HXA8
tiy. The Jewish schools identified him quite earty
with the scribe Esdras. This identification, which is
without historical value and is based according to St.
Jerome on an interpretation given to Mai., ii, 7, was at
first probably suggested by the tradition which be-
held in Esdras the intermedianr between the prophets
and the *' great synagogue , wnose foundation was at-
tributed to him and to which he was considered to
have transmitted the deposit of doctrine handed down
by the prophets (Pirqe Abhdth, I, 2). The position
of intermediary fully belonged to Esdras on the hypo-
thesis that he was the last of the prophets and the mst
member of the * ' great synagogue * * . The name MaXa-
xioLs figures at the head of the book in the Septuagint.
The ^exandrine translator, however, did not under-
stand Mai., i, 1, to contain the mention of the author's
proper name; he translates the (Passage: The word of
the Lord by the hand of his Angel/' so that he has evi-
dently understood the Hebrew expression to be the
common noun augmented by the suffix; he has, more-
over, read Mdl'Qkkd instead of Mdl'akht. We cannot
say whether this reading and interpretation should not
be considered as an effect of Jewish speculations con-
cerning the identity of the author of the book with
Esdras, or whether an interpretation of this kind
was not at the foundation of the same speculation.
However that may be, the interpretation of the Sep-
tuagint found an et:ho among the ancient Fathers and
ecclesiastical w^riters, and even gave rise, especially
among the disciples of Origen, to the strangest
fancies.
A large number of modern authors likewise refuse to see in MiM'akhi the proper name of the author. They
Eoint out that in Mai., iii, 1, the Lord announces: *' Be- old I send my angel (rndl'&kht) . . . ". According to them, it is from tiiis passage that the name MdVdkhi was borrowed by a more recent author, who added the inscription to the book (i, 1). But, in the first place, this epithet Mdl'&khl could not have the same value in i, 1, as in iii, 1, where it is the noun aug- mented by the suffix {my angel). For in i, 1, the Lonl is spoken of in the third person, and one would expect the noun with the suffix of the third person, as in fact is given in the Septuagint (his angel). The messenger of the Lord is moreover announced in iii, 1, to arrive thereafter (cf. iv, 5; Hebrew text, iii, 23); conse- quently no one could have imagined that this same messenger was the author of the book. There would remain the hypothesis that Mdl'akhi in i, 1, should be understood as a qualifying word signifying angdicus — i. e. he who was concerned with the angel, who prophe- sied on the subject of the angel (iii, 1). This explana- tion, however, is too far-fetched. It is at least more probable that Mdl'&khi in i, 1, should be understood as the proper name of the author, or as a title borne his- torically by him and equivalent to a proper name. We are no doubt in presence of an abbreviation of the name MdVokhiyah, that is " Messenger of Y^".
II. Contents op the Book. — ^Irie Book of Mala- chias in the Hebrew comprises three chapters. In the Greek Bible and in the Vulgate it contains four, chap- ter iii, 19 sqq., of the Hebrew forming a separate chapter. The book is divided into two parts, Uie first extending from i, 2, to ii, 16, and the second from ii, 17, to the end. In the first the prophet first in- veighs against the priests guilty of prevarication in their discharge of the sacrificial ritual, by offering de- fective victims (i, 6-ii, 4), and in their office of doctors of the Law (ii, 5-9). He then accuses the people in general, condemning the intestine divisions, the mixed marriages between Jews and Gentiles (ii, 10-12), and the abuse of divorce (ii, 13-16). The second part contains a discourse full of promise. To a first complaint concerning the impunity which the wicked enjoy (ii, 17), Yahweh replies that the Lord and the angel of the New Testament are about to come for the purpose of purifying the sods of Levi and the en-
tire nation (iii, 1-5): if the people are faithful to their
obligations, esp^ialW with respect to the tithes, they
will oe loaded with Divine blessings (iii, 6-12). To a
second complaint concerning the aSOdctions that fall to
the lot of the just, while the wicked succeed in every-
thing (iii, 13), Yahweh gives answer that on the day of
his justice the good will take a glorious revenge (iii, 14
sqq.). The book closes with a double epilogue; the
first recalls the remembrance of Moses, and the laws
promulgated on Mount Horeb (iv, 4; Hebrew text, iii,
22); the second announces the coming of Elias before
the day of Yahweh (iv, 5-6; Heb., iii, 23-24). The
unity of the book taken as a whole is unquestionable;
but many critics consider as the addition of another
hand either both the epilo^es or at least the second.
There is indeed no connexion between these passaj^
and what goes before, but from this consideration
alone no certain conclusion can be drawn.
III. Date op Composition. — ^The opinion brought forward some time ago, that the book ot Malachias was. composed in the second centurv b. c, has received no support. Critics are practically agreed in dating the book from about the middle of the fifth century B. c. The text itself does not furnish any explicit information, but many indications are m favour of the assigned date: (a) in the first place the mention of the Peha (i. 8), as the pohtical head of the people takes us back to the Persian period; the title of reha was indeed that borne h}r the Persian governor especially at Jerusalem (Agg., i, 1; I Esd., v, 14; II Esd., V. 14-15); (b) the book was not com- posed during the first years that followed the return from the Babylonian captivity, because not only the Temple exists, but relaxation in the exercise of wor* ship already prevails (Mai., i, 6 sqq.); (c) on the other hand it is hardly probable that the discourses of Mala- chias are of later date than Nehemias. In the great assembly which waa held during the first sojourn of Nehemias at Jerusalem, among other engagements, the people had taken that of paying the tithes regu- larly (ll Esd.. X, 38), and history testifies that in this respect the adopted resolutions were faithfully carried out, although in the distribution of the tithes the Le- vites were unjustly treated (II Esd., xiii, 5, 10, 13). Now Malachias complains not of the injustice of which the Levites were the object, but of the negligence on the part of the people tnemselves in the payment of the tithes (iii, 10). Again, Malachias does not regard mixed marriages as contrary to a positive engagement, like that which was taken under the direction of Ne- hemias (II Esd., X, 30); he denounces them on ac- count of their unhappy consequences and of the con- tempt which they imply for the Jewish nationality (Mai., ii, 11, 12); (d) it is not even during the sojourn of Nehemias at Jerusalem that Malachias wrote his book. Nehemias was Peha, and he greatlv insists upon his disinterestedness in the exercise of his functions, contrary to the practices of his predecessors (II Esd., V, 14 sqq.); but Malachias gives us to understand that the Peha was severely exacting (i, 8); (e) the date of oompositioQ can only fall withm some short time be- fore the mission of Nehemias. The complaints and protestations to which this latter gives expression (II Esd., ii, 17; iv. 4 sq.; v, 6 sgq., etc!) are like an echo of those recorded by Malachias (iii, 14, 15). The mis- fortune that weighed so heavilv upon the people in the days of Malachias (iii. 9 sqq.) were still felt during those of Nehemias (II Esd., v. 1 saq.). Lastly and above all, the abuses condemned by Malachias, namely, the relaxation in relij^ous worship^ mixed marriages and the intestine divisions of which they were the cause (Mai., ii, 10-12; cf. II Esd., vi, 18), the negU- gence in paying the tithes, were precisely the principal objects of the reforms imdertaken by Nehemias (II Esq., x^ 31, 33, sqq.. 38 sqq.). As the first mission of Nehemias falls in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes I (II Esd., ii, 1), that is in 445 b. c, it CQUA^%^\iab&.««2Q5^
