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YOU ARE HERE: Study Programs >> Perek Yomi (A Chapter a Day) >> Questions to Guide You

Perek Yomi - Malachi

by Rabbi Robert Layman

The twelfth and final book of the Trey Asar collection is known by the name Malachi which may not be the actual name of the Prophet but a designation given by a scribe writing in the third person. The Hebrew Malakhi means "my messenger (or angel)" and is probably a truncated form of Malakhiyah, meaning "messenger of the Lord". In any event, according to Rabbinic tradition, the Book of Malachi marks the cessation of the unique phenomenon known as Biblical prophecy in Jewish history.

This brief book, according to internal evidence, was written some time after the Second Temple was completed (516 B.C.E.), probably by a contemporary of Ezra and Nehemiah who immigrated from Babylonia around 460 B.C.E. Among his main messages are God's love for Israel and his advocacy of brotherly love in a passage that is frequently cited by those looking to the Bible for teachings about the brotherhood of all mankind: "Have we not all one Father? Did not one God create us?" (2: 10).

On the negative side, Malachi berates the kohanim (Priests) for not fulfilling their ritual responsibilities and setting an example of loving loyalty to God. He is also concerned about the importance of preserving the uniqueness of the Jewish people and its role as an exemplar to the other nations. This preservation can be achieved only by avoiding assimilation which occurs largely through intermarriage with pagan women. The Prophet was probably instrumental in motivating Nehemiah, the secular ruler of Judah, to enact a law compelling men who had intermarried to banish their foreign wives. On the other hand, he sees divorce in general as an undesirable phenomenon and may use it as an allegorical reference to the estrangement between the people and God.

Malachi's most familiar message is his prophecy of the "great day of the Lord" (Chapter 3) to which tradition ascribes messianic overtones. It may actually refer to an awesome Day of Judgment, as rendered by the JPS translation. The reference to the Prophet Elijah as the proclaimer of that great day reinforces the traditional interpretation. Because of its allusion to the messianic expectation associated with Passover, this chapter is read as the Haftarah on - and gives its name to - Shabbat Ha-gadol , the Sabbath preceding Pesah.

So that Trey Asar should end on a positive note, the penultimate verse (3:23), announcing the coming of the Great Day of the Lord, is repeated and thus, in accordance with the traditional reading, serves as a fitting conclusion to our study of the Twelve Prophets.

Chapter 1

  1. Does the introduction to this prophecy indicate anything as to the nature of the prophet himself?
  2. Why the interrogative "in what way have you favored us"?
  3. Does the Divine reply satisfy the inquiry?
  4. Does the reply predict reconstruction for Israel or destruction for its enemy (verses 4 and 5)?
  5. And does the refrain in verse 5 indicate a universal appreciation of the dominion of Divinity?
  6. What question is posited by Divinity to Israel (verse 6)?
  7. Does verse 7 indicate that the concern is primarily with the ethical or with "observance patterns based upon the karban worship mode"?
  8. What is the meaning of the word eyl in verse 9?
  9. Does verse 11 affirm the prophet's view that the provenance of Divinity is quite beyond the confines of Israel?
  10. And, in verse 13, is the plaint the violation of ethical and moral principles or, once again, the "karban mode" not being properly observed?
  11. Does this chapter deal, then, with "the Temple" and/or the overall mitzvah pattern?
  12. And would it indicate that the "karban mode" was not being observed in a fashion which was minimally satisfactory?

Chapter 2

  1. To whom is the prophet addressing himself in this chapter?
  2. Why the threat to the Kohanim (verse 2)?
  3. For what reason would dung be flung on the face of the Kohanim?
  4. Verse 6 indicates what the condition of the Kohanim (and the Levitical group overall) had been -- and what is the implication as to the "current status"?
  5. Is the role of the Kohen, then, primarily that of a karban supervisor or, rather, that of a teacher and a moral/ethical advisor?
  6. Indeed, what does the refrain imply with the phrasing "he is a malakh of God"?
  7. What would verse 8 imply as to the conduct of these Kohanim in the time of the prophet?
  8. Verse 10 sets forth an assertion which has been repeated again and again in just about all religious literature; what is that assertion?
  9. Would the pattern of karbanot as described in verses 12 and 13 appear to be satisfactory to the prophet?
  10. How have the Kohanim and/or the residents of Judea "rebelled against the wife of their youth"?
  11. Are verses 15 and 16 a denunciation of divorce practices?
  12. Is the 16th verse, as well, a reversion of the legislation in the Torah regarding divorce?
  13. Or, reading verse 17, is this particular observation merely an exemplification of "evil conduct" and the rationalization of the Kohanim who state (as the text clearly has it) "whoever does evil is good in God's eyes" -- a total rejection of the God of justice?

Chapter 3

  1. Who/what is about to appear "suddenly" according to the first verse?
  2. Is "the coming" to be a fulfillment or a purification?
  3. Who or what (verse 3) is to be purified -- and with what objective?
  4. Where does verse 4 appear in our current liturgy?
  5. Who is to be cast out (verse 5) and what is to determine the action of Divinity -- and, is this passage concerned primarily with karbanot or with ethical/moral/just conduct?
  6. Verse 6 speaks of a consistency -- and how does verse 7 describe that "consistency"?
  7. What differentiates the statement in verse 5 from the observations of "improper conduct" as set forth in verses 8-10?
  8. Would verse 14 indicate a position of outright atheism, agnosticism or, rather, an indication that the "service of God" does not yield anything consequential?
  9. Yet, according to verse 17, not all proceed on the assumption that serving God is pointless; to whom does this verse refer?
  10. According to verse 18, is there, then, a difference between the doers of justice and those who govern themselves by evil conduct?
  11. What, according to verse 19, will become of the mitzvah violators and what will become (verse 20) of those who observe justice and conduct themselves in accordance with mitzvah norms?
  12. What image is conjured up by the frolicking flock?
  13. The 22nd verse makes reference to the very origin of Jewishness -- in what manner?
  14. And this verse stresses that the origin had, as its core, legislation and regulations for appropriate conduct -- indicating that what is the essential ingredient in Jewishness?
  15. In verse 23 there is a prediction of the coming of Elijah -- prior to the Messiah? Or, prior to "God's great and awesome day"?
  16. Is that "great and awesome day" defined? Is it a "good time"? A testing time -- both? Something other?
  17. The function of Elijah would be to return the hearts of the fathers to their children and the children to their fathers. What is the meaning of this phrase -- and why would the earth be totally destroyed if this does not happen?
  18. Why is verse 23 repeated after verse 24 when the haftarah of this passage is chanted?
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