Malachi - Summary

Title:	Malachi is named for it's author.  The name means 'messenger of the Lord', or 'my messenger'.
Author:	The author was the prophet Malachi.
Date:	Malachi was most likely a contemporary of Era and Nehemiah which would place him at the end of the period of Babylonian captivity.  The book also implies the Temple had been reconstructed.  So this would date the book shortly after 516 BC.
Main Theme	The primary theme of Malachi is 'proper' worship.  God was not happy with the hearts of the worshipers.  We remember from Isaiah 58 God's complaints that the hearts of the Israelites were far from Him in their worship. God told them that true worship would cause them to change the oppression of the poor, the widows and the orphans.  True worship would cause the people to honor God with the manner in which they lived their lives.  The people of Malachi's era were no different.  Their hearts were not in their worship and God was not honored in worship nor the ways in which they lived out their lives.
Location:	This  prophecy takes place in Jerusalem after the exiled Jews returned from captivity.
History	The people of Israel had been in captivity in Babylon for 70 years.  After the Medes and the Persians defeated the Babylonians, King Cyrus issued the decree permitting part of the remnant of Israel in Babylon to return to Jerusalem with permission to rebuild the Temple that had been destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar.  Ezra was given the task of accomplishing this mission.  After the Temple was completed and worship in the Temple had resumed, God was not pleased.  Malachi became God's messenger to the people of Israel pleading with them to repent and to worship God honorably.
Major Characters:	Malachi.