Last week, we met the Shunammite woman and examined her faith and deliverance of her son’s death by the Prophet Elisha. Today, we’ll meet the Prophet Malachi who many know him as the last Prophet of the old testament. The name Malachi means "Messenger of Jehovah".

Malachi is the last of the three post-exile prophets. He does not give any detail about time and duration of his ministry. One can take from the book however that the temple in Jerusalem has been rebuilt and that the priests are offering sacrifices (Malachi 1:6-14). A governor (the king of Persia) is reigning in the land (Malachi 1:8). The sad condition of the people is very much like the description of Nehemiah 13. Based on these facts one can conclude Malachi lived around Nehemiah's time. Some believers put Malachi's time of service before Nehemiah's time others think that he prophesied while Nehemiah had returned from Jerusalem to the Persian court (Nehemiah 13:6-7) or that he even ministered after Nehemiah's time. In any case we are speaking about the second half of the 5th century BC (probably 450 - 425 BC).