Malachi is truly a wild book. 

Each book of the Bible was written for a purpose. While books such as Lamentations are intended to help people healthily process grief and pain, the book of Malachi, I would argue, is intended to help people process their disappointment and crushed expectations with God. While only 4 chapters, it addresses the “elephant in the room” of faith, cutting to the heart of faithlessness, disappointment, and false relationship with God. Into a world that had placed God and His promises on shelves marked “irrelevant,” “inconsistent with reality” or “folklore,” God challenges Israel to see the reality of who He was, is, and will always be. 

The following is part 1 of 3 of my first teaching on staff with the SBS (School of Biblical Studies). It specifically covers the historical context and background of the book.