This article includes a list of references, but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (July 2011)

The Prophet Malachi, painting by Duccio di Buoninsegna, c. 1310 (Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Siena Cathedral).

Malachi, Malachias or Mal'achi (/ˈmæləkaɪ/; Hebrew: מַלְאָכִי, Modern Mal'akhi Tiberian Malʼāḵî ; "Messenger", see malakh) was a Jewish prophet in the Hebrew Bible. Malachi was the writer of the Book of Malachi, the last book of the Neviim (prophets) section in the Jewish Tanakh. In the Christian Old Testament, the Prophetic Books are placed last, making Book of Malachi the lastprotocanonical book before the Deuterocanonical books or The New Testament. No allusion is made to him by Ezra, however, and he does not directly mention the restoration of the temple. The editors of the 1906 Jewish Encyclopedia implied that he prophesied after Haggai and Zechariah (Malachi 1:10; 3:1, 3:10) and speculated that he delivered his prophecies about 420 BC, after the second return of Nehemiah from Persia (Book of Nehemiah13:6), or possibly before his return, comparing Malachi 2:8 withNehemiah 13:15; Malachi 2:10-16 with Nehemiah 13:23).

According to the 1897 Easton's Bible Dictionary, it is possible that Malachi is not a proper name, but simply means "messenger ofYHWH".^[1] The Septuagint superscription is ὲν χειρὶ ἀγγήλου αὐτοῦ, (by the hand of his messenger).

Name[edit]

Because Malachi's name does not occur elsewhere in the Bible, some scholars indeed doubt whether "Malachi" is intended to be the personal name of the prophet. None of the other prophetic books of the Old Testament are anonymous. The form mal'akhi, signifies "my messenger"; it occurs in Malachi 3:1 (compare to Malachi 2:7). But this form of itself would hardly be appropriate as a proper name without some additional syllable such as Yah, whence mal'akhiah, i.e. "messenger of Elohim." Haggai, in fact, is expressly designated "messenger of Elohim" (Haggai 1:13). Besides, the superscriptions prefixed to the book, in both the Septuagint and the Vulgate, warrant the supposition that Malachi's full name ended with the syllable -yah. At the same time the Septuagint translates the last clause of Malachi 1:1, "by the hand of his messenger," and the Targum reads, "by the hand of my angel, whose name is called Ezra the scribe." ^[2]

Works[edit]

The Jews of his day ascribed the Book of Malachi, the last book of prophecy, to Ezra but if Ezra's name was originally associated with the book, it would hardly have been dropped by the collectors of the prophetic Canon who lived only a century or two subsequent to Ezra's time. Certain traditions ascribe the book to Zerubbabeland Nehemiah; others, still, to Malachi, whom they designate as a Levite and a member of the "Great Synagogue." Certain modern scholars, however, on the basis of the similarity of the title (compare Malachi 1:1 to Zechariah 9:1 and Zechariah 12:1), declare it to be anonymous. Professor G.G. Cameron, suggests that the termination of the word "Malachi" is adjectival, and equivalent to the Latin angelicus, signifying "one charged with a message or mission" (a missionary). The term would thus be an official title; and the thought would not be unsuitable to one whose message closed the prophetical Canon of the Old Testament.^[2]

Period[edit]

Opinions vary as to the prophet's exact date, but nearly all scholars agree that Malachi prophesied during the Persian period, and after the reconstruction and dedication of the second temple in 516 BC (compare Malachi 1:10 ; Malachi 3:1, Malachi 3:10). The prophet speaks of the "people's governor" (Hebrew "pechah", Malachi 1:8), as do Haggai and Nehemiah (Haggai 1:1 ; Nehemiah 5:14 ; Nehemiah 12:26). The social conditions portrayed are unquestionably those also of the period of the Restoration. More specifically, Malachi probably lived and labored during the times of Ezra and Nehemiah. The abuses which Malachi mention in his writings correspond so exactly with those which Nehemiah found on his 2nd visit to Jerusalem in 432 BC. Malachi was born long before that was not an alien (Nehemiah 13:7) that it seems reasonably certain that he prophesied shortly before that date, i.e. between 445 and 432 BC.^[2]

See also[edit]

• Tomb of the Prophets Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi

米開朗琪羅在西斯廷禮拜堂天花板上描繪的撒迦利亞

提示：本條目的主題不是en:Zechariah (priest)。

撒迦利亞（希伯來語：זְכַרְיָה‎，意為耶和華所記念），是《舊約聖經》中的人物，猶大王國的先知，《撒迦利亞書》（12卷小先知書中的第11卷）的作者。

撒迦利亞和以西結一樣，也出身於祭司家庭。他是比利家的兒子^[1]，易多的孫子^[2]。在被擄時期，生在巴比倫。

大約在公元前520年，波斯國王大流士一世在位的第二年，在第一批猶太人歸回16年之後，所羅巴伯和約書亞的帶領猶太人回到耶路撒冷，重建聖殿，撒迦利亞作為易多家族的族長，也在歸回的猶太人之列^[3]。這時，他和哈該作為先知，鼓勵以色列人^[4]。

儘管在耶利米哀歌中暗示「易多的兒子撒迦利亞」在聖殿中被殺^[5] 學者們普遍相信這不過是參考了早先Zechariah Ben Jehoiada之死。 ^[6]

在東正教瞻禮單中，紀念他的節日是在2月8日。

參考文獻[編輯]

這篇文章包含來自公有領域的1897年版本《伊斯頓聖經辭典》的部分內容。