Interpretation of the prophet Malachi

“Interpretation of the Prophet Malachi” (4 chapters) was written by Bl. Jerome of Stridon in 406. The commentary presents a double translation - from Hebrew and from Greek (Septuagint) (except for those places where the text is completely identical). In the prologue blzh. Jerome gives a hypothesis about the identity of the prophet Malachi with the priest Ezra, developed in contrast to the hypothesis of Origen, according to which the prophet Malachi was an angel sent from heaven who took on human flesh. Blzh. Jerome criticizes Origen for his abuse of allegorical interpretation, which led to the misconception regarding the pre-existence and fall of souls: “We absolutely do not accept this opinion, so as not to be forced to admit the fall of souls from heaven” (see: Prologue). In this regard, blzh. Jerome formulated a “rule in relation to the interpretation of the Scriptures”: “... where a very clear prediction of the future is revealed, the force of what is written should not be weakened by an allegorical interpretation, which is not always undoubtedly true” (chapter 1). *The title of the work in Latin is Commentarius in Malachiam prophetam. We want to interpret the last of the twelve prophets - Malachi, whose name LXX translated with the words: His Angel, saying: The prophetic word of the Lord against Israel is in the hand of His Angel; in Hebrew it is read instead malachi (טלאכי), which is more expressively and correctly conveyed by the words Angel, i.e. My messenger. And it should not be thought, according to the opinion of some (followers of Origen), that an angel came from heaven and took on a human body to proclaim the commandments of the Lord to Israel. In fact, if it is necessary to interpret names and on the basis of them to form not a spiritual understanding, but [to compose] events that supposedly really happened; then Hosea, which means Savior, and Joel, which means Lord God or beginner, and the rest of the prophets should not be considered as people, but either as angels, or as Lord and Savior, because this is the meaning of their names. Finally, other interpreters - except the Seventy - translated it as in Hebrew - Malachi. And by Malachi the Jews mean the priest Ezra, because everything contained in his book is also mentioned by this prophet, saying: “The lips of the priest will preserve knowledge, and from his mouth they will seek the law, because he is the Angel of the Lord of hosts” (Mal. 2:7). The time and table of contents of the book also coincide; Accordingly, we also said regarding the psalms that do not have inscriptions that they belong, we must assume, to those writers whose names are marked on the preceding psalms. So, one must think that Malachi, i.e. Ezra, was after Haggai and Zechariah, who prophesied under Darius. And [this] book does not have an inscription, because the inscription is in the book of that writer; from it we learn that during the time of the Persian king Artaxerxes, Ezra, the son of Seraiah... and others, to the place in which it is said: the son of Phineas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, first came out of Babylon, and that the king gave him, as a result of the hand of the Lord his God, everything according to his desire. And with him went some of the children of Israel, the sons of the priests, and the sons of the Levites, and the singers, and the porters, and the Nathinaes, to Jerusalem in the seventh year of king Artaxerxes, and they came to Jerusalem in the fifth month. In the same seventh year of the king, on the first day of the first month, he began his journey from Babylon and on the first day of the fifth month he came to Jerusalem. My Minervius and Alexander, my close ones not so much by blood as by faith, I said this briefly in the introduction, so that, without abandoning the work undertaken on the prophetic books, I would not burden myself with extraordinary work for your sake. Having in mind to expound the words of Malachi first according to the Hebrew text, and then according to the text of the Seventy, I will be strengthened by the assistance of your prayers in order to reveal the meaning of what is needed. Origen wrote three scrolls (volumina) for this book. But he did not touch on past events, and according to his custom, he devoted himself entirely to the allegorical meaning of the prophecy, without making a single reference to Ezra, and thinking that the one who wrote the book was an angel, in accordance with what we read about John: “Behold, I am sending My angel before You” (Matthew 11:10). We resolutely do not accept this opinion, so as not to be forced to admit the fall of souls from heaven. I don’t remember whether I read other interpretations of the book of this prophet, with the exception of the short book of Apollinaris, which should be called not interpretations, but comments on the book.