Interpretation of the book of the prophet Malachi

Between 412 and 418 St. Cyril of Alexandria wrote a series of interpretations on the minor prophets - a total of 12 parts, according to the number of prophetic books. The preface to each book describes the historical setting and purpose of the prophecies. The beginning of the preface to the interpretation of the Book of the Prophet Hosea is an introduction to the entire corpus of interpretations. Interpretations of St. Kirill are reduced to the unity of typological (proto-educational), spiritual (anagogical) and literal (historical) methods. In his opinion, the books of the prophets do not need allegorical interpretation to clarify their Christological meaning, since by their nature they prophesy about Christ. For St. Cyril of Alexandria, there are only two meanings of Holy Scripture: literal and spiritual, which seem to penetrate each other. The area of ​​spiritual interpretation certainly includes the disclosure of moral meaning, examples of which are contained in these comments. And concerning the prophecy of Malachi it is necessary to make a few preliminary remarks, in order to instruct the readers as to how they should understand each of his sayings. At the end of the times of captivity, Israel began to move from Babylon to Judea and came back to the holy city, laying off the yoke of slavery. The holy church was also erected while Zerubbabel and Shealtiel, who was of the tribe of Judah, and Joshua the son of Jozedek, the great priest, were in charge of the affairs. At that time, Haggai and Zechariah prophesied to those released from captivity, when Ezra and Nehemiah were their priests. A contemporary of the mentioned holy prophets, or very little after them, was the divine Malachi, who is also called an Angel, for this means the name of Malachi. One should not accept the opinions of some about him, who talk in vain, thinking and claiming that he was an angel by nature, that he was incarnated by the will of God and was a prophet for the Israelites. But, as I said, he was called an angel primarily because his name has such a meaning. Then: it is not without reason that the one who proclaimed the words of God to the Israelites could be called an angel (messenger). So the prophet Malachi himself, in the presentation of his prophecy, says that “the lips of the priest will keep understanding, and they will require the law from his mouth, as the angel (messenger) of the Lord Almighty is” (Mal. 2:7). About Immanuel, the prophet Isaiah says: “And they wished that they were burned with fire, because a Son was born to a Child, and was given to us, and His name is called Great is the Council of the Angel” (Is. 9: 5-6). You see that “pronouncing” the will of the Supreme Nature to others acquires for some the name “messenger angels,” although by nature they are not angels; for those who explain the divine law, that is, the priests, are people, and the Son is God and from God by nature. So the prophet Malachi was a man similar to us 1. The whole purpose of his prophecy is directed, as it were, to the following two accusations. When, with the construction of the divine church, time called upon the leaders of the people to perform sacred acts, and the Israelites, if they wished, to fulfill their vows according to the law, they, however, used the commandments of Moses not blamelessly and not as they should. Thus, although the people sacrificed ordinary things, they did not do so very carefully, but, on the contrary, lazily and negligently - they brought to the altar the worst of the herds, the sickly and unfit. And the priests accepted (animals), no longer considering, according to the law, defects, such as: blind people, with cropped ears, a chopped off nose or tail, people with scabs, those with lichen, and monolingual animals. The law rejected all such things (Lev. 22:21–25, 21, 18–19), and therefore it was insolence and nothing else. And otherwise the priests did not yet care for the people under their control, not giving correct explanations of the law and not guiding them to please God, but allowing them to be carried away to the lawless and vain and to deviate from the straight path. This is one kind of accusation. The other, moreover, applies to the Israelites for the following reasons. Losing love for their wives and then giving them divorce papers (Deut. 24:1 cf. Matt. 5:31-32), even though they were never guilty of anything illegal, they united with others and thought that by deciding on such a thing, they were in no way offending God. Others had a passion for the daughters of foreigners, although the law clearly proclaims: “Thou shalt not give thy daughter to his son, and thou shalt not understand his daughter to thy son; For he will turn your son away from me, and serve as another god” (Deut. 7:3–4). There is extensive talk about this in the books of Ezra (1 Ezra 9:1, 2 Ezra 8:65), which is why some assume that he (Ezra) is Malachi, although in reality this is not the case 2. This section contains allegations. And at the end of the prophecy we are talking about the appearance of our Savior, when a pure and bloodless sacrifice will be offered to God and, with the destruction of sin and the transformation of the inhabitants of the earth to the renewal of life (Rom. 6:4), the accusations of everyone will cease, for “the new creation” (is the one) “who is in Christ”, when “the ancient one is passing by” (2 Cor. 5:17), according to what is written. The Hebrew name Malachi means “messenger of God” or simply “messenger.” According to some, the prophet received the name Angel also for his angelic lifestyle and for his angelic beauty (Efrem the Syrian In Malach. praef. Ed. Assemani, Opp. Syr. t. 2. p. 312). The opinion that the prophet was an incarnate angel (this opinion is also mentioned by Cyril Alex. and Jerome) is characteristic of Origen, who taught that the souls of prophets and saints are angels (In Matth. t. XIV. cap. 7. Migne, Graec. XIII. 1201. A; In Johann. XIII. 49. Migne XIV. 489 A), that the Forerunner was one of the incarnate angels (In Johann. II. 24. Migne XIV. 164. C-D, -ib. cap. 25. Migne 169. C, 165. B, –108. C, etc.). There is an ancient Jewish tradition about the identity of Ezra and Malachi, recorded already in the Targum on Malachi, Chapter 1, Art. 1; “the weight (or: prophecy, saying) of the word of Jehovah on Israel by the hand of “Maleachi, who is called by the name of Ezra the scribe” - which is shared by: Jerome, Aben-Ezra, Kimchi,” mentions Augustine (De Civ. D. 20, 25. Migne, 41, 699). You might be interested in: