Malachi
Time – 500 to 475 B.C.
Malachiās message comes to the people in a time of great spiritual decline. It is
approximately eighty years after the rebuilding of the Temple, and the promises of the coming Messiah have not yet happened. As a result, the people had become lax and had an increasingly casual attitude toward God and worship. Malachi states that their sacrifices were unacceptable to God, husbands were unfaithful, and the priests had neglected Godās covenants.