Introduction: Sefer Malachi - The Seal of the Trei Asar
We begin the Book of Malachi, the book that seals Trei Asar (the Twelve Minor Prophets). It is a brief book, consisting of only three chapters, yet it contains weighty messages: Hashem's love for Israel, the desecration of the Beit HaMikdash and the sacrifices, and the sin of intermarriage. We will preface with a few words regarding the identity of the prophet, his era, and his unique place in the chain of prophecy, and then proceed through the verses in order. Incidentally, Chapter 1 before us is also the Haftarah for Parashat Toldot, so if the verses sound familiar, it is from the Haftarah that we recognize them.
Who Is Malachi?
Opinions differ regarding the identity of Malachi. Some say that this is not a proper name at all, but rather a title: Malachi - "my angel," "my messenger," as the verse states, "Behold, I send my messenger (malachi), and he shall clear the way before Me." According to this, the prophet is mentioned here without any name at all, and his actual name remains concealed from us. The Septuagint likewise translates "Malachi" as His messenger, the emissary of the Holy One, Blessed be He. Support for this claim is drawn from the fact that the name "Malachi" appears nowhere else in Tanach, nor in the Gemara. Jonah, for instance, although a book in Trei Asar is named after him, also appears elsewhere in the Prophets - whereas Malachi does not. Some have even suggested that the prophet preferred to remain anonymous and not attach his personal name to his prophecies.
However, this is not the prevailing view. The accepted approach is that all books of the prophets open with the name of the prophet - Zechariah, Jonah, Joel, and all the rest - and therefore here too, "The burden of the word of Hashem to Israel by the hand of Malachi," this is the prophet's name. As for the claim that this name is not found anywhere else, Tanach contains many unique names that appear only once, and there is nothing surprising about that.
Indeed, we find a dispute among Chazal on this matter. Rav Nachman says: Malachi is Mordechai; and why was he called Malachi? Because he was viceroy to the king (mishneh lamelech), "Malachi" being related to melech (king). The Gemara challenges this: yet one verse mentions "Baruch ben Neriah and Mordechai," while elsewhere Chaggai, Zechariah, and Malachi are enumerated, implying that they are two distinct figures! Rabbi Yehoshua ben Korcha said: Malachi is Ezra. And the Sages say: Malachi was his actual name. The Rishonim also discuss this at the beginning of the book. Ibn Ezra cites those who say he was Ezra, and concludes: "In my opinion, his name is as written - Malachi." Radak writes similarly: Chazal said Malachi is Ezra, but we find nowhere that Ezra is called a prophet - it is written "Ezra the Scribe," not "Ezra the Prophet," whereas here we are speaking of a prophet; therefore it appears that Malachi is indeed the prophet's name. In summary: some say Malachi means "my messenger," some say he was Mordechai, some say Ezra, and some say it was the prophet's personal name - and this last view is the more widely accepted one.
His Era
All agree that Malachi lived during the Second Temple period, at its beginning. The proof is that in his rebukes he addresses matters of the Beit HaMikdash and the sacrifices; thus, he certainly lived when the Temple was standing. It is impossible that he prophesied like Ezekiel by the Chebar River in Babylonia, for then the Temple lay in ruins, and what relevance would there be in discussing the offering of sacrifices?
Malachi - The Last of the Prophets and a Member of the Men of the Great Assembly
In Chazal we find that Malachi participated in enactments and halachot established for all generations. The Rambam writes in his introduction to the Mishneh Torah: Ezra and his court received [the tradition] from Baruch ben Neriah and his court; and Ezra's court are those called the Men of the Great Assembly, who include Chaggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. Chazal also state that the Targum of the Prophets was spoken from the mouths of Chaggai, Zechariah, and Malachi - so he took part even in the work of the Targum. And when Malachi died, being the last of the prophets, Ruach HaKodesh departed from Israel, and from then on they utilized a Bat Kol, as the Gemara states. We almost never find Malachi mentioned alone, but rather always as part of the triad: Chaggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. An expression of prophecy coming to an end in his time is found at the conclusion of his book, where he delivers several verses containing a message for the future - like one who seals prophecy and informs the people that they will receive no further prophecies until the coming of the Mashiach, and he therefore gives them instruction for what must guide them until then. And that is the conclusion of the book.
"The Burden of the Word of Hashem by the Hand of Malachi" - A Prophecy Already Given at Sinai
מַשָּׂא דְבַר־יְהֹוָה אֶל־יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּיַד מַלְאָכִי׃ - The burden of the word of Hashem to Israel by the hand of Malachi.
What is a "massa" (burden / utterance)? Rashi explains: something entrusted to Malachi to carry (laset) to the children of Israel - as if saying to him: take this and carry it to the children of Israel. And what is meant by "by the hand of Malachi" (beyad Malachi)? That it was already in his hand from time immemorial. From here our Sages derived in a Beraita in the Mechilta that all the prophets stood at Mount Sinai, and there their prophecies were transmitted to them, as Yeshayahu says: "From the time that it was, there am I; and now the Lord God has sent me" - meaning, those who stood at Mount Sinai were already entrusted with their prophecy back then, and only later do they prophesy the matters in their proper time.
"I Have Loved You" - Love for Your Own Sake
אָהַבְתִּי אֶתְכֶם אָמַר יְהֹוָה וַאֲמַרְתֶּם בַּמָּה אֲהַבְתָּנוּ הֲלוֹא־אָח עֵשָׂו לְיַעֲקֹב נְאֻם־יְהֹוָה וָאֹהַב אֶת־יַעֲקֹב׃ - "I have loved you," said Hashem, "yet you say, 'Wherein have You loved us?' Was not Esau brother to Jacob?" says Hashem, "yet I loved Jacob."
The Holy One, Blessed be He, says to the Jewish people: I love you. Now, a person might attribute this love to an external reason - perhaps Hashem loves us only in the merit of the Avot (the Patriarchs), because He loved Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov. The verse comes to declare: know that the essence of My love is directed toward you, for your own sake, even irrespective of the Patriarchs.
And if you ask, "Wherein have You loved us?" - from where is the proof that the love is for our own sake and not on account of the Patriarchs? To this the Holy One, Blessed be He, replies: "Was not Esau brother to Jacob? Yet I loved Jacob." Had the love been solely on account of the Patriarchs, I would have had to love Esau as well, for he shares the very same lineage: Esau was the son of Yitzchak and the grandson of Avraham. If I love you because of Avraham and Yitzchak, I should have loved him too. Yet, it was specifically Jacob whom I loved.
וְאֶת־עֵשָׂו שָׂנֵאתִי וָאָשִׂים אֶת־הָרָיו שְׁמָמָה וְאֶת־נַחֲלָתוֹ לְתַנּוֹת מִדְבָּר׃ - "And Esau I hated, and made his mountains a desolation and his heritage for the jackals of the wilderness."
One might still argue: perhaps both factors contribute - You love us both for our own merit and in the merit of the Patriarchs, through a combination of both. To this the Malbim explains: indeed, it might be that Hashem does not love Esau on his own merits, but in terms of his lineage, he has the same Patriarchs as we do. If you were to say that earning love requires both conditions together - that the person is worthy and also has the merit of the Patriarchs - then Esau fulfilled only one: he possessed ancestral merit, but he himself was unworthy. In that case, it would be appropriate merely not to love him, but there would be no reason to hate him. You have two merits, while Esau has only one - and according to that calculation, there should be neither love nor hatred toward him. Yet you see: "And Esau I hated." From this comes the proof that ancestral merit does not enter the equation here at all: I love you because of who you are, and I hate Esau because of who he is. It has nothing to do with the Patriarchs.
Rabbi Akiva and Turnus Rufus
The Gemara relates that Turnus Rufus asked Rabbi Akiva: Why does the Holy One, Blessed be He, hate us, as it says, "And Esau I hated"? Rabbi Akiva replied: Tomorrow I will answer you. The next day, Turnus Rufus asked him: What did you dream last night, and what did you see? - meaning, if you asked to wait until tomorrow, you surely anticipated a dream in which the answer would be revealed to you. Rabbi Akiva answered him in kind: In my dream I saw two dogs, one named Rufus and one named Rufina (Rufus being Turnus Rufus's name, and Rufina the name of his wife). Turnus Rufus immediately grew angry and said to him: You named your dogs after me and my wife; you have incurred the death penalty for treason against the empire! Rabbi Akiva said to him: And what is the difference between you and them? You eat and drink, and they eat and drink; you reproduce, and they reproduce; you die, and they die - yet because I named a dog after you, you became so outraged. Now consider: the Holy One, Blessed be He, stretches out the heavens and lays the foundations of the earth, brings death and gives life, yet you take a piece of wood, carve it, make of it an idol and an image, and call it God by His Name - should He not take offense at you?! If you were offended even though the differences between you and a dog are mere nuances, all the more so the Holy One, Blessed be He, where the differences are as far apart as heaven and earth - surely He would hate you. And this is why it says, "And Esau I hated."
"Wherein Have You Loved Us" - Homiletical Approaches
There are Chassidic interpretations explaining that the word "mah" (what) represents humility, in the spirit of Moshe Rabbeinu's words, "venachnu mah" ("and what are we?"). The intention is: "I have loved you" - and if you ask why Hashem loves us, the answer is "be-mah ahavtanu" - in the merit of the "mah", in the merit of humility. The Holy One, Blessed be He, loves the modest and humble, just as we see with Moshe Rabbeinu, with whom the Holy One, Blessed be He, spoke face to face because no one was as humble as he. So too with us: when we humble ourselves before Him, through this Hashem loves us.
The sefer Ahavat Yonatan explains in a novel way: sometimes there are two individuals, and one causes you such great trouble that, because of those troubles, you come to love the other, even if he does not deserve love in his own right; by comparison with the first, you say: him I already love. This is the meaning of the verse: "Yet you say, 'Wherein have You loved us?'" and the Holy One, Blessed be He, answers: "Was not Esau brother to Jacob?" and since I have Esau causing such trouble, in contrast to him I already love you. However, this is merely an ingenious homily, for "I have loved you" is not a default choice born of hatred for Esau, but rather a genuine love. As it is written in the sacred sefarim: if only we loved the greatest tzaddik as much as the Holy One, Blessed be He, loves the greatest rasha - for here there is an aspect of love that transcends human comprehension and intellect.
"They Shall Build, but I Will Tear Down" - Proof That This Is Divine Providence and Not Chance
כִּי־תֹאמַר אֱדוֹם רֻשַּׁשְׁנוּ וְנָשׁוּב וְנִבְנֶה חֳרָבוֹת כֹּה אָמַר יְהֹוָה צְבָאוֹת הֵמָּה יִבְנוּ וַאֲנִי אֶהֱרוֹס וְקָרְאוּ לָהֶם גְּבוּל רִשְׁעָה וְהָעָם אֲשֶׁר־זָעַם יְהֹוָה עַד־עוֹלָם׃ - If Edom says, 'We have been impoverished, but we will return and rebuild the ruins,' so said the Lord of Hosts: They may build, but I will tear down; and they will call them the territory of wickedness, and the people whom the Lord has cursed forever.
One might still argue: the fact that we see Esau's mountains turned desolate and his heritage given over to "serpents of the wilderness" is no proof that Hashem hates him. ("Tannot" is a type of serpent, related to "tan"; although today "tan" denotes a jackal, the tanim mentioned in Tanach are usually interpreted as serpents, as in "serpents and ostriches".) Perhaps this ruin resulted merely from fate and celestial alignment. As explained previously, when the Holy One, blessed be He, leaves someone without individual Divine Providence (Hashgachah Pratit), that person is consigned to the influence of mazal and the celestial constellations, where everything depends on which constellation holds sway. The astrological alignments channel influences from the mazalot - mazal being related to nozel (that which flows), descending and funneling influence from the supernal worlds. If one planet, such as Saturn (Shabbatai), exerts influence, one outcome occurs; if another planet exerts influence, a different outcome will follow, as the Gemara states that one born under a certain constellation will have a specific nature, and under another, a different nature. We, the Jewish people, receive direct influence from Hashem, and for that reason we were commanded not to gaze at the stars or heed astrology; but the nations of the world are subject to the celestial configurations. If so, perhaps there is currently some unfavorable alignment in the heavens that left his mountains desolate and his heritage to the serpents of the wilderness, making this an occurrence of natural happenstance rather than an expression of Hashem's hatred.
To this the verse replies: "If Edom says, 'We have been impoverished'" - behold, Edom has suffered ruin, and one might attribute it to nature. But notice what they themselves say: "We will return and rebuild the ruins" - they assume the setback is temporary and that they can rebuild what was destroyed. The Holy One, blessed be He, says: I will prove to you that their downfall came through Divine Providence, because "Esau I hated," and not through celestial constellations - "They may build, but I will tear down." Even if under the laws of nature they manage to rebuild, through Divine Providence I will demolish it. Here is an explicit act of Providence from Hashem ensuring that Esau will suffer for his evil deeds.
And why will He tear it down? For two reasons. First: "And they will call them the territory of wickedness." Just as there is a realm that is the border of holiness and righteousness - Jerusalem and the Beit HaMikdash - there is a realm that serves as the abode of wickedness and evil, and that is Edom. It has often been noted: as much as we suffer today from Ishmael, Ishmael would still need to labor for many years to match even a fraction of the anguish Edom has inflicted upon us. Even setting aside the horrific Holocaust in Europe seventy years ago, in which six million Jews were murdered, anyone who examines history finds a trail drenched in blood under Edom, the likes of which we have not experienced under Ishmael. Ishmael acts haphazardly and impulsively, whereas Edom operates with ruthless organization. Hashem have mercy - there were crusades, the massacres of Tach veTat (1648-1649), persecutions, the expulsion from England, and so much more. Throughout the generations, our suffering at the hands of Edom and the bloodshed they wrought went far beyond what we endure today from Ishmael. Indeed, Esau's guardian angel is the Sama-el himself, and for this reason that place is designated "the territory of wickedness." And the second reason: "And the people whom the Lord has cursed forever" - on account of their evil deeds, Hashem's wrath burns against them forever. These two reasons are what decree their ultimate destruction.
"And Your Eyes Shall See"
וְעֵינֵיכֶם תִּרְאֶינָה וְאַתֶּם תֹּאמְרוּ יִגְדַּל יְהֹוָה מֵעַל לִגְבוּל יִשְׂרָאֵל׃ - And your eyes shall see, and you will say, 'May the Lord be magnified beyond the border of Israel.'
The Holy One, blessed be He, says: You will witness with your own eyes the retribution that Hashem will execute upon Edom, in the spirit of the verse, "You will see the retribution of the wicked." "And you will say, 'May the Lord be magnified beyond the border of Israel'" - just as the borders of wickedness will become desolate ruins, so will Hashem's glory be magnified within the borders of Israel. As our Sages expounded on the verse "I will be filled through the ruined one" - when one is ruined the other is filled, and when one is filled the other is ruined. When Edom falls, Israel rises; and when Israel falls, Edom rises. Therefore, with the downfall of Edom, you will see with your own eyes how Hashem is magnified beyond the border of Israel.
In Summary:
We opened with an introduction to Malachi, the last of the prophets and one of the Men of the Great Assembly. The Sages debate his identity - whether he was Mordechai, Ezra, or whether Malachi was indeed his proper name, which is the widely accepted view - and he certainly lived at the beginning of the Second Temple era. His prophecy was already transmitted to him at Mount Sinai, and it came to him as a "burden" (massa) to bear and deliver to Israel. The primary theme of the book's opening is the declaration of Hashem's love for His people: a love for who they are in their own right, not merely by virtue of ancestral merit (Zechut Avot), as evidenced by the fact that Esau, who shared the very same forebears, was hated. This hatred was no coincidence born of celestial constellations, but clear Divine Providence: "They may build, but I will tear down," because Edom is the territory of wickedness and the people whom Hashem has cursed forever. Ultimately, our eyes will behold the downfall of Edom and the resurgence of Israel, and we will proclaim: "May the Lord be magnified beyond the border of Israel."