Malachi is the last book of the Old Testament. It's a prophetic book written by Malachi. The possible date of the writing of this book is hard to say. Two of my sources have dif-ferent opinions on the date. One estimates a "date of 450-400 BC." The other resource says "397 BC." The name of Malachi means "my messenger." Malachi was one of the last prophets before his successors, the apocalyptists. And the New Testament which meant the coming of the Messiah. Since none of the Israelite histor-ical material mentions Malachi, nor does his book give any sort of biographical information, he like Obadiah, was anonymous. There fore nothing, is known of Malachi's life except that which is written in his book. Scholars say his writing style was forceful and peculiar, with a little sense of humor. He was probably a contemporary of Nehemiah: the conditions described of the prophecy best answer to that time.
             The contents of this the book suggests a time not to far removed from that of Ezra and Nehemiah during their reforms. It was a time when the hopes of the Jews, returning from their forced exile, had turned bitter. Malachi wrote during the Empire of Persia. Egypt was under persian rule, 525-401 B.C. Palestine, and Judah was going through a restoration period. Mesopotamia seen the change of one King, Darius I (522-486 B.C.). Then Persia took over in(486 B.C.), and saw two more kings change during Malachi's writing. They where; Xerxes I (Ahasuerus), (486-465 B.C.); King Artaxerxes I (Longimanus), (465-424 B.C.).
             Malachi wrote during the closing period of the Old Testament his- tory, showing that great reforms were needed to prepare the way for the coming Messiah.
             The remnant Jews that had returned from captivity (536 B.C.). Under the leadership of Haggai and Zechariah, they rebuilt the Temple of Jerusalem (520-516 B.C.). Then 60 years later (457 B.C.), Ezra came to help with reestablishing the na...