Malachi

Malachi is the last of the Old Testament prophets, addressing a jaded post-exilic community whose worship has grown careless and whose priests despise their calling. In a series of disputes, God challenges their cynicism about his love, their blemished offerings, their divorces and their withholding of tithes.

Yet the book ends looking forward: to a coming messenger who will prepare the way, and to the return of 'Elijah' before the great day of the Lord (4:5) — a promise the New Testament sees fulfilled in John the Baptist. After Malachi come four centuries of silence before the Gospels open.