Thursday, September 10, 2009

Type-A Personalities


I'm re-discovering the joy of getting up early. My oldest daughter has been assisting me with that in that she usually wakes up first (6:30am) and then comes and wakes up daddy to help get the Care Bears DVD started. She watches the same DVD every morning over and over! I figured this morning since I was already up, I would stay up and come in and work out in the morning instead of the evening. Early morning workouts are brutal!

Anyways, I've been studying the Minor Prophets. I started with Jonah a few months ago and have now jumped to the last of the Minor Prophets, Malachi (that's a pic 14th Century pic of him to the right). What a relevant message for us today. Here is what I have discovered so far about the author of this last book of our OT.

The Author
- Malachi means “my messenger” and some have presumed this a cover for the letter being anonymous. The majority of scholars believe the letter is from an actual man by the name of Malachi and the meaning of his name is his function. He is the Lord’s messenger and he has come to bring the Israelites a message (NRSV “an oracle”) from the LORD.

- The person Malachi seems to be a Type-A personality. To me, Malachi is the type of guy you would want on your side in a debate, but when the debate ends you would want him to go directly home because he would probably annoy you if he hung around. He’s confrontational and in your face and his character really gives the book Malachi some distinction and uniqueness from the other Minor Prophets (will discuss this more in a later post).

- Malachi was the right man at the right time because his audience was a group of people who can be described as: disillusioned (1:3), contemptuous (1:7, 2:2), callous (2:16), unfair (3:5), unconcerned (3:14-15), doubters and skeptics (3:16-18), and really immoral (4:1). It takes a Type-A personality to break through to such a group. Malachi’s in-your-face-combative-style caused ears to perk up and listen.

Any thoughts?

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