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Malachi
From The Prophet Malachi by Duccio di Buoninsegna, c. 1310 at the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Siena Cathedral. Wikimedia.
Observation

April 13, 2016

The Silencing of Prophecy and the Rise of Oral Law

By Atar Hadari

The book of Malachi, read on the Sabbath before Passover, marks the moment in Jewish history when priestly authority gave way to rabbinic judgment.

The vision of the word of the Lord to Israel in the hand of My messenger.
I loved you, says the Lord. But you say, “Wherein have You loved us?”

So begins the book by the last prophet in the Jewish tradition, the final part of which is read on the Sabbath before Passover. There is some dispute as to whether Malachi, the name of the book, refers to the actual name of a prophet or simply means “my angel” or indeed “my messenger” as I choose to translate it here.

What about this book persuaded the rabbis that it marked the end of the prophetic era and the switch to a totally different medium—namely, that of rabbinic legal and moral guidance—for conveying the word of the Lord?

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