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This discourse, or oracle, seems to have been delivered
by the Prophet Malakhi in about the beginning of the
fourth century before the Christian era, when the people
of Israel were also tired of Yahweh; and used to say: “The
Table of the Lord (Yahweh) is an abomination, and His
meal is contemptible” (Mal. i. 12). “He who doeth evils is
good in the eyes of Yahweh, and He is pleased with them;
or, where is the God of the judgment?” (Mal. ii. 17).

The Book of Malakhi, notwithstanding its being of
a post captivitated date, is, however, written in a seemly
good Hebrew style. To say that this “misa,” or discourse,
has come down to us intact and unadulterated is to confess
ignorance of the language. There are several mutilated
sentences, so that it is almost impossible to understand
the exact sense they intend to convey.

The subject of our discussion in this article is the famous
prediction couched in Mal. iii. 1. The prophecy runs thus:-

“Behold, I send My Messenger, and he shall prepare
the way before me; and suddenly shall come to his temple
the Adon whom ye are seeking, and the Messenger of the
Covenant whom ye desire. Behold, his cometh, says the
Lord of Hosts” (Mal. iii. 1).

This is a well-known Messianic prophecy. All
Christian Saints, Fathers, Popes, Patriarchs, Priests,
monks, nuns, and even the Sunday-school children, will
tell us that the first messenger mentioned in the text is
St. John Baptist (pbuh) , and the second messenger, whom
their vernacular versions have rendered “Angel of the
Covenant,” is Jesus Christ (pbuh) !

A definite determination of the subject of this
prophecy is of extreme importance, because the
Christian Churches have ever since believed that two
distinct persons are indicated therein; and the author of
this erroneous belief is a singularly remarkable blunder