Page 112 - Demo

This discourse, or oracle,seemsto have been delivered108by the Prophet Mālākhī 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 Mālākhī, 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 usintact and unadulterated isto 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 isthe famous prediction couched in Mal. iii. 1. The prophecy runs thus:-“Behold, I send My Messenger, and he shall preparethe 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