Malachi
The last voice of the Old Testament — who promised Elijah, opened the windows of heaven, and saw the day that burns like an oven
The Last Prophet Before the Silence
Malachi is the last book of the Old Testament, and almost certainly the last prophetic voice before four hundred years of prophetic silence fell on Israel. We know almost nothing about the man — no genealogy, no hometown, no dated king. His name means “my messenger,” and that is essentially all the identification scripture gives him. He was a voice, and the voice was enough.
He prophesied to a restored but spiritually exhausted Judah — a community that had rebuilt the temple and returned from Babylon, but had drifted back into the same failures that had destroyed them before. Priests were offering blemished animals. Men were divorcing the wives of their youth. Tithes were withheld. And the people had begun to say: “It is vain to serve God” (Malachi 3:14).
Into that exhaustion, Malachi spoke with precision and fire.
Bring Ye All the Tithes
The most quoted passage of Malachi — and perhaps the most quoted challenge to any congregation — is the tithing rebuke and its staggering promise:
Malachi 3:10
“Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.”
This is one of the only places in scripture where God explicitly invites His people to test Him. Not presumptuous testing — but the test of covenant faithfulness: keep your end, and watch what I do. The promise is not merely financial return; it is the overflow that comes when covenant is actually lived.
The Savior quoted Malachi extensively to the Nephites after His resurrection (3 Nephi 24), commanding them to write it and learn it. The tithing promise is not merely ancient Judah’s problem; it is the last-days church’s invitation.
Elijah Shall Come
The final two verses of the Old Testament — Malachi’s last words — are among the most consequential in all of scripture for Latter-day Saint theology:
Malachi 4:5–6
“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.”
Elijah appeared in the Kirtland Temple on April 3, 1836 — fulfilling this promise precisely (D&C 110:13–16). The sealing keys he restored are the mechanism by which the hearts of the fathers and children are turned: temple work, genealogy, the binding of families across death. The worldwide surge of interest in family history is, in Latter-day Saint understanding, the fulfillment of Malachi’s closing words.
The angel Moroni quoted this prophecy to Joseph Smith in 1823 — the very first night of their conversations — with slight but significant variations from the King James text, emphasizing the planting rather than the turning. Malachi was not merely ancient history; he was describing the Restoration.
The Day That Burns
Malachi also saw the Second Coming with vivid precision: “For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble” (Malachi 4:1). But immediately after the fire comes the promise for the faithful: “But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings.”
The same event — the same appearing — is destruction for the wicked and healing for the righteous. Malachi did not soften the contrast. He let both be true at once.
For a man we know almost nothing about, Malachi left his fingerprints on more of the Restoration than nearly any other prophet. His words opened the first angelic conversation with Joseph Smith. His prophecy was fulfilled in Kirtland. His challenge echoes in every fast and testimony meeting where a family decides to pay a full tithe. He was a messenger, and the message has not yet exhausted itself.
Key Scriptures
- Malachi 3:10 — The tithing window; “prove me now herewith”
- Malachi 4:1–6 — The day that burns; the Sun of righteousness; Elijah promised
- 3 Nephi 24–25 — Christ commands the Nephites to record Malachi’s prophecies
- D&C 110:13–16 — Elijah appears in Kirtland, restoring the sealing keys Malachi promised