Editing Malachi (section)

==Identity==
The editors of the 1906 ''[[Jewish Encyclopedia]]'' implied that Malachi, also known as Malachias,{{sfn|Van Hoonacker|1913}} prophesied after Haggai and Zechariah and speculated that he delivered his prophecies about 420 BC, after the second return of [[Nehemiah]] from Persia,<ref>{{bibleverse|Nehemiah|13:6|HE}}</ref> or possibly before his return. The [[Talmud]] and the Aramaic [[Targum]] of [[Jonathan ben Uzziel|Yonathan ben Uzziel]] identify Ezra as the same person as Malachi. This is the traditional view held by most Jews and some Christians, including [[Jerome]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.sefaria.org/Megillah.15a.5?lang=bi |title=Megillah 15a, the William Davidson Talmud (Koren - Steinsaltz) |access-date=2023-05-24 |archive-date=2023-05-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230524023514/https://www.sefaria.org/Megillah.15a.5?lang=bi |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>Introduction to the Aramaic [[Targum]] of [[Jonathan ben Uzziel|Yonathan ben Uzziel]] on the Prophet [[Malachi]] (Minor Prophets); Yehoshua b. Ḳarḥa (''Megillah'' 15a) .</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.tertullian.org/fathers/jerome_preface_prophets.htm |title=Jerome, Prologue to the Twelve Prophets |access-date=2023-05-24 |archive-date=2023-04-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230420031002/https://www.tertullian.org/fathers/jerome_preface_prophets.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> This identification is plausible, because "Malachi" reprimands the people for the same things Ezra did, such as marrying foreign pagan women. Malachi also focuses extensively on [[corruption|corrupt]] priests who Ezra, a priest himself who exhorted the people to follow the law, despised. According to [[Josephus]], Ezra died and was buried "in a magnificent manner in Jerusalem".<ref>Josephus, [[Antiquities of the Jews]], book XI, chapter 5, paragraph 5</ref> If the tradition that Ezra wrote under the name "Malachi" is correct, then Josephus meant that he was buried in the [[Tomb of the Prophets]], the traditional resting place of Malachi. This would also explain why Ezra does not refer to a prophet named Malachi, while he did refer to other prophets such as [[Haggai]] and [[Zechariah (Hebrew prophet)|Zechariah]]. 

Other potential identities includes [[Zerubbabel]] and Nehemiah; others suggest that Malachi was a separate person altogether, possibly a [[Levite]] and a member of the [[Great Assembly]].<ref name=berg>Bergstein, A., [https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/1678766/jewish/Who-Was-the-Prophet-Malachi.htm Who Was the Prophet Malachi?], {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326064624/https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/1678766/jewish/Who-Was-the-Prophet-Malachi.htm |date=2023-03-26 }}, [[Chabad.org]]</ref>