cultic … Thus fundamentally Malachi is simply a precursor of later Judaism’,9 if by that is meant that Malachi was preoccupied with the letter of the law rather than the spirit in which it was meant to be kept. Far from being legalistic Malachi has penetrated to the core of both the law and the prophets. His one great plea is for a personal relationship with the living God, who seeks men to ‘walk with him’ (cf. 2:6). Malachi’s remarkable ethical thrust has lost none of its cutting edge through the