Malachi. [Heb. "my messenger."] Author of the last of "the twelve" or so-called Minor Prophets, the book of Malachi. Possibly the Hebrew name is a contraction for Malakéyah, "messenger of the Lord." Nothing is known about his life and ministry beyond what his book implies as to the circumstances under which he bore his message. Some have suggested that Malachi was not the name of the author, but simply a title based on ch 3:1; cf. ch 4:5, 6. However, the fact that the other prophetic books carry as their titles the names of their respective authors suggests that Malachi may have been a personal name -- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Dictionary.