_The lips of a Priest guard knowledge, and men seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the Angel of Jehovah of Hosts._ CHAPTER XXIV _THE BOOK OF “MALACHI”_ This book, the last in the arrangement of the prophetic canon, bears the title: _Burden_ or _Oracle of the Word of Jehovah to Israel by the hand of malĕ’akhi_. Since at least the second century of our era the word has been understood as a proper name, Malachi or Malachias. But there are strong objections to this, as well as to the genuineness of the whole title, and critics now almost universally agree that the book was originally anonymous. It is true that neither in form nor in meaning is there any insuperable obstacle to our understanding “malĕ’akhi” as the name of a person. If so, however, it cannot have been, as some have suggested, an abbreviation of Malĕ’akhiyah, for, according to the analogy of other names of such formation, this could only express the impossible meaning _Jehovah is Angel_.[949] But, as it stands, it might have meant _My Angel_ or _Messenger_, or it may be taken as an adjective, _Angelicus_.[950] Either of these meanings would form a natural name for a Jewish child, and a very suitable one for a prophet. There is evidence, however, that some of the earliest Jewish interpreters did not think of the title as containing the name of a person. The Septuagint read _by the hand of His messenger_,[951] “malĕ’akho”; and the Targum of Jonathan, while retaining “malĕ’akhi,” rendered it _My messenger_, adding that it was Ezra the Scribe who was thus designated.[952] This opinion was adopted by Calvin.