Malachi 1:1 - Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

Malachi 1:1. Cf. Zechariah 9:1; Zechariah 12:1. The compiler of the Book of the Twelve, when he reached the end of Zech. (Zechariah 1-8), had still three short pieces in hand (Zechariah 9-11, 12-14, and Mal.). The first two were anonymous, and probably the third as well, but the first had an opening clause which served as a title and also as a model for titles for the other two. These the compiler supplied (Zechariah 12:1; Malachi 1:1), added Zechariah 9-11 and Zechariah 12-14 to his eleventh book, and made his remaining pamphlet (Mal.), which had a subject and style of its own, into the twelfth.