Its author was Machir ben Abba Mari, but his country and the period in which he lived are not definitively known.
Moritz Steinschneider[1] says that Machir lived in Provence; but his date remains a subject of discussion among modern scholars.
Yalkut haMachiri is similar in its contents to Yalkut Shimoni, with the difference that while the latter covers the whole Bible, haMachiri covers only the books of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, the twelve Minor Prophets, Psalms, Proverbs, and Job.
In the introductions to these books Machir said he composed the work to gather the scattered aggadic teachings into one group.
Machir had another version of Deuteronomy Rabbah, of which only the part on the section "Devarim" exists now.