Haggai: Introduction-Part 2

In 538 B.C., Cyrus, the king of Persia conquered Babylon and he issued a decree allowing the Jews in Babylon to return to their homeland and restore Jerusalem and rebuild the temple (cf. Ezra 1:2-4; 6:3-5).

Under the leadership of Sheshbazzar, 50,000 Jewish exiles returned from Babylon to begin work on restoring Jerusalem and rebuilding the temple.

Approximately two years later in 536 B.C., they completed the foundation with much rejoicing (Ezra 3:8-10).

However, their success disturbed the Samaritans and their other neighbors who lived in fear of the political and religious implications of a rebuilt temple in a restored Jewish state.

Consequently, they stridently opposed the project and were successful in temporarily stopping the restoration.

But in 522 B.C. Darius Hystaspes (522-486 B.C.) became king of Persia (Ezra 4:1-5, 24).

During this monarch’s second year, both Zechariah and Haggai exhorted the Jewish remnant to rebuild the temple.

Tattenai, the governor of Trans-Euphrates, Shethar-Bozenai and their colleagues attempted to interfere with the rebuilding efforts.

However, Darius Hystaspes ruled in favor of the Jews after investigating the matter in the royal records (cf. Ezra 5:3-6; 6:6-12).

In 516 B.C., the temple was finished and dedicated (Ezra 6:15-18).

The book of Haggai is focused upon the rebuilding of the temple since in 586 B.C. Solomon’s temple was destroyed by the army of Nebuchadnezzar.

The construction of the second temple started in 586 B.C. under the leadership of Zerubbabel, thus it is called “Zerubbabel’s temple” by scholars and expositors of the bible.

When the construction was completed in 516 B.C. during the sixth year of the reign of Darius I (522-486) under urging of Zechariah and Haggai, the remnant who remembered Solomon’s temple wept (cf. Ezra 3:12).

Ezra 3-6 provides details regarding the rebuilding of the temple by returning exiles.

This account asserts that the rebuilding began promptly in 536 B.C. but after the altar was built (Ezra 3:1-7) and the foundation was completed (Ezra 3:8-13), the project came to a halt because of resistance from the people of the land (Ezra 4:1-5).

Those opposing convinced the king of Persia to withdraw support from the project (Ezra 4:19-23).

Fifteen years would pass (535-520 B.C.) before the work would begin again during the second year of the reign of Darius (Ezra 4:24).

The prophets Zechariah and Haggai helped Zerubbabel restart the project and work began again in 520 B.C. (Ezra 5:1; Hag. 1:1; Zech. 1:1).

The temple construction was completed during the sixth year of the reign of Darius in 515 B.C. (Ezra 6:15) and the temple was dedicated by the Jewish remnant with a tremendous outpouring of joy and thanksgiving (Ezra 6:16-18).

The dimensions of Zerubbabel’s temple more than likely constructed on the same foundation as Solomon’s temple and thus had the same east-west orientation.

The book of Haggai appears to be a mixture of prose and poetry since the introductory passages are prose while on the other hand, the messages by the prophet are poetry since they display features which are typical of Hebrew poetry and thus, it can be described as “poetic prose.”

Zuck writes “An awareness of the literary genre or kind of literature of a given Bible book helps more in synthesis than detailed analysis. It helps give a sense of the overall thrust of the Bible book, so that verses and paragraphs can be seen in light of the whole. This helps prevent the problem of taking verses out of context. It also gives insight into the nature and purpose of an entire book, as seen, for example, in the Book of Jonah. Structural patterns help us see why certain passages are included where they are. Also attention to literary genre keeps us from making more of the passage than we should or from making less of the passage than we should.[1]

The structure of Haggai is built around the four messages contained in the book.

Each presents the date and divine origin of the prophecy as well as the recipients.

The first message was delivered by Haggai on the first day of the sixth month of King Darius’ second year, which was Elul 1 according to the Jewish calendar, which in our modern Julian calendar was August 29, 520 B.C. (Hag. 1:1-11).

It was addressed to Zerubbabel, the governor of Judah and Joshua the high priest and accuses the Jewish remnant of abandoning the rebuilding of the Lord’s temple (1:2-6), which is followed by an exhortation for them to rebuild again (1:7-8).

The Lord asserts that this failure to complete this project is the reason why they have been impoverished since their return from exile (1:9-11).

The remnant responds to the message by beginning to work on this rebuilding project (1:12-15).

The second message was also delivered to Zerubbabel and Joshua the high priest during the twenty-first day of the seventh month Darius’ second year (Hag. 2:1-9), which corresponds to the Jewish month Tishri, which according to our modern calendar would be October 17, 520 B.C.

The twenty-first day of Tishri marked the seventh day of the Feast of Tabernacles (Num 29:32–34) and also coincided with the date 440 years earlier (960 b.c.) when Solomon finished building his temple (1 Kgs 6:38; 8:2)[2] (Hag. 2:1).

In this message, the Lord through Haggai declares that the glory of this rebuilt temple will be superior to the glory of Solomon’s temple.

The third message was on the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month of Darius’ second year, which was the twenty-fourth day of the Jewish month Kislev, which in our Julian calendar would be December 18, 520 B.C. (Hag. 2:10-19) and it asserts that the Jewish remnant is defiled by sin (2:11-14).

The Lord asserts that their poor harvests are the direct result of their disobedience to His law (2:15-17), however, the Lord also declares that He will bless them as they rebuild His temple (2:18-19).

The fourth and final message was delivered by Haggai to Zerubbabel only on the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month of Darius’ second year, which would be the twenty-fourth day of the Jewish month Kislev, which is December 18, 520 B.C. in our modern calendar (Hag. 2:20-23).

This message contains a Messianic prophecy, which proclaims that the Lord will judge the Gentile nations in the future (2:21-22) and He also declares that He will restore the Davidic kingdom (2:23).

The theme of the book of Haggai is one which the church can readily make application here in the twenty-first century, namely priorities.

The Lord and in particular obedience to the Lord was not the number one priority for the remnant of Judah upon their return from exile, which was demonstrated by their complete failure to complete the task of rebuilding the temple, which would serve as the place in the nation to worship the Lord.

The Lord through the prophet Haggai confronts the priests regarding the ceremonial uncleanness of the remnant which demonstrated their disobedience to His Law (cf. Hag. 2:11-19) and implores them to consider their priorities.

Therefore, the book of Haggai teaches the church as it did Old Testament Israel that God’s people must prioritize their lives so that obedience to the Lord’s commands and prohibitions is their number one priority rather than placing priorities upon self.

Another theme of Haggai, which is tied to priorities, is obedience to God, which is indicated by the fact that several times Haggai mentions the consequences for disobedience (cf. Hag. 1:6, 11; 2:16-17) as well as for obedience.

God graciously provides the energy or enthusiasm (1:14), strength (2:4-5) and resources (2:8) to do His will when the remnant of Judah obey Him (1:12).

He also promised the post-exilic community that He would bless with His presence (2:9), peace (2:9) and material prosperity (2:19) if they obey Him.

Lastly, the Messiah is another theme contained in the book of Haggai since chapter 2 asserts that His glory would fill the rebuilt temple (2:9), which will be fulfilled in history by Jesus Christ during His millennial reign.

In Haggai 2:23, the Lord made Zerubbabel his “signet ring” as a guarantee that the Messiah would come.

The “signet ring” was a seal of royal authority or personal ownership.

Zerubbabel was owned as the Lord’s “signet ring” in his representative position as the son of David, not for personal fulfillment in his own lifetime but for messianic fulfillment in the kingdom of the final Son of David (cf. Luke 1:32–33).

The reference to shaking the earth and sky and overthrowing royal thrones and shattering earthly kingdoms as well as overthrowing chariots and their riders falling as people kill each other is a reference to the Second Advent of Jesus Christ.

[1] Campbell, D. K. (1991). Foreword. In C. Bubeck Sr. (Ed.), Basic Bible Interpretation: A Practical Guide to Discovering Biblical Truth (pp. 127–135). Colorado Springs, CO: David C. Cook. [2] Biblical Studies Press. (2005). The NET Bible First Edition; Bible. English. NET Bible.; The NET Bible. Biblical Studies Press.