Haggai-Introduction-Part 1 (Doctrinal Bible Church in Huntsville, Alabama)
Doctrinal Bible Church
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Sunday May 21, 2023
Haggai: Introduction-Part 1
Lesson # 1
The book of Haggai next to Obadiah is the shortest book in the Old Testament.
It deals with the God of Israel using the prophet Haggai to issue four messages to the remnant of Jews who returned from the Babylonian captivity.
The purpose of these messages was to encourage this remnant to complete the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem which was destroyed by the third and final Babylonian invasion in 586 B.C.
These messages were delivered over a period of fourth months in 520 B.C. during the second year of the Persian king Darius Hystaspes (522-486 B.C.).
They were delivered to this postexilic community 18 years after their initial return from Babylon.
There are three main characters in the book of Haggai.
First, there is Darius Hystaspes, the king of the Persian empire which was the superpower of the ancient world at the end of the sixth century B.C. and he is also mentioned in Ezra 5 and Zechariah 1.
The second main character is Zerubbabel who was the leader of the Jewish exiles from Babylon and the governor of Judah and his name means “offspring of Babylon” which strongly suggests he was born in Babylon during the exile and he is also mentioned in Ezra 2:2 and Zechariah 4:6.
Lastly, there is Joshua who was the high priest and was thus responsible for leading nation in the worship of Yahweh and he shared the leadership responsibilities with Zerubbabel and he is also mentioned in Ezra 2:2 and Zechariah 3:1.
The book of Haggai immediately attained canonical status among the Jews.
Now, Haggai is the first of the postexilic prophets and the tenth of the twelve minor prophets and it is also placed in the correct chronological order in the Old Testament which is unlike many books in the Bible.
The divine origin of Haggai and thus its canonical authority were recognized in Israel from the time of its composition and specifically, it was immediately recognized as canonical among the faithful remnant in Israel and thus, the canonicity of the book of Haggai has never been questioned.
Although the prophet Haggai is not identified as the author of the book which bears his name, unanimous tradition assigns it to him.
Both Jewish and Christian interpreters assign the prophet Haggai as the author of this book.
Furthermore, this is not an unreasonable conclusion since the contents of the book provide evidence that this is the case.
It is only the last century that the authenticity of particular parts of the book of Haggai have been seriously questioned by scholars.
The life and ministry of Haggai are a mystery since the Scriptures do not identify his parentage or genealogy.
In fact, there are only two reference to him outside of his own book (cf. Ezra 5:1; 6:14) and he is also alluded to in Zechariah 8:9.
This sets him apart from most of the prophets of Israel since most provide in their prophecies a personal genealogy or geographical origin or royal contemporaries (Isa 1:1; Jer 1:1–3; Ezek 1:1–3; Hos 1:1; Joel 1:1; Amos 1:1; Jonah 1:1; Mic 1:1; Nah 1:1; Zeph 1:1; Zech 1:1.).
Thus, the book of Haggai is similar to the books of Obadiah, Habakkuk and Malachi.
We also have no idea of when and where he died.
It would appear that he was not exiled to Babylon or was born during this captivity since his name is not provided in the list of returnees found in Ezra 2.
However, this is not itself sufficient ground for making this conclusion.
Haggai’s name means “festive” or “festal,” which is derived from the Hebrew word ḥāḡ (“a festival”).
There are at least nine individuals in the Old Testament who are attested who are attested on seals with this name.
Haggai himself and the prophet Ezra simply refer to him as “the prophet Haggai” (Hag. 1:1; Ezra 5:1; 6:14).
However, he is the first prophet to be used by the God of Israel to address the postexilic Judean community.
The contents of Haggai also identify the specific dates of each of his four messages to this community, namely 520 B.C. during the second year of the reign of Darius I.
Ezra also asserts that Haggai was joined by the prophet Zechariah (cf. Ezra 5:1-2; 6:14).
The prophet was unique among the prophets of Israel in that his words were listened and obeyed.
The book of Haggai is one of the “Minor Prophets,” which are called the Book of the Twelve in the Hebrew Bible.
Haggai is the tenth book in the Masoretic ordering of the Twelve or Minor Prophets.
These twelve books cover a period of approximately three hundred years, from 760 B.C. to approximately 450 B.C., ending with Malachi.
Except for the book of Jonah, these books all identify the author in a heading and they are arranged in the biblical canon chronologically with the exception of Joel and Obadiah.
Hosea, Amos, Jonah and Micah were written in the eighth century B.C. and Nahum, Habakkuk and Zephaniah were penned in the seventh century B.C.
Joel, Obadiah, Haggai and Zechariah were composed in the sixth century B.C. while Malachi was written in the fifth century B.C.
In the Hebrew Bible, the Minor Prophets were treated as a unity and though they share similar themes, each are distinct literary units with distinct messages.
These twelve books are called “minor” not because they are less important in inspiration and reliability than the “major” prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel, but rather mainly because they are short in length in comparison to the latter books.
As we noted, the first and second messages were addressed to Zerubbabel, the governor of Judah and Joshua the high priest.
The third message delivered by Haggai to the priests of the Law and the fourth and final message was delivered to Zerubbabel only.
Zerubbabel was the governor of Judah following the Babylonian exile.
Zerubbabel is identified as a descendant of king David (Hag. 1:1) and grandson of King Jehoiachin and is listed in the genealogies of Jesus found in Matthew and Luke (Matt. 1:12-13; Luke 3:27).
He is named in Ezra 2:2 as one of the leaders of the Jewish remnant returning from Babylon. Joshua the high priest was taken into exile by Nebuchadnezzar in 586 B.C. and he then returned to Jerusalem with Zerubbabel in approximately 537 B.C. and the descendants of his family also returned (Ezra 2:36; cf. 2:40).
Together, Zerubbabel and Joshua the high priest led the remnant of Judah in rebuilding the altar and restoring sacrifices in Jerusalem (Ezra 3:2-6) and they also began building the temple but quit when they were faced with strong opposition.
They appealed to King Artaxerxes (Ezra 3:8-4:24) and they later corresponded with King Darius in order to recover Cyrus’ proclamation authorizing the rebuilding of the temple and this was after Joshua followed the instructions of Zechariah and Haggai.
They finally renewed efforts to rebuild the temple (Ezra 5:2-6:15; Hag. 1:1, 12-14; 2:4) and completed the task in 515 B.C.
The dating of Haggai is relatively easy since the prophet was precise in dating his prophecies.
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. 1:1-13).
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 was the Jewish month Tishri, which according to our modern calendar would be October 17, 520 B.C.
The third message delivered by Haggai to the priests of the Law 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).
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).