Haggai: Haggai 2:10-The Identification of the Date, Origin and the Human Agency of the Third Message

Haggai 2:10 On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Haggai: 11 “This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Ask the priests what the law says: 12 If a person carries consecrated meat in the fold of his garment, and that fold touches some bread or stew, some wine, oil or other food, does it become consecrated?’ ” The priests answered, “No.” 13 Then Haggai said, “If a person defiled by contact with a dead body touches one of these things, does it become defiled?” “Yes,” the priests replied, “it becomes defiled.” 14 Then Haggai said, “ ‘So it is with this people and this nation in my sight,’ declares the Lord. ‘Whatever they do and whatever they offer there is defiled. 15 “ ‘Now give careful thought to this from this day on—consider how things were before one stone was laid on another in the Lord’s temple. 16 When anyone came to a heap of twenty measures, there were only ten. When anyone went to a wine vat to draw fifty measures, there were only twenty. 17 I struck all the work of your hands with blight, mildew and hail, yet you did not turn to me,’ declares the Lord. 18 ‘From this day on, from this twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, give careful thought to the day when the foundation of the Lord’s temple was laid. Give careful thought: 19 Is there yet any seed left in the barn? Until now, the vine and the fig tree, the pomegranate and the olive tree have not borne fruit. “‘From this day on I will bless you.’” (NIV84)

As we noted in our introduction to the book of Haggai, the structure of this book is built around four messages.

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

As we also noted, 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).

Haggai 2:2-9 contains the second message the Lord communicated to Zerubbabel and Joshua the high priest through the agency of the prophet Haggai.

This message was in turn to be communicated to the remnant of Judah by Zerubbabel and Joshua.

Haggai 2:1 asserts this message was communicated by the Lord on the twenty-first day of the seventh month.

Although the year is not explicitly mentioned, the assumption is that this message was delivered during the second year of Darius’s reign (cf. 2:10).

The seventh month was 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 and last day of the Feast of Tabernacles (cf. Lev 23:33–36, 39–43; Num 29:12–40; Ezek 45:25) and it also coincided with the date 440 years earlier (960 b.c.) when Solomon finished building his temple (1 Kgs 6:38; 8:2).

October 18, 520 B.C. would mark the anniversary of Solomon dedicated the temple in 959 B.C. (2 Chr. 7:8-10).

In fact, Tishri was a month of celebrations for the Israelites because on the first day of this month, they celebrated the Day of Atonement.

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 is recorded in Haggai 2:11-19, which was also communicated by the Lord to the prophet Haggai according to Haggai 2:10.

As was the case with the first two messages, the exact manner in which Haggai received this third message is not identified for the reader.

However, unlike the first two messages, the third message was addressed specifically to the Levitical priests of the remnant of Judah according to Haggai 2:11.

Although, this third message was addressed to the priests, the priests were to communicate this message to the remnant of Judah since this message is about them and intended for them, which is indicated by Haggai 2:14, which records the Lord asserting that the remnant of Judah was unclean in His sight.

Like the first two messages, the third message was communicated during the second year of Darius’, however, this third message was communicated on the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month of his reign and this corresponds to the Jewish month Kislev, which in our calendar would be December 18, 520 B.C.

This date is significant because it was on this day, five years later, that temple was rededicated.

This third message asserts that the Jewish remnant was defiled by sin (2:11-14) and also asserts that their poor harvests are the direct result of their disobedience to His law (2:15-17).

This defilement of the nation looked back to the period prior to this remnant resuming the work of completing the rebuilding of the Lord’s temple (cf. Haggai 1:2-4) because the defilement contrasts with the changed situation as indicated by the phrase “from this day on” in Haggai 2:19.

Haggai 2:15-17 records the Lord promising the remnant of Judah that He would bless them agriculturally from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month on because they obeyed Him and resumed the work of completing the rebuilding of His temple.

The expression ḏeḇǎr-yeh·wā(h)ʹ(דְבַר־יְהוָ֜ה), “the word of the Lord” emphasizes with the reader, the remnant of Judah and her leaders as well as the priests that Haggai received divine authority to proclaim a third message to them from God.

It appears 270 times in the Old Testament and five times alone in the book of Haggai (1:1, 3; 2:1, 10, 20) and is used the majority of the time in the Old Testament to refer to a Word spoken by Yahweh to a prophet as a technical expression for the prophetic word of revelation.

It is the formula that gives the prophetic books of the Old Testament their distinctiveness and is an earmark of inspiration indicating that what the prophet is communicating to people in writing is inspired by the Holy Spirit and is a revelation of God’s will (cf. 2 Peter 1:20-21).

It is the typical introductory phrase used among the prophetic books (cf. Jeremiah 1:2; Ezekiel 1:3; Hosea 1:1; Joel 1:1; Jonah 1:1; Micah 1:1; Haggai 1:1; Malachi 1:1).

This formula in Haggai 2:10 asserts this third message originates with the Lord and not the prophet Haggai.

Therefore, this prophetic word formula in Haggai 2:10 is therefore asserting that Haggai’s message to the priests of the remnant of Judah is divine in origin and thus it brings into view the doctrine of inspiration.

Now, as we noted, Haggai 2:10 identifies the prophet Haggai as the instrument or agency which the Lord employed to communicate this third message on the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month of the second year of Darius’ reign to the priests of the remnant of Judah.

This man is identified as a prophet and he is the first prophet to be used by the God of Israel to address the postexilic Judean community.

The prophet was unique among the prophets of Israel in that his words were listened and obeyed.

As we noted in our introduction and in our study of Haggai 1:1, the life and ministry of Haggai are shrouded in mystery since the Scriptures do not identify his parentage or genealogy.

In fact, there are only two references 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 and 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.