Haggai: Introduction-Haggai’s Use of the Writings of the Prophets Before Him

Like his fellow prophets, Haggai makes use of the writing of the prophets of Israel who came before him.

At times, Haggai appears to be echoing earlier traditions in a general way without actually quoting any specific biblical passage.

On the other hand, there are times when Haggai’s words make clear that he has in mind a specific biblical passage, even though he does not directly quote the passage.

On other occasions, the similarity in language which is present in the book of Haggai, make clear that he has a specific passage of Scripture in mind and is more directly quoted it or it is being alluded to in Haggai.

When this takes place, it is assumed that the reader of Haggai would be familiar not only with the citation itself, but also would be familiar with its context in the original setting.

Mignon Jacobs writes “The connections between the book of Haggai and other Old Testament books are noteworthy. The elements that the book of Haggai shares with other biblical books range from vocabulary (words, phrases) to concepts signaled by but not limited to its vocabulary, to theologies and allusions.”[1]

The book of Haggai makes use of the book of Deuteronomy and in particular Deuteronomy 28.

In Haggai 1:6-11, the prophet Haggai describes the postexilic community as impoverished in that they were plagued by crop failure which resulted in an economic depression.

The language he uses to present this description is reminiscent of Deuteronomy chapter 28:18-51.

What Haggai does in Haggai 1:6-11 is interpret the problems of the postexilic community as being based upon the blessing and cursing patterns articulated in Deuteronomy 28.

By doing this, Haggai was reminding this postexilic community of their covenantal responsibilities to the Lord.

He is in effect presenting the implications of his appeal to Deuteronomy 28, which are both positive and negative.

They are positive because he is acknowledging that this postexilic community possesses a covenantal relationship with the Lord.

They are negative in the sense this community was being cursed by the Lord for being negligent with regards to their covenantal responsibilities to the Lord.

It would not go unnoticed by the remnant of Judah that the book of Haggai is echoing Deuteronomy 28 and reminding them that their impoverishment as a nation is based upon the blessing and cursing pronouncements in Deuteronomy 28.

As we noted Haggai and Zechariah were contemporaries because together they helped Zerubbabel restart the project and work to rebuild the temple which began again in 520 B.C. (Ezra 5:1; Hag. 1:1; Zech. 1:1; Ezra 5-6).

Now, unlike Haggai’s used of Deuteronomy 28, we see that the prophet Zechariah makes use of Haggai.

The former in Zechariah 8:12 prophesies that “The ground will produce its crops, and the heavens will drop their dew.”

In Haggai 1:10, Haggai tells Zerubbabel and Joshua the high priest and the postexilic community that “the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth its crops” because they were negligent with regards to their covenantal responsibilities to the Lord.

Richard Taylor writes “Two differences between the Haggai text and the Zechariah text stand out. First, the order of the two statements is reversed in Zechariah, where mention of the heavens follows mention of the ground. Second, the negative effects of Haggai’s statement are transformed into positive effects in Zechariah. It is possible that the order of the two statements has been reversed in Zechariah so as to call attention to the reversal of conditions that the Lord had brought about for his people by the time of Zechariah’s message. Or perhaps this is just one more example of a general tendency in Zechariah to establish verbal linkage with Haggai, in this case with the added effect of ‘heavens’ in Hag 1:10 and Zech 8:12 creating a chiastic structure that links the two sections together literarily.[2] This is not the only example of such an inverted quotation in Old Testament literature; it is a device that crops up a number of times elsewhere.[3]”[4]

Another fascinating use of Old Testament Scripture by Haggai is that of his alluding to Joshua 1:6-9.

Joshua 1:6 Be strong and brave! You must lead these people in the conquest of this land that I solemnly promised their ancestors I would hand over to them. 1:7 Make sure you are very strong and brave! Carefully obey all the law my servant Moses charged you to keep! Do not swerve from it to the right or to the left, so that you may be successful in all you do. 1:8 This law scroll must not leave your lips! You must memorize it day and night so you can carefully obey all that is written in it. Then you will prosper and be successful. 1:9 I repeat, be strong and brave! Don’t be afraid and don’t panic, for I, the Lord your God, am with you in all you do.” (NET)

Notice that the Lord commands Joshua three times in the wake of Moses’ death just prior to leading the nation of Israel into the land of promise, to be strong and courageous.

With these commands, the Lord promises His presence with Joshua as fulfills the task of leading the nation in dispossessing the inhabitants of that land.

In Haggai 2:4-5, the prophet Haggai adopts the language found in Joshua 1:6-9.

Haggai 2:4 Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, declares the Lord. Be strong, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land, declares the Lord. Work, for I am with you, declares the Lord of hosts, 5 according to the covenant that I made with you when you came out of Egypt. My Spirit remains in your midst. Fear not. (ESV)

Notice Haggai employs the imperative form of the verb ḥăzaq, “be strong” which is repeated three times in verse 4.

This same form of this verb appears in Joshua 1:6, 7 and 9.

Furthermore, not only does Haggai used this same verb form three times but he also in conjunction with this command employs the promise of the divine presence to energize the work of the people.

In fact, Haggai 2:5 alludes to the exodus in order to provide assurance for the postexilic community that the Lord would be faithful to them as He was to their predecessors.

Also, Haggai 2:6-7, and 21 allude to Joel 4:16 in that the language of the former is reminiscent of the latter.

Joel 3:16 The Lord roars from Zion; from Jerusalem his voice bellows out. The heavens and the earth shake. But the Lord is a refuge for his people; he is a stronghold for the citizens of Israel. (NET)

Haggai 2:6 Moreover, the Lord who rules over all says: ‘In just a little while I will once again shake the sky and the earth, the sea and the dry ground. 2:7 I will also shake up all the nations, and they will offer their treasures; then I will fill this temple with glory,’ says the Lord who rules over all. (NET)

Haggai 2:21 Tell Zerubbabel governor of Judah: ‘I am ready to shake the sky and the earth. (NET)

Notice that both passages speak of the Lord shaking the heavens and the earth in the future using identical yet common vocabulary but striking nonetheless.

Haggai 2:17 echoes Amos 4:9.

Amos 4:9 “I destroyed your crops with blight and disease. Locusts kept devouring your orchards, vineyards, fig trees, and olive trees. Still you did not come back to me.” The Lord is speaking! (NET)

Haggai 2:17 I struck all the products of your labor with blight, disease, and hail, and yet you brought nothing to me,’ says the Lord. (NET)

Haggai 2:22 draws on Exodus 15:1.

Exodus 15:1 Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the Lord. They said, “I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously, the horse and its rider he has thrown into the sea.” (NET)

Haggai 2:22 I will overthrow royal thrones and shatter the might of earthly kingdoms. I will overthrow chariots and those who ride them, and horses and their riders will fall as people kill one another. (NET)

Haggai draws on the opening lines of the song of Moses.

By drawing on this passage in Exodus, the prophet Haggai is bringing out the implication of the Lord defeating Pharaoh and his Egyptian army at the Red Sea in that the Lord will in the future deliver His people Israel from Gentile superpowers.

At His Second Advent, the Lord Jesus Christ will deliver the remnant of Israel from Satan, Antichrist and the tribulational armies to conclude the seventieth week of Daniel.

This deliverance will be likened to Israel’s deliverance from Pharaoh’s Egypt.

Haggai 2:23 makes use of Jeremiah 22:24.

The latter records the Lord telling Jeconiah, the king of Judah that He will no longer the Lord’s representative of His authority and that He would take that right away from him.

Haggai 2:23 records the Lord setting His seal of approval on Zerubbabel.

[1] Jacobs, M. R. (2017). The Books of Haggai and Malachi. (E. J. Young, R. K. Harrison, & R. L. Hubbard Jr., Eds.) (p. 20). Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.

[2] See Meyers and Meyers, Haggai, Zechariah 1–8, 423.

[3] The expression “inverted quotation” is P. C. Beentjes’. His discussion of this phenomenon in the Hb. Bible is helpful; see “Discovering a New Path of Intertextuality: Inverted Quotations and Their Dynamics,” in Literary Structure and Rhetorical Strategies in the Hebrew Bible (Assen: Van Gorcum, 1996), 31–50.

[4] Taylor, R. A., & Clendenen, E. R. (2004). Haggai, Malachi (Vol. 21A, pp. 85–86). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.