Haggai Simplified

Title & Author

We Don’t Know Much About the Prophet Haggai

Haggai = “Festive or Festival”

Some Believe He May Have Been Born During One of Israel’s Festivals

Others Believe it May Link His Name With His Message (As With Some Other Prophets)

His Message was Directed Toward the Rebuilding of the Temple…

And Therefore Looked Forward to the Restoration of Israel’s Great Festivals

Date

The Only Other Thing We Know About Haggai is the Time Period He Prophesied in

Haggai Prophesied to the People of Judah in 520 B.C.

The Last Prophet We Studied (Zephaniah) Prophesied About 100 Years Before This

And He was Prophesying About the Day of the Lord that was Coming Upon Judah

100 Years Have Past

Jerusalem was Destroyed and Judah was Taken into Babylonian Exile for 70 Years

Now in Haggai, the Exiles Have Returned to Jerusalem…

Thanks to the Foretold Return Allowed By the Persian King Cyrus

And Haggai is Prophesying to the Returnees

God Speaks to Haggai On 5 Separate Occasions

And Haggai Does Us a Favor of Telling Us the Date Every Time God Speaks to Him

1st Message - 1st Day of 6th Month (August 29th, 520 B.C.)

2nd Message - 24th Day of the 6th Month (September 21st, 520 B.C.)

3rd Message - 21st Day of the 7th Month (October 17th, 520 B.C.)

4th and 5th Messages- 24th Day of the 9th Month (December 18th, 520 B.C.)

So the Time Frame of This Book Spans Just Under 4 Months

Purpose

Haggai was Chosen By God to Motivate the Leaders of Judah to “Consider” Their Ways (5 Times)

They Were to “Set Their Hearts” On Their Current Economic and Spiritual Circumstances

And Then They Were to Renew Zeal and Passion for God

And They Were to Begin Restoring God’s House

They Had Initially Begun Work On the Temple When They First Returned

But We Read in Ezra 4 That the People of the Land Began to Frustrate Their Efforts

Haggai was Chosen to Restore Their Courage and Zeal to Restore God’s House

Key Themes

The Overall Theme: The Restoration of God’s House

A Temple that Lays in Ruins Signifies a Covenant Relationship With God that Lays in Ruins

God Wanted to Live in the Midst of His People

They Needed to Complete the Temple

God’s Sovereignty

14 Times God is Called “YHWH of Hosts/Armies”

He is Powerful and He is in Control

He Will Provide for Them if They Will Only Turn to Him

There’s Work to Be Done!

In Order for God’s Blessings to Be Bestowed Upon the People…

They’ve Got to Get to Work

That Means Hard Work and Heart Work

Haggai in the New Testament

Haggai 2:6 (NASB95)

“For thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘Once more in a little while, I am going to shake the heavens and the earth, the sea also and the dry land.

Hebrews 12:26–27 (NASB95)

And His voice shook the earth then, but now He has promised, saying, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heaven.” This expression, “Yet once more,” denotes the removing of those things which can be shaken, as of created things, so that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.

Outline

Rebuilding the Temple (1:1-2:9)

Cleansing the People and Restoring the Kingdom (2:10-23)