Bible Book of the Month: Haggai

The prophet Haggai, who returned from Babylon to Jerusalem with Zerubbabel and Joshua, delivered his first prophecy in the second year of Darius, 520 B.C.—the year when he suddenly appeared on the scene and just as suddenly disappeared. Haggai’s consuming passion was to inspire the returned exiles in Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple which Nebuchadnezzar had destroyed nearly 70 years earlier (586 B.C.) His prophecies reflect the wretched conditions in which the Jews were still living although 17 years had passed since they arrived in Jerusalem from Babylon in 537 B.C.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

In 537 B.C. Cyrus permitted Jewish exiles to return to Palestine under Zerubbabel and Joshua (Ezra 1:2; 2:2). The former was to be governor of Judah and the latter the high priest. This seemingly insignificant event was in reality one that has shaped the destinies of the world.

Enthusiastic hopes were soon shattered. An altar of burnt offerings was set up in Jerusalem in 537 B.C. (Ezra 3:2 f.), and in 536 B.C. the Temple site was cleared of rubble (Ezra 3:8), and new foundations were laid (Ezra 3:10); but then the work was held up for 16 years, 536–520 B.C. (Ezra 4:5, 24). This delay has been variously explained. (1) In Babylon the exiles had been nourished on spiritual ideals and sentimental ideas about their far-off native land which the stern realities of a ruined Jerusalem falsified and destroyed. (2) For 50 years the exiles had lived in Babylon without altar or Temple, and they may have felt that delay in rebuilding the Temple would not materially affect their religious life. (3) A series of disasters also contributed to the delay: (a) There was the activity of the Samaritans who had been irked by the Jews’ refusal of their offer of assistance in the work (Ezra 4:1–5), although of course, acceptance would have exposed the already weakened Jewish community to the corrupting influence of paganism; (b) Cambyses, the Persian emperor, invaded Egypt in 527 B.C., and those military operations would involve Jerusalem in great hardship; (c) A succession of bad harvests due to drought and failure of the vintage, would also have a demoralizing effect upon the Jews (Hag. 1:9–11; 2:16 f.); (d) There are also hints of social abuses committed by the more fortunate citizens (cf. Hag. 1:4), and these would depress and discourage the community as a whole; (e) It is fairly clear also that the Jews did not receive the necessary lead from their rulers, and as a consequence ardor for the restored Temple quickly evaporated.

In addition to the above, important events were taking place in the Persian empire of which Judah formed a part. Cambyses was murdered, and his successor Darius was, from 521–515 B.C., struggling to prevent the empire from disintegrating. Province after province seethed with unrest and the whole pagan world seemed to be in a state of eruption. This is probably reflected in Haggai chapter 2 (vv. 6 f., 21 f.). And as in critical pre-exilic times prophets appeared in Israel who read the signs of the times to the nation, so in the chaotic post-exilic times the prophets Haggai and Zechariah appeared in Jerusalem proclaiming that God was active again in this “shaking of the nations.”

They began to anticipate the end of the Persian empire and the beginning of the Messianic age. Inspired by such dreams they used the chaotic political situation to rouse the returned exiles to religious fervor, and to undertake the rebuilding of the ruined Temple. Haggai and Zechariah were contemporaries (Hag. 1:1; Zech. 1:1; Ezra 5:1), and with revived religious and political hopes they inspired a religious revival in Jerusalem.

They stabbed awake the conscience of the people by representing present misfortunes as God’s judgments upon their unfaithfulness, but they claimed that he would be gracious to them again if they repented with their whole heart. Under the leadership of Zerubbabel and Joshua, the civil and religious heads of the community, the people responded to the prophetic call and in 520 B.C. resumed the reconstruction of the Temple. Four years later (516 B.C.), exactly seventy years after the fall of Jerusalem (586 B.C.), the Temple was rebuilt and dedicated (Ezra 6:13–15).

CONTENTS

Haggai’s short book is of very great importance. His message and ministry profoundly affected the whole history of Judaism. This book is the only really reliable source which throws light on the obscure period between the fall of Jerusalem and Nehemiah’s arrival in Jerusalem nearly 150 years later. Haggai’s four prophecies are quite distinct from each other and are accurately dated. The first came in September 520 B.C. and the rest followed in the course of the next three months.

1:1–15. In his first message Haggai addressed Zerubbabel and Joshua (1:1) upon whose shoulders lay the main responsibility for the apathy towards the rebuilding of the Temple. He brushed aside excuses of inexpediency (1:2–4) and pointed to the bitter experiences of the past 16 years since the return (1:4–11). The people responded to his appeal (1:12), and inspired by assurances of God’s presence they resumed work on the Temple (1:13–15) after an interval of 16 years.

2:1–9. Unfortunately the initial enthusiasm soon waned. Discouragement was engendered by the insignificant dimensions of the second Temple when compared with the first (2:1–3). To combat this spirit of defeatism Haggai delivered his second prophecy (2:4 f.). The people must leave the irreparable past behind them and press forward assured that the latter glory of this second Temple would be more splendid than the former (2:6–9).

2:10–19. Half-heartedness and waning enthusiasm again afflicted the builders. Probably it was famine conditions that seemed to belie Haggai’s promises of brighter days. If God’s presence were really with the returned exiles why did fruitfulness not prevail? In this third prophecy Haggai exposes the falsity of this reasoning. The priestly robe does not impart holiness to what it touches (2:10–12) but a corpse communicates its uncleanness to what it touches (2:13). In other words, the contagion of holiness is weak (cf. Lev. 6:27) but the contagion of uncleanness is potent. The application is that neglect of God’s house produced uncleanness, whose more powerful contagion counteracts the weaker contagion of holiness. The truth Haggai proclaims is seen in the fact that repentance is not followed immediately by improvement in material circumstances. Good influences are outweighed by evil influence as, for example, the consequences of sin persist after conversion—this being a moral world. However, blessing will ultimately flow from obedience to God’s will (Hag. 2:15–19).

2:20–23. In Haggai’s fourth prophecy he announces to Zerubbabel an approaching day of judgment (2:20–22). However, since Zerubbabel was the representative of the house of David he would survive the catastrophe. The Lord had made him his signet ring (2:23; cf. Jer. 22:24); he was, therefore, God’s responsible vicegerent on earth, namely the Messianic king.

The Hebrew text of the book of Haggai presents only very minor difficulties. There is, therefore, general unanimity among Old Testament scholars on the date, authorship, and unity of the book.

TEACHING

Like that of the pre-exilic prophets, Haggai’s message and ministry were intimately related to the situation in which he prophesied. The message of the former prophets had largely been one of denunciation of Israel’s national sins that were involving her in judgment and retribution. Hence the pre-exilic prophets also demanded repentance and moral amendment of life in order to avert the impending judgment. Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, however, had an entirely different message to proclaim. But this was because they were living in a situation which differed completely from that which prevailed in the eighth century B.C. In the latter part of the sixth century B.C., apostasy and idolatry were not burning issues in Jerusalem. What the returned exiles needed more than anything else was a Temple. It would act as an external symbol of God’s presence, and in the absence of a political government it would be both a bond that would hold the Jerusalem community together and a rallying point for the multitudes of Jews who were now living in the Diaspora.

Perhaps the chief danger of Haggai’s age was secularism. Hence he uses a new religious idiom when addressing himself to the new problems and needs which his generation faced. Inevitably Haggai’s main emphasis was upon the Temple, and organized religion centered in the Temple. On this he concentrated all his hopes (2:7–9). The Jewish community was passing into the era of Law and the legalism that went with it. Indeed, Haggai was really one of the founders of post-exilic Judaism, for which the Temple was indispensable. This is the origin of his passionate appeal for the Temple, which was completed in four years (520–516 B.C.). However, in the providence of God this important transitional period in the history of redemption really conserved the great principles for which the pre-exilic prophets had stood; and then finally Christ came in whom were fulfilled both the Law and the prophets.

Although Haggai concentrated his efforts on rebuilding the Temple, his prophecies are free from racial exclusivism or religious bigotry. There is a note of catholicity in his message. Part of the glory of the second Temple was to be found in the treasures with which the Gentiles were to adorn it, and in the peace and reconciliation which Jew and Gentile were to find when they worshiped there (2:7–9). The Temple would be a holy place in a holy land where the Lord would be worshiped in the beauty of holiness by both Jew and Gentile. In Zechariah this aspect of the significance of the second Temple is even more prominent than in Haggai (2:11; 8:22 f.; 14:16–21). However, these ideals which both Haggai and Zechariah proclaimed remained largely unfulfilled. The Gentile nations did not press into the second Temple, nor were they overthrown by the expected Messiah. Haggai’s vision tarried as did Isaiah’s when he dreamed that Jerusalem, beleaguered in his day by the Assyrians, would remain for ever inviolate and would become the focal point of the golden Messianic age.

But there are in Haggai’s prophecies distinct Messianic ideals. Zerubbabel is prominent as a Messianic figure. He was the son of Shealtiel (Ezra 3:2, 8; 5:2; Matt. 1:12; Luke 3:27), and grandson of Jehoiachin, one of the last kings of Judah (2 Kings 24:15). He was, therefore, of the royal line of David. He was also governor of Judah (Hag. 1:1). He it was who supervised the first attempt to rebuild the Temple in 536 B.C. (Ezra 3:2, 8; Zech. 4:9). He is probably also to be identified with Sheshbazzar who is mentioned in Ezra 6:1, 12, 14; 5:14, 16. Under Zerubbabel the second Temple was eventually completed in 516 B.C. (Ezra 6:15; Zech. 4:9). It is true that along with Zerubbabel Joshua the high priest was given equal prominence (Hag. 1:1, 12, 14; 2:3 f.), but not in the Messianic reference in 2:20–23. Doubtless this was Haggai’s way of insisting that the returned exiles should be a religious-political community.

However, for Haggai, Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, restorer of the Temple, scion of the house of David, was above all a Messianic figure. As a “signet” on God’s finger (2:23) he was to be the leader in the divine victory over the Gentile nations in the Messianic age. Haggai declares that through Zerubbabel and Joshua God will overthrow “all nations,” and through the Messianic figure fill the new Temple with his glory (2:4–9). Haggai expects “the precious things of all lands” to pour into the Temple (2:7 f.).

But in the later prophecies of Malachi it becomes painfully evident that the hopes of the earlier Haggai remained unfulfilled. In Malachi’s day the Temple services were but a caricature of what Haggai had dreamed. His expectations that Zerubbabel would prove to be the Messianic king who would rule over the world from Jerusalem as God’s vicegerent (2:20–23) were also disappointed. Thus through the discipline of disappointment the best minds in Judaism finally abandoned their dreams of an earthly kingdom. The great hope finally emerged, but in a form undreamed of by Haggai.

Haggai’s hopes were neither of a spiritual religion nor a spiritual kingdom, but it was precisely under this form that his vision was fulfilled. “The desire of all nations” (2:7) is traditionally interpreted of Christ born of David’s line through Zerubbabel. In the Lord Jesus Christ and the Church those from every tribe and nation discover true oneness. In Jesus Christ there is neither Jew nor Gentile, bond nor free. And in Christ they worship together because they worship God “in spirit and in truth.” And finally when the kingdoms of this world will have become the kingdom of God and his Christ, then Haggai’s vision will have received its perfect fulfillment.

PIETY AND PATRIOTISM

One final word. In Haggai there emerges a close collaboration between prophet and priest. He insists that it is the people’s duty and privilege to build and support the Temple. The Temple was a matter of life and death for Judaism. But Haggai’s concern for the Temple and its organization was no degradation of the prophetic office. The second Temple was of paramount importance for revealed religion. Doubtless in exile many Jews had learned that to obey was better than sacrifice; that the sacrifices of God were a broken and a contrite heart. But for Judaism to have tried to live without a Temple would have been spiritual suicide. And it was part of the greatness of the returned exiles that they were prepared to risk everything to ensure that Judaism should have its Temple. Piety and patriotism took precedence over security and comfort.

J. G. S. S. THOMSON

Author and Lecturer

Edinburgh, Scotland

Have something to add about this? See something we missed? Share your feedback here.