Haggai

The temple still lay in ruins almost 20 years after the Hebrew people returned to Judah from exile in Babylon. At the same time, the people were living in comfortable homes. Haggai pointed out this contrast and urged the people to rebuild the temple of the Lord. He helped them understand how their work fit into God’s plan for his people.

Setting

In 538 BC, Cyrus the Great, king of Persia, issued a decree that allowed people taken from their lands by the Babylonians to return home (see Ezra 1:1–11). The first group returned to Jerusalem under the leadership of Sheshbazzar, the first governor of the restored community (Ezra 1:5–11). The returned exiles quickly began rebuilding the altar and the temple (Ezra 3:1–13). But local pagan peoples opposed them and discouraged them from continuing the work God had given them to do (Ezra 4:4–24). As a result, the temple remained unfinished for nearly 20 years.

During this time, the Hebrew people became discouraged. Selfishness weakened their sense of community. Apathy (lack of concern) and disappointment affected their worship. Only a small number of the exiles had returned to Judah. The walls of Jerusalem still lay in ruins, the temple was destroyed, and drought and crop failure damaged the land. Judah remained under Persian rule, and nearby nations continued to oppose the leaders in Jerusalem and block their efforts to rebuild.

When Haggai began preaching in 520 BC, the land was suffering from a severe drought (Haggai 1:11). God sent Haggai to encourage the people to rebuild the temple and renew their relationship with him. The people responded by restarting the work (1:14). They completed the project in March 515 BC (see Ezra 6:15).

Summary

Each of Haggai’s four messages focuses on a different theological concern.

The first message (chapter 1) challenged the people of Judah to stop focusing mainly on their own comfort. Instead, they needed to restore proper worship by rebuilding the temple of God.

The second message (2:1–9) reminded the people that God had not forgotten his promises of blessing and restoration spoken through the earlier prophets. The glory of the Lord would once again fill the temple (2:7). These promises were not empty words meant only to encourage a struggling group of people. They were trustworthy promises from God to his chosen people.

The third message (2:10–19) focuses on ritual purity (cleanliness required for worship under the law of Moses). Haggai reminded the people that the law of Moses still applied to them. God calls his people to be holy, even as he is holy (see Leviticus 11:44–45).

Haggai’s final and perhaps most important message (Haggai 2:20–23) restored attention to the family line of King David in Israel’s religious and political life. David’s dynasty (royal family line) was important for the restoration of the Hebrew people after the Babylonian exile (see Jeremiah 23:5; 33:15; Ezekiel 37:24). Zerubbabel was a descendant of David. God appointed him as his “signet ring” (a symbol of royal authority; Haggai 2:23; compare Jeremiah 22:24). This marked the beginning of God’s restoration of Israel and pointed forward to Jesus Christ, also a descendant of David (Matthew 1:1), who will rule forever in righteousness.

Author

The book of Haggai does not directly say who wrote it, but Haggai probably wrote down his own messages (1:1, 3). The Bible gives little personal information about Haggai, though Ezra 6:14 confirms his ministry. He likely wrote the book sometime between preaching his messages in 520 BC and the completion of the temple in 515 BC, since the book does not mention the temple’s completion.

Date

Haggai delivered his messages between August and December of 520 BC, during the second year of the reign of Darius I, king of Persia (see Haggai 1:1, 15; 2:1, 10). His ministry in Judah after the exile overlapped with the ministry of Zechariah, who began preaching in Jerusalem in November of the same year (see Zechariah 1:1).

Literary Genre

Haggai is shorter and simpler than books such as Isaiah or Jeremiah, but it still shows literary skill. Haggai often used rhetorical questions (questions asked to make a point rather than to receive an answer) to emphasize his message (see 1:4; 2:3, 19). He repeated words and phrases to strengthen his sermons, such as “consider carefully” (1:5, 7; 2:15). He also sometimes used wordplay, such as the Hebrew words khareb (“ruins,” 1:4) and khoreb (“drought,” 11).

The written messages in Haggai are probably summaries of longer sermons. These messages are oracles (authoritative messages from God). Oracles often use repeated phrases and standard forms. Haggai includes several of these forms:

• the “date” formula (“the second year of the reign of Darius,” 1:1; 2:1, 10, 20),

• the “message” formula (“the word of the LORD came,” 1:1; 2:1, 10, 20),

• the “God-as-speaker” formula (“declares the LORD,” 1:13; 2:4), and

• the “covenant relationship” formula (“I am with you,” 2:4–5).

Meaning and Message

Haggai’s four short sermons warned a community that had become spiritually inactive. His message was clear: the people needed to rise up and rebuild the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem.

Haggai connected the people’s poor harvests and economic struggles with their neglect of the temple. He rebuked them for failing to worship God faithfully and called them to repentance (turning away from sin and returning to God) and spiritual renewal. When the people obeyed and restarted the work, Haggai encouraged them with the promise that God would continue to be with them and help them.

Haggai called the people of Jerusalem to sincere worship, trust in God’s word, personal holiness, and obedience to the leaders God had appointed. He also emphasized the continuing presence of God’s Spirit (1:13–14; 2:4–5). This theme is also found in the writings of Zechariah (Zechariah 1:16; 8:23; see also Ezekiel 37:27–28).