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Book 37 of 39 · Minor Prophets

Haggai

Build the House
Narrated book coming soon

Overview

Haggai is the second-shortest book of the Old Testament and one of the most precisely dated. Its four messages fall within four months of 520 BC, "in the second year of Darius the king" of Persia. Haggai is mentioned with Zechariah in Ezra 5:1 and 6:14 as the prophets who urged the returned exiles to rebuild the temple.

The background is the return from exile. In 538 BC Cyrus allowed the Jews to go home (Ezra 1). Under Zerubbabel the governor, a descendant of David, and Joshua the high priest, they rebuilt the altar and laid the temple's foundation (Ezra 3). Opposition from neighbouring peoples and their own hardships halted the work (Ezra 4), and it stood still for about sixteen years. Haggai's preaching restarted it; the temple was completed in 516 BC (Ezra 6:15).

Structure: four dated messages. First, a call to build (1:1–15, sixth month, day 1); second, the promise of the latter glory (2:1–9, seventh month, day 21); third, a lesson on uncleanness and blessing (2:10–19, ninth month, day 24); fourth, a promise to Zerubbabel (2:20–23, same day).

Part 1 — Consider Your Ways (chapter 1)

The excuse (1:1–4). The word comes to Zerubbabel and Joshua. The people say, "The time is not come, the time that the LORD's house should be built." Haggai answers: "Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your cieled houses, and this house lie waste?"

Futility (1:5–11). "Consider your ways." They sow much and bring in little; eat and drink without being satisfied; dress without getting warm; "he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes." The cause is the neglected house of God, while "ye run every man unto his own house." God has called a drought on land, grain, wine and oil. The command: "Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it."

The response (1:12–15). Zerubbabel, Joshua and "all the remnant of the people" obey and fear the LORD. Haggai, "the LORD's messenger", brings the promise: "I am with you, saith the LORD." God stirs up their spirits, and work begins on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month, just 23 days after the first message.

Part 2 — The Latter Glory (chapter 2:1–9)

Discouragement (2:1–3). Near the end of the Feast of Tabernacles, the builders are disheartened. Some still remember Solomon's temple: "Who is left among you that saw this house in her first glory? ...is it not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing?" (compare Ezra 3:12).

Be strong (2:4–5). "Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel... and be strong, O Joshua... and be strong, all ye people of the land, and work: for I am with you." God's covenant from the Exodus stands and his Spirit remains among them: "fear ye not."

The shaking of the nations (2:6–9). "Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land; and I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory." "The silver is mine, and the gold is mine." "The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former... and in this place will I give peace." (The phrase "the desire of all nations" has been read both as the treasures of the nations and as a messianic title; Hebrews 12:26 cites the shaking.)

Part 3 — From This Day I Will Bless You (chapter 2:10–19)

A question for the priests (2:10–14). If someone carries holy meat in his garment and touches other food, does it become holy? "No." If someone unclean from touching a corpse touches the food, does it become unclean? "It shall be unclean." So with this people: their neglect has made their work and offerings unclean. Holiness is not contagious, but defilement is.

The turning point (2:15–19). "Consider now from this day and upward." Before the foundation was resumed, a heap of twenty measures yielded ten, and a press of fifty yielded twenty; God struck them with blight, mildew and hail, "yet ye turned not to me." Now the seed is still in the barn, and vine, fig, pomegranate and olive have not yet borne. But "from this day will I bless you."

Part 4 — The Signet Ring (chapter 2:20–23)

Shaking the kingdoms (2:20–22). A second message the same day, to Zerubbabel alone: "I will shake the heavens and the earth; and I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms... and I will overthrow the chariots, and those that ride in them."

Chosen (2:23). "In that day... will I take thee, O Zerubbabel... and will make thee as a signet: for I have chosen thee." This reverses the judgement on his grandfather Jehoiachin (Coniah), whom God had said he would pull off like a signet ring (Jeremiah 22:24). David's royal line is not abandoned.

Key themes, and the bridge to Zechariah

  • Priorities. God's house and God's purposes come before personal comfort; neglecting them brings frustration.
  • Consider your ways. Repeated four times, it calls the people to reflect on their lives and choices.
  • God's presence. "I am with you" is the heart of the encouragement to work.
  • Small beginnings, greater glory. The modest second temple points ahead to a future glory beyond Solomon's.
  • Hope for David's line. Zerubbabel as God's signet keeps the royal promise alive.

Haggai's short ministry achieved its goal: the people rebuilt, and the temple was dedicated in 516 BC. His contemporary Zechariah began prophesying two months after Haggai's first message, and his book carries the same encouragement into night visions of a restored Jerusalem, a cleansed priesthood and a coming King.