Study 0 From the Book of
Haggai is: The Introduction of the Book Haggai
The prophets Haggai and
Zechariah are mentioned together in Ezra 5:1 as prophesying at that time in
Jerusalem. Ezra 5 and 6 should be read in order to fit the ministry and
God-given messages of these prophets into their historical setting.
The exact date of Haggai’s
prophesying is given in Hg. 1:1 as being the second year of Darius, king of
Persia, i.e., 520 BC. (cf.Zc.1:1). In 538 BC, the first company of exiles,
under Zerubbabel, had returned from Babylon to Jerusalem, and had set about the
work of rebuilding the Temple. But Samaritan opposition and intrigue proved too
strong, and the work ceased (see Ezr. 4: 1-5, 24). The people became occupied
with their own concerns, and said with regard to the Temple, ‘The time has not
yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord’ (Hg. 1:2).
The prophecies of Haggai
consist of four utterances, which contain repeated promises of God’s presence
and blessing, if only the people will give themselves to the work of building
the Lord’s house. Haggai’s words express for our instruction the abiding truth
that God gives Himself and His best to those who fully honour Him and seek
first His kingdom. There is no other hope of survival in the day of trouble and
judgment, when God Himself will shake all things and reveal the worthlessness
of every other boasted confidence (see Hg. 2:21-23; and cf. Heb. 12:25-27).
Thus did Haggai, by the light of the Spirit of God, discern the truth about
life’s immediate circumstances, and foresee the similar, if greater,
certainties of the final consummation in the day of the Lord.
