Haggai

A book of the Bible.

[After HAGGAI¹.]

The tenth book of the twelve Minor Prophets. It is built upon four prophetic revelations experienced by Haggai during the second regnal year of Darius I of Persia i.e., 520 B.C. These revelations are dated as follows: (a) the first day of the sixth month (later Elul, i.e., August-September; Hag 1:1); (b) the twenty-first day of the seventh month (later Tishri, i.e., September-October; Hag 2:1); (c) the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month (later Chislev; Hag 2:10); and (d) later that same day (Hag 2:20). Unlike the Books of Jeremiah and Ezekiel, in which the prophets often speak about themselves in the first person, this book invariably refers to Haggai in the third person (Hag 1:1, 12-13; 2:1, 10, 13, 20).

According to the author of the Book of Ezra, the Second Temple, whose foundations had been laid in 537 B.C. (Ezra 3:8-13), was still uncompleted as late as 520 B.C. because the returned exiles were intimidated by "the people of the land" (Ezra 4:4-5). Apparently unaware of this explanation, Haggai attributes the delay in rebuilding the Temple to the returned exiles' sheer neglect of their responsibility to the Lord, and preoccupation with their own material advancement. When asked why they had not rebuilt the Temple, they said that they were awaiting the divinely appointed time. This argument provoked the Lord's anger (Hag 1:1-4); the people's neglect was punished by a drought, which led to the near economic collapse of Judah (1:5-11). The Lord's rebuke through the agency of Haggai brought about the desired result when, three weeks after its delivery, on the twenty-first day of the sixth month, the people and their leaders took up in earnest the task of rebuilding the temple (1:12-15). In Haggai's second prophecy the Lord consoles the people of Judah over the fact that the Temple now being built is much less impressive than Solomon's Temple (2:1-9). The Lord promises that he himself will in due time make the new Temple more glorious than the first. In his third prophecy (2:10-19) Haggai returns to a central theme of classical prophecy – the primacy of morality. Lest the people think that the building of the Temple then in progress is the be-all and end-all of Israelite religion, Haggai reminds the people that the Temple cannot confer holiness on a people whose deeds are impure. On the contrary, just as sacrificial meat and bread and wine and oil do not transmit holiness but are susceptible to defilement, so is the Temple incapable of sanctifying the impure deeds of Israel and is itself susceptible to defilement by those deeds. The prophecy concludes with a promise of prosperity. Haggai's final prophecy (2:21-23) asserts that the Persian empire is about to be toppled by civil war and that Zerubbabel, the grandson of King Jehoiachin of Judah, who has been serving as Persian governor of Judah, is about to become the Lord's regent on earth. This short, unfulfilled prophecy may have been inspired, in part, by the series of revolts, which shook the Persian empire between the death of Cambyses (529-522 B.C.) and Darius' restoration of order, and in part by the curse of Jehoiachin in Jeremiah 22:24, 27. Haggai 2:21-23, like Isaiah chapter 11, and their prophetic passages, anticipates the arrival of a divinely appointed Davidic regent of the world.

Part of a series of articles on the Hebrew Bible
Tanakh (Books common to all Christian and Judaic canons)
Genesis  · Exodus  · Leviticus  · Numbers  · Deuteronomy  · Joshua  · Judges  · Ruth  · 1–2 Samuel  · 1–2 Kings  · 1–2 Chronicles  · Ezra (Esdras)  · Nehemiah  · Esther  · Job  · Psalms  · Proverbs  · Ecclesiastes  · Song of Songs  · Isaiah  · Jeremiah  · Lamentations  · Ezekiel  · Daniel  · Minor prophets
Deuterocanon
Tobit  · Judith  · 1 Maccabees  · 2 Maccabees  · Wisdom (of Solomon)  · Sirach  · Baruch  · Letter of Jeremiah  · Additions to Daniel  · Additions to Esther
Greek and Slavonic Orthodox canon
1 Esdras  · 3 Maccabees  · Prayer of Manasseh  · Psalm 151
Georgian Orthodox canon
4 Maccabees  · 2 Esdras
Ethiopian Orthodox "narrow" canon
Apocalypse of Ezra  · Jubilees  · Enoch  · 1–3 Meqabyan  · 4 Baruch
Syriac Peshitta
Psalms 152–155  · 2 Baruch  · Letter of Baruch
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v • d • e Books of Nevi'im
First Prophets
1. Joshua
2. Judges
3. Samuel
4. Kings
Later Prophets
5. Isaiah
6. Jeremiah
7. Ezekiel
8. 12 minor prophets Hosea Joel Amos Obadiah Jonah Micah Nahum Habakkuk Zephaniah Haggai Zechariah Malachi

The Book of Haggai is a book of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) and of the Old Testament, written by the prophet Haggai. It was written in 520 BCE some 18 years after Cyrus had conquered Babylon and issued a decree in 538 BCE allowing the captive Jews to return to Judea. He saw the restoration of the temple as necessary for the restoration of the religious practices and a sense of peoplehood after a long exile.

It consists of two simple, comprehensive chapters. The object of the prophet is generally urging the people to proceed with the rebuilding of the second Jerusalem temple in 521 BCE after the return of the deportees. Haggai attributes a recent drought to the peoples' refusal to rebuild the temple, which he sees as key to Jerusalem’s glory. The book ends with the prediction of the downfall of kingdoms, with one Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, as the Lord’s chosen leader. The language here is not as finely wrought as in some other books of the minor prophets, yet the intent seems straightforward.

The first chapter contains the first address (2-11) and its effects (12-15). The second chapter contains:

1. The second prophecy (1-9), which was delivered a month after the first.
2. The third prophecy (10-19), delivered two months and three days after the second; and
3. The fourth prophecy (20-23), delivered on the same day as the third.

These discourses are referred to in Ezra 5:1; 6:14;(Compare Haggai 2:7, 8, 22.)

Haggai reports that three weeks after his first prophecy, the rebuilding of the Temple began on September 7, 521 BCE. "They came and began to work on the house of the LORD Almighty, their God, on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month in the second year of King Darius.(Haggai 1:14-15) and the Book of Ezra indicates that it was finished on February 25, 516 BCE "The Temple was completed on the third day of the month Adar, in the sixth year of the reign of King Darius." (Ezra 6:15)

External links

Wikisource has original text related to this article:

Haggai

• Jewish translations:
  • Chaggai - Haggai (Judaica Press) translation with Rashi's commentary at Chabad.org

• Christian translations:
  • Online Bible at GospelHall.org (ESV, KJV, Darby, American Standard Version, Bible in Basic English)

Preceded by Zephaniah	Hebrew Bible	Followed by Zechariah
	Christian Old Testament

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