Welcome to Bible Fiber where we are encountering the textures and shades of the prophetic tapestry in a year-long study of the twelve minor prophets, one prophet each month. I am Shelley Neese, president of The Jerusalem Connection, a Christian organization devoted to sharing the story of the people of Israel, both ancient and modern.
This week we are reading the second chapter of Haggai. We know a good deal about the historical background to Haggai’s prophecies because of the book of Ezra. Ezra names Haggai as a prophet who ministered to the regathered Jews in Judah (5:1-2; 6:14). However, we know nothing of Haggai’s patrimony or biographical profile. For example, Ezra did not include Haggai in his extensive list of the first wave of returnees from Babylon, a notable omission. Perhaps, Haggai was in a subsequent wave, or Haggai never left Judah at all. The Babylonians did not deport all the Jews in Judea, only the prominent citizens. Possibly, Haggai’s parents were among the “poorest people of the land” (2 Kings 24:14). If so, Haggai was prophesying as a local Jerusalemite who had been awaiting the return of his people, living among the ashes of Jerusalem his whole life.
The word of the Lord came to Haggai for the second time on October 17, 520 BCE. This was the seventh day of Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles. We know that fact because of Haggai’s precise dating formula, but the prophet makes no specific mention of the holiday. Interestingly, the name Haggai is connected to chag, Hebrew for festival.
Welcome to Bible Fiber where we are encountering the textures and shades of the prophetic tapestry in a year-long study of the twelve minor prophets, one prophet each month. I am Shelley Neese, president of The Jerusalem Connection, a Christian organization devoted to sharing the story of the people of Israel, both ancient and modern.
This week we are reading the second chapter of Haggai. We know a good deal about the historical background to Haggai’s prophecies because of the book of Ezra. Ezra names Haggai as a prophet who ministered to the regathered Jews in Judah (5:1-2; 6:14). However, we know nothing of Haggai’s patrimony or biographical profile. For example, Ezra did not include Haggai in his extensive list of the first wave of returnees from Babylon, a notable omission. Perhaps, Haggai was in a subsequent wave, or Haggai never left Judah at all. The Babylonians did not deport all the Jews in Judea, only the prominent citizens. Possibly, Haggai’s parents were among the “poorest people of the land” (2 Kings 24:14). If so, Haggai was prophesying as a local Jerusalemite who had been awaiting the return of his people, living among the ashes of Jerusalem his whole life.
The word of the Lord came to Haggai for the second time on October 17, 520 BCE. This was the seventh day of Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles. We know that fact because of Haggai’s precise dating formula, but the prophet makes no specific mention of the holiday. Interestingly, the name Haggai is connected to chag, Hebrew for festival.
Bible Fiber #32: Haggai 2
Welcome to Bible Fiber where we are encountering the textures and shades of the prophetic tapestry in a year-long study of the twelve minor prophets, one prophet each month. I am Shelley Neese, president of The Jerusalem Connection, a Christian organization devoted to sharing the story of the people of Israel, both ancient and modern.
This week we are reading the second chapter of Haggai. We know a good deal about the historical background to Haggai’s prophecies because of the book of Ezra. Ezra names Haggai as a prophet who ministered to the regathered Jews in Judah (5:1-2; 6:14). However, we know nothing of Haggai’s patrimony or biographical profile. For example, Ezra did not include Haggai in his extensive list of the first wave of returnees from Babylon, a notable omission. Perhaps, Haggai was in a subsequent wave, or Haggai never left Judah at all. The Babylonians did not deport all the Jews in Judea, only the prominent citizens. Possibly, Haggai’s parents were among the “poorest people of the land” (2 Kings 24:14). If so, Haggai was prophesying as a local Jerusalemite who had been awaiting the return of his people, living among the ashes of Jerusalem his whole life.
The word of the Lord came to Haggai for the second time on October 17, 520 BCE. This was the seventh day of Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles. We know that fact because of Haggai’s precise dating formula, but the prophet makes no specific mention of the holiday. Interestingly, the name Haggai is connected to chag, Hebrew for festival.
At the time of the oracle, a month has passed since the workers renewed their construction efforts on the Temple. Their initial enthusiasm is waning as the enormity of the task becomes clear. After acquiring the wood beams from the surrounding forests, they had to clear the site of rubble and redress the stones that had been strown about the site for the last 66 years.
Pilgrimages to the Temple were compulsory for major holidays so festival times brought everyone up from the countryside to gather in Jerusalem. While such an occasion made a convenient time for Haggai to address the whole of the people, based off his language of reassurance, it seems the people are despondent. They had expected the workers to have made more progress, never mind that for much of the last month there was a series of holidays that forbid secular work.
Sukkot is the week-long religious festival when Jews construct sukkahs, or temporary living structures, in memory of their forty years in the wilderness (Lev. 23:41). God provided and protected them during those difficult circumstances and Sukkot is the annual holiday where the chosen celebrate God’s provision and deliverance. Like all Jewish holidays, there is also an agricultural component. Sukkot is a harvest celebration, but we know this year’s harvest was poor and food, oil, and wine were scarce.
The Jews gathered for the holiday can tell even from the first efforts of construction that the restored Temple will be a humble structure. Haggai asks, “Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Is it not in your sight as nothing?” (2:3). Here, Haggai is playing the role of counselor as much as prophet. Before he sets out to encourage and strengthen, he first draws out their pain by naming it. Only the elderly of the community could have literal memories of Solomon’s Temple from their childhoods. For the rest of them, the collective memory was passed down orally, recollections of the grandeur of Solomon’s Temple were the pride of their little nation. Both young and old would have known the beauty of Solomon’s Temple. Solomon brought in the best of the foreign artisans, imported cedar panels, marble, and overlaid the walls and floors with gold (1 Kings 6).
The resources available to Solomon are nowhere within the reach of the postexilic community. They understand Zerubbabel’s Temple will pale in comparison. Not coincidentally, the seventh day of Sukkot also memorialized the moment that King Solomon dedicated the First Temple (1 Kings 8). The pride that the Jews felt at that dedication, free people living independently with their own king and secure borders, was incomparable to their despondency after returning from the exile. Yet, when Haggai puts the question before the people, he asks who saw “this house” in its former glory? Calling the ruins of the Temple “this house” enforces that even if the current Temple is nothing in the eyes of man, it is still the place that Yahweh has attached his name forever. As Yahweh told King Solomon after the dedication, “my eyes and my heart will always be there” (1 Kings 9:3).
The size of Zerubbabel’s Temple was not the issue. King Cyrus decreed that the Temple should be sixty cubits high and sixty cubits wide, larger dimensions than Solomon’s Temple. The problem was the lack of splendor. The materials they were using were of poorer quality and instead of bringing craftsman from abroad, they had to rely on local builders. From what we can tell, sacred objects were also missing from the Temple. For example, Ezra makes no mention of the Ark of the Covenant.
The poor morale is understandable. They are celebrating a harvest with no harvest and they gathered at the Temple mount with no Temple. Haggai understands this is not the time to chastise. Instead, he offers a prophetic word of encouragement. Addressing Zerubbabel, Joshua, and the people, Haggai tells them all to “take courage” (2:4). David gave the same motivational speech, “be strong and of good courage,” to his son Solomon when he handed over the task of building the Temple even though he had hoped he could build it (1 Chron. 28:20).
After telling all of them to take courage, Haggai alludes to the Exodus and the promise Yahweh made to his covenanted people when he brought them out of Egypt: “My spirit abides among you; do not fear” (2:5). The Minor Prophets regularly draw parallels between God’s redemptive works of the past and his redemptive works of the future. That is why God says he is about to shake the heavens and the earth “once again.” On Mount Sinai, the shaking of the heavens and earth (Exod. 19:18; Ps. 77:18) marked a new chapter between God and his chosen people. Now with the remnant, he is extending himself once more. The rebuilding of the Temple will launch another new thing.
In Haggai’s eschatological vision, in the day of universal peace, all the peoples of the earth will recognize Yahweh’s sovereignty and bring tribute to the Temple. In submission to the supremacy of Yahweh, the nations will ascend to Jerusalem with material offerings (2:7). The tributes of the nations will be given out of free-will. This is not the plundering of defeated peoples. The prophets hated how the Assyrian and Babylonian empires were built on stolen wealth (Hab. 1:6). Because Yahweh alone is responsible for the beautification of the Temple, he takes the responsibility off the impoverished Judeans. He says, “the silver is mine, and the gold is mine” (2:8). All the remnant needs to do is persevere with the construction of the house.
For Haggai’s third oracle, Yahweh tells Haggai to “ask the priests for a ruling” (2:11). Haggai poses two hypothetical questions to the priests pertaining to ritual purity and impurity. Even though the answer to the purity question was well-known, the prophet’s consultation with the priests was a sign of respect. The preexilic prophets had lost all faith in the priesthood, criticizing the supposed mediators for their ignorance and corruption (Hos. 4:6; Zeph. 3:4). Haggai is not mocking the priests. He is recognizing their authority to interpret and apply God’s law.
The first question pertains to consecrated meat carried in the garment of a priest. If the meat has been offered to the Lord and is therefore holy, can it pass along its sanctity to other food that it touches. Informed by the laws of Leviticus and the sacrificial system (Lev. 6:22), the priests easily answer “no.” The consecrated meat could convey sanctification to the garment that touched it, but the consecration stopped there and was not an endless chain.
By way of contrast, if a person encounters a corpse and is thereby defiled, they are unclean for seven days (Num. 19:11). During that time, they must leave the camp because they can easily spread the defilement to other objects they touch. Though the lesson is slightly opaque, God is reinforcing the point that impurity is communicable while purity is not. When the people ignored their responsibility to the Temple, God considered them defiled and punished them accordingly. The Temple ruin was like a rotting corpse in their midst, cutting off their communion with God and contaminating the community.
Haggai calls back to the last years of poor harvests and asks that the people play close attention to God’s hand. The sin of neglecting the Temple impacted every area of their lives, economically and agriculturally. During the previous harvest season, before they had begun placing stone upon stone for the Temple, their agricultural output was half what they had expected (2:16). Yahweh was the force responsible for the blight, mildew, and hail that ruined their crops (2:17). Despite the afflictions, they did not return to him. The lack of the Temple was representative of their general lack of devotion.
With the renewed work on the Temple, they have left the realm of the unclean and entered the period of blessings. It is only December when Haggai is delivering his oracle. The productivity of the coming season is still in the distance. But Haggai tells them “from this day on I will bless you” (2:19). Their repentance, obedience, and submission are sufficient and their plight will change. The gate of blessing was now open and they were free to thrive with bountiful crops.
After addressing the priests, Haggai turns to the governor Zerubbabel with his fourth oracle. Haggai reverts again to eschatological language with a military and political component, announcing the shaking of the nations. Yahweh will overthrow kingdoms and establish a new world order. In his message to Zerubbabel, God switches from governor to calling him “my servant” (2:23). Governor was a title given to Zerubbabel by the Persians. It did not reflect any real authority as a Persian administrator and certainly did not reflect his credentials in the eyes of Judah. God often called King David “my servant.” Calling Zerubbabel “my servant” acknowledges that in this bureaucrat of the Persian empire rests the restored lineage of the House of David. God goes even further calling Zerubbabel his “signet ring” (2:23). Signet rings were used to impress the king’s signature on documents. In ancient times, confidants of the king wore them around their neck to guard the seal closely.
When the Babylonians overthrew Judah’s King Jehoiachin in 597 BCE, the Jews despaired. They believed the Davidic line was cut off forever. The appointment of Zerubbabel as governor renewed their hopes. Even more, God warned the unrighteous King Jehoiachin that if he did not repent, the palace of David would become a ruin (Jer. 22: 5). Jehoiachin continued to displease Yahweh, pursuing injustice, corruption, other gods, violence, and oppression. When God decided to hand him over to Nebuchadnezzar in 597 BCE, he announced that he was pulling him off like a signet ring (Jer. 22:24). When God assures Zerubbabel that he will be his signet ring, his representative on earth, he is reversing the curse of his grandfather. Rebuilding the Temple and restoring the House of David are both links in the same chain of kingdom promises.
Zerubbabel was not the Messiah himself. We know that he never received the type of honors or attained the kind of power described in Haggai’s last oracle. He was a prototype of a future messianic figure in the line of David. The New Testament writers were not oblivious to this messianic qualifier. The Jesus genealogies in both Matthew and Luke (Matt. 1:12; Luke 3:27) list Zerubbabel as an ancestor of Jesus. By the time Paul was writing his letter to the Romans, the Messianic expectation of the Davidic dynasty was still very much alive because of the prophets like Haggai. Paul wrote, “the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures regarding his Son, who as to his earthly life was a descendant of David” (Rom. 1:2-3).
Haggai’s prophecies about the glorified Temple are difficult to interpret regarding fulfillment. For example, did the nations ever present offerings before the Temple? In the short term, King Cyrus ordered the return of all the sacred objects stolen from the Jerusalem Temple by the Babylonians (Ezra 6:5).
King Darius later offered hefty tributes for burnt offerings to the Jewish Temple so that their sacrificial system could continue daily (Ezra 6:8-10). And centuries later, King Herod brought the wealth of Rome to Jerusalem, remodeling Zerubbabel’s Temple beyond recognition. However, Herod’s building efforts edified himself rather than Yahweh so Herod’s Temple could not possibly be the one Haggai foresaw. Only in the messianic age and the ingathering of all the redeemed will the long-term fulfillment of Haggai’s prophecies take place. The prophets foretold that only in the messianic age will all the nations universally recognize Yahweh and share in his blessing (Isa. 61:6; Zech. 14:14).
My favorite Christian band Waterdeep has a song called “And” with a stanza that I believe fits the theme of Haggai: “I am haunted by my love for comparison, my fascination with a single common theme.” The people of Haggai’s day despaired because they were distracted from the miracle of their return by their need for comparison. This was the moment that they should have been praising God for their deliverance from the Babylonian destruction and exile. They should have understood that they were the fulfillment of the often-repeated promise that after the exile, a remnant would return to the land.
I think on a basic level they did understand that but comparison of former glory led to discouragement which led to a denial of God’s sustenance, his provision, and his timeline for redemption. What was important to God was not the measure of the Temple’s wealth, but the spirit of the people’s desire for him to dwell among them.
Zerubbabel’s Temple took four years to build, but Haggai’s prophetic insights only cover the first three months of the building project. We do not know what became of the prophet. Next week, we are reading Zechariah, the other prophet named by Ezra as critical in ministering to the remnant after the exile. Zechariah is the longest of the prophetic books so we will take longer to get through it. For next week, read the first chapter.
Thank you for listening and please continue to participate in this Bible Reading Challenge. For all of the Biblical references each week, please see the show transcript on our blog or by signing up for our emails at www.thejerusalemconnection.us/
I don’t say all the references in the podcast but they are all in the transcript.
Send me a message. I will respond. Bible Fiber is available on YouTube or wherever you listen to your podcasts.
Shabbat Shalom