Haggai Haggai
Haggai
Introduction
At a Glance
Author: Haggai the prophet
Audience: Those rebuilding the city of Jerusalem and the temple
Date: The second half of 520 BC, almost seventy years after the destruction of Jerusalem and exile of the Jews to Babylon in 586 BC
Type of Literature: Prophecy
Major Themes: Wrong priorities incur judgment; wholehearted obedience guarantees blessing; Yahweh’s vision for the whole world; judgment on sinful rebellion paves the way for the fulfillment of salvation; seeing Jesus in the book
Outline:
I. Superscription: author and setting — 1:1
II. The first message from Yahweh: the call to rebuild the temple — 1:2–11
a. A divine rebuke for wrong priorities: private homes are deemed more important than the temple of Yahweh — 1:2–4
b. Economic poverty: the penalty for ignoring the commanded priority of building God’s house — 1:5–11
III. The people’s response to the divine command: obedience and reverent awe — 1:12–15
IV. The second message from Yahweh: the glory of the Second Temple will be greater than the glory of the First Temple — 2:1–9
a. Exhortation for the people to be strong with God’s Spirit — 2:1–5
b. God’s promise to fill his new temple with a greater glory — 2:6–9
V. The third message from Yahweh: a defiled people are cleansed and blessed — 2:10–19
a. The people are defiled because of their disobedience — 2:10–14
b. The people’s disobedience results in economic impoverishment — 2:15–17
c. The people’s obedient response to rebuild the temple results in economic prosperity — 2:18–19
VI. The fourth message from Yahweh: a promise to Zerubbabel — 2:20–23
About the Book of Haggai
While this book is short, it is also an essential link in the story of God’s salvation plan for the whole world. It is exquisitely organized in a way that allows us to precisely date the prophecy, as the following quote demonstrates (note how this informs the previously given outline): “Haggai’s book stands in a carefully planned chronological order. It has five sections, each exactly dated in 520 according to the months and days of the Babylonian lunar calendar. Using the equivalent dates on the Julian calendar, these five sections and their dates are
1:1–11 from August 29,
1:12–15a from September 21,
1:15b–2:9 from October 17,
2:10–19 from December 18,
2:20–23 also from December 18.” # Elizabeth Achtemeier, Nahum—Malachi: Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching (Louisville, KY: John Knox Press, 1986), 94.
Because of these provided dates and because of the issues so clearly addressed in the prophecy, we know exactly what the people of God were facing when God was speaking through Haggai. By the time of Haggai, the once-glorious kingdom of Solomon had shrunk to a scruffy twenty-square mile “county.” Judah’s territory was reduced to a tiny fragment of the massive Persian Empire, a little region in the hill country surrounding the town of Jerusalem. Judah was a shadow of what it had once been.
Solomon’s Temple had been destroyed, and the royal lineage descending from King David had been cut off in 586 BC. God’s people had survived the exile in Babylon, and a ragtag faithful remnant had returned to make a new start.
This was a very complex time of disorder, and the clean timeline of the Bible narrative (all the way from the garden of Eden) breaks down into random shreds, mirroring the muddled and confused season in which the people lived. Please see the “Postexilic Timeline” preceding the book of Haggai.
The prophets of old had warned Israel that wandering from their covenant with God would lead to destruction. Every civilization needs an organizing principle, an ideal toward which to orient its collective life and values. For Israel, that central guiding structure was the covenant. And, while Israel broke the covenant in many ways, idolatry came to symbolize her wandering away from that covenantal bond with Yahweh that had held Israel together. A kingdom that fights itself is ruined (Matt. 12:25). Even a modern, diverse, multicultural society needs a gravitational center. Divergent loyalties produce a fractured society.
From its peak around the year 1000 BC with David and Solomon, Israelite society slowly unraveled and lost focus on the people’s covenant with God, which arose from the exodus, reenacted with the celebration of the Passover. By 586 BC, Jerusalem (and what remained of Israel) had reached the point of no return, and Babylon destroyed the city and took the people into exile.
A generation or two later, however, Persia in turn destroyed Babylon and inherited the Israelite exiles. We see this personally with Daniel, who served both empires. Persia allowed the exiles to return to Jerusalem and attempt to rebuild the ruins of the once-great city. The Edict of Cyrus (ruler of Persia) put this new freedom for the Jews in writing in 538 BC.
We call this the beginning of Second Temple Judaism, the era in which Jesus grew up and which ended in AD 70, when the Romans destroyed the Second Temple.
The history books of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Daniel and the prophetic books of Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi describe this effort to revive what once was. The returned exiles succeeded in the end, and out of that recovered Second Temple civilization emerged none other than Jesus of Nazareth.
Purpose
Haggai addressed several issues in order to bring the remnant community of Judah to the realization that their failure to complete the rebuilding of the Jerusalem Temple was the root cause of their economic woes. In other words, their rank disobedience of God’s instructions was their undoing. The prophet’s purposes included the following:
• To underscore the dangers of misplaced priorities. The people were putting all their energy into building and refurbishing their own homes and were neglecting the restoration and renovation of God’s house.
• To demonstrate that the lack of faithfulness to the covenant was causing problems in the economy. The returning Jews were hardly living in abundance, and Haggai pointed to the cause: they had strayed from the mandatory laws and stipulations that God had laid down in the covenant.
• To remedy the Jews’ failure to see the big picture of Yahweh’s vision for the whole world. God didn’t create the world just to bless the Jews; he chose the Jews to bless all people.
Haggai spoke powerfully to alleviate discouragement and apathy. Everyone knew that the (under-construction) city and the temple were mere shadows of the past glory that was Jerusalem. Nostalgia can be corrosive and tends to paralyze positive action.
The message of Haggai addresses a significant need in the church today. In our mad, narcissistic pursuit of our own agendas, we have neglected God’s plans and purposes. He is calling us back to finish his work. We are to put God’s outlook and will ahead of our own designs. In some ways, the ruined, devastated temple of the days of Haggai mirrors our ruined and devastated church today. It is always a good time to repent of these recurring trends and return to our first love.
Author and Audience
Haggai the prophet generated this message and addressed the people of Judah who were rebuilding the city of Jerusalem and the temple. His prophecies all took place in the second half of the year 520 BC. Like Jeremiah, for whom Baruch wrote everything down, Haggai may have had one or more scribes or editors.
Haggai means “festival,” “fiesta,” “sacrifice,” or “my feast.” His name may imply that he was born on one of the feast days. # See Joyce G. Baldwin, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi: An Introduction and Commentary (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1972), 28; Pieter A. Verhoef, The Books of Haggai and Malachi, The New International Commentary on the Old Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Publishing, 1987), 4; Richard A. Taylor and E. Ray Clendenen, Haggai, Malachi, The New American Commentary: An Exegetical and Theological Exposition of Holy Scripture, vol. 21A (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing, 2004), 44. Some scholars believe that Haggai was a very old man at the time of his prophecies and that he had been a witness to the destruction of Solomon’s Temple. # See E. B. Pusey, The Minor Prophets, with a Commentary Explanatory and Practical, and Introductions to the Several Books, vol. 2 (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1950), 293. Some scholars believe he spent most of his life in Babylon and was one of the first to leave under the proclamation of Cyrus. # See Rabbi Eli Cashdan, The Twelve Prophets (London: Soncino Press, 1948), 254.
The Septuagint (Greek Old Testament) and the Vulgate (Jerome’s Latin Bible) state that Haggai and Zechariah wrote Psalms 111–112, 125–126, 137–138, and 145–149 after their return from captivity.
The people of Haggai’s day did not have it easy; they were trying to make things work in a rough neighborhood. They were sandwiched between the Edomites, their “brother” nation descended from Esau (who did not defend their kindred people when the Babylonians attacked but rather looted the city of Jerusalem), and the Samaritans. And the New Testament makes it very clear what kind of tension there was between the Jews and the Samaritans.
The returning Jews seemed to have had a flurry of rotating leaders; this era is hard for historians to follow because it was not a stable time. In the time of Haggai, the priest Joshua was the spiritual leader, and Zerubbabel, of the royal line of David, was the political leader.
It was time for God to re-create a people, a nation. # See Ezek. 37. A new chapter of Israel’s history was being written, and Haggai and Zechariah (senior and junior prophets during this era, respectively) inspired the people to act and record what happened. The people responded to Haggai’s message, and within a few weeks of his first prophetic words, they began to rebuild God’s house. Zechariah strengthened and repeated Haggai’s message. However, it was Haggai who catalyzed the effort. Without his prophetic ministry, there might not have been a Second Temple. There was no prophet in Israel whose ministry was more successful than Haggai’s except, perhaps, for that of Jonah, but the source of the heartfelt conversion of the Ninevites had his own issues.
Major Themes
Wrong Priorities Incur Judgment. The returning exiles put more work into decorating their own homes than into rebuilding God’s house. That is not to say that God needed a building, but their selfish behavior was reminiscent of what sent them into exile in the first place. The rebuilding of the temple had begun in 536 BC, but the scaffolding had been deserted for half a generation by the time of Haggai. The fire-blackened ruins of Solomon’s Temple remained as a stain on their conscience, a blot on Israel’s national identity, and the root cause of her economic woes (Hag. 1:5–11). Houses of worship today (such as our churches) do not need to be palatial showpieces, but if we say one thing about the priority of our faith and the state of our church buildings show another, the people on the outside will believe our buildings, not our words.
Wholehearted Obedience Guarantees Blessing. The people of Judah were struggling economically, and Haggai named the cause, calling them to a higher path forward. We need to remember that during the era of the law (i.e., old covenant), people measured divine blessing almost exclusively in economic and material terms. If the people of God wished to live prosperously, then they had to live in wholehearted obedience to God’s laws and commands. Failure to do so would leave them impoverished—both materially and spiritually. The values that bring human flourishing in the first place are those that are consistent with God’s timeless principles of justice, righteousness, compassion, mercy, and the like. A virtuous society is a prosperous society, although we must also recognize that, in the new covenant age, divine blessing is focused primarily on spiritual renewal, peace, and well-being, via the ministry of the indwelling Holy Spirit. In this new covenant era, the parameters of a “prosperous society” are far wider, encompassing more than simply economic well-being.
The wonderfully positive outcome for the people of Judah, as a result of Haggai’s preaching, was that they listened and obeyed the voice of God. The text of Haggai 1:12–15 makes it abundantly clear, albeit by undeniable implication, that the indwelling presence of the Spirit of God within the people was the sole reason for their renewed commitment to the will of their Lord.
Some contemporary applications of this principle may be evident in the following examples: An honest, hardworking society that places a premium on God’s divinely revealed principles for living will experience higher levels of justice, compassion, equality, and social harmony. There will likely be less need for police and jails. People will keep their contracts and promises, creating more trust and market opportunities. Cheating and corruption will be rare or unknown. A nation with fair judges and courts will lack resentment among its people and the cynicism and violence that it breeds. Generosity takes the edge off poverty. Justice is contagious. To this day, the nations and regions of our world with the lowest crime rates have the highest levels of civilization and human flourishing. In addition, a nation that cares for its land, air, water, and resources is more likely to have sustainable, flourishing harvests.
Yahweh’s Vision for the Whole World. There is no doubt that part of Haggai’s message was to offer the remnant of the Jewish population in Judah and Jerusalem a guarantee from God that, as a consequence of their renewed obedience to him in rebuilding the temple, they would once again experience abundant economic blessing (2:15–19). However, Haggai didn’t call the Jews to this higher path just to generate national prosperity and well-being. He tried to show them that God transforms the whole world through the ones who are faithful to him. Haggai wanted to help the Jews realize that they were not just rebuilding a town and then falling short of what it once was. They were taking all the wisdom and experience of a centuries-long covenant journey with God and adding their own chapter to it. They were forging their own iron link in a long chain of salvation history that would have implications, for better or for worse, for those who came after them and potentially for all creation. The prophet attempted to show them the big picture: that their recommitment to the temple reconstruction would eventually transform the world. He was correct. The Jews did indeed rebuild and thus created the platform for the emergence of Jesus, whose message burst forth at Pentecost to reach all the nations (Acts 1:8). The same can be said for us. We live not just to experience our own salvation but also to add our chapter of faith to the greatest of all stories in which the final chapter will tell of the victory of all that is good over all that is evil.
Judgment on Sinful Rebellion Paves the Way for the Fulfillment of Salvation. One of the major recurring themes of scriptural prophecy is that the outworking of the redemptive purposes of God on behalf of his people very often follows the outpouring of divine judgment, whether it be on the pagan nations of the world, on the people of God for their covenant faithlessness, or both.
Here in the prophecy of Haggai, this pattern of divine activity is once again in evidence. The declaration “I . . . will once again shake the heavens and earth, the land and sea” is declared by God on two occasions: In Haggai 2:6, the whole action is indicated, and in 2:21, only “the heavens and the earth” is recorded—although, no doubt the shaking of “the land and sea” is also implied in the second reference. The particular significance in the context of these two references is that they are both followed by a Messianic prophecy that anticipates the fulfillment of God’s plan of salvation for his people all over the world. Further details of this prophetic motif are to be found in the final theme, Seeing Jesus in the Book.
Seeing Jesus in the Book. The anticipation of the Messianic age, in relation to the coming of Jesus Christ to earth, is explicitly indicated in two passages in the second and final chapter of the book of Haggai.
First, in 2:6, the sovereign, divine shaking of the earth and sea is followed by the declaration that “the treasures of the nations will flow in” (2:7). Now this treasure has been interpreted either as something or someone of inestimable value or something or someone that has been expected by peoples all over the world for a very long time. In either case, such an expectation is fulfilled in the person of the Messiah, foretold consistently throughout the prophetic canon of the Old Testament and realized in the Messianic fulfillment texts of the New Testament. What reinforces the viability of such an interpretation is the accompanying prophecy in 2:7 that God “will fill this temple with glory”—a glory that “will surpass the glory of the original” (2:9).
Two passages can illustrate the New Testament fulfillment of such a prophecy. The first is found in Luke 2:27–32, where the infant Jesus is taken by his parents to the temple for the rite of circumcision and consecration in accordance with the law. There, his parents handed him over to Simeon, a faithful temple official, who had been assured by the Spirit of God that he would see “the Anointed One of God” (v. 26) before he died. During the circumcision ceremony, Simeon offered a prayer of praise to God, in which he declared: “With my own eyes I have seen your Word, the Savior you sent into the world. He will be glory for your people Israel, and the Revelation-Light for all people everywhere!” (vv. 29–32).
Then, in the magnificent vision of the heavenly Jerusalem, as experienced by the apostle John on the Isle of Patmos, there is a particularly striking description of the heavenly city in Revelation 21:22–23. Here, John records: “I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God, the Almighty, and the Lamb. The city has no need for the sun or moon to shine, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb.” This is undoubtedly the climactic vision of the temple in all of Scripture, and in this vision, God the Father and the risen Lord Jesus Christ—the Lamb King—constitute the eternally glorious lighting of the heavenly city-temple.
The second relevant Messianic text of Haggai is found in Haggai 2:21–23, where God repeats his intention to “shake the heavens and the earth.” God then immediately declares that he will overthrow and destroy the power and authority of the kingdoms of the world; namely, all those nations who defy and blaspheme him. God then declares that he will take Zerubbabel, the political leader of the postexilic Judean community, and make him “like a signet ring. For I have chosen you to be mine” (v. 23). In the ancient world, a signet ring worked much like a seal—an identifying signature, if you like. Additionally, it was often regarded as a guarantee of a future payment (i.e., a deposit or down payment). # See footnote on Hag. 2:23 in The NIV Study Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1995), 1397. When this metaphor is linked to the action of sovereign divine choosing, its full meaning is further clarified: Zerubbabel was a descendant of King David and is found in the lineage of Jesus Christ, as recorded in Matthew 1:12–13. The point here is that God was declaring, at the end of the prophecy of Haggai, that Zerubbabel was a forerunner of the Davidic Messiah—one who would anticipate the climactic fulfillment of God’s plan of salvation in the age to come, in the person of Jesus, the Son of God.
Haggai
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Learn More About The Passion TranslationHaggai Haggai
Haggai
Introduction
At a Glance
Author: Haggai the prophet
Audience: Those rebuilding the city of Jerusalem and the temple
Date: The second half of 520 BC, almost seventy years after the destruction of Jerusalem and exile of the Jews to Babylon in 586 BC
Type of Literature: Prophecy
Major Themes: Wrong priorities incur judgment; wholehearted obedience guarantees blessing; Yahweh’s vision for the whole world; judgment on sinful rebellion paves the way for the fulfillment of salvation; seeing Jesus in the book
Outline:
I. Superscription: author and setting — 1:1
II. The first message from Yahweh: the call to rebuild the temple — 1:2–11
a. A divine rebuke for wrong priorities: private homes are deemed more important than the temple of Yahweh — 1:2–4
b. Economic poverty: the penalty for ignoring the commanded priority of building God’s house — 1:5–11
III. The people’s response to the divine command: obedience and reverent awe — 1:12–15
IV. The second message from Yahweh: the glory of the Second Temple will be greater than the glory of the First Temple — 2:1–9
a. Exhortation for the people to be strong with God’s Spirit — 2:1–5
b. God’s promise to fill his new temple with a greater glory — 2:6–9
V. The third message from Yahweh: a defiled people are cleansed and blessed — 2:10–19
a. The people are defiled because of their disobedience — 2:10–14
b. The people’s disobedience results in economic impoverishment — 2:15–17
c. The people’s obedient response to rebuild the temple results in economic prosperity — 2:18–19
VI. The fourth message from Yahweh: a promise to Zerubbabel — 2:20–23
About the Book of Haggai
While this book is short, it is also an essential link in the story of God’s salvation plan for the whole world. It is exquisitely organized in a way that allows us to precisely date the prophecy, as the following quote demonstrates (note how this informs the previously given outline): “Haggai’s book stands in a carefully planned chronological order. It has five sections, each exactly dated in 520 according to the months and days of the Babylonian lunar calendar. Using the equivalent dates on the Julian calendar, these five sections and their dates are
1:1–11 from August 29,
1:12–15a from September 21,
1:15b–2:9 from October 17,
2:10–19 from December 18,
2:20–23 also from December 18.” # Elizabeth Achtemeier, Nahum—Malachi: Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching (Louisville, KY: John Knox Press, 1986), 94.
Because of these provided dates and because of the issues so clearly addressed in the prophecy, we know exactly what the people of God were facing when God was speaking through Haggai. By the time of Haggai, the once-glorious kingdom of Solomon had shrunk to a scruffy twenty-square mile “county.” Judah’s territory was reduced to a tiny fragment of the massive Persian Empire, a little region in the hill country surrounding the town of Jerusalem. Judah was a shadow of what it had once been.
Solomon’s Temple had been destroyed, and the royal lineage descending from King David had been cut off in 586 BC. God’s people had survived the exile in Babylon, and a ragtag faithful remnant had returned to make a new start.
This was a very complex time of disorder, and the clean timeline of the Bible narrative (all the way from the garden of Eden) breaks down into random shreds, mirroring the muddled and confused season in which the people lived. Please see the “Postexilic Timeline” preceding the book of Haggai.
The prophets of old had warned Israel that wandering from their covenant with God would lead to destruction. Every civilization needs an organizing principle, an ideal toward which to orient its collective life and values. For Israel, that central guiding structure was the covenant. And, while Israel broke the covenant in many ways, idolatry came to symbolize her wandering away from that covenantal bond with Yahweh that had held Israel together. A kingdom that fights itself is ruined (Matt. 12:25). Even a modern, diverse, multicultural society needs a gravitational center. Divergent loyalties produce a fractured society.
From its peak around the year 1000 BC with David and Solomon, Israelite society slowly unraveled and lost focus on the people’s covenant with God, which arose from the exodus, reenacted with the celebration of the Passover. By 586 BC, Jerusalem (and what remained of Israel) had reached the point of no return, and Babylon destroyed the city and took the people into exile.
A generation or two later, however, Persia in turn destroyed Babylon and inherited the Israelite exiles. We see this personally with Daniel, who served both empires. Persia allowed the exiles to return to Jerusalem and attempt to rebuild the ruins of the once-great city. The Edict of Cyrus (ruler of Persia) put this new freedom for the Jews in writing in 538 BC.
We call this the beginning of Second Temple Judaism, the era in which Jesus grew up and which ended in AD 70, when the Romans destroyed the Second Temple.
The history books of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Daniel and the prophetic books of Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi describe this effort to revive what once was. The returned exiles succeeded in the end, and out of that recovered Second Temple civilization emerged none other than Jesus of Nazareth.
Purpose
Haggai addressed several issues in order to bring the remnant community of Judah to the realization that their failure to complete the rebuilding of the Jerusalem Temple was the root cause of their economic woes. In other words, their rank disobedience of God’s instructions was their undoing. The prophet’s purposes included the following:
• To underscore the dangers of misplaced priorities. The people were putting all their energy into building and refurbishing their own homes and were neglecting the restoration and renovation of God’s house.
• To demonstrate that the lack of faithfulness to the covenant was causing problems in the economy. The returning Jews were hardly living in abundance, and Haggai pointed to the cause: they had strayed from the mandatory laws and stipulations that God had laid down in the covenant.
• To remedy the Jews’ failure to see the big picture of Yahweh’s vision for the whole world. God didn’t create the world just to bless the Jews; he chose the Jews to bless all people.
Haggai spoke powerfully to alleviate discouragement and apathy. Everyone knew that the (under-construction) city and the temple were mere shadows of the past glory that was Jerusalem. Nostalgia can be corrosive and tends to paralyze positive action.
The message of Haggai addresses a significant need in the church today. In our mad, narcissistic pursuit of our own agendas, we have neglected God’s plans and purposes. He is calling us back to finish his work. We are to put God’s outlook and will ahead of our own designs. In some ways, the ruined, devastated temple of the days of Haggai mirrors our ruined and devastated church today. It is always a good time to repent of these recurring trends and return to our first love.
Author and Audience
Haggai the prophet generated this message and addressed the people of Judah who were rebuilding the city of Jerusalem and the temple. His prophecies all took place in the second half of the year 520 BC. Like Jeremiah, for whom Baruch wrote everything down, Haggai may have had one or more scribes or editors.
Haggai means “festival,” “fiesta,” “sacrifice,” or “my feast.” His name may imply that he was born on one of the feast days. # See Joyce G. Baldwin, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi: An Introduction and Commentary (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1972), 28; Pieter A. Verhoef, The Books of Haggai and Malachi, The New International Commentary on the Old Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Publishing, 1987), 4; Richard A. Taylor and E. Ray Clendenen, Haggai, Malachi, The New American Commentary: An Exegetical and Theological Exposition of Holy Scripture, vol. 21A (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing, 2004), 44. Some scholars believe that Haggai was a very old man at the time of his prophecies and that he had been a witness to the destruction of Solomon’s Temple. # See E. B. Pusey, The Minor Prophets, with a Commentary Explanatory and Practical, and Introductions to the Several Books, vol. 2 (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1950), 293. Some scholars believe he spent most of his life in Babylon and was one of the first to leave under the proclamation of Cyrus. # See Rabbi Eli Cashdan, The Twelve Prophets (London: Soncino Press, 1948), 254.
The Septuagint (Greek Old Testament) and the Vulgate (Jerome’s Latin Bible) state that Haggai and Zechariah wrote Psalms 111–112, 125–126, 137–138, and 145–149 after their return from captivity.
The people of Haggai’s day did not have it easy; they were trying to make things work in a rough neighborhood. They were sandwiched between the Edomites, their “brother” nation descended from Esau (who did not defend their kindred people when the Babylonians attacked but rather looted the city of Jerusalem), and the Samaritans. And the New Testament makes it very clear what kind of tension there was between the Jews and the Samaritans.
The returning Jews seemed to have had a flurry of rotating leaders; this era is hard for historians to follow because it was not a stable time. In the time of Haggai, the priest Joshua was the spiritual leader, and Zerubbabel, of the royal line of David, was the political leader.
It was time for God to re-create a people, a nation. # See Ezek. 37. A new chapter of Israel’s history was being written, and Haggai and Zechariah (senior and junior prophets during this era, respectively) inspired the people to act and record what happened. The people responded to Haggai’s message, and within a few weeks of his first prophetic words, they began to rebuild God’s house. Zechariah strengthened and repeated Haggai’s message. However, it was Haggai who catalyzed the effort. Without his prophetic ministry, there might not have been a Second Temple. There was no prophet in Israel whose ministry was more successful than Haggai’s except, perhaps, for that of Jonah, but the source of the heartfelt conversion of the Ninevites had his own issues.
Major Themes
Wrong Priorities Incur Judgment. The returning exiles put more work into decorating their own homes than into rebuilding God’s house. That is not to say that God needed a building, but their selfish behavior was reminiscent of what sent them into exile in the first place. The rebuilding of the temple had begun in 536 BC, but the scaffolding had been deserted for half a generation by the time of Haggai. The fire-blackened ruins of Solomon’s Temple remained as a stain on their conscience, a blot on Israel’s national identity, and the root cause of her economic woes (Hag. 1:5–11). Houses of worship today (such as our churches) do not need to be palatial showpieces, but if we say one thing about the priority of our faith and the state of our church buildings show another, the people on the outside will believe our buildings, not our words.
Wholehearted Obedience Guarantees Blessing. The people of Judah were struggling economically, and Haggai named the cause, calling them to a higher path forward. We need to remember that during the era of the law (i.e., old covenant), people measured divine blessing almost exclusively in economic and material terms. If the people of God wished to live prosperously, then they had to live in wholehearted obedience to God’s laws and commands. Failure to do so would leave them impoverished—both materially and spiritually. The values that bring human flourishing in the first place are those that are consistent with God’s timeless principles of justice, righteousness, compassion, mercy, and the like. A virtuous society is a prosperous society, although we must also recognize that, in the new covenant age, divine blessing is focused primarily on spiritual renewal, peace, and well-being, via the ministry of the indwelling Holy Spirit. In this new covenant era, the parameters of a “prosperous society” are far wider, encompassing more than simply economic well-being.
The wonderfully positive outcome for the people of Judah, as a result of Haggai’s preaching, was that they listened and obeyed the voice of God. The text of Haggai 1:12–15 makes it abundantly clear, albeit by undeniable implication, that the indwelling presence of the Spirit of God within the people was the sole reason for their renewed commitment to the will of their Lord.
Some contemporary applications of this principle may be evident in the following examples: An honest, hardworking society that places a premium on God’s divinely revealed principles for living will experience higher levels of justice, compassion, equality, and social harmony. There will likely be less need for police and jails. People will keep their contracts and promises, creating more trust and market opportunities. Cheating and corruption will be rare or unknown. A nation with fair judges and courts will lack resentment among its people and the cynicism and violence that it breeds. Generosity takes the edge off poverty. Justice is contagious. To this day, the nations and regions of our world with the lowest crime rates have the highest levels of civilization and human flourishing. In addition, a nation that cares for its land, air, water, and resources is more likely to have sustainable, flourishing harvests.
Yahweh’s Vision for the Whole World. There is no doubt that part of Haggai’s message was to offer the remnant of the Jewish population in Judah and Jerusalem a guarantee from God that, as a consequence of their renewed obedience to him in rebuilding the temple, they would once again experience abundant economic blessing (2:15–19). However, Haggai didn’t call the Jews to this higher path just to generate national prosperity and well-being. He tried to show them that God transforms the whole world through the ones who are faithful to him. Haggai wanted to help the Jews realize that they were not just rebuilding a town and then falling short of what it once was. They were taking all the wisdom and experience of a centuries-long covenant journey with God and adding their own chapter to it. They were forging their own iron link in a long chain of salvation history that would have implications, for better or for worse, for those who came after them and potentially for all creation. The prophet attempted to show them the big picture: that their recommitment to the temple reconstruction would eventually transform the world. He was correct. The Jews did indeed rebuild and thus created the platform for the emergence of Jesus, whose message burst forth at Pentecost to reach all the nations (Acts 1:8). The same can be said for us. We live not just to experience our own salvation but also to add our chapter of faith to the greatest of all stories in which the final chapter will tell of the victory of all that is good over all that is evil.
Judgment on Sinful Rebellion Paves the Way for the Fulfillment of Salvation. One of the major recurring themes of scriptural prophecy is that the outworking of the redemptive purposes of God on behalf of his people very often follows the outpouring of divine judgment, whether it be on the pagan nations of the world, on the people of God for their covenant faithlessness, or both.
Here in the prophecy of Haggai, this pattern of divine activity is once again in evidence. The declaration “I . . . will once again shake the heavens and earth, the land and sea” is declared by God on two occasions: In Haggai 2:6, the whole action is indicated, and in 2:21, only “the heavens and the earth” is recorded—although, no doubt the shaking of “the land and sea” is also implied in the second reference. The particular significance in the context of these two references is that they are both followed by a Messianic prophecy that anticipates the fulfillment of God’s plan of salvation for his people all over the world. Further details of this prophetic motif are to be found in the final theme, Seeing Jesus in the Book.
Seeing Jesus in the Book. The anticipation of the Messianic age, in relation to the coming of Jesus Christ to earth, is explicitly indicated in two passages in the second and final chapter of the book of Haggai.
First, in 2:6, the sovereign, divine shaking of the earth and sea is followed by the declaration that “the treasures of the nations will flow in” (2:7). Now this treasure has been interpreted either as something or someone of inestimable value or something or someone that has been expected by peoples all over the world for a very long time. In either case, such an expectation is fulfilled in the person of the Messiah, foretold consistently throughout the prophetic canon of the Old Testament and realized in the Messianic fulfillment texts of the New Testament. What reinforces the viability of such an interpretation is the accompanying prophecy in 2:7 that God “will fill this temple with glory”—a glory that “will surpass the glory of the original” (2:9).
Two passages can illustrate the New Testament fulfillment of such a prophecy. The first is found in Luke 2:27–32, where the infant Jesus is taken by his parents to the temple for the rite of circumcision and consecration in accordance with the law. There, his parents handed him over to Simeon, a faithful temple official, who had been assured by the Spirit of God that he would see “the Anointed One of God” (v. 26) before he died. During the circumcision ceremony, Simeon offered a prayer of praise to God, in which he declared: “With my own eyes I have seen your Word, the Savior you sent into the world. He will be glory for your people Israel, and the Revelation-Light for all people everywhere!” (vv. 29–32).
Then, in the magnificent vision of the heavenly Jerusalem, as experienced by the apostle John on the Isle of Patmos, there is a particularly striking description of the heavenly city in Revelation 21:22–23. Here, John records: “I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God, the Almighty, and the Lamb. The city has no need for the sun or moon to shine, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb.” This is undoubtedly the climactic vision of the temple in all of Scripture, and in this vision, God the Father and the risen Lord Jesus Christ—the Lamb King—constitute the eternally glorious lighting of the heavenly city-temple.
The second relevant Messianic text of Haggai is found in Haggai 2:21–23, where God repeats his intention to “shake the heavens and the earth.” God then immediately declares that he will overthrow and destroy the power and authority of the kingdoms of the world; namely, all those nations who defy and blaspheme him. God then declares that he will take Zerubbabel, the political leader of the postexilic Judean community, and make him “like a signet ring. For I have chosen you to be mine” (v. 23). In the ancient world, a signet ring worked much like a seal—an identifying signature, if you like. Additionally, it was often regarded as a guarantee of a future payment (i.e., a deposit or down payment). # See footnote on Hag. 2:23 in The NIV Study Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1995), 1397. When this metaphor is linked to the action of sovereign divine choosing, its full meaning is further clarified: Zerubbabel was a descendant of King David and is found in the lineage of Jesus Christ, as recorded in Matthew 1:12–13. The point here is that God was declaring, at the end of the prophecy of Haggai, that Zerubbabel was a forerunner of the Davidic Messiah—one who would anticipate the climactic fulfillment of God’s plan of salvation in the age to come, in the person of Jesus, the Son of God.
Haggai
Greater Glory
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