There is no statement that strictly identifies who wrote this book, but the words recorded are repeatedly connected to what God spoke to the prophet Haggai (1:1,3,13; 2:1,10,14,20).
In 587 BC Nebuchadnezzar came to Jerusalem for the third time, this time destroying the walls, the temple, and the city (2Kg 25:8-21; Jr 39–40). Most of the people were taken into Babylonian captivity for seventy years (Jr 25:11-12; 29:10), although Jeremiah and a few survivors stayed in Jerusalem (Jr 41–43). God predicted through Isaiah that the strong king named Cyrus (Is 44:24–45:2) would defeat Babylon and her gods (Is 46–47). After the Persian king Cyrus defeated Babylon, he issued a decree in 538 BC. that allowed the exiled nations in Babylon to return to their homelands (Ezr 1:1-4; Cyrus Cylinder). Sheshbazzar (Ezr 1:8-11) led about 43,000 Jewish pilgrims back to the state of Yehud (Judah) to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem (Ezr 2:64-65). In the seventh month the governor Zerubbabel and the high priest Joshua led the people in building an altar to worship God (Ezr 3:1-7), then in their second year the people laid the foundation of the new temple (Ezr 3:8-10). But this effort was stopped for the next sixteen years because the Samaritan people who lived north of Jerusalem frustrated these rebuilding efforts, plus they hired lawyers to cause the Persian authorities to stop supporting the work on this temple (Ezr 4:1-5). This led to a period of great discouragement. Apathy set in because many of the hopes of the Jewish people were unfulfilled. The walls of the city were not repaired, the temple was not rebuilt, there was a famine in the land (Hg 2:9-11), and the people were still under Persian control. They could do nothing without the approval of Tattenai, the governor of the “region west of the Euphrates River,” and his officials (Ezr 5:3-5). There seemed to be no way to move forward and rebuild the temple.
After the death of Cyrus, his son Cambyses became king (530–522 BC). He marched through Judah and conquered most of Egypt, but on his way home he died (possibly an assassination). A high army official named Darius took control of the Persian army, marched back to Babylon, defeated a rebel force led by Gaumata, and became king in 522 BC. Darius put down several revolts and then reformed the satrapy administrative system, with the result that by 520 BC the Persian Empire was at peace.
In the second year of Darius (520 BC; Hg 1:1; Ezr 4:24–5:2) when the conflict over political control of the empire was over, God directed Haggai to encourage the leaders in Jerusalem to rebuild the temple. When governor Tattenai heard about this rebuilding, he questioned the plan’s legitimacy and wrote to Darius to find out whether the government was sanctioning this project (Ezr 5:3-17). Darius approved the rebuilding campaign and even supported it through the royal treasury, as was confirmed by the discovery of Cyrus’s original decree in a palace at Ecbatana (Ezr 6:1-12). Consequently, the temple rebuilding was completed in four years (Ezr 6:15).
Throughout the Bible, there is a call and a reminder to place God first. The period following the return from exile was no exception. Haggai’s challenge was to call the postexilic community of Jews living in Jerusalem not simply to focus on their own creature comforts but to honor God. This commitment would be reflected in their work on the temple. Haggai’s call was later reflected in the words of Jesus: “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you” (Mt 6:33).
Haggai’s call for the people to get their priorities in order and place God first by rebuilding his temple was of great importance. For the people to return to this task was a sign of their priorities. It also showed that God was with the remnant and that his promises of restoration had begun to be fulfilled. Their obedience in this matter declared God’s glory and thus brought him pleasure. It served to vindicate the Lord since the temple’s destruction had disgraced the Lord’s name. Finally, their obedience to Haggai’s words served as a pledge of the new covenant and the messianic age. The restoration of the temple was a sign that God had not revoked his covenant with Levi or his covenant with David. He would provide cleansing and restoration through a glorious temple and a messianic ruler.
The book of Haggai contains four short confrontational speeches in chronological order that identify ways the leaders and people in Jerusalem should change their theological thinking and behavior. There is a logical progression in the structure. People must glorify God (1:1-15), stay committed to God’s plans (2:1-9), please God by living holy lives (2:10-19), and serve him faithfully (2:20-23).
The second temple was never intended to be as magnificent as the first. The first was to be the embodiment of the full glory of the dispensation of symbols and types and was soon to pass away. The reason seems to me to be this—in the second temple, during the time it should stand, the dispensation of Christ was softly melted into the light of spiritual truth. The outward worship was to cease there. It seems right that it should cease in a temple that had not the external glory of the first. God intended to light up the first beams of the spiritual splendor of the second temple, namely, his true temple, the church, and he would put a sign of decay on the outward and visible in the temple of the first. Yet he declares by his servant, Haggai, that the glory of the second temple should be greater than the first.
1In the second year of King Darius, A on the first day of the sixth month, the word of the LORD came through the prophet Haggai to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, the governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest:
2 “The LORD of Armies says this: These people say: The time has not come for the house of the LORD to be rebuilt.”
3 The word of the LORD came through the prophet Haggai: 4 “Is it a time for you yourselves to live in your paneled houses, while this house B lies in ruins? ” 5 Now, the LORD of Armies says this: “Think carefully about C your ways:
6You have planted much
but harvested little.
You eat
but never have enough to be satisfied.
You drink
but never have enough to be happy.
You put on clothes
but never have enough to get warm.
The wage earner puts his wages
into a bag with a hole in it.”
7 The LORD of Armies says this: “Think carefully about your ways. 8 Go up into the hills, bring down lumber, and build the house; and I will be pleased with it and be glorified,” says the LORD. 9 “You expected much, but then it amounted to little. When you brought the harvest to your house, I ruined D it. Why? ” This is the declaration of the LORD of Armies. “Because my house still lies in ruins, while each of you is busy with his own house.
QUOTE 1:7-8
It does not matter whom we please if God is not pleased, or who gets honor from what we give, if God is not glorified as a result.
10So on your account, E
the skies have withheld the dew
and the land its crops.
11I have summoned a drought
on the fields and the hills,
on the grain, new wine, fresh oil,
and whatever the ground yields,
on man and animal,
and on all that
your hands produce.”
12 Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, the high priest Joshua son of Jehozadak, and the entire remnant of the people obeyed the LORD their God and the words of the prophet Haggai, because the LORD their God had sent him. So the people feared the LORD.
13 Then Haggai, the LORD’s messenger, delivered the LORD’s message to the people: “I am with you — this is the LORD’s declaration.”
14 The LORD roused the spirit of Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, the spirit of the high priest Joshua son of Jehozadak, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people. They began work on the house of the LORD of Armies, their God, 15 on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month, in the second year of King Darius.
1:3-4 “The word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai: ‘Is it a time for you yourselves to live in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins?’” They had built their houses with cedar and expensive wood and decorated them with carvings, while the plainest buildings would have sufficed. God will allow them to build their own house for necessary dwelling, but next to that should certainly come his house, before they took to decorating their own. And, indeed, it may well be said to many wealthy persons, “It does not appear to you to be time to aid foreign missions, but it does seem to you to be time to put more money in bonds? It does not seem time for you to help the Bible Society, but it seems to be time to make another investment, and purchase another estate that connects to your own?”
1:7-8 “The Lord of Armies says this: ‘Think carefully about your ways. Go up into the hills, bring down lumber, and build the house; and I will be pleased with it and be glorified,’ says the Lord.” That is the great objective we should aim at in all we do—that God may be glorified, that God may take pleasure in it. It does not matter whom we please if God is not pleased, or who gets honor from what we give, if God is not glorified as a result.
2On the twenty-first day of the seventh month, the word of the LORD came through the prophet Haggai: 2 “Speak to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, to the high priest Joshua son of Jehozadak, and to the remnant of the people: 3 ‘Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Doesn’t it seem to you like nothing by comparison? 4 Even so, be strong, Zerubbabel — this is the LORD’s declaration. Be strong, Joshua son of Jehozadak, high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land — this is the LORD’s declaration. Work! For I am with you — the declaration of the LORD of Armies. 5 This is the promise I made to you when you came out of Egypt, and my Spirit is present among you; don’t be afraid.’ ”
6 For the LORD of Armies says this: “Once more, in a little while, I am going to shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. 7 I will shake all the nations so that the treasures of all the nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory,” says the LORD of Armies. 8 “The silver and gold belong to me” — this is the declaration of the LORD of Armies. 9 “The final glory of this house A will be greater than the first,” says the LORD of Armies. “I will provide peace in this place” — this is the declaration of the LORD of Armies.
10 On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came to the prophet Haggai: 11 “This is what the LORD of Armies says: Ask the priests for a ruling. 12 If a man is carrying consecrated meat in the fold of his garment, and it touches bread, stew, wine, oil, or any other food, does it become holy? ”
The priests answered, “No.”
13 Then Haggai asked, “If someone defiled by contact with a corpse touches any of these, does it become defiled? ”
The priests answered, “It becomes defiled.”
14 Then Haggai replied, “So is this people, and so is this nation before me — this is the LORD’s declaration. And so is every work of their hands; even what they offer there is defiled.
15 “Now from this day on, think carefully: Before one stone was placed on another in the LORD’s temple, 16 what state were you in? A When someone came to a grain heap of twenty measures, it only amounted to ten; when one came to the winepress to dip fifty measures from the vat, it only amounted to twenty. 17 I struck you — all the work of your hands — with blight, mildew, and hail, but you didn’t turn to me — this is the LORD’s declaration. 18 “From this day on, think carefully; from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, from the day the foundation of the LORD’s temple was laid; think carefully. 19 Is there still seed left in the granary? The vine, the fig, the pomegranate, and the olive tree have not yet produced. But from this day on I will bless you.”
20 The word of the LORD came to Haggai a second time on the twenty-fourth day of the month: 21 “Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah: I am going to shake the heavens and the earth. 22 I will overturn royal thrones and destroy the power of the Gentile kingdoms. I will overturn chariots and their riders. Horses and their riders will fall, each by his brother’s sword. 23 On that day” — this is the declaration of the LORD of Armies — “I will take you, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, my servant” — this is the LORD’s declaration — “and make you like my signet ring, for I have chosen you.” This is the declaration of the LORD of Armies.
2:7 “’I will shake all the nations so that the treasures of all the nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory,’ says the Lord of Armies.” The second temple was never intended to be as magnificent as the first. The first was to be the embodiment of the full glory of the dispensation of symbols and types and was soon to pass away. This comparative feebleness had been proved by the idolatry and apostasy of the people, Israel. And when they returned to Jerusalem, they were to have a structure that would be sufficient for the purposes of their worship, but they were not again to be indulged with the splendors of the former house that God had built by the hand of Solomon. Had it been God’s providence that a temple equally magnificent as the first should be built, it might have been easily accomplished. Cyrus appears to have been obedient to the divine will and to have been a great friend of the Jews, but he expressly, by edict, diminished the length of the walls and gave express command that the walls should never be erected as high as before. We have also evidence that a like decree was made by Darius, an equally great friend of the Jews, who could, with the lifting of his finger, have outdone the glory of Solomon’s temple. But in God’s providence it was not arranged that it should be so and, though Herod lavished a good deal of treasure on the second temple for the pleasure of the nation he ruled and to gain some favor from them, he profaned the temple more than he adorned it, since he did not follow the prescribed architecture by which it ought to have been built, and he did not have the divine approval on his labors. No prophet ever commanded, and no prophet ever sanctioned the labors of such a horrible wretch as that Herod. The reason seems to me to be this—in the second temple, during the time it should stand, the dispensation of Christ was softly melted into the light of spiritual truth. The outward worship was to cease there. It seems right that it should cease in a temple that had not the external glory of the first. God intended to light up the first beams of the spiritual splendor of the second temple, namely, his true temple, the church, and he would put a sign of decay on the outward and visible in the temple of the first. Yet he declares by his servant, Haggai, that the glory of the second temple should be greater than the first.