READ IT! - Introduction to Haggai

Introduction to The Book of Haggai 

Haggai lived during the time of Governor Zerubbabel and the high priest Joshua. The historical setting dates around 520 BC before the Temple has been rebuilt. The setting is about eighteen years after Cyrus had conquered Babylon and issued a decree in 538 BC, allowing the captive Jews to return to Judea. Cyrus saw the restoration of the temple as necessary for the restoration of the religious practices, and a sense of peoplehood, after a long exile. The book begins with a call to build the house of the LORD. He told them that even though the people were saying that it was not a good time to build the Temple, they apparently had time to build nice houses for themselves. Haggai convinced them that they should restart the Temple project. 

Haggai reports that three weeks after his first prophecy, the rebuilding of the Temple began on September 7, 521 BC, saying, "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 Darius the King. And the Book of Ezra indicates that it was finished on February 25, 516 BC. "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) 

The older generation was discouraged because they remembered how nice Solomon’s Temple was and they didn’t think they could ever build another Temple as good as that one. 

Haggai proclaims the promised glory of the New House, saying, “‘The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house,’ says the Lord Almighty. ‘And in this place I will grant peace,’ declares the Lord Almighty.”

He then offers blessings for a “defiled people”. Haggai brought God’s message to the priests, saying that the food shortage in the land which had come as a result of the peoples’ sin would end, and God instead planned to bless His people.

Haggai brought God’s message to Zerubbabel, the governor of Judah at that time, saying that God planned to overthrow the current world powers, and that he had chosen Zerubbabel to be his chosen “signet ring” to lead his people.