Introduction to
Haggai
Overview
Haggai is both a challenge and an encouragement to rebuild with hope, written to a generation who had been without a temple for sixty-six years and who feared that God was no longer with them. Haggai challenged the people to commit themselves to rebuilding and promised that, if they did, God would restore the glory of the temple, blessing to his people, and the Davidic monarchy.
Author
The book records the oracles given to the prophet Haggai. Unlike with some of the other prophets, we are told little about Haggai’s lineage or history. Outside this book, the only references to him occur in Ezra 5:1 and 6:14, and he is alluded to in Zechariah 8:9. These references, and the narrative of the book itself, highlight what is most important about him: he was a prophet of the Lord whose preaching led the people to turn back to the Lord and rebuild the temple.
Date and Occasion
Haggai ministered in Jerusalem “in the second year of Darius” (520 BC). The oracles in the book occur within a span of four months, from the first day of the sixth month (August 29, 520 BC; cf. Hag. 1:1) to the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month (December 18, 520 BC; cf. 2:20). Haggai’s ministry overlaps Zechariah’s (cf. dates in Zech. 1:1) and arises out of the people’s failure to rebuild the temple after returning from exile. Almost two decades earlier (539 BC), Cyrus conquered Babylon and issued an edict allowing God’s people to return from exile and rebuild the temple (Ezra 1). Although some work was done in the early days (cf. comment on Hag. 2:18–19), the temple was still “in ruins” in Haggai’s day.
Genre and Literary Structure
The book contains oracles recording the “word of the LORD” embedded in a narrative describing the circumstances of the oracles and their impact on Haggai’s audience. While we may distinguish between the oracles and the narrative (sometimes called the “editorial framework”), they are a seamless unity, each understood in relation to the other.
There are five discrete oracles in the book, but the first two (1:2–11 and 1:13) are part of one episode, and the final two (2:10–19 and 2:20–23) came on the same day and describe the impact of laying the foundation of the temple.
Theology of Haggai; Its Relationship to the Rest of the Bible and to Christ
Building God’s “House”
Under the old covenant, the temple was the place where the Lord “took pleasure in” sacrifices, where his “glory” dwelt among his people (cf. 1:8). Under the new covenant, the place of sacrifice and the place of God’s glory are a person (Jesus), and for us to build that “house” involves building God’s kingdom by bringing people to Christ and incorporating them as “living stones” into a spiritual temple (cf. 1 Pet. 2:4–6; Eph. 2:19–22). Chapter 1 of Haggai challenges us to make building God’s “house” (i.e., God’s kingdom) our first priority, anticipating that day when God again will dwell with his people (Rev. 21:3; 22:3–5).
Glory
The Lord promises that when the temple is built, he will fill the house with glory “in a little while” (Hag. 2:6). The place where his glory dwells must be filled by an outward manifestation of his glory, even though to Haggai’s generation the temple appeared “as nothing” (2:3). Jesus is the ultimate dwelling place of God’s glory (Heb. 1:3; John 1:14, 18), but that glory is not currently visible to human eyes. Haggai 2:1–9 encourages us to look beyond what we can see and persevere in God’s work, because that glory now hidden will be revealed “in a little while.”
Foundation
Even before the temple is completed, God is present with his people. The turning point is the day the foundation of the temple is laid. This day leads to an immediate reversal of fortune, from defilement and “curses” to favor and blessing, to the promise of a reversal of fortune for the kingdom and throne of David. Our “foundation day” occurred in the death and resurrection of Christ. Because of what Jesus has done, we are no longer in that hopeless situation of impure worshipers offering unclean sacrifices unacceptable to God. We have already transitioned from “curse” to “blessing,” and the “foundation” already laid by Christ is the sign and guarantee of the future coming of the kingdom and throne of the Son of David.
Preaching from Haggai
Haggai can be challenging to preach from because most Christians are unfamiliar with the early postexilic period. This challenge is compounded by how Haggai addresses matters seemingly irrelevant to Christians, such as the temple, ritual purity, and the ongoing significance of Zerubbabel. Preaching from Haggai needs to be grounded in the book’s historical context and shaped by a biblical theology that demonstrates how the theological themes of the book find their fulfillment in Christ.
Haggai is best preached in three sections: 1:1–15; 2:1–9; and 2:10–23; taking 2:10–19 and 2:20–23 as a single unit describing both the immediate (vv. 10–19) and the ultimate (vv. 20–23) implications of laying the foundations of the Lord’s temple.
Several themes recur across the book. For example, the people’s repentance is addressed in 1:12 and 2:17, and blessing/cursing is addressed in 1:9–11 and 2:15–17. To prevent repetitive sermons, it is important to decide which sermon should highlight a particular theme.