Font Size
The time is the period after the return from Exile. In 538 B.C., many Jews who had been deported to Babylon returned to Palestine; Cyrus, king of the Persians and their liberator, authorized them to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem. But in order to have the food they needed in a region of ruins and devastation, they settled in the countryside around Jerusalem rather than in the city itself. Their first concern was to defend themselves; some managed to settle down and achieve a certain prosperity.
It seems that these people had not yet acquired the strength of mind or the imagination or even the capacity to set in motion a plan for national unity. Zerubbabel, a descendant of David, and Joshua, the high priest at this time, presided over the destinies of the group of returnees at this difficult time. These two men represented the two forces capable of bringing a restoration: the Davidic line, that is, the Messianic dynasty, and the priesthood.
Quite soon, the high priest would take over the leadership, and the successor of the royal dynasty would disappear, but we have not reached that point as yet. The restoration is difficult. It runs up against the inertia and even the hostility of those who had remained behind in the country and had become half-pagan. To this difficulty was added a period of scanty harvests.
It is understandable that in these circumstances the Jews hesitated to undertake the rebuilding of the temple. The community was so demoralized that in 520 B.C., eighteen years after the return of the first group, the task of reconstruction had hardly begun.
It was at this point that the prophet Haggai, a man undoubtedly devoted to worship and animated by the Spirit of God, sought to give a strong boost to the work and to encourage his brethren. He had returned with the first repatriates, and perhaps had been among the deportees of 587 B.C.
His short discourses of encouragement all develop the same theme: you must rebuild the temple, and all will go well.
For the Jews, the temple was in fact the sign of God’s presence, of a life under the guidance of the covenant; it was also the symbol of a united community. The four oracles of Haggai, all of which are precisely dated, convey the message of restoration. The temple had to be the most important symbol in the initial plans of the reestablished people; we today would say that the house of God should have its place right in the midst of the dwellings of humanity, and this not so much materially as spiritually.
On this period see the early chapters of Ezra. The prophet Zechariah will do his preaching in the same setting.
The Book of Haggai may be divided as follows:
I: Consider Your Situation (1:1-15)
II: Courage, I Am with You (2:1-9)
III: What They Offer Me Is Unclean (2:10-19)
IV: Promise to the Descendants of David (2:20-23)