Lesson 3: The Contextual Horizon (1)
Instructor's Work
"Darius": "Darius I ruled the Persian Empire from 522 to 486 BC" (Stead, “Haggai,” in ESV Expository Commentary, Volume 7: Daniel—Malachi, 611).
"Haggai": "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" (Stead, 607-08).
"Zerubbabel": "Shealtiel was the son of Jehoiachin, the Davidic king at the time of exile (cf. 1 Chron. 3:17). As a grandson of Jehoiachin, Zerubbabel was potentially the heir to the Davidic throne. Furthermore, he was the Persian-appointed governor of Judah" (Stead, 611).
"Joshua": "Jehozadak was high priest at the time of the exile (cf. 1 Chron. 6:15), and his son Joshua now filled that role in the postexilic community. This oracle is therefore addressed to the civic and religious leaders of the day, and through them to the community as a whole (cf. Hag. 1:12, where all three parties—Zerubbabel, Joshua, and the people—are explicitly named)" (Stead, 611-12).
"The LORD of hosts": "This name for God will appear consistently in both Haggai and Zechariah. 'Lord' (Heb. yhwh) is the name of God revealed to the Israelites through Moses as he entered into covenant with this people (Ex. 3:14–15; 6:2–3; 33:19; 34:6–7). 'Almighty' (or 'of hosts'; Heb. ṣebaʾot) is a name suggesting war, since it is used to speak of an organized army unit (Judg. 8:6; 9:29) as well as of a group of heavenly beings as God’s armies (Josh. 5:14–15; 1 Kings 22:19). However, the consistent use of this word in prophetic material in general and the Persian period prophetic books in particular reveals that this name for God has lost all connection with the context of war and is a name that speaks mainly of the might and power of God" (Boda, Haggai, Zechariah, 88).
"In the second year of Darius..., in the sixth month, on the first day of the month": "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)" (Stead, 607).
"[N]either Haggai nor Zechariah relates their events to a king of Judah. The reason for this departure from the earlier norm is very simple. The Babylonian captivity had effectively brought an end to the Israelite monarchy" (Taylor and Clendenen, Haggai, Malachi, 104).
"Haggai’s call to rebuild the temple does not represent the first initiative to restore this structure; according to Ezra 5:13–16 the project had begun immediately following the decree of Cyrus in 539–537 (cf. Ezra 1). This initial activity, however, did not find success, and as Haggai emerges in 520 the work must begin from scratch" (Boda, 86).
"[T]he date reminds us that from the perspective of the faithful among the Judean returnees, the clock was ticking on the seventy-year period Jeremiah had prophesied for the exile (Jer. 25:11-12). Starting with the fall of Jerusalem in 587 BC, sixty-seven hears had now passed. At least some amongst the returnees were probably counting down the days, watching for the restoration of Jerusalem" (Duguid, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, 28).
"The sixth month covered late August and early September, the harvest time for the fruit trees, such as grapes, figs, and pomegranates. It is three months on from the harvest of grain and corn, which took place at the end of June and early July, and thus a natural time to assess the success (or otherwise) of the agricultural year" (ibid., 29).
"The first day of the month, the 'new moon,' was a festival occasion, a day of rest and celebration before the Lord (see Num. 10:10; 28:11-15). ... In all likelihood, this festival, supervised by the civil and religious leaders, Zerubbabel and Joshua, provided the context in which Haggai's proclamation took place" (ibid.).
"The house of the LORD": This shows that we are talking about Jerusalem. "Haggai ministered in Jerusalem" (Stead, 607).
God's people said something (2), and God spoke in response (4). He then called them to consider their ways (5).
"The question Haggai asks cuts to the heart of the people's protestation in 1:2. ... They put themselves ('you yourselves') and their comforts ('paneled houses') before the sacred task of obeying the Lord, whose house was in ruins" (Motyer, "Haggai," in A Commentary on Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, 976).
"The phrase 'give careful thought to your ways' is unique to Haggai (Hag. 1:5, 7; 2:15, 18) and calls for deep reflection over past behavior and experience. This identical phrase is repeated in 1:7 and creates an envelope around the exposure of past experience" (Boda, 90).
Notice two occurrences of the phrase "the word of the LORD came" (v. 1 and 3). This divides the passage into two sections, with one prophecy in each. (The second prophecy continues in verse 7.)
"The main difference between vv. 1–2 and vv. 3ff. concerns the persons addressed by God’s messenger. After he had conveyed to the leaders the people’s argument about the inconvenient time, Haggai addressed the people themselves " (Verhoef, The Books of Haggai and Malachi, 57).
Customs
"Paneled houses": "Concerning Jehoahaz, one of the evil kings of Judah, Jer. 22:14 states that he built himself a palace with spacious rooms and large windows, “paneling it with cedar” (RSV). In 1 K. 6:15 it is said that Solomon decorated the interior walls of the temple, “paneling them from the floor of the temple to the ceiling” (NIV). The word translated “paneling,” however, is not sāp̱an but sāp̱â. The custom of decorating the inner walls by applying panels of cedar to cover them cannot be denied, although it seems that it was restricted to large and expensive buildings, for example, the temple and the palaces of kings. In Haggai the point of reference could have been either the decoration or the finishing of the houses. On the one hand the people could have decorated their houses with excessive wood supplies, while that specific commodity was totally absent as far as the temple was concerned (cf. v. 8). On the other hand the point of comparison could have been the completion of the houses, by providing the necessary roofs, while the temple still remained a ruin. The ancient versions (Aquila, LXX, Vulg.) seem to support the notion of the roofing-in of the houses. Perhaps both points of reference must be considered in trying to explain the prophet’s argument. He is contrasting their total lack of concern in regard to the house of the Lord with their zeal for their own houses. They had both the time and the means to decorate (to cover/ panel) or to complete (to roof-in) their houses, while the required building material for the temple still had to be gathered, and the temple itself remained a ruin!" (ibid., 58-59).
"Sown" and "harvested": "Since they were an agrarian society, he describes their gross national product in agricultural terms" (Motyer, 977).
"Into a bag": Apparently money was kept in bags. "The prophet’s figure of speech is indeed striking. The hired laborers earned their wages, but those wages were totally insufficient to cope with their material needs, probably due to the rising costs, the depreciation of the wages, and the general economical malaise" (Verhoef, 62).
Politics
"The king": Judah was under foreign domination. "This was a time when stability was returning to the Persian empire after a period of unrest.
"The prophet": "Both prepositions ['by the hand of' and 'to'] indicate the prophet as being the receiver ... and mediator ... of the special revelation" (Verhoef, 51). "Haggai had the privilege and the responsibility of being the first prophet of the postexilic era" (ibid., 3).
"Governor of Judah": "Jerusalem was in the large satrapy of 'Babylon and Babylon beyond the River' with one superintendent governor and district governors in, for example, Samaria and Jerusalem" (Motyer, 966).
"The high priest": Joshua "represented religious authority as the duly appointed high priest" (Taylor and Clendenen, 108).