Haggai

HAGGAI

The Prophet and His Time. Haggai’s activities, as recorded in the book, take place from August to December 520 B.C., during Darius’s reign in Persia. In 538 B.C., Cyrus allowed the Jewish captives in Babylon to return to their homeland. A group led by Sheshbazzar took this opportunity, likely inspired by the compelling promises in Isaiah II. A few years later, another group of exiles returned, led by Zerubbabel and Joshua, the high priest. Their situation was critical: cities were in ruins, fields lay fallow, walls had fallen, and the temple was destroyed.
Haggai’s preaching reveals that the returned people were deeply discouraged. They focused on survival, rebuilding their houses and working their fields, while neglecting the reconstruction of the temple and their hopes for independence.
On the other hand, the relationships between the few Jewish individuals who remained in the land and those returning from exile, with understandable messianic complex, quickly deteriorated. After Cyrus’s death, the atmosphere of revolts and uprisings against the Babylonian empire did not help matters until Darius I restored peace with an iron fist. This peace was maintained only through force.

Religious Message. Our prophet’s teachings center on two primary themes: the temple and the commencement of the eschatological age. The second theme relies on the first. Unlike other prophets, Haggai seems uninterested in moral issues, focusing solely on the temple as the expression of God’s presence on earth. This presence is expected to bring peace through a person chosen by God, specifically a king from the line of David. Currently, Zerubbabel, who is credited with rebuilding the temple, symbolizes these messianic hopes.
The messianic vision revealed by Haggai is fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth. The oracle of the Lord’s saving presence: “I am with you” (1:13) will be echoed in the words of the Risen One: “I will be with you until the end of time” (Mt 20:28). This presence will have a new temple: his body, both dead and risen: “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it in three days… but he was referring to the temple of his body” (Jn 2:19-21).