A guide to Haggai

Who wrote Haggai, and when?

Haggai. 520 BC, over four months in the second year of Darius.

The book names Haggai as its author and gives nothing else about his background. His name means festive, and some have guessed he was born on a feast day. Ezra mentions him alongside Zechariah as one of the two prophets who stirred the people to rebuild the temple (see Ezra 5 and 6). Haggai's messages are dated with unusual precision: all four fall within about four months in 520 BC, the second year of the Persian king Darius. Because of that, there is little scholarly debate about the date. Some have suggested that a later editor arranged the messages and added the dates, but the content itself is widely accepted as coming from Haggai in that year.

Who was Haggai written to?

The returned exiles in Jerusalem, and their leaders Zerubbabel the governor and Joshua the high priest.

Haggai spoke to the Jewish community that had returned from exile in Babylon to Jerusalem, about sixteen years after the first group arrived. They had laid the temple's foundation with great hopes and then stopped, discouraged by opposition and hard times. In the meantime they had built and even panelled their own houses. Harvests were poor, prices were high and money seemed to disappear. Haggai addressed the whole people, but he spoke especially to their two leaders: Zerubbabel, the governor appointed by Persia and a descendant of King David, and Joshua, the high priest. These were people who believed in God but had put his house at the bottom of the list, and who needed both a rebuke and a reason to hope.

What was happening at the time?

Sixteen years after the first return, the temple foundation lay abandoned while people panelled their own homes. Harvests were poor and money seemed to vanish. Haggai told them why: they had put God’s house last. Within weeks work resumed, and the temple was finished four years later.

Why was Haggai written?

To rouse the people to rebuild the temple and to promise that its glory would exceed the first.

Haggai was written to get the temple built. His first message names the problem: the people said it was not yet time to rebuild, while their own homes were finished (see chapter 1). He links their poor harvests to their misplaced priorities and calls them to consider their ways. Once work begins, the later messages encourage them: God is with them, his Spirit remains among them, and the glory of this humble building will one day exceed Solomon's. The final word to Zerubbabel promises that God has chosen him and his line. In the wider story of the Bible, Haggai keeps alive both the temple, where God dwells with his people, and the line of David, which leads on to Jesus.

How to read Haggai today

Haggai is two chapters and can be read in a few minutes, so read it whole and then read it again. Notice the four dated messages and how the mood changes from rebuke to encouragement. Watch for the question God asks the people to consider, and turn it on yourself: what comes first in your life, and what keeps getting postponed? Do not treat the link between obedience and harvests as a formula that always works today; Haggai was speaking to a specific people under a specific covenant. Do not skip the promise about the future glory of the temple in chapter 2, which Christians see fulfilled in Jesus. It helps to read Ezra 4 to 6 alongside, since it tells the same story from the outside. As you read, ask God to show you one thing you have been putting off that he wants you to begin.

The key verse in Haggai

Now therefore, thus says the LORD of hosts: “Consider your ways!

Passages worth knowing in Haggai

• Haggai 1

  Consider your ways

  You sow much and bring in little; build the house.

• Haggai 2:1-9

  The glory of this latter house

  I am with you; the desire of all nations shall come.

• Haggai 2:20-23

  Zerubbabel my signet ring

  The line of David reaffirmed after exile.

The main themes of Haggai

• Priorities
• The temple
• God’s presence
• Future glory
• The Davidic line

An outline of Haggai