Haggai Study Week 1 - Intro and BRI

To listen to the audio of this teaching click here.  Otherwise, read on!

Welcome to the book of Haggai!  While I’m willing to wager you have likely spent little time in this book, I am confident that by the end of your study in it you will be struck by how much this short book has to say!  Before we begin we need to answer a few foundational questions (we call this the BRI - background required info) which will help us to understand more accurately what the book of Haggai intends to say.  So let’s get started!

What genre of writing is Haggai?

Haggai is a book of prophecy, considered one of the minor prophets not because it is less in importance but simply because it is smaller in size.  This is not a genre that is always familiar to us, and more often than not we have a wrong understanding of the function of the prophetic books!  You may find this quote from Nancy Guthrie helpful;

We tend to think of a prophet as someone who predicts the future, much like a fortune-teller or psychic. And while it is true that there was an element of prediction in the Old Testament prophets’ job as they spoke of coming judgment, exile, and future restoration, their predictions were intended as incentives toward repentance and obedience.

This reminds us the prophetic books play an important role in the whole story of God’s plan for mankind and one thing they do very well is reveal the heart of God.  We actually learn more about God Himself than about “the future” in the prophetic books and so on that basis alone I think we do well to dig into them!   While it may seem daunting at first, knowing a few things can help us.  Keep in mind these books will use a lot of figurative rather than literal language, so look for figures of speech like metaphors and symbolism.  We will work together to try to discover meaning when these prophecies or oracles make no sense to us! 

Once when my son was little he ran up to me with a  large decorative seashell up to his ear.  With a look of amazement he said, “Mom!  Did you know that if you hold up a shell to your ear you can hear the toilet?”  In his defence, he was a 3 year old boy and potty training was pretty much his life at the time, so you can appreciate his context!  

Studying Old Testament prophecy can be a bit like holding a shell up to our ear.  We can’t always identify what we are hearing, especially if we don’t have the historical, cultural and literary context as our framework.  We actually cannot read any book of the bible through our contemporary cultural lens, but especially the prophetic books!  So the next questions will help us begin to lay that foundation in context from which we will study…and learn!

Who wrote the book of Haggai?

When it comes to the prophetic books, it is more helpful to ask, “Who spoke the message?”  Obviously, in this case it is a man named Haggai.  There is no other mention of him in scripture outside of what we read in this book.  You learned everything we know about him by observing Haggai 1:1.

Many scholars believe that the prophets themselves wrote down the actual words they received from God, while a scribe put them together adding surrounding narrative.  You will see as you read the book, there are the oracles or messages from God themselves, and then there is narrative that describes what is happening as the messages are given and received.

When was the prophecy given?  And who are the people who are receiving it?

The book of Haggai comes at an interesting time in the history of Israel, one many of us haven’t spent a lot of time studying, so we’re often lacking that context.  For one thing, this period of Israel’s history doesn’t make it into many Sunday School lessons or children’s story bibles.  If at all.  The time we’re talking about is referred to as “post-exilic.”  Here’s a brief overview, but we’ll learn more as we study!

After 50 years in exile, living in captivity under the Babylonians, the Persians have now defeated the Babylonians and inherited their captives.  In 536BC the Persian king Cyrus is on the throne and Ezra 1:1-3 tells us that God stirs up the spirit of this pagan king (some translations render this “moved his heart”) to send the Jews back to Jerusalem.  They are told to return to their home which was destroyed by the Babylonians, and ordered to rebuild the temple under Cyrus’ command.  

This group of people that return are “the people” of the book of Haggai.  They are also called “the jewish remnant” throughout post-exilic history.  They are led by the high priest of Judah, Joshua (also called Jeshua in the book of Ezra - same guy), and Zerubbabel who is the “governor” of Judah.  He would be king had Judah not been taken over by the Babylonians, and now ruled by the Persian King Cyrus.

Long story short, these exiles return to Jerusalem and begin work on the altar and foundations of the temple but soon give up for reasons we will discover later in our study.  For 16 years the temple lies in ruins and the people go about their business.  Until God speaks to Haggai.

One more interesting thing about the book of Haggai is that we know very precisely when these prophecies were given thanks to the dating references in the book itself.  Secular history records both the reign of Darius as well as the dates of the new moons (or beginning of the month in the lunar calendar) which help us to know that Haggai’s first oracle was given on August 29, 520BC.  His final prophecy was given on December 18, 520BC which means the events of the book of Haggai span 4 months.  

What are the key themes of the book?

One of the key themes of Haggai is the restoration of God’s house.  The people are called to rebuild the temple, so it is important for us to consider the role of the temple in the biblical narrative.  The idea of a temple left lying in ruins points to the people’s relationship with Yahweh - also in ruins.  His call for them to rebuild the temple is a call back to Himself, to prioritize His presence among them as a people. 

There are also key biblical themes like obedience and the restoration of David’s royal line, or the promise of a Messiah to be traced through the book of Haggai.  Watch for these as you study this week!

In Week 2 we are going to approach Haggai as a whole book and do a bit of an overview.  We will find the structure (how the author has organized the book), and do a bit of study into the name “Lord of Hosts” which is another repeated theme throughout the book.

Grace and peace to you as you study this week!

KaraLyn