"Prophetic Confrontation: Haggai and the Second Temple"

The four brief prophecies found in the book of Haggai constitute snapshots of Israel’s struggle to rebuild the temple in the early Persian period. Each snapshot captures a single event in the life and struggle of the community of faith. The verbal pictures describe milestones along the journey of temple reconstruction. They begin well into the journey, at a defining moment when Israel must reaffirm a commitment to rebuild the temple. They conclude before the journey is over. The prophetic snapshots tell a story which makes sense only in the fuller context of Israel’s story in the early Persian period. This paper focuses on the first prophecy of Haggai’s ministry. The prophecy came in the sixth Jewish month (August-September) of 520 BCE (v. 1). The prophecy begins with a message of judgment (vv. 1-11). God confronts the people of the post-exilic community with their unwillingness to rebuild the temple (vv. 4-5). The people excuse their inactivity and lack of concern for rebuilding the temple by claiming that the time was not right for rebuilding (v. 2); after all, the economy was depressed. God informs the people that the depressed economy is the result of their unconcern for the temple (vv. 6, 9-11). The indictment against the leaders and the people of the community climaxes in a divine command to rebuild the temple (v. 8). The scene in chapter one concludes on a positive note. The post-exilic community rises to the challenge of the prophetic word and commits to rebuild the temple (vv. 12-15a).