Studying and teaching the Bible Intro to Haggai- Tuesday, February 17, 2009 *Introducing:* Haggai The book of Haggai consists of four main parts. All of which were written within three months of each other. The first verse states, “In the second year of King Darius, on the first day of the sixth month, “giving this book a date of 520 B.C. The verse goes on to tell us that Haggai was the author: “the word of the LORD came through the prophet Haggai to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest:” (The rest of the book follows.) Haggai was a prophet that had a clear vision of what the responsibility of the Jews was in his day and age. He urged the remnant to respond to the Lord’s command to finish building the place of worship, in Jerusalem. Destroyed by the Babylon’s, the temple needed repair. King Cyrus allowed the people back into the land and for the rebuilding of the temple. Sadly, the people chose to serve themselves instead of the Lord. The Lord sent warnings to persuade them back to righteousness. The temple was more significant in Biblical days because now we have no central place of worship, but it was quite the opposite for the people in Haggai’s day. The temple was the symbol that God was with his people. It was time for them to reprioritize and finish the temple!Haggai (Hebrew: חַ'ַּי, Ḥaggay or "Hag-i", Greek: Αγγαίος) was one of the twelve minor prophets and the author of the Book of Haggai. His name means "my feast". He was the first of three prophets (with Zechariah, his contemporary, and Malachi, who lived about one hundred years later), whose ministry belonged to the period of Jewish history which began after the return from captivity in Babylon.
Scarcely anything is known of his personal history. He may have been one of the captives taken to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar. He began his ministry about sixteen years after the return of the Jews to Judah (ca. 520 BCE). The work of rebuilding...