Haggai was a prophet during the time the exiles who were taken to Babylon, can now come home under the leadership of Cyrus king of Persia. Cyrus was even willing to support financially the rebuilding of the Temple of the Lord. They came home to Jerusalem, and built the altar and then the foundation of the temple, but due to the people who were living in the land, they discouraged the Jews so much that the building ceased. The Lord raised up Haggai to now speak to the people after 15 years of taking care of their own homes and neglecting the Lord's. This was during the second year of Darius king of Persia. This book of two chapters has four messages. The first found in chapter one was they were to continue to build the temple. The Lord says, "Give careful thoughts to your ways," in 1:5, 1:7, 2:15, and twice in 2:18. The second message is found in 2:1-9, and it is a word of encouragement to "be strong and work!" They could do that in the midst of opposition because the Lord was with them. The Lord also declared that this new "house," will have greater glory than the first. (That is because this is the temple that Jesus will enter.) The third message was toward the priests and it reminded them of clean and unclean. As Dr. Betts said in class, "Three months of right behavior does not rub off fifteen years of sin. There are consequences of their sin, and it will take time to be eliminated." Yet the Lord said to once again, "Give careful thought to the day when the foundation of the Lord's temple was laid. Give careful thought," and that was partly because the Lord would bless them from this point forward. The fourth and final message is found in 2:20-23, and it was a word to Zerubbabel the governor, who was a descendant of king David. The Lord called him "His servant," and He said, "I will make you like my signet ring, for I have chosen you,' declares the Lord Almighty." Zerubbabel's name is listed in both genealogies of Jesus, Matthew 1:12-13 and Luke 3:27.
