The Biblical Book of Haggai

            
             Israel had seen long period of humiliation and spiritual anxiety through the seventy years of Exile prior to Haggai's ministry. One must know something of these trying years and the events at their close which issued in the return of the Jews to Canaan in order to understand the problems faced by this postexilic prophet. .
             Haggai, the tenth book of the twelve, consists of reports of four "words " addressed to Zerubbabel the governor.
             ORIENTING DATA FOR HAGGAI.
             Content: Four Oracles encouraging God's people to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem.
             Theme: Blessing through obedience to the Word of God.
             Prophet/Author: Haggai is a postexilic prophet in Jerusalem and contemporary of Zechariah (see Ezr. 5:1; 6:14). Unlike Zechariah, Haggai is mentioned only in Ezra outside his own book.
             The word "Haggai " seems to be an adjective from the Hebrew word for "feast, " and therefore the prophet's name might mean "Festal " or "The Festal. " .
             Haggai is one of those few prophets who were successful as he could see his prophesy being fulfilled in his lifetime.
             If 2:3 indicates that Haggai saw Solomon's temple before it was destroyed, then he must have been at least seventy years old at the time of his prophesy. .
             Date: A four-month period during the second year of the reign of Darius of Persia (520 BC). The speeches of Haggai are dated precisely to the day, month and year of the rule of Darius I, king of Persia.
             The equivalents for the date formulas are listed below:.
             SPEECH.
             DATE IN DARIUS' REIGN.
             MODERN EQUIVALENT.
             Haggai 1:1.
             Year 2, month 6, day 1.
             August 29, 520 BC.
             Haggai 2:1.
             Year 2, month 7, day 21.
             October 17, 520 BC.
             Haggai 2:10.
             Year 2, month 9, day 24.
             December 18, 520 BC.
             Haggai 2:20.
             Year 2, month 9, day 24.
             December 18, 520 BC.
             BACKGROUND AND HISTORICAL SETTING.
             During the reign of the last king of Judah, Zedekiah (598-587 BC), Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon marched against Jerusalem with his whole army, in the ninth year, tenth month, tenth day of Zedekiah's reign (1 Kings 25:1).