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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadGreater Men and Women of the Bible by James Hastings: 473. Haggai
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Literature
Cheyne, T. K., Fresh Voyages on Unfrequented Waters (1914), 7.
Hitchcock, F. R. M., Hebrew Types (1913), 271.
Hunter, P. H., After the Exile, i. (1890) 133.
Kennett, R. H., in Cambridge Biblical Essays (1909), 109.
Kirkpatrick, A. F., The Doctrine of the Prophets (1892), 409.
McWilliam, T., Speakers for God (1902), 213, 220.
Mitchell, H. G., A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Haggai, Zechariah, etc. (International Critical Commentary) (1912).
Sanders, F. K., and Kent, C. F., The Messages of the Later Prophets (1899), 197.
Smith, G. A., The Book of the Twelve Prophets (Expositor's Bible), ii. (1898) 225.
Wellhausen, J., Prolegomena to the History of Israel (1885), 494.
Dictionary of the Bible, ii. (1899) 279 (G. A. Cooke).
Encyclopœdia Biblica, ii. (1901), col. 1935 (W. R. Smith and T. K. Cheyne).
Encyclopœdia Britannica11, xii. (1910) 814 (W. R. Smith and A. J. Grieve).
Expositor, 3rd Ser., v. (1887) 344 (M. Dods).
Jewish Encyclopedia, vi. (1904) 146 (E. G. Hirsch).
Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, saith the Lord; and be strong, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest; and be strong, all ye people of the land, saith the Lord, and work: for I am with you, saith the Lord of hosts.- Hag_2:4.
The novelist S. R. Crockett says somewhere regarding one of his characters that he belonged to the great society of encouragers. That select and goodly fellowship has had its members in all ages. It was the appointed task of each of the prophets of Israel to inspire his hearers and his readers with his own ardent hope and dauntless courage. And each of them did this in the same way-by bringing the doubting and the fearing back to faith in a living, a gracious, and a present God. “God is with us”-Immanuel-was the watchword of the greatest pre-Exilic prophet. “Fear not, for I am with thee” was the trumpet note of the greatest prophet of the Exile (Isa_43:5). And God's messengers in the difficult and depressing days which immediately followed the Return, when the fallen nation was struggling to its feet again and bracing itself for a fresh start, still emphasized the sublime words of encouragement, “I am with you, saith the Lord.”
1. Haggai lived in a time when cheering and emboldening words were almost the one thing needful. The Second Isaiah had depicted Jehovah manifesting His glory to Israel, gathering them from all quarters, making a road for them through the desert, leading them like a shepherd to their home, renewing His covenant with them, pouring His Spirit upon them, beginning for them a time of eternal favour and blessing, and making them a light to the Gentiles, the bearers of His salvation to the ends of the earth. But somehow the reality seemed to come far short of this glowing prophetic hope.
Deutero-Isaiah's prophecy of the freeing of the people under Cyrus had been fulfilled after the conquest of Babylon. The edict of Cyrus granted permission to the exiles to return, and about 50,000, under the leadership of Zerubbabel and Joshua the priest, availed themselves of it. But the condition of things in the home so eagerly longed for did not answer the high-flown expectations of the returned exiles. The foreign domination still continued, and all energy was paralysed by poverty and failure of crops, as well as by the hostility of the Jewish-heathen mixed population, which had gradually spread over the land during the Exile. Even if the cultus was resumed, immediately after the Return, by the re-erection of the altar of burnt-offering (Ezr_3:2 ff.), it was not till the year 520 that, thanks to the energetic stimulation of Haggai and Zechariah, the work of building the Temple was taken in hand in earnest, and finished in 516.
2. There are, indeed, eminent scholars who maintain that Cyrus failed to fulfil any of the expectations which were cherished regarding him.
It has been commonly supposed that the hope of the “Deutero-Isaiah” was realized almost literally. It must however be confessed, that, whereas there is but little confirmation of this supposition, there are many weighty reasons that may be urged against it. The actual statement that Cyrus authorized the Jews to return seems to belong to the work of the Chronicler, and not to be taken from an older source. Nor is there any confirmation of it apart from the Bible. The cylinder-inscription of Cyrus apparently refers to Assyria and Babylonia rather than to all the captive population of the whole Babylonian Empire. On the other hand the whole evidence of the Books of Haggai and Zechariah is strongly opposed to the supposition of any such return. Neither of these prophets gives the slightest hint that there has been an extraordinary change in the fortunes of Israel only some seventeen years previously; Zechariah indeed explicitly says that Jehovah has been wroth with the cities of Judah for seventy years; both prophets use language which is only explicable if they regard Persia as still the oppressor; and both look forward to the shaking of the nations by which alone the real welfare of Israel can be secured.1 [Note: R. H. Kennett, in Cambridge Biblical Essays, 109.]
3. In any case the nature of Haggai's mission was clear. He was called to continue the task of strengthening the weak hands and confirming the feeble knees, of saying to those who were of a fearful heart, “Be strong, fear not.” He was sent to communicate to Israel his own indomitable faith and unquenchable hope.
One of Charles Reade's characters, the inimitable Frenchman Denys in The Cloister and the Hearth, used to face every difficulty and danger with the cheerful words on his lips, “Courage, camerade, le diable est mort.” The prophets of Israel did not say that; in truth, not one of them ever mentions the devil at all. But each of them did say, “Courage, for the Lord liveth, and He is with you.” “Best of all,” as John Wesley used to say, “God is with us.” One of Jesus' favourite words is θαρσεῖ or θαρσεῖτε, which is translated “Be of good cheer,” and the best single English equivalent of His Divine word is just “Courage!” “In the world,” He said, “ye shall have tribulation, but courage, I have overcome the world.” He is the President of the great society of encouragers.