Haggai

Haggai (meaning feast or festive) was one of the twelve minor prophets and the first prophet to minister in Judah following the return from Babylonian exile. He was a contemporary of Zechariah and worked alongside him in the critical period of 520–516 B.C. during the rebuilding of the Jerusalem temple under the governor Zerubbabel and the high priest Joshua. The book of Ezra identifies Haggai and Zechariah as the prophets who stirred the returned community to resume the temple construction that had stalled for about sixteen years (Ezra 5:1; 6:14).

All of Haggai's four recorded messages are precisely dated to the second year of Darius I (520 B.C.). His preaching challenged the people's misplaced priorities—they had built their own houses while the Lord's house lay waste—and promised that the glory of the rebuilt temple would surpass that of Solomon's temple through the coming of the desire of all nations (Hag. 2:7). He also announced a divine shaking of the heavens, earth, and nations, interpreted by the New Testament writer of Hebrews as pointing to the unshakeable kingdom of Christ (Heb. 12:26–28).