Chapter 2 - I Am with You

Summary

The Book of Haggai unfolds across four narrative episodes (1:1–1:15a; 1:15b–2:9; 2:10–19; 2:20–23), marked in the text by the date when the prophet Haggai came forward to make each of the four proclamations during the reign of Darius I (1:1; 1:15b; 2:10; 2:20). While this series of narratives tell of Haggai’s interaction with the remnant of Israel and their leaders, several key imperatives indicate the persuasive aim of the book: “Go up to the hills and bring down trees and build this house” (1:8) and “Be strong, Zerubbabel … be strong Joshua … be strong all people of the land … and act!” (2:4). Several more imperatives punctuate this collection of stories (1:5, 7; 2:15, 18), but these serve to exhort the audience to introspection as a means to motivate them to fulfill these two, primary imperatives. In which case we can fairly summarize the purpose of the Book of Haggai as to encourage the book’s audience to fulfill Haggai’s commands, to be strong and to finish the work of building the Temple to YHWH. The explicit theological claims and implicit theological assumptions of the book intend to motivate its original audience to achieve this aim, perhaps not too long after Haggai’s prophetic ministry.