Overview of the Book of Haggai

So the overview of the week for this Sunday is the book of Haggai. Haggai, whose name means festive, wrote in the 6th century

BC after the Babylonian captivity, several years after the return of the

Jews to the land of Judah. So the focus of his prophecy is rebuilding the temple.

In chapter 1, he writes this, Thus speaks the Lord of hosts, saying, This people says the time has not come, the time that the

Lord's house should be built. Then the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet, saying,

Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses and this temple to lie in ruins?

So Haggai is delivering God's message, commanding the Jews to rebuild the temple.

He claimed that if the temple was not built, there would be poverty, famine and drought affecting the

Jewish nation. Now, this is one of the shortest books in the Bible, just two chapters.

It's the second shortest book in the Old Testament next to Obadiah. And the thing that's unique about this, there's no question about the date of this prophecy.

The date is clearly specified. So we know that Haggai wrote in 520 BC and it's believed that he had returned to Jerusalem from Babylon with Zerubbabel 18 years earlier.

Haggai is mentioned in the Old Testament book of Ezra and he is also quoted in the

New Testament book of Hebrews. So his writing, his prophecies is like a back and forth, a message of rebuke followed by a message of encouragement, a message of encouragement followed by a message of rebuke.

But the most significant of all his statements comes in chapter two, verse seven, where most commentators believe that he is speaking about the coming

Messiah and he calls the Christ the desire of all nations.

So I'll close with verses six and seven of chapter two. Haggai writes, for thus says the

Lord of hosts, once more, it is a little while, I will shake heaven and earth, the sea and dry land, and I will shake all nations and they shall come to the desire of all nations and I will fill this temple with glory, says the