I V.is the meaning is, ' Consider, from this day and onwards, nay, start from the da.v when the fotmdations were laid four months ago ; J"'s blessing will date from the time when the work began.' The date in v. 18 is awkward and unnecessary; perhaps inserted by a reader from v.io.
S Some verb seems to have fallen out at the end of v.22 ; Wellh. suggests 1^2' ' shall fall.'
II What Haggai hints. Zechariah makes more explicit ; Zerub- babel is to be the Messianic king of the future (Zee 3* 69"^-).
U ' For the signet,' cf. Jer 222", Ca 88, Sir 40ii. The authen- ticity of vv.2i)-2) has been questioned by Bohme {ZATW vii. 215 ff.) on the ground of (a) certain differences of style, e.g. v.2fl ' the word of J" came unto H.' instead of the usual ' the word of J" came bv the hand of H. the prophet,' and (;3)the repetition of the prophecy in 26'' '•. With regard to (a) cf. v.lo and Jer 4613, MT and LXX ; no great weight can be laid upon the form in which such sentences have been handed down. With regard to 03), the prophecy does not go beyond prophetic thought in Haggai's time ; and as it is addressed to Zerub. alone (hence n'Jw' V.2I)) the repetition is natural, andformf> a fitting concl ision to the book.
HAGGI
HAGRITES
281
Bider yoxir ways,' ' saith J " of liusts ' (2'''- ^), and the rojieated address to Zeruliljabel and Josliua by their full titles. At the same time he is capable of liner writing, e.q. !*• " 2'- '•'■"• ''. Compared with hia colleague Zecliariah, Ha-igai shows less freedom and variety in his descri|ition of the Messianic a^e. Uolh prophets belong to the period of the decline of prophecy. They seem to be conscious that their [jrophetic gift does not possess the direct and copiuus inspiration of the earlier propliets ; for they are caretul to assert repeatedlj' that their word is the word of J". In one respect they ijelong to the preexilic type, inasmuch as, like Jeieniiah and Ezekiel, their names and personalities, and the historical circumstances of their ministry, are well known. Otherwise, they belong to the new school of religious thought which was the product of the E.\ile. Before the ?'.\ile, prophecy was mainly concerned with de- nunciation of national sins and threat? of impending judgment, with summons to repentance and moriu reformation ; the prophets had to resist the semi- idolatrous worship of a corrupt society. But after the Exile the conditions were altered ; tendencies towards apostasy and idolatry had disappeared ; and we lind that the main interest of Ilaggai is centred in the temple, and his prophetic gift is exercised in urging the restoration of a m.aterial fabric. This cliange in the subject-matter of priipliecy 'is not to be attributed to the inferior religious capacity of the post -exilic period.'* Dilterent circumstances called for a dillerent form of religious expression. New problems had arisen ; it was the work of Haggai, and of the religious teachers who followed him, to meet these problems, and to interpret the religion of Israel in accordance with the needs of a new age.
According to Jewish tradition, Haggai (with Zechariah, Malachi, etc.) was a member of the Great Synagogue : see Talm. Bahn linthra, fol. 15a, with Kashi's comment. In Aboth R. Nathan, fol. 236, Haggai, Zech., and Mai. are .said to have
received the tradition from the prophets who were before them, and to have handed it on to the men of the Great Synagogue.
The versions mention Haggai (and Zechariah) in the headings of the following psalms: — LXX Ps 1.S7. (Tischend.) 145. 146. 147. 148. Vulg. Ps 111 'Alle- luia, reversionis, Ay^(ei et Zachanw,' 145. Itala (Jerome) PsB 'canticum Hinremite et Ar/gtci de verho percgrinationis, quanclo inripicbnnt prujicisci,' 111 (Nestle). Pesh. Ps 125. 120. 145. 146. 147. 148 (Lee). With these cf. Epiphanius (De vitis pro- phetnrum, ed. 1082, tom. ii. p. 248), who says of Haggai, /toi ambs (\pa\\e {Kti(iv 'lepouo-aXi)^) irpuJTos iWriKomi. Epiplian. also tells us that Haggai the proiiliet, while still young, went up from IJabylon, and prophesied openly about the return ({-rlaTpoipi)^) of the people, and saw the building of the temiile of Jenisalem, where he died and was buried honourabljr near the priests. This tradition of Epiphan. is copied by Dorotheus {Synopsis de vita et morte prophetarum. Max. biblioth. vet. patr., Lugd., tom. lii. p. 422), and bv Hesychius of Jems, (ed. Migne, 1865, p. 1362), w"lio says that Haggai was born in Babylon and was of the tribe of Levi, and wa.s buried near the priests because he was of priestly race.
LiTKRATi'KK. — A. Kdhler, Die naehexiliiehen Prouhetrn erkliirt i. Ilaanai, 1800 ; T. T. I'crowne, ilwvjai and Zechariah in the Camb. Bible, ISStt ; J. WellhauBcn, Ski^-:en «. Vorarbeiten, T. '.892; Andro, he I'rophUe Aiig/e, ISiir. ; Nowaok, Kt. I'rnph. 1807 ; Q. A. Smith, Tltylce I'rnph. ii. IsllS ; Boliiiie, ZA TiV, 1»S7, p. 21611. ; Stade, GVI ii. 2. liSi ; Hunter, A/Irr Ihe fzile, i. ch. ril. ISW ; Ed. Mover, tJtilMehuni dei Judrn'humi, 1800, •tc Bee also the Iiteratur« at end of art. K^ka-Nkiikmliii.
G. A. Cooke. HAGGI Cji: ' l)om on a festival '). — Son of Gad, * See Hontcflore, UM. Ltctunt, 1802, p. 297 1.