This much ajipears from Haggai's jjrophecies (ch. i, 1, etc.), that he nourished during the reign of the Per- sian monarch Darius Hystaspis, who ascended the throne B.C. 521. It is probable that he was one of the exiles who returned with Zerubbabel and Jeshua ; and Ewald {die Proph. d. Alt. B.) is even tempted to infer from ii, 3, that he may have been one of the few survivors who had seen the first Temple in its splendor (Bleek, Einlcit. 1>. 549). The rebuilding of the Temple, which v,'as com- menced in the reign of Cyrus (B.C. 535), was suspended during the reigns of his successors, Cambyses and Pseu- do-Smerdis, in consequence pf the determined hostility of the Samaritans. On the accession of Darius Hystas- pis (B.C. 521), the projihets Haggai and Zechariah urged the renewal of the undertaking, and obtained the per- mission and assistance of the king (Ezra v, 1 ; vi, 14; Joscphus, /In/, xi, 4), Animated by the high courage (iiiagid .<tpirilus,JeTomQ) of these devoted men, the jieo- ple i)rosecuted the work with vigor, and the Temi)le was completed and dedicated in the sixth year of Da- rius (B.C. 51G). See TKMfLK.
The names of Haggai and Zechariah are associated in the Sept. in the titles of Psa. cxxxvii, cxlv-cxlviii ; in the Vulgate in those of Psa. cxi, cxlv; and in the Peshito Syriac in those of Psa. cxxv.cxxvi, cxlv, cxhi, cxlvii, cxlviii. It may be that tradition assigned to these proi)hets the arrangement of the aTjove-mentioned psalms for use in the Temple service, just asPsa.lxiv is in the Vulgate attributed to Jeremiah and Ezekiel, and
HAGGAI
19
IIAGGIAII
the name of the former is inscribed at the head of Psa. cxxxvi ill the Sept. Acconliutj; to rseudo-Epiphanius {])e \'itis Prop/i.), Ha'^gai was the first who chanted the Hallehijah in the second Temple: "wherefore," he adds, " we say ' Hallohtjah, which is the hymn of Ilag- gai and Zechariah.' " Haggai is mentioned in the Ajioc- ryplia as Aggeus, in 1 Esdr. vi, 1 ; vii, 3 ; 2 Esdr. i, 40 ; and is alluded to in Eccliis. xlix, 11 (comp. Hag. ii,23), and Heb. xii, 26 (Hag- li, 6).— Smith, s. v. ; Kitto, s. v. See Zechariah.
HAGGAI, Prophkcy of. These vaticinations are comprised in a book of two chapters, and consist of dis- courses so brief and summary as to have led some Ger- man theologians to suspect that they have not come down to us in their original com^jlete form, but are only an epitome (Eichhom, Einleitimg in das A. T. iii, § 508; Jahn, liitroductio in libros sucros Vet. Feed. edit. 2, Vien- nve, 1814, § 15G).
Their object generally is to urge the rebuikling of the Temple, which liad, indeed, been commenced as early as B.C. o35 (Ezra iii, 10), but was afterwards discontinued, the Samaritans having obtained an edict from the Per- sian king (Ezra iv, 7) which fdibadc lurther |)rocedure, and influential Jews pretending that the time for re- building the Temple had not arrived, since the seventy years predicted bj' Jeremiah applied to the Temple also (Zech. i, 2). As on the death of Pseudo-Smerdis (the "Aktaxekxks" of Ezra iv, see ver. 24), and the conse- quent tcrminafion of his interdict, the Jews still contin- ued to wait for the enil of the seventy years, and were only engaged in buikling splendid houses for them- selves, Haggai began to prophesy in the second year of Darius, B.C. 520.
His first discourse (ch. i), delivered on the first day of the sixth month of the year mentioned, denounced the listlessness of the Jews, who dwelt ui their "panel- led houses," while the temiile of the Lord was roofless and desolate. The cUspleasure of (iod was manifest in the failure of all their efforts for their own gratification. The heavens were "stayed from dew," and the earth was "stayed from her fruit." They had neglected that which should have been their first care, and reaped the due wages of their selfishness (i,4-l 1). The words of the prophet sank deep into the hearts of the people and their leatlers. They acknowledged the voice of CJod speak- ing by his servant, and obeyed the command. Their obedience was rewarded with the assurance of God's presence (i, 13), and twent\'-four days afterwards the buikling was resumed. The second discourse (ii, 1-9), delivereil on the twenty-first day of the seventh month, shows that a month had scarcely elapsed when the work seems to have slackenefl, and the enthusiasm of the peo- ple abated. The prophet, ever ready to rekindle their zeal, encouraged the flagging spirits of the chiefs with the renewed assurance of God's presence, and the fresh promise that, stately and magnificent as was the Temple of their wisest king, the glory of the latter house shoidd be greater than the glory of the former (ii, 3-9). The third discourse (ii, 10-19), delivered on the twenty- fourth day of the ninth month, refers to a period when buikUng materials had been collected, and the workmen had begun to put them together. Yet the people were still comparatively inactive, and after two months we thus find him again censuring their sluggishness, which rendered worthless all their ceremonial observances. But the rebuke was accompanied by a repetition of the promise (ii, 19). The fourth and last discourse (ii, 20- 2.5), delivered also on the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, is exclusively addressed to Zerubbabel, the po- litical chief of the new Jewish colony, who, it appears, had asked for an explanation regarding the great polit- ical revolutions which Haggai had jHedicted in his sec- ond diseom-se : it comforts the go\-ernor by assuring him they would not take place very soon, and not in his lifetime. As Zerubbabel was prince of Judah, the rep- resentative of the royal family of David, and, as such, the lineal ancestor of the Messiah, this closing predic-