Hagg. i. 2 — 5, 12. Thus speaketh the Lord of Hosts, saying, This people say, TJie time is not come, the time that the Lord's house should be built. Then came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet, saying, Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your cieled houses, and this house lie waste ? Now therefore thus saith the Lord of Hosts ; Consider your ways. .... Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Josedech, the high-priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the Lord their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the Lord their God had sent him, and the people did fear before the Lord.
ALL the preceding prophets prophesied either be- fore or during the Babylonish captivity : but Haggai, and the two who follow him prophesied after the return of the Jews from Babylon. What space of time Haggai continued to prophesy, we know not : but all his prophecies which are come down to us were delivered in the short space of two months. His principal office, in which he was soon joined by the Prophet Zechariah, seems to have been to stir up the Jews to rebuild their temple, and to assure them, that, however inferior to the former temple it might be in their eyes, it should in reality far surpass that in glory. In reference to their neglect, he reproves them with just severity ; and shews them, that al- ready had God inflicted his judgments on them on account of it ; but assures them at the same time, that, if they will recommence and prosecute the work