HAGGAI

(In 538 B.C., while Israel was still captive in Babylon, the mighty
Babylonian empire was overthrown by Cyrus the Great. What a
rejoicing there was among the Israelites and all the other enforced
colonists of Babylonia! Cyrus was a statesman. He saw how Babylon
was made weak by the large number of discontented inhabitants who
had been imported as captives of war. He wisely decided to allow all
who wished, to go home again. Many Israelites, who now were often
called Jews, accepted his offer and returned to Palestine, with high
hopes of a brilliant future for the nation. But they found Jerusalem
in ruins and their brother Jews discouraged. Then followed a long
series of famine years. Most of the people who came back had been
reared on the rich plains of Babylonia, and were not able easily to
make a living on the barren, rocky ridges of Judea. They became poor
and discouraged. Their plan had been to build the temple, and they had
set up an altar soon after they came, but fifteen years had passed,
and the temple was not yet built. Part of the time the government
had interfered with the building. The enemies of the Jews had
persuaded the imperial officers that a temple would be only a
fortress in disguise, and that the record of the Jews for
insurrection and revolt was such that fortresses were not safe in
their hands. But now a new king had come to the throne, and Haggai,
who seems to have been a priest, came forward on a feast day with a
proposal to build the temple. His little book has no grace of style,
no great prophetic thought, no poetry or oratory, but is a plain
proposition to get the temple built, with a promise that if they do,
God will give them his blessing. It is good to know that the people
responded to his appeal and the temple was built. This prophet with
his plain style was more successful than almost any other prophet.)

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I

THE PROPHET URGES THE PEOPLE TO BUILD THE TEMPLE

In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, in the
first day of the month, came the word of the Lord by Haggai the
prophet unto Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua, the high
priest, saying, "Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, 'This people
say, It is not the time for us to come, the time for the Lord's house
to be built.'" Then came the word of the Lord by Haggai, the prophet,
saying, "Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your ceiled
houses, while this house lieth waste? Now