Though this is the shortest of Haggai’s oracles, it is surprisingly dense! In it God redeems Zerubbabel's family baggage.
Minor Prophets: Haggai, Curses and Blessings
“The Lord will establish you as [God's] holy people, as [the Lord] has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in [God's] ways. All the peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the Lord.”
Minor Prophets: Haggai, Build the House!
. Thirty long years dragged on, a generation of people grew old and died, and a new generation grew up with a half-built temple. It felt normal to go about their lives and make do with a priesthood, an altar, musicians, and no more. They invested in their own lives instead, building their homes, improving their towns, marshalling through droughts and rainy times as the people of that land had been doing for thousands of years. Then came Haggai!
Minor Prophets: Haggai, the Backstory
Though now an old man, Haggai was among those first 50,000 faithful men, women, and children who rose to God’s call to return home. He went as one of two spiritual advisors for Governor Zerubbabel and the priest Jeshua, for these two young men, no older than their thirties, and perhaps still in their twenties, would need the strength of character, spiritual wisdom, and practical guidance of these two middle-aged sages.
Minor Prophets: The Book of Haggai
Haggai received the anointing of God to proclaim four oracles to the people, “A charge I give to you,” he might have said, “To remember who you are and to Whom you belong!”