Hager, Zechariah, and Malachi prophesied after the return of the people from Babylon. They are, therefore, called by many post-captivity prophets.
The energies of those who had gone up from the captivity to Jerusalem soon began to flag. True they had despisers and opponents to contend against; but they seem to have settled down with the idea that the time had not come to go on with the building of the temple. At this time Haggai is stirred up to carry the word of the Lord to the governor of Judah and to the high priest. He prophesied on four different occasions.
First, on the first day of the sixth month, he refers to the inconsistency of their living in ceiled houses, while God’s house—the temple—was lying waste. He bids them to consider their ways, and reminds them of the drought, scarcity, and poverty they had experienced, as under the chastisement of God, for thus neglecting His house. He encourages them, therefore, to bring down wood from the mountains and build the house, and assures them that Jehovah will take pleasure in it, and be glorified. The effect of Haggai’s admonitions was, that they hearkened to the prophet, and feared God, so that the governor, high priest, and all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the Lord their God, and came and did work in the house of the Lord of hosts, their God. (chapter 1)
Secondly. About seven weeks after the first prophecy, Haggai encourages the people to be strong, assures their hearts that God will be with them, and that His Spirit remaineth among them as when they “came out of Egypt; that as to means, the gold and the silver are His; that when He shakes the heavens, and the earth, and all the nations, He will fill this house with glory; and that the latter glory of the house shall be greater than the former glory, and that in this place the Lord of Hosts will give peace. (chapter 2:1-9.)
Thirdly. About two months after this, Haggai has again a word from the Lord. He asks the priests two searching questions:
1st. Can anyone, even if he “bear holy flesh,” by touching it, sanctify anything in the world? To which they answered, No.
2nd. Could a defiled person defile others by touching them? To which they replied, Yes. For while man cannot sanctify, by his natural powers, anything to God, he may defile others by his uncleanness, two very important principles, and especially so for a people in a dispensation in ruins, exercised as to returning to God and accepting divine ground in obedience to His will. The prophet’s declaration that follows these questions is very solemn: — “So is this people, and so is this nation before me, saith the Lord; and so is every work of their hands; and that which they offer there is unclean.” (chapter 2:14.) He then informs them that God had chastened them with blasting and mildew, because they had not turned to Him; but He now encourages them with the assurance that He will bless them from the day that the foundation of the Lord’s temple was laid. (chapter 2:19.)
Fourthly. Again, on the same day of the month, the word of the Lord came unto Haggai to speak to Zerubbabel, and to inform Him that when He shakes the heavens and the earth, and overthrows kingdoms, in that day He would make Zerubbabel, His servant, as a signet; for I have chosen him, saith the Lord of hosts. No doubt the true seed of David, the Messiah, is referred to here.
Haggai seems to have prophesied in the second year of Darius; but the temple was not finished till the sixth year of Darius, about four years after his first prophecy. (Ezra 6:1515And this house was finished on the third day of the month Adar, which was in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king. (Ezra 6:15).)