Understanding Religion - The Book of Haggai (an Exoteric Summary)
Haggai (an Exoteric Summary)
This blog entry is just an "Exoteric" summary of the Book of Haggai (I may throw in some "Esoteric" ideas)
"Exoteric" means "to take it literally, which is the understanding by the "general populous" compared to "Esoteric" which means "to understand the allegory or the parable, this is only understood by a "small group in the know" or the "initiate(s)".
The notes for this blog on the book of Haggai have been taken from "The Bible Project," you can listen for yourself here: "The Bible Project Haggai Overview"
The version of the Bible I'm reading is called "The Companion Bible", here is a 5-page PDF on the Book of Haggai from the "Companion Bible" "https://www.companionbiblecondensed.com/OT/Haggai.pdf"
THE BOOK OF HAGGAI
Thirty-Seventh Book of the Bible / Thirty-Seventh Book of the Old Testament / Fifteenth book of Prophecy and the tenth book of minor prophecy ("minor" refers to scroll length)
Chapters: 2
Verses: 38
Name: The author of the Book is the prophet Haggai, hence bearing his name. Haggai was a prophet that lived in Jerusalem not long after the Jews returned from Babylonian exile. Source: "www.churchofjesuschrist.org"
The name "Haggai" means "Festal", the prophet being born on a festival day? "Haggai" is a shortened form of "Haggiah" which means "festival of Yahweh". (Source: www.biblestudytools.com/dictionary/haggai)
Exoteric notes from the Bible Project on the Book of Haggai
While Haggai is a small prophetic book, it is crucially important in the overall story of the Hebrew Bible.
For centuries, Hebrew prophets have been accusing Israel of breaking their covenant with God through idolatry and injustice.
These prophets warned that God would send the great empire of Babylon to take out Jerusalem, destroy the temple, and haul the people off into exile.
This all occurred in the year 587 B.C., but that is not the end of the story.
The prophets believed that there was still hope and that God would one day bring back a transformed remnant of his people, Israel, to live in a new Jerusalem, where God's presence would live in their midst.
The Book of Haggai takes place in 520 B.C., 67 years after the exile.
Now the Babylonian empire has collapsed and the Persians are the supreme power (rulers) of the world.
The Persians allowed the return of any exiled Israelites who wanted to go back to Jerusalem, which still lays in ruins.
So, under the leadership of a high priest named Joshua and an heir from the line of David named Zerubbabel, a group of exiles all returned and began to rebuild the city and their lives. (Remember the story from Ezra Chapters 1 through 6).
Our hopes are high and the future looks very bright, but not from Haggai's perspective.
The Book's Structure
The Book of Haggai consists of four sections that summarize Haggai's message given to the people of Jerusalem over the course of four months.
Section 1: Haggai 1:1 to Haggai 1:14 - Accusation and Response
The book opens with Haggai accusing the people of misplaced priorities.
They have come back to Jerusalem, but are spending all of their time and resources building their own fancy houses while the Temple remains in ruins from its destruction nearly 70 years ago.
Haggai asks the question, are your houses really more important than your allegiance to God?
This neglect is tantamount to the covenant rebellion of their ancestors, hence the land is still unproductive, why they have been struck with famine and drought.
Here Haggai quotes the list of covenant curses from the Book of Deuteronomy.
Haggai's challenging words are followed by the people's response (remember Ezra Chapter 5).
Zerubbabel, Joshua, the remnant of the people were provoked by Haggai's message and became motivated. They started rebuilding the Temple.
Section 2: Haggai 2:1 to Haggai 2:9 - Addressing Shattered Expectation
This occurs one month later, when Haggai addresses some of the problems of shattered expectations among the people.
The Temple they are rebuilding is very unimpressive. This Temple is nothing compared to the glory of the Temple of Solomon built here 500 years before.
Morale was really low for finishing the project.
Haggai reminds the people of the great prophetic promises of the future kingdom of God and about his Temple.
Haggai draws from the earlier prophets, especially Isaiah and Micah and the new Jerusalem. This would be the place where God would redeem the whole world. This would be the place where all nations would come and participate in God's kingdom, resulting in an era of peace.
The temple plays a key role in God's plan for the future.
Haggai calls on the people to work in hope despite the disappointing circumstances.
Section 3: Haggai 2:10 to Haggai 2:19 - A Call to Covenant Faithfulness
This occurs two months later.
Haggai engages some priests in a conversation about ritual purity (remember key ideas from the Book of Leviticus). If someone goes and touches a dead body and becomes ritually impure or marked by death and then they go and touch some food, is that food impure too?
The priests reply, knowing the Book of Leviticus, "Yes, it is impure".
Haggai turns this into a parable, this is how it is with the people of Israel and what they are putting their hands to in rebuilding the temple.
If the current generation does not humble themselves, if they do not turn from injustice and apathy, then whatever they build with their hands, including the new temple, will be impure too.
Haggai's challenge is that it is only by true repentance and covenant faithfulness that their building efforts will result in God bringing his kingdom and blessing.
In a sense, Israel's future lays in their hands - God is waiting for his people to be faithful.
The choice Haggai is laying before the exiled generation is very similar to the challenge Moses gave the wilderness generation before entering the land. Obedience will lead to blessing and success while faithlessness will lead to ruin.
Final Section: Haggai 2:20 to Haggai 2:24 - The Future Hope of God's Kingdom
This occurs the same day.
God is going to make the new Jerusalem the center of His glorious international kingdom.
From there, God will confront and defeat evil among the nations.
Reminding people of the defeat of Pharaoh's army and the Exodus story.
From here, God will fulfill his promise to David and establish the King from his line.
In Haggai's day that was represented by Zerubbabel.
The Book of Haggai ends with the choice of a bright future just hanging there.
The question is, will Haggai's generation be faithful to God? Will they experience the fulfillment of all these promises? Will Zerubbabel be faithful? Will he turn out to be the messianic king?
We will have to just keep reading the final two books of the Old Testament to find out.
Conclusion
You can see how this little Book of Haggai contains a great challenge to every generation of God's people.
Our choices really matter.
The obediance of God's people is part of how God works in the world.
This should motivate humility and Action in God's people as they look forward to God's coming kingdom.
For further study: "The Bible Made Clear - The Minor Prophet Haggai"
Esoteric ideas
The idea of touching something dead and then touching food. Eating meat? requires touching a dead animal and preparing its flesh for consumption. Whom ever eats meat is not only touching a dead thing, but eating it as well. Is meat eating a form of the dark occult to manipulate people into becoming impure? By their fruits you shall know them?
Some numerology and gematria (which yours truly finds fascinating).
The Babylonian attack occurred in 587 B.C. and Haggai's prophetic messages occurred in 520 B.C., a difference of 67 years.
67 is the 19th prime number; 19 is the 8th prime number.
8 is considered "God's" number? For if you trace over the number 8, you can keep tracing it without ever coming to a stop. If you lay "8" on its side you get the symbol for infinity. God is infinite, God is not only all around us, but the spirit of God is within us?
In Gematria, 19 = "Adam". The first human created in Genesis was a-dom? or "Adam"?
In Gematria, 67 = "Satanic"; the word "Satan" simply means "opposition". The constant rebellion by God's people is a demonstration of "opposition", they are opposing God. The reason God can be opposed, is because God has granted humanity with "Free Will". Free Will gives us the choice to go with God's "plan"or go against God's "plan". Do you "Trust the Plan?"
587 is the 107th prime; 107 is the 28th prime.
In Gematria, 28 = "Man".
In Gematria, 107 = "Word of God".
In the Jewish Gematria cipher, 587 = "Yaldabaoth" (the malevolent demiurge and false god of the Old Testament).
In Jewish Gematria 520 = "Matrix".