The book of HaggaiProphet who urged rebuilding the Temple after the exile. More has often been regarded as one of the lesser minor prophets. While little is known about the prophet himself, many scholars describe him as a nationalist and a materialist. It also doesn’t help that many prosperity teachers have also found solace in this book. Much of the criticism directed at Haggai stems from the tendency to analyze the post-exilic period through the lens of the book of Ezra-Nehemiah. The issue really arises when we read Ezra-Nehemiah as historical accounts of the post-exilic period rather than as theological commentary on it. The decrees found in EzraScribe who helped establish Jewish practices in Jerusalem after the exile. More (1:2-10, 6:6-12 & 7:11-27), when read as historical evidence, give the impression that the post-exilic community was affluent and well-resourced. 

Yet, if this community were affluent and well-resourced, why didn’t they rebuild the templeThe Jerusalem temple, unlike the tabernacle, was a permanent structure, although (like the tabernacle) it was a place of worship and religious activity. On one occasion Jesus felt such activity was unacceptable and, as reported in all four Gospels, drove from the temple those engaged... More? The most common answer to this question is: they had misplaced priorities. Interpreting Haggai through the lens of affluence can easily lead to blaming the post-exilic community and impoverished communities today for misplaced priorities or greed, and this unwittingly paves the way for prosperity preachers to offer their view of the right priorities and to distort the life-giving message in this text. 

In reality, this book originates not from an affluent community but from a struggling one striving to make ends meet. The prophet describes their lived realities in his first oracleAn oracle is a divine utterance of guidance, promise, or judgment delivered to humans through an intermediary (who is often also called an oracle). In the Bible oracles are given by Balaam (in the book of Numbers) and by David (in 2 Samuel). A number... More (1:5-6), calling the community to reflect on five realities. Usually, the first four realities are interpreted as signs of God’s punishment, such as through natural disasters like famine. However, the fifth point challenges the notion that God causes the community’s struggles due to its misplaced priorities. It is not God who is causing the community’s financial hardships. Instead, the likely source of this loss of income, represented by the phrase “pierced bag or a bag full of holes,” is the Persian Empire, to which the Judahite community still had to pay taxes and tribute.

This is a challenging selling point because the Persian Empire, under King CyrusPersian leader who allowed Jewish exiles to return home. More, allowed the exiled Judahites to return home. King Cyrus is known for releasing the captives of the nations he conquered, and the Cyrus Cylinder records his decree permitting these ex-captives to rebuild the sanctuaries of their gods. To this day, the Cyrus Cylinder is highly regarded for its significance in promoting religious tolerance and the early concepts of human rights. However, allowing the ex-captives to return and rebuild their sanctuaries is more of a geopolitical strategy to expand the Persian Empire than an expression of altruistic ideals of religious tolerance and humane treatment of displaced people. 

The Persians’ geopolitical strategy for governing their territory was notably different from that of the Babylonians and Assyrians who preceded them. While the Babylonians often displaced elite sections of the nations they conquered, relocating them to the center of their empire to work the farmland or to be imprisoned, the Persians repatriated people to their homelands. This approach aimed to strengthen the empire’s periphery and increase revenue through taxes and tributes. Allowing the exiled Judahites to return home was not an altruistic gesture by Cyrus but rather a calculated strategy to maintain control over conquered territories while increasing the empire’s wealth through the extraction of taxes and tributes. This strategy, while it initially gave certain liberties, likely also complicated the Judahites’ efforts to rebuild their lives and the Temple.

In response, God forms a sort of rebel alliance with both the earth and the heavens, urging the community to join in a protest against the empire. This is evident in Haggai 1:10-11, where heaven and earth are instructed to withhold their gifts to ensure a bountiful harvest, while God and the community refrain from providing produce to the empire. The drought called for by God seems to suggest that the people should hold onto their goods and labor, resources that the Persian empire exploits to increase its royal revenue. This could be viewed as a full-scale protest against the Persian Empire.

The prophecies in Haggai challenge the Persian Empire on two other occasions. The second oracle in Haggai 2:1-9 confronts the social stratification established by the Persian Empire, which positioned Persepolis as the center of power and Jerusalem as a periphery. Although the foundation of the Temple may have seemed insignificant in the eyes of the Haggai community, God was about to shake the heavens and the earth, reversing the social hierarchy that favored the Persians. The treasures of the nations, typically sent to Persepolis as tribute to the King, would be redirected to the Temple in Jerusalem, transforming the Temple into the center and making Persepolis the periphery. This radical vision not only challenged Persian authority but also the perceived superiority of the Persians over others.

Another instance in which Haggai’s prophecies confronted the Persian Empire appears in the final oracle addressed to ZerubbabelThe governor of Judah who helped rebuild the Temple after the exile. More (Haggai 2:23). Zerubbabel, a descendant and rightful heir to the Davidic throne, served as a Persian official in his community. In this verse, God calls him away from Persian service and into God’s own service by referring to him as “My Servant.” Furthermore, God promises to make Zerubbabel a signet ring, alluding to the signet ring mentioned in JeremiahProphet who condemned Judah's infidelity to God, warned of Babylonian conquest, and promised a new covenant. More 22:24–27, which had been removed but is now restored in Haggai. More than this, Zerubbabel joins the line of those considered the elect. This directly contradicts the claim that Cyrus is the anointed one designated to deliver and free God’s people, asserting instead that Zerubbabel holds that distinction, not any Persian king. 

The Book of Haggai is not a book of prophecies condemning the community for its shortcomings; rather, it contains prophecies that illustrate God’s ongoing resistance to imperial forces that exploit and impoverish God’s people and creationCreation, in biblical terms, is the universe as we know or perceive it. Genesis says that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. In the book of Revelation (which speaks of end times) the author declares that God created all things and... More.