Haggai:

By: Emil G. Hirsch

Judean prophet of the early post-exilic period; contemporary with Zechariah (Ezra v. 1; III Ezra [I Esd.] vi. 1, vii. 3).

Very little is known of Haggai's life. Ewald ("Propheten des Alten Bundes," p. 178, Göttingen, 1868) concludes from Hag. ii. 3 that he had seen the first Temple, in which case he would have been a very old man at the time of Darius Hystaspes, in the second year of whose reign (520 B.C. ) Haggai appears as a prophetic preacher to stir the people to the work of rebuilding the Temple (Hag. i. 1 et seq. ).

It is not certain that Haggai was ever in Babylonia. He may have lived continuously at Jerusalem (comp. Lam. ii. 9). At all events, to judge by the extent of his book, his public ministry was brief. That Zechariah was the leading prophet of those times (Zech. vii. 1-4) lends plausibility to the assumption that Haggai was nearing death when he made his appeal to the people. According to tradition he was born in Chaldea during the Captivity, and was among those that returned under Zerubbabel. It has even been claimed that he was an angel of Yhwh , sent temporarily to earth to move the indifferent congregation (see Hag. i. 13). He was remembered as a singer of psalms, and as the first to use the term "Hallelujah." In fact, his name is mentioned in the Septuagint superscriptions to Psalms cxii., cxlv.-cxlix., though not in all manuscripts alike (Köhler, "Die Weissagungen Haggais," p. 32; Wright, "Zechariah and His Prophecies," xix. et seq. ; B. Jacob, in Stade's "Zeitschrift," xvi. 290; Cheyne and Black, "Encyc. Bibl." ii. 1935, note 2, in reference to Epiphanius, "Vitæ Prophetarum"). By Jewish historiography Haggai is numbered among the "men of the Great Synagogue" (B. B. 15a), or among those that "transmitted revelation" ( see Cabala ) from their prophetic predecessors to the "men of the Great Synagogue" (Ab. R. N. i. [recension A, p. 2, ed. Schechter]; comp. Yoma 9b). In his days prophetic inspiration was growing less frequent ( ib. ).

Haggai is credited with having instituted certain practical decisions("taḳḳanot"). Among these were a provision for the intercalation of the month of Adar (R. H. 19b); a decision in favor of enlarging the altar; a decision permitting the bringing of sacrifices independently of the existence or presence of the Temple (Mid. iii. 1; Zeb. 62; Yer. Naz. ii. 7). The organization of the priestly service into twenty-four relays (Tosef., Ta'an. ii.; 'Ar. 12b), and the regulation of the wood-contributions (Tosef., Ta'an. iii.; Ta'an. 28; comp. Neh. x. 35), are traced to him. Other references to Haggai's legislative influence are given in R. H. 9; Yeb. 16a; Ḳid. 43a; Ḥul. 137b; Bek. 57; Naz. 53a. The "seat" ( ) on which he sat as legislator is mentioned (Yeb. 16a).