COMMENTARY

Haggai 2:1-9
Haggai encourages the exiles to re-build the temple. After defeating the Babylonians who deported the Jews, Cyrus the Great (558-528 B.C.) permitted the return of the exiles to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem. In 521 Cyrus was succeeded by Darius who permitted another wave of exiles to return. Among them was a prophet, Haggai, whose ministry covered only one year, 520. When he saw how the exiles were building their houses to the neglect of re-building the temple, he aroused and exhorted them to rebuild the temple which was finished in 516. For Haggai the temple was to be the center of their national and religious life. It symbolized and guaranteed the presence of Yahweh in their midst. In our pericope we hear Haggai call upon the people to take courage for this gr…