Introduction.
‘In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, in the first day of the month, came the word of YHWH by Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, saying,
The date was 520 BC. Having taken over the throne on the death of Cambyses, son of Cyrus, Darius had established his position, and by the time of his second year the only thing that awaited his attention was a rebellious Egypt that had claimed independence. He would deal with that small problem in the following year. So in this particular year nothing special was happening. He was totally oblivious of the fact that in one small part of his empire things were stirring, not politically but religiously. Things that would have a profound effect on the world, for they were beginnings which would lead to profound changes.
The dating of the prophecy in terms of Darius instead of a king of Judah was indicative of the situation in which the people found themselves. They had no king. They had no army. They were in no way a nation. Instead they were simply a small group of returned exiles struggling to survive in not very helpful conditions. It may, however, be that we are to see in this dating a sign of YHWH's approval of the kings of Persia whom He had chosen for the purpose of re-establishing His people and His Temple (Isaiah 44:28 to Isaiah 45:1). They too were part of His new plan.
The returned exiles were finding things particularly hard at this time. Their neighbours had not been pleased to see them arrive, especially when they appeared to be religiously exclusive (Ezra 4:2-3), and were far from welcoming, and they had had a series of bad harvests. They had also probably found that the best land was already being farmed. Things were at a low ebb, and the initial confidence that they had had on first arriving from Babylonia had waned.
They were ruled over at the local level by Zerubbabel, a prince of the house of David, and their religious affairs were in the hands of Joshua the High Priest. But Zerubbabel was not governor of a Persian province. He was simply the local governor, appointed because of his royal connection to oversee the exiles and the land allotted to them.
Joshua's grandfather Seraiah had been High Priest when Jerusalem was taken by Nebuchadnezzar, and had been executed along with the other leading men (2 Kings 25:18-21; Jeremiah 52:24-27) because they were seen as leaders of the resistance of Jerusalem. His son Jehozadak had been spared and taken captive to Babylon (1 Chronicles 6:15). Now his grandson Joshua had received the High Priesthood.
And it was to these two men, Zerubbabel and Joshua, that Haggai the prophet came with a message from YHWH. It is significant that he approached the leaders. Clearly they were seen as godly men who could be depended on to respond once they knew that YHWH had spoken. All they needed was a push from God.
How often that is precisely what we need as well. How easily we settle down and accept things as they are without stirring ourselves and doing something about it. If only we had a Haggai to give us a similar push.