Haggai

Haggai
We know fairly little about the prophet Haggai beyond what can be deduced from the book itself. We do know that he was preaching in Jerusalem at the same time as Zechariah; see the chronological chart in the chapter on Zechariah, Table 18: Dates Correlating Haggai and Zechariah, page 429. The fact that he is simply identified as “the prophet” and is mentioned without any patronymic suggests that he was well known to his contemporaries (Ezra 5:1; 6:14). Zechariah ordinarily gets far more attention as one of the longest of the so- called minor prophets, whereas Haggai is among the shortest books in the Old Testament. Haggai’s name is derived from the Hebrew word meaning “feast, festival,” a fact that suggests he may have been born on one of the religious holidays of Israel’s liturgical calendar. Compare the Latin Festus or the Greek Hilary . The names Haggi (Gen. 46:16; Num. 26:15) and Haggith (2 Sam. 3:4) are similar. Compare too a name like Shabbethai (Ezra 10:15, possibly “born on the sabbath”). - Raymond B. Dillard and Tremper Longman III - AN INTRODUCTION to the OLD TESTAMENT