We are told in the text that “the work on the Temple of God in Jerusalem came to a halt” (Ezra 4:24), and it remained so until the second year of King Darius of Persia. According to the chronology given us in Daniel 11:2, the building project in Jerusalem ceased during the reign of the third king, Darius Hystaspes, and resumed once more in the second year of the reign of the fourth king, Xerxes, the son of Hystaspes. However, we still wonder how long the work was stopped. If historical accounts are correct, that Darius Hystaspes reigned for thirty-six years, then labor on the Temple and the city of Jerusalem was dormant for five to six years. Notice we are told in Nehemiah 5:14 that Nehemiah was in Jerusalem from the twentieth to the thirty-second year of the reign of the king, whom we have identified as Darius Hystaspes. Therefore, depending on when in his thirty second year the work was stopped and when in the second year of Xerxes’ the work was renewed, labor on the city and the Temple could have been dormant for five to six years.
In Ezra 5:1 we come to understand that God raised up two prophets, Haggai and Zechariah, the son of Iddo. We are told that these two men prophesied to the Jews in the name of the Lord “who was over them!” The words ‘who was’ are added to the text, but the question is this; do they point to God “who was over them” or to Zerubbabel and Jeshua “who were over them” (cp. verse-2)? In other words, was Haggai a prophet for the people or for the leaders of the people?
Haggai prophesied first. He came in the first day of the sixth month during Darius’ second year as king of Persia (cp. Ezra 4:24), and we are told that Haggai came to the leaders of the Jews, Zerubbabel, the governor, and to Joshua, the high priest (Haggai 1:1). The point is, that their prophecy doesn’t seem to have been as much a ‘grass roots’ kind of thing as it does a debate among the leaders of those times. Haggai was a prophet, and Zechariah was a priest, who seems to have been encouraged by Haggai, and prophesied with him later (cp. Zechariah 1:1). The argument of the Jewish leaders had been: “This isn’t the time that the Lord’s House should be built” (Haggai 1:2), and the way the leadership of the nation goes, so goes the heart of the people. Haggai’s prophecy seems to have come in the way of logical conclusions rather than a direct line between him and God. In other words, Haggai wasn’t a prophet who gave the men the specific words of the Lord, as was the case with Isaiah’s or Jeremiah’s prophecies. Haggai’s message was more like a logical argument: “Consider your ways” (Haggai 1:5, 7). The leaders of the people lived in beautiful paneled homes, while the Lord’s House was left desolate (Haggai 1:4). The leaders and the people sowed their fields and looked for a bountiful harvest, but they took in little. They ate but were still hungry. They were clothed, but weren’t warm; they saved, but their savings always seem to be drained (Haggai 1:6). What was missing?
What was missing was that they had not respected or obeyed the Lord. They were released from bondage to carry out a mission, namely, to rebuild the city, upon which the Lord had placed his name, and a House therein for him to dwell in (Ezra 1:3-5; Haggai 1:8), but both were left undone, as though they were in ruins. It wasn’t until over three weeks later, on the twenty-fourth of the sixth month, that Zerubbabel and Joshua agreed that Haggai, the prophet, had really been sent by God, and they and the people had been too much in fear of the nations around them, who had influenced the king of Persia to stop the rebuilding process. So, it was after the debate had been going on for some time, that the Lord stirred up the hearts of the leaders of the Jews and encouraged them to continue building the House of God and the walls of Jerusalem (Ezra 5:2; Haggai 1:12-15).
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