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Exegesis and Exposition of Haggai 1:1-2

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Exegesis and Exposition of Haggai 1:1-2 EXEGESIS AND EXPOSITION OF HAGGAI 1:1-2 Pastor William E. Wenstrom Jr. WENSTROM BIBLE MINISTRIES Norwood, Massachusetts 2019 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries Exegesis and Exposition of Haggai 1:1-2 Haggai 1:1 First Day of the Sixth Month of King Darius’ Second Year Haggai 1:1 On the first day of the sixth month of King Darius’ second year, the LORD spoke this message through the prophet Haggai to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to the high priest Joshua son of Jehozadak. (NET) “On the first day of the sixth month of King Darius’ second year ” is in ” (2) feminine singular “ ,( בְּ ) composed of the following: (1) preposition b the year ” (3) feminine dual form of the “ ,( שָׁ נָה) (construct form of the noun šā∙nā(h (of ” (5 “ ,( לְ ) second ” (4) preposition lĕ “ ,( שְׁ נַיִם) cardinal number šenǎ∙yim Darius ” (6) articular“ ,( דָּרְ יָוֶשׁ) masculine singular proper name dār·y ā·w ěš ,( בְּ ) the king ” (7) preposition b “ ,( מֶ לֶ) masculine singular form of the noun mě∙lěḵ ” the month “ ,( חֹדֶ שׁ) in ” (8) articular masculine singular form of the noun ḥō·ḏě š“ ,( בְּ ) sixth ” (10) preposition b “ ,( שִׁשִּׁ י) articular singular cardinal number šiš·šî (9) (the day ” (12 “ ,( יוֹם) on” (11) masculine singular construct form of the noun yôm“ first ” (13) preposition “ ,( אֶחָד) common singular form of the cardinal number ʾě∙ḥāḏ the “ ,( חֹדֶ שׁ) of ” (14) articular masculine singular form of the noun ḥō·ḏě š “ ,( לְ ) lĕ month .” The noun šā∙nā(h) means “year” referring to a unit of time involving a complete cycle of seasons, spring, summer, fall and winter. The construct state of this word indicates this word is grammatically bound to the noun cardinal number šenǎ∙yim , which means “second” and which follows it, expressing a genitive relation between the word words. Here we have a genitive of number which means that cardinal number šenǎ∙yim indicates how many there are of the construct term šā∙nā(h) . Thus, the cardinal number šenǎ∙yim indicates that it was in the second year of the reign of the Darius that the Lord communicated a message through the prophet Haggai to the leadership of the remnant of Judah. The noun šā∙nā(h) is the object of the preposition b, which is a marker of an extent of time within a larger unit expressing the idea that “during” the second year of Darius, the Lord communicated a message through the prophet Haggai to the remnant of Judah. The proper name dār·y ā·w ěš means “Darius” and refers to the Persian king named Darius I Hystaspes who reigned from 522-486 B.C. This word is the object of the preposition lĕ which functions as a marker of possession indicating that this second year “belongs to” the reign of King Darius I Hystaspes. The noun mě∙lěḵ means “king” since the word pertains to a governmental head of a kingdom indicating that Darius is a governmental head, and which government 2019 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries 1 is the Persian Empire. The articular construction of this word indicates that this king Darius was well-known when the Lord communicated a message through Haggai to the leadership of the remnant of Judah. The articular masculine singular form of the noun ḥō·ḏě š means “month” since the word pertains to the calendar lunar month, i.e. a period of time as one full cycle of the moon. The articular construction of this word indicates that this noun is unique in its class indicating that this month is unique in the sense that there is only one sixth month. The word is modified by the articular singular cardinal number šiš·šî , which “sixth” since the word pertains to being sixth in a series involving time. The articular construction also denotes that this denotes that this month is unique in its class. There is only one sixth month. The noun ḥō·ḏě š is the object of the preposition b which is a marker of an extent of time within a larger unit expressing the idea that the Lord communicated a message through the prophet Haggai to the remnant of Judah “during” the sixth month of the second year of King Darius’ reign. The noun yôm is in the singular and means “day” referring to a unit of time reckoned from sunset to the next sunset, including two or more segments (morning and evening) about 24 hours. The construct state of this noun means that it is governing the word which follows it. It is expressing a genitive relation with this word, which is the common singular form of the cardinal number ʾě∙ḥāḏ, which means “first” since the word pertains to being first in a series involving time. The word is the object of the preposition b means “on” since it indicates a point in time. Here it indicates that “on” the first day of the sixth month during the second year King Darius’ reign, the God of Israel communicated a message through the prophet Haggai to the leadership of the remnant of Judah. Once again, we have the noun ḥō·ḏě š which means “month” referring to the calendar lunar month, i.e. a period of time as one full cycle of the moon. The articular construction of this word is anaphoric, which means that it is pointing back to the use of this word earlier in the verse. This indicates that when this word appears a second time in the verse, it is retaining the same meaning and referent when it appeared the first time. This word ḥō·ḏě š is the object of the preposition l is functioning as marker of possession indicating that this first day “belongs” to the sixth month of the second year of King Darius’ reign. The Lord Communicated a Message Through the Prophet Haggai Haggai 1:1 On the first day of the sixth month of King Darius’ second year, the LORD spoke this message through the prophet Haggai to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to the high priest Joshua son of Jehozadak. (NET) 2019 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries 2 “The LORD spoke this message through the prophet Haggai ” is composed of the following: (1) third person masculine singular qal perfect form of the verb hāyâ came ” (2) masculine singular construct form of the common noun dĕbar “ ,( הָיָה) the “ ,( יהוה) spoke this message ” (3) masculine singular proper noun yhwh “ ,( דָּבָר) through ” (5) feminine singular construct form of “ ,( בְּ ) Lord ” (3) (4) preposition b ,( חַגַּי) through ” (6) masculine singular proper name ḥǎ g·g ǎy “ ,( יָד) the noun yād ”. the prophet “ ,( נָבִ יא) (Haggai ” (7) articular masculine singular noun nā·ḇî( ʾ“ The noun dĕbar means “message” referring to what Yahweh, the God of Israel said to the prophet Haggai. The content of this message is recorded in the book of Haggai. The exact manner in which Haggai received this message is not identified for the reader. The contents of the book of Haggai indicate that the message is directed toward to the governor Judah, Zerubbabel, Joshua the high priest, the Levitical priests and the remnant of Judah which returned from the Babylonian exile. The proper noun yhwh (Yahweh ) “ Lord ” is the covenant-keeping personal name of God used in connection with the remnant of Judah which returned to the land of promise from Babylon. It is emphasizing the covenant relationship that existed between the remnant of Judah and God. Because the ancient Hebrews wrote only consonants, not vowels, the pronunciation of words and names was passed down by the parents to the children. Throughout Old Testament times people used the name Yahweh freely. When the rabbis began to add their traditions about 300 B.C. they noted that the Third Commandment forbids misusing the name of Yahweh (Ex. 20:7). Therefore, they decided it was too holy to pronounce so they quit pronouncing the name. Whenever they came to the name ( YHWH ), sometimes called the Sacred Tetragrammaton) in Scripture, they read ‘ adhon , “ Lord .” In time, everyone forgot how to pronounce the name. In the sixth and seventh centuries after Christ, Jewish scholars of tradition (Masoretes) added vowel marks to the Hebrew Bibles to help them remember the traditional pronunciation. Wherever they came to YHWH , they put vowel marks to remind them to read ‘ adhon , “ Lord ” unless the verse had ‘adhon YHWH . Then they put vowel marks to remind them to read ` elohim , “God .” Later, some European scholars wrote JHVH instead of YHWH . Then about 1220 A.D. some of them took the vowels for “ Lord ” (modified by Hebrew grammatical rules) and put them with JHVH to come up with Jehovah , which is not a real name, for it has the consonants of a proper name and the vowels of a title. The construct state of the noun dĕbar means that the word is in “construction” with another noun or we can say that it is governing another noun. Specifically, it is used to indicate that it is grammatically bound to the nominal that follows it in a broadly possessive or genitival construction. The construct relationship can often 2019 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries 3 between the nouns. Also, a noun in (־) be recognized by the presence of a maqqef the construct state never has the definite article. If the last noun is definite, the noun in construct is also definite. Correspondingly, if the last noun is not definite, the noun in construct is not definite. Here the construct state of dĕbar means that it is governing the noun yhwh .
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