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HAGGAI ZECHARIAH EZRA NEHEMIAH MALACHI Post-Exilic Prophets of Yahweh II III

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HAGGAI ZECHARIAH EZRA NEHEMIAH MALACHI Post-Exilic Prophets of Yahweh II III 06-2018 Superina Paolo HAGGAI ZECHARIAH EZRA NEHEMIAH MALACHI Post-exilic prophets of Yahweh II III c || c == + == u || c || || THES CHRISTIAN CHRCH AND THE UNIVERSAL COMMUNION In the Name of the Father and of His Son, Jesus Christ As, at the beginning, there was perfect harmony between Yahweh and His whole creation, so it will be at the end, when all will live a new life of full spiritual communion with Yahweh and with each other IV Sciarborasca, 12.2010 - 10.2011 Haggai c || c == + == u || c || || THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH AND THE UNIVERSAL COMMUNION In the Name of the Father and of His Son, Jesus Christ HAGGAI ZECHARIAH EZRA NEHEMIAH MALACHI Post-exilic prophets of Yahweh A simple study, to understand who they were, what they did, and why. Text based on: The Holy Bible. New International Version Notes and explanations based on: The Study Bible. New International Version The Bible Knowledge Commentary. Dallas Theological Seminary Thoughts. Superina Paolo Superina Paolo 2 Post-exilic Prophets PERSONAL INTRODUCTION What follows is not intended and does not want to be a new or original stu- dy of some Old Testament Books, but simply what I have learned of and from them, then put in writing. NOTE: The original text of these books, mainly taken from the New Inter- national Version of the Bible, is edited by: -giving back to God His name: Yahweh, -eliminating all unnecessary repetitions. Sometimes this gives less strength to the text, but makes it much clearer (at least to me) and facilitates my un- derstanding of it, -introducing minor modifications to the text to make it flow better, -adding in [...] whatever word can improve the understanding of the text. In case of difficult passages, the Bible of Jerusalem, the New Revised and the Roman Catholic versions are also taken into account. Dates of events are approximate and can vary depending on the interpre- tative theories of various scholars. The word “love” (and its derivatives: to love, loved, etc.) is used in many situations and takes on many, even deeply different meanings. In this book it is used only in two cases: 1) In the man-woman relationship. 2) In the parents-children relationship. In all other cases, other words are used, de- pending on the context: affection, fondness, benevolence, goodwill, to be fond of, to cherish, to like, etc. I n d e x General introduction Page 3 The book of Haggai 4 The book of Zechariah 11 The book of Ezra 46 The book of Nehemiah 79 The book of Malachi 118 Appendix 1: Main Phases of the Old Testament 128 Appendix 2: Exile and Post-exile Main Events 129 Appendix 3: From Malachi to Jesus Christ 130 Appendix 4: Jewish Religious Calendar 131 Appendix 5: Old Testament Sacrifices 132 Appendix 6: Weights and Measures in the Bible 133 Appendix 7: How to read and understand the Old Testament 134 Post-exilic Prophets 3 General Introduction Yahweh had promised the Israelites that if they obeyed Him, He would bless them as a nation. If they did not, then He would judge them and cau- se them to be taken into captivity (Deuteronomy 28). That promise was re- peated to Solomon with a specific application to his own life. If he, as a king of Israel, obeyed Yahweh he would experience His continual bles- sing. If Solomon did not obey Him, Yahweh would take away his power and position as king of Israel (1 Kings 9:1-9). As it happened so frequently with many of Israel's leaders, a good begin- ning had a bad ending. Solomon sinned, particularly by marrying many fo- reign wives and worshiping their false gods (1 Kings 11:1-5). So the king- dom was split in 931 BC. The 10 Northern tribes were initially ruled by Je- roboam, and the 2 Southern tribes (Judah and Benjamin) by Rehoboam. Both kingdoms, however, continued to be characterized by idolatry and immorality. And, as Yahweh had forewarned, His judgment fell on all Israelites because of their sins. The Northern Kingdom fell first and its people were taken into captivity by the Assyrians in 722 BC. The Southern Kingdom fell later, in 586 BC, by the hands of the Babylonians. The Israelites of the Northern Kingdom were absorbed into Assyria and eventually into other cultures. The people of the Southern Kingdom, howe- ver, remained culturally united in Babylon and, after the power of Babylon was broken by the Medes and the Persians in 539 BC, many Jews returned to their homeland. In 537 BC the first group returned to Judah under the leadership of Ze- rubbabel (Ezra 1:1-2:2). Pushed by the prophets Haggai and, shortly later, Zechariah, over a period of many years and facing the heavy opposition of the Samaritans, the returnees eventually succeeded in rebuilding the Tem- ple in 516 BC. A number of years later -in 458 BC- a second group of Jews returned, led by Ezra (Ezra 7:1-10). Arriving in Judah, they found the Jews living there in a state of spiritual and moral degradation. They had intermarried with the pagan peoples of the surrounding nations and were participating in their pa-gan practices. However, through Ezra's faithful teaching ministry, the majority of these people turned away from their sins and once again followed Yahweh's will. In 445 BC, 14 years after Ezra's return to Jerusalem, Nehemiah also retur- ned with a third group and Yahweh used him to guide Judah in rebuilding the city's walls and in reordering the people's social and economic lives. Yet, shortly after Nehemiah's return to Persia in 433 BC, the Jews fell back into their usual sins, as denounced by the last prophet of the Old testament, Malachi. 4 Post-exilic Prophets - Haggai The Book of Haggai, a prophet of Yahweh Author Haggai was the first of the two prophets (the other was Zechariah) who encouraged the exiles returned from the Babylonian captivity to rebuild the Temple of Jerusalem. Haggai (nothing is known about when and where he was born) was among those who returned to Jerusalem in 537 BC under the leadership of Zerubbabel and Joshua. He was a contemporary of Zechariah but his mini- stry was limited to a period of four months in 520 BC. Background In 538 BC Cyrus the Great, the king of Persia, the conqueror of Babylon, issued a decree allowing the Jews to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple (destroyed in 586 BC by the Babylonian armies). Led by Zerubba- bel, and accompanied by Joshua the high priest and the prophets Haggai and Zechariah, about 50,000 Jews moved from Babylon to Jerusalem and began working on the Temple. Levitical sacrifices were soon re-instituted on a rebuilt altar of burnt offering. At the completion of the Temple foun- dation, in about two years, the Samaritans and other enemies who feared a possible new Jewish state, opposed strongly the project and managed to stop the work for about 16 years until Darius the Great became king of Persia in 522 BC. Darius was willing to grant freedom of religion to all peoples in his empire and, in the second year of his reign (520 BC), Haggai and then Zechariah began to preach the necessity of completing the new Temple (of which only the foundations were built), accusing the Jews of spiritual apathy and lazy inactivity. When the governor of Trans-Euphrates and other officials tried to interfere with the rebuilding, Darius fully sup- ported the Jews. The Temple was completed and dedicated in 516 BC. Dates The messages of Haggai were given during a four-month period (from August 29 to December 18) in 520 BC, the second year of king Darius. Theme and teaching Chapter 1 shows the consequences of disobedience and chapter 2 of obe- dience. Obedience brings the encouragement and strength of Yahweh (of His Spirit, that is, of the spiritual communion Yahweh-man). Chapter 2 also speaks of the coming of the Messiah (the "[One] desired of all nations"). His coming will fill the new Temple with glory. The fol- lowing passages are linked with the judgment of the nations at the Mes- siah's second coming. Then Yahweh declares that he has made Zerubbabel His "signet ring" as a guarantee that the Messiah would come. Post-exilic Prophets - Haggai 5 The Book of Haggai A call to build the House of Yahweh (1:1-15) (1:1) In the second year of the King Darius, on the first day of the sixth month, the word of Yahweh came through the prophet Haggai to Zerubba- bel, the governor of Judah, son of Shealtiel, and to Joshua, the high priest, son of Jehozadak: (1:2) This is what Yahweh the Almighty says: "These people say: 'The time has not yet come for the House of Yahweh to be built.' (1:3-4) Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this House remains a ruin? (1:5) Give careful thought to your ways. (1:6) You have planted much, but have harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wa- ges, only to put them in a purse with holes in it. (1:7-8) Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build My House, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored. (1:9) You expec- ted much, but see, it turned out to be little.
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