Day 14, month 6, year 19 of Artaxerxes, King of the Lands

From Haggai the prophet to Zechariah ben Iddo:

May Yahweh bless you and keep you. And now, I am writing to you, my fellow prophet, with a heavy heart and guilty conscience. I want to know if you share my sentiments and if so, what you think we should do.

As you know, the ceremony for the laying of the temple foundation will take place next month in conjunction with the Feast of Sukkoth. We will both be expected to declare Yahweh's word to the people on that occasion. I feel we are deceiving the people when we continue to proclaim in the name of Yahweh Sebaoth rather than Yahweh Elohim. We both believe that Yahweh is Elohim, and we also know that the temple being built is for him, not for Yahweh Sebaoth. But the people do not know this deity, and when we continue to prophesy in the name of Yahweh Sebaoth, we are perpetuating a lie. They will find out soon enough, when the building is dedicated, that there is no more Ark and no statue of Yahweh that will reside in the holy of holies. There will be no ceremonial procession to carry Yahweh back into his home, with Asherah at his side. But I feel that we should do something to ease the shock and facilitate a smooth transition.