As we turn to our survey of the post-exilic prophetic books, it must be stressed that our aim is not to attempt a thorough, detailed exegesis of the message of the prophets or the contents of the books. Our concern is with the extent to which parallels to the kind of material we have been examining in Chronicles and Ezra/Nehemiah occur here, whether they be parallels in theme and matter or in style and form.

The Book of Haggai presents special questions of interpretation since even a casual glance reveals two different types of material. There are the direct oracles of Haggai in which he addresses the people and/or their leader(s). These are found in 1:2, 4–11, 13b, 2:3 (4f.), 6–9, 11–14, 15–19, 21–3. Secondly, there is the editorial ‘framework’ in which these oracles have been set. This is found in 1:1, 3, 12, 13a, 14, 15, 2:1 (2), (4f.), 10, 20. The reference in brackets cannot be assigned to either category with certainty although, as we shall see, form and contents suggest that they belong more probably to the editorial strand of the book.

We turn first to the direct oracles of Haggai. In 1:2, 4–11, we find a complex series of oracles, whose form, extent and relation to each other have provoked much discussion and disagreement.