Translations
Original
Notes
Zerubbabel, the governor, was a descendant of David through Jehoiachin (1 Chronicles 3:19). Haggai’s statement reverses the curse on Jehoiachin (Jeremiah 22:24–30). However, Zerubbabel suddenly disappears from the biblical record. He might have been removed as Judean governor or even executed by King Darius, who was trying to control his new empire. The expectations placed on Zerubbabel and his lineage as a descendant of David might have made him a political threat to Darius.
Haggai's final message is perhaps the most important. It focuses on the importance of David's descendant in Israel's religious and political life. After the Babylonian exile, the family line of David, in which kings came from the same family, was essential to Israel’s hope of restoration (see Jeremiah 23:5; Ezekiel 37:24).
God had cursed David's descendant, King Jehoiachin, during the exile in Babylon (Jeremiah 22:24–30), but Haggai's last message lifts that curse. It restores the covenant with David (see 2 Samuel 7:4–17) as the way God will fulfill his promises to bless and restore Israel.
Events
- Prophecies of Haggaic. 520 BC
People
Judah: Israelite tribe, kingdom, and province Zerubbabel: Leader of the first Jewish exiles from Babylon
Glossary
Haggai, Book of Jehoiachin Postexilic Period Zechariah, Book of Zerubbabel