Deeper Commentary
Haggai Chapter 2
Haggai 2:1 In the seventh month, in the twenty-first day of the
month, the word of Yahweh came by Haggai the prophet, saying- As
noted on Hag. 1:14,15, this allowed about a month for the Spirit of God to
stir up the spirit of Zerubbabel and Joshua in response to their
repentance. But despite that work of the Spirit on their hearts, they
still needed to be called to respond to it (:4).
Haggai 2:2 Speak now to Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, governor of
Judah, and to Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to the
remainder of the people, saying- As noted on Hag. 1:14, only a
remnant ["remainder"] returned from Babylon, and out of them, it seems
only a remnant were responsive to the Spirit once they returned to Judah.
But from this minority of a minority, God was prepared to work- even
though there had not been the wholesale repentance and return which He
envisaged, still He was eager to work with a handful of people. And yet
tragically even they appear to have not responded in the long term to
God's possibilities which He had set up for them. This is encouragement to
keep on and on working with people, adjusting to whatever their
dysfunction throws back at us, ever seeking the extension of the
principles of God's Kingdom and His glory through whatever we have left to
work with.
Haggai 2:3 ‘Who is left among you who saw this house in its former
glory? How do you see it now? Isn’t it in your eyes as nothing?- Some
very old exiles would have remembered the temple from 70 years ago in
their childhood, before the deportation. But the chronologies vary; Daniel
9,10 would suggest that the 70 year period was extended, hence Daniel's
concern that the period had ended but still there was no restoration. So
Haggai may mean 'Who is left who saw the previous temple? Nobody. And how
do your eyes see it? As nothing, compared to the importance of your own
houses?'.
Is. 60:7 had prophesied that God would “glorify the house
of my glory”. But this was in fact a conditional prophecy, capable of
fulfilment through the freewill efforts of the returning exiles, if
they wished to glorify that house. For they
were empowered by Artaxerxes “to beautify [s.w. “glorify”] the
house of the Lord” (Ezra 7:27). All their efforts to glorify / beautify
the house, therefore, would have had God’s special and powerful blessing
behind them. But was the house ultimately glorified? No- for Israel would
not. They got sidetracked by beautifying their own homes, building “cieled
/ paneled houses” for themselves (Hag. 1:4). The word for “cieled” occurs in 1 Kings
6:9; 7:3,7 to describe the roofing of the first temple- which they were to
be rebuilding, rather than building their own houses. The glory would have
entered the house of God’s glory as it did at the inauguration of the
first temple (2 Chron. 7:1-3). Ezekiel prophesied that ultimately the
glory would fill the temple as it had done then (Ez. 43:4,5). But God’s
prophesy of this in Is. 60:7, that He would glorify His house, meant that
He was prepared to work through men to glorify it. The fulfilment of
Ezekiel’s vision of the cloud of glory entering the temple again could
have been fulfilled if the exiles had done what Artaxerxes empowered them
to do- to glorify the house of glory. And so the fulfilment was delayed.
The glory of the temple the exiles built was tragically less than the
glory of the first temple; and so it would only be in the last day of
Messiah’s second coming that the house shall truly be filled with
glory (Hag. 2:3,7,9), and even that may require a reapplication and
reinterpretation of the concept of God's house. And the lesson ought to be clear for us, in the
various projects and callings of our lives: it becomes crucial for us to
discern God’s specific purposes for us, and insofar as we follow His
leading, we will feel a blessing and power which is clearly Divine.
Haggai 2:4 Yet now be strong, Zerubbabel!’ says Yahweh. ‘Be strong, Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest! Be strong, all you people of the land’, says Yahweh, ‘and work- We noted on :1 that a month had passed since the Spirit of God began working on their hearts. But they still needed to be stirred up to actually use that potential power- to be "be strong... and work". The Corinthians likewise were given the Spirit, as 1 Cor. 1 makes clear, but they were "not spiritual" (1 Cor. 3:1) and needed exhortation to live according to the spiritual potential given them. And we are all in this position.
"Be strong... and work" [Heb. 'do'] is a phrase designed to recall previous usages in the context of returning to the promised land and building the temple. David often used it in encouraging Solomon to establish the Kingdom and build the temple (1 Chron. 28:10,20); it was the prophetic word to king Asa, encouraging him to re-establish temple worship and a spiritual revival (2 Chron. 15:7), and to Joshua in encouraging him to re-enter the land and overcome all opposition from the local tribes there (Josh. 1:7; 23:6); and particularly of being strong and working in rebuilding Jerusalem and the temple (Ezra 6:22; Neh. 2:18; 6:9). They were to accept that God was willing and eager to strengthen their hands in the work; but they had to make use of it.
For I am with you’, says Yahweh of Armies- The repeated title "Yahweh of Armies" would have been understood as a reference to Yahweh as captain of armies of Angels. God makes His Angels spirits; they were a vehicle for the work of the Spirit at that time, as the book of Daniel demonstrates. All that Angelic working was behind every effort Judah would make to rebuild the temple. But they didn't use it. "I am with you to save you from Babylon" (Jer. 42:11) focuses God's presence upon His salvation- Jesus. The prophetic potential became reapplied and rescheduled to us, in that the ultimate term of "I am with you" is in the Lord Jesus and the gift of the Spirit to enable us to extend and establish the work of the Kingdom (Jn. 7:33; 13:33).
Haggai 2:5 This is the word that I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt, and My Spirit dwelt among you. ‘Don’t be afraid’- "My Spirit (Angel- Ps. 104:4) remaineth among you" (AV), just as the same Angel was with them “when ye came out of Egypt”. And with us too. God encourages those rebuilding Jerusalem to have faith because the Angel is still among them: "Yet now be strong. . . and work: for I (the Angel) am with you, saith the Lord of Hosts (Angels): according to the word that I covenanted with you when ye came out of Egypt (the Angel made that covenant) so My Spirit (Angel) remaineth among you; fear ye not". Similarly Nehemiah recounts the past activities of God's Angel (Neh. 9:19-24) as a stimulus to faith in God bringing them through immediate problems. See on Gen. 24:40,56.
But as mentioned on :4, the Spirit was not simply an Angel; it was articulated through the work of God's Spirit on the human spirit or mind. The word of covenant when they came out of Egypt was the entire old covenant; the phrase is thus used at the time of the exodus (Ex. 24:8; 34:27; Dt. 29:1). But throughout Deuteronomy, the second statement of the covenant, there was the repeated encouragement: "Fear not" (Dt. 1:21; 3:2; 20:3 etc.). The context is always of not fearing the local tribes of Canaan, and of being assured that it was simply God's good pleasure to give them the Kingdom. That essential desire of God was true in Haggai's time as it had been in Moses', and it abides true for us. As He sent the Angel before them and amongst them, so His Spirit was and is active in the hearts and circumstances of all who wish to be in His Kingdom and do the work of that Kingdom.
Haggai 2:6 For this is what Yahweh of Armies says: ‘Yet once, it is a
little while, and I will shake the heavens, the earth, the sea, and the
dry land- In a "short time", God would yet once more (GNB) shakes the
heavens and earth as He had done at Sinai when Israel had previously
entered the land and taken the Kingdom (s.w. Ps. 68:8). The potential was
that soon after Haggai's words [in "a little while"] there would be direct
Divine intervention involving earthquakes and the shaking of all nations
(:7) to support the re-establishment of God's Kingdom in Israel under the
Messianic rulership of Zerubbabel. This is also foreseen in Zech. 14,
where the earthquake is seen as creating a new plateau upon which a new
temple could be built. This plateau was also see in the opening of the Ez.
40-48 vision of the commandments as to how to build the new temple
complex. But it didn't happen then. Judah didn't repent, and Zerubbabel
beat it back to Babylon. These words have therefore been reapplied and
rescheduled, to the work of the Lord Jesus on the cross and to the final
literal establishment of the Kingdom at His second coming; in this context
they are quoted in Heb. 12:26-28.
Haggai 2:7 And I will shake all nations- This is the equivalent
of Daniel's image of the nations being ground to powder and replaced by
the mountain of God's Kingdom which cannot be shaken (:22; Dan. 2:44; Heb.
12:27). Then the prophecy of Ez. 38:20 could have come true, that all the
nations within the eretz would "shake" (s.w.). These prophecies
could have come true then, but they were rescheduled. The nations in the
land and also the Medo Persian empire would be shaken to destruction soon,
and so the exiles should not fear them and resume the rebuilding of the
city and temple. This is powerful encouragement to us, who are to live as
if we are on the eve of the Lord's return. But the Hebrew here is "I am
shaking", whereas the shaking of :6 is in a future tense. The idea is that
God was already working among the nations to bring about the
re-establishment of His Kingdom which was then potentially possible.
The precious things of all nations will come- This could mean that they would all donate their wealth to the new system of worship in Jerusalem. Or the phrase could be translated "the desire of all nations", referring to Messiah. We note that the same word is used of Saul, the anointed ['messiah'] king of Israel (1 Sam. 9:20). This prediction would then be directly relevant to Zerubbabel, the intended Messianic ruler.
And I will fill this house with glory, says Yahweh of Armies- Just as Solomon’s temple was filled with glory (1 Kings 8:10,11; 2 Chron. 5:13,14; 7:1,2). Haggai sought to inspire the people when they had flagged in their zeal for the Lord’s house; and the method he chose was to remind them that they could bring about Messiah’s Kingdom if they wholeheartedly worked with God to allow His ideal intentions to come to pass. Note the stress on this house- but that temple they built wasn’t filled with glory, the vision of Ezekiel about the glory returning and entering the temple wasn’t fulfilled- and Solomon’s former temple was more glorious than that of the second temple. Why? Because they didn’t get on and build it and glorify it as they were intended to.
If "the desire of all nations" does refer to Messiah coming with an
earthquake and glory filling the temple, then this is a prophecy of what
could have happened at that
time, but it has been deferred to the second coming of the Lord Jesus.
This is exactly the picture we have in Ezekiel 43, of a Messiah figure
entering the temple in glory. But in Haggai’s context, he is encouraging
the Jews of his time that this is what really and truly could have
happened then and there, had they been obedient.
It was God's plan that the light of His glory would enter into Zion at
the restoration; but Israel had to act as if they believed this, and
likewise show forth glory: “Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the
glory of the Lord is risen upon thee” (Isaiah 60:1). He eagerly prophesied
that “strangers shall build up thy walls… in my favour have I had mercy
upon thee” (Isaiah 60:10)- not ‘I am prepared to have mercy upon you’, nor
‘I will have mercy…’. God had had mercy upon them, and invited them to
respond to it.
Haggai 2:8 The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine’, says Yahweh of
Armies- This may be in answer to the feeling of the exiles that 'We
can't afford to do this work on God's house. We need to sort out our own
houses first' (Hag. 1:4). Such reasoning is often encountered amongst
believers. God's response is that all the silver and gold on the planet is
His. He would provide. And indeed He had done, through the generous
provision of Cyrus for all the material needs connected with the
rebuilding project. The reference could also be to the "precious things"
of :7 which the nations will bring; they are already His, and to give
wealth to Him is only to accept that we do not own it. For we 'give' to
Him what is already His. "The silver and the gold" could
refer to all the silver and gold [wealth] that there is. This would imply
an urgency to the rebuilding- if all the wealth of the surrounding world
was to enter the temple as a store house for it, then the temple must be
rebuilt to store it. By being slack to rebuild the temple (Hag. 1:4) and
not doing so according to the specifications in Ez. 40-48, the Divine
purpose with it could not therefore come about. Petty human short
sightedness therefore precluded the fulfilment of so much Divine
potential.
Haggai 2:9 ‘The latter glory of this house will be greater than the
former’, says Yahweh of Armies- As noted on Hag. 1:8, God would have
appeared in glory at the restoration of the temple. The glory of
God and His presence was to appear in the temple; but if the Jews wouldn't
rebuild the temple, then it wouldn't. In common with Ezekiel, Zechariah and Isaiah, Haggai speaks
here of the possible glory that could have been at the restoration, but which has now been postponed until the second coming. Compare this with what actually happened- the old men wept because the new rebuilt temple was nothing like the former temple;
see on :3.
The glory of the
restored temple was prophesied as being far greater than that of the
former; Is. 60:17 alluded to this in prophesying that “For brass [in
Solomon’s temple] I will bring gold, and for iron [that was in Solomon’s
fixtures] I will bring silver, and for wood brass, and for stones iron”.
But it simply didn’t happen, because God’s people were satisfied with a
small, inglorious temple so that they could get on with building their own
“cieled houses” (Hag. 1:4; the same word is used in describing
how the temple of Solomon was “covered”, or cieled, with cedar).
‘And in this place will I give peace’, says Yahweh of Armies- Peace with God, forgiveness through grace. When the foundation stone of the temple was laid, there should have been excited acclamation: “Grace, grace unto it” (Zech. 4:7). But instead the old men wept when the foundation was laid, knowing that the temple was nothing compared to what it ought to be (Ezra 3:12). This would have been possible in Haggai's time, had they built the temple according to the specifications in Ez. 40-48. But it was reapplied and rescheduled to fulfilment in the Lord Jesus, and His second coming. God's promise of peace "in this place" couldn't come about if Judah would not rebuilt the "place". This is the urgency of the appeal.
Haggai 2:10 In the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, in the second
year of Darius, the Word of Yahweh came by Haggai the prophet, saying-
The wonderful potentials mentioned in the preceding verses were precluded
by Judah's unspirituality, and Haggai now addresses that. In the two
months since that prophecy (:1), there had been little progress.
Haggai 2:11 Thus says Yahweh of Armies: Ask now the priests concerning
the law, saying- Haggai is addressed to Zerubbabel and Joshua the
high priest. Perhaps they were being asked to ask this question. The
answer of the priests is given in :12 and :13 so we assume this was
literally asked and answered. But in :12 Haggai asks the question, so
perhaps this is addressed to Haggai. It is a common Divine method to ask a
question in order to elicit a conclusion within the conscience of the
questioned person.
Haggai 2:12 ‘If someone carries holy food in the fold of his garment,
and the garment touches bread, stew, wine, oil, or any food, will it too
become holy?’. The priests answered, No- The questions of :12 and :13
lead up to the bald statement in :14 that the Jews are "unclean" and their
work for God unacceptable. This hard statement is in juxtaposition to all
the wonderful Messianic and Kingdom prophecies of the preceding verses,
uttered just weeks previously. The questions of :12 and :13 add up to
this: Uncleanness can be passed on easily, whereas holiness is not passed
on. Just a scrap of sanctified food caught up accidentally in the fold of
a robe doesn't make that garment holy, and if that garment then touches
the things offered in sacrifice to God, they are not thereby made holy.
This was the essence of the argument being used by the Jews. They
considered their unclean offerings were made clean through the most
contorted and unrealistic path of reasoning. They thought they could be
acceptable to God because of some legalistic, theoretical 'acceptability
by association', even though the Mosaic law didn't support such reasoning.
The mentality is seen today, in those nominal believers who imagine that
their external association with some organized religion or denomination
somehow guarantees their acceptability with God.
Haggai 2:13 Then Haggai said, If one who is unclean by reason of a
dead body touch any of these, will it be unclean? The priests answered, It
will be unclean- As explained on :12, the Jews were thinking that
they were acceptable to God by some quasi spiritual, pseudo logical path
of reasoning whereby a fragment of holy bread could pass on to them
personal acceptability before God. But the reality was that this wasn't
support by God's principles in the law. What the law emphasized instead
was that uncleanness spreads. And they were unclean (:14).
Judah in the new temple would not “defile” Yahweh’s Name any more (Ez. 43:7,8) e.g. by touching dead bodies (Ez. 44:25); but they were lazy to keep the uncleanness laws, they did defile Yahweh by touching dead bodies and then offering the sacrifices (Hag. 2:13,14 s.w.), just as Israel previously had been defiled by touching the dead bodies of their kings and then offering sacrifices (Ez. 43:7); but now, Judah thought they were above God’s law, and therefore did exactly the same things which had caused the temple to be destroyed in the first place. The promise that Yahweh would dwell in the new temple was conditional on them not touching dead bodies (Ez. 43:9); but Hag. 2:13 makes it apparent that they did this very thing at the time of the restoration.
Haggai 2:14 Then Haggai answered, ‘So is this people, and so is this nation before Me’, says Yahweh; ‘and so is every work of their hands. That which they offer there is unclean- The specific work of their hands was surely their partial rebuilding of the temple and offer sacrifice there, but not according to the specifications in Ez. 40-48. Their work was so compromised by their wrong attitudes that what they built was therefore unclean. The reference may also be to the animals and crops raised by 'the work of their hands' (:17) which they then offered as sacrifices; but this was rejected by God as unclean.
Haggai 2:15 Now, please consider from this day and backward, before a
stone was laid on a stone in Yahweh’s temple- Every day counted.
Haggai asked them to look back through the few months during which he had
given his prophecies about the great possibilities for re-establishing the
Kingdom with God's abundant blessing. Even during those days, they had
been guilty of not responding, and so the drought had not been lifted.
Haggai 2:16 Through all that time, when one came to a heap of twenty
measures, there were only ten. When one came to the wine vat to draw out
fifty, there were only twenty- Blessings of good harvests, corn and
wine, were all part of the blessings promised for obedience to the
covenant. But throughout the days Haggai had been appealing to them, their
last harvest had been eaten away by disease and plague ("blight, mildew,
and hail", :17). These words may be addressed specifically to Zerubbabel
and Joshua (see on hag. 1:1). They had lost their harvests, because of
refusing to respond to the call of Haggai.
This verse gives very precise commentary on the state of the harvests
in Judah after the return- grain stores were 50% below the norm, and the
amount of wine produced was 60% less than
expected. Surely these figures were well known
to the people- for they had presumably worked them out, and Haggai is
quoting their figures back to them. Notice how the people had worked out
the yield of wine which they
expected. The implication
would seem to be that they returned to Judah expecting material
prosperity, good harvests and personal wealth; hence their bitter
disappointment when they didn't get it. This, then, would appear to have
been their motivation for the return- rather than obedience to the words
of the prophets or a desire to see God's Kingdom established in His land.
Haggai 2:17 I struck you with blight, mildew, and hail in all the work
of your hands; yet you didn’t turn to Me’, says Yahweh- This striking
of the harvest had been over the two months or so since Haggai had
prophesied and encouraged them to live up to their potential; see on :16.
They had returned to the land, but not to God. They were still impenitent,
blaming their situation on the sins of the fathers and of the Gentiles
around them. The afflictions mentioned were the very punishments mentioned
for committing unfaithfulness to the covenant, and which would climax in
being removed from the land (Dt. 28:22; 1 Kings 8:37). They had returned
to the land, but were doing the very things which had led to them being
expelled from the land, and experiencing the same judgments which they had
in the lead up to the exile (Am. 4:9).
Haggai 2:18 ‘Consider, please, from this day and backward, from the
twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, since the day that the foundation of
Yahweh’s temple was laid, consider it- They were being asked as in
:15 to think back over the days since the rebuilding program began.
Although they had apparently worked to rebuild the temple, day after day
had been of drought and pestilence. Their work for God had been "unclean"
(:14) because their motives were impure, as noted on Hag. 1:4. But there
is a purposeful ambiguity with the word translated "backward"; it can also
mean "upward" or effectively 'forward'. In this case, as suggested on :19,
Haggai was urging them to repent that very day, and see the changes that
would happen in the weather and the fertility of their land. "Consider..."
was therefore an appeal for repentance. This appeal was repeated in the
eighth month (Zech. 1:1,4,6); and there was apparent response to that
appeal (Zech. 1:6). But now in the ninth month, it was apparent that the
repentance was only nominal.
Haggai 2:19 Is the seed still in the barn? Yes, the vine, the fig
tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree haven’t brought forth. From this
day on I will bless you’- The original could imply that God had
promised blessing upon them, from the first day the rebuilding program
started (:18). But it hadn't come. Their harvests were so small that it
was as if they had never even sown anything, and the seed was still in the
barn; and the fruit trees had not born anything. We see here how God can
promise things which are conditional even if the conditions aren't
highlighted; and so the promised blessing will not come about
automatically. Or the original could equally suggest that although indeed
there had been no harvests, from that very day on "I will bless you",
because God through Haggai hoped for their immediate repentance that day.
Haggai 2:20 The Word of Yahweh came the second time to Haggai in the
twenty-fourth day of the month, saying- This must be the same 24th
day of the ninth month which has been twice mentioned (:10,15). As
expounded above, on that very day Haggai had begged for repentance, and
invited them to make a note of the day and to see how God's blessing would
be poured out afterwards, whereas before that it had been withheld. Haggai
had declared this day a watershed. And now we have a prophecy which seems
to assure Zerubbabel that he would in fact be made the Messianic ruler.
Perhaps he did repent that day, and so God eagerly went ahead in the
following prophecy and assured him that he could indeed achieve the
Messianic potential he had.
Haggai 2:21 Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, ‘I will
shake the heavens and the earth- The repetition of "I will"
is as if to say that the promise of major Divine intervention and the
re-establishment of the Kingdom promised in :6 (see note there) would not
come about, whereas its fulfilment had been in question. This would fit
the suggestion made on :20 that Zerubbabel repented and so the Divine
program and possibilities with him resumed.
The day when heaven and earth would be shaken was the day when the second temple was to be filled with glory as Ezekiel had said. Then¸ there would be major war between the Gentile nations, and Zerubbabel would be some kind of Messiah figure. But none of these things happened. Their fulfilment was delayed until the last days, when all nations who come against Jerusalem will slay each other, and “my servant” the Lord Jesus will be proclaimed as Messiah. Then, in our time of the end, the heavens and earth will be shaken (Heb. 12:26,27). It could have happened while the second temple was standing- but it didn’t, thanks to Israel’s indolence.
Haggai 2:22 I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms. I will destroy
the strength of the kingdoms of the nations. I will overthrow the
chariots, and those who ride in them. The horses and their riders will
come down, everyone by the sword of his brother- Haggai 2:6,7 clearly
stated that
very soon
the desire of all nations would come to the temple, and Yahweh would fill
the temple with His glory, just as He had when the first temple was built
(this is another proof that the temple of the restoration was to be based
upon the pattern of Solomon’s). This was to be brought about by Yahweh
shaking all nations, with the result that in a great battle, they would
kill each other; and
then Zerubbabel “my servant”
(a Messianic title) would be the King of God’s Kingdom. But this didn’t
happen “soon” after those words were spoken. Indeed, they are quoted in
Heb. 12 as now having relevance to our last days. “I will
overthrow…kingdoms” is the language of Dan. 2:44- perhaps it could have
been that four kings arose after Nebuchadnezzar and then Babylon would
have been destroyed. Thus Dan. 2:42 speaks of
the singular Kingdom being
divided, as if referring to the Kingdom of Babylon / Nebuchadnezzar. Thus
the image stood complete when the stone hit it- the whole dynasty of
Nebuchadnezzar was to be destroyed. But this didn’t happen, and so other
interpretations of the image prophecy became possible, each fitting
perhaps less accurately than the intended fulfilment would have done.
Likewise Haggai 2:22 continues by saying that in that “overthrow”, “the
horses and their riders shall come down, every one by the sword of his
brother”. This is the language of Zech. 14:13; that prophecy also could
have had a fulfilment at the restoration, but it is now deferred until the
last days.
That same passage also envisages an earthquake around Mount Zion,
preparing a plateau upon which the temple could be built, as required in
the temple plans of Ez. 40.
Haggai 2:23 In that day, says Yahweh of Armies, will I take you, Zerubbabel, My servant, the son of Shealtiel’, says Yahweh, ‘and will make you as a signet ring, for I have chosen you’, says Yahweh of Armies- Setting as a signet ring effectively means Divine appointment as the king of Judah, as in Jer. 22:23-25. The re-established kingdom could have had a Divinely appointed Messianic king in the line of David, Zerubbabel. Just a few months later, Zech. 3:8 speaks of "My servant the branch", a clear reference to Zerubbabel, "branch of God", as the Messianic ruler figure. God says He will do this; but it seems Zerubbabel didn't want it, and the people weren't ready or willing for it. And so the prophecy in essence is reapplicable to the Lord Jesus, the "My servant" of Isaiah's prophecies.
Dan. 9:25 appears to identify “the anointed one, a prince” with the
restoration of Jerusalem after the return. The Masoretic punctuation of
Dan. 9:25 actually suggests that ‘Messiah the prince’ appears after the
first seven of the seventy weeks- perhaps there was the possibility 49
day-years after the command to rebuild Jerusalem for a Messiah to have
appeared? This would’ve fitted Zerubbabel perfectly. Lk. 3:27 describes
Zerubbabel as the head / chief / leader. The term Rhesa is incorrectly
rendered in many versions as a name. Perhaps Luke’s point was that the
Lord Jesus was the final Messiah, after the failure of so many potential
ones beforehand. ‘Zerubbabel the chief’ would then be a similar rubric to
“David the king” in Matthew’s genealogy (Mt. 1:16). Zerubbabel was the
‘head’ of the house of David (Ezra 4:3; Hag. 2:23; Zech. 3:8; 6:12,13), as
was his descendant Hattush (Ezra 8:1-3 cp. 1 Chron. 3:22). As the grandson
of Jehoiachin, Judah's exiled king, Zerubbabel would've been the
legitimate king of Judah. Potentially, Hos. 1:11 could have come true:
“Judah and… Israel shall be gathered together, and they shall appoint for
themselves one head [Zerubbabel?]; and they shall go up from the land, for
great shall be the day of Jezreel” (RSV). And perhaps as head of the house
of David, Zerubbabel was intended to be the “David my servant” who would
be the one king and one shepherd who would lead Israel back to the land
from exile (Ez. 37:22,24). Significantly, Neh. 7:7 describes Zerubbabel as
being at the head of twelve leaders of the returning exiles, who are
called “the people of Israel” (cp. Ezra 2:2).
Zerubbabel like his people simply didn’t live up to it; and the
prophecies came to be fulfilled finally in Jesus. He could have been
Yahweh’s signet ring (Hag. 2:23), His specially favoured son- but he
baulked at the height of the calling.
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