Haggai: Structure and Meaning 1. The Structure In a study of a biblical text, the scholar often faces the problem whether the work in question constitutes a collection of individual units or one literary whole. This question is all the more pertinent in small books such as Haggai. This article will deal not with the question of the book’s authorship, or its redaction and creation (1), but rather with its literary aspect: whether the book is an anthology of prophetical sayings or one unified work. An effective way of dealing with such questions is to discover the structure of a work, in which each oracle plays a role in the whole. Haggai contains four units (2): 1,1-16: The prophet’s call to build the Temple (vv. 1-11.13), the people’s response (vv. 12.14-15) (3) 2,1-9: Encouragement of the people in relation to God’s presence and the future glory of the Temple. 2,10-19: Against the participation of the Samaritans in building the Temple 2,20-23: Oracle on Zerubbabel’s future status The four oracles are ordered chronologically, according to the date at the beginning of each one (4). This chronological order perhaps explains why scholars did not make any great effort to examine other principles of structure (5). In this article, I wish to show the principle behind the arrangement of the oracles and its significance for an understanding of the meaning of the book. 2. Division of the book into two parts The contents of the oracles and the formal formulae delimit the division of the oracles into two parts. The first two oracles are closely interrelated (1) For a survey of opinions regarding the literary development of the Book see J. KESSLER, The Book of Haggai. Prophecy and Society in Early Persian Yehud (SVT, 91, Leiden 2002) 31-57. (2) This division of the Book in its present form is held by many: see e.g.: H.G. MITCHELL, Haggai (ICC, Edinburgh 1912) 27. Some scholars separate 1,13-15a from what precedes it, and find in the Book five units, see e.g.: P.A. VERHOEF, The Books of Haggai and Malachi (NICOT, Grand Rapids 1989) 20-25; Other find three: B. PECKHAM, History and Prophecy. The Development of Late Judean Literary Traditions (New York 1993) 741. (3) I adopt here the division according to which 1,1-15 is regarded as one unit, that is subdivided into two parts, the first (vv. 1-11) consisting of the prophet’s instruction to build the temple, while the second (vv. 12-15) is the positive response of the people, which includes another oracle in v. 13. Similarly: KESSLER, The Book of Haggai, 247. (4) P.A. VERHOEF, “Notes on the Dates in the Book of Haggai”, Text and Context. Old Testament and Semitic Studies for F.C. Fensham (ed. W. CLAASSEN) (JSOTSS, 48, Sheffield 1988) 259-267 has proposed that the purpose and significance of the dates in Haggai are to state the authenticity and validity of the prophetic message.