Viewing Haggai Through the Lens of the Hebrew Calendar: Part 3
Imagine that you are Haggai, and it is now the 9th month: Kislev. It is winter in Israel—the darkest month of the year. The Lord appeared to you twice this year. Once during the season of repentance in the month of Elul and then on the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles in Tishri. The Lord also spoke to another prophet that you knew this year: Zechariah. Zechariah received his vision in the eighth month. God told the people through Zechariah to return to Him and He will return back to them (Zechariah 1: 3). The people responded positively to Zechariah’s message and repented.
Note: If you prefer Bible studies over blog posts, check out my Haggai Bible studies.
Kislev
Kislev is the month of dreams. It is during this period of their liturgical reading cycle that the majority of the dreams recorded in the Bible (Old Testament) are read such as the dreams of Joseph. The world is physically dark. Your nation is still spiritually dark as the temple is not completed. Several months ago, God promised that the new temple’s glory will surpass the glory of Solomon’s temple. How can that be? You can only dream of what that means.
Then the Lord appears to you a third time. However, what God says seems rather odd….
Note: This post is part of a series of three posts on Haggai. For more background on Haggai read “Viewing Haggai Through the Lens of the Hebrew Calendar:Part 1 and Part 2.” Subscribe to my blog to get more insightful studies sent straight to your inbox. If
Haggai’s Third Vision (The First Vision on Kislev 24)
Haggai 2: 11-14, NIV
“On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Haggai:‘This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Ask the priests what the law says: If someone carries consecrated meat in the fold of their garment, and that fold touches some bread or stew, some wine, olive oil or other food, does it become consecrated?”’ The priests answered, ‘No.’ Then Haggai said, ‘If a person defiled by contact with a dead body touches one of these things, does it become defiled?’ ‘Yes,’ the priests replied, ‘it becomes defiled.’ Then Haggai said, ‘”So it is with this people and this nation in my sight,” declares the Lord. “Whatever they do and whatever they offer there is defiled.”’”
Can Holiness Be Transferred?
This time when God talks to Haggai he instructs him to ask the priests questions about holiness. In Leviticus 6: 27, it states that the meat could make the garment holy, but the garment could not then transfer holiness. In contrast, uncleanness (defilement) can more easily be transferred from one thing to another.
Now the people are rebuilding the holy temple. The temple would not automatically transfer its holiness to the people. However, the people can transfer their uncleanness to the temple. For example, in the Book of Maccabees (a historical book that’s part of the apocryphal books written over 350 years after Haggai), the people had to rededicate the temple after it was defiled by Antiochus. Once this purification was complete, they rededicated the temple, and instituted the Feast of Dedication (aka Hanukkah). They did this because they couldn’t celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles at the proper time. Interestingly enough, Kislev 24, the date that Haggai receives this prophecy, is the Eve of Hannukah which would be instituted as a Jewish holiday many years in the future.
Notice in this passage God refers to “His people” as “this people.”
Hanukkah Connection
Little did Haggai know that God had a very special plan for this day in the future for Israel. About 350 after Haggai’s prophecy, Israel would rededicate the Lord’s temple after the Maccabee’s victory over Israel’s enemies. It was to be a belated Feast of Tabernacles that is now known as Hanukkah. And then during this feast of Hanukkah (or 2nd Feast of Tabernacles) the Messiah (Jesus) would stand among the people and declare that He and the Father are one—reflecting the Shema prayer recorded in Deuteronomy 6: 4. Haggai could not have known this, nor could he even have dreamed of this. All that he could do is faithfully record the vision that God gave him.
Haggai 2: 15-19, NIV
“‘Now give careful thought to this from this day on—consider how things were before one stone was laid on another in the Lord’s temple. When anyone came to a heap of twenty measures, there were only ten. When anyone went to a wine vat to draw fifty measures, there were only twenty. I struck all the work of your hands with blight, mildew and hail, yet you did not return to me,’ declares the Lord. ‘From this day on, from this twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, give careful thought to the day when the foundation of the Lord’s temple was laid. Give careful thought: Is there yet any seed left in the barn? Until now, the vine and the fig tree, the pomegranate and the olive tree have not borne fruit From this day on I will bless you.’”
From Curses to Blessings
Because of the people’s disobedience, the people of Israel were cursed! Blight and mildew are specifically called out as consequences for disobedience in Deuteronomy 28: 22. But now God is going to reverse course and bless them! After Zechariah’s vision a few months earlier, the people repented, but they were still unclean. But regardless of their state, God in His mercy will bless the people. He forgave them! Solomon’s prayer for forgiveness that he prayed at the dedication of His temple that took place on the Feast of Tabernacles has been answered! As Solomon stated:
“When famine or plague comes to the land, or blight or mildew, locusts or grasshoppers, or when an enemy besieges them in any of their cities, whatever disaster or disease may come, and when a prayer or plea is made by anyone among your people Israel—being aware of the afflictions of their own hearts, and spreading out their hands toward this temple—then hear from heaven, your dwelling place. Forgive and act; deal with everyone according to all they do, since you know their hearts (for you alone know every human heart),so that they will fear you all the time they live in the land you gave our ancestors.”
~1 Kings 8: 37-40, NIV
From Darkness (Scarcity) to Light (Blessings)
What day is it? The 24th of Kislev which is repeated three times in this section. Why is this day so important? It’s looking towards a future holiday not yet known to the people of Haggai’s time: Hanukkah.
Kislev is the darkest month of the year. But Hanukkah is the Festival of Lights. The people in Haggai’s time didn’t celebrate Hanukkah, but they were living in a dark time of scarcity. Food was in short supply. But God said, “But from this day on I will bless you.” (Haggai 2: 19, NIV) During the darkest time of the year, God’s people could look forward to a time of light and blessings and abundance.
We know that during Jesus’s time people were living in darkness. They were is a state of spiritual scarcity. Yet Jesus was the light. The Gospel of John says that Jesus is the light, and it was on Hanukkah (aka the Festival of Dedication) that Jesus state “I and the Father are one.” (John 10: 30, ESV)
Reflection Questions
“ But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”
~1 Peter 2:9, NIV
- Through Jesus we are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession (1 Peter 2:9). What did you do to become holy? Why did God decided to bless you anyway? How does this compare to Haggai’s third vision?
- According to 1 Peter 2: 9, why did God choose to make us holy? How does that relate to the three visions of Haggai? (Note: You may need to go back and review “Viewing Haggai Through the Lens of the Hebrew Calendar: Part 1 and Part 2.“)
- How can you give God glory in your life?
- What comfort does Haggai’s promise for material provisions and/or reversing the curse give you?
Haggai’s Fourth Vision (The Second Visionn on Kislev 24)
Haggai 2: 20-23, NIV
“The word of the Lord came to Haggai a second time on the twenty-fourth day of the month: ‘Tell Zerubbabel governor of Judah that I am going to shake the heavens and the earth. I will overturn royal thrones and shatter the power of the foreign kingdoms. I will overthrow chariots and their drivers; horses and their riders will fall, each by the sword of his brother. On that day,’ declares the Lord Almighty, ‘I will take you, my servant Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel,’ declares the Lord, ‘and I will make you like my signet ring, for I have chosen you,’ declares the Lord Almighty.”
More Shaking
This vision is given specifically to Zerubbabel, the governor of Judah, and God is talking once again about shaking. In the second vision, which took place on the Feast of Tabernacles, God’s shaking resulted in treasures and glory. In contrast, this shaking (on the future eve of Hanukkah) results in political upheaval. On the day of the shaking Zerubbabel will be signet ring.
Signet Ring
A signet ring was an engraved ring with the king’s seal on it. It carries the weight of divine authority as it officially seals up a proclamation made by the king, thereby making it an official document. In Jewish culture the signet ring is symbolic of the kingly line of David via Judah through which the Messiah would come (See Genesis 38: 15-18). However, the line of David had lost the power to rule since the reign of the evil King Coniah [Jehoiachin]. Jeremiah prophesized to King Coniah [Jehoiachin].
“’As surely as I live,’ declares the LORD, ‘even if you, Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, were a signet ring on my right hand, I would still pull you off.’”
~Jeremiah 22:24, NIV.
Jehoiachin was Zerubbabel’s grandfather, so this was a very personal prophecy.to Zerubbabel. When the people were sent away from Judah into captivity, they no longer had a king on the line of the throne. This is important because the Messiah was supposed to come from this royal family line. But now Zerubbabel is being reinstated as God’s signet ring. The ring God cast off is being put back on. God is reestablishing the Messianic line.
This prophecy was not fulfilled in Zerubbabel’s lifetime. We know of course that it will be fulfilled in Jesus. As you can see from the genealogies of Jesus in Matthew 1: 12 and Luke 3: 27, Jesus is a descendant of Zerubbabel!!!
“ After the exile to Babylon: Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel, Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, Zerubbabel the father of Abihud, Abihud the father of Eliakim……and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, and Mary was the mother of Jesus who is called the Messiah.”
~Matthew 1: 12-13, 16, NIV
Hanukkah: A Second Feast of Tabernacles
Remember Hanukkah is a celebration of the rededication of the temple after it was defiled by a Gentile king. The Maccabees in 164 BC took Jerusalem back by using strong military force. Because the Feast of Tabernacles couldn’t be celebrated at the proper time due to the invasion of the Greeks, the rededication of the temple (aka Hanukkah) was essentially a Feast of Tabernacles redo. During the Feast of Tabernacles God comes to dwell with His people.
In the New Testament during the Feast of Tabernacles Jesus said,
“You know Me, and you know where I am from. I have not come of My own accord, but He who sent Me is true. You do not know Him, but I know Him, because I am from Him and He sent Me.”
~John 7:28b-29, NIV
Then on the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles Jesus said,
“If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said: ‘Streams of living water will flow from within him.’” He was speaking about the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were later to receive. For the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus had not yet been glorified.”
~John 7:37-39, NIV
Then at the Festival of Dedication (aka Hanukkah the second Feast of Tabernacles) Jesus says,
“I and the Father are one.”
~john 10: 30, ESV
Jesus who is God (from the line of Zerubbabel) did come and dwelt among them. He is our everlasting king! He brought light into a dark world giving hope and blessing! He will come once again causing political upheaval creating a new heaven and new earth where His people will reign with Him!
Reflection Questions
- How does God’s control over political structures give you comfort?
- In what ways are you looking forward to Jesus’s return?
Conclusion
Let’s review the last three studies. Haggai’s name means feast or festival (as in the Feast of Passover).; this is a clue that dates are important to understanding his prophecies. All four of his visions took place during important times in the Jewish calendar (past, present, and future). (See “Viewing Haggai Through the Lens of the Hebrew Calendar: Part 1 and Part 2.”)
The first vision is during Elul the season of repentance: The people in Haggai’s time were in sin as they neglected God’s house. During the month of Elul, they were called to repentance and tasked to rebuild God’s house. Rebuilding the temple would please God and bring him glory.
The second vision is on the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles (Hoshana Rabba): The theme of God’s glory resonates again in the second vision. The Israelites in Haggai’s time couldn’t celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles because they had no temple, but God assured them of a future glory, which was Jesus. Jesus is the one who saves us fulfilling Hoshana Rabbah—the Great Salvation. Additionally, the Feast of the Tabernacles celebrates the harvest, but they had no harvest, yet God promised to bless them despite their meager crops and seeds.
The third and fourth visions took place on the eve of the future holiday of Hanukkah (The Feast of Dedication): Just like the Maccabees did a “redo of the Feast of Tabernacles” the people in Haggai’s time had a redo of blessings despite the fact that they were unclean.
Then Haggai’s final vision alludes to evil King Coniah who was cursed by God. God cast him away even though he was a signet ring. This broke the Messianic line. But now in Haggai’s time the curse is now broken on the date that would one day be known as Hanukkah. God promises to reestablish the line of David through Zerubbabel. God will not only will reestablish it,but will overthrow the Gentile nations opposed to God.
The Feast of Tabernacles looks forwards towards a hope of intimacy with God when he will one day dwell with mankind and peace will reign. The people in Haggai’s time, like those during the time of Maccabee’s Hanukkah celebration, rededicated the temple and thus themselves back to God.
In summary Haggai is a book about prioritizing God and about God’s glory. Haggai through God called people to repent during the month of Elul and then during the Feast of Tabernacles gave the people spiritual hope (intimacy with God and peace). Finally on the eve of what would become Hannukah, God gave the people material hope (food) and political hope (military victory and being ruled by God’s own people.) Haggai is a book about prioritizing God and resting in His hope knowing that He has the power to shake the heavens and earth to bring forth his kingdom. Come Lord Jesus! Be glorified in our lives!
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References
- Elul 25 and the Date of Creation
- Hoshana Rabba – the Great Salvation
- Why Beat the Willow? | My Jewish Learning
- אלול – Elul and Selichot
- Strong’s Hebrew: 2216. זְרֻבָּבֶל (Zerubbabel) — Zerubbabelzzz
- Strong’s Hebrew: 3087. יְהוֹצָדָק (Yehotsadaq) — Jehozadak
- Haggai 1:1-2:9* | BIBLICAL CHIASM EXCHANGE
- Elul אֱלוּל – The Month of Teshuvah and Return Part One | United Israel
- The Two Miracles of Hanukkah | My Jewish Learning
- The Prophetic Hints to the Holiday of Hanukkah – The Israel Bible
- The Story and Prophetic Patterns of Hanukkah – BNEY YOSEF NORTH AMERICA
- Hebrew Word Study – A Pledge – Ha’erabon – Chaim Bentorah
- The Biblical Building Blocks of Chanukkah – TheTorah.com
- Sukkot, the Temple and the Messianic Controversy – TheTorah.com
- 13 Elul Facts Every Jew Should Know – Chabad.org
- A Jewish Lent? The Month of Elul – Jews for Jesus
- Friday, Kislev 24, 5787 / December 4, 2026 – Jewish Calendar – Hebrew Calendar
- חדש כסלו – The Month of Kislev
- Haggai 2:18 Commentaries: Do consider from this day onward, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month; from the day when the temple of the LORD was founded, consider:
- History & Overview of the Maccabees | Jewish Virtual Library
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