“Hope” in Haggai and Zechariah: True, False, Postponed and Perilous
The Shawshank Redemption: Morgan Freeman tells fellow-inmate Tim Robbins, “Hope is a dangerous thing. Drive a man insane. It’s got no place here.” In a place like Yehud, with the Jews seeking to rebuild the temple amidst economic, political, social and even religious conflict, hope was just as dangerous as at Shawshank Penitentiary. Mercifully, it was also in just as short supply. Expectations of future glory dimmed beneath the clouds of present experience. Drought and famine, curtailed Imperial subsidies, and increased taxation impinged upon support essential to the worship of God. Controversy over foreign marriages, objections by neighboring provinces, and the constant yammering of prophets led some to conclude it was a serious mistake to return to this “Promised Land.” Yet Haggai and Zechariah insist and persist in proclaiming hope.
Not false hope. Not optimism misconstrued as hope. Sacks writes,
“One of the most important distinctions I have learned in the course of reflection on Jewish history is the difference between optimism and hope. Optimism is the belief that things will get better. Hope is the faith that, together, we can make things better. Optimism is a passive virtue; hope, an active one.”
Likewise, it is not a vain hope. Not whistling in the dark to calm one’s fear while rushing toward safety. Sacks continues, “It takes not courage to be an optimist, but it takes a great deal of courage to have hope.” Neither is hope postponed. Present hope engenders the patience required in any godly endeavor. Hauerwas comments,
“Hope without patience results in the illusion of optimism or, more terrifying, the desperation of fanaticism. The hope necessary to initiate us into the adventure must be schooled by patience if the adventure is to be sustained. Through patience, we learn to continue to hope, even though our hope seems to offer little chance of fulfillment….Yet patience equally requires hope, for without hope, patience too easily accepts the world and the self for what it is, rather than what it can or should be.”
For Haggai and Zechariah hope is not false, nor vain, nor postponed; but it is still perilous. Hope draws on experience to raise expectation. When the experience is disappointment, then expectations raised by God’s messengers may ring hollow. Whether in Yehud, before more modernly designated “redevelopment churches,” or in denominations whose methodology leaves them wondering where the God of their hopes has gone, the post of the prophet who proclaims God’s promises and their prerequisite premises is perhaps the most perilous possible.
A Theme Occurring Throughout Each of Three Corpora
As Haggai’s prophecy opens, Yehud has postponed their hopes of rebuilding the temple. “This people says, ‘The time has not come, even the time for the house of the Lord to be rebuilt.’” (Haggai 1:2) Whatever hopes once held, whatever boldness in refuting Tattenai’s challenge before Darius (Ezra 6:1-12), and however they had survived the famine, drought and disaster alluded to in 1:5-6, the rebuilding holds little interest and less attraction. Haggai’s rhetorical questions implicitly indict them, “If you are capable of finding resources for your own home improvements, it’s long past time to complete the work of rebuilding God’s house.” Haggai cites reasons that their previous hopes had failed. Their personal practices, meeting their needs by the work of their hands, result in frustration and further lack of provisions. Haggai 2:10-19 addresses the community’s false hopes that their half-hearted, conveniently postponed, and haphazard approaches to the work of God’s temple may still result in God’s glory and holiness returning, and His people prospering, despite the fact that holiness is not transferable, while uncleanness transfers even to the third degree. God’s people choose to remain unclean; the altar erected on the unfinished temple site is unholy. Therefore, the sacrifices with which they seek to curry God’s favor are just as unholy as is their temple, and as are they.
In Zechariah 1-8, the elements of the formula of hope are woven together toward chapters seven and eight, where the tapestry takes full form in Zechariah 8:18-23 (to be considered alongside passages from the other two corpora). Zechariah 1:1-17 compares past and present, contrasting expectations (hoped-for) and experiences (of disappointment). God’s expectations (of attentive, cooperative and obedient response) and past experience equally inform His cry to Yehud. “Do not be like your fathers.” But the expectations of the repatriated likewise differs from their experience as the nations (God’s instrument of discipline) have “furthered the disaster.” (Zech. 1:15). On these foundational elements of past and present Zechariah builds the future promises of hope. But the juxtaposition of the elements portrays a special compassion for the skepticism against accepting any assurance of future hope, whether in “terrifying the horns,” extending Jerusalem beyond its borders and eliminating the need for physical barriers (since “I…will be a wall of fire around her.” Zech. 2:5), in adding to Jerusalem’s number those from many nations (2:11), or in a restored and cleansed priesthood (3:1-5). Referencing hope as motivation for cooperation and obedience, and encompassing key perspectives on God’s relationship with His people in the past and present as well as future, Zechariah now addresses priesthood and community, conditioning His promises on walking in God’s ways and performing God’s service. The high priest is promised the governance and access necessary to lead God’s people, but the prophecy still indicts the greater population. These promises set before God’s people a hope extending into the future when The Branch will follow and there will be peace, gladness and wholeness. As Ryken et al illustrate, “The OT counterpart of the American dream of a car in every garage and a chicken in every pot is inviting a neighbor to sit under one’s own vine and fig tree (Zech 3:10).”
The elements of past, present and future, alongside both hopeful expectations and disappointing experience, are next brought into proximity in Zechariah 7. The conditionality of God’s promises is shown negatively in 7:8-10, with God’s past promises left unclaimed due to the conviction entered by God, “But they refused to pay attention, and turned a stubborn shoulder and stopped their ears from hearing.” The experience of God’s discipline, perceived in their flint-like hearts (7:12) as His disregard for them, influences their present lethargy, apathy and disaffection. They do not act, decide or feel positively toward God, His temple, His work or His prophet.
One might consider it counterproductive to hold hope before a people so thoroughly discouraged. While the means by which to return to God are clear, the motivation to cooperation and obedience has so long been suppressed that it would seem to take a veritable barrage of hope to dislodge the hearts of God’s people. That God’s prophet delivers such great expectations in Zechariah 8 would seem to be the “one last chance” His people would receive.
Before comparing that passage (8:18-23) alongside the two other complete expressions of the formula of hope, though, consider the past-present-future expression of expectations in Zecharaiah 9:11-12 that typify the interplay of these themes throughout the third corpus (Zechariah 9-14). God acknowledges their past experience, expresses His expectation of their present actions, and takes His stand in the present to set their gaze upon the promised hope of their future blessings. Again, throughout this corpus the contrast of expectation and experience, hope and disappointment, a continual blending of past, present and future perspectives reaches its most elaborate orchestration in the final chapter of Zechariah. That passage, along with similarly intricate passages in Haggai 2:1-9 and Zechariah 8:18-23 merit greater examination. In these three passages one may see most clearly the use of hope as an effective motivation to cooperation and obedience, despite the skepticism prevalent in Yehud (and in the post-modern, post-Christian culture in which The Church finds herself today).
A Theme Most Fully Expressed in Three Climactic Passages
The elements of hope noted above have so far been presented in partial expressions of the formula as reminders, precursors, and even indictments against the lethargy, apathy and disaffection of God’s people, despite His relationship with them faithfully throughout the past, manifestly in the present, and eternally into the future as well. In the climactic passage of each of the three corpora, these elements present a hope based on God’s presence in the past, present and future in order to motivate cooperation and obedience among the restoration community.
Haggai 2:1-9 – Haggai’s rhetoric arrests his audience’s attention by bringing to voice the thoughts that had brought rebuilding to a standstill. Baldwin correctly points out contributing factors, noting “preparations on a sixty-year-old ruin, without any mechanical aids, would tax the endurance of even the most enthusiastic.” Sympathetically she notes “the need of encouragement” that was exacerbated by starting and stopping the rebuilding efforts during the period described in Haggai 2:1-9 due to the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Booths, in addition to each week’s routine day of rest. But Haggai’s immediate focus is to root out the attitude undermining the foundation of their commitment. When the ultimate goal of any restoration project bears little resemblance to previous levels of success (the glory of days-gone-by), many would recommend looking to some new project instead of the nearly impossible task of motivating the participants to strive toward a mere shadow of past glory. Even when successfully completed, the resulting edifice may only serve as a reminder of how greatly diminished have been their prestige and power as a people.
Rather than reinforcing their experience of disappointment, however, Haggai’s decision to meet the issue head-on is intended to point them in the direction of hope, building their future expectations of even greater glory (if not size, furnishings or reputation) than the previous temple possessed. As Boda notes, Haggai’s three questions show distinct progression. “The first question begins on an objective level, asking who remained of those who saw the former temple.” They view the past glories in light of God’s faithfulness. Boda continues, “The second question subtly moves the discussion from the objective to the subjective level, sensitively probing the deeply seated attitudes of the people towards the project.” This addresses the clear expectation of cooperation and obedience with God’s present purpose. Is there a future sense implied by Boda’s analysis?
“The third question takes this a final step and reveals that the prophet understands their subjective reaction, justifying such discouragement. This technique grants the prophet an audience with the people and sets the tone for this crucial message of hope.”
With a glance at the past, Haggai asks the people to admit their gaze at the present. The glare of the uncompleted and (even if completed) diminished project before them threatens to turn apathy into atrophy. In the glimpse of the future Haggai presents a hope intended not only to motivate present cooperation and obedience, but to engender courage (demanded thrice, specifically of Zerubbabel, Joshua and “all you people” in 2:4) based on the Spirit’s presence, as well as the hope of God’s promise. Morgan states, “People waiting for a future revival, if they are not careful, will miss the present workings of God.” For Morgan, future hope should never allow such present procrastination as challenged Haggai’s audience. “Let us by all means be strong, and let our hope be large; but the point to be insisted upon is the present duty.”
Baldwin describes Haggai’s climactic proclamation of “what was lacking [in the attitude of the restoration community]” as being “dissatisfaction with things as they were, and the consequent drive to initiate action.” She thus echoes Augustine’s comment on Zechariah 8:22, “The whole life of a good Christian is a holy longing to make progress.” It is that very call in Zechariah that is to be examined next.
Zechariah 8:18-23 – This climactic proclamation of Zechariah 1-8 is actually the second bookend of a pair that sets off chapters seven and eight from the previous visions of Zechariah and (though this point is widely contested) leads directly into the remaining six chapters (as will be demonstrated below). These two chapters represent a complete unit, as argued to effective conclusion by Boda, noting
“The first three verses (7:1-3) and the final six (8:18-23) appear closely connected at first because they form a complete question-and-answer scheme and contain a play on words and motifs,”
and ultimately concluding regarding the two chapters leading to 8:18-23 that
“It is thus a helpful text…for understanding the function of prophecy to encourage obedience and engender hope for a generation living in circumstances falling short of the prophetic ideal.”
Zechariah motivates such hope-based cooperation in presenting an answer to questions posed by the delegation from Bethel in 7:1-3. He is answering a question formulated with regard to past, present and future, in that Sharezer and Regemmelech and their men ask whether their past and present practice should continue in the future or, as seems clearly implied, whether the changes brought about in the work of restoration allow or require a change in their ritual. Zechariah postpones a direct answer to address their underlying motivations, as Boda asks rhetorically, “is there any passage after 7:14 and before 8:19 that returns to Zechariah’s address to the Bethel delegation?” Rather than seeing the intervening material as “interrupting the original flow of the prophetic scene,” the bookends encompass prophecies intended
“to remind the people of the picture of the restoration that had been promised but had not yet arrived; that is, they remind the reader that the reason these promises remain unfulfilled is that the people are replicating the patterns of the earlier generation.”
Baldwin is more conciliatory, but echoes Boda. “In the light of the new things that God was about to do, all of which proved that the time of mourning was over, what point was there in dwelling on the past?” Baldwin notes the delegation’s questions and concludes that Zechariah uses this opportunity “to convey to exiles and repatriates alike that a new day had dawned. It was time to begin again, with new attitudes and new hopes.” How extensive is the historical breadth of Zechariah’s past-present-future view? “This vision of the nations seeking God completes the purpose of the call of Abraham (Gen. 12:3), that in him all the nations of the earth should be blessed.” Looking to the future, “the prophet sees that God purposes their salvation,” not just in the coming of the Messiah, but in both realized and future-focused eschatology as is seen by the purposeful work of Zechariah in presenting chapters nine through fourteen as a continuation of the message he has been building for the past eight chapters.
Thus, when this bookended section concludes with a distinct contrast in 8:18-23 of the past practices of fasting in the fourth, fifth, seventh and tenth months against the future expectations of feasting with joy and gladness, the prescription for present behavior is made all the more intense in its brevity. “So love truth and peace,” as portrayed in the accompanying vision of the conversion of the nations in 8:20-23 that will next be echoed in Zechariah 14.
Zechariah 14 – However great Yehud’s present need may have been for cooperating and obeying, Zechariah envisions a coming day when they would be well-advised to be well-practiced at doing so. In portraying Zechariah’s purpose, Baldwin notes, “The book prepares God’s people for the worst calamity they can ever face, the triumph of evil over good. Even God’s representative dies at the hand of evil men.” In doing so, Zechariah concludes by doubly presenting the formula of hope. He references their past experiences, of God’s faithfulness and the devastation resulting from their rebellion (14:1,5), their future deliverance from the midst of destruction, and the present topography that will be altered on that day. But he also singles out one festival as exemplary of the participation of “all the nations” (at least the remnant thereof in 14:16-19) in the community of faith. By signifying the Feast of Booths, he does reference the drought to be experienced by those who do not join God’s people (14:18) and presents it in stark contrast to the living waters that will flow out of Jerusalem (14:8). The primary significance, however, of the Feast of Booths is the recollection of God’s chosen people, remembering that initial and most dramatic of their experiences of a past-present-future formula of promise/expectation and disappointment/experience.
The original timetable for God’s people to egress from Egypt, journey beyond the Jordan, and procure The Promised Land was anticipated to involve just those three events in rapid succession. Yet their “journey through” became a “sojourn in” the wilderness. The extension of the Exodus, more than merely an opportunity for God to show His faithful supply to His people, was a direct result of the people’s unfaithfulness to God. The Feast of Booths, then, annually retells the story of God’s people whose experience of past deliverance (from Egypt) and expectation of future promise (into Canaan) still fell short of motivating them to present cooperation and obedience (in the wilderness). This is the foundational issue Haggai presents in 1:2, “Thus says the LORD of hosts, `This people says, "The time has not come, even the time for the house of the LORD to be rebuilt,"’” and that Zechariah builds on beginning in 1:4,
“Do not be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets proclaimed, saying, `Thus says the LORD of hosts, "Return now from your evil ways and from your evil deeds."’ But they did not listen or give heed to Me," declares the LORD.”
Whatever the experience of the past has been, or the expectation of the future may be, it is the present motivation to cooperation and obedience that repeatedly comes back into view. Yet it is most completely presented in the context of such hope as is grounded in God’s past faithfulness as well as His future promise.
Conclusions
The restoration community of Yehud suffers from lethargy, apathy and disaffection. Memories of their past experiences of God’s faithfulness have faded in the glare of the inherent difficulties of the work to which they are called. These challenges are exacerbated by economic conditions (perceived as God’s failure to provide through their crops) which are exacerbated by the political conditions (as subsidies from the Persian Empire end) and exploited by neighboring provinces. Calling to mind the examples of God’s faithfulness experienced throughout Israel’s past falls short of convincing Haggai and Zechariah’s audience to respond so favorably as they anticipated. Likewise, merely pointing them to future expectations of God’s deliverance, the greater glory of His second temple, and the ultimate conversion of the nations appears to have been equally insufficient motivation.
Between these past experiences and future expectations, however, is that third element. In the present, there is one other consideration on which that hope still bears. Despite objections, hindrances, obstacles and outright rebellion by God’s own people, they are still that. They are God’s own people. Ultimately, in each of these three passages, and in the theme of hope throughout both Haggai and Zechariah, the central concern is the issue of identity.
In the climactic passage of Haggai, God says, “My Spirit is abiding in your midst; do not fear.” (Haggai 2:5) At the pinnacle of Zechariah’s initial prophecies, “Ten men from all the nations will grasp the garment of a Jew saying, ‘Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.’” (Zechariah 8:23) And as Zechariah’s prophecies draw to a close, not one unsanctified place remains in all of Jerusalem or Judah.
“In that day there will be inscribed on the bells of the horses, ‘Holy to the Lord.’” Common household utensils will be as ceremonial furnishings in the temple, and all things will be “holy to the Lord of hosts.” (Zechariah 14:20-21)
To paraphrase Boda’s sermon title from Zechariah 7-8, “It’s Not Just the Neighbors Who Are Watching.” God is present. And God is watching. As Boda notes regarding the overall messages of Haggai and Zechariah, the focus of each is on the present.
“While Haggai’s message is summarized in his words, ‘Build the house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored’ (Hag. 1:8), Zechariah’s message is encapsulated in his cry, ‘Return to me…and I will return to you’ (Zech. 1:3). For both the ultimate goal is the return of the presence and blessing of God to his people in order to transform the cosmos.”
Baldwin’s conclusion is that “God was consistent in His dealings with men. Though they disregarded Him, He never gave them up.” Morgan is most eloquent, commenting particularly on the message of Zechariah,
“The only way into blessing is by return to God’s purposes and submission to them. God is on His throne, watching, acting, and He will bless, but men will only come into possession of the blessing and realization of it as they get back to Him and fulfill His purposes.”
That the function and purpose of hope are themselves the very substance of hope may seem to signify circular reasoning. But the abiding presence of God makes hope an all-or-nothing proposition.
Should you seek hope, you cooperate and obey. Should you cooperate and obey, you will experience hope. When you await hope before embarking on cooperation and obedience, hope also waits until your journey begins.
