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Ezra 5 · a question people ask

Who were Haggai and Zechariah?

In the text

Ezra says only that they were prophets who "prophesied to the Jews who were in Judah and Jerusalem" "in the name of the God of Israel" (5:1), that they were with the builders, "helping them" (5:2), and that "The elders of the Jews built and prospered, through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo" (Ezra 6:14). The Bible has a book of Haggai and a book of Zechariah. In Haggai, "the LORD’s word came by Haggai the prophet, to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest" (Haggai 1:1). The book of Zechariah names its prophet "the prophet Zechariah the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo" (Zechariah 1:1), where Ezra has "Zechariah the son of Iddo" (5:1). Ezra doesn't explain the difference, and these notes quote the verses side by side without going further. Whether Ezra's "Jeshua the son of Jozadak" (5:2) is Haggai's Joshua is Ezra 3's honest question, which leaves it open too.

The verses

“Now the prophets, Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophesied to the Jews who were in Judah and Jerusalem. They prophesied to them in the name of the God of Israel. Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua the son of Jozadak rose up and began to build God’s house which is at Jerusalem; and with them were the prophets of God, helping them.”
Ezra 5:1-2 · World English Bible
“The elders of the Jews built and prospered, through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. They built and finished it, according to the commandment of the God of Israel, and according to the decree of Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia.”
Ezra 6:14 · World English Bible
“In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, in the first day of the month, the LORD’s word came by Haggai the prophet, to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, saying,”
Haggai 1:1 · World English Bible
“In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, the LORD’s word came to the prophet Zechariah the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, saying,”
Zechariah 1:1 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Ezra 5

Ezra 5: Who gave you a decree?

Ezra 5 starts the building again with prophets, not a king (5:1-2). When the governor asks, "Who gave you a decree?" (5:3), the work doesn't stop: "the eye of their God was on the elders of the Jews, and they didn’t make them cease" (5:5); and the elders answer, "We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth" (5:11).

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions