AGGEO (Hebr. Haggaj, “solemn”; Septuagint Ἀγγαῖος). — Prophet, tenth in the series of the “minor” prophets, and the first among those after the exile. He is identical with the prophet of Estd. 5:1; 6:14. His brief activity, which took place entirely in 520 B.C., concerned the reconstruction of the Temple after the return from Babylon. In this regard A. uttered four oracles, transmitted in the two chapters of his book (1:2-11; 2:4-10; 2:12-20 and 22-24). After a scanty settlement of the families had taken place during the first six months, thought was given to the place of worship: the altar was restored on the site where it had stood before the destruction (Estd. 3:2), and then the foundations of the Temple were laid (Estd. 3:7 ff.). But because of various difficulties (Estd. 4), the work was soon abandoned, nor did there seem to be any prospect of its resumption. To shake the people from their inertia, revive the work, and support its continuation was A.’s mission.
He rose to speak in the presence of the governor Zorobabel and the high priest Josua on the first day of the sixth month of the second year of Darius I (29 August 520 B.C.), censuring the neglect shown toward the house of Jahweh in contrast with the care with which private dwellings had instead been rebuilt; a poor harvest would be the punishment for such negligence (ch. 1). The prophet’s message, perhaps supported by the assistance of newly repatriated people, was accepted, and the work was resumed from the beginning (1:14), since no trace was to remain of the little that had been done (which would explain A.’s silence concerning the work carried out earlier, mentioned by Esdra). Applauding them (1:13), A. rekindled their enthusiasm with the address of the twenty-first day of the seventh month (10 October): the humble Temple that had risen again would surpass the glory of the first, because, when the Messiah came, there would be peace (2:1-10). The third oracle (2:11-20), delivered on the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month (18 December), promises that only the completion of the Temple will bring true purity (cf. Lev. 6:27 ff.; Num. 19:22). Meanwhile, ZACCARIA, SANTO (v.) was added to that of A.
The book is an important source for the post-exilic history of the small Jewish community, which was struggling amid innumerable internal and external difficulties. The country, rendered sterile by neglect, was afflicted by drought (1:9 ff.; 2:17); commerce was struggling to get under way, while famine was raging (1:6). Once the work had resumed, and dismay had entered the minds of the Jahwists at the thought of the new building’s inferiority to the old one, A. foretold salvation in the messianic advent: the nations would stream to the Temple in the universal divine Kingdom (2:7-10; vv. 7 ff. are cited and interpreted in Hebr. 12:26-28).
The exegesis of the well-known messianic passage (2:8) is difficult, also because the Vulgate (et veniet desideratus cunctis gentibus) does not agree with the Hebrew text or with the ancient Greek and Syriac versions (Cf. A. Škrinjar, in Verbum Domini, 15 [1935], pp. 356-62; J. Knabenbauer, Comm. in Proph. Minores, II, 2nd ed., Paris 1924, pp. 183-99; J. Corluy, Spicilegium dogmatico-biblicum, I, Ghent 1884, pp. 515-24). A messianic meaning (perhaps typological) is also attributed to the concluding prophecy concerning the election of Zorobabel as a “sign” amid the ruin of the Nations (2:22-24; cf. Knabenbauer, op. cit., p. 206 f.).