Visions from the Middle Territory: The Books of Haggai and Zechariah in their Persian Context
January 2022 | Vol. 10.1
By Robert L. Foster
When we think of prophets and empires in the Hebrew Bible, we likely think of First Isaiah’s message in the light of the Assyrian Empire, and Second Isaiah, or Jeremiah and Ezekiel in the context of the exile to Babylon. Most people hardly know the messages of the Books of Haggai and Zechariah, much less how they fit within the context of the Persian Empire.
While the Book of Ezra sees the prophets Haggai and Zechariah as a pair who motivated the returned exiles to rebuild the Temple (Ezra 5:1-2), the two books are distinct from one other in terms of message, length, and historical scope. The Book of Haggai runs only two chapters long, with oracles spanning over two years, and promises a bright future for Jerusalem, within the small district of Yehud, after the people finally laid the foundation of the Temple. The Book of Zechariah, on the other hand, is fourteen chapters long with prophecies spanning sixty years, overall explaining why the grand visions of the prophet Zechariah (Zech. 1:7-6:15) did not come to fruition—because the people failed to enact justice in the land (1:1-6; 7-8; 11:4-17).
Given the archeological record to date, one of the striking features of the first half of the Achaemenid era is a decided disinterest in Jerusalem and the small district of Yehud within the satrapy Abar-Nahara, “Beyond the River.” For example, the Book of Haggai chastises the people for having built roofed houses for themselves while the house of YHWH lies in ruins (Hag. 1:4), a message that seems to assume, alongside the Book of Ezra, that the people were sent home by Cyrus II for the purpose of rebuilding the Temple (Ezra 1:1-4).
Cyrus Cylinder, ca. 539–530 BCE. British Museum. Photo © The Trustees of the British Museum.
Yet, Cyrus’ royal inscription on the Cyrus Cylinder, where he praises his act of returning various gods exiled to Babylon to their home sanctuaries does not mention Jerusalem. And, while the Books of Haggai and Zechariah directly reference the early reign of Darius I six times, no inscription of Darius I mentions Yehud or Jerusalem.
Demographic analysis of the region confirms the claim of the Book of Nehemiah that the city (and region) was sparsely populated until the mission of Nehemiah (Neh. 7:4). If lion seal impressions are any indication, for the first half of the Persian rule of Yehud, Jerusalem was not the administrative center of Yehud but, rather, Ramat Rahel. It appears that the Persians viewed the Levant, as Egyptologist Steven Ruzicka phrases it, as “the Middle Territory,” providing a buffer between the Persians and their sometimes subject, most times rival, Egyptians. Only as the Egyptians started to flex their muscles in the region did the Persians start to invest in Yehud and Jerusalem.
Relief on the southern wall of the east stairway of the Apadana at Persepolis, Iran, depicting Syrians. Photo by Carole Raddato (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Yet, both the Books of Haggai and Zechariah, whose messages predate Nehemiah, envision a glorious future for Jerusalem and Yehud all out of proportion to their current status. In fact, these books are often implicitly critical of, and resistant to, their Persian overlords. When these books imagine nations streaming to Jerusalem to worship YHWH and to offer gifts of gold and silver at the Temple (Hag. 2:6-9; Zech. 2:6-11; 8:20-23; 14:16-19), these visions seem to interact with reliefs on the massive stairwells at Apadana Hall in Persepolis. The stairs into the reception hall of the kings display images of nations in procession, bearing gifts and tribute. The books of Haggai and Zechariah imply that one day Jerusalem will become a city like, or even replacing Persepolis. And while several Persian inscriptions celebrate Ahura-mazda as the god who ensures “blissful happiness for humankind,” both the books of Haggai and Zechariah clearly articulate the struggles of Yehud and Jerusalem and promise that it will be YHWH who provides a joyful future for the city, district, and its people (Hag. 2:9, 19; Zech. 8:19; 9:16-17; 14:10-11).
In the Behistun Inscription, Darius I claims to bring order to a disordered world, the so-called pax Persica. But the Book of Zechariah claims that, in the prophet’s day, the worldwide peace of the time was an act of YHWH (1:7-11) and promises a future peace “from the River [Euphrates] to the ends of the earth” through a king whom YHWH will raise up, (9:9-10). The Book of Zechariah also criticizes the local rule of Yehud, whether in the form of “the king’s Eye,” the Persian official sent to ensure the cultivation of the king’s land and payment of taxes, whom YHWH will remove (5:5-11), or the locally appointed governors, in the guise of shepherds, who will suffer YHWH’s judgment (10:1-3; 11:4-17; 13:7-8). One vision even challenges the supposed military prowess of Persia by visioning the combined forces of former Judahites and Ephraimites doing what the Persians had trouble doing under Artaxerxes I—defeating the Greeks (9:9-15).
Stone carved Faravahar, often identified as Ahura-mazda, from Persepolis. Photo by Napishtim (CC BY-SA 3.0)
These grandiose visions of resistance did not seem to resonate within the world of early Judaism, not even within apocalyptic literature, perhaps because of the nearly continuous subject status of Judea under the Ptolemies, Seleucids, and Romans. Yet, the Book of Zechariah’s message, especially, seems to have resonated well within early Christianity. For example, the Gospel of Matthew quotes from Zechariah 9-14 on three occasions as part of the book’s interpretation of the last week of Jesus (Matt. 21:5; 26:31; 27:9). The evangelist seems to appreciate the tension between the good that Zechariah 9-14 expected a new King/Davidide to initiate, both for Israel and the nations, and the suffering that both the Davidide and the people would endure.
The Gospel of John makes an even stronger claim that the vision of the king riding into Jerusalem on a donkey (Zech. 9:9) was written about Jesus (John 12:5) and yet Jesus, in an ironic fulfillment of Scripture, was treated as an enemy who came against Jerusalem, under Roman rule (John 19:12), and so was pierced (Zech. 12:10/John 19:37). The Book of Revelation, in its introductory vision of Jesus, also presents Jesus as one pierced and mourned, though in the visionary’s case, all nations are implicated in the piercing of Jesus, perhaps because the nations are ruled by and perpetuate the evils of Rome, the evils of empire.
Atanasius Kircher, Topographia Paradisi Terrestris (ca. 1675; Public Domain). The term paradise is derived from Old Persian term pairi-daêzã.
Robert L. Foster is Senior Lecturer in Religion and New Testament at the University of Georgia.
How to cite this article
Foster, R. L. 2022. “Visions from the Middle Territory: The Books of Haggai and Zechariah in their Persian Context.” The Ancient Near East Today 10.1. Accessed at: https://anetoday.org/foster-prophets-persian/.
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