HAGGAI breathes a religious atmosphere entirely different from that of the pre-exilic prophets. Idolatry and heathenish practices are no longer the chief sins, but rather a tendency to secularism. This was perhaps an inevitable result of the limitation of sacrifice to one altar; for those who were suddenly forbidden to observe the religious practices which they had hitherto regarded as essential would in many cases find it difficult to discriminate between what was forbidden and what was allowed or even enjoined. Thus, whereas the great prophets of the eighth and seventh centuries repudiated all sacrifice, the compromising school of reformers represented by Josiah and his advisers found it necessary to insist on attendance at the great religious feasts. ... In his zeal for the restoration of ritual worship, Haggai resembles Ezekiel, though he shows no signs of being directly influenced by him. . . . Although Haggai 's zeal for sacrifice seems retrograde in comparison with the teaching of the pre-exilic prophets, he laid a foundation for the work of Ezra and Nehemiah, and thus had a share in the preparation of Israel to be a light to lighten the Gentiles.
—From "A Commentary on the Bible," by Arthur S. Peake.
