Prophet Haggai (500 Before the Nativity of Christ)

The Prophet Haggai belongs to the number of the twelve minor prophets. He was born of the tribe of Levi and was active in the reign of the Persian King Darius (five hundred years before the Nativity of Christ). The Jews who had returned from the Babylonian captivity began to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem, but met strong opposition from the Samaritans and the Persian authorities and were forced to break off the work they had begun for a full fourteen years. Through the mouth of the Prophet Haggai the Lord encouraged His chosen people and revealed to them that the second Temple would be more glorious than the first (Haggai 2).