534 Elie Assis book in these two oracles only, and both in the context of the economic distress (13). The dates in these oracles are given in full, that is, day, month and year. However, the order of year, month, day in the first oracle is reversed in the third oracle. This reversal at the beginning of the second part shows an intention of creating an additional connection between the two oracles according to Zaidel’s discovery that when a biblical source cites another, such source frequently reverses the order of their components (14). 4. The Second and Fourth Oracles In the second oracle, the problem is the status of the newly built Temple. After the laying of the foundations, it became clear that it did not correspond to the standards of the First Temple. The people’s response was to look down on the Second Temple, 2,3. The fourth oracle also deals with the problem of a lower status, that of Zerubbabel, scion of the House of David (2,21-23). The correlation between the status of the Temple and that of the king appears also in the account of David’s initiative to build the Temple after building his palace (2 Sam 7,2) (15). In both oracles the awaited transition will occur in the future in the framework of cataclysmic upheavals and changes, which will include political transformations and disruption of natural forces. These descriptions are similar in both oracles. In both, following the upheavals in natural forces (2,6; 2,21), worldwide cataclysmic upheaval will occur (2,7; 2,22). In the framework of these changes the Temple will be filled with glory according to the second oracle, 2,7.9; and Zerubbabel’s status will rise according to the fourth oracle, 2,23. I indicated above that the similar closing of the second and fourth oracles supports the division of the book into two. The relation between the endings of these two oracles is not limited to their ending twabx ’h µan; the rhetorical structure of both verses is also similar. Hag 2,9: ˆwvarhAˆm ˆwrjah hzh tybh dwbk hyhy lwdg (1) twabx hwhy rma (2) µwlv ˆta hzh µwqmbw (3) twabx hwhy µan (4) The structure of the verse is alternate; the elements marked with uneven numbers are the actual contents of the message, whereas the elements marked with even numbers function syntactically as a parenthetical clause, that God is the source of the message. (13) The term bl µyç appears in Deut. 32,45, and also in Isa. 41,22; Ezek. 40,4; 44,5. However, the full term µkykrd l[ µkbbl wmyç is unique to Haggai (also in 1,7; in 2,15,18 the shorter term is found). (14) M. ZAIDEL, “µylht rpsl hy[çy rps ˆyb twlybqm”, Sinai 38 (1957) 149-172, 229-242, 272-290, 333-355 (Hebrew); G. BRIN – Y. HOFFMAN, “arqmb swmsaykh çwmyçl”, Sefer Zaidel (eds. E. Eliner et. al.) (Jerusalem 1962) 280-289. (15) BEDFORD, “Discerning the Time”, 94. For the position of royalty in the rebuilding of the Temple see: D.L. PETERSEN, “Zerubbabel and Jerusalem Temple Reconstruction”, CBQ 36 (1974) 366-372.