Impulse and design in the book of Haggai

Abstract

"Comparison between the Hebrew texts of Haggai as edited by O. Procksch in BHK (1937) and K. Elliger in BHS (1970) is revealing, as D. L. Petersen has noted.1 Procksch saw the book as entirely a prose work, whereas Elliger set forth more than half of the book in poetic form (Hag 1:3-11, 15; 2:3-9, 14-19, 20-23). Most of the citations of Haggai in P. R. Ackroyd's seminal discussion are also in the stichic form of Hebrew poetry.2 In some respects the situation parallels changes in scholarly perception of the prophetic literature of the Hebrew Bible in general during the modern period of critical scholarship. Though two hundred years ago relatively few translations or commentaries saw much poetry in the prophetic literature, today large sections, particularly in Isaiah and Jeremiah, are recognized almost universally as poetic in form. Increasingly, more and more of the rest of the Hebrew Bible is being read as poetry as well.3"