A Different Vision
A favourite device of the film maker is the ‘cutaway’ when you leave the main story for another time, place or circumstance, usually to add a further nuance to the narrative. Cutaways are used in different ways for different purposes.
Some cut back to an earlier event of which the viewer needs to be aware in order to make sense of what is happening now. Some cut away to a similar situation in a totally different time or place to help the viewer appreciate the main story from a different angle. Some cut away to something similar in the public eye or the consciousness of the viewer to demonstrate the thrust of the story for an understanding of the present.
Because Haggai is one of the shorter books we shall use cutaways of all three kinds to enrich our understanding of both past and present. At the same time each cutaway has its own message so that every day is still self-sufficient whilst providing a shaft of light on another.
All our cutaways come from the Old Testament, sometimes to illuminate the problem Haggai is addressing, sometimes thought to be coming roughly from the same period but with a slightly different slant on events, and sometimes focusing on an issue likely to have been in people’s minds at the same time with a view to increasing understanding of both stories. Some will support the main message, some may challenge it.
On the assumption that Haggai belongs roughly to the period of Ezra and Nehemiah following the return from Babylon we begin with their ‘take’ on the state of things.