80 GREG GOSWELL that this date formula is dependent on what is supplied in v. 10 above (“on the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius”). The (incomplete) date formula used in v. 20 indicates a close connection to the previous oracle, suggesting that this new oracle is in continuity with what precedes and is thematically complementary to it in certain ways 9. The chronological connection is made explicit by the addition of “a second time ” in v. 20, with the narrator stating that this is the second time God spoke to Haggai on that day. One of the features that links the final oracle to the wider temple theology of the prophecy is that it shares the same day as the preceding oracle, so that it is uttered on the very day that God has announced will be the day from which he will bless his people (2,18-19). The promise of harvest blessing at the end of 2,19 (“From this day on I will bless [you]”) that immediately precedes the oracle that is the focus of my study suggests, on analogy, that 2,20-23 is an appropriate blessing for Zerubbabel. Just as the people’s willing involvement in the rebuilding of YHWH’S temple is the reason for the promised blessing (2,15b.18b), the second oracle on the same day announces God’s favour toward Zerubbabel presumably because of his role as governor in helping the temple-building project (2,21: “Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah”). The fact that the oracle (like the preceding one) is dated on the day on which “the foundation of the LORD’S temple was laid” (2,18) 10 supports the thesis that it is Zerubbabel’s involvement in the project that explains this message of encouragement for him 11. 4. Election terms The terminology used in 2,20-23 in relation to Zerubbabel (“taken, my servant, chosen”) is the terminology of election, but none of these theologically loaded terms is so specifically royal as to require that Zerubbabel is being addressed as the scion of the house of David 12. With P.A . VERHOEF, “Notes on the Dates in the Book of Haggai”, Text and 9 C o n t e x t . O l d Testament and Semitic Studies for F.C. Fe n s h a m (ed. W. CLAASSEN) (JSOTSS 48; Sheffield 1988) 265. For a fuller listing of features that show the affinity of 2,10-19 and 2,20-23, see M.J. BODA, Haggai, Zechariah (NIV Application Commentary; Grand Rapids, MI 2004) 159-160. Fo r this expression and how it may be reconciled with the 10 c o m m e n c e m e n t of work on temple at the earlier date in 1,15a, see D.R. HILDEBRAND, “Temple Ritual: A Paradigm for Moral Holiness in Haggai II 10-19”, VT 39 (1989) 166-168. Likewise in Zechariah 4, the word of YHWH to Zerubbabel (4,6-7) and to 11 the community about Zerubbabel (4,8-10a) both focus on him as temple-builder and give encouragement that the project will be successfully completed. W.H. ROSE, Zemah and Zerubbabel. Messianic Expectations in the Early 12 Postexilic Period (JSOTSS 304; Sheffield 2000) 208-218.