as a “prophetic disputation,” which includes the following three elements: description of the people’s present attitude, challenge of this attitude through question, and pronouncement of Yahweh.3 There are also significant links in terms of content between 1:2–7 and 1:9–11.4 Thus, this initial section constitutes a prophetic message delivered to the people either through or in the presence of Zerubbabel and Joshua. The narrative response to this message in 1:12–14 is inseparable from the prophetic