Proper 27

This week’s First Formation reflection comes from Haggai 2, Psalm 98, 2 Thessalonians 2, and Luke 20. I chose Haggai because it spotlights a figure often overlooked but essential for a coherent Christian reading of the Hebrew Bible: Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest who rebuilt the Second Temple.

The Other Joshua: Reading Haggai, Violence, and Privilege in the Hebrew Bible

We tend to forget there are three Joshuas in the Bible’s great arc:

• Joshua son of Nun, the military leader who led Israel into Canaan;
• Joshua son of Jehozadak, the priest who rebuilt the Temple after exile; and
• Joshua son of Mary, whom Christians call Jesus.

Each stands at a threshold in Israel’s history — conquest, reconstruction, and redemption. Yet our modern theology rarely connects them.

The Real Name of Jesus—and What It Means

The name “Jesus” isn’t Hebrew or Greek. It’s Latin — an imperialized form handed down by Jerome in the 4th century. The Hebrew name was Yehoshua or Yeshua, meaning salvation.
In Greek, it became Iēsous; in Latin, Iesus. Somewhere along the way, we lost the resonance with the book of Joshua — and with the moral tension that name carries.

To reclaim Joshua is to remember that salvation was never sanitized. The same name connects Israel’s conquest of Canaan, the rebuilding of the Temple, and Mary’s son preaching peace under Roman occupation. Each Joshua inherits the mess and the miracle of divine calling.

Haggai and the Second Temple: A Class Struggle in Scripture

Haggai prophesied during the Persian restoration, when exiled elites returned from Babylon with imperial funding to rebuild the Temple.
Zerubbabel served as governor under Persia, and Joshua son of Jehozadak served as high priest. Meanwhile, the people who had never left—the ones we later call Samaritans—were excluded from the project.

This was not simply a religious revival; it was a class struggle within Israel. The same tensions echo through Ezra, Nehemiah, and Daniel. To ignore books like Joshua, Judges, and Haggai is to miss how empire, class, and theology intertwine in the story we claim as Scripture.

Violence, Assembly, and Honest Theology

The “Lord of Hosts” in Haggai literally means Lord of Armies — YHWH Sabaoth. The Greek root (stratos) gives us “strategy” and “army,” but it can also mean assembly. Sometimes God calls the people to battle; other times to simply stand still and watch as divine justice unfolds.

We don’t like looking at violence in Scripture — or in ourselves. But when we refuse to look, we lose the ability to tell the truth about those who fought and suffered on our behalf. Mature theology doesn’t glorify violence, but it refuses to pretend it never happened.

As Haggai puts it:

“Work, for I am with you,” says the Lord of Armies. (Haggai 2:4)

Sometimes that “work” is the honest moral labor of looking at what we’d rather ignore.

Why These Minor Characters Matter

Joshua son of Jehozadak isn’t a household name, yet his legacy defines the Second Temple — the plain, unadorned one rebuilt after exile. It stood until Herod tore it down to construct his ornate, imperial temple — the one that stood in Jesus’ day.

Between those two Joshuas — the son of Jehozadak and the son of Mary — stands a story of humility, rebuilding, and resistance to empire. To study them together is to see how God’s people keep trying to rebuild meaning after destruction.

What’s Next for First Formation

With Advent approaching, First Formation enters a new liturgical cycle. I’ll begin publishing my own paraphrased readings of Scripture — replacing “Jesus” with “Joshua” and restoring the linguistic and moral connections often lost in translation. These reflections, along with audio and transcripts, will be gathered in Notion and linked through PewPewHQ.com/firstformation.

After nearly six years and hundreds of recordings, this is the start of First Formation’s final and most focused chapter — bringing everything home to the Chapter House in Albany, where faith, study, and work meet under one roof.

Reflection:
To follow Joshua son of Mary faithfully, we must remember Joshua son of Nun and Joshua son of Jehozadak — the soldier and the priest who walked before him. Each carried the same name, the same call to trust God amid violence, and the same task of rebuilding the world in faith.