When the Jews were carried away captive to Babylon it occurred in three phases. Likewise, they left their place of bondage in three stages. In 538 B.C., Darius, the Persian king, issued a decree for the Jews to go back to their homeland—to Judah. The first returnees were led by Zerubbabel (536 BC), the second by Ezra (458 BC), and the third by Nehemiah (444 BC). Haggai was in the first group. He began to prophesy 16 years later, during the second year of King Darius (1:1) in 520 BC.
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