Haggai is a prophet who addresses the Jews that have returned from the Babylonian exile. When King Cyrus of Medo-Persia conquers the vast Babylonian empire in 539 BC, he reverses the forceful re-settlement policies of the Babylonians. He issues an edict in 538 BC allowing exiled peoples to return to their ancestral lands and rebuild the temples of their gods (Ezr 1:2-4), thus fulfilling Jeremiah’s prophecy that the exile would only last seventy years (Jer 29:10).
Some forty-two thousand high-minded Jews respond to this historic turn of events and move back to the promised land in 536 BC. The Jews had actually fared better than expected in exile and to give up all they built up in Babylon is a sacrifice. The returning Jews are therefore those who are obedient to God’s call, those who have high hopes of God restoring the fortunes of his people. They are looking to God to give them back their land and to fulfill the amazing promises spoken by prophets like Isaiah, Micah or Amos.
But for all their hopes, obedience and sacrifice, the returned Jews find themselves in a less than ideal situation: they are still under the over-lordship of the idolatrous Medo-Persian empire, they have to share the land with other peoples that had moved in during the exile, and they struggle economically. Upon arrival they manage to restore the altar in Jerusalem, re-establish the sacrificial system and feasts and lay the foundations of the temple (Ezra 3:3-7). But quickly opposition arises: the foreign peoples with whom they now co-live use threats, bribes and red tape to frustrate the Jews’ efforts to rebuild the temple (Ezra 4:4-5). The returnees are discouraged, they stop building and turn to establishing their lives and livelihoods. Some sixteen years pass.
Then in 520 BC, God calls both the prophet Haggai and the prophet Zechariah to challenge the Jews to restart building the temple. Haggai calls them to evaluate their current economic condition and see it in the light of the covenant-curses of the Law (Deu 28): lack of rain, modest harvests (Hag 1:10), drought, blight, mildew, hail (Hag 1:11, 2:17) and fruitless toil (Hag 1:5-7). He also contrasts God’s house in ruins with their panelled houses. The point is not that they should build the temple before they have roofs over their heads, rather that they should prioritize on the temple before getting luxurious about their houses.
The people, lead by the governor Zerubbabel from the Davidic line and the high priest Joshua, respond to God’s word through Haggai and start building the temple (Hag 1:12-15). But they are still battling discouragement, especially the aged who – before exiled – had seen Solomon’s magnificent temple with their own eyes (Hag 2:3). God addresses their depression by promising his presence with them (Hag 2:5) and a tangible material blessing for their obedience (Hag 2:19). But even more so he gives them a stunning promise: God will see to it that this temple will be filled with the treasures of the nations and with greater splendor than Solomon’s had ever been (Hag 2:6-9).
What does this promise mean and how does it fulfill? None of the biblical writings of Haggai’s time (Ezra, Nehemiah, Haggai, Zechariah) mention that God’s presence manifests itself in a cloud over this new temple as it had done for Moses’ tabernacle and Solomon’s temple (Exo 40:34, 2 Chr 5:14). Some say that the Medo-Persian money spent on the temple is a fulfillment of this prophecy (Ezr 6:8-12), or the fact that centuries later king Herod covers this very temple in gold, or that Jesus himself visits (‘fills’) this very temple. But the prophecy is greater than that: Jesus not only visits the temple, he is the temple that God will put his splendor on, he is ‘God dwelt among us’, his name is ‘Immanuel’. And he builds the church, called the temple of God (1 Cor 3:17). The treasure brought in from all nations then, are the believers coming into the church from all nations.
God addresses another unspoken discouragement: A son of David is no longer on the throne, in conflict with God’s promise in 2 Sam 7. So Haggai speaks a promise to Zerubbabel, who is of the Davidic line: ‘I will make you like a signet ring, for I have chosen you’ (Hag 2:23). In this Messianic promise Zerubabbel becomes a sign pointing to Jesus, the one with the signet ring, the authority to claim people as his own by saving them.

The author

Haggai identifies himself with no description other than “prophet” (Hag 1:1, 2:1,10). This is in contrast with him mentioning other leaders, where he gives full title and father’s name (Hag 1:12). Haggai is the recipient of the five messages of God that are contained in his short book, all spoken within about four months. Ezra mentions Haggai and his co-prophet Zechariah, but gives no further details on them (Ezr 5:1, 6:14). Haggai’s name means ‘festal’, maybe he was born on a Jewish feast day. He was most likely part of the first group of Jews returning to Jerusalem with high hopes in 536 BC after Cyrus’ edict. Some suggest he was part of a priestly or Levitical family, because of the rather technical message in Hag 2:11-13 about purity laws. It is true that the first group of returnees had a rather high percentage of priests and Levites (around thirteen percent), but nothing can be said for sure.

The historical context

Haggai meticulously records the dates when God speaks to him (Hag 1:1, 1:15, 2:1, 2:10, 2:20). These dates and Ezra’s mention of prophet Haggai (Ezr 5:1, 6:14) make the historical context of his messages very clear:
Haggai addresses the Jews that have returned from the Babylonian exile to Judah and Jerusalem (Ezr 5:1). When King Cyrus of Medo-Persia conquers the vast Babylonian empire in 539 BC, he reverses the forced re-settlement policies of the Babylonians. He issues an edict in 538 BC that the peoples that had been exiled by Babylon are allowed to return to their ancestral lands and rebuild the temples of their gods (Ezr 1:2-4), thus fulfilling Jeremiah’s prophecy that the exile would only last seventy years (Jer 29:10).
Some forty-two thousand high-minded Jews respond to this historic turn of events and move back to the promised land in 536 BC (Ezr 2:64). The Jews had actually fared better than expected in exile and to give up all they had built up in Babylon is a sacrifice. The returning Jews are therefore those who are obedient to God’s call, those who have high hopes of God restoring the fortunes of his people, giving them back their land and fulfilling the amazing promises spoken by prophets like Isaiah, Micah or Amos.
But for all their hopes, obedience and sacrifice, the returned Jews find themselves in a less than ideal situation, nothing is quite like it was. At this ‘second exodus’ the Jews are a small group, some mere forty-two thousand, in comparison with the roughly two million at the first exodus during Moses’s time (Exo 12:37). They are only from the tribes of Judah and Benjamin (Ezr 1:5), all other tribes of Israel are lost. Though they have an own governor of the line of David, he is not king and they are still under the over-lordship of the idolatrous Medo-Persian empire. They have to pay taxes and are struggling economically. On top of that, the Jews have to share the land with other idolatrous peoples that have moved in during the exile. The cities are still ruined from the Babylonian invasion and afford no protection. The Jews have brought along some of the original temple equipment that Cyrus returned to the Jews (Ezr 1:6-11), but the ark is lost and the Holy of Holies will remain empty even when the temple is built. Upon arrival they manage to restore the altar in Jerusalem, re-establish the sacrificial system and feasts and lay the foundations of the temple (Ezra 3:3-7). But quickly opposition arises: the foreign peoples with which they now co-live use threats, bribes and red tape to frustrate the Jews’ efforts to rebuild the temple (Ezra 4:4-5). The returnees are discouraged, they stop building and turn to establishing their lives and livelihoods. Some sixteen years pass.

Then in 520 BC, God calls both the prophet Haggai and the prophet Zechariah to challenge the Jews to restart building the temple. The time line of Haggai and Zechariah’s messages and the response of the people is as follows:

Word or Event   Reference   Date    Modern Date
Haggai’s 1st word Hag 1:1-11, Ezr 5:1 2y 6m 1d Darius 29 Aug 520 BC
Temple resumed Hag 1:12-15, Ezr 5:2 2y 6m 24d Darius 21 Sep 520 BC
Haggai’s 2nd word Hag 2:1-9 2y 7m 21d Darius 17 Oct 520 BC
Zechariah’s word Zech 1:1-6                                   Oct / Nov 520 BC
Haggai’s 3rd word Hag 2:10-19 2y 9m 24d Darius 18 Dec 520 BC
Haggai’s 4th word Hag 2:20-23 2y 9m 24d Darius 18 Dec 520 BC
Tattenai’s letter to Darius Ezra 5:3-6:14 519-518 BC
Zechariah’s 8 visions Zech 1:7-6:8 2y 8m Darius 15 Feb 519 BC
Joshua crowned     Zech 6:9-15 2y 8m (?) 16 Feb 519 BC
Repentance urged Zech 7-8 4y 9m 4d Dairus 7 Dec 518 BC
Temple dedicated Ezra 6:15-18 6y Adar-m 3d Darius 12 Mar 516 BC
Zechariah’s final prophecy Zech 9-14 after 480 BC

Haggai therefore speaks during a period of about four months, encouraging the re-start the temple construction, which will take around four years to complete. Haggai’s first message in on the first day of the month, which is the time of the monthly burnt offering (Num 28:11), a time when the Jews probably gathered together at the altar. The presence of the altar but the absence of a temple would have been a sore sight.

In summary Haggai’s messages to these discouraged Jews are:
Hag 1:1-12 Reproof: resume building! Hag 1:1 “I have called for a drought”
Hag 1:13-15 Upon people’s obedience to start building Hag 2:7 “I will fill this house”
Hag 2:10-19 Promise of blessing from this day on Hag 2:19 “I will bless you”
Hag 2:20 Zerubbabel made like a signet ring Hag 2:23 “I have chosen you”

Haggai’s first message Haggai 1:1-12

Right upon the return in 536 BC, the political leader Zerubbabbel (the governor, grandson of Judah’s king Jehoiachin) and the spiritual leader Joshua (the current high priest) had been key figures in erecting the altar and laying the foundations of the temple. They also ordered cedar wood and had ordered carpenters to start working (Ezr 3:7). But when opposition by local people started, everything came to a stop. Haggai addresses these leaders by name, but even more so he addresses all the people, who had allowed themselves be discouraged and who had – in turn – become busy building their own houses and lives: “Is it a time for yourselves to live in your panelled houses, while this house lies in ruins?” (Hag 1:4). Haggai contrasts God’s house in ruins with their houses exhibiting a degree of luxury, panelling. The word ‘panelled’ is the same word as in 1 Kin 6:9, 7:3,7 where it refers to Solomon’s temple or in Jer 22;14 where it describes the fancy houses king Jehoiakim built by exploiting the poor. God’s point is not that they should build the temple before they have roofs over their heads or shelter for their children, rather that their priorities are revealed: luxury for their own houses rather than basics for God’s house. It is possible that some Jews used the materials brought for the temple for private houses, though we don’t know for sure.
Haggai tells them to “Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored” (Hag 1:8). This is in contrast to Solomon’s temple where everything was built with cedar wood from Lebanon. Maybe Haggai is encouraging the Jews not to ‘wait for the cedars’, but to work with what they have. God will be pleased with that and with their attitude behind it.
Haggai calls them to evaluate their current economic condition and understand it in the light of the covenant-curses of the Law (Deu 28:22-40): lack of rain, modest harvests, (Hag 1:10), drought, blight, mildew, hail (Hag 1:11,2:17) and fruitless toil (Hag 1:5-7). Haggai in effect says that their negligence towards God is a breach of covenant, that they are in fact not so different from their ancestors. He asserts that their current economic hardship is not a sign of God’s unfaithfulness, but rather a fruit of theirs, resulting in God’s partial judgment as described in the Law. As often with discouragement, the people are in their hearts blaming God for their hardships, whereas God says that none of this has to be so, if only they set their priorities straight. Their attitude is the exact opposite of David’s, who is struck by the luxury he lives in and the modesty of God’s tent, awakening in him the desire to build the temple (2 Sam 7:2).
God does not deny the difficulties and opposition they face. But he challenges them to press on and in the process experience the help of God.

Response and obedience Haggai 1:12-15

Few prophets get to see what Haggai sees: The people, lead by the governor Zerubbabel and the high priest Joshua, respond to God’s word and start building the temple within a few weeks of hearing Haggai’s challenge (Hag 1:12-15). Haggai receives an immediate word to encourage them: “I am with you, says the LORD” (Hag 1:13).

Haggai’s second message Haggai 2:1-9

But as the Jews re-start the temple construction they are still battling discouragement, especially the aged who – before being exiled – had seen Solomon’s magnificent temple with their own eyes (Hag 2:3). God challenges them to keep building whatever they may feel by a triple challenge to “take courage” and to “work” (Hag 2:3-4). He assures them of his presence and protection “I am with you… My spirit abides among you, do not fear” (Hag 2:4-5). As in all ages, courage is actively ‘taken’ – not necessarily ‘felt’ – and the promise is on those who actually do what God is saying in simple obedience (Jam 1:25).
But on top of that God gives them a stunning promise: “Once again, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land; and I will shake all the nations, so that the treasure of all nations shall come, and I will fill this house with splendor… The latter splendor of this house shall be greater than the former, and in this place I will give prosperity” (Hag 2:6-9). God will see to it that the puny temple they are building will be filled with the treasures of the nations and with greater splendor than Solomon’s had ever been! God gives them a greater perspective so they can be assured of the importance of their own obedience within the greater purposes of God.

But what does this promise mean and how is it fulfilled? When Moses erected the tabernacle (Exo 40:34) and when Solomon dedicated his splendid temple (2 Chr 5:14) God’s presence had descended on the new building in a visible cloud of splendor. Yet none of the biblical writings of Haggai’s time (Ezra, Nehemiah, Haggai, Zechariah) mention any manifestation of God’s glory on this temple they are currently building. What then is the splendor that will fill the temple?
And how about the treasures of all nations? Some Medo-Persian money is indeed donated for this temple (Ezr 6:8-12) and centuries later king Herod will cover this very temple in gold, but is this the fulfillment? Jesus will walk into this very temple, and thus ‘fill’ this temple with splendor, because he is God himself, filling it. But the prophecy is greater even than that: Jesus not only visits the temple, he is the temple that God will put his splendor on (2 Cor 3:9-11), he is ‘God dwelt among us’, his name is ‘Immanuel’, and he builds the church, the temple of God (1 Cor 3:17, Eph 2:11-12, etc). The treasure brought in from all nations, then, are the believers coming into the church from all nations. It is this worldwide, multi-ethnic, living temple of God made of willing believers which is the greater splendor. Hebrews picks up on the shaking theme, applying it to the ‘kingdom that cannot be shaken’ (Heb 12:26-29). Revelation picks up on the treasure theme by declaring about the Lamb “the nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it” (Rev 21:23-24).
Haggai sees something unprecedented, something so much greater on the horizon, but for now God’s purposes are carried forward by the faith and obedience of some Jews who with trepidation build a not so glorious temple. As in all generations, those in the moment cannot fully understand the importance of their contribution, yet their response to the vision and their obedience to the greater purpose is essential.

Haggai’s third message Haggai 2:10-19

About four months after Haggai’s first message and about three months after the people start building the temple (it seems they got as far as laying the foundations, Hag 2:18) God speaks again. He asks the priests some rather technical questions about how things become clean or unclean, which they answer correctly according to Leviticus. God then uses this as a parallel to the Jews and to the work of their hands: Since they are unclean, the work of their hands is also unclean.
Why is God saying this? Maybe a certain pride in building God’s house crept in after the initial discouragement. Maybe God reminds them that nothing humans build is really fit for God and it still is all mercy. Maybe God reminds them that outward obedience is not enough for the covenant people, an inward obedience of the heart is also needed.
God does follow this word up with a wonderful promise of blessing on their obedience: “But now, consider what will come to pass from this day on… From this day on I will bless you” (Hag 2:15-19). “This day” refers to 18th December 520 BC, the time of the year where rains were needed in order to allow for timely sowing and reaping. Probably the rains were the immediate and visible fulfillment of this prophecy and a pledge for the coming harvests.

Haggai’s fourth message Haggai 2:20-23

On the very same day God gives the promise of immediate blessing for their obedience, he addresses another unspoken discouragement: A son of David is no longer on the throne, which is in conflict with God’s promise to David in 2 Sam 7:12-17.
So Haggai predicts again a shaking, now in military terms. The description may have reminded the hearers of God’s victory over the Egyptian army at the Red Sea, or possibly of Daniel’s vision of a stone from heaven destroying all earthly kingdoms (Dan 2:35,44).

God then speaks the following promise to Zerubbabel, who is of the Davidic line: “I will take you, O Zerubbabel my servant… and make you like a signet ring, for I have chosen you” (Hag 2:23).
A signet ring was a sign of authority, of rulership. Zerubbabel – who is a mere governor under Medo-Persia – here is endowed with honor and authority. This description may also have reminded the hearers of Daniel’s vision where one like a man “was given dominion and glory and kingship, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him” (Dan 7:14).
In this Messianic prophecy Zerubbabel becomes a sign pointing to Jesus. Jesus is the son of David, the son of Zerubbabel (Mth 1:12), the one with the signet ring, with covenantal powers, the one with the authority to claim people as his own by saving them.
As with the promise of the greater splendor filling the temple (Hag 2:6-9), this promise is also just left hanging. It doesn’t fulfill literally in the days of Zerubbabel or Haggai’s hearers, but it does speak of something greater beyond, to which their present obedience and godliness is an essential contribution, though they may not see the fulfillment in their lifetime.

Coding Suggestions

• Who persons, officials, priests, the normal people, …
• Where, When
• Contrasts, Comparison, Connectives, Conditional Statements
• Emotions, Emphatic statements
• Commands
• Questions
• Predictions

Repeated Themes

• God’s house, temple, sacrifice, …
• economic well-being, harvest, luxury, blessing <=> economic hardship, lack, suffering
• splendor

Meditation Passages

• Hag 1:4-9      paneled houses, temple in ruins, consider how you have fared
• Hag 2:3-5      in your sight as nothing, take courage, work, for I am with you
• Hag 2:6-9      shake nations, fill this house with splendor
• Hag 2:21-23  Zerubbabel as servant, as signet ring, I have chosen you

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Who wrote?

• Hag 1:1, 2:1,10,20 “In the second year of King Darius, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the LORD came by the prophet Haggai”. All four words are carefully dated and introduced by this same formula. It is most likely that he is the author of the book bearing his name.
• Haggai gives no genealogy, no father’s name, no geographical term, but simply calls himself ‘prophet’, like Habakkuk (Hab 1:1). The name Haggai means ‘festal’, maybe he was born on a Jewish feast day.
• Ezr 5:1, 6:14 Ezra mentions Haggai and co-prophet Zechariah, but again no descriptions. This is a bit surprising since when he mentions other in the book (Zerubabbel and Joshua) he consistently mentions their title and father’s name. Maybe be there were no doubts about him as a person or a prophet, no attacks.
• Haggai’s life Maybe he is of no special descent, of no important family. Maybe he was orphaned at a young age in the war on Jerusalem and lost all contact with family while being exiled (he would be very old by the time of this book, then). Presumably he returns from Babylonia with the first group in 536 BC.
• Some suggest was of a priestly or Levitical family because of the rather technical message in Hag 2:11-13 about purity laws. It is also true that in that first group returning to Jerusalem there was an abnormally high percentage of priests and Levites, something like 13 % of the total population.

Who written to?

• Ezr 5:1 Ezra mentions clearly that Haggai and Zechariah “prophesied to the Jews who were in Judah and Jerusalem”. Haggai mentions himself addressing the people in Hag 1:13 and 2:2-9, especially 2:3.
• Hag 1:1,2:2,21 He specifically addresses Zerubabbel (governor) and Joshua (high-priest). These are messages spoken directly to these two individuals, yet were of authorizing power for the two in the ears of the people. Also the fact that they appear in written form in the book
• Haggai makes them more than private.
• Hag 2:11 Haggai addresses the priests uses a ‘question & answer time’ with the priests to make a point.

When written?

• Haggai meticulously records the dates when he spoke the words:
• Date of writing The book was probably written simultaneously to giving the words, or shortly after, so 520 BC. He starts speaking on the first day of the month was the time of the monthly burnt offering (Num 28:11), most likely a time when people met. The absence of the temple probably would have stood out to people and been a sore memory.
• His message of challenge and encouragement to build this temple would have been a real need and a real help for the situation at hand, and so was spoken and probably written immediately. The fact that Haggai is referred to as “he” and not as “I” I personally find lining up nicely with the rather dry, rather formal and somewhat meticulous form of this little book.
• Duration Haggai speaks only over about 3 months. The temple construction takes 4 years to finish in comparison.
• Zechariah Zechariah starts prophesying 2 months later than Haggai. The two prophets do not take reference to one another but have parallels in their messages and must have known each other. Haggai seems to hear the word of the Lord’, while Zechariah does some hearing and plenty of seeing.

Written from where?

• Ezr 5:1 mentions Haggai and Zechariah “prophesied to the Jews who were in Judah and Jerusalem”, which was the rallying point for the returned Jews and the location of the temple to be built. > Jerusalem most likely..

Historical background

Timeline

• 539 BC    Medo-Persia conquers Babylon, fulfilling earlier prophecy. Isa 44:28-45:7 foretold Cyrus with name. Jer 29:10 foretold the 70 year exiled and the return. Dan 2, 7 foretold a series of empires.
• 538 BC    Cyrus’ edict allowing peoples to return and rebuild their temples. Now that Israel lost its land and self-government, God himself restored it to them – through heathen kings.
• 536 BC   42’000 Jews return, responding to the word of God. They are the faith-filled, the sacrificial ones.
• 536 BC    Upon return they immediately rebuild the altar, start sacrificing and building the temple foundation
• Then various opposition, counter-politics and threats happen > temple building discontinued
• 536-520 BC 16 year gap, the Jews establish themselves, the temple remains untouched.
• 522 BC    Darius I ascends the throne by killing the usurper Smerdis. He quells a rebellion in Babylon.
• 520 BC   Haggai and Zechariah challenge the Jews to start building the temple again. Tattenai
• 516 BC    The temple is completed.

Situation

• Primarily Ezra 1-6 gives the background, but also the whole of Ezra, Nehemiah, Chronicles, and of course Haggai and Zechariah.
• On the one hand a stunning fulfilling of promises before their very eyes, on the other hand a quite sobering reality. Those whose heart the Spirit of God had stirred return, but they are only 42’000 plus 7’000 slaves (Ezr 2:64-65). They are only of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, the other tribes are lost (Ezr 1:5). They get the original temple equipment back and generous gifts of the neighbors (Ezr 1:6-11), but this further parallel to the Exodus of Egypt might have also had its stinging aspects: they are now not even a 40th part of the people they were back then, just about 900 years ago. Also the ark is lost. They return to a land that is by no means empty, and to ruined cities with no protection. In a sense it is a sorry lot, trying to restart their abortive history with God.
• They return in 536 BC and start well and set up the altar of burnt offerings, reinstitute the sacrificial system and the feasts and rebuild the foundations of the temple (Ezr 3:3-7). But quickly opposition arises: threats, bribes, frustrations and red tape (Ezr 4:4-5). The returnees are discouraged. They do have their own governor (Zerubbabel) but have to navigate their neighbors’ agendas opposition. They are no longer a nation with a Davidic king, they are under a heathen king, law and empire. They have to pay taxes. Nothing is quite like it was.

PROPHETIC MESSAGE OR HISTORIC EVENT

Religious condition

• This returning remnant would have been the more committed, more faith-filled, the more prophecy-influenced, more adventurous and sacrificial that those Jews remaining in Babylon.
• They must have been those who accepted ‘Jeremiah’s interpretation’ of why the exile was a necessity and who believed God’s promises of a fresh start, a restoration.
• They do get discouraged and lose focus, but when Haggai challenges them, they respond and obey within days.

Literary Category

• entirely prose

Structure

• prophecy, with one historic event (Hag 1:12), the report of the people’s obedience

Composition

• question-answer (Hag 2:11-14). Clear dating.

Haggai – the structure and main message

• Hag 1:1-12     First word reproof: resume building!            Hag 1:1    “I have called for a drought”
• Hag 1:13-15   People’s response obedience: work begun   Hag 1:13  “I am with you”
• Hag 2:1-9      Second word encouragement to finish          Hag 2:7   “I will fill this house”
• Hag 2:10-19  Third word promise of blessing                      Hag 2:19  “I will bless you”
• Hag 2:20       Fourth word
• In the first two, people’s actions are prominent, in the last three words God’s work is prominent.

Main topics / ideas

• challenge to build the temple, to give God priority over own comfort
• promise for economical hardship to stop is they are obedient
• encouragement and promise: God’s presence, this temple will be filled with greater splendor, glory, treasures
• promise on the Davidic line will be fulfilled (Zerubbabel = signet ring)

Main reasons / goals

• to encourage the building of the temple, obedience to God’s command, putting God first
• to show and assure of God’s faithful blessing on obedience
• to assure them of the promised presence of God, the splendor and glory of the temple they are building
• to assure them on the promise of the Davidic line, to keep up the hope in God’s bigger plan in spite of current situation

HAGGAI TEXT

Hag 1:1-7                 Reproof

• Addressees Haggai addresses Zerubabbel (governor, granson of Jehoiachin) and Joshua (current high priest), and even more so the people, who had been unwilling to build the house of the LORD. Both Zerubbabbel and Joshua had been key figures in erecting the altar and laying the foundations of the temple in 536 BC, right upon the return. They also ordered cedar wood and had carpenters start working. But when opposition by local people started, everything came to a stop.
• Problem Contrast between God’s house and their houses. The word ‘panelled houses’ is also used in 1 Kin 6:9, 7:3,7 for the cedar paneling of the temple of Solomon, and in Jer 22:14 to describe the fancy houses King Jehoiakim built by exploiting the poor. The point is not that they should build the temple before they have roofs over their houses, rather that they should prioritize on the temple before getting luxurious about their houses. The issue is priorities.
• Wood was not that readily available and probably not cheap. It could even be, that even that wood and assigned building materials for the temple ended up being used for private houses. God also makes it clear he is not luxurious himself by insisting on cedar wood (Hag 1:7): “Go to the hills and bring wood”, any reasonable local tree will do.
• The second issue is: discouragement, to let themselves be brought off track, be made unfruitful by opposition. They should have risen up and ‘fought’, fought discouragement, not settling for less.
• Consequences The way God has been trying to get their attention is by withdrawal of material blessing: heaven has withheld dew, the earth has withheld produce (Hag 1:10), God called for a drought (Hag 1:11), blight, mildew, hail (Hag 2:17), in summary: unfruitful toil (Hag 1:5-7). These are clear covenant-breaking curses (Deu 28, Lev 26), partial judgments intending to get their attention so they would repent.
• Evaluate The way God argues with the people is to call them to a reality-check, to stop, to evaluate, to think , to draw conclusions. He argues basic logic, obvious evidence, and that none of this has to be so!
• David The attitude displayed by the people is an interesting reversal of David’s attitude, who was uneasy about his own luxury and the ark’s relative poverty in a tent (2 Sam 7). David not only felt bad but took the initiative and even after God didn’t let him do it, he stored up materials for his son to be more than equipped to do the task.
• Command Another reversal is interesting: here God actually requires a temple to be built. In David’s time God does not directly command a temple to be built (there surprisingly is only one verse that is sort of a ‘half command’), but here God does, clearly and directly
  My house God here calls the temple “my house”. Jesus later calls this same second temple “my Father’s house” (Jhn 2:16). However later Jesus says to Jerusalem: “Behold your house is forsaken and desolate” or “See, your house is left to you, desolate” (Mth 23:38). Then Jesus walks out of that temple (Mth 24:1-2, Mrk 13;1-2), predicts its destruction and never enters it again.
• Practically Basically he simply commands them to work, to not let the opposition or the discouragement wear them down, to not settle for lesser goals, to take the risk and to not overly fear, to live with the tension between the amazing vision and the frustrating daily reality.
• He commands to get on with the trees on the hills, to not wait for cedars to float down the Mediterranean, to work with what they have.
• Application At a conference we may hear the voice of God, get excited, respond, do our best to rise up in faith, commit ourselves, take courage … or generally in our Christian lives: we get touched by God, experience him, start responding, start blooming, taking courageous steps of faith … and then try to walk it out in daily life … and then things get difficult.
• This is the problem of being in a visionary organization, in working with pioneers with big dreams, high goals, all-out commitment: then reality hits, slow work, many problems, frustrating details, corruption, lack of money, lack of workers, … It can be a huge stretch between the breath-taking vision and the daily reality. And sometimes we cave in. Forever discouragement is our number one enemy. Sometimes it even becomes resentment against God: Why didn’t he come though when we did our ‘all’?

Haggai 1:12-15                         Response and obedience

• Hag 1:12,14-15 This is the beauty: they obey. They just simply obey. Few prophets get to see that people respond positively to what they say,
• Haggai is one of the few (besides Jonah, maybe Zechariah).
• Hag 1:13 When they start God gives one more thing: a simple promise of his presence: ‘I am with you’. As Jesus in Mth 28:20 to all believers. God works in their hearts.
• 520 BC    6th month 1st day 0 day Haggai challenges them
• 520 BC    6th month 24th day 24 days later start building. Promise: I am with you.
• 520 BC    7th month 21st day 1m into work Haggai addresses discouragement

Haggai 2:1-7                           Encouragement and vision beyond

• Hag 2:3 God addresses discouragement yet again: some have still seen Solomon’s temple before it was destroyed. They are crying seeing the current efforts “Who is left among you that saw this house in its former glory? How does is look to you now? Is it not in your sight as nothing?” God knows and addresses discouragement head on.
• The comparison is real, the temple Zerubbabel will build is very modest in comparison with Solomon’s, it’s a different time, there was no David laying up for the temple for decades, they are not even self-ruled. Solomon built it with full force for 7 years, the returned Jews will build it in 4 years. God doesn’t address discouragement by beautifying, whitewashing, denying reality. Neither should we. He addresses it by being fully real, but giving a greater perspective.
• To cry is okay, as long as they don’t stop building. Riding on the emotional high wave at all times is in no way required, but what is required is faith enough to obey, faithfulness to God and the task at hand.
• Sometimes there will be need to adjust some of our expectations (a less fancy house), but don’t let go or lessen the goals!
• But God now responds strongly, with a re-issued command to build and promise of God’s presence:
• Hag 2:4-5 The triple “take courage” addresses to Zerubbabel, Joshua and the people (personally, directly) is strong. Courage is ‘taken’, not necessarily ‘felt’. It is available from God for those willing to ‘take’ it.
• “Work”! … the simple command to get on with business, anchored, motivated and guaranteed in the “says the LORD”. Work is how obedience looks, it is faith expressed, it is how callings are realized, potentials are reached.
• Interesting also that God here links the current Jews not with ‘those who did the exodus from Babylon’ (which would be a most immediate link) but with “those who came out of Egypt”.
• God assures them that they are the continuation of the calling of God on Israel. Israel lost God, temple, land and self-government. But not calling. Those who respond (in any age) are the ones on which God’s calling rests … So: Don’t fear! Fear is a legitimate emotion but a bad counselor. To hold on to fear over the spoken word of God becomes a problem. Again: God doesn’t require the emotion of fearlessness, but he requires obedience.
• All is run, motivated, executed, possible by God’s presence: ‘My spirit abides among you; do not fear’.
• But he goes on with a far more amazing and far-reaching promise:
• Hag 2:6-9 “in a little while I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and he dry land; and I will shake all the nations, so that the treasure of all nations shall come, and I will fill this house with splendor … the latter splendor of this house shall be greater than the former, says the LORD of hosts, and in this place I will give prosperity.”
• What does this mean? God addresses their current discouragement: This house will be greater than Solomon’s, somehow. But how does this fulfill? And will this really be true? Here are some options:
• Zerubbabel’s temple will be great. Actually, what they build now is only a shadow of what Solomon built. After Zerubbabel and Joshua and the people finished that second temple, there is no record of God filling it again with his glory. God spectacularly filled the tabernacle with his glory, which is the climax at the end of Exo 40:34. God in the same way confirms the switch from tabernacle to temple under Solomon: God again spectacularly fills the tabernacle with his glory (2 Chr 5:14), but nothing happening now that could be called ‘greater splendor’, neither Ezra, Nehemiah, Haggai or Zechariah reports anything.
• In Jesus’ time, Herod – to make the Jews happy and to prove himself as legitimate king – will cover this temple with marble and gold. Mind you with money he extorted from the Jews. So this is not really a very good fulfillment.
• But then what is? We could say: this is the temple Jesus will walk into. In that sense God himself will come and fill this temple … but it’s also this temple establishment that will execute him.
• We truly can say: this temple is a picture of the true temple, as revealed in the New Testament: Jesus is the temple. Maybe the fact that is wasn’t grand meant to exactly create a tension in the Jews: to hope for more. Jesus is the temple. Jesus is ‘God dwelt in our midst.’ Jesus is Immanuel: God with us
• But also this is a promise of the church, the believer’s are God’s temple, each individually and together (1 Cor 3:16-17, 6:19, Eph 2:11-22 etc). For details see the appendix.
• Hebrew sheds further light on the ‘shaking’ in Heb 12:26-29: “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heaven. This phrase, yet once more, indicates the removal of what is shaken – that is, created things – so that what cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us give thanks”. Hebrews stresses again and again that we have received a superior covenant that cannot be shaken. The Old Covenant was shaken and went out of existence (Heb 10:9): “He abolishes the first in order to establish the second”. Heb 8:13 “In speaking of the New Covenant he treats the first as obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away” (Heb 7:22, 8:8, 9:6, 12:22-24).
• Also 2 Cor 3:9-11 picks up on the splendor-theme, referring to Jesus: ‘For if there was splendor in the dispensation of condemnation, the dispensation of righteousness must far exceed it in splendor. Indeed, in this case, what once had splendor has come to have no splendor at all, because of the splendor that surpasses it. For if what faded away came with splendor, what is permanent must have much more splendor’.
• Hag 2:7 What then are the ‘treasure (riches) of the nations’ that will be brought into this house of God? It’s people. Its the believers. It’s us. It’s those many more God wants to reach through us. One could argue that this refers to the Medo-Persian government contributing money to build the temple. They contributed twice, one time is already past at the moment Haggai speaks (Ezr 1:7-11, 536 BC), the second time will happen soon (Ezr 6:8-12, 520 BC). Some say this refers to some third end time temple rebuilt with the money of the nations. But these interpretations blanch before this referring to Jesus.
• This amazing prophecy and picture is also picked up in the description of heaven: Rev 21:24 where is also is a metaphorical descriptions of the church, the believers from all nations coming before God.
• It’s like behind every vision the more powerful and amazing vision opens: temple, Jesus on earth, the church, redeemed mankind in heaven. So how does God cure the tension of the great vision with reality? By a greater vision!
• The Jews standing in front of Haggai only got a glimpse of this, and could not have fully understood the amazing vistas opening. But is did encourage them to know, that their puny temple is significant and that God will put it to ‘greater work’. So they did live up to their calling, they did build this temple.
• Maybe us also: we only partially see the greater picture, we will see only some of the fulfilling, but God is guarantee for the bigger picture. God will take our part and put it into contexts greater than what we understand. So: live with the tension. And: keep obeying.
• Hag 2:10-14 About 3 months after the Haggai’s first message and about 2 months after the people start working it seems that they got as far as relaying the foundations for the temple.
• That’s when God speaks again. It’s a question & answer time with the priests. God is pointing out that holiness is not contagious, but uncleanness is. He calls Israel unclean, and the work of their hands. These statements are quite ‘matter of fact’.
• Why is God saying this? Did a ‘pride in building God’s house’ creep in after the initial discouragement? Or is it just an important reminder that nothing that humans build really is ‘fit for God’, or ‘good enough’? It it a stark reminder that God’s presence, their calling, everything – is very undeserved grace, and God’s unilateral mercy-intervention? Probably it is a reminder more than a rebuke.
• Hag 2:15-19 God’s wonderful promise of prosperity that follows immediately: ‘But now, consider what will come to pass from this day on … From this day on I will bless you’.
• This day is in December, and the time of the year where rains were needed in order to allow for sowing and reaping in time. Probably rains were the immediate and visible fulfillment of this prophecy and a pledge for the coming prosperity.
• Note how God is calling the people to hold him accountable, to watch his faithfulness and his favor, to think, to realize, to evaluate, to draw conclusions and act on them, to be encouraged and to keep building. He gives them time-bound, concrete evidence, real and obvious for all to see … now.
• How would you like such a promise in written form with a such specific time-frame? Well, God does give them again and again.
• It also shows just how much in need this group of people was, how much they must have fought with thoughts and feelings of inferiority. We find ourselves in this position also, God hasn’t changed his intentions and hasn’t lost his confidence.
• Hag 2:20-23 This exact same pattern of a promise conflicting with present reality, a message kind-of-for-now but even more so pointing onward to a greater reality beyond, we find again in the last passage, the words spoken to Zerubbabel.
• “I am about to shake the heavens and the earth, and to overthrow the strength of the kingdoms of the nations, and overthrow the chariots and their riders; and the horses and their riders shall fall, every one by the sword of a comrade. On that day, says the LORD of hosts, I will take you, O Zerubbabel my servant, son of Shealtiel, says the LORD, and make you like a signet ring; for I have chosen you, says the LORD of hosts”.
• Again the theme of shaking and a descriptions of all other kingdom falling before the one God is establishing. This would have reminded the hearers of Daniel’s dream/prophecy (the stone from heaven that destroys the all earthly kingdoms, and grows and fills the whole earth, Dan 2:35,44). Also it reminds of the one like a man in Daniel’s vision “was given dominion and glory and kingship, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him” (Dan 7:14).
• Signet ring was a metaphor of authority, importance, leadership, lasting covenant. Zerubbabel is the current governor under Medo-Persia, the grandson of Jehoiachin, of the kingly line. The Promise of God that David would never not have a son of his reigning on the throne (2 Sam 7) would be a sore spot for the returned Jews, for it looked like the promised had failed, they were not self-governed and Zerubbabel wasn’t king.
• Yet here God picks up this discrepancy and speaks a promise to it, Zerubbabel is chosen, and he – or rather his descendant Jesus – is the signet ring, the one with authority to seal, to transact, to declare righteous, to save. It is a Messianic prophecy, and one more prophecy that left the Jews hanging, hoping for more.

Appendix: Significance of the tabernacle / temple starting in the OT

• The tabernacle or “tent of meeting” is all throughout the Bible a symbol of God dwelling in the midst of his people: God dwelling among us, God in our midst, God with us. The tabernacle is a place of fellowship, of meeting, of relationship … the relationship that had been broken in garden Eden and that will fully be restored in revelation (the marriage supper of the lamb).
• At Sinai Moses was commanded to build a tabernacle, a mere shadow of what he “saw” in heaven (Heb 9:23-24). He was commanded to institute a law and a sacrificial system. All this allows in a very defined and prescribed way unholy people to have fellowship with a Holy God. The instituted laws are to reveal God’s character, to help man know God and to live in a God-pleasing way. The instituted sacrifices are according to Hebrews (Heb 10:1-4) a “reminder of sin”, not accomplishing forgiveness themselves, but pointing forward to the Messiah’s ultimate sacrifice. The instituted priesthood is a model of how mediating is needed between God and man.
• God confirms the tabernacle and the sacrificial system and the Levitical priesthood: He fills the tabernacle with his glory – visible for all, the climax of Exodus (Exo 40:34). God again confirms Solomon’s temple by filling it with his glory (1 Chr.5:14).
• Already back with Solomon and the “functioning physical first temple” we find Solomon pointing to different aspect during the temple dedication: (1 Kin 8:27) “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain thee; how much less this house which I have built!”
• Isaiah stresses a similar thought (Isa 66:1-2): “Thus says the Lord: Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool; what is the house which you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest? All these things my hand has made, and so all these things are mine, says the Lord. But this is the man to whom I will look, he that is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.” Isaiah already 700 years before Jesus opens up a new understanding of the true temple of God.
• Stephen quotes this Isaiah passage in his speech in Acts 7 and reproaches his hearers with resisting God’s truth, both in form of the prophets and of Jesus.

Appendix: The significance of the temple in the NT

• We know that Jesus name “Immanuel” given to him according to the word of the angel, means exactly that again: “God with us”. Furthermore when John in the first chapter of his gospel describes Jesus he says: (Jhn 1:14) “And the Word became flesh and lived among us” literally “tabernacled among us”. The very same word as tabernacle. The New Testament tells us that the temple is a type of Jesus, a picture communication beforehand about the Messiah. By the way: so are the sacrifices, so is the priesthood. Jesus is the temple, he is the ultimate sacrifice, he is the great high priest, he is the fulfillment of the law.
• The New Testament uses the word “temple” as a picture for both the individual believer who has God’s Spirit dwelling in him as well as for the the church as a whole, being the temple of the Holy Spirit.
  • Eph 2:11-22  grows into a holy temple 1 Cor 3:16-17 don’t you know you are God’s temple?
  • 1 Cor 6:19      your body is the temple of the living God 2 Cor 6:16-18 we are the temple of the living God
  • 1 Peter 2:4     like living stones be yourselves built into a spiritual house
  • 2 Tim 3:15     that you might know how to behave in the house of God … the church of the living God
  • Heb 3:1-6      describes the church as God’s house and Jesus as the builder.
• With God himself dwelling in every believer and in the church also his glory dwells and fills believers:
• 2 Cor 3:18 And all of us…are being transformed into the same image…comes from… the Spirit.