Haggai 1
The book of Haggai (Festival of Yahweh) is one of the shortest in the Old Testament. Spanning just two compact chapters, it tells the story of Haggai, a prophet of God, who must motivate the complacent Jews to give glory to God by rebuilding the second temple. These letters were written in 520 BC and are considered one of, if not the most, precisely dated letters in the entire Old Testament.
To understand where the Jewish people are in this book, we must do a little historical digging.
957 BC - The original temple, built by Solomon, was completed in this year. The temple would stand for over 300 years and go through a number of minor destructions and restorations before its final destruction, recorded in the books 1 Kings, 2 Chronicles.
722 BC - Israel (the 10 Northern Tribes) are conquered by the Assyrians and assimilated into the Assyrian and ultimately Samaritan society. This is in large part the end of the Jewish bloodline through the 10 Northern Tribes. This happened because the Northern Tribes refused to follow God and remained evil from the beginning of the splitting of the tribes (930 BC)
Recorded in the books 2 Kings, 2 Chronicles, Hosea, Nahum.
608 BC - Judah, the only remaining stronghold of Jewish culture, is overtaken by Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar parks troops in Jerusalem and begins to deport Jews to Babylon. He has three deportations, taking the finest from Jerusalem and begins giving them positions in Babylon to strengthen his kingdom. After a brief insurrection, Jerusalem is burned and the temple looted and destroyed. This happened because Judah ultimately refused to follow God and slipped into a state that rivaled evil Israel.
Recorded in the books 2 Kings, 2 Chronicles, Daniel, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Habakkuk.
538-39 BC - During the time of Babylonian captivity (70 years), Babylon is overtaken by the Persian Empire. Cyrus, the leader of the Persians, is persuaded by God to allow them to return to their homeland and rebuild the temple. Cyrus, a pagan leader, does allow this and some 50,000 Jews return to the ruined Jerusalem to rebuild the temple upon the temple mount.
Recorded in the books Ezra, Haggai, 2 Chronicles, Zechariah.
536 BC - Foundation of the temple and construction begins
534 BC - Construction stopped.
516 BC - Completion of the second temple.
Once the Jews returned to Jerusalem, they faced a daunting challenge: they both had to rebuild the temple and stay alive. It would still be close to 100 years before Nehemiah would return to Jerusalem to build the city walls (444 BC), so Jerusalem was still exposed to the tyrants of the land as they were inspired to build the 2nd temple.
1 In the second year of King Darius, on the first day of the sixth month, the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest:
One of the unique items in this book is that Haggai dates the times of his prophecies with an exactness not seen in the rest of scripture. 1:1 is an example of this: Second year of King Darius, on the first day of the sixth month. King Darius was the third king of the Persian empire, ruling from 522 BC-486 BC (37 Years). This puts the year of Haggai’s prophecy in 520 BC. Delivered on the first day of the sixth month puts it at August 29. His second message came on the 24th day of the ninth month (December 18, 520 BC).
This is the time of the Persian Empire’s peak and Haggai is the first of the post-exilic (post exile) prophets. Of the minor prophets, the first 9 speak to the fading Jewish empires of the Northern Empire and Judah. The last 3 (Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi) were prophets for the returning Jews.
Haggai is also mentioned twice in the book of Ezra. He and the prophet Zechariah are tasked with the overseeing of the building of the temple (Ezra 5:1-2, Ezra 6:14).
Zerubbabel: Governor of Judah (Jerusalem). Jechoniah, his ancestor, was the last legitimate ruler of Judah. The temple will ultimately be built under Zerubbabel’s watch and his namesake will be given to it as “Zerubbabel’s temple.” Joshua, the head priest during that time, is also a notable figure in the rebuilding story going forward.
2 This is what the Lord Almighty says: “These people say, ‘The time has not yet come to rebuild the Lord’s house.’”
At this time (520 BC), the work of rebuilding the temple had not yet started again. In Ezra 3:10-11, we see that upon Israel’s return to Jerusalem, there was a revivalist energy flowing through the land:
10 When the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, the priests in their vestments and with trumpets, and the Levites (the sons of Asaph) with cymbals, took their places to praise the Lord, as prescribed by David king of Israel. 11 With praise and thanksgiving they sang to the Lord:
“He is good;
his love toward Israel endures forever.”
And all the people gave a great shout of praise to the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid.
What happened? With such a positive start, it seemed as though the Israelites were destined to rebuild the temple in record time. So, in 536, when the 50,000 people had returned and enthusiasm was high, something began to happen. We find the beginning of the problem in Ezra 4:1-5:
1 When the enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that the exiles were building a temple for the Lord, the God of Israel, 2 they came to Zerubbabel and to the heads of the families and said, “Let us help you build because, like you, we seek your God and have been sacrificing to him since the time of Esarhaddon king of Assyria, who brought us here.”
3 But Zerubbabel, Joshua and the rest of the heads of the families of Israel answered, “You have no part with us in building a temple to our God. We alone will build it for the Lord, the God of Israel, as King Cyrus, the king of Persia, commanded us.”
4 Then the peoples around them set out to discourage the people of Judah and make them afraid to go on building.5 They bribed officials to work against them and frustrate their plans during the entire reign of Cyrus king of Persia and down to the reign of Darius king of Persia.
The passage begins with the “enemies” of Judah and Benjamin came on the scene. Who are these people?
These are the Samaritans. The Samaritans are the interbred people of Israel and Assyria. After the Assyrians conquered the 10 tribes of Israel, many of the Israelites were brought to Assyria where they assimilated into their society. Of those left in the Northern Kingdom, most were left in Ephraim and Manasseh. Samaria remained the capital and those remaining Jews intermarried with Assyrians, creating what is called Samaritans.
The Samaritans had a religion which was a mix of Judaism and idolatry. This was a result of the Assyrians coming into the Jewish land and the Jews adopting these religions, mixing it with their own. This, of course brought ire from the newly restored Jews who returned to Jerusalem. They already hated the Samaritans because of their perceived “half-breed” nature, but when the Samaritans wanted a stake in the building of the temple, the Jews refused their help. This led to a long-standing tactical assault on the Jews during the building of the temple, designed to slow down and thwart the construction. For this very reason, the hate for the Samaritans grew into a long-lasting distaste that spilled into the very New Testament story of the Good Samaritan.
So through the exuberant first days of construction to the two year mark, the Jews were persistently attacked by adversaries. They stopped construction in 534 and for 14 years lived in the wall-deficient city of Jerusalem, losing hope in ever building the temple.
That gives us a good reason why the temple wasn’t built, but the words of Haggai tell us something else about the heart of the people. He says “These people say, ‘The time has not yet come to rebuild the Lord’s house.’” This is what the people say. The people have given up on building the house of God. It was their decision to abandon the building. There are many reasons for this. We’ll see that they lacked money and muscle, crops had failed (Haggai 1:10-11), and the ever-present hostility of the surrounding people discouraged them.
The people:
Rationalized the timing
Rationalized the resources
Decided to take up the project when it was convenient for them
The people chose not to do God’s work and they suffered in different ways for their decision.
3 Then the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai: 4 “Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin?”
These people hadn’t decided on rebuilding the temple, but had decided to live in nice houses. They had decided to pad their lives and provide for themselves. Using perhaps excuses, planning for themselves and not for God, the Israelites had set themselves up for a failure, even though they had rationalized their situation. Their personal comfort had grown more important than tending to God’s house.
The problem with comfort
This is a problem of priorities and we all fall into this trap. Our priorities naturally shift to taking care of ourselves first. The problem with this lifestyle is that it is the antithesis of biblical teaching. Galatians 5:13-14 says this:
For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
Additional references: Acts 20:35, 1 Peter 4:10-11.
Mark 10:44-45 sums up Jesus’ mission of service: And whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.
When we indulge in a comfort-driven lifestyle, our personal needs surpass those around us. It becomes about what will satisfy us first. If there are any leftovers, then perhaps we can share. Our selfish hearts get in the way of our servitude and flip the entire way our system is supposed to operate.
In the case of the Jews in the story, they took care of their needs and neglected the house of God. Unfortunately, western society on a whole does this. Our culture tells us that we need to consume more, to get bigger houses and faster cars and accumulate more money. This unending saturation saps us of time, energy and focus. And when those three things are aimed at satisfying our base needs, it means we’ve taken them off God. Other things have become more important than the relationship. Once that happens, we’ve traded God for an idol.
5 Now this is what the Lord Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways. 6 You have planted much, but harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.”
Haggai, speaking for the Lord, is speaking in practical terms that translate into spiritual ones.
You have planted much, but harvest little: Practically, their priorities have been wrong. They have planted throughout a field, but haven’t given much thought to the soil rocky ground, times and seasons to plant. In a feverish planting season where they hoped to saturate and reap huge benefits, perhaps to do it quickly so they could return to their lives, they have harvested little. God’s blessing isn’t on it because the motivation is wrong.
You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm: This speaks also to lost priorities but in a different sense. Whereas the first example called out Israel’s motivation, this one calls out their satisfaction. Nothing will satisfy a person who aims to satisfy himself. Complete satisfaction will always be just outside their reach. Ecclesiastes 5:10-12 says this:
Whoever loves money never has enough;
whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income.
This too is meaningless.
11
As goods increase,
so do those who consume them.
And what benefit are they to the owners
except to feast their eyes on them?
12
The sleep of a laborer is sweet,
whether they eat little or much,
but as for the rich, their abundance
permits them no sleep.
When chasing something material to satisfy you, you never catch it. So you run faster, hoping to get ahead of it. But you never do. Like vapor it disappears.
You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it: This third item tells again where the pursuit of comfort gets the chaser. When one puts their very foundation in selfish desire, it’s like earning money that falls out of a bag. That is a great analogy and it describes the world we live in when our priorities are compromised. We can go faster, do more, earn more, experience more, but in the end the return of investment just isn’t there.
7 This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways. 8 Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build my house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored,” says the Lord. 9 “You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?” declares the Lord Almighty. “Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with your own house.
God is telling the Jewish people to get their priorities straight. It begins with putting God first in their life, ahead of even their own life, their family, their livelihood and their interests. It begins with action. He tells them to gather timber and begin the work again, make the worship of God a priority. This flies against the way they were living their life; their expectations never matched their reality. This was a design by God, to whittle away their bounties (I blew away) in order to understand the fragility in depending on themselves and not God.
We must address this in our life. Do we put an emphasis on work, family, friends, entertainment, money ambition - fill in the blank- and forget to contribute to the house of God? Do we drown in worry and anxiety when God says come to Him first, seek His kingdom first, and all these things will be given to you? We can go a hundred miles an hour all our life and never get where we’re going because we get the priority wrong.
10 Therefore, because of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth its crops. 11 I called for a drought on the fields and the mountains, on the grain, the new wine, the olive oil and everything else the ground produces, on people and livestock, and on all the labor of your hands.”
Why is God doing this? Why is He being so cruel? This is a teachable moment for the Israelites. Remember, they have neglected the building of the temple for 14 years! They’ve settled into a rationale which says “God doesn’t want us to do that right now” while they fill their pockets with what they desire. God will withhold his blessing on a land that turns away from him. All though the book of Kings we get this same message: if the king follows God and the people follow the king, there will be a blessing on the land. If the king had his priorities with God right and the people follow that example, then God will honor their work.
In our world now we see chaos and turmoil in every direction. There is rising evil around us, anger at every turn, dissidence and dissatisfaction and discomfort. Why? Could it be a question of priorities? Has God withheld his blessing from so many people that now we can see it on a global level? Has it always been this way? When Paul wrote his books, he wrote them under the despotic rule of Nero. Nero hunted and killed Christians in horrifying ways. It was a bloody, unstable and terrifying time for people of faith. In a sense, the world has always been roiling in chaos, but perhaps now we’re seeing it more clearly. Why? Because it’s becoming more apparent that God’s blessing is slipping away through our own behavior.
12 Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest, and the whole remnant of the people obeyed the voice of the Lord their God and the message of the prophet Haggai, because the Lord their God had sent him. And the people feared the Lord.
This is revival from the top down. It begins with the governor and the high priest who set an acceptable example for the people. The remnant ( the people who have remained true in Judah) obey God and step into action. The people have a renewed respect for the Lord through the words of Haggai.
13 Then Haggai, the Lord’s messenger, gave this message of the Lord to the people: “I am with you,” declares the Lord. 14 So the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of the whole remnant of the people. They came and began to work on the house of the Lord Almighty, their God, 15 on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month.
And finally, through 14 years of lackadaisical behavior, through great rationale that rolled through the land, God allows his spirit to stir in the leadership and the people. This only happened because the people, upon being dealt with, accepted their correction. Upon accepting the correction (understanding their brokenness and repenting), they are able to move forward in renewed relationship with God.
This is the blueprint for all eras. Even though our times may be crazy and unpredictable, we must understand that they are a reflection of the heart of society. When society chases their own comfort and thus wander away from God, there is a spiritual price to pay. That price is reflected in the blessing. If we want to change society, it begins with examining our own heart, looking for those very things that we chase - those things that cause us to run further from God and embrace self-reliance.
If we want to offer hope to people, the first thing we must do is address these things in ourself. Putting God first is the main focus. It is a habit that grows stronger the more we strive for it.
The book of Haggai (Festival of Yahweh) is one of the shortest in the Old Testament. Spanning just two compact chapters, it tells the story of Haggai, a prophet of God, who must motivate the complacent Jews to give glory to God by rebuilding the second temple. These letters were written in 520 BC and are considered one of, if not the most, precisely dated letters in the entire Old Testament.
To understand where the Jewish people are in this book, we must do a little historical digging.
957 BC - The original temple, built by Solomon, was completed in this year. The temple would stand for over 300 years and go through a number of minor destructions and restorations before its final destruction, recorded in the books 1 Kings, 2 Chronicles.
722 BC - Israel (the 10 Northern Tribes) are conquered by the Assyrians and assimilated into the Assyrian and ultimately Samaritan society. This is in large part the end of the Jewish bloodline through the 10 Northern Tribes. This happened because the Northern Tribes refused to follow God and remained evil from the beginning of the splitting of the tribes (930 BC)
Recorded in the books 2 Kings, 2 Chronicles, Hosea, Nahum.
608 BC - Judah, the only remaining stronghold of Jewish culture, is overtaken by Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar parks troops in Jerusalem and begins to deport Jews to Babylon. He has three deportations, taking the finest from Jerusalem and begins giving them positions in Babylon to strengthen his kingdom. After a brief insurrection, Jerusalem is burned and the temple looted and destroyed. This happened because Judah ultimately refused to follow God and slipped into a state that rivaled evil Israel.
Recorded in the books 2 Kings, 2 Chronicles, Daniel, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Habakkuk.
538-39 BC - During the time of Babylonian captivity (70 years), Babylon is overtaken by the Persian Empire. Cyrus, the leader of the Persians, is persuaded by God to allow them to return to their homeland and rebuild the temple. Cyrus, a pagan leader, does allow this and some 50,000 Jews return to the ruined Jerusalem to rebuild the temple upon the temple mount.
Recorded in the books Ezra, Haggai, 2 Chronicles, Zechariah.
536 BC - Foundation of the temple and construction begins
534 BC - Construction stopped.
516 BC - Completion of the second temple.
Once the Jews returned to Jerusalem, they faced a daunting challenge: they both had to rebuild the temple and stay alive. It would still be close to 100 years before Nehemiah would return to Jerusalem to build the city walls (444 BC), so Jerusalem was still exposed to the tyrants of the land as they were inspired to build the 2nd temple.
1 In the second year of King Darius, on the first day of the sixth month, the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest:
One of the unique items in this book is that Haggai dates the times of his prophecies with an exactness not seen in the rest of scripture. 1:1 is an example of this: Second year of King Darius, on the first day of the sixth month. King Darius was the third king of the Persian empire, ruling from 522 BC-486 BC (37 Years). This puts the year of Haggai’s prophecy in 520 BC. Delivered on the first day of the sixth month puts it at August 29. His second message came on the 24th day of the ninth month (December 18, 520 BC).
This is the time of the Persian Empire’s peak and Haggai is the first of the post-exilic (post exile) prophets. Of the minor prophets, the first 9 speak to the fading Jewish empires of the Northern Empire and Judah. The last 3 (Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi) were prophets for the returning Jews.
Haggai is also mentioned twice in the book of Ezra. He and the prophet Zechariah are tasked with the overseeing of the building of the temple (Ezra 5:1-2, Ezra 6:14).
Zerubbabel: Governor of Judah (Jerusalem). Jechoniah, his ancestor, was the last legitimate ruler of Judah. The temple will ultimately be built under Zerubbabel’s watch and his namesake will be given to it as “Zerubbabel’s temple.” Joshua, the head priest during that time, is also a notable figure in the rebuilding story going forward.
2 This is what the Lord Almighty says: “These people say, ‘The time has not yet come to rebuild the Lord’s house.’”
At this time (520 BC), the work of rebuilding the temple had not yet started again. In Ezra 3:10-11, we see that upon Israel’s return to Jerusalem, there was a revivalist energy flowing through the land:
10 When the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, the priests in their vestments and with trumpets, and the Levites (the sons of Asaph) with cymbals, took their places to praise the Lord, as prescribed by David king of Israel. 11 With praise and thanksgiving they sang to the Lord:
“He is good;
his love toward Israel endures forever.”
And all the people gave a great shout of praise to the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid.
What happened? With such a positive start, it seemed as though the Israelites were destined to rebuild the temple in record time. So, in 536, when the 50,000 people had returned and enthusiasm was high, something began to happen. We find the beginning of the problem in Ezra 4:1-5:
1 When the enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that the exiles were building a temple for the Lord, the God of Israel, 2 they came to Zerubbabel and to the heads of the families and said, “Let us help you build because, like you, we seek your God and have been sacrificing to him since the time of Esarhaddon king of Assyria, who brought us here.”
3 But Zerubbabel, Joshua and the rest of the heads of the families of Israel answered, “You have no part with us in building a temple to our God. We alone will build it for the Lord, the God of Israel, as King Cyrus, the king of Persia, commanded us.”
4 Then the peoples around them set out to discourage the people of Judah and make them afraid to go on building.5 They bribed officials to work against them and frustrate their plans during the entire reign of Cyrus king of Persia and down to the reign of Darius king of Persia.
The passage begins with the “enemies” of Judah and Benjamin came on the scene. Who are these people?
These are the Samaritans. The Samaritans are the interbred people of Israel and Assyria. After the Assyrians conquered the 10 tribes of Israel, many of the Israelites were brought to Assyria where they assimilated into their society. Of those left in the Northern Kingdom, most were left in Ephraim and Manasseh. Samaria remained the capital and those remaining Jews intermarried with Assyrians, creating what is called Samaritans.
The Samaritans had a religion which was a mix of Judaism and idolatry. This was a result of the Assyrians coming into the Jewish land and the Jews adopting these religions, mixing it with their own. This, of course brought ire from the newly restored Jews who returned to Jerusalem. They already hated the Samaritans because of their perceived “half-breed” nature, but when the Samaritans wanted a stake in the building of the temple, the Jews refused their help. This led to a long-standing tactical assault on the Jews during the building of the temple, designed to slow down and thwart the construction. For this very reason, the hate for the Samaritans grew into a long-lasting distaste that spilled into the very New Testament story of the Good Samaritan.
So through the exuberant first days of construction to the two year mark, the Jews were persistently attacked by adversaries. They stopped construction in 534 and for 14 years lived in the wall-deficient city of Jerusalem, losing hope in ever building the temple.
That gives us a good reason why the temple wasn’t built, but the words of Haggai tell us something else about the heart of the people. He says “These people say, ‘The time has not yet come to rebuild the Lord’s house.’” This is what the people say. The people have given up on building the house of God. It was their decision to abandon the building. There are many reasons for this. We’ll see that they lacked money and muscle, crops had failed (Haggai 1:10-11), and the ever-present hostility of the surrounding people discouraged them.
The people:
Rationalized the timing
Rationalized the resources
Decided to take up the project when it was convenient for them
The people chose not to do God’s work and they suffered in different ways for their decision.
3 Then the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai: 4 “Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin?”
These people hadn’t decided on rebuilding the temple, but had decided to live in nice houses. They had decided to pad their lives and provide for themselves. Using perhaps excuses, planning for themselves and not for God, the Israelites had set themselves up for a failure, even though they had rationalized their situation. Their personal comfort had grown more important than tending to God’s house.
The problem with comfort
This is a problem of priorities and we all fall into this trap. Our priorities naturally shift to taking care of ourselves first. The problem with this lifestyle is that it is the antithesis of biblical teaching. Galatians 5:13-14 says this:
For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
Additional references: Acts 20:35, 1 Peter 4:10-11.
Mark 10:44-45 sums up Jesus’ mission of service: And whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.
When we indulge in a comfort-driven lifestyle, our personal needs surpass those around us. It becomes about what will satisfy us first. If there are any leftovers, then perhaps we can share. Our selfish hearts get in the way of our servitude and flip the entire way our system is supposed to operate.
In the case of the Jews in the story, they took care of their needs and neglected the house of God. Unfortunately, western society on a whole does this. Our culture tells us that we need to consume more, to get bigger houses and faster cars and accumulate more money. This unending saturation saps us of time, energy and focus. And when those three things are aimed at satisfying our base needs, it means we’ve taken them off God. Other things have become more important than the relationship. Once that happens, we’ve traded God for an idol.
5 Now this is what the Lord Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways. 6 You have planted much, but harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.”
Haggai, speaking for the Lord, is speaking in practical terms that translate into spiritual ones.
You have planted much, but harvest little: Practically, their priorities have been wrong. They have planted throughout a field, but haven’t given much thought to the soil rocky ground, times and seasons to plant. In a feverish planting season where they hoped to saturate and reap huge benefits, perhaps to do it quickly so they could return to their lives, they have harvested little. God’s blessing isn’t on it because the motivation is wrong.
You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm: This speaks also to lost priorities but in a different sense. Whereas the first example called out Israel’s motivation, this one calls out their satisfaction. Nothing will satisfy a person who aims to satisfy himself. Complete satisfaction will always be just outside their reach. Ecclesiastes 5:10-12 says this:
Whoever loves money never has enough;
whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income.
This too is meaningless.
11
As goods increase,
so do those who consume them.
And what benefit are they to the owners
except to feast their eyes on them?
12
The sleep of a laborer is sweet,
whether they eat little or much,
but as for the rich, their abundance
permits them no sleep.
When chasing something material to satisfy you, you never catch it. So you run faster, hoping to get ahead of it. But you never do. Like vapor it disappears.
You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it: This third item tells again where the pursuit of comfort gets the chaser. When one puts their very foundation in selfish desire, it’s like earning money that falls out of a bag. That is a great analogy and it describes the world we live in when our priorities are compromised. We can go faster, do more, earn more, experience more, but in the end the return of investment just isn’t there.
7 This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways. 8 Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build my house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored,” says the Lord. 9 “You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?” declares the Lord Almighty. “Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with your own house.
God is telling the Jewish people to get their priorities straight. It begins with putting God first in their life, ahead of even their own life, their family, their livelihood and their interests. It begins with action. He tells them to gather timber and begin the work again, make the worship of God a priority. This flies against the way they were living their life; their expectations never matched their reality. This was a design by God, to whittle away their bounties (I blew away) in order to understand the fragility in depending on themselves and not God.
We must address this in our life. Do we put an emphasis on work, family, friends, entertainment, money ambition - fill in the blank- and forget to contribute to the house of God? Do we drown in worry and anxiety when God says come to Him first, seek His kingdom first, and all these things will be given to you? We can go a hundred miles an hour all our life and never get where we’re going because we get the priority wrong.
10 Therefore, because of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth its crops. 11 I called for a drought on the fields and the mountains, on the grain, the new wine, the olive oil and everything else the ground produces, on people and livestock, and on all the labor of your hands.”
Why is God doing this? Why is He being so cruel? This is a teachable moment for the Israelites. Remember, they have neglected the building of the temple for 14 years! They’ve settled into a rationale which says “God doesn’t want us to do that right now” while they fill their pockets with what they desire. God will withhold his blessing on a land that turns away from him. All though the book of Kings we get this same message: if the king follows God and the people follow the king, there will be a blessing on the land. If the king had his priorities with God right and the people follow that example, then God will honor their work.
In our world now we see chaos and turmoil in every direction. There is rising evil around us, anger at every turn, dissidence and dissatisfaction and discomfort. Why? Could it be a question of priorities? Has God withheld his blessing from so many people that now we can see it on a global level? Has it always been this way? When Paul wrote his books, he wrote them under the despotic rule of Nero. Nero hunted and killed Christians in horrifying ways. It was a bloody, unstable and terrifying time for people of faith. In a sense, the world has always been roiling in chaos, but perhaps now we’re seeing it more clearly. Why? Because it’s becoming more apparent that God’s blessing is slipping away through our own behavior.
12 Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest, and the whole remnant of the people obeyed the voice of the Lord their God and the message of the prophet Haggai, because the Lord their God had sent him. And the people feared the Lord.
This is revival from the top down. It begins with the governor and the high priest who set an acceptable example for the people. The remnant ( the people who have remained true in Judah) obey God and step into action. The people have a renewed respect for the Lord through the words of Haggai.
13 Then Haggai, the Lord’s messenger, gave this message of the Lord to the people: “I am with you,” declares the Lord. 14 So the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of the whole remnant of the people. They came and began to work on the house of the Lord Almighty, their God, 15 on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month.
And finally, through 14 years of lackadaisical behavior, through great rationale that rolled through the land, God allows his spirit to stir in the leadership and the people. This only happened because the people, upon being dealt with, accepted their correction. Upon accepting the correction (understanding their brokenness and repenting), they are able to move forward in renewed relationship with God.
This is the blueprint for all eras. Even though our times may be crazy and unpredictable, we must understand that they are a reflection of the heart of society. When society chases their own comfort and thus wander away from God, there is a spiritual price to pay. That price is reflected in the blessing. If we want to change society, it begins with examining our own heart, looking for those very things that we chase - those things that cause us to run further from God and embrace self-reliance.
If we want to offer hope to people, the first thing we must do is address these things in ourself. Putting God first is the main focus. It is a habit that grows stronger the more we strive for it.