Haggai Time to Build
The remnant has returned from exile. They came with the intention to rebuild the Temple, but stopped. God says; “It’s time to build now.”
I know. I’m not following timeline in addressing the minor prophets. I hope you will bear with me as I try and make sure to include as many stories as I can from the Old Testament before moving onto the new. I don’t want to miss anything that God has for us by rushing on with the story. I will do my best to put everything in chronological order when it is published in book form. And there will be a few books that are not included in the ‘Bible Stories for Adults’ series, as they are straight prophecies against or for different nations. I don’t know how to present these in story form. I’m also wrestling with Song of Solomon. It is already in story form. I don’t want to simply replicate it. I will see where the Spirit leads me with that one.
Haggai spoke to the people of Israel for a short time. God raised him up to spur the people back to work on His Temple. Haggai is also sent to two specific people. He doesn’t cry out in the ‘marketplace’ like other prophets did. Haggai’s mission doesn’t even take us to the completion of the Temple. But we will go with him wherever God takes him.
Holy Spirit, lead this journey today. Show me what You would have me take from Haggai’s mission. Allow me to see Your hand at work during Haggai’s time and how I can apply the lessons to my own life. ‘Let’s get building together.’
♥ ♦ ♥
Haggai was overjoyed when he left captivity with Zerubbabel. He was born in Babylon but had heard stories of his people’s home in the land of Israel all his life. He heard how the land flowed with milk and honey. How their God protected them; when they followed Him. And how they were the chosen people of the Lord. Haggai was THRILLED to be counted among the Jews and even more thrilled to be allowed to return to the Promised Land with the first group of returnees.
The Jews purpose for returning was to rebuild the Temple of the Lord. Cyrus had promised to support them in their endeavor. Cyrus was too far away and couldn’t live forever. What started out with a bang wound up in a whimper.
So many things got in the way. Mainly the neighbors. Why couldn’t they just leave them alone? This tiny group of exiles was no threat to them, but they certainly made out like they were. They made such a stink about it that Artaxerxes ordered them to stop building. Now, the people aren’t even motivated to build the Temple of the Lord.
“It’s not time to rebuild the House of the Lord yet. Someday it will happen.”
This is the defeated attitude of the people. So, rather than worry about what they can’t do, they concentrate on what they can do; building their own homes. This isn’t to say that building their own homes made the ‘neighbors’ any happier, but at least they left them alone.
It has been 19 years since leaving Babylon. Haggai has learned over these years that life isn’t what he expected it to be. There is no flowing milk and honey. The people are still struggling to raise decent crops. It seems like, every time they think they are going to get a great return, something happens to steal it away. But they press on.
Haggai has been a faithful Levit all his life. Even as he was growing up under captivity, he still served the Lord, to the best of his abilities. He has known the hand of God in his life. He has felt Him guide him on more times than he can count. He followed the stories of the lives of the prophets and wished that the Lord would use him too; someday, somehow.
Today, is the first day of the sixth month of the second year of King Darius’ reign. As Haggai kneels in front of his window looking toward the site where the Temple used to sit, he hears a voice.
“Haggai.”
He looks around to see who is talking to him. He doesn’t see anyone. He shrugs his shoulders and figures it was his imagination. A few minutes later he hears the voice again.
“Haggai.”
Without even thinking about it, the story of the call of Samuel leaps into his mind. Samuel heard the Lord call him three times before Eli told him it was the Lord. Haggai decides to ask and see.
“Lord, God of Israel. Is this You speaking my name?”
“It is Me, Haggai.”
Haggai nearly falls over. If it weren’t for him already being on the floor, he would have crumpled. Samuel’s words leap to his mouth.
“Speak Lord. Your servant is listening.”
God smiles at the familiar words and willing heart behind them. “Haggai, I am sending you to Zerubbabel and Joshua, the high priest. You are to bring them a message from Me. It is time to return to rebuilding of My Temple.”
“I am a young man, Lord. And these men are the leaders of Israel. Will they listen to me?”
“I am not sending you to speak on your own behalf. You are speaking for ME. They WILL listen to ME.”
“Yes, Lord.” Haggai feels ashamed of his question now. He promises to faithfully carry God’s words, no matter what.
God gives him the words he is to say. Haggai rises from his place and seeks out Zerubbabel and Joshua. The two men he is seeking are actually together when he finds them. They are talking together when Haggai approaches. Their backs are to him when he sees them. Haggai takes a deep breath, to calm his nerves, before approaching these two men.
“My lords, I need to speak with you. The Lord God of Israel has given me a message to bring to you.”
Zerubbabel and Joshua look at one another, then at Haggai. Haggai holds his breath, not knowing how receptive they will be.
“Please share the Lord’s words with us” says Zerubbabel. Joshua nods his head.
Haggai lets go of his breath and begins to share all that the Lord has given him.
“Thus says the Lord of hosts: These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord” (Haggai 1:2).
Zerubbabel and Joshua nod. They have heard this from the people as well.
“While I was spending time with the Lord today, He spoke these words to me.” Haggai steels himself to deliver the Lord’s words exactly as he received them.
“Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins? Now, therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways. You have sown much, and harvested little. You eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes” (Haggai 1:4-6).
Zerubbabel and Joshua both nod again. Their eyes are eager to hear the words of the Lord. They want an end to this way of living with perpetual loss.
“Thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways. Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house, that I may take pleasure in it and that I may be glorified, says the Lord. You looked for much, and behold, it came to little. And when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why? declares the Lord of hosts. Because of my house that lies in ruins, while each of you busies himself with his own house. Therefore the heavens above you have withheld the dew, and the earth has withheld its produce. And I have called for a drought on the land and the hills, on the grain, the new wine, the oil, on what the ground brings forth, on man and beast, and on all their labors” (Haggai 1:7-11).
Zerubbabel and Joshua both fall to their knees. “Lord please forgive us. We will do as You command this very day.”
Haggai doesn’t know what to say, so he stays silent as the two men cry out to the Lord for forgiveness.
After they have spent themselves in prayer, they rise and begin writing a letter to all the exiles. “Your attendance at the site of the old Temple is required on the 24th day of this month. The Lord has commanded us to begin rebuilding.”
The message goes out to all the people in the district. People start arriving a week before the appointed date. They are eager to do as the Lord commands. When the morning of the 24th arrives, the whole assembly is gathered together.
Zerubbabel stands before the people. He has Joshua and Haggai standing beside him. He waits for the people to quiet down before he speaks. When all is quiet, he begins.
“The Lord has sent word to us through His prophet Haggai that we are to begin rebuilding His House.” Zerubbabel turns to Haggai. “I want the prophet of the Lord to speak the words he brought to us in your hearing.”
Haggai’s mouth goes dry. He did not expect this. It takes him a moment to calm his fears and step forward. He takes a deep breath and opens his mouth to share. The Spirit of the Lord fills him and he speaks every word of the Lord to the people.
Most of the people react the same way that Zerubbabel and Joshua did; calling out to the Lord for forgiveness. Zerubbabel allows the people a moment before stepping forward again.
“Joshua will prepare a sin offering and a burnt offering for the people before we begin work on the Lord’s Temple.”
Zerubbabel motioned for the man holding the rope of a bull to bring it forward. There was also another man holding a rope for a goat. The bull was brought before Joshua as the sin offering for the people. All the leaders of Israel came forward and laid their hands on the head of the bull to pass their sins onto it.
Two Levites assisted Joshua in preparing the offering. Joshua held the bowl while one of the Levites quickly slit the throat of the animal. After the blood all drained from the animal, Joshua cut it open and removed the piece of fat required by the Lord. After pouring out the blood at the base of the altar, Joshua placed the Lord’s portion on the altar that the people had erected when they first returned from captivity. The remainder of the bull is taken outside the city and burned.
After the sin offering is completed, Zerubbabel has the goat brought forward. Joshua holds the bowl again while the Levites slit the throat of the goat. Once the blood is drained into the bowl, the Levites skin the goat and cut the meat into pieces. They remove the sacred pieces to be set to one side.
Once everything is ready, Joshua applies the blood to the altar. After the blood has been spilt at the base of the altar, all of the pieces of the goat are placed on the altar to be consumed completely by the fire. It will be left to burn overnight and the ashes collected in the morning for disposal in a clean place outside the city.
The sacrifice took most of the morning but the people gladly paid attention during all of it. Once the burnt offering was being consumed by the fire, Zerubbabel steps forward again.
“We will do as the Lord commands…”
Haggai’s spirit is spurred into action, even while Zerubbabel is giving the people directions. He steps forward and proclaims to the people; “I am with you, declares the Lord” (Haggai 1:13).
A shout goes up throughout the congregation. The people are stirred up and ready to work. Zerubbabel finishes his instructions and the work begins immediately. Heads of households organize their families into groups to cut down trees and carry them back to Jerusalem to begin the work.
Work continues every day except the Sabbaths. It is a BIG job but progress is observable and it spurs on the people. And, of course, the neighbors are not happy. But they didn’t try and stop the Jews this time. The Jews had the full support of Darius behind them.
A month has passed and the people have not slackened the work. While Haggai is spending time with the Lord today, he hears a familiar voice. He doesn’t have to wonder any longer who is speaking to him.
“Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to all the remnant of the people, and say, ‘Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? How do you see it now? Is it not as nothing in your eyes? Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, declares the Lord. Be strong, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land, declares the Lord. Work, for I am with you, declares the Lord of hosts, according to the covenant that I made with you when you came out of Egypt. My Spirit remains in your midst. Fear not. For thus says the Lord of hosts: Yet once more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land. And I will shake all nations, so that the treasures of all nations shall come in, and I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of hosts. The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, declares the Lord of hosts. The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts. And in this place I will give peace, declares the Lord of hosts’” (Haggai 2:2-9).
Haggai wastes no time in bringing this word of the Lord to Zerubbabel and Joshua. He finds them organizing and helping with the work; just as he knew they would be. He walks to where they are working and waits for them to notice him. He doesn’t want to interrupt them and possibly make them injure themselves.
Zerubbabel notices Haggai first. “We have company” he says to Joshua.
The two men turn and give Haggai their full attention.
“I have another word from the Lord for you and all the people.”
The two leaders discuss with themselves when the best time would be for Haggai to deliver this new message. “We could have him speak to the people twice” suggests Joshua. “He could share the Lord’s words with the later crews today, just before they leave for their homes, and first thing in the morning when the early crews arrive.”
Zerubbabel looks to Haggai. “Would that be acceptable to you; and to the Lord?”
Haggai doesn’t feel anything negative in his spirit with this plan, so he agrees to it. “I will be here one hour before the sun begins to set.”
That evening, Haggai addresses the people. “Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? How do you see it now? Is it not as nothing in your eyes? Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, declares the Lord. Be strong, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land, declares the Lord. Work, for I am with you, declares the Lord of hosts, according to the covenant that I made with you when you came out of Egypt. My Spirit remains in your midst. Fear not. For thus says the Lord of hosts: Yet once more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land. And I will shake all nations, so that the treasures of all nations shall come in, and I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of hosts. The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, declares the Lord of hosts. The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts. And in this place I will give peace, declares the Lord of hosts.”
The people are indeed made stronger by the words Haggai shares.
“The Lord promised to bless us again as a people” they cry. “Let it be so, Lord! We are Your people, and You are our God.”
The people leave for home with a spring in their step, instead of the weariness they usually feel after a long day of work.
In the morning Haggai shares the same message with the early crews. Some of them had heard of the message from their neighbors, but hearing it first hand was even better! EVERY crew was rejuvenated and eager to begin their day, laboring for the Lord. And Haggai is buoyed too by the response of the people to the Lord’s command.
“They truly are Your people, Lord.”
Another two months pass. Progress is steady, but there is still a LONG way to go before the Temple will be complete. Haggai is in his customary spot, spending time with the Lord. He hears the voice of the Lord speak to him.
“Thus says the Lord of hosts: Ask the priests about the law: ‘If someone carries holy meat in the fold of his garment and touches with his fold bread or stew or wine or oil or any kind of food, does it become holy?’” (Haggai 2:11-12).
Haggai goes to the priests working on the Temple. Joshua is with them today. He is very glad, as his questions concern Joshua too. Haggai stands before the group and poses God’s first question.
“If someone carries holy meat in the fold of his garment and touches with his fold bread or stew or wine or oil or any kind of food, does it become holy?” (Haggai 2:12a).
Joshua answers for the priests “No” (Haggai 2:12b).
Haggai poses a second question from the Lord. “If someone who is unclean by contact with a dead body touches any of these, does it become unclean?” (Haggai 2:13a).
Joshua again answers. “It does become unclean” (Haggai 2:13b). He knows that Haggai, being a Levite himself, should know the answers to these questions. “Where is he going with this” he wonders to himself.
Haggai gets to the point now. “So is it with this people, and with this nation before me, declares the Lord, and so with every work of their hands. And what they offer there is unclean. Now then, consider from this day onward. Before stone was placed upon stone in the temple of the Lord, how did you fare? When one came to a heap of twenty measures, there were but ten. When one came to the wine vat to draw fifty measures, there were but twenty. I struck you and all the products of your toil with blight and with mildew and with hail, yet you did not turn to me, declares the Lord. Consider from this day onward, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month. Since the day that the foundation of the Lord’s temple was laid, consider: Is the seed yet in the barn? Indeed, the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree have yielded nothing. But from this day on I will bless you” (Haggai 2:14-19).
Joshua and all the priests are overjoyed with this news. They begin to circulate God’s promise to the other workers. Again, a renewed spirit takes hold and the workers give God more than their best today. They give Him their ALL!
After Haggai leaves the priests, the Lord speaks to him again.
“Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, I am about to shake the heavens and the earth, and to overthrow the throne of kingdoms. I am about to destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the nations, and overthrow the chariots and their riders. And the horses and their riders shall go down, every one by the sword of his brother. On that day, declares the Lord of hosts, I will take you, O Zerubbabel my servant, the son of Shealtiel, declares the Lord, and make you like a signet ring, for I have chosen you, declares the Lord of hosts” (Haggai 2:21-23).
Haggai immediately goes in search of Zerubbabel. Once he finds him, it takes no time at all before Zerubbabel notices him. Word of the earlier prophecy has already reached his ears. He quickly approaches Haggai and embraces him in a manly hug.
“I can scarcely believe my ears! Praise the Lord, for His great mercy and loving kindness to His people!”
“The Lord has given me another prophecy specifically for you, my lord” Haggai says after Zerubbabel releases him from the hug.
Zerubbabel listens closely as Haggai gives him this personal prophecy. He shakes his head in wonder after hearing all that the Lord has for him. “Me. A signet ring for the Lord. Why? I am not worthy of such an honor” Zerubbabel says to himself.
Haggai listens in. He quietly adds his own thoughts. “I have noticed that God has a way of recognizing something in us that we can’t even see in ourselves. And He refines it until it is perfect for His use. None of us are ‘worthy’ of the honor and gifts He gives us. When we know this too, is when He can actually begin to use us for His purposes. Only when we are yielded to Him and recognize our insufficiency, can He use us and make us sufficient for the work He has called us to.”
Zerubbabel takes Haggai’s words to heart as well. He has no idea how God is going to bring about his honor, but he KNOWS that ALL the honor belongs to God, however it looks to man. “I am Your servant, Lord. Do with me as You know is best.”
Haggai echoes Zerubbabel’s prayer for his own life.
♥ ♦ ♥
This is the last of Haggai’s prophetic words, as far as we know. I wonder if he gave encouragement to the people, beyond the words of God, while they finished the Temple. It took five years to build and Haggai only spoke here for three months. Maybe that is all that God had for him to do. Even to hear God’s voice speak plainly for three months is WONDERFUL!
I wonder if he wished for more. I know I would have. Not so I could be famous and stand before the people, but to feel that intimacy with the Lord. To be one He actually talks to and uses for His Kingdom work.
Father God, I know that You have given me stories and spoke through them to my heart. I PRAY that I am NOT taking credit for Your work. It is my heart’s desire to speak for You and open other’s minds up to wonder about Your word. I NEVER want to take Your glory or credit for the gifts You have given me. Let me be Your humble servant. In whatever You have for me to do.
Forgive me also Lord for putting off our time today and working on my puzzle instead. Thank You for letting me finish it too.
