28 September

Bible In 365 Days

Haggai 1-2

Haggai 1

The prophet Haggai delivered his first message on the first day of the sixth month in the second year of the reign of Darius. It was addressed especially to those in authority. The people were excusing themselves from building by saying that the time had not come. The prophet replied by reminding them that they were dwelling in their own ceded houses, while the house of God was lying waste. He called them to consider their ways, reminding them of the long-continued material failure in which they had lived.

He then urged them to build the house of God, declaring that all the failure to which he had already referred was of the nature of divine punishment for their neglect of His house.

There was an immediate response to Haggai's appeal, first by the governor and priest, and then by the people. This response was followed, first, by a word of encouragement, in which the prophet declared that Jehovah was with them, and, second, by new enthusiasm among the people.

Haggai 2

About seven weeks later Haggai delivered his second message. This was addressed to Zerubbabel the governor, Joshua the priest, and all the people. A comparison of Ezra 3:13 with this message will show how certain of the old men who remembered the former house lamented the comparative inferiority of this. This memory tended to dishearten the people, and the prophet appealed to them to be strong and to work, promising in His name Jehovah's immediate presence and help.

On the basis of this promise Haggai then rose to the height of a more gracious one. The central phrase of this larger promise is difficult of interpretation, 'The desire [singular] . . . shall come [plural]." Perhaps the simplest explanation is in the use made of the connected words in the letter to the Hebrews (12:25-29). It is evident that in this promise there is a revelation of an order of divine procedure which is manifested in the method of both the First and Second Advents of the Messiah. That order may thus be briefly summarized, "I will shake," "the desire shall come," "peace."

About two months later Haggai delivered his third message. In this the people are addressed through a colloquy with the priests. The content of this prophecy shows that after three months of hard building there were still no signs of material rewards, and the people were again disheartened in consequence thereof. As a result of his questioning of the priests and their answers, Haggai taught the people that because of their past sin their present obedience could not immediately result in material prosperity. Yet the final word of this third message is a promise of blessing, "From this day will I bless you."

The last message of Haggai was delivered on the same day as the third, and was an enforcement and explanation of the final promise, "I will bless you." It consists, first, of a repetition of the declaration of Jehovah's determination to shake, carried out in greater detail, in order to reveal that He would destroy all false authority and power; and, finally, of the promise of the establishment of true authority.