HAGGAI
The prophecy of Haggai, which means “festal” or “festival,” is very short, only 2 chapters, but it plays a very important role in the plans of God. In 539 B.C. Cyrus, Emperor of the Medo-Persian Empire, issued a decree permitting the Jews, who had been exiled to Babylonia when Nebuchadnezzar was Emperor, to return to Jerusalem and to rebuild the temple. See Ezr. 1.1-4.
Ezr. 3.1-6 tells us that those who returned rebuilt their altar of sacrifice and began sacrifices to God. V. 7 says that they gave money for the materials to rebuild the temple. Vs. 8-13 say that they began work on the temple, laid the foundation and celebrated the beginning of the temple, though many who remembered the first temple wept. It is assumed that they wept because the new temple was smaller than the first, but Ezra does not say that. In Hag. 2.3 the Lord says, “Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? And how do you see it now? Is it not in your eyes as nothing?”
Then we find in Ezr. 4 that there was opposition to the rebuilding by enemies. This went on through chapter 5. I suggest that these chapters in Ezra be read to get the full picture. Finally, in chapter 6 we read of King Darius locating the original decree of Cyrus that the temple be rebuilt and issuing his own decree that the work be carried on and finished. This was done and the temple was dedicated and Passover observed.
We saw that Cyrus issued his decree in 539 B.C. The decree of Darius to finish the work on the temple came in 520. Nineteen years had elapsed and still no temple. Then Haggai and Zechariah came onto the scene (Ezr. 5.1-5). Haggai’s prophecies are dated. In Hag. 1.1 we read, “ In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, came the word of I AM by Haggai the prophet….” I am going to indicate the dates in this way: this first date I will call 6/1/2. That does not mean June 1, 02, as in our calendar, but the second year of Darius’s reign, the sixth month, and the first day. I am doing this because I want it to be clear that the prophecy of Haggai covered only a short period, from the second month to the ninth month. Haggai did not prophesy for many years as Isaiah and Jeremiah did, but for less than five months.
Haggai was prophesying to Zerubbabel, the governor, and to Joshua, the High Priest, and thus to the leaders of Judah. He began by proclaiming, “Thus says I AM of hosts, saying, ‘This people says, “The time has not come, the time for I AM’s house to be built.”’” The people had been frightened by the opposition and stopped the work and apparently did not think it was time to start up again because there was still opposition. Haggai has a different view. He followed that with, “Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses while this house is in waste? Now therefore thus says I AM of hosts, ‘Set your hearts on your ways. You have sown much and bring in little; you eat, but you do not have enough; you drink, but you are not filled with drink; you clothe yourselves, but there is no one warm; and he who earns wages earns wages to put it into a bag with holes.’” Then, “Set your hearts on your ways.” We see in this phrase, “Set your hearts,” that the heart is what really matters. God said in 1 Sam 16.7 that “man looks on the outward appearance, but I AM looks on the heart.” The people had an outward appearance of religiosity, but they had not obeyed God’s command to rebuild his house while they lived in nice houses. Examine your hearts – are they really set on God?
Haggai continues in vs. 8-11,
”Go up to the mountain and bring wood and build the house, and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified,” says I AM. “You looked for much and, look, it came to little, and when you brought it home, I blew on it. Why?” says I AM of hosts. “Because of my house that is in ruins while you run every man to his own house. Therefore for your sake the skies withhold the dew and the earth withholds its fruit. And I called for a drought on the land and on the mountains and on the grain and on the new wine and on the oil and on that which the ground brings forth and on men and on cattle and on all the labor of the hands.”
Then Zerubbabel and Joshua and the remnant that had returned obeyed and showed the fear of God. God’s reply through Haggai? “I am with you.” They began work on 6/24/2.
Then on 7/21/2 the Lord spoke through Haggai again saying, “Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? And how do you see it now? Is it not in your eyes as nothing? But now be strong … for I am with you.” Those comforting words again.
Then the Lord enters into a new thought. He begins with referring to “the word that I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt and my Spirit abode among you. Don’t be afraid” (Hag. 2.5). What is the word covenanted by God with Israel? In Ex. 19.4-6 we read,
You have seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will obey my voice indeed and keep my covenant, then you will be my own possession from among all peoples, for all the earth is mine, and you will be to me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation.
First, that Israel would be God’s own possession and they would be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. “A kingdom of priests” indicates that God wanted all his people to dwell in his presence, as we do as Christians, but they did not attain to this blessing because of their being afraid of God (Ex. 20.19) and their disobedience to God (Num. 25.1-9). “A holy nation” indicates that they would be set apart for God.
Then we read in Ex. 29.45, “And I will dwell among the sons of Israel and will be their God.” God would not be a distant God way off in the heavens somewhere, but would dwell among his people. The tabernacle and temple were symbols of this presence of God.
Ex. 34.10 adds, “Look, I am making a covenant: before all your people I will do extraordinary things, such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation, and all the people among whom you are will see the work of I AM, for it is an awesome thing that I am doing with you.” God will be a miracle-working God among his people. He can and will take care of them.
Israel had a covenant with God that no other people had. Of course, this covenant was passed on to Christians in a new and improved version, the new covenant.
Then the Lord makes a remarkable statement through Haggai:
For thus says I AM of hosts, “Yet once again, it is a little while, and I will shake the skies and the earth and the sea and the dry land, and I will shake all nations. And the desire of all nations will come and I will fill this house with glory,” says I AM of hosts. “The silver is mine and the gold is mine,” says I AM of hosts. “The latter glory of this house will be greater than the former,” says I AM of hosts, “and in this place will I give peace,” says I AM of hosts.
That little word “for” is very important. God has just told his people that because of their obedience in renewing work on the temple he is with them and implies that he is going to fulfill his promise to them that we have just quoted from Exodus. But in Hag. 2.6 we see that the fulfillment is in the distant future, and in fact has still not occurred. He says that he will shake the skies and the earth once again. The first shaking was at Mt. Sinai when I AM came down to Mt. Sinai (Ex. 19, especially vs. 16-25, and chapter 20.18-21, and Heb. 12.18-21). He will shake the skies and the earth and the sea and the dry land and all the nations a second time. He will fill Israel’s temple with glory. The first temple, destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, had been greater than the one being built in Haggai’s day, but the prophesied temple will be even greater than the first: “The latter glory of this house will be greater than the former.” One reason for this greater greatness is that God will shake the nations, shake the desire of all nations out of them and put it in his house.
The desire of all nations. This is a very difficult statement to explain. Many think that the desire of all nations is the Messiah and interpret the statement as a prophecy of the second coming of the Lord Jesus, whose glory will fill the temple. The Hebrew grammar here is very complex and I state clearly that I do not know Hebrew well enough to untangle it. The commentaries that I consulted do not agree. Having pored over these commentaries, I have come to the conclusion that this is not a messianic prophecy. What is the desire of all nations? Wealth, silver and gold. That is largely what this world is about, the love of money. The world wants the silver and the gold. God says, “The silver is mine and the gold is mine.” Is. 60.5 tells us that at the return of the Lord Jesus “the wealth of the nations will come to you.” V. 11 adds, “Your gates also will be open continually. They will not be shut day or night that men may bring to you the wealth of the nations, and their kings led captive.” And v. 16 says, “You will also suck the milk of the nations and will suck the breast of kings, and you will know that I, I AM, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.” Is. 61.6 reads, “You will eat the wealth of the nations and you will boast in their glory.” Zech. 14.14 tells us, “…. and the wealth of all the nations round about will be gathered together, gold and silver and apparel in great abundance.” In all of these verses the word for “wealth” is the same, a different word from the word for “desire” in Hag. 2.7.
Hebrews quotes this passage in chapter 12, vs. 25-29. The writer shows us that when God shakes the sky and the earth, everything that can be shaken will be shaken, we might say shaken to bits, things having been made. Only what is of God will last, God, his people, and what he has built into them of himself, as well as Heaven and his angels. Then he says that we, and I think this applies to Christians and to faithful Jews, are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, the manifestation of the kingdom of God on earth as well as in the heavens.
In Dan. 2.44-45 we read, after Daniel’s interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of the great statue,
And in the days of those kings the God of the heavens will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, nor will its sovereignty be left to another people, but it will break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it will stand forever. Inasmuch as you saw that a stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold, the great God has made known to the king what will come to pass hereafter, and the dream is certain, and the its interpretation sure.
This is the kingdom that cannot be shaken. That is God’s promise to Israel through Haggai, and it includes the Christian people of God, also, as Hebrews shows.
If anyone disagrees and thinks that the desire of the nations is the Messiah, I will not argue about it. It is a difficult passage. And there is no doubt that the Messiah is coming, as we will see at the end of this paper.
Then Haggai prophesies again on 9/24/2. He says to ask the priests if holy meat carried in his garment that comes into contact with something else will it make it holy, and the priest answers, “No.” Then Haggai asks, “If one who is unclean by reason of a dead body touch any of these, will it be unclean?” And the priests answered and said, “It will be unclean.” He shows that the holy will not make the unclean holy, but the unclean will make the holy unclean.
Haggai applies these questions to the people of Israel: “So is this people, and so is this nation before me,” says I AM, “and so is every work of their hands, and that which they offer there is unclean.” They have a holy God who dwells in their midst, but that has not made the unclean holy. So,
“Set your heart from this day on: before a stone was laid on a stone in the temple of I AM, from that time when one came to a heap of twenty measures, there were but ten When one came to the wine vat to draw out fifty measures, there were but twenty. I smote you with blasting and with mildew and with hail in all the work of your hands, yet you did not turn to me,” says I AM. ”Set your heart from this day on, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, since the day that the foundation of I AM’s temple was laid, set your heart. Is the seed yet in the barn? Yes, the vine and the fig tree and the pomegranate and the olive-tree have not brought forth.’”
That is the result of not obeying God in rebuilding the temple, as we saw in Hag. 1.6-11.
But now, in 2.19, because they have resumed the work, God says, “From this day will I bless.” Obedience yields blessing. The holy God can make an unclean people holy if they will obey.
Haggai’s prophecy ends with another word from the Lord on that same day, 9/24/2:
And the word of I AM came the second time to Haggai on the twenty-fourth day of the month, saying, “Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, ‘I will shake the skies and the earth and I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms. And I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the nations, and I will overthrow the chariots and those who ride in them, and the horses and their riders will come down, everyone by the sword of his brother. On that day,’ says I AM of hosts, ‘I will take you, Zerubbabel my servant, the son of Shealtiel,’ says I AM, ‘and I will make you as a signet, for I have chosen you, says I AM of hosts.’”
The Lord repeats his promise of 2.6-9, that he would shake the skies and the earth, but this time he concludes this thought, not with the promise of the wealth of the nations, but with a word to Zerubbabel: “I will take you, Zerubbabel my servant, the son of Shealtiel, and I will make you as a signet, for I have chosen you.”
Zerubbabel appears in the genealogies of the Lord Jesus in Mt. 3.12-13 and in Lk. 3.27. He was never king of Israel because she was then under the emperors of Persia, but he was governor of Judah after the Exile to Babylon and in the line of descent of the Lord Jesus. What we have here is a prophecy of the Lord Jesus as Messiah. When the Lord says to Zerubbabel, “I will take you, Zerubbabel my servant, the son of Shealtiel, and I will make you as a signet, for I have chosen you,” he is saying that the Lord Jesus will be as a signet ring on the finger of God. A signet ring was a ring with the king’s seal and it was used to stamp in wax this seal of the king on letters and official documents. Such is the Lord Jesus. We see this word “seal” in 2 Tim. 2.19: “Nevertheless the firm foundation of God stands, having this seal, ‘The Lord knew those being his,’ and ‘Let everyone naming the name of the Lord depart from unrighteousness.’” God’s firm foundation is the Lord Jesus himself (1 Cor. 3.11, Eph. 2.20). It is proven so by the Lord knowing those who are his and by their departing from unrighteousness.
The word appears thirteen times in Revelation, mostly having to do with the seven seals. What is said in that document is shown by seven seals to be of God. Those seals are proof that it came from God. Then in Rev. 9.4 we read of those who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. That is, those who are God’s do have his seal on their foreheads, as the lost have the mark of the beast (Rev. 13.16-17 and 14.9 and 11). The Lord Jesus is their seal. He dwells in his people.
This making of the Lord Jesus as a signet is an indication of God’s approval of his Son. In Mt. 3.17 God says of the Lord Jesus, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” This statement is repeated in 12.18 and 17.5 and in 2 Pt. 1.17. God is delighted in his Son because of his faithful obedience to his will. Then Rom. 1.4 tells us that the Lord Jesus was designated “Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by resurrection from the dead.” This verse says that resurrection is God’s stamp of approval of his Son because of his willingness to die for our sins. Just as Zerubbabel was prophetically made “a signet, for I have chosen you,” so was the Lord Jesus the fulfillment of the prophecy. He is the reality of what Zerubbabel pictured. Zerubbabel was the type. The Lord Jesus is the antitype.
What is the message of Haggai to us as Christians? His book is about rebuilding the house of God. That is where God dwells among his people. In Eph. 2.19-22 we read,
So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21in whom all the building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy sanctuary in the Lord, 22in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.
Peter adds “to whom coming, a living Stone, by men rejected, but with the Lord, chosen, precious, 5and you yourselves as living stones are being built a spiritual house” (1 Pt. 2.4-5). The church is a spiritual house being built on the foundation of the Lord Jesus. We have been built on that foundation and are “being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.” We are living stones being built on the Stone into a spiritual house. That house is for God to dwell in. It is the Lord Jesus himself who is doing the building, as he tells us in Mt. 16.18, “… on this Rock I will build my church.” He is the Rock, not Peter, who was a living stone as we are. Our part is to cooperate with him in the building. We do that by faith and obedience, doing the will of God. As we lead others to Christ we add more living stones. As we work with the new stones by teaching and discipling them we are doing our part in the building of the house of God.
One of my pet peeves is to hear someone call a church building the house of God. It is not! It is a building where the church meets, and the church can meet anywhere, not just in a “church building.” “Where two or three are gathered together” (Mt. 18.20). The house of God is a spiritual house, his people, who “are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.” Stephen says in Acts 7.48, “But the Most High does not dwell in houses made by hands,” and he quotes Is. 66.1-2 in support. A large part of our purpose as Christians is to do our part in working with the Lord to build a dwelling place for God. This is a great part of the message of Haggai. Are we more concerned about our own houses that we live in than the dwelling place of God? Our house here is temporal. His is eternal.
Haggai also tells us that disobedience leads to famine in our spiritual life. Obedience leads to God saying, “I am with you.” In Haggai it is, “I am with you.” With the birth and life of the Lord Jesus it is Immanuel, God with us. What we do in obedience to the Lord now may seem small, even insignificant, to us, but in the end it will be the wealth of nations – not just material wealth, but spiritual wealth – and the coming of our Lord and Savior to the throne of this world and an eternal reign of righteousness in which we will share.
“Set your hearts,” God said to the Israelites. God give us grace to set our hearts on him to walk in faith and obedience. Amen.
Copyright © 2021 by Tom Adcox. All rights reserved. You may share this work with others, provided you do not alter it and do not sell it or use it for any commercial purpose. “Freely you have received, freely give” (Matthew 10.8). Also you must include this notice if you share it or any part of it.
Old Testament quotations are the author’s updates of the American Standard Version.
Quotations from the New Testament are the author’s translations.
