Haggai

LeRoy Eims

The last three books of the Old Testament take us on past the exile to the time when the Jews came home, the time of Ezra and Nehemiah.

When the first party of exiles returned to Jerusalem they made an enthusiastic start on rebuilding the temple which had been destroyed by the Babylonians. But opposition and apathy very soon brought the work to a standstill. "Then the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah, and troubled them in building, and hired counselors against them, to frustrate their purpose, all the days of Cyrus, king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius, king of Persia." (Ezra 4:4‑5)

For years nothing was done, until Haggai and Zechariah began to stir things up. "Then the prophets, Haggai, the prophet, and Zechariah, the son of Iddo, prophesied unto the Jews who were in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel, even unto them. Then rose up Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua, the son of Jozadak, and began to build the house of God which is at Jerusalem; and with them were the prophets of God helping them." (Ezra 5:1‑2)

Thanks to them, the temple was completed. Haggai's little book is one of the gems of the Old Testament. It has permanent relevance because its basic concern is not with the rebuilding of the temple, but with priorities.

Haggai comes to the people with a message from God. Life is hard, with food and clothing in short supply, and prices soaring. Why? Because the people had the wrong priorities. Every man is wrapped up in his own selfish concerns. God is neglected.

So the very things man works for evade him. For all the good things of life are God's to give or withhold. Haggai's words strike home to the nation's conscience. Within three weeks, the work on the temple resumes.

Solomon's fabulous temple had been demolished seventy years earlier. Few of those now building would have seen it, but all had heard of it and the glory had lost nothing in the telling.

The new temple seems a feeble thing in comparison. But let the builders take heart. The present building is just a foretaste of the splendor and glory of the end time, the era of peace and prosperity to which the prophets all looked forward.

Work on the temple has been resumed, but this in itself will not make the workmen "holy" and right with God. It is rottenness, not soundness that is contagious. Their previous neglect of God brought all kinds of unpleasant consequences, but from the day they began to put first things first, God would bless every aspect of life.

The return of the captives is in a way the re‑birth of the nation. It reminds us of their deliverance from Egypt. They were divinely conducted to their land of promise to establish their national life and institutions.