Haggai: Haggai 1:12-15-The Remnant of Judah Responds to the First Message By Repenting

Haggai 1:12 Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, Joshua son of Jehozadak, 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. 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 Jehozadak, 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 in the second year of King Darius. (NIV84)

The contents of Haggai 1:12-14 present the response of the remnant of Judah to the message the God of Israel communicated to them through the prophet Haggai and which message is recorded in Haggai 1:2-11.

This message and the response to the message are bracketed by the introduction in Haggai 1:1 and the concluding date formula in Haggai 1:15 with regards to this obedience to the message.

Now, Haggai 1:12 contains three declarative statements.

The second explains in greater detail the first and the third presents an inference from the first two.

The first statement asserts that Zerubbabel, Shealtiel’s son as well as Joshua, Jehozadak’s son, the high priest along with the whole remnant which is a part of the kingdom of Judah obeyed the Lord their God’s voice.

The second statement identifies specifically what the first statement means that this remnant obeyed the voice of the Lord and asserts that they did so by obeying the message Haggai communicated to them.

This statement also presents the reason why they obeyed Haggai, namely because the Lord had sent him.

The third statement in verse 11 asserts that the remnant of Judah demonstrated respect in the Lord’s presence and is presenting an inference from the first two statements.

Therefore, this indicates that it can be inferred from this remnant’s obedience to the Lord’s message He communicated through the prophet Haggai which required that they obey His command to complete the rebuilding of His temple that this remnant respected the Lord.

Haggai 1:13 presents the result of the three statements recorded in Haggai 1:12 and asserts that Haggai, the Lord’s messenger spoke the Lord’s word to this remnant saying, “I am with each and every one of you!” says the Lord.

This statement means that the Lord was experiencing fellowship with this remnant and consequently, this would enable this remnant to complete this task assigned to them by the Lord.

This assertion that the Lord was with this remnant was to encourage and enable them to complete the task of the rebuilding of the temple.

The Lord’s declaration in Haggai 1:13 also has an active sense in that the Lord would Himself be actively involved in the work of completing the rebuilding of the temple since Haggai 1:14 asserts that He energized Zerubbabel and Joshua and the entire remnant of Judah to complete this task.

The Lord’s declaration in Haggai 1:13 that He was with the remnant of Judah is repeated in Haggai 2:4 where it was used to encourage this remnant not to despair that Zerubbabel’s temple did not possess the same splendor as Solomon’s temple.

In fact, in Haggai 2:9, the Lord asserts through the prophet Haggai that future splendor of Zerubbabel’s temple would be greater than Solomon’s.

This was fulfilled when Jesus Christ, the God-Man entered into Herod’s temple which was an enhancement of Zerubbabel’s temple.

Therefore, a comparison of Haggai 1:12 and 13 teaches that God and His people experience fellowship with one another when the latter obey His commands.

Haggai 1:14 contains two statements with the first explaining specifically what Haggai 1:13 means when it asserts that Lord was with each and every member of the remnant of Judah as a result of obeying His command to complete the rebuilding of the Lord’s temple in Jerusalem.

The Lord’s declaration in Haggai 1:13 also has an active sense in that the Lord would Himself be actively involved in the work of completing the rebuilding of the temple.

Therefore, a comparison of these two statements indicates that when the Lord informs the remnant of Judah that He was with each and every one of the them, it means that He is energizing them to perform the task of completing the work of rebuilding of His temple in Jerusalem.

The Lord energized the soul of Zerubbabel, Joshua and each member of the remnant of Judah in the sense that He convicted the conscience of each of them with the message He communicated to them through Haggai.

The message of course required that they complete this task of rebuilding the temple and energized the mentality of their souls to perform this task and consequently, this affected their emotions to perform this task.

Lastly, the Lord energized the soul of each member of this remnant in the sense that He moved them through the message He communicated to them through Haggai to exercise their volition in a way which resulted in the completion of the rebuilding of the Lord’s temple in Jerusalem.

The Lord’s declaration in Haggai 1:13 that He would be with the remnant of Judah also assures this remnant of His personal presence meaning He would indwell the temple.

This is implied by the command in Haggai 1:8 to complete the rebuilding of this temple in Jerusalem since the purpose of this task was so that this remnant could once again have a centralized location in which to worship Him.

This interpretation is further supported by the fact that many years after the completion of this project, the prophet Malachi demanded that the Israelites bring proper sacrifice and tithes to this temple, which the Lord asserts He loves (cf. Mal. 2:11).

Further supporting this interpretation is that Luke 1:8-22 asserts that Zacharias was performing his priestly service in this second temple “before God” when the angels appeared to inform him that he and his wife would have a child in their old age.

In fact, the gospel of Luke presents the temple as the location of God’s presence and activity (cf. Luke 2:22-49).

Matthew 23:21 records Jesus as assuming God’s presence in this second temple as a location of God’s presence when He rebukes the Jewish religious leaders’ practice of oaths by saying “Whoever swears by the temple swears by it and by Him who dwells in it.”

The second statement which appears in Haggai 1:14 presents the result of the previous statement indicating that the remnant of Judah completed the task of rebuilding the Lord’s temple in Jerusalem as a direct result of being energized by the Lord to do so.

Therefore, this second statement in Haggai 1:14 records the remnant of Judah’s obedience to the Lord’s command which is recorded in Haggai 1:8 and was communicated to them by Haggai which required that they complete the task of rebuilding the Lord’s temple in Jerusalem.

Haggai 1:15 completes a section of the book of Haggai which began in Haggai 1:12, which records the response of the remnant of Judah to the message the God of Israel communicated to them through the prophet Haggai and which message is recorded in Haggai 1:2-11.

Haggai 1:15 records the exact date in which the remnant of Judah resumed the work of completing the Lord’s temple in Jerusalem and asserts that it began on the twenty-fourth day, during the sixth month, during Darius’ the king’s second year.

As we also noted Haggai 1:1 records the exact day in which the Lord communicated to the remnant of Judah through the prophet Haggai that He wanted this remnant to resume the work of rebuilding His temple.

Therefore, a comparison of Haggai 1:1 with Haggai 1:15 indicates that there was an elapse of 23 days from the issuing of the message to rebuild and the obedient response of this remnant to the message.

This delay can be explained by a couple of factors.

First, the harvest of figs, grapes and pomegranates was in the month of Elul.

Secondly, a period of planning and the gathering of materials to complete the project of rebuilding the temple preceded the actual construction.