Haggai 2.15-17-The Remnant of Judah's Poor Harvests Were the Result of Disobedience to the Lord (Doctrinal Bible Church in Huntsville, Alabama)

Doctrinal Bible Church

Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom

Sunday July 9, 2023

Haggai: Haggai 2:15-17-The Remnant of Judah’s Poor Harvests Were the Result of Disobedience to the Lord

Lesson # 16

Haggai 2:15 “‘Now give careful thought to this from this day on—consider how things were before one stone was laid on another in the Lord’s temple. 16 When anyone came to a heap of twenty measures, there were only ten. When anyone went to a wine vat to draw fifty measures, there were only twenty. 17 I struck all the work of your hands with blight, mildew and hail, yet you did not turn to me,’ declares the Lord. (NIV84)

In Haggai 2:15, the Lord through the prophet Haggai issues the remnant of Judah a command, which demanded that each and every one of them were to immediately thoughtfully reflect within their hearts upon the recent past.

This is identified as the period of time before a stone was placed upon a stone in the Lord’s temple or in other words, each of the citizens of Judah were to thoughtfully reflect in their hearts upon the period of time prior to laying the foundation of the Lord’s temple in Jerusalem which was in 536 B.C.

This interpretation is supported by a comparison of Haggai 2:15 and Ezra 3:10-11.

Haggai 2:15 contains two prepositional phrases: (1) miṭṭerem śûm-ʾeben ʾel-ʾeben bĕhêkal yĕhwâ (מִטֶּ֧רֶם שֽׂוּם־אֶ֛בֶן אֶל־אֶ֖בֶן בְּהֵיכַ֥ל יְהוָֽה), “before one stone was laid on another in the Lord’s temple” (2) min-hayyôm hazze wāmāʿlâ (מִן־הַיּ֥וֹם הַזֶּ֖ה וָמָ֑עְלָה), “from this day on.”

The former stands in apposition to the latter and identifies specifically the meaning of the latter and speaks of the period before the foundation of the temple was laid.

On the other hand, Ezra 3:10-11 asserts that the temple of the Lord was established, which refers to the laying of the foundation of the temple.

Therefore, the remnant of Judah’s obedience to the Lord’s command in Haggai 1:8 was simply resuming the work of rebuilding the temple since the foundation of the temple was laid in 536 B.C.

Haggai 1:15 says they resumed the work on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month of the second year of Darius’ reign, which was August 29, 520 B.C.

Ezra 6:15-18 asserts that the temple was completed on the third day of the month of Adar, which was the sixth year of the reign of Darius, which was 516 B.C.

This command in Haggai 2:15, the statements recorded in Haggai 2:16-17, the command in Haggai 2:18 and the statements in Haggai 2:19 all stand in contrast with the Lord’s assessment of the kingdom of Judah in Haggai 2:14, which asserts that the citizens of the remnant of Judah were unclean in the Lord’s sight.

Haggai 2:16-17 elaborate further on this command in Haggai 2:15 because they describe the dire agricultural and economic situation in Judah prior to the laying of the foundation of this temple sixteen years earlier in 536 B.C. up to the present moment.

Haggai 2:18 contains another command which required that the citizens of the kingdom of Judah reflect thoughtfully upon the past.

Specifically, they were to thoughtfully reflect upon the period starting from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month to the day the foundation of the temple of the Lord was laid.

Haggai 2:19 poses a rhetorical question to the citizens of Judah which asks them if the seed was still in their storehouses, which demands a positive response.

It also asserts that the vine, fig tree, pomegranate and olive tree have not produced.

Lastly, this verse asserts that from today, the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month the Lord would bless the citizens of Judah.

Therefore, Haggai 2:15 begins a section which ends in Haggai 2:19, which stands in contrast to the Lord’s assessment of the citizens of Judah in Haggai 2:14 which asserts that they were unclean in His judgment.

Haggai 2:15-19 stands in contrast with Haggai 2:14 because the former asserts the Lord would bless the kingdom of Judah even though He had been disciplining them before they laid the foundation of the temple and after they He had done so.

The reason why the citizens of Judah were unclean in the Lord’s judgment is not identified in Haggai 2:10-19.

However, Haggai 1:9 identifies the reason as they did not complete the rebuilding of His temple in Jerusalem.

So therefore, the command in Haggai 2:15 required the remnant of Judah to thoughtfully reflect upon the period prior to the foundation of the temple being laid when they returned from Babylon.

On the other hand, the command in Haggai 2:18 required that they thoughtfully reflect upon the period which began when the foundation of the temple was laid to the day they received this third message.

The Lord was disciplining them during the period prior to laying the foundation of His temple.

However, He asserts in Haggai 2:19 that this discipline had ended because He promises from the day they received this third message on to bless them.

Therefore, we can see from a comparison of these verses that the Lord is telling the citizens of the remnant of Judah that He is no longer going to discipline them because they obeyed His command to complete the rebuilding of His temple in Jerusalem.

Zechariah 8:9-15 also speaks of the Lord ending the discipline He had been administering to the remnant of Judah prior to resuming the work of rebuilding the temple since it echoes Haggai 2:10-19.

This spiritual principle that God’s covenant people would be blessed as a result of their obedience to His commands and disciplined as a result of disobedience is in accordance with the Law and the prophets.

Leviticus 26:4, 20 and Psalm 67:6 taught Israel that if they obeyed the Lord, then He would send rain in its season and the ground would yield its crops.

However, if they disobeyed, then He would make the sky like iron and the ground like bronze and the ground as a result would not produce its crops.

Now, in Haggai 2:16, the Lord asserts through Haggai that during that particular period of time a citizen of the remnant of Judah came to expect a heap of twenty measures, however, there was ten.

Furthermore, He asserts that when a citizen of the remnant of Judah arrived at the wine vat to draw fifty measures, there was twenty.

In this verse, the prepositional phrase mihĕyôtām (מִֽהְיוֹתָ֥ם), “during that particular period of time” (Pastor’s translation) refers to the period or the duration in which the Lord was disciplining the remnant of Judah before they laid the foundation of the Lord’s temple in Jerusalem.

Therefore, it parallels the two prepositional phrases in Haggai 2:15.

Therefore, Haggai 2:16 is asserting that during that particular period of time before the foundation of the temple was laid, a citizen of the remnant of Judah came to expect a heap of twenty measures, however, there was ten and when they arrived at the wine vat to draw fifty measures, there was twenty.

This verse describes the manner in which the Lord disciplined the remnant of Judah prior to the laying of the foundation of His temple in Jerusalem.

The remnant of Judah was an agricultural economy and the Lord was keeping them from prospering agriculturally.

So therefore, the Lord is reminding the remnant of Judah that before they began to resume the rebuilding of His temple, they had been disobedient to the Mosaic Law (cf. Hag. 1:5-11).

Consequently, the Lord disciplined the nation as He said He would in the Mosaic Law by greatly reducing their harvests.

Haggai 2:16 asserts that prior to the laying of the foundation of the temple, the citizens of the remnant of Judah expected twenty measures of grain but instead they produced only ten.

Thus, their grain harvests were down fifty percent and it also asserts that they expected to draw fifty measures of wine from the wine vat but instead drew only twenty.

Therefore, the wine production was down forty percent from what they expected to produce.

In other words, Haggai 2:16 asserts that their grain harvests during this period had decreased by fifty percent and their grape harvest by sixty percent.

Haggai 2:17 contains two emphatic declarations which are addressed to the citizens of the remnant of Judah and originate from the Lord, the God of Israel.

The first asserts that the Lord caused each one of the citizens of this remnant to be struck with blight, mildew, hail, and every kind of work produced by their hands.

They were struck by the Lord in the sense that He adversely affected their agricultural production.

The second statement stands in contrast to the first and asserts that absolutely nothing was brought to the Lord by the citizens of this remnant.

These assertions are describing this remnant prior to obeying the Lord’s command in Haggai 1:8 to resume the rebuilding of the Lord’s temple and completing this task, which is indicated by the contents of Haggai 2:15-16.

The striking of crops by the Lord in Haggai 2:17 echoes Amos 4:9 and interestingly, in Haggai 2:17, the nouns šid·dā·p̄ôn (שִׁדָּפוֹן), “blight” and yē·rā·qôn (יֵרָקוֹן), “mildew” appear in Deuteronomy 28:22.

Deuteronomy 28:22 along with Leviticus 26:4, 20 and Deuteronomy 11:11-17, Amos 4:6-10 and Psalm 67:6 taught Israel that if they obeyed the Lord, then He would send rain in its season and the ground would yield its crops.

However, if they disobeyed, then He would make the sky like iron and the ground like bronze and the ground as a result would not produce its crops.

The reference to hail in Haggai 2:17 recalls one of the plagues the Lord sent upon the nation of Egypt in the days of Moses.