Haggai 2.18-19-The Remnant of Judah Will Be Blessed as the Lord's Temple is Rebuilt (Doctrinal Bible Church in Huntsville, Alabama)

Doctrinal Bible Church

Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom

Sunday July 16, 2022

Haggai: Haggai 2:18-19-The Remnant of Judah Will Be Blessed as the Lord’s Temple is Rebuilt

Lesson # 17

Haggai 2:18 “‘From this day on, from this twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, give careful thought to the day when the foundation of the Lord’s temple was laid. Give careful thought.’”(NIV84)

Haggai 2:18 “‘Each and every one of you must at once thoughtfully reflect within your hearts upon the recent past, from this day, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month up to, from the day when the foundation of the Lord’s temple was laid. Each and every one of you must thoughtfully reflect within your hearts!’” (Pastor’s Translation)

Haggai 2:18 records two commands which the Lord communicated to the remnant of Judah through the prophet Haggai on the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month of the second year of Darius’ reign over the Persian empire.

The second repeats the first but in an abbreviated form.

The first required that each of the citizens of the remnant of Judah were to immediately thoughtfully reflect within their hearts upon the recent past and the second simply required that they were to thoughtfully reflect within their hearts.

The presence of the phrase śîmû lĕbabkem (שִׂימוּ לְבַבְכֶ֔ם), “give careful thought” in both commands implies that the second is repeating the first.

“On” is the adverb mǎ·ʿǎl (מַעַל), which means “onward” since the word pertains to a duration of time after a period of time.

This word refers to the period of time prior to the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month when Haggai communicated the third message from the Lord to the remnant of Judah.

Therefore, the prepositional phrase min-hayyôm hazze (מִן־הַיּ֥וֹם הַזֶּ֖ה), “from this day,” refers to the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month of the second year of Darius’ reign when Haggai communicated the third message from the Lord to the remnant of Judah.

Haggai 2:18 and Haggai 2:10 assert that the recent past is a period which begins on the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month of the second year of Darius’ reign over the Persian empire and it ends on the day the foundation of the Lord’s temple in Jerusalem was laid by the remnant of Judah.

Ezra 3:10-11 asserts that the temple of the Lord was established, which refers to the remnant of Judah laying the foundation of this temple and it asserts that this took place during the second year of Cyrus’ reign over Persia.

Haggai 2:18 is speaking of the remnant of Judah laying the foundation of the temple during the second years of Cyrus’ reign in 536 B.C.

This is indicated by Haggai’s use of the third person masculine singular pual perfect conjugation of the verb yā·sǎḏ (יָסַד) in Haggai 2:18, which means “to have a foundation laid” since the word pertains to having a foundation laid in order to be constructed on.

Therefore, this verb does not refer to the day the remnant of Judah resumed the work on the temple which Haggai 1:15 identifies as the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month of the second year of King Darius’ reign over Persia.

This interpretation of this verb yā·sǎḏ (יָסַד) here in Haggai 2:18 is further supported by both the immediate context and specifically it is supported by the assertions in Haggai 2:14-17 and 2:19.

So therefore, the verb yā·sǎḏ (יָסַד) in Haggai 2:18 means “to have laid a foundation” rather than “to restore” because Haggai 2:14-17 and 2:19 describe the Lord disciplining the remnant of Judah during the period in which they failed to complete the rebuilding of His temple after establishing its foundation in 536 B.C.

So here in Haggai 2:18, the Lord is commanding the remnant of Judah to immediately thoughtfully reflect within their hearts upon the period extending from the day the foundation of the Lord’s temple was laid by them to the day the Lord issued this third message to the remnant of Judah through the prophet Haggai.

This period extended from the second year of Cyrus’ reign in 536 B.C. to the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month of the second year of Darius’ reign over Persia, which corresponds to the Jewish month Kislev, which in our Julian calendar would be December 18, 520 B.C.

Thus, the recent past mentioned here in Haggai 2:18 is identified as a sixteen year period.

Haggai 2:19 “‘Is there yet any seed left in the barn? Until now, the vine and the fig tree, the pomegranate and the olive tree have not borne fruit. “‘From this day on I will bless you.’” (NIV84)

Haggai 2:19 “‘Is the seed still in the storehouse? Meanwhile, the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate tree as well as the olive tree still have by no means produced. However, from this day forward, I will cause each one of you to be blessed.’” (Pastor’s translation)

Haggai 2:19 begins with a rhetorical question followed by two declarative statements.

It also completes the third message the prophet Haggai communicated to the citizens of the remnant of Judah on behalf of the Lord according to Haggai 2:10 and which message began in Haggai 2:11.

Now, in Haggai 2:19, the Lord through the prophet Haggai poses a rhetorical question to each one of the citizens of the remnant of Judah, which asks “if the seed is still in the storehouse?”

This question demands an emphatic negative response.

The seed is absolutely not or by no means still in the storehouse.

I believe the rhetorical question in Haggai 2:19 demands an emphatic negative response since the context demands it.

First, the first declarative statement here in Haggai 2:19 which follows this rhetorical question asserts that the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate tree as well as the olive tree have by no means produced for the remnant of Judah.

Furthermore, as we noted, Haggai 2:14-18 like this first declarative statement in Haggai 2:19 describes agricultural shortages.

The first declarative statement in Haggai 2:19 which follows the rhetorical question is a temporal clause which asserts that while there was no seed in the storehouse, the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate tree as well as the olive tree still have by no means produced for the remnant of Judah.

The second and final declarative statement in Haggai 2:19 stands in stark contrast with the emphatic negative response to the rhetorical question and the temporal clause.

In it, the Lord asserts that from this day forward, He would cause each one of the citizens of the remnant of Judah to be blessed.

“This day” refers here in Haggai 2:19 to the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month of the second year of King Darius’ reign.

This is indicated in Haggai 2:18 by the phrase which follows yôm in this verse, namely, ʿeśrîm wĕʾarbāʿâ lattĕšîʿî (עֶשְׂרִ֨ים וְאַרְבָּעָ֜ה לַתְּשִׁיעִ֗י), “from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month.”

Therefore, “from this day” marks the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month of the second year of King Darius’ reign, as the starting point from which the Lord would bless the agricultural production of the citizens of Judah.

In this second declarative statement, the Lord is promising to endue with power the seed in the storehouses of the citizens of the remnant of Judah to bear fruit abundantly.

Also it speaks of the Lord promising to endue with power the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate tree and olive tree to produce fruit abundantly.

Thus, it refers to the Lord promising to bring about abundant agricultural production in the future for the remnant of Judah.

Specifically, the Lord would bless them from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month of the second year of Darius’ reign over Persia onwards.

Therefore, this second declarative statement in Haggai 2:19 records the Lord announcing that He would no longer be discipling the kingdom of Judah and the reason is not explicitly given in Haggai 2:10-19.

However, Haggai 1:12-15 does record the reason why, namely, because the citizens of the remnant of Judah led by Zerubbabel the governor of Judah and Joshua, the high priest of the nation obeyed the Lord’s command to complete the rebuilding of His temple in Jerusalem.

Now, in Haggai 2:19 when the Lord promises the citizens of the remnant of Judah that He would bless them agriculturally, He is in effect, promising them that they would see the visible results of their obedience to His command to complete the rebuilding of His temple.

This would be in accordance with the Mosaic Law, which not only asserts that the Lord would discipline the nation for their unrepentant disobedience but also would bless them for their obedience to His commands and prohibitions.

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.