Courage and Hope in Uncertain Times
Notes
Transcript
Haggai 2:1–9 places this oracle on day 21 of this seventh month, corresponding to October 17, 520 B.C., which was in the busiest month in the Israelite festal calendar (Feast of Trumpets, day 1 [Lev. 23:23–25; Num. 29:1–6]; Day of Atonement, day 10 [Lev. 16:2–34; 23:26–32; Num. 29:7–11]; Feast of Tabernacles, days 15–22 [Lev. 23:33–43; Num. 29:12–39; Deut. 16:13–17]). By day 21 of this month (cf. Hag. 2:1), the penultimate day of the Feast of Tabernacles, which celebrated the harvest (Ex. 23:16; 34:22), the lack of progress on the project coupled with the enormity of the task yet to come may have been accentuated by the frustration of celebrating a third festal event in the unsightly ruins.
The Pentateuch has two names for this feast:
As the Feast of Ingathering (Exodus 23:16. 34:22), it was one of three opportunities for tithing in the Jewish religious calendar (cf. Lev. 23:39; Deut. 16:13-17
“You shall celebrate the Feast of Booths seven days after you have gathered in from your threshing floor and your wine vat;
and you shall rejoice in your feast, you and your son and your daughter and your male and female servants and the Levite and the stranger and the orphan and the widow who are in your towns.
“Seven days you shall celebrate a feast to the Lord your God in the place which the Lord chooses, because the Lord your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, so that you will be altogether joyful.
“Three times in a year all your males shall appear before the Lord your God in the place which He chooses, at the Feast of Unleavened Bread and at the Feast of Weeks and at the Feast of Booths, and they shall not appear before the Lord empty-handed.
“Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the Lord your God which He has given you.
This function adds to the frustration of the people, who are reminded of their lack of resources because of bad harvests.
As the Feast of Tabernacles, this was a reminder to the people of the desert experience of their forefathers, who longed for the settled life in the Promised Land (Lev. 23:43).
It is also a significant time because 440 years earlier Solomon had dedicated the first temple during this feast. Having this in mind, the people experienced some discouragement when they compared the former majesty of the Solomonic temple with this offering of their hands.
God’s people have become overwhelmed by their external circumstances and internal expectations. It is into this that the LORD of hosts speaks through His prophet Haggai.
IN this second year of Darius, the king is beginning to firmly grasp the reins of his kingdom. Haggai will speak, reminding the people of the sovereignty of God, something that today we too need to remember.
1. Looking Beyond the Past
1. Looking Beyond the Past
Haggai 2:1-3
The LORD calls Haggai to speak to those who have responded to His command to rebuild the temple. The recipients are Zerubbabel (the governor as well as the royal descendent of David), Joshua ( the priestly figure in Aaron’s and Zadok’s line), and the remnant, specifically those who had been around and saw the former temple before its destruction. They are the source of the greatest discouragement as they compare what was with what is—comparing the present to the past, and finding the present lacking, they are discontent. That attitude is beginning to impact those who never saw the Solomonic temple, discouraging them in their work.
This temple we build will never measure up;
Oh, if we only could return to the good old days, etc.
This is a problem then, as well as a problem in our day, when we compare our past to what we are presently experiencing,
Haggai has discovered a significant source of discouragement for those rebuilding the temple, and he empathizes with them. But he challenges them now to rise above their discouragement based on the resources of their God.
2. Living with Divine Presence
2. Living with Divine Presence
Haggai 2:4-5
“But now” is a transition in the text from the past to the present. Three times Haggai says “be strong” addressed to each of the three parties. The Hebrew term is an important element in other instances where encouragement for a task is needed such as Joshua 1:7, 9
“Only be strong and very courageous; be careful to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may have success wherever you go.
“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
This call to be strong is followed by the plural imperative “and work” addressed to all three parties. The opposition of discouragement originates within the people but the message is to the leadership and the people, encouraging them to work together as strengthened parties. The imperative found at the end of verse 5 (“do not fear”) is often associated with the verb “Be strong” in the accomplishment of a task.
In our text, the central imperative is “to work,” that being work on the temple project. The two imperatives surrounding this one are often used to motivate God’s people to a great task, expressed positively “Be strong” and negatively “Do not fear.”
Why? Why should they do this? First, God promises His presence with them as they work. They will need to be strong as they do the work, but their strength is linked to the presence of the LORD in their midst.
What promise is Haggai referring to in verse 5? Exodus 33:12-14
Then Moses said to the Lord, “See, You say to me, ‘Bring up this people!’ But You Yourself have not let me know whom You will send with me. Moreover, You have said, ‘I have known you by name, and you have also found favor in My sight.’
“Now therefore, I pray You, if I have found favor in Your sight, let me know Your ways that I may know You, so that I may find favor in Your sight. Consider too, that this nation is Your people.”
And He said, “My presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest.”
Moses made haste to bow low toward the earth and worship.
He said, “If now I have found favor in Your sight, O Lord, I pray, let the Lord go along in our midst, even though the people are so obstinate, and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us as Your own possession.”
Then God said, “Behold, I am going to make a covenant. Before all your people I will perform miracles which have not been produced in all the earth nor among any of the nations; and all the people among whom you live will see the working of the Lord, for it is a fearful thing that I am going to perform with you.
This is AFTER the golden calf incident. The promise of His good, holy Spirit abiding with them would remind the people of God’s covenant promise to them in spite of their faithlessness and failings. Haggai comforts the people by reminding them of God’s promised presence following their rebellion in the desert, a presence that enabled them to build the tabernacle.
When we find ourselves discouraged at the task before us, turn your thoughts to God, and His personal presence in you, Hebrews 13:5
Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, “I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you,”
Second, to do their work, the people were not to fear. The people already knew the fear of what the powerful nations around them could do and thought themselves insignificant in that light. They had stopped temple building because of fear. Haggai reassures them that God will act directly on their behalf.
3. Leaning on Future Glory
3. Leaning on Future Glory
Haggai 2:6-9
“Once more in a little while” speaks to both the imminence of and precedence for the activity of the LORD. The Jews’ fears were diminished by the promise of the presence of the LORD of hosts; now the LORD promises to do again what He had done at the Exodus and at Mount Sinai, Exodus 19:16
So it came about on the third day, when it was morning, that there were thunder and lightning flashes and a thick cloud upon the mountain and a very loud trumpet sound, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled.
Now Mount Sinai was all in smoke because the Lord descended upon it in fire; and its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked violently.
The earth quaked; The heavens also dropped rain at the presence of God; Sinai itself quaked at the presence of God, the God of Israel.
Verse 7 describes an enormous literal earthquake, evidencing the LORD’s supernatural intervention, Isaiah 13:13
Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, And the earth will be shaken from its place At the fury of the Lord of hosts In the day of His burning anger.
“The fish of the sea, the birds of the heavens, the beasts of the field, all the creeping things that creep on the earth, and all the men who are on the face of the earth will shake at My presence; the mountains also will be thrown down, the steep pathways will collapse and every wall will fall to the ground.
This occurs at the return of Christ to earth, Joel 3:16
The Lord roars from Zion And utters His voice from Jerusalem, And the heavens and the earth tremble. But the Lord is a refuge for His people And a stronghold to the sons of Israel.
“But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
“And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory.
Contextually, in 520 B.C. there was a great deal of turmoil in the Persian Empire as well.
The writer of Hebrews quotes this verse in Heb. 12:26. Then He adds that we who are in Christ have an unshakeable kingdom that will endure this coming cosmic earthquake, Heb. 12:28-29
Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe;
for our God is a consuming fire.
At the same time the LORD will shake the nations, upsetting the political and governmental structures of the world, Dan. 2:35
“Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were crushed all at the same time and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away so that not a trace of them was found. But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.
“In the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be left for another people; it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever.
The Gentile nations will bring their wealth to the Israelites, like the Egyptians gave their treasures to the departing Hebrews at the Exodus (cf. Exod. 3:21–22; 11:2–3; 12:35–36).
Some English translations have “the desire of all nations will come.” This “desire” could be an impersonal reference to the wealth that the nations desire (cf. Isa. 60:5; Zech. 14:14)
“Then you will see and be radiant, And your heart will thrill and rejoice; Because the abundance of the sea will be turned to you, The wealth of the nations will come to you.
Or this “desire” could be a personal reference. In this case, it could be a messianic prophecy, which is why some translations capitalized “Desire.” Charles Wesley followed this second interpretation when he wrote the Christmas hymn “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.” “Come, Desire of nations, come! Fix in us Thy humble home.” The Hebrew text does not solve the problem, which is interpretive. Perhaps the LORD was deliberately ambiguous and had both things in mind: the wealth of the nations and Messiah.
“It is well to remember … that from earliest days the majority of Christian interpreters followed the Jewish tradition in referring the passage to the coming of Israel’s Messiah.” Dr. Charles Feinberg
The LORD also promised to fill the temple (“this house”) with glory. The temple in view must be the millennial temple, rather than the second (restoration) temple, in view of the context. This glory could be the wealth that the nations will bring to it (cf. Isa. 60:7, 13). Or it could be the splendor of the temple itself. Or the glory in view may be the glory of God’s own presence (cf. Exod. 40:34–35; 1 Kings 8:10–11; Ezek. 43:1–12). Simeon referred to the infant Jesus as “the glory of Your people Israel” (Luke 2:32). However, Jesus’ presence in Herod’s temple only prefigured the divine glory that will be present in the millennial temple.
Verse 8 seems to support the view that impersonal wealth is in view in verse 7. The LORD reminded the people that He owned and controlled all the silver and the gold in the world, so He could cause the nations to bring it to the temple in the future.
This reminder must have encouraged Haggai’s contemporaries as they rebuilt the temple as well. God could easily bring more financial resources to them, so that they could someday glorify their presently modest temple.
Then we read verse 9. Even though the present temple was less glorious than Solomon’s temple, the LORD promised that the latter glory of the temple would be greater than its former glory. The LORD also promised to bring peace to the site of the temple, namely, to Jerusalem (cf. Isa. 60:18; Joel 3:17; Mic. 5:4). Neither of these things has happened yet, so the fulfillment must be future (millennial). Lasting peace will only come when Messiah returns to rule and reign (cf. Isa. 2:4; 9:6; Zech. 9:9–10).
The LORD used the occasion of the Feast of Tabernacles to encourage the builders of the temple in Haggai’s day. This feast looked back to the Exodus, reminded the Israelites of their wilderness wanderings, and it anticipated settlement in the Promised Land. This message also looked back to the Exodus, referred to the present temple construction, and anticipated the glory of the future temple.