Haggai: Haggai 1:10-The Sky Withheld the Dew and the Earth Its Produce Because the Remnant of Judah Failed to Complete the Rebuilding of His Temple

Wenstrom Bible Ministries

Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom

Thursday August 15, 2019

Haggai: Haggai 1:10-The Sky Withheld the Dew and the Earth Its Produce Because the Remnant of Judah Failed to Complete the Rebuilding of His Temple

Lesson # 17

Haggai 1:1 On the first day of the sixth month of King Darius’ second year, the Lord spoke this message through the prophet Haggai to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to the high priest Joshua son of Jehozadak: 1:2 The Lord who rules over all says this: “These people have said, ‘The time for rebuilding the Lord’s temple has not yet come.’ ” 1:3 So the Lord spoke through the prophet Haggai as follows: 1:4 “Is it right for you to live in richly paneled houses while my temple is in ruins? 1:5 Here then is what the Lord who rules over all says: ‘Think carefully about what you are doing. 1:6 You have planted much, but have harvested little. You eat, but are never filled. You drink, but are still thirsty. You put on clothes, but are not warm. Those who earn wages end up with holes in their money bags.’” 1:7 “Moreover, the Lord who rules over all says: ‘Pay close attention to these things also. 1:8 Go up to the hill country and bring back timber to build the temple. Then I will be pleased and honored,’ says the Lord. 1:9 ‘You expected a large harvest, but instead there was little, and when you brought it home it disappeared right away. Why?’ asks the Lord who rules over all. ‘Because my temple remains in ruins, thanks to each of you favoring his own house! 1:10 This is why the sky has held back its dew and the earth its produce. 1:11 Moreover, I have called for a drought that will affect the fields, the hill country, the grain, new wine, fresh olive oil, and everything that grows from the ground; it also will harm people, animals, and everything they produce.’” (NET)

In Haggai 1:10, the Lord through the prophet Haggai declares that because of the remnant of Judah, the heavens and specifically the earth’s atmosphere have withheld its dew with the result that the earth has withheld its produce.

This statement is presenting the result of the previous statement in Haggai 1:9 that the remnant of Judah harvested little which in turn was blown away by the Lord because they failed to complete the rebuilding of His temple.

Therefore, a comparison of these two statements make quite clear that the earth’s atmosphere withheld its dew and consequently, the earth its produce as a direct result of the remnant of Judah failing to complete the rebuilding of the Lord’s temple.

They emphatically assert that the Lord was disciplining the remnant of Judah for failing to complete rebuilding the temple in Jerusalem by causing the earth’s atmosphere to withhold its dew so that the earth would withhold its produce.

In other words, each citizen belonging to the remnant of Judah was the reason why the Lord was disciplining the nation because they failed to complete the rebuilding of His temple in Jerusalem.

Dew is of great importance in Palestine because the area possesses a dry summer subtropical climate.

In fact, the entire Mediterranean basin experiences this climate in which a stationary high pressure system does not allow moisture to penetrate the region during the summer.

This system eventually shifts to the south during the winter which allows moisture to penetrate.

Consequently, the land is dependent upon dew throughout the summer.

It is not unusual and in fact the norm that there are heavy dews in this area because of the significant difference between night and day temperatures.

Consequently, during Old Testament times, there would be famine in this area if it did not receive dew or rain for a long period of time.

Deuteronomy 33:28 and Proverbs 3:20 teach that dew is a gift from God and Haggai 1:10 teaches that God will withhold it to discipline His people.

Mark Boda writes “Haggai describes God’s judgment on the people with a series of merisms to encompass all of creation and all of human activity within creation. In Hag. 1:10 the fundamental cause is that both ‘the heavens’ and ‘the earth’ (cf. Gen. 1:1) are not cooperating with humanity to produce sustenance. The heavens are not providing the essential precipitation for life, nor is the earth providing the nutrients. The use of the ‘dew’ is not surprising, especially considering the time of year (August).[1] The period between the “latter” (spring) and ‘early’ (fall) rains is a time in which little to no rain falls in Israel. In a land almost exclusively reliant on water from precipitation, the presence of dew can mean the difference between life and death for vegetation. The image of dew is not as common as that of rain for the blessing or curse of God but is found on several occasions (Gen. 27:28, 39; Deut. 33:13, 28; 2 Sam. 1:21; 1 Kings 17:1; Prov. 19:12).”[2]

“Produce” is the noun yeḇûl which is usually used in the Old Testament as it is here in Haggai 1:10 in connection with God’s blessing or His cursing.

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.

Leviticus 26:19 “I will break your strong pride and make your sky like iron and your land like bronze. 20 Your strength will be used up in vain, your land will not give its yield, and the trees of the land will not produce their fruit.” (NET)

Deuteronomy 28:22 He will afflict you with weakness, fever, inflammation, infection, sword, blight, and mildew; these will attack you until you perish. 23 The sky above your heads will be bronze and the earth beneath you iron. 24 The Lord will make the rain of your land powder and dust; it will come down on you from the sky until you are destroyed. (NET)

Amos 4:6 “But surely I gave you no food to eat in any of your cities; you lacked food everywhere you live. Still you did not come back to me.” The Lord is speaking! 4:7 “I withheld rain from you three months before the harvest. I gave rain to one city, but not to another. One field would get rain, but the field that received no rain dried up. 4:8 People from two or three cities staggered into one city to get water, but remained thirsty. Still you did not come back to me.” The Lord is speaking! 4:9 “I destroyed your crops with blight and disease. Locusts kept devouring your orchards, vineyards, fig trees, and olive trees. Still you did not come back to me.” The Lord is speaking! 4:10 “I sent against you a plague like one of the Egyptian plagues. I killed your young men with the sword, along with the horses you had captured. I made the stench from the corpses rise up into your nostrils. Still you did not come back to me.” The Lord is speaking! (NET)

M. R. Jacobs writes “The observation that the heavens have withheld dew provides nature’s response to the situation. This is clearly analogous to the Deuteronomistic tradition of drought’s being the result of God’s curse. In essence, Deut 11:11–17 states that if the people obey Yahweh, then Yahweh will bring rain and thus ensure the success of their labor; but Yahweh will withhold rain if the people are disobedient (cf. Deut 28:23; Lev 26:19–20).[3]”[4]

Deuteronomy 11:11 Instead, the land you are crossing the Jordan to occupy is one of hills and valleys, a land that drinks in water from the rains, 12 a land the Lord your God looks after. He is constantly attentive to it from the beginning to the end of the year. 13 Now, if you pay close attention to my commandments that I am giving you today and love the Lord your God and serve him with all your mind and being, 14 then he promises, “I will send rain for your land in its season, the autumn and the spring rains, so that you may gather in your grain, new wine, and olive oil. 15 I will provide pasture for your livestock and you will eat your fill.” 16 Make sure you do not turn away to serve and worship other gods! 17 Then the anger of the Lord will erupt against you and he will close up the sky so that it does not rain. The land will not yield its produce, and you will soon be removed from the good land that the Lord is about to give you. (NET)

R. A. Taylor writes “The language of this section is reminiscent of the covenant curses found in Deuteronomy 28–30. There the Lord promised great blessings in return for obedience to the covenant obligations that he spelled out; but he also warned of the serious consequences that would overtake his people if they did not remain faithful to their covenantal obligations. Those curses included such things as the withholding of moisture from the planted crops (Deut 28:24); failed harvests (Deut 28:30, 38–42); and hunger, thirst, lack of clothing, and poverty (Deut 28:48). By invoking this language Haggai implied that the disasters being currently experienced were due to nothing less than the failure of the people to live up to their covenantal obligations.”[5]

[1] Cf. esp. J. I. Packer, M. C. Tenney, and W. White, eds. The Bible Almanac (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1980), 195–96, 265; see “Dew” in M. C. Tenney, ed. The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1976), 2:118; Alden, “Haggai,” 582; Redditt, Haggai, 22.

[2] Boda, M. J. (2004). Haggai, Zechariah (pp. 93–94). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.

[3] The ṭal, “dew, moisture” (e.g., Gen 27:28, 39; Deut 32:2; cf. Judg 6:37–40). Cf. Kessler, Haggai, 139; Tigay, Deuteronomy, 112–14, 260, 266–67; John E. Hartley, Leviticus, WBC 4 (Dallas: Word, 1992), 462, 465; M. Noth, Leviticus, OTL (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1977), 198.

[4] Jacobs, M. R. (2017). The Books of Haggai and Malachi. (E. J. Young, R. K. Harrison, & R. L. Hubbard Jr., Eds.) (p. 59). Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.

[5] Taylor, R. A., & Clendenen, E. R. (2004). Haggai, Malachi (Vol. 21A, p. 134). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.