Good Morning Yamon Ki Yesepar and Nevim Arith Hayomim:
Haggai 1:6: “You have sown much, and bring in little; you eat, but you have not enough; you drink, but you are not filled with drink; you clothe you but there is none warm; and he that earns wages earns wages to put it into a bag with holes.”
Throughout my life I have heard the book of Haggai quoted during church building programs where the building of a church is likened to the rebuilding of the temple and if one does not tithe the result is seen in verse 1:6. Be that as it may but as we enter this time of economic hardship in this country and in the world, I would like to just look at Haggai from an historical context and make a personal application rather than an ecclesiastical application.
Haggai and Zechariah were among the first to return to the land of Israel after the captivity. The Jews usually date the captivity from the destruction of the temple in 586 BC to the rebuilding of the temple in 515 BC. Actually, the first deportation of the Jews started in 605 almost 19 years before the temple was destroyed and the first returned of the Jews under the Persian King Cyrus led by Shesbazzar and later Zerubbabel was in 538. It is interesting that Christian scholars date the captivity from the first captive to the return and the Jewish scholars date the captivity from the date of the destruction of the temple to the rebuilding of the temple.
The emphasis I believe is very important. The temple was the central place of worship. Without the temple and the altar true Levitical worship could not take place. The real captivity was when the Jews could not properly worship God. The temple was the dwelling place on earth for God and it was the center of worship. In captivity the Jews established synagogues to discuss the law and would pray every day toward Jerusalem, as a substitute for worship, but not true worship. To compare our local church building to the temple would not be accurate because the Apostle Paul made a statement in I Corinthians 3:16 that show the distinction between the temple in Jerusalem and our local church buildings. “Know ye not that you are the temple of God and the Spirit dwells in you.” Hence if there is any building program to compare to the temple it is in us. We no longer build a building for God to dwell in as that building exist in us. If we are to make a comparison of the church building it would be to the synagogue which served the purpose of a central meeting place to discuss the Word of God with other believers.
Haggai was well into his 70’s when he began his ministry (an encouragement to us baby boomers) as he remembers the first temple. There were three waves of immigration back to Israel. The first was under Shesbazzar who was replaced by Zerubbabel in 538, Over 50,000 Jews returned at this time. Then Ezra led the second wave of 5,000 in 458 and Nehemiah the third wave of 42,000 in 444 BC. The temple was restored for worship in 515 BC but the entire walls of the temple were not completed until the return of Nehemiah some 70 years later. During this time there was a lot of conflict with the neighbors who did not like the idea of the Jews returning to their land, much as experienced today in the Middle East. As a result, for 18 years the people lost interest in rebuilding the temple for worship and focused on their own economy.
Haggai challenged the world view that a good economy was based upon good business practices, management and skilled workers. The Jews had that and yet they had runaway inflation as seen in 1:6, they had a great harvest but got little in payment, as raiders, pestilence, and weather destroyed their crops. They had food, but not enough, water to drink, but not enough, clothes to wear but not warm enough and all their wages were spent before they could put it in the bank.
Haggai said in no uncertain terms that we live in God’s world and if He is not given central place, his laws will work against us and not for us. You must rebuild the temple so you can return to a true worship and not the worship from afar facing Jerusalem or in synagogues that substitute for the real thing and then your economy will take care of itself.
As I said, I want to take a personal view of Haggai. As many of you know God has me closeted away for 8-12 hours a day where I have find myself studying His Word and praying. I am in the process of rebuilding the temple. For many years the Samaritans have discouraged me from rebuilding my temple as I concentrated on rebuilding my own finances in the way of the world. October of 2008 clearly showed that Haggai was right. Build his temple first, then God’s laws on the economy will work for you. You are the temple of God. Rebuild that temple and enter true worship. That is more important than dwelling in “ceiling houses, as that house lies in waste.” (1:4). “You looked for much, and, lo, it came to little; and when you brought it home, I did blow on it (Heb. blew it away). Why? said the Lord of host. Because of my house that is in waste.”
It is so easy in this economic time to dwell on trying to build your house, but Haggai is teaching us that we should use this opportunity to rebuild God’s house of worship, ourselves, our bodies. Time to clean out all that trash of greed, selfishness, pride, lust, etc. so we have a pure place of worship to God.
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