A new book, Haggai 1:1,2 says,...Bible reading week 25, day 3

Today's verses are from a new book to study and I have picked Haggai.  Let's venture into some of these minor prophet books of the Bible and see what lessons are here to apply to our lives.  So Haggai, chapter 1, verse 1 says,

1 - In the second year of Darius the king, on the first day of the sixth month, the word of the LORD came by the prophet Haggai to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, saying,...

Here is the Bible being the Bible with giving us plenty of names, places, and times to put this account grounded in history to be verified.  The Bible is not afraid of history but actually is giving us an account of history that our world would be severely deficient of, if the Bible's recording of what happening we didn't have.  Haggai the prophet and the book is named after him.  His name means "festal one" so maybe he was born on a feast day.  Sometimes we call someone a "Christmas baby" if they were born on the 25th of December.

This book is the second shortest in the Old Testament with Obadiah being shorter and it is quoted once in the New Testament in Hebrews 12:26 which records a quote from Haggai 2:6 which says,

His voice shook the earth at that time, but now He has promised, 'Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.'

Haggai the prophet is mentioned in the book of Ezra and teamed up with the prophet Zechariah.  He is writing during the second year of the Persian King Darius so this would be 520 B.C. of King Darius' reign from 521 to 486 B.C.  Remember that we have to go backwards when we are in the B.C. reign.  Haggai is writing from Jerusalem so he may have come back with the first wave from Babylon with Zerubbabel in 538 B.C.

The Israelites were taken into exile by the Babylonians to Babylon by King Nebuchadnezzar in 586 B.C. and he also destroyed the temple built by King Solomon.  The Babylonians were overtaken by the Medes and Persians and so the Israelites in exile became their subjects.  In 538 B.C., Cyrus the Persian proclaimed that Israel could return to their homeland and about 50,000 Israelites returned with Zerubbabel as their civil leader and Joshua the high priest as their spiritual leader.  

The dates now give us that it is 18 years later when these words are given from 538 B.C. to 520 B.C.  The main task was to rebuild the temple and also bring back the spiritual priorities of the Israelite people.  This project has stalled and the temple is still in ruins.  

With the recording of this being the first day of the sixth month we can pinpoint this date to August 29, 520 B.C.  Zerubbabel was of the line of David so the Messianic line is represented and this Joshua, not the Joshua of Moses' time, was of the line of Aaron so the priestly line is represented.  Remember that Jesus is of the line of David but is also our High Priest.

Verse 2 says,

"Thus says the LORD of hosts, 'This people says, "The time has not come, even the time for the house of the LORD to be rebuilt."'"

Haggai is reporting what the people are saying in response to the temple only being half-built.  They started but then stopped because of opposition and other things getting in the way.  The people concluded it was not time or they didn't have time to people God's house back together.  The temple represented the center of their spiritual compass and it was being neglected by the people.  Here is where we can make some correlation to today.

In our time, we are allowing the church to be dismantled by our lack of attention to its mission.  God will build His church but has devised it to happen through us.  What happens when the church, us, make excuses that the church's mission can be set aside for another day?  There is some opposition so we will slow up and put down our tools for a time and maybe pick it back up later.  Maybe this will give us some place to relate to this prophet and this book named after him.  He is speaking to people who have abandoned the church and put their focus on themselves and their pleasures over the purposes of God.  They have gotten comfortable with this arrangement and then comes the word of the Lord through this prophet who points his boney finger at them and says, "Thus saith the LORD!"  

How is your spiritual house doing?  Have you laid aside your tools, your spiritual disciplines of worship, prayer, the Word, fellowship, and service, to focus on what you want rather than what He wants?  Is the temple being worked on or has it stalled in its development because "other things" have become more important?  I think this Old Testament minor prophet book is going to be pretty relevant.  Let us pray.

"Lord, help us through this little book with a big message.  Help us to see where we might have made excuses rather than made progress.  May the opposition that we face help us to see how important it is to put that much more effort into Your mission for us as followers of You.  Amen."

Pastor Adam