Reading: Haggai 1-2, Psalm 59

When I was growing up, I attended many youth groups and school events and conferences at which a popular rhetorical style involved asking a question like, “What is your priority?” or “What do you care most about?” and then arguing that we should care most about… something. Purity. Evangelism. Something else God or church related. If the speaker did a good job, we all left convinced we cared the most about the subject at hand. The problem was, we didn’t have any idea how to do it. In fact, we really didn’t even know how to know what our priorities were. What makes the things you do line up with what you say matters to you? At the high school age, I’m pretty sure it was all about emotions- I feel this is the most important, so I’m doing it right. “I care about the poor!” being spouted by 18 year old me while drinking a $4 Coffee People milkshake. Yeah, sure I did.

Ok, enough ragging on a younger version of myself. What does this have to do with Haggai? The book of Haggai is a short book, one of the shortest in the Hebrew Scriptures. It’s short message is all about one subject: the restoration of Israel, which is symbolized by the temple and the anointed one. We’ve already talked a bit during the book of Ezra-Nehemiah about how the people returned to the land in waves. Three different times the people of Israel were gathered up from around the world and came back to Jerusalem. Long story short, it didn’t go quite like the return prophecies in Isaiah, where the desert bursts into bloom. But then we read in Esther and Daniel about how many of them remained scattered, and that God was working through them as well. During those books we heard about two prophets who spoke to the returned people about building the temple: Zechariah and Haggai. Haggai comes first, and appears to kind of hand off his ministry to Zechariah.

The book opens with Haggai confronting two leaders: Joshua the high priest, and Zerubbabel the governor. The people have been saying that it is not time to build the temple, because the prophecies of abundance and blessing promised throughout the earlier Scriptures haven’t happened yet. Haggai retorts with the opposite. The blessings and abundance of restoration haven’t happened because you haven’t fulfilled the covenant. If we remember back to the design and purpose of the tabernacle back in Exodus, we will know that building a temple was central to keeping the covenant that God made with Israel at Sinai. Without that, there is no place for the high priest to go and make intercession with God. There is no image of the new creation, where God and humans can be together. It is a prerequisite for any practice of purification, any separation between the common and the holy.

So, Haggai say, get to it. Build this temple. And they do. They start up construction. But as we remember from the book of Ezra, it is not nearly so impressive as the former Temple of Solomon. It’s actually kind of depressing. So Haggai goes back into action, telling the returned exiles that the glory of God will come and inhabit the Temple and all the covenant promises will be fulfilled… if they are faithful. On the other hand, if they are disobedient, they risk losing their place as the chosen people. Remember, there are now descendants of Jacob all over the world. We know from Daniel and Esther that they are everywhere and sometimes in positions of great power. God is using the returned exiles, but they are not the end all and be all, as they seem to assume.

Haggai questions the motivations of the returned exiles. Are they making themselves clean and building the temple for the glory of the God of Israel and the fulfillment of his covenant? Or are they simply doing what they believe will get them the restoration promises? Being in the presence of a holy thing, like the temple, does not make them holy. But their impurity is infectious. It takes more than a desire to have what God promises to bring about the fulfilled promises, it requires participation in his actions. God is not just in the business of giving everyone what they want, he is in the business of transforming hearts so that what they want is actually good. The returned exiles believed they wanted the right things, but God wanted them to become different, to be transformed in their desires.

All that being said, the book of Haggai ends on a hopeful note, at least for the governor, Zerubbabel. Haggai delivers a somewhat odd message about how there will be a day where all the rulers and powers will be shaken, and on that day Zerubbabel will become a signet ring. Sounds uncomfortable, but let’s take a second to understand it. Zerubbabel was in the royal line, a descendant of David. He signified the royal promise to the line of David, and he shared the authority of ruling the people with the High Priest. Signet Rings were the signs of the authority of a king, used to seal official proclamations and such. So God has Haggai reassure Zerubbabel that the line of David is not forgotten in all this, and that the house of David is still the sign of the authority of the God of Israel, who is the real king of the people.

Haggai questions motivations and encourages the people of God to be transformed in their hearts. Haggai warns that impurity, leading to disaster, is infectious and dangerous. But he also reminds the exiles that God intends to fulfill his promises, and that the house of David is still the means by which he intends to do so, no matter how weak and destitute they appear to be. Haggai leaves the stage after this last message, leaving the prophet Zechariah to continue his theme in his book of prophecy.