The Book of Haggai
After the people from Jerusalem had been captives in Babylon and nearby cities for seventy years, a new ruler gave permission for all who wished, to return, just as God had said long before. There were some older people to go back, but most of them were the children and grandchildren of those who had lived there before.
The ruler said they should rebuild the House of God, but at first they were too busy building homes for themselves.
The stone walls of the Temple had been broken down, and the wood burned, so the work of clearing the ruins must have been slow and hard, and it was not until the second year that the men rebuilt the foundations of the Temple.
People who lived in countries near Jerusalem did not like to see the Temple for the Lord rebuilt, because they did not believe or honor Him. So they wrote to the eastern ruler to ask him to forbid the building to continue, and he sent a command that the work should stop.
Then the men again worked at their own houses and fields, and seem not to have thought much about the Lord or the House for Him, until God sent a man named Haggai to tell them “to consider their ways”. He told the men who had charge of the Temple that they must do right to be fit for the care of God’s House, and also they must teach the people right ways, then God would be with them and bless them.
Haggai spoke especially to the governor of Jerusalem, whose name was Zerubabal, saying that God had chosen him. That man was a grandson of the king who had been taken prisoner to Babylon seventy years before, and was a descendant of King David; God had chosen him because it was from that family Christ would come (Jer. 52:31,3231And it came to pass in the seven and thirtieth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, in the five and twentieth day of the month, that Evil-merodach king of Babylon in the first year of his reign lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah, and brought him forth out of prison, 32And spake kindly unto him, and set his throne above the throne of the kings that were with him in Babylon, (Jeremiah 52:31‑32); Matt. 1:1212And after they were brought to Babylon, Jechonias begat Salathiel; and Salathiel begat Zorobabel; (Matthew 1:12)).
There is not now a building of wood and stone where God dwells as He did at Jerusalem. But people who believe in The Son of God, are called the temple for God (2 Cor. 6:1616And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. (2 Corinthians 6:16)). Yet often they are like the people Haggai spoke to, busy working for themselves, neglecting what is for God’s honor. Those people in Jerusalem had much to discourage them, with all the ruins about, and also because their neighbors tried to prevent the work. But God’s words by Haggai encouraged them, and can help us too, “to consider our ways”.
Perhaps boys and girls now who love the Lord are doing as those people did when they earned money: “putting it in bags with holes!” That would be very foolish, because the money would be lost. But they were using all that they earned for themselves only, and God could not bless them. Neither can He bless us, if all we earn, we use for ourselves; some time we will find we too put our earnings “into bags with holes” (Hag. 1:66Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes. (Haggai 1:6)).
ML 09/27/1942