2005 Bible Reading

This page is not a commentary, nor an outline. It is something to bear in mind in this kind of reading. These materials I learnt from two books by Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart (How to Read the Bible for All Its worth; How to Read the Bible Book By Book). You could consult these books if you are interested.

Pastor Raymond

Haggai

The 10^th book of the Twelve began the chapter on the return from exile. It would be useful therefore to familiarize with the historical situations by reading Ezra 1-6. When the Persian Emperor Cyrus issued an edict in B. C. 539 to allow the Jews to return to their land, a great many of them went back to Jerusalem. Immediately they rebuilt the altar and the foundation of the temple (Ezra 3). But then they became preoccupied with rebuilding their own homes and farms, and set the rebuilding of the temple aside, for as long as 19 years. During this period, they repeatedly experienced great droughts and had little harvest to show for. At this juncture, Haggai taught them to grasp that the rebuilding of the temple was inextricably tied to their welfare, and there was no dichotomy between worship and livelihood. Haggai wanted them to see this reality and resumed the temple project.

The entire book is formed by four panels each beginning with “the word of the LORD” and each with clear dating:

I. In the second year of King Darius, on the first day of the sixth month, the word of the LORD came (1:1-11)

II. On the twenty-first day of the seventh month, the word of the LORD came (2:1-9)

III. On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came (2:10-19)

IV. The word of the LORD came to Haggai a second time on the twenty-fourth day of the month (2:20-23)

Except for panel (IV), each time God’s request was introduced by questions:

I. “Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin?”(1:4)

II. “Who of you is left who saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Does it not seem to you like nothing?” (2:3)

III. “If a person carries consecrated meat in the fold of his garment, and that fold touches some bread or stew, some wine, oil or other food, does it become consecrated? The priests answered, “No.” Then Haggai said, “If a person defiled by contact with a dead body touches one of these things, does it become defiled?” “Yes,” the priests replied, “it becomes defiled.” (2:12-13)

However, since there were four panels of speech but on only three different dates, the 3-section structure is also reasonable. Instead of arguing about a 3 or 4 section structure, we should pay close attention to the three dates. According to the Jewish calendar

I. The 1^st day of the 6^th month was a new moon and the month fell on the harvest period, a time to offer to God and to rejoice by consuming the offering in the temple (Numbers 10:10; 28:11);

II. The 21^st day of the 7^th month was towards the end of the Feast of the Tents, a festival to celebrate harvest;

III. The 24^th day of the 9^th month was the time of the spring harvest.

All three dates fell in a period when farmers normally did not have to labor in the fields and there should be no excuse that they were too busy to devote to rebuilding the temple.

In addition, the four panels progress in order. Section (I) sets out that their difficult times were the consequence of, not reason for, not rebuilding the temple. Haggai exhorted the people not to accord their own houses a higher priority than that of the LORD. Rather surprisingly this section recorded one of the few times in history the people responded favorably to the prophets of Israel (1:12-15). Section (II) expresses God’s encouragement, envisioning the future glory of the temple. In Section (III), Yahweh replaced the curse with blessing, “from this day on” (2:19), to reward the rebuilding. Section (IV) specifically addresses Zerubbabel, calling him the “signet ring” (2:23), thereby restoring that which was lost (Jeremiah 22:24-25) back to the throne of David, pointing to the future king.

We should not mistake the focus of God in the book of Haggai was solely on the structure called “temple.” We should bear in mind that when Yahweh delivered the Israelites out of Egypt, He promised them that He would lead them to the promised land, where they should worship Him. The people of Israel was fundamentally set apart from the surrounding peoples in that Israelites were not allowed to worship the deities on every high places. Instead, they should fear God and worship Him at the place He had chosen. When they did that, they would be blessed, and God would demonstrate that reality by His presence (2:5). That is why even before the completion of the temple project, as long as there was expressed faithfulness, God said: “From this day on I will bless you” (2:19).

The book of Haggai has a way to “reality” quite unacceptable to the modern scientific mindset. The prophet reiterated that the people of God should not separate “religious worship” from “making a living.” In the revelation of God, whenever those who belong to Him decouple these two, they do not live according to His words and they do not really see reality, resulting in further absence of God’s blessings. If the people of God did not decouple “worship” from “living,” God would bless them and be with them, so that they could “be strong” in facing all challenges (2:4).