Section II The Call to Courage
Haggai 2:1-9
The second message preached by the prophet came after the lapse of about a month. Apparently the work had lagged. The occasion of this address was, like the first, a public assembly—this date being the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles (Lev. 23: 33-36, 39-43). The reason for the slowdown in labor was that the Temple had been sufficiently formed for the people to compare it with Solomon's Temple and it presented a disheartening comparison. They saw that it was a poor substitute for the magnificent structure that had previously stood on Mount Zion. It was to counteract such despondency that the prophet spoke. “Haggai's new word is a simple one of encouragement. The people's conscience had been stirred by his first, they needed now some hope.”1
The discouragement of the people and its source are reflected in the words of 3. Obviously, only a small proportion of the people present had actually seen the glory of Solomon's Temple. Most scholars believe that the words indicate that Haggai himself was among this group. He would thus have been an old man at this time, since the Temple had been destroyed seventy years before.
Pusey gives a striking description of the magnificence of Solomon's Temple which will point up the contrast to this simple house of worship:
Besides the richness of the sculptures in the former Temple, everything which admitted of it was overlaid with gold; Solomon overlaid the whole altar by the oracle, the two cherubims, the floor of the house, the doors of the Holy of Holies and the ornaments of it, the cherubims thereon, and the palm trees he covered with gold fitted upon the carved wood; the altar of gold and the table of gold, whereupon the shewbread was, the ten candlesticks of pure gold, with the flowers and the lamps and the tongs of gold, the bowls, the snuffers and the basons and the spoons and the censers of pure gold, and hinges of pure gold for all the doors of the Temple. The porch that was in the front of the house, twenty cubits broad and 120 cubits high, was overlaid within with pure gold; the house glistened with precious stones … Six hundred talents of gold were employed in overlaying the Holy of Holies. The upper chambers were also of gold, the weight of the nails was fifty shekels of gold.2
Clearly the poor community of returned exiles would be ill prepared to duplicate such an extravagant structure. Yet Haggai addresses himself to Zerubbabel, Joshua, and the people (4), calling upon them to be strong. These words would be filled with special meaning as the people remembered the story of the first chapter of Joshua. Here God had talked to the earlier Joshua, who had just been chosen as the successor of Moses and the leader of Israel. There too, in the face of a great task, God had given this same exhortation to strength and courage—Be strong.
Although some would criticize Haggai for calling upon the people to undertake the assignment in their own strength, this is a misreading of the prophet. There are two sides to his message: (a) the people are to be strong … and work; but as they do, (b) God promises, I am with you. The strongest assurance to Israel of Jehovah's presence and power to help was that He is the same God who delivered them out of Egypt (5). Haggai, like most of the prophets, reminds the people that God had entered into a covenant with them, a relationship which He will not break.
“It is remarkable that the presence of the Spirit should be used as equivalent to a fulfillment of the covenant on God's part; the idea which pervades the N.T.”3
In 2:1-5 we see “How to Face Discouraging Circumstances.” (1) Don't try to fool yourself—face the facts, 3; (2) Be courageous, 4; (3) Recall God's promises and help in previous hard places, 5a; (4) Listen for God's promise and encouragement—I am with you, saith the Lord of hosts … my spirit remaineth among you: fear ye not, 4-5 (A. F. Harper).
In this passage we see the actual prophecy which gave the people grounds for encouragement. The RSV translates 6: “Once again, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land.” Here, as so often in prophecy, the future is foreshortened. This is a vision of “incredible audacity which reveals the prophet's unconquerable faith.”4
Yet once (again) … I will shake … the earth has been referred by some to the great shaking at Mount Sinai when God initiated the covenant. In like manner He will once again manifest His glory and cause all nations to tremble at His presence.
The cataclysms which Haggai foresees are thought by most to be reflections of the revolts then going on in the Persian world during the early reign of Darius. These upheavals Haggai sees as a prelude to the Messianic age. The prophetic picture indicated that the Messianic age would be preceded by “messianic woes.”5
In this case, the Messianic age and its glory are associated with the Temple. Although these impoverished exiles do not have access to wealth sufficient to match the Temple of Solomon, yet God is the Possessor of all silver and gold (8).
Commentators are agreed that the singular desire of all nations (7) in the KJV is a mistaken translation since the verb is plural and demands the plural subject. J. Mcllmoyle expresses the conservative position with great clarity: “Much as the hearts, especially of those who have found Him who is all their desire, would wish to follow ancient Jewish expositors and find a personal reference here to the Messiah, and great as would be the truth that would be thus expressed, the difficulty in so rendering the words seems insuperable.”6
The Septuagint renders it “the choice things,” or it may be translated, “the desirable things of all nations.” The reference is to the costly treasures which will be brought to beautify the Temple (cf. Isa. 60:5—“The wealth [marg.] of the Gentiles [nations] shall come unto thee”).
The prophet continues his bold prophecy with two further predictions: The glory of this latter house (the new Temple) shall be greater than of the former (Solomon's Temple), and God will give it peace (9).
Perhaps what is to make it greater are the splendid offerings of gold and silver brought to it by the nations. But this seems rather inadequate in face of the fact that the prophet recognizes the real glory of the Temple to be the presence of God. Also the literal meaning of this verse does not imply two houses, but one, the latter being in continuity with the first. This was literally true since certain standing walls of the old became part of the new. The literal translation puts it, “The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former.”
“The glory here promised is first and most obviously material glory,” says Perowne, “the desirable things, the precious gifts of all nations.” But he is undoubtedly nearer the truth when he adds, “but it includes the spiritual glory, without which in the sight of God material splendor is worthless and unacceptable.”7
The second promise gave assurance that God's people should have security in the midst of the earth-shaking convulsions among the nations.
But were these prophecies fulfilled? Marcus Dods noted that they were literally fulfilled inasmuch as the means of building did not fail. But this did not constitute the greatest fulfillment. The tribute of the nations involved the recognition that this was the “visible center of God's kingdom and place of his manifestation.”8