ON THE TWENTY-FIRST day of the seventh month, the word of the LORD came through the prophet Haggai: 2“Speak to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, to Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to the remnant of the people. Ask them, 3‘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? 4But now be strong, O Zerubbabel,’ declares the LORD. ‘Be strong, O Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land,’ declares the LORD, ‘and work. For I am with you,’ declares the LORD Almighty. 5‘This is what I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt. And my Spirit remains among you. Do not fear.’
6“This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘In a little while I will once more shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. 7I will shake all nations, and the desired of all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory,’ says the LORD Almighty. 8‘The silver is mine and the gold is mine,’ declares the LORD Almighty. 9‘The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house,’ says the LORD Almighty. ‘And in this place I will grant peace,’ declares the LORD Almighty.”
Original Meaning
THE EVENTS IN HAGGAI 1 took place in the sixth month with the initial prophetic message coming on the first day and the response on the twenty-fourth day. The message of 2:1–9 is thus delivered almost a month after the beginning of the work.1 The date in our calendar is October 17, 520 B.C. It is not surprising that after a month of rebuilding the people are discouraged, especially since the initial phase of clearing rubble would be extremely arduous. But there are further reasons why on this particular day the frustration of the people reaches a crescendo.
Ezra 3:1–6 suggests that by the first day of the seventh month, the sacrificial and festal system had been reinstituted on the rebuilt altar on the temple site.2 Haggai 2:1–9 places this oracle on day 21 of this seventh month, which was the busiest month in the Israelite festal calendar (Feast of Trumpets, day 1 [Lev. 23:23–25; Num. 29:1–6]; Day of Atonement, day 10 [Lev. 16:2–34; 23:26–32; Num. 29:7–11]; Feast of Tabernacles, days 15–22 [Lev. 23:33–43; Num. 29:12–39; Deut. 16:13–17]). By day 21 of this month (cf. Hag. 2:1), the penultimate day of the Feast of Tabernacles, which celebrated the harvest (Ex. 23:16; 34:22), the lack of progress on the project coupled with the enormity of the task yet to come may have been accentuated by the frustration of celebrating a third festal event in the unsightly ruins.
This feast has two names in the Pentateuch, both of which have significance for Haggai’s message. As the Feast of Ingathering (Ex. 23:16; 34:22), it was one of the three opportunities for tithing in the Israelite festal calendar (cf. Lev. 23:39; Deut. 16:13–17). This function adds to the frustration of the people, who are reminded of their lack of resources because of bad harvests (Hag. 1). As the Feast of Tabernacles, this feast was a yearly reminder to the people of the desert experience, of the period of longing for settled life in the Promised Land (Lev. 23:43). In many ways the people are reliving the experience of those who left Egypt and journeyed to a new land.
The date of this prophetic message corresponds to another important event in the history of Israel. It was during this festival over four centuries earlier that Solomon dedicated the temple (1 Kings 8:2).3 The many allusions to this great Solomonic temple in this prophetic message show clearly that Haggai and his people have this event in mind, so that comparisons with the earlier project may have led to discouragement. In other words, as God’s people are overwhelmed by their external circumstances and their internal expectations, Haggai is moved to deliver his second oracle.
This oracle is also influenced by movements on the world stage. Haggai declares this message in a period in Persian history when Darius was beginning to firmly grasp the reins of power in the Persian heartland.4 To a people who had observed the vulnerability of the great Persian empire, Haggai points this discouraged people to the sovereignty of Yahweh over the affairs and resources of the nations. They will soon experience the firstfruits of this prophecy as Darius grants to them the resources of the Persian empire for the rebuilding of the temple.5
As in Haggai 1, so now in 2:1–9 the prophet is a master of combining divergent vocabulary and styles from older prophetic speech into a rhetorical unity.6 He begins with that dialogical style we first observed in 1:4 and uses a series of questions to win a hearing among his audience. Then he launches into a speech form that some consider as containing the elements of the priestly oracle of salvation (“I am with you,” “do not fear”; e.g., Isa. 35:4)7 and others as the elements of the encouragement for a task (e.g., Josh. 1:6–9).8 Haggai appears to be combining both forms here into a new entity. He stretches this form by expanding the assurance with an extended promise of God’s cataclysmic action, echoing the oracles of salvation found in the classical prophets in general and Isaiah 40–48 in particular.9
This creative amalgamation of prophetic forms creates a literary masterpiece. After the introduction in verse 1, Yahweh identifies the audience who will receive the message (v. 2). This is followed immediately by identifying the issue that precipitates the prophetic message (v. 3). Discouragement has set in among the people because of comparisons to the former glory of the temple prior to the Babylonian destruction in 587 B.C. The message then addresses the people forcefully through a series of imperatives: “Be strong [3x] . . . and work . . . do not fear” (2:4–5).
The controlling imperative is “work,” drawing on the description of the response of the same people to Haggai’s first message in Hag. 1:14. This central command focusing on the external action of the people, however, is flanked by two commands focusing on internal motivational issues. In order to work they will need both the positive motivation to “be strong” and the negative motivation to avoid “fear.” Each is linked subsequently to a particular promise of Yahweh through the causal particle ki (“for”), providing motivations for this human activity and attitude in Yahweh himself.
The first motivation focuses on God’s presence (vv. 4–5) and is linked to Haggai’s encouragement “be strong.” The second motivation focuses on God’s action (vv. 6–9) and is linked to Haggai’s encouragement “do not fear.” By verse 9 Yahweh has addressed the concern of the people picking up on the vocabulary of the rhetorical questions in verse 3. There is a sense of closure as he promises to exceed the former glory of the temple, but also a sense of comfort that this glory will overflow into prosperity for the community who obeys.
Identification of the Issue (2:1–3)
IN VERSE 2, Yahweh instructs Haggai to speak to those who have responded positively to the initial prophetic call to rebuild the temple: Zerubbabel (the royal figure in David’s line), Joshua (the priestly figure in Aaron’s and Zadok’s line), and the remnant of the people (cf. 1:12, 14). By addressing the remnant, Haggai is speaking to that portion of the people who have responded to the call and assumed the role of the anticipated “remnant,” an important theological evaluation identifying them as the purified community that had survived the Exile (see Original Meaning section of 1:12–15).
Haggai begins with a series of rhetorical questions (2:3).10 In style similar to 1:1–11, he addresses the people and their leaders directly by emphasizing “you” in each line. He identifies a portion of the community who had seen the temple before the Babylonian destruction of 587 B.C. Here we find a wordplay as Haggai picks up on the root for “remnant” found in 2:2 (šʾr) and immediately turns to those who are “left” (i.e., the remnant) who saw the temple in its former glory. Those who are the source of greatest skepticism are the remnant of the remnant, those truly purified through the Exile and still among the community.11 It is not entirely impossible that there were people in their seventies who had seen the temple prior to its destruction in 587.
There is a progression of thought in the questions, moving the hearers from the past to the present and then demanding a comparison between the two. Notably Haggai does not allow the audience to distinguish the present temple structure from the past structure; rather, he makes a comparison between the glory of the two houses instead of the structures themselves.12 This is a subtle reminder that this temple is the same structure as Solomon’s; the only difference is the “glory,” and, as we will discover, God will soon remedy that difference. This “glory” is not the glory of Yahweh’s presence but rather the material elegance of the building (cf. 2:6–9). This understanding, however, does not preclude the use of double entendre here to subtly remind the hearers of the glory of God’s presence as in the temple of old (see further below).
The third rhetorical question creates a climax, for in it Haggai joins the opinion of the skeptics within the remnant who are the focus of his message. Petersen highlights this technique: “Such a formulation elicits their response and in so doing establishes rapport with that sector of the community which is dissatisfied.”13 Haggai has identified a significant source of discouragement for those rebuilding the temple and in so doing has empathized with them. He will now challenge the community to rise above such discouragement, based on the resources of their God.14
Encouragement for the Task (2:4–9)
TO OFFER HIS ENCOURAGEMENT, Haggai begins with a phrase often used to mark a transition from the past to the present in Hebrew compositions: weʿattah (“but now”).15 This transition marker is followed by a threefold use of the verb ḥazaq (“be strong”) addressing each of the parties identified in 2:2. The term ḥazaq is an important element in other instances where encouragement for a task is needed.16 The call to “be strong” is followed by a plural imperative “and work,” addressed to all three parties together. The opposition is originating among the people, but the message is directed both to the leadership and the people to encourage them to work together as strengthened parties.17 The final imperative is found at the end of 2:5 (“do not fear”), a phrase often associated with the verb ḥazaq in the encouragement for a task.
In summary, the central imperative is “to work,” with the assumption that this work is on the temple project. It is surrounded by two imperatives often used to motivate God’s people to a great task expressed in the positive (“be strong”) and the negative (“do not fear”).
Haggai’s imperatives are coupled with two reasons why the leaders and people should work, both introduced by the Hebrew word ki (“for”): in 2:4b, “for I am with you”; in 2:6, “for this is what the LORD Almighty says.”18 (1) The first reason is directly related to the imperative “be strong” and entails God’s promise of his presence. In order to accomplish the core imperative “work,” the people will need to be strong, but this strength is linked to God’s presence with them, a point already emphasized in the prophet’s message to this remnant in 1:12. Now a month later Haggai fills out this promise further by alluding to the promise of God’s presence to the Israelites who were rescued from Egypt.
Haggai here is drawing from the account of the golden calf rebellion in Exodus 32–34. In these crucial chapters at the foot of Mount Sinai, God threatened to withdraw from the Israelites because of their rebellion. Moses begged Yahweh to remain and, after receiving a glimpse of Yahweh’s glory, cries to him: “If I have found favor in your eyes . . . then let the LORD go with us.” Yahweh’s response is odd: “I am making a covenant with you. . . .” From this we can conclude that assurance that Yahweh’s presence will remain with the people is essential to the making of the covenant.
The reference to the Spirit in the context of the Exodus generation is a feature of two later interpretations of the Exodus and desert experiences (Neh. 9:20, 30; Isa. 63:10, 11, 14). In both these passages, Yahweh’s presence among the people is interpreted as the “good/holy Spirit” who resided among them.19 The allusion to the covenant in Haggai 2:5 coupled with a reference to the Spirit remaining indicates that Haggai intends to remind the people of God’s promise after the golden calf rebellion. It is important to remember that the golden calf narrative interrupts the account of the tabernacle construction (Ex. 25–40). Now in the rebuilding of the place of God’s manifest presence, Haggai comforts the people by reminding them of God’s promised presence after rebellion in the desert, a presence that enabled that community to build the tabernacle.
(2) The second motivation is linked directly to a second element often associated with the genre “encouragement to a task”: “Do not fear” (2:5c). In order to do their “work,” the people must avoid fear. Their greatest fear is of the mighty nations that surround them. This struggling province on the edge of the great Persian empire was dwarfed by the empire and the stronger provinces around them. Fear was evident in the early days of the leadership of Zerubbabel and Joshua (cf. Ezra 3:3; 4:4–5), but the prophet is commissioned to dissuade the people from such fear and to back this up with God’s promise of direct action on their behalf. Yahweh will cause a cosmic upheaval that will not only allay their fears but rectify their original discouragement caused by comparison of the glory of the former temple with that of the present project.
The initial phrase “in a little while once more” accentuates both the imminence of and the precedence for the activity of Yahweh. In the Hebrew text the phrase “once more” comes first and alludes to an earlier event in which such activity of Yahweh took place. There is a precedent for the activity referred to in this passage, and with the many allusions in this passage to the Exodus and desert traditions, this earlier “shaking” is that which took place at Mount Sinai (Ex. 19:16–19). Hebrews 12:27 makes this connection as well. The phrase “in a little while,” using similar (though not identical) vocabulary to other prophetic promises to signify an event in the future, identifies the imminence of this activity.
Yahweh’s activity is identified as “shaking” (Hiphil of rʿš), a verb elsewhere associated with the appearance of Yahweh either in revelation (as on Sinai) or in battle (as in the Exodus).20 When Yahweh appears, the cosmos responds with earthquake and storm. In time it becomes associated with future eschatological events, when the cosmos will be renewed. Haggai appears to be drawing all of these connotations into his view of the future. Yahweh, the divine warrior, will appear as he did at Sinai, shaking both cosmos and the nations.
The list (“the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land”) associated with the first use of rʿš (2:6) is a merism speaking of the entirety of the cosmos. The first two members (“the heavens and the earth”) refer to all of creation (cf. Gen. 1:1), the second two (“the sea and the dry land”) divide up the earth (cf. Hag. 1:9–10). God’s cataclysmic action first affects creation, but then finds its goal in the context of human affairs when it causes a secondary shaking affecting “all nations.”21 It is this second shaking that supports the call to “not fear” in 2:5 and eventually answers the concern over the lack of glory in the temple.
When God shakes the nations, the result is that the “desired of all nations will come,” an action identified in the following phrase as fulfilling God’s intention to fill the temple with glory. There has been much debate over the meaning of the word “desired” in 2:7.22 The ancient Latin translation (Vulgate) translates this word with strong messianic overtones, an interpretation that finds its way even into the hymnology of the church (“Come, thou long-expected Jesus, dear desire of every nation”). However, in this passage these precious things (“desired”) appear to be material resources given for the temple rebuilding project, either the “precious vessels” absconded by Nebuchadnezzar (2 Chron. 36:10),23 spoils from a victorious battle,24 or tribute from a submissive people.25 In any case, the nations display their submission by bringing these precious things into the temple, an action paralleled in the latter part of Isaiah (60:5; 61:6; 66:20), where the rebuilding of the temple is envisioned as the work of the Gentiles who return with the Israelites and contribute to the rebuilding of the temple.
The following phrase appears to strengthen this approach to the “desired of all nations,” for God promises to “fill this house with glory.” In verse 3 the focus was on the material “glory” (splendor) of the temple, not the glory of God’s manifest presence. It is material glory that appears also to be the sense here in verse 7, especially with the reference to silver and gold in verse 8. However, the combination of the verb “fill,” the concept of God’s dwelling place (“this house”), and the word “glory” is only found elsewhere in the Hebrew Bible in connection with God’s glory filling the tabernacle/temple (Ex. 40:34, 35; 1 Kings 8:11; 2 Chron. 5:14; 7:1, 2; Ezek. 10:3, 4; 43:5).26 Interestingly, one finds references to God’s glory in connection with the rebuilding of the temple with Gentile resources in Isaiah 60–66 (60:1, 2, 13; 66:18–20).27
Taking a step further than the latter part of Isaiah, Haggai uses a wordplay to allude to the filling of the temple with God’s glory, but he identifies this glory with the material beautification of the temple caused by God’s shaking of the nations. This wordplay is strengthened by the semantic range of the Hebrew word kabod, which can also be used to refer to wealth (cf. Isa. 10:3 and esp. 61:4–6; 66:12). This is a significant contribution to the understanding of God’s glory in this period of rebuilding. The sign of God’s glory and presence will be his sovereign shaking of the nations and the subsequent material adornment of the temple.
God’s right to shake the nations and extract their treasures for his temple is backed up by the claims of verse 8, in which the ownership of the silver and gold—that is, the material resources of the world—is ultimately traced to the Lord. This is particularly relevant to a people who have recently seen Darius obtain the wealth and tribute of the nations.
Verse 9 serves two purposes. It reveals the final goal of the shaking of the cosmos/nations and brings closure to the entire passage, addressing the people’s concern introduced in verse 3 by repeating the same vocabulary (“glory,” “this,” “house,” “former”). One should not miss in the English translation that this does not refer to two different houses (former and present houses), but rather to two different glories of the same house: “The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former.”28 To a people discouraged by the intimidating goal of matching the Solomonic temple, this promise would engender hope.
Nevertheless, Haggai is not finished with his comfort. He offers them a final word of encouragement in the latter half of verse 9: “And in this place I will grant peace.” Many see here a broadening of the prophetic message to include Jerusalem as a whole,29 but the reference is most likely to the temple discussed in the first half of the verse.30 Haggai is identifying the temple as the source of peace (šalom), a term that can be translated as “prosperity,” the blessed state of an abundant life, as Wolff puts it: “salvation in a comprehensive sense: the absence of both hunger and sword, life without privation and without enmity.”31
Such a promise would be even more attractive to this people, for their discouragement over the progress on the project would be fostered by the fear of famine and oppression still fresh in their memories. It instills hope that the future glory of the house will have an effect on the people. The prosperity that God will bring to the temple will spill over into the community of God. Although the focus is on God and his glory (Hag. 1:8), Yahweh’s glory affects the community as well and brings prosperity.
This final word of comfort creates a strong link with the promise of glory, for as Durham has aptly argued, there is a close relationship between šalom in the Hebrew Bible and the presence of God.32 The priestly blessing of Numbers 6:22–27 associates God’s intimate presence with the reception of blessings, in particular the blessing of šalom. This connection between šalom and presence is reflected in Haggai 2:1–9 from the initial motivation in 2:5 (“for I am with you . . . and my Spirit remains among you”) to the second motivation in 2:7, 9, which alludes to the presence of God (“I will fill this house with glory”).
In sum, Haggai calls a disgruntled and discouraged community to work with renewed strength and without paralyzing fear. But the promise of the presence and action of the Lord Almighty consumes the majority of the passage and provides them the hope to finish the project. His message speaks with sensitivity to the immediate generation, promising God’s presence with them as they face the greatest challenge of their lives. At the same time, he calls them to trace God’s hand in their present, seeing how he remains in sovereign charge of the affairs of the nations and is already beginning to place the treasures of the nations at their disposal.
Bridging Contexts
HAGGAI 1 ASSUMES that God’s people are in an overwhelming predicament. The source of this predicament, however, is identified as the disobedience of a people who have refused to rebuild the temple. Their willingness portrayed in 1:12–14 shows that there has been repentance, and the people are immediately identified as the remnant community. Chapter 2 begins where chapter 1 left off. The people are again identified as the remnant community, but they are once again in an overwhelming predicament. This time, however, the people are not chastised for disobedience; rather, they are encouraged by the prophet who identifies with their need.
The greatest source of the people’s discouragement is revealed as the comparison between the preexilic glory of the temple and its present inglorious state. As with the issue of priorities in Haggai 1, most modern readers resonate with this reaction of the people in chapter 2. It draws us into the prophetic message because we have all thought or encountered reminiscing over “the good old days.” This notwithstanding, there is much in this passage that distances the modern reader from appropriating its truth; to those issues we now turn.
The presence of God and the Spirit. Haggai 2:1–9 assumes the importance of the rebuilding of the temple. This great project was essential to this Persian period community, for it was the place of God’s manifest presence. Rebuilding the temple was key to the reinstitution of the community of God, a priority made clear during the Babylonian period by the prophet Ezekiel (Ezek. 40–48).
Although the temple was the designated place of God’s manifest presence on earth, those who rise to the challenge of building the temple are immediately promised God’s presence through the words: “I am with you.” It is this promise that becomes a springboard for encouraging the people to continue rebuilding.
The presence of God is promised to many within the Old Testament, running, in the words of Achtemeier, as “the silver thread throughout the whole story of the Bible.”33 It was this personal presence that drew the ancestors of Israel to Yahweh in covenant and sustained them along their journey (Gen. 26:3, 24; 28:15; 39:2, 21, 23). Throughout Old Testament redemptive history this same promise is echoed not only to those whom God raised up to lead his people—Moses/Joshua (Ex. 3:12; Deut. 31:6, 8; Josh. 1:5); the judges (Judg. 6:12); the kings (1 Sam. 10:6–7; 1 Kings 8:57); the prophets (Jer. 1:8, 19; 20:11)—but also to the people as a whole (Ex. 34:9; Isa. 41:10; 43:2, 5; Jer. 30:11; 46:28).
As New Testament redemptive history begins, we hear in God’s promise of presence to Mary (Luke 1:28) confirmation that such promises are relevant to the new age.34 Christ is keenly aware of Yahweh’s presence with him in his ministry (John 8:29; 16:32). When he is leaving this earth, his final promise is cast in similar language to that of Haggai: “I will be with you always” (Matt. 28:20). It is not surprising, then, that Paul describes an experience in which he was comforted by God through words similar to our passage in Haggai (cf. Acts 18:9–10). Individuals and communities involved in kingdom activity are promised the presence of God.
This presence is specifically identified in Haggai 2 as God’s Spirit who remains among them. This is an important development in the history of revelation, as Haggai demonstrates that God’s presence is experienced through his Spirit (see above, Isa. 63:10, 11, 14). This link between the Spirit and God’s presence is alluded to in the experience of Joshua (cf. Deut. 34:9; Josh. 1:5), but is made more clear in the account of the installation of kings. In 1 Samuel 10:6–7 the signs accompanying the Spirit’s endowment of the king for service become evidence that Yahweh is with that king. Once Saul is rejected and David is anointed, the sign that God’s presence and authority have passed to David is the transfer of the Spirit (16:13–14).35
Old Testament believers, however, did not experience the Spirit on an individual level; rather, it was a gift to the community in their covenant leaders. Moses expressed a wish in Numbers 11:29 that all God’s people would experience the Spirit as he did. This passing wish became prophetic expectation in Joel 2 when the prophet envisioned a day when the entire community would experience the Spirit. Christ foreshadowed this era in his discourses on the Spirit in John 14 and 16, in which he spoke of the Spirit who would bring his presence to his people forever (14:16). The promise to be with his disciples in their kingdom work (Matt. 28:20; Acts 1:8) intersects with the climactic moment in redemptive history when God’s Spirit was poured out upon the early church (Acts 2), turning prophetic expectation to reality.
Haggai’s promise of the presence of God and the Spirit of God take on even greater significance for those of us living in this later phase of redemptive history. The church has been promised an even greater and more intimate, and thus, more comforting experience of the Spirit of God and his presence than those to whom the prophet Haggai spoke.
Material adornment of the temple and prosperity for the people. The second foundation for Haggai’s encouragement of the people, which focuses on God’s promised action on behalf of his people, proves far more challenging for those who seek to appropriate this passage for the community of faith today. Several elements cause concern for Christian interpreters of Haggai, ranging from the sense of imminence in the message of Haggai (Hag. 2:6), to the heavy emphasis on the material adornment of the temple (2:7–8) and the resulting prosperity of the people (2:9). The level of uncomfortability with these themes within the Christian and even Jewish communities is reflected in the early precedent of the church to identify the “desired” in 2:7 as a messianic reference (see Vulgate) or to add material at the end of 2:9 to speak of a spiritual prosperity (see LXX).
In contrast to these interpretative conclusions, Haggai envisions an action of God that will happen in the near future and will result in the material adornment of the temple and prosperity for the people. This, indeed, happened during Haggai’s generation. The material glory of the nations did flow into Darius’s coffers, and these were directed to the work on the temple (Ezra 5–6; see esp. 6:6–8, 13–14).36 Haggai’s description of this event does not portray the specific means by which this event will take place, but it does identify Yahweh as the ultimate cause as he controls the affairs of the nations.
This beautification of the temple will continue until the time of Herod, who diverts the resources of the Roman empire to expand this temple and overshadow the glory of Solomon’s temple.37 This causes great concern for those aware of New Testament developments, for this Herodian temple is treated negatively by Christ’s cleansing of it and evaluation of it as a “den of robbers” (Matt. 21:12–13; Mark 11:15–18; Luke 19:45–48). Moreover, in John 2:13–22, Jesus presents himself as the alternative for the temple. The rejection of the temple and its material glory appears confirmed by Christ’s prophetic treatment of the temple in Matthew 24, the apparent reverse of the prophecy of Haggai, for a convulsing of the nations (24:4–8) will result in the destruction of the temple. Such destruction became reality in A.D. 70 when the Romans put down the Jewish rebellion.
When one combines this negative treatment of the temple structure with the spiritual transformation of the temple theme in the New Testament (see Bridging Contexts section of Hag. 1:1–11), it is understandable why many have been tempted to soften the material aspect of Haggai’s message. Although there is no question that the New Testament does transform the temple theme in significant ways, this does not mean that previous experiences with the temple are to be denigrated. Note that when Christ attacks the second temple as a “den of robbers,” he is merely reusing the words of Jeremiah uttered in describing the first temple (Jer. 7:11). By attacking temple use in his day, Jeremiah was not disqualifying the first temple as a place of interaction with God. Similarly, Christ’s attack does not make Haggai’s temple illegitimate, especially in light of the fact that he considered it the place of God’s manifest presence (Matt. 23:21).
It is significant that two of the earliest testimonies to the fulfillment of the messianic hope in Jesus come from the lips of individuals linked to the temple and its services (Simeon and Anna; Luke 2:25–38). This reveals that the temple was essential for the preservation of the remnant community, through whom the Incarnation became a reality. Note too that the early church used this same temple for worship (Acts 2:42–47, esp. v. 46; 3:1, 11), showing that it continued to function as a place for enriching the remnant community.
In other words, Christian interpreters do not need to discard the material aspects of the temple, for they were important to God’s redemptive purposes to bring the Messiah into this world. In this we see a sovereign God at work, controlling the nations’ resources for his purposes.
Haggai’s vision of the centripetal attraction of the temple and Jerusalem for the nations is not a novel idea. This theme can be traced throughout the book of Isaiah. It is first broached in Isaiah 2:1–4, in which the nations stream to the temple, and in Isaiah 60–66 one finds these nations bringing their wealth to enrich the temple. It is not surprising, then, that Paul taps into Isaiah in Romans 15 to justify his work among the Gentiles (cf. Rom. 15:12 with Isa. 11:10; Rom. 15:21 with Isa. 52:15). Haggai’s vision of the participation of the nations in the building of the temple is a foreshadowing of their participation in the gospel in the New Testament.
This should not lead us to merely spiritualize the material elements of Haggai’s prophecy. Yahweh promised his people that he would provide the material resources to accomplish the building of the kingdom and to make it reflect his glory. This can be traced to his sovereignty over these resources as Creator and Sustainer of the cosmos. The same is true for the church. This same sovereign God promises to provide the resources for kingdom work on the spiritual as well as material planes. The church as the place of God’s manifest presence (i.e., “God’s temple,” 1 Cor. 3:16–17) needs material resources to carry out the Great Commission, and God promises to provide those resources (see 2 Cor. 11:7–10; Phil. 4:10–20; 1 Tim. 5:17–18).
The temptation to spiritualize the material aspects of this passage can be traced into the LXX addition to Hag. 2:9. This addition makes the “peace” (šalom) an inner, spiritual peace. As noted in the discussion of this word above, šalom is far more holistic in its meaning and is used to describe a state of abundance and prosperity on both spiritual and material planes. God’s promise to us as his community is one that includes our physical well-being, although one needs to be careful to avoid the extremes represented by the health and wealth propagators (see Bridging Contexts section of 1:1–11).
One more shaking. As noted above, the writer of Hebrews draws on Haggai 2:6 in Hebrews 12:26.38 One should be careful not to allow this passage to shape one’s entire interpretation of the passage (as if the writer of Hebrews is exhausting the meaning of the entire passage). Nevertheless, there has been a tendency to ignore this later use as incorrect. The writer of Hebrews notes the significance of the phrase “once more,” especially as it relates to the experience of Israel at Sinai. In this passage, which contrasts the two mountains of Sinai and Zion, he reminds Christians that they have come to the latter mountain.39 However, lest they think that the God of Zion will overlook disobedience, he reminds them of the prophecy in Haggai that applied the Sinai traditions (note above) to a people rebuilding the temple on Mount Zion and anticipated a future shaking of the entire cosmos (not just earth) as was experienced by those at the foot of Sinai.
This eschatological shaking will be the ultimate expression of the sovereignty of God.40 The application of the writer of Hebrews is a call to faithfulness, thankfulness, and worship of this awesome God because we are receiving an unshakable kingdom. Those who lived under the threat of the nations in the early church (Heb. 12:4–11) were challenged by the message of Haggai in the same way that his original hearers were challenged, that is, to continue in faithful service in light of God’s promised intervention in history.41 Such a vision of God was also intended to instill in them a reverence for God and a passion for his kingdom even in the midst of trying circumstances.
Contemporary Significance
THE VALUE OF Hag. 2:1–9 lies in its function to describe the resources God offered to these people who have obeyed his call in Haggai 1. The response of the people in 1:12–14 to Yahweh’s call through Haggai was immediately greeted with the promise of Yahweh’s presence (“I am with you”). Haggai 2:1–9 fills out in detail the significance of this promise for the people.
Back to the future. We resonate in significant ways with this passage because we have all experienced similar emotions as we approach the task of the kingdom. We compare the present with the past and become dissatisfied and even disillusioned with our present experience. For those who are older, it comes with reflection on earlier experiences with God either personal or communal, experiences in which there was a sense of God’s manifest presence and action.
Several years ago I attended a family camp that had its roots in the late nineteenth century. Every day the bell rang before 6 A.M. to call people to the early morning prayer meeting and thereafter every couple of hours for the daily rhythm of Bible teachers, worship services, and evangelistic meetings. One day I sauntered down to the bell tower and awaited the advent of the “ringer.” He arrived at the prescribed hour and rang the bell with the passion of a child. As I engaged him in conversation and asked him about the camp, he began his speech with the words: “It just isn’t like the old days . . .” before listing evidence of the way in which the present generation was not living up to the experience of past generations.
Later a friend of mine was speaking to another older camper a day after camp had finished. This older gent had just returned from the auditorium where the youth meetings had been held and noticed that there was dust on the kneeling bar at the front of the hall, evidence that called into question the depth of spiritual encounter among the teens the previous week. However, as I walked about the camp and listened to the various speakers among youth and adults alike, I was impressed with the depth of biblical teaching and the response to the Word of God. It is easy to become trapped into evaluating the present experience of the church with past paradigms of spirituality rather than remaining open to the ways in which God is impacting the present generation in culturally relevant ways.
Lest this be perceived as an attack on the elderly, let me say that those who are younger in the faith are not exempt. I have found that as younger Christians read or hear redemptive and church history, they can easily become dissatisfied with the present state of the church and what is perceived as lack. It is possible to focus so intently on the experiences of past giants of the faith that one begins to live vicariously through these stories and examples and squelch one’s own immediate experience with God.
Such reflection on the past is not entirely illegitimate. Haggai himself agrees with the older members of his community that the present lacks the glory of the past. There is something good in this longing to experience afresh the glory of the past. Such honest evaluation forces us out of our complacency and drives us to our knees. J. Edwin Orr has offered a great service to the church by highlighting the revivals of the past.42 Teaching on church history is desperately needed in our seminaries and churches today to offer the past as a corrective for the present: pitfalls to avoid and patterns to emulate. Indeed, I have found that reading the classics of preachers from the past has profoundly affected me and my students in our preparation and communication of sermons.
However, when such reflection on the past leads to inaction, we need to hear the message of Haggai 2:1–9. In dwelling on the past, some are tempted to say: “Why even try, we can’t match such great tasks in the past.” These reactions are inappropriate within the kingdom, and to this Haggai addresses his message.
Inside out. It is important to note that Haggai immediately moves behind the symptom (lack of work) to the internal motivations of the people: “Be strong and do not fear.” Haggai’s message moves beyond external duty to the kingdom to the inner core attitudes essential for sustained commitment to the kingdom. He does not command duty for the sake of duty; rather, he moves to the heart where passion for the kingdom is fostered.
The cry of duty that proved so effective for many within the church a generation ago has lost its hold on a new generation. For many within the older generation this is a sign of the weakening of the church. However, there is an important lesson to be learned at this juncture in church history, that when duty is performed without passionate engagement, duty will ultimately lose its hold on the church. Haggai demands commitment to the task of the kingdom, but he is aware that such commitment is nurtured only by fostering the passion of heart religion. Haggai’s message matches that of the earlier prophets—attention to the heart before action (Jer. 9:23–24)—and can be discerned in Christ’s attack on the pharisaic attention to duty over relationship (Matt. 23) and his revelation that eternal life is found in intimate relationship with Yahweh (John 17:3).
This is often missed in the preaching and teaching of the church. In the present shift towards “how to” sermons and books, it is easy to put our focus on the lists of duties to perform or actions to avoid that are identified as necessary for godliness. Without losing sight of God’s call to obedience, we must put greater focus on the Spirit’s shaping of our human affections, that is, on God’s vision to transform his people from the inside out.
Missio Dei. Haggai’s message offers the community of God encouragement. He is not a moralist. He is not calling his people to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps, nor is he insisting people do kingdom work apart from the resources of God. The majority of this prophetic passage focuses attention on God—on his action on their behalf.
Much energy is being expended within the church today on the issue of renewal. Such introspection, associated in decades past with waning mainline denominations, is now common among evangelical fellowships.43 There is a sense that evangelicalism as a movement has lost some of its momentum and that this is reflected in the lack of passion for missions and/or denominational distinctives.
In his evaluation of this trend among Protestant denominations both in North America and in the Two-Thirds World, Wilbert Shenk notes four strategies that have been employed for renewal in the past before advocating his own view as the answer.44 He claims that some have sought for renewal by reaffirming their own tradition, some by returning to the model of the primitive, apostolic church, others by restructuring the denomination, and still others by adapting the church to the cultural trends of the day. Shenk believes the answer lies in recovering the missio Dei, the mission of God given to the church, which he describes as “intensified witness to the reign of God.”
At first sight, it appears that Haggai agrees with Shenk’s answer as the ancient prophet cries “work.” But this command addressed to the human participants in this great project of the kingdom recedes into the background as Yahweh comes to the fore. By this we are not suggesting that human work is unimportant or in opposition to the kingdom. However, as the “work” becomes bogged down in discouragement, the focus of the passage moves from the human partners to the divine Sustainer and to the ultimate source of renewal: Yahweh.
Through this Haggai identifies missio Dei as the key to the discouragement, but in a different sense than Shenk. This missio Dei is the mission of God—the presence and action of God on behalf of the people. With Shenk, Haggai’s message ignores those who look exclusively to traditionalism, restructuring, or enculturation for the answer. Instead, Haggai calls the community to work with renewed strength and without fear as they rediscover God’s resources experienced in the community in yet new and transcendent ways for the present generation, and they seek to know where and what God is doing in our present world to build his kingdom.
Renewed vigor is discovered as our focus becomes God. Haggai makes it clear as he calls his generation to this project in Haggai 1, that the purpose of this work was theocentric: the pleasure and glory of God (1:8). Often we begin with this purpose in mind, but we do not allow this focus to inform the human effort to accomplish it. Haggai reveals that a project with God as its purpose must also have God as the resource on the way to completion.
Haggai’s message needs to permeate the depth of our beings as the people of God, both individually and corporately. It is tempting to live in step with the prevailing culture of our time, a culture that has insulated itself from all threats of defeat or failure. But to live in step with the God of Haggai is to place oneself in the dangerous position of trusting in God, to grasp the hand of the Creator and Redeemer of the universe.
Presence of God. Not only does this passage focus on God’s action on behalf of his people but also on his presence in their midst. This shows us the importance of nurturing the presence of God in our lives both individually and corporately, not only in the focused rhythms of individual and corporate disciplines of worship, but also through a sustained consciousness of God’s abiding presence with us throughout our days and weeks. Leadership manuals often stress the importance of communication within organizations that are undergoing transition, and thus Christian leaders have become adept at taking considerable time in their corporate gatherings to highlight progress and stress vision. Although this is a wise principle, it is important that Christian leaders not jeopardize the community’s need to experience God’s presence in their corporate celebrations, to retain a vertical as well as horizontal orientation.
This is also true on the individual level as individuals and families experience transition. It is tempting in the midst of trying circumstances to forego our spiritual rhythms, but these are when we need them more than ever. This may be as simple as prayer with our children or spouse at a regular slot each day or a faith community gathering for a period of prayer at a regular time each year or week. I can remember serving on a church staff and board for whom the experience of the presence of God was so important that they set aside a significant period (thirty to sixty minutes) at the beginning of each board and staff meeting to seek God’s presence and pray for their people and ministry.
Transcending the past. As God is presented in this prophetic message, the community is drawn to the past. As the discouragement was occasioned by comparing the past with the present, so the encouragement uses the same strategy to show that the God of the past is the God of the present. This message, therefore, does not consign God to the past but produces expectation for God in the present. The same God who accompanied the first community of Israelites through the desert is the same God who accompanies this community. The same God who shook the earth at Sinai before the first community of Israelites is the same God who continues to shake the earth today. This is not, then, an attempt to re-create the primitive community, but to experience the divine resources of that community in our contemporary context.
While I have been writing this commentary, my wife and I have renovated a three-story 1913 house. This involved gutting the home down to the studs by removing lathe and plaster before reconstructing the house to match the style of 1913 complete with hard wood floors and trim, vintage paint colors, and oval tub and shower curtain. Indeed, we longed for the elegance of the past. But let me assure you that we were not willing (or allowed by building code) to match this ancient style completely: the knob-and-tube electrical wiring had to be upgraded to sustain computers and microwaves. The early twentieth-century metal plumbing had to be removed and replaced by PVC pipes. The walls and roofs had to be filled with insulation and the windows upgraded. We wanted certain aspects of the past, but we also wanted to transcend this past: to avoid wind drafts, water leaks, and electrical fires.
God uses Haggai to call a generation to experience God in the present, not only in similar ways to the past but in ways that would dwarf the past. This is what Christ meant by “you will do even greater things than these”—a promise linked inextricably with the sending of the Spirit into the midst of the Christian church (John 14:12; cf. 14:1–31). We often see the past as setting up patterns that are insurmountable. Haggai sees the past as setting precedents that provide a springboard to even greater miracles.
What does this mean for us today? It encourages us to ask God to expand our vision, to help us to think, believe, and act beyond our present expectations (Eph. 3:20–21). For Christian leadership teams this often means taking time apart to dream. When teams are doing long-range planning, there should be sustained time devoted to dreaming of what could be in light of a God of miracle. Often in planning sessions we spend far too much time transferring events from one year to the next that we are unable to think outside the confined box of our present experience.
When I was in the Philippines, I encountered a national university ministry group that started each year by discarding last year’s program and beginning afresh. Although this may be too radical for many ministry situations, it does encourage us to loosen our grip on the past and ask God to do immeasurably more than we could ever ask or imagine in the present.
This is an important rhythm for individuals and families as well. Recently, a friend of mine, visiting a town in the Canadian Rockies, met the president of a college riding his motorcycle down the main street. When asked what he was doing, the president said that each year after graduation he set out for a long motorcycle ride to reflect over the past year and consider his future. Although there are possibly safer rhythms for such reflection available, this individual created an important space in his life to reflect on his experience and to look to God for direction and blessing as he contemplated the future.
Blessings untold. After the prophetic message answers the disillusionment of a discouraged community, God offers one final ray of hope. He promises to the church today that he intends to bless them beyond measure and grant peace and prosperity to them as a community. This will come as they experience God’s presence and action through kingdom work. Although the purpose of kingdom work is the glory of God, this does not mean that our satisfaction is completely irrelevant. As we fulfill the purpose of bringing glory to God, we will experience the blessedness of the prosperity that accompanies his presence and rule.
Ultimately, the church longs to experience prosperity as a community. We are promised such prosperity in heaven, but Christ’s vision for prosperity is to break into our experience now. Such prosperity becomes reality as we entrust ourselves to the God of presence and action, who will fill us with strength and dissuade all fears and thus enable us to work in the kingdom with passionate abandon.