God calls His community to rebuild and renew.
Some fifty thousand people returned to Jerusalem from Babylon (Ezra 2:64, 65; 8:1–14) after King Cyrus of Persia declared the Hebrews’ liberation from captivity. After seventy years in exile, the Jews could finally rebuild the temple of their holy city to honor their God (1:2–4). These returnees enthusiastically laid the new foundation with great fanfare.
Then the work stopped. And for sixteen years (4:24), not a stone was added to the temple.
Appalled that the temple lay in ruins while God’s people lived in fine houses, the prophet Haggai arrived on the scene with a pointed rebuke from the Lord (Hag. 1:4). The people’s lack of dedication resulted in famine and frustration. God would no longer allow His people to be sidetracked by small-minded, worldly concerns. He urged them, “Consider your ways!” (1:5, 7).
Like the people of Haggai’s day, we often become preoccupied with money and fine living, forsaking or delaying God’s work while we chase after personal gratification. The Book of Habakkuk challenges us to confront our misplaced priorities, reminding us that inaction can cause as much harm as action. For the Jews, the neglected ruin of the temple at Jerusalem stood as a powerful symbol of their spiritual decay.
Haggai prophesied from August through December of 520 B.C. (Hag. 1:1, 15; 2:1, 10, 20), about eighteen years after Cyrus permitted the Jews to return to their homeland. Haggai’s contemporaries included Zerubbabel (see his profile at Hag. 1:12), Ezra, Nehemiah, Zechariah, and perhaps Malachi.
Key Verses in Haggai
• “Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, and this temple to lie in ruins?” (Hag. 1:4)
• “Consider your ways! You have sown much, and bring in little; you eat, but do not have enough; you drink, but you are not filled with drink; you clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; and he who earns wages, earns wages to put into a bag with holes” (Hag. 1:5, 6).
• “I am with you, says the LORD” (Hag. 1:13).
• “My Spirit remains among you; do not fear!” (Hag. 2:5).
• “I will shake all nations, and they shall come to the Desire of All Nations, and I will fill this temple with glory” (Hag. 2:7).