Haggai 2: Motivation to work on rebuilding the temple

 In general, human beings are selfish. In Haggai 2 we read:

1-3 On the twenty-first day of the seventh month, the Word of God came through the prophet Haggai: “Tell Governor Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and High Priest Joshua son of Jehozadak and all the people: ‘Is there anyone here who saw the Temple the way it used to be, all glorious? And what do you see now? Not much, right?

The prophet says that the temple is in a bad shape compared to the former temple. The Lord calls his people to work on his temple:

4-5 “‘So get to work, Zerubbabel!’—God is speaking.
“‘Get to work, Joshua son of Jehozadak—high priest!’
“‘Get to work, all you people!’—God is speaking.
“‘Yes, get to work! For I am with you.’ The God-of-the-Angel-Armies is speaking! ‘Put into action the word I covenanted with you when you left Egypt. I’m living and breathing among you right now. Don’t be timid. Don’t hold back.’

The Lord says to work on his temple, and the Lord says that He is with his people on this job. This must be a good motivation to the believer. It would be very difficult to work on something outside our own interest without believing that the Lord is present.

14 Then Haggai said, “‘So, this people is contaminated. Their nation is contaminated. Everything they do is contaminated. Whatever they do for me is contaminated.’ God says so.
15-17 “‘Think back. Before you set out to lay the first foundation stones for the rebuilding of my Temple, how did it go with you? Isn’t it true that your foot-dragging, halfhearted efforts at rebuilding the Temple of God were reflected in a sluggish, halfway return on your crops—half the grain you were used to getting, half the wine? I hit you with drought and blight and hail. Everything you were doing got hit. But it didn’t seem to faze you. You continued to ignore me.’ God’s Decree.

The prophet says that Judah is contaminated because they are selfish, caring for their own interests. This reflects on how the temple is being treated: it is not a priority for them. So, they do the temple that should be holly but it is not, it is contaminated. They can´t expect that doing the temple in this way, the would become holly because a dirt thing contaminates clean things but not vice-versa. An objection to this idea is that Jesus was not contaminated, instead, his touch was powerful to make us right.
The text continues:

18-19 “‘Now think ahead from this same date—this twenty-fourth day of the ninth month. Think ahead from when the Temple rebuilding was launched. Has anything in your fields—vine, fig tree, pomegranate, olive tree—failed to flourish? From now on you can count on a blessing.’”

In a certain date, the temple rebuilding was launched. The Lord is saying to pay attention how He will be blessing his people from that day on. Before, they had bad crops, after, they will have good crops.
Even the work that we do normally is changed when we prioritize the Lord.

Haggai 1: my own house vs the Temple

Haggai is a prophet who talks to the Jews who returned from Babylon during the reign of king Darius, in special, he talks to the governor of Judah: Zerubbabel (descendant of David) and to the high priest. He says:

2 A Message from God-of-the-Angel-Armies: “The people procrastinate. They say this isn’t the right time to rebuild my Temple, the Temple of God.”
3-4 Shortly after that, God said more and Haggai spoke it: “How is it that it’s the ‘right time’ for you to live in your fine new homes while the Home, God’s Temple, is in ruins?”

in other words: where is your priority? in your own house or in the temple?
He says that the Lord is punishing this behavior because they work in vain, they use money but get nothing in return. He follows:

9-11 “And why?” (This is a Message from God-of-the-Angel-Armies, remember.) “Because while you’ve run around, caught up with taking care of your own houses, my Home is in ruins. That’s why. Because of your stinginess. And so I’ve given you a dry summer and a meager crop. I’ve matched your tight-fisted stinginess by decreeing a season of drought, drying up fields and hills, withering gardens and orchards, stunting vegetables and fruit. Nothing—not man or woman, not animal or crop—is going to thrive.”

In Haggai days, there must be many synagogues (that appeared in Babylon captivity) where Jews had communion, but the temple was special because in there, the Jews could exercise some activities such as sacrifices for their sins and more specially to celebrate the Passover and other feasts. The temple meant the presence of the Lord among his people. Interestingly, for us Christians, the temple as a building doesn't look so important. According to the Messiah himself, He is the temple who lived (physically) among us. Perhaps this passage could be used by some pastor when building a church, but I think, it would be a misuse of this passage.

The people listened to the prophet Haggai and understood that he had a message from the Lord.

13 Then Haggai, God’s messenger, preached God’s Message to the people: “I am with you!” God’s Word.

It reminds me the movie "star wars": "may the force be with you"; but here, it is the Lord himself saying "I am with you!" by the prophet. May the Lord be with us, may we prioritize our communion with Him.

Zephaniah 3: Jeusalem will be restored

We read (MSG):
1-5 Doom to the rebellious city,
    the home of oppressors—Sewer City!
The city that wouldn’t take advice,
    wouldn’t accept correction,
Wouldn’t trust God,
    wouldn’t even get close to her own god!
Her very own leaders
    are rapacious lions,
Her judges are rapacious timber wolves
    out every morning prowling for a fresh kill.
Her prophets are out for what they can get.
    They’re opportunists—you can’t trust them.
Her priests desecrate the Sanctuary.
    They use God’s law as a weapon to maim and kill souls.
Yet God remains righteous in her midst,
    untouched by the evil.
He stays at it, day after day, meting out justice.
    At evening he’s still at it, strong as ever.
But evil men and women, without conscience
    and without shame, persist in evil.

It is very interesting:

Yet God remains righteous in her midst,
    untouched by the evil.
He stays at it, day after day, meting out justice.
    At evening he’s still at it, strong as ever.

The Lord is righteous and powerful. He remains in the midst of Jerusalem which was very degraded. How can the Lord be righteous if He allowed it to happen? The answer is that He is merciful. He is waiting for repentance; but not forever. He will deal with iniquity:

8
“Well, if that’s what you want, stick around.”
    God’s Decree.
“Your day in court is coming,
    but remember I’ll be there to bring evidence.
I’ll bring all the nations to the courtroom,
    round up all the kingdoms,
And let them feel the brunt of my anger,
    my raging wrath.
My zeal is a fire
    that will purge and purify the earth.

The Lord will indeed restore Jerusalem.

11-13 All my scattered, exiled people
    will come home with offerings for worship.
You’ll no longer have to be ashamed
    of all those acts of rebellion.
I’ll have gotten rid of your arrogant leaders.
    No more pious strutting on my holy hill!
I’ll leave a core of people among you
    who are poor in spirit—
What’s left of Israel that’s really Israel.
    They’ll make their home in God.
This core holy people
    will not do wrong.
They won’t lie,
    won’t use words to flatter or seduce.
Content with who they are and where they are,
    unanxious, they’ll live at peace.”

Zephaniah 2 - Seek God

 
 

The Lord says (by the prophet):

3
Seek God, all you quietly disciplined people
    who live by God’s justice.
Seek God’s right ways. Seek a quiet and disciplined life.
    Perhaps you’ll be hidden on the Day of God’s anger.

This message is addressed to the saved people, the "quietly disicplined people who live by God's justice". It is very interesting the word "perhaps". Seek God's right ways and perphaps you will escape the ander of God. The Lord wants that his people seek for him.

In Zephaniah's days Assyria is the great nation, but he says


11-12 God will be seen as truly terrible—a Holy Terror.
    All earth-made gods will shrivel up and blow away;
And everyone, wherever they are, far or near,
    will fall to the ground and worship him.
Also you Ethiopians,
    you, too, will die—I’ll see to it.”


The Lord will destroy all earth-made gods. The land belongs the chosen people of the Lord.

Zephaniah 1: the day of the Lord

 Zephaniah lived in days of the reign of Josiah. He proclaims Judgement Day, the day of the Lord:

7-9 Quiet now!
    Reverent silence before me, God, the Master!
Time’s up. My Judgment Day is near:
    The Holy Day is all set, the invited guests made holy.
On the Holy Day, God’s Judgment Day,
    I will punish the leaders and the royal sons;
I will punish those who dress up like foreign priests and priestesses,
    Who introduce pagan prayers and practices;
And I’ll punish all who import pagan superstitions
    that turn holy places into hellholes.
Judgment Day!” God’s Decree!

The Lord will destroy not only Israel but the whole earth will be affected:


2
“I’m going to make a clean sweep of the earth,
    a thorough housecleaning.” God’s Decree.
3
“Men and women and animals,
    including birds and fish—
Anything and everything that causes sin—will go,
    but especially people.

The Lord wants repentance.

Habakkuk 3 - a prayer

Habakkuk prays:

 1-2 A prayer of the prophet Habakkuk, with orchestra:
God, I’ve heard what our ancestors say about you,
    and I’m stopped in my tracks, down on my knees.
Do among us what you did among them.
    Work among us as you worked among them.
And as you bring judgment, as you surely must,
    remember mercy.

Habakkuk reminds me: I read in Bible about great miracles that the Lord has made, although I didn't see any. Habakkuk heard about miracles made by the Lord and he claims to the Lord : "Do among us what you did among them. Work among us as you worked among them."
We read in Habakkuk :

3 God came from Teman,
and the Holy One from Mount Paran.
Selahb
His glory covered the heavens,
and His praise filled the earth.
4His radiance was like the sunlight;
rays flashed from His hand,
where His power is hidden.
5 Plague went before Him,
and fever followed in His steps.
6He stood and measured the earth;
He looked and startled the nations;
the ancient mountains crumbled;
the perpetual hills collapsed.
His ways are everlasting.

Is it really happening or is it a vision? Habakkuk has just prayed asking the Lord to act among his people. It seems that he has been a vision of the future:


12You marched across the earth with fury;
You threshed the nations in wrath.
13You went forth for the salvation of Your people,
to save Your anointed.
You crushed the head of the house of the wicked
and stripped him from head to toe.
Selah
14With his own spear You pierced his head,
when his warriors stormed out to scatter us,
gloating as though ready
to secretly devour the weak.
15You trampled the sea with Your horses,
churning the great waters.
16I heard and trembled within;
my lips quivered at the sound.
Decay entered my bones;
I trembled where I stood.
Yet I must wait patiently for the day of distress
to come upon the people who invade us.
17Though the fig tree does not bud
and no fruit is on the vines,
though the olive crop fails
and the fields produce no food,
though the sheep are cut off from the fold
and no cattle are in the stalls,
18yet I will exult in the LORD;
I will rejoice in the God of my salvation!
19GOD the Lord is my strength;
He makes my feet like those of a deer;
He makes me walk upon the heights!


He must be seeing the doom of Babylon. The righteous will live by faith. Even though, Babylon is winning now, he expects that the Lord will save his people.

Habakkuk 2: the righteous one will live by his faith.

 In Habakkuk 2 the Lord answers the question from the prophet: "How can the Lord use a wicked nation such as Babylon to make justice?".
The answer begins with a famous verse: "the righteous one will live by his faith." in verse 4. However we read in MSG:

 
4 “Look at that man, bloated by self-importance—
    full of himself but soul-empty.
But the person in right standing before God
    through loyal and steady believing
    is fully alive, really alive.

Certainly most Babylonians are bloated by self-importance - full of themselves but soul-empty. Habakkuk, however, must live in a different way - through loyal and steady believing. Although it is not possible to understand very well what the Lord is doing, it is necessary to trust in Him.

5-6
“Note well: Money deceives.
    The arrogant rich don’t last.
They are more hungry for wealth
    than the grave is for cadavers.
Like death, they always want more,
    but the ‘more’ they get is dead bodies.
They are cemeteries filled with dead nations,
    graveyards filled with corpses.

In MSG (not in original I think we read):

5 (...)Soon the whole world will be taunting them:
6-8
“‘Who do you think you are—
    getting rich by stealing and extortion?
How long do you think
    you can get away with this?’
Indeed, how long before your victims wake up,
    stand up and make you the victim?
You’ve plundered nation after nation.
    Now you’ll get a taste of your own medicine.
All the survivors are out to plunder you,
    a payback for all your murders and massacres.

Who is getting rich by wicked ways? Babylon. The Lord will do justice to Babylon. It is necessary that Habakkuk trust in Him.