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.