For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage:  Haggai 1:1-4

1 In the second year of King Darius, on the first day of the sixth month, the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest:

2 This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘These people say, “The time has not yet come to rebuild the Lord’s house.”’

3 Then the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai: 4 ‘Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin?’

A. Find Out

1. When did the word come? v.1a
2. Through whom did the word come? v.1b
3. To whom did it come? v.1c
4. What had the people been saying? v.2
5. What question did the Lord ask them? v.4

B. Think:

1. How would you summarise the recipients of this word?
2. What attitude had the people towards the temple?
3. What attitude did they have towards their own homes?

C. Comment:

         The date is the 29^th August 520BC.  Suddenly Haggai senses the Lord speaking to him. We’re not told anything about Haggai here beyond that he was a prophet, so we assume that he regularly heard from God and conveyed what he was hearing to the people. It is possible of course that he is given that title simply because he brings what we have in our two chapters.

          The direction of the word is quite clear: it is to the two leaders of the people, the governor of the land and the high priest. In God’s eyes they are both responsible.  Leaders are who God starts with.

          The subject of the word was the people’s attitude towards the Temple. We should note that it was broken down and only partially rebuilt. There had been opposition, so the rebuilding had stopped, and the people had got on with sorting out their own homes. All OK you might think.   Not so according to the Lord. His “home” is still in ruins, and it is time to do something about it. Opposition is not an excuse; difficulties are not an excuse.   The temple building today? Individual believers who make up the corporate temple, the church. Are we concerned about its state? Are we concerned about the name of the Lord?  Perhaps God might have something to say to us.

D. Application:

1. Opposition to building is not an excuse to stop work.
2. Difficulties encountered are not an excuse to stop building.

Passage: Haggai 1:5-11

5 Now this is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Give careful thought to your ways. 6 You have planted much, but harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.’

7 This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Give careful thought to your ways. 8 Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build my house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honoured,’ says the Lord. 9 ‘You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?’ declares the Lord Almighty. ‘Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with your own house. 10 Therefore, because of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth its crops. 11 I called for a drought on the fields and the mountains, on the grain, the new wine, the olive oil and everything else the ground produces, on people and livestock, and on all the labour of your hands.’

A. Find Out

1. What does the Lord say they are to do? v.5
2. What 5 things does he point out to them? v.6
3. So what again does he tell them to do? v.7
4. What practical thing does he tell them to do? v.8
5. What had been happening? v.9a,b
6. Why? v.9c-11

B. Think:

1. How would you summarise v.6?
2. How would you summarise verses 10 & 11?
3. What was the cause of all this?

C. Comment:

          Those who say God is impotent and can’t do anything in the world will be shocked by this passage!  Twice in it, Israel are told to think carefully about what had been going on.  What was that?

          Put in its simplest form, Israel had been utterly frustrated at every turn and whatever they tried to do hadn’t come to anything. They planted but never harvested enough, they ate and drank but never felt satisfied, and so on. They expected a lot to happen, but it never did. They must have been living in total frustration!

          Why was it happening like this?  Very simply says the Lord, you’ve been putting your efforts into the wrong things.  The most crucial issue for Jerusalem and Israel is that the visible presence of God be restored – the Temple!  And that just hasn’t been happening. You’ve been working on your own houses, but the Temple has remained in ruins. For Israel to exist as the visible people of God, it is essential for the Temple to be there, clearly visible in their midst as the visible reminder that they are a people of covenant relationship with God. This is their channel of contact with God, and it needs restoring.

          Is it possible that the same could be said today?  Do we put all our efforts into DIY or whatever other things we do to make our homes look good while the church continues to look bad in the world’s eyes?

D. Application:

1. Christianity calls for right priorities – the honour of God first.
2. Are we concerned about our channel of contact with God?

Passage: Haggai 1:12-15

12 Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest, and the whole remnant of the people obeyed the voice of the Lord their God and the message of the prophet Haggai, because the Lord their God had sent him. And the people feared the Lord.

13 Then Haggai, the Lord’s messenger, gave this message of the Lord to the people: ‘I am with you,’ declares the Lord. 14 So the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of the whole remnant of the people. They came and began to work on the house of the Lord Almighty, their God, 15 on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month.

A. Find Out

1. What was the response of who? v.12
2. What did the Lord then say through Haggai? v.13
3. What did the Lord then do? v.14a
4. With what result? v.14b
5. When did this happen? v.15

B. Think:

1. What was the Lord’s role in all this?
2. What was Haggai’s role?
3. What was the ‘end product’?

C. Comment:

          Haggai has brought a strong convicting word of rebuke to the two main leaders, but it is obviously in the hearing of the people for both the leaders and the people respond.

          The order of events is worth noting: Haggai brings a word of rebuke, the people respond positively, and the Lord brings a word of affirmation and the people then get on with the rebuilding.

          First the rebuke: we need correcting, we need telling when we are veering from God’s will. Second, the response: we are simply told the people ‘obeyed’. That is all the Lord asks for, a heart turning.  As soon as that comes, there is instant affirmation by the Lord, almost an encouragement to just keep on once you’ve started. Finally, there is the outworking of their obedience: they start rebuilding the Temple.

          But there is more to it. We are told the Lord stirred up the spirit of the leaders and the spirit of the people. This is the outworking of a word of God coming. It isn’t just that a word of God is spoken, it is that the Lord Himself then convicts or stirs the people about what they have heard.  Between the bringing of the word and the starting of the work is three weeks. Throughout that time the Spirit of the Lord was using the word that had been spoken by Haggai to stir in the lives of those who had heard it until it came to boiling point – the rebuilding restarted.

D. Application:

1. If God asks you to speak, then speak and leave the rest to Him.
2. When God’s word is spoken, His Spirit then works on it in people.