There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true. —Soren Kierkegaard. "…truth is true even if nobody believes it, and falsehood is false even if everybody believes it. That is why truth does not yield to opinion, fashion, numbers, office, or sincerity–it is simply true and that is the end of it" – Os Guinness, Time for Truth, pg.39. “He that takes truth for his guide, and duty for his end, may safely trust to God’s providence to lead him aright.” – Blaise Pascal. "There is but one straight course, and that is to seek truth and pursue it steadily" – George Washington letter to Edmund Randolph — 1795. We live in a “post-truth” world. According to the dictionary, “post-truth” means, “relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.” Simply put, we now live in a culture that seems to value experience and emotion more than truth. Truth will never go away no matter how hard one might wish. Going beyond the MSM idealogical opinion/bias and their low information tabloid reality show news with a distractional superficial focus on entertainment, sensationalism, emotionalism and activist reporting – this blogs goal is to, in some small way, put a plug in the broken dam of truth and save as many as possible from the consequences—temporal and eternal. "The further a society drifts from truth, the more it will hate those who speak it." – George Orwell “There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true.” ― Soren Kierkegaard
Haggai 1:1 — This is the same year as Ezra 4:24 (520 BC). Haggai is the first prophet to the returned remnant. We’ve read about Zerubbabel and Joshua in Ezra 3:2.
Haggai 1:4 — Interesting priorities. It wasn’t time to build the LORD’s house, but it was time to build “ceiled houses.” These houses were “roofed with costly woods;” some think “with the very cedar provided for the rebuilding of the Temple” (Ezra 3:7).
Verse 4 – For you, O ye; for you, yourselves; such as ye are (see Zechariah 7:5). He appeals to their consciences. You can make yourselves comfortable; you have time and means and industry to expend on your own private interests, and can you look with indifference on the house of God lying waste? Your ceiled houses; your houses, and those ceiled – wainscoted and roofed with costly woods (1 Kings 7:3, 7; Jeremiah 22:14), perhaps with the very cedar provided for the rebuilding of the temple (Ezra 3:7).
Haggai 1:9 — We’re told that God doesn’t dwell in temples (Acts 7:48, Acts 17:24). God did not need a temple, but this is indicative of the hearts of the people. Construction stopped for 16 years because of opposition (Ezra 4:24), but instead of seeking the LORD, they built their own houses. So, what was so important about this Temple? For the Israelites to obey God, they must follow His rules and that includes the sacrifices. Well over a hundred of the Torah laws dealt with the Temple. Under Babylonian captivity they had an excuse, but now there was no excuse.
Haggai 1:14 — God has put it in some people’s spirit to do the work of the house of the LORD God. Let’s do the work today; remember His last command (Matthew 28:19-20)!
Haggai 2:3 — This building was not going to rival Solomon’s Temple, but God still encouraged those building it (Haggai 2:4) because He would fill it with His glory (Haggai 2:7). He even promised that it would be more glorious than Solomon’s (Haggai 2:9).
Haggai 2:9 — How would this humble building rival Solomon’s Palace? Because in this place God would give His peace. If you’re interested in learning how that happened, check out this article yours truly did on the Peace of Christmas.
Haggai 2:19 — Blessing comes from obeying the LORD (Haggai 2:18). Now, what is the blessing? Is it always health, wealth, and prosperity? Lutheran Satire matched up present day “religious affirmations” with martyrs of church history in a provocative video. God’s blessings undo the ceremonial uncleanness (Haggai 2:13-14) and His chastening (Haggai 2:17).
Revelation 11:1 — We read about something similar in Ezekiel 40:3.
Revelation 11:3 — Who are the two witnesses? They have the power to shut heaven like Elijah (1 Kings 17:1), and their enemies are destroyed like Moses’ enemies (Numbers 16:32).
Revelation 11:10 — Welcome to Alternative Christmas – the celebration of the death of two intolerant bigots! What could be more joyous than the termination of people who didn’t get along with the Antichrist’s political correctness?
Psalm 139:1 — Welcome to the greatest psalm on omniscience! God knows me (Psalm 139:1), my goings (Psalm 139:2), my ways (Psalm 139:3), and my words (Psalm 139:4). What is my response? Psalm 139:14 – I will praise Thee!
Psalm 139:17 — This verse forms part of the chorus to the song, “I Have Been Blessed.”
Psalm 139:23-24 — The song, “Search me, O God,” is based on these two verses.
Proverbs 30:16 — There is a harsh pain in those who want to have children but cannot, even from biblical times (Genesis 30:1).
Share how reading through the Bible has been a blessing to you! E-mail us at 2018bible@vcyamerica.org or call and leave a message at 414-885-5370.
Christians can have just as much trouble as non-Christians in getting their priorities right. We tend to ignore what is most important for Christ and the Kingdom and instead concentrate on what is of importance for ourselves. But this never ends well, and we suffer great loss with these wrong priorities.
The Bible of course speaks to this often. The short book of Haggai is really all about this theme. Sadly, this Old Testament book however is usually neglected today, except for when a church embarks upon a new building program – then it comes in quite handy!
The book has to do with how the Israelites were living since returning from captivity. Yahweh, through his prophet, has to give them strong encouragement to rebuild the temple now that they are back home. The people are living in fancy dwellings while God’s house remains unfinished. As we find in Haggai 1:2-11:
This is what the Lord Almighty says: “These people say, ‘The time has not yet come to rebuild the Lord’s house.’” Then the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai: “Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin?” Now this is what the Lord Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways. 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.” This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways. Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build my house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored,” says the Lord. “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. Therefore, because of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth its crops. 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 labor of your hands.”
I notice that I also wrote on this ten years ago, so let me share a bit of what I had said back then:
Yahweh through his servant Haggai is reminding his people to get their act together, and start concentrating on what is really important. The context of course is the Israelites have returned from captivity, and while they are all nicely looking after themselves, they have neglected the much more important work of God, primarily, the rebuilding of the temple.
They have spent a lot of time and effort on their own houses, while neglecting God’s house. The word “paneled” indicates this lack of godly prioritising. As Mark Boda comments, the Hebrew term is a bit ambiguous, but however we translate it, it makes a strong case against the selfish Israelites:
“Haggai contrasts the houses in which the people are living with the house of God. Defining the precise nature of this contrast is difficult because the word translated ‘paneled’ in the NIV can also be rendered ‘roofed.’ If the word is ‘roofed,’ the contrast is between completion and incompletion. If the word is ‘paneled,’ the contrast is between luxury and austerity. Considering that Haggai describes them living in these houses while also referring to financial matters in the following message, the NIV is most appropriate. While the temple lies in ruins, the people are living in nicely decorated homes.” https://billmuehlenberg.com/2014/09/26/time-to-get-our-priorities-right/
And we note here the futility that comes when we get our priorities wrong. They are doing many things, but getting little in return. So the prophet has to remind them to put God first, and then see his hand of blessing on their efforts.
Bear in mind that the blessings in the Old Testament were primarily physical in nature: if Isreal obeyed God they would have healthy herds, great crops, peace in the land, and so on (see the Covenant blessings and curses in Deuteronomy 28). But the same message about priorities applies to believers today. It may not mean we will become rich and famous, but we will know God’s blessing on us, certainly in a spiritual sense.
Several more commentators can be drawn upon here to see how this old book applies to contemporary Christians. James Montgomery Boice notes how believers today are quite similar to the Israelites back then:
They are not unbelievers. They are not even unconcerned believers. These people want to know the will of God and do it. At least they did at one time–perhaps when they were in a Youth for Christ group in high school or in Campus Crusade or InterVarsity Fellowship during their years in college. Perhaps they were zealous for God in the years immediately following their conversion. But life has moved on. Now there is a job or a wife or children (or any one of a dozen other things) to think about, and somehow they have let the work of God slide. They have left the work to younger or older or newer or merely other Christians.
The word of God by Haggai comes to such people–to you, if you are one. God says: What is the condition of my house? What is the condition of my work in your home, your church, your neighborhood, your city, your land? He says: What are you doing to fulfill the purpose for which you have been set apart by Jesus Christ?
Zephaniah, Haggai, Malachi (Reformed Expository Commentaries) by Duguid, Iain M. (Author), Harmon, Matthew P. (Author)
Iain Duguid and Matthew Harmon speak to how unproductive and futile life can be when we get our priorities wrong:
Why was life this way? Certainly, the problem was not with God’s lack of power to bless them. The problem lay rather in their own actions, which is why the Lord tells them repeatedly to “consider your ways” (Hag. 1:5, 7). In settling for a “plan B” lifestyle, a life turned in on themselves, they were not acting in faithfulness to their obligations as God’s covenant people. They had put their own interests before God’s interest, and as a result, they were reaping the consequences of that set of priorities: a life of futility. They were running faster and faster, like hamsters on a treadmill, getting precisely nowhere.
They continue:
To be sure, the result of seeking first God’s Kingdom will not necessarily be earthly prosperity, or even large, “successful” churches. Jesus does not promise us a “plan A” experience in this world. His own earthly ministry was not characterised by prosperity or a large following. But God does promise to be with his repentant people in the present and to fulfill his kingdom goals through us in the longer term. Even now, he has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ (Eph. 1:3).
Lastly, Walter Kaiser says this:
God’s work in rebuilding His house ought to have had priority over the exiles’ work on their houses, even as it must take priority over our own work. The religious condition of the people’s hearts could be directly gauged by their attitude toward working on God’s house. In that sense, the building of the temple was a barometer of the people’s spiritual condition. And insofar as the house of God was being neglected, the people were committing an act of spiritual treason. How could they call their God Lord when they refused to do what He commanded? This was a patent violation of their claim that they served God as their King.
However, by rejecting God as their King and Lord the people were inviting God to reject their own labors (v. 6). How disingenuous was the exiles’ excuse that the time was not right and that conditions and circumstances prevented them from doing what they really wanted to do.
If the times were so adverse, how did it happen that so many of the exiles were able to live in “paneled houses?” We are not exactly sure how we should translate the Hebrew word. Some translations render it “wainscoted” houses; others suggest “vault-roofed” (LXX), “panel-ceiled” (Vulgate), or “covered with cedar boards” (Chaldee). Regardless of how the word is rendered, the point is fairly clear. The people’s position that they were too poor to rebuild the temple due to the bad economy, inflation, and the poor value of the shekel was untenable. Their lavish spending on themselves exposed their hypocrisy and lies….
God’s Ways Must Come Before Our Ways
The Hebrew text uses a series of infinitive absolutes in the questions that are asked in verse 6 to emphasize their eternal and universal relevance. Put in modern parlance, Haggai’s questions from the Lord ask: Are you sowing more and harvesting less? Are you eating and drinking more and enjoying it less? Are you wearing more and feeling less warmth? Are you earning more and able to buy less?
No one cheats God without cheating himself at the same time! The old Puritan commentator T. V. Moore said it best: “The events of life are hieroglyphics in which God records His feelings towards us, the key to which is found in the Bible.”
And one final comment from Kaiser:
The purpose of obedience was not merely to see a building raised; it was first and last to bring pleasure to God and to glorify Him. As God says in verse 8, He wants the people to be obedient: “that [He] may take pleasure in it and be glorified.” God makes it clear, then, that His pleasure does not come from buildings per se; it comes, rather, from the people’s attitudes and the condition of their hearts while they are working on the buildings. The chief end of the work of every man and woman of God is not so much to build temples, or to carry out other external works of righteousness or good works, as it is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.
These are fundamental lessons which all believers need to learn – and relearn. We will never go astray when we get our priorities right and put God first in every situation.
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