Haggai 1

Haggai occurred during the reign of Darius.  These prophecies are unique in that we are given the exact day and recipient of each prophecy.  The first prophecy came to Haggai on the 1st day of the 6th month.  The recipient for this prophecy was Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest.  Here is some background on this book.  The people of Judah had been in exile in Babylon for 70 years.  Cyrus conquered Babylon and then allowed the Jews to return to Jerusalem so they could rebuild the temple.  This is written in Ezra 1-2.  As you can see in Ezra 3 and 4 however, opposition arose and the rebuilding of the temple stalled.  This prophecy is to these people who had stopped rebuilding the temple.

The opening statement reveals the attitude of the people.  "The time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord".  God replies by chastising them for living in paneled houses while His house lies in ruins.  He then points out that their labors have not been blessed because of this.  He then commands them to gather wood and build the Lord a house so that He may take pleasure in it and be glorified.  God reveals that he has caused a drought to come because his people busied themselves with their own house but left the temple in ruins.  The paneled houses the people lived in are significant because there is not much wood in Israel.  The people would have had to go far away to gather wood for their homes.  Indeed this is exactly what God tells them to do for His home.  I would say that the issue was not that the people were working on their homes or putting efforts into their homes.  The problem was that they were looking after their own homes and ignoring God's home.  Their priority was themselves.  They busied themselves with their own houses.  This was a heart issue more than anything.  Their priorities were wrong.  It was okay for them to work on their homes, but it should not take priority over what God wanted them to do.  Shea Sumlin at the Village Church said in his sermon on Haggai that "The worst thing you can do with your life is be totally committed to it."  There is definitely truth to that.  

The people's response to this prophecy is important.  They obeyed.  They feared the Lord.  Throughout the Old Testament we see Israel and Judah fail to obey the Lord so it is good to see an instance where the people were moved by the prophet and obeyed.  The Lord affirmed them by reminding them that He is with them.  The Lord then stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel and Joshua and all the people and they began rebuilding the temple 23 days later. 

I think there is an interesting application to this prophecy when we consider what the temple represented to the people of Judah.  This was where God lived.  He dwelt among them in the temple.  By putting off rebuilding the temple they showed that giving God a pure house and having Him live among them was not a priority.  Their security came before the presence of God.  This is ironic since God punished them by making their labors fruitless.  The security they sought was denied them by God.  1 Corinthians 3:16-17 says, "Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him.  For God's temple is holy and you are that temple."  What do we do today that shows our priority is our own house and not God's house?  How do we neglect keeping ourselves pure and holy since God's Spirit dwells in us?  I personally spend very little time in the word or in prayer compared to the time I spend on my own needs.  It is something I have been working on with some success lately, but it really shows that I do not have a great grasp on the need for the temple of the Lord to be holy.  This should be an area where I ask God to stir up my spirit in this area as he stirred the spirit of Zerubbabel, Joshua and all the people.