Topical Studies
What the Bible says about
Haggai
(From Forerunner Commentary)
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Leviticus 22:4-9
The priesthood received a portion of some of the offerings, the devoted things that Israel brought to be offered to God. However, they could only eat it if they themselves were clean. It is important for us to understand that the defiling thing (what makes a person unclean) may not, of itself, be sin—or that the person has necessarily sinned by coming in contact with it. What it represents or symbolizes is important to us here. We are dealing with a ritual, so the defiling thing represents, symbolizes, typifies, sin and its effects. This is not to say that coming into contact with some of these things might not be potentially physically harmful—because disease may very well be communicated by coming into contact with a corpse, for example. Nonetheless, the possibility of defilement by sin is taught in every case in which God declares a person unclean. That person is thus unsuited to serve Him until the defilement is removed through the washing ceremonies He prescribes. Why is God so insistent about avoiding contamination? The answer appears in Haggai's question to the priests: On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came by Haggai the prophet, saying, "Thus says the LORD of hosts: 'Now, ask the priests concerning the law, saying, "If one carries holy meat in the fold of his garment, and with the edge he touches bread or stew, wine or oil, or any food, will it become holy?"'" Then the priests answered and said, "No." And Haggai said, "If one who is unclean because of a dead body touches any of these, will it be unclean?" So the priests answered and said, "It shall be unclean." Then Haggai answered and said, "'So is this people, and so is this nation before Me,' says the LORD, 'and so is every work of their hands; and what they offer there is unclean.'" (Haggai 2:10-14) God is consistent about avoiding contamination because it is so easy for what is contaminating and defiling to our character to transfer to us. Human nature is like a magnet that attracts defilement. Above all people in Israel, the priests had to be clean, and the principle applies to us. Theirs was mostly a physical cleanliness, but moral, spiritual, and ethical cleanliness is certainly implied. By contrast, ours is primarily a spiritual, moral, and ethical cleanliness with the physical implied. These Old Covenant laws serve as reminders and guides about how serious God is—and therefore, we should be—about not becoming contaminated by the world.
John W. Ritenbaugh
New Covenant Priesthood (Part Two)
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Haggai 2:10-23
The Bible contains the record of one extended family of people and its checkered history with God. The book of Genesis reveals the beginning of Israel through the fathers, and Exodus shows their first faltering steps. Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy define what God required of them—namely, for them to be holy. Joshua through II Chronicles contain their many adventures and misadventures as they continually turned from God. God also inspired seventeen prophetic books in the Old Testament to instruct His people, to correct them, and to warn them. These books were penned mostly before their captivity, but several were written after the Babylonian captivity of the Kingdom of Judah. The book of Haggai is one such post-exilic work. The immediate application of the prophecies it contains is the work on the Second Temple, but they incorporate definite dualities with end-time events. Of note in the last two prophecies of Haggai is God's desire to bless His covenant people, even when they do not deserve it. They stress that God blesses to improve the condition of His people, especially spiritually. Haggai received the last two prophecies on the same day. Haggai 2:10 and 20 identify that day as the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, which is called Kislev (or Chislev). Kislev falls during November and December on the Gregorian calendar, near the beginning of winter. This date—Kislev 24—is easy to find on the calendar because it is always the day before the Jews celebrate Hanukkah on the twenty-fifth of Kislev. These prophecies in Haggai were given on, and refer to, the previous day. Historically, this date has been highly significant on several occasions. It was on Kislev 24 that the Temple was freed from its desecration by Antiochus IV (“Epiphanes”). The cleansing of the Temple began that evening, which, since it was after sunset, was technically Kislev 25. That is the origin of Hanukkah. A lesser-known fact is that it was also on Kislev 24 in 1917, during WWI, that British troops liberated Jerusalem from the Ottoman Empire. We can see that this is a significant date in Jerusalem's history, and considering the dualities of these prophecies, it may be significant again.
David C. Grabbe
Cleansing God's People
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Matthew 24:36
Even though we look forward to Jesus Christ's return with tremendous anticipation, we do not know when it will be. We also do not know the date of our own deaths, at which time our preparation ends. How much time do we, as individuals, have to prepare? Stephen was martyred by an angry mob shortly after the death of Christ and the founding of the New Testament church (Acts 7:57-60). While his age is never mentioned—perhaps he was called in his advanced years—he plainly had not lived many years in the truth, like the rest of the church at that time, before his time of preparation ended. On the negative side, Ananias and Sapphira—who also would not have known the truth for long—had their time of preparation cut short by a foolish sin (Acts 5:1-11). Regardless of how near or far Christ's return is on the horizon, our lives could end at any point. Who is to say whether we have twenty more years—or one? The prophetic parables of Matthew 24 and 25 instruct us that "the end"—whether of this age or of this life—is entirely beyond our knowledge, so the wise will be setting their hands to the priorities of life while there is time. In the Parable of the Rich Fool (Luke 12:16-21), Jesus describes a man caught up in the affairs of this life, enjoying the fruit of his labors, and telling himself to "take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry" (verse 19). God's response? "Fool! This night your soul [life] will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?" This man was entirely focused on the present, without any thought of preparation for the next life—or how long he had to live the present one. Similarly, God says through the prophet Haggai, "Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, and this temple to lie in ruins?" (Haggai 1:4) Having a house—even a very nice house—is not the problem. God's rebuke comes in response to misplaced priorities. The peoples' focus was on their own comfort, while they neglected God's Temple. This question is distinctly relevant to us now, for, in the New Testament, God's Temple can represent either the entire body of Christ (Ephesians 2:21) or the individual Christian (I Corinthians 3:16-17). If we apply this admonition to today, it implies that the spiritual condition of the church as a whole, as well as our individual spiritual state, are higher priorities than our material situation. The "cares, riches, and pleasures of life" are what choke out the truth of God (Luke 8:11, 14). While we may have a general understanding of the future through the prophecies, the timing is a substantial variable that we cannot know until it is upon us. Even more uncertain is how long we each have to live. But by turning our focus to our spiritual condition—for we are the Temple of God's Spirit—and to strengthening the Body of Christ wherever possible, our priorities can be in alignment with God's. Whether or not we live to witness the return of Jesus Christ is inconsequential in the sense that we will be prepared either way.
David C. Grabbe
Our End Time
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Find more Bible verses about Haggai:
Haggai {Nave's}
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