Chapter 1

(Verses 1 and 2) In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, in the first day of the month, came the word of the LORD by Haggai the prophet unto Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, saying, Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, This people say, The time is not come, the time that the LORD’S house should be built.

Thus Haggai informs us of the time in which this word was given to him, and to whom it was directed. Also we understand from this that he delivered it to the ones to whom it was addressed, Zerubbabel the governor, and Joshua the high priest. He then tells us what the message is. It is, actually, a complaint against the people who are opposed to the building of the temple and the wall of the city. They are saying that the time is not right for this work.

(Verses 3 through 7) Then came the word of the LORD by Haggai the prophet, saying, Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your ceiled houses, and this house be waste? Now therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways. Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it in a bag with holes. Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Consider your ways.

Since the people say that the time is not yet right for the house of the LORD to be rebuilt, the LORD asks, “Is it for you to dwell in your ceiled houses?” That is, “Do you think you are so much more important that your houses should be finished, and you dwell in them, while Mine is left in ruins?” He calls them to consider their situation. They have been planting much seed, but getting little production from their fields. They have only enough food to get by, not enough to satisfy their appetites. The same is true of their wine. And they do not have sufficient clothing to keep them warm. Then if any among them has a job from which he receives wages, his money is so quickly gone that it is as if he put it in a bag that has holes, so it all is lost. They are to consider this situation in the light of their reluctance to rebuild the house of the LORD. That should make them realize that they are not pleasing Him with their setting their welfare before that of His house.

(Verses 8 through 11) Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith the LORD. Ye looked for much, and, lo, it came to little; and when ye brought it home, I did blow upon it. Why? saith the LORD of hosts. Because of Mine house that is waste, and ye turn every man unto his own house. Therefore the heaven over you is stayed from dew, and the earth is stayed from her fruit. And I called for a drought upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the corn, and upon the new wine, and upon the oil, and upon that which the ground bringeth forth, and upon men, and upon cattle, and upon the labour of the hands.

So the LORD tells the people to get busy with the work of assembling the materials, and building His house. When they do that He will take pleasure, or be pleased, in the completion of the work, and their situation will not be as it has been. They have reaped far less than they have expected. And what they did reap, the LORD destroyed. He withheld the dews and the rains so that there were great droughts that hindered all the farming activities so that there was very little production of any of the things they needed. All of this was because of their neglecting to build the temple, the house of the LORD.

(Verses 13 through 15) Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the LORD their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the LORD their God had sent him, and the people did fear before the LORD. Then spake Haggai the LORD’S messenger in the LORD’S message unto the people, saying, I am with you, saith the LORD. And the LORD stirred up the spirit of  Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people; and they came and did work in the house of the LORD of hosts, their God, in the twentieth day of the sixth month, in the second year of Darius the king.

So in the message of the LORD Haggai spoke to not only the governor and the high priest, but to all the remnant of the people as well. And the LORD stirred up their minds to obey His word. Thus they started to work on the house of the LORD on the twentieth day of the sixth month of the second year of Darius the king.

(Verses 1 through 9) In the seventh month, in the one and twentieth day of the month, came the word of the LORD by the prophet Haggai, saying, Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, and to the residue of the people, saying, Who is left among you that saw this house in her first glory? And how do ye see it now? Is it not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing? Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, saith the LORD; and be strong, O Joshua, son of Josedech, the high priest; and be strong, all ye people of the land, saith the LORD, and work: for I am with you, saith the LORD of hosts: according to the word that I covenanted with you when ye came out of Egypt, so My Spirit remaineth among you: fear ye not. For thus saith the LORD of hosts, Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land; and I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith the LORD of hosts. The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the LORD of hosts. The glory of this latter house shall be greater than that of the former, saith the LORD of hosts: and to this place will I give peace, saith the LORD of hosts.

Just one month and one day after the beginning of the work on the house of the LORD this message from the LORD came by Haggai to Zerubbabel, Joshua, and the remnant of the people of Judah who were present in Jerusalem . In it the LORD calls their attention to the fact that the temple on which they were working was as nothing when compared to the one Solomon had built. It was neither as large nor as ornate as was that one. Yet He declares that, in a little while He will give this latter house greater glory than that of the former temple. That we may be sure that He is speaking not only of the glory of recognition, but also of rich ornamentation, He declares, “The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine.” Since this is true, no problem will be met in His furnishing whatever rich decorations He may choose for it. We have to keep in mind that when the LORD says, “A little while,” it may seem a long time when measured by our calendar. But it will surely come to pass, just as spoken.. Also “this latter house” may not, necessarily, mean the house that the Jews were at that time working on, but the house that shall in the latter day occupy the same location. The fact that He also declares, “And to this place will I give peace,” seems to look forward to the day after the great battle described by Zechariah in the fourteenth chapter of His prophecy, when all the nations that are left after that battle shall come up to Jerusalem “to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.”

(Verses 10 through 19) In the four and twentieth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the LORD by Haggai the prophet, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Ask now the priests concerning the law, saying, If one bear holy flesh in the skirt of his garment, and with his skirt do touch bread, or pottage, or wine, or oil, or any meat, shall it be holy? And the priests answered and said, No. Then said Haggai, If one that is unclean by a dead body touch any of these, shall it be unclean? And the priests answered and said, It shall be unclean. Then answered Haggai, and said, So is this people, and so is this nation before Me, saith the LORD; and so is every work of their hands; and that which they offer there is unclean. And now, I pray you, consider from this day and upward, from before a stone was laid upon a stone in the temple of the LORD: since those days were, when one came to a heap of twenty measures, there were but ten: when one came to the pressfat for to draw out fifty vessels out of the press, there were but twenty. I smote you with blasting and mildew and with hail in all the labours of your hands; yet ye turned not to Me, saith the LORD. Consider now from this day and upward, from the four and twentieth day of the ninth month, even from the day that the foundation of the LORD’S temple was laid, consider it. Is the seed yet in the barn? Yea, as yet the vine, and the fig tree, and the pomegranate, and the olive tree hath not brought forth: from this day I will bless you.

This message came from the LORD by Haggai on the twenty – fourth day of the ninth month, exactly three months after that given in the last part of the preceding chapter. It had, evidently taken the Jews three months to get the foundation of the LORD’S temple ready for the actual construction of the walls to begin. So the LORD reminds the people of how poorly their fields had been producing. But before that He calls upon them to ask the priests a question about purification according to the law. The answer to that question, simply stated, is that when holy flesh touches anything, that touched will not thereby be made clean; but whatever is touched by one who is unclean will be made unclean. He uses this to illustrate how unclean the Jews are in His sight. Yet He declares that from this day forward He will bless them, and He calls upon them to mark this day, the day in which the foundation of the LORD’S house was laid, as the beginning of this blessing.

(Verses 20 through 23) And again the word of the LORD came unto Haggai in the four and twentieth day of the month, saying, Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, I will shake the heavens and the earth, and I will overthrow the thrones of kingdoms, and I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the heathen; and I will overthrow the chariots, and those that ride in them; and the horses and their riders shall come down, every one by the sword of his brother. In that day saith the LORD of hosts, will I take thee, O Zerubbabel, My servant, the son of Shealtiel, saith the LORD, and will make thee a signet: for I have chosen thee, saith the LORD of hosts.

On the very same day that He declared to be the beginning of His great blessing to Judah, the LORD also promised that a day would come in which He would shake both the heavens and the earth, and overthrow the kingdoms of the heathen. In that day He declares He “will overthrow the chariots, and those that ride in them; and the horses and their riders shall come down, every one by the sword of his brother.” This sounds very similar to the great battle which Ezekiel describes in the thirty – ninth chapter of his prophecy. He also tells Zerubbabel that in that day He will take him, and make him as a signet. That is, He will keep him very close to Himself, “for I have chosen thee, saith the LORD of hosts,” what a wonderful promise!