Haggai 2
Promises of Future Blessing and Provision
The Lord revealed another message, an oracle of encouragement, to Haggai almost one month later, on the twenty-first day of the seventh month. The audience was the same as the one that received the first message: Zerubbabel, Joshua, and the entire Judean population. - Thomas Constable
Through Haggai, God promised His people that, even though they were currently small in number and limited in resources, He would provide and prosper them again in physical and spiritual ways that they could not yet understand.
God Will Fill His House with Peace
The Former Glory
Vs. 3 - ‘Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Doesn’t it seem to you like nothing by comparison?
Some of the older men remembered the former glory of Solomon’s temple and may have wept at the thought of its former glory and destruction.
Ezra 3:12-13 - But many of the older priests, Levites, and family heads, who had seen the first temple, wept loudly when they saw the foundation of this temple, but many others shouted joyfully. The people could not distinguish the sound of the joyful shouting from that of the weeping
I Will Fill This House
Vs. 6-7 - For the Lord of Armies says this: “Once more, in a little while, I am going to shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. I will shake all the nations so that the treasures of all the nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory,” says the Lord of Armies.
Haggai recalled God’s power and presence in the past and reminded his people the Yaweh was not finished with His chosen people.
The basis of their confidence and lack of fear was a promise from Almighty Yahweh. He would do again in the future what He had done at the Exodus and at Mt. Sinai. The writer of Hebrews quoted this verse in:
Hebrews 12:26-28 - His voice shook the earth at that time, but now he has promised, Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens. This expression, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of what can be shaken—that is, created things—so that what is not shaken might remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful.
He then added that we who are in Christ have an unshakable kingdom that will endure the coming cosmic earthquake. Haggai’s prophecy still awaits fulfillment. - Thomas Constable
Greater Than The First
Vs. 4 - Work! For I am with you—the declaration of the Lord of Armies.
Vs. 9 - “The final glory of this house will be greater than the first,” says the Lord of Armies. “I will provide peace in this place”
Even though some of the remnant were recalling the former glory of Solomon’s temple, the glory of this temple was in fact greater. First, Herod remodeled this second temple into something greater than Solomon’s temple. Second, the LORD of Glory – Jesus – personally visited it and worshiped there. That alone made it greater. - David Guzik
Some commentators see another “temple” in this prophecy - the future church of believers, redeemed by the Messiah and indwelled by the Holy Spirit.
Far greater glory would come through the multitudes from many nations who would join with Israel in the true temple. The Messiah’s real dwelling place would be among all the redeemed in a living temple that he would establish in the world in glory. The temporary hardships of the Jewish builders would appear as nothing compared with the splendor of that day. - Don Fleming
God Will Provide for His People
Discipline
Vs. 14 - Then Haggai replied, “So is this people, and so is this nation before me—this is the Lord’s declaration. And so is every work of their hands; even what they offer there is defiled.
Haggai reminded the people that their wrong attitudes in the past had been the cause of all their troubles. He gave an illustration to show that contact with unclean things made a person unclean, but contact with holy things did not make a person holy. All their religious activity had not made them holy, no matter how much it brought them in contact with holy things. - Don Fleming
Since their exile to Babylon, the people of Israel focused on getting back to the Promised Land. By itself this was not a bad objective; yet it led to the thinking that once they made it back to the Promised Land everything else would be good. Haggai reminded them that their presence in the Promised Land didn’t make everything they did holy. If the priorities of our hearts are wrong, nothing we do is holy to God. - David Guzik
Deliverance
Vs. 19 - But from this day on I will bless you.
Their present dedication and obedience did not wipe out their previous covenant unfaithfulness and its punishments. That punishment had to run its course, but now, as of the day of this prophecy, God would begin to bless the people with better harvests. This message would have encouraged the Jews to persevere in their obedience. - Thomas Constable
In his patience and mercy, God sent the prophet Haggai to stir His people to repentance and faith. He had disciplined them and delivered them, and He still desired to bless them, to dwell with them, and to bring them peace.
Vs. 22 - I will overturn royal thrones and destroy the power of the Gentile kingdoms.
Vs. 23 - “I will take you, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, my servant”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“and make you like my signet ring, for I have chosen you.”
Haggai’s final message was one of hope and promise that God would never forget His people or His promise to send a Messiah to deliver them.
Zerubbabel was a descendant of David in the line of kings who reigned in Jerusalem, and he was entitled to the throne of Israel. But because Israel was still under Persian rule he was allowed to be only governor. Despite these restrictions, Haggai encouraged Zerubbabel with the assurance that he was still God’s specially chosen representative. Through him, God would not only re-establish the nation Israel, but would overthrow all nations and establish God’s worldwide kingdom. Zerubbabel did not live to see the fulfillment of Haggai’s words, but the promise passed on to one of his descendants, Jesus the Messiah, in whom the prophecy will find its fullest meaning. - Don Fleming
Zerubbabel, a descendant of David and governor of Judah, was the official representative of the Davidic dynasty in the post exilic community at that time. As such the prophecy of the future exaltation of the Davidic throne was attached to his person. As with the Temple, Haggai related an eschatological reality to a tangible historical entity to assure his contemporaries that God had great plans for His people. Zerubbabel was, as it were, the visible guarantee of a glorious future for the house of David. In Haggai’s day some may have actually entertained messianic hopes for Zerubbabel. However, in the progress of revelation and history Jesus Christ fulfills Haggai’s prophecy. - Robert B. Chisholm
