Haggai 1:15b-2:9

Haggai is one of the more precise texts of the Hebrew Bible when it comes to specifics about historical time. Haggai 1:15 and 2:1 clearly detail that this message is written to a group of persons who have known the experience of Babylonian exile and now are back in Jerusalem and its environs at a time when life was emerging in new ways. In some ways, those in Judea and Jerusalem were starting fresh and new. In other ways they were reconstituting forms of life that had been destroyed in the exile.

Of many issues Haggai’s audience was seeking to discern would have included “How much do we live like our ancestors? What new paths of life are available to us?” And certainly they would have looked to the future and wondered, “Can we do this? Is God with us?”

Into the midst of new realities in Jerusalem, we hear the the word of the LORD that comes to Haggai and instructs that he speak to the governor and the high priest and the people. In a new age and new era, two primary voices emerge that have been present in Israel’s past, the voice of the LORD and the voice of the LORD’s prophet. God and God’s perspective from the past still address leaders in this new era, even as God has spoken to Judah’s ancestors in the past.

The LORD and the prophets speak to governors, priest, and people. As has been true in the past, God’s directing word will be for persons of the highest rank to the common person.

Haggai addresses two types of leader, one in the office of civil affairs and one in the office of religious affairs. The fact that persons exist in both offices suggest that both national and religious aspects of life are underway. The people have “kingdom” elements and the “priestly” elements that have re-emerged (consistent with the call to be Priestly Kingdom and Holy Nation Exodus 19:1-6). At the same time, there is no new office of King that has (yet) emerged. Additionally, Haggai is called to speak to the people addressed here as the “remnant” (v.2). The very nature of the term “remnant” is worthy of study, though here we will suggest that it entails the “remainder” of a particular group of people who remain after some conquest (exile). As a remnant, these people constitute both the remembrance of the defeated history (the past) and the possibility for new growth (the future) to emerge from their ranks.

Key developments that must be understood include the threefold repetition in verse 4 to “take courage.” The most directive word of the LORD through the prophet is that these people are to “take courage.” This is the primary message of the prophet. And, this primary message is directed emphatically to those “among you” who had seen the former glory of the temple. This makes it clear that the people and the prophet are looking back in their history to what they have known, while the prophet will direct them forward to what can become a new reality. And the new reality will emerge in a courage rooted in God. Courage emerges precisely and emphatically in a God who is “with you” (v. 4).

This courage is rooted in nothing less than God’s promise (v.5), extending all the way back to the emergence of God’s people from Egypt (v. 5). As God gives the word of encouragement (literally, instilling courage in them), God’s word to them is tied to God’s dominating power and extending benevolence in the Exodus experience. This is the same God who encouraged Moses and the Israelites, who led them out, who fed them and who gave them Torah in the Wilderness who is now with them. This is the same God who encouraged an earlier Joshua to lead Israel into a new land. God who had been with them in the past, is now with them still. “Take courage . . . take courage . . . take courage” are the resounding words Haggai has for his audience as they look back on the past and look toward their new and yet unrealized future.

As this God offers courage and promise, God through Haggai reminds the people that God’s very own presence, God’s Spirit, abides in the midst of the people (v.5). And, God’s spirit among a people encourages the people of God yet more to not be afraid (“do not fear” v. 5). This phrase is used many times in Jewish and Christian Scripture, though it should not be overlooked. God’s presence in the face of enemies, armies, or projects that are overwhelming is intended to bring courage and quell fear.

What is the basis for courage and admonition to not fear? Nothing less than the providence, power, order and sovereignty of the LORD of all Creation. In verse 6, the language of Haggai’s new proclamation ties back to the language of God’s ancient and already established work, begun in Creation and extended through the establishment of God’s people.

When Haggai records that God will shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and dry ground; God is reminding this new audience in a new time of seeming darkness and chaos, that God is the same God who first shaped the darkness and chaos of Creation into order, stability, and goodness on Days 1, 2 and 3 of Creation. As God had shaped the void and nothingness of the Universe, so now this God affirms that God is able to shape new realities for the beleaguered people that Haggai is addressing!

When God declares, in verse 7, that the treasure of the nations shall come, this idea connects to God’s sovereignty over all peoples and all nations, made manifest in several ways in stories of found in Genesis and Exodus, and especially in the Exodus experience. The story of the Exodus notes that the Israelites plundered the Egyptians as they emerged from Egypt (Exodus 12:36) and it is this same shaking up and disruption of other nations, for the sake of establishing God’s people that is promised by this same capable, sovereign LORD. And, the heavens and earths will be reset and the nations shall come to be present when the LORD fills the house with splendor, glory, the very presence of God’s glory.

One can make the claim that in the Creation story itself, God’s presence is made available to human persons. And yet, the most clear evidence of God’s real presence, tangibly close to the people of God is found in the final chapters, and indeed the final verses of the Book of Exodus, including the last words of Exodus, chapter 40. There – as God now promises here – God will “fill” the place and live among and be among God’s people.

In Haggai, verses 6-7 then, in brief succession God through Haggai reminds the people that the same God who shaped heaven and earth and the greatest empires of the world, in order that God might dwell among God’s chosen people – this same God can and will do again for Haggai and Haggai’s people what God has done before.

What God has accomplished in the past, God can accomplish again.

Who God had been in Israel’s History, God remains present to achieve.

Verse 8 reminds the people who had their possessions taken from them, that the silver and gold belong to God alone, and – God alone “will give” and will share the bounty of God’s goodness and prosperity those who will take up a new home in the new house in the new Israel that God was seeking to establish.

While Haggai and the people face a series of new situations they have not yet experienced, they are reminded that God in their midst is as stable and secure, as sovereign and strong as God has always been in all seasons of their past experience. God who instills courage with the promise that God is “with” these people, insures that these people understand the same awe-inspiring work of creation can now be at work at this “twenty-fourth day of the month, in the sixth month, in the second year of King Darius” (1:15-2:1). And, the “latter splendor” of God’s work through this new community, in the new house that God will work with them, will be yet greater than what God has done in the past. The future can be newly discerned as incredibly beautiful and bountiful when the LORD is involved. And, the prospects of the future are rooted in the same convictions and claims made by this God from Abraham through to Moses and the Israelite experience, “I will give prosperity, declares the LORD of hosts.”

Haggai’s audience, we have suggested, thought: “Can we do this? Is God with us?”

Haggai’s message from the LORD of hosts affirms with clarity: “Take courage, take courage, take courage. Work. I am with you. My spirit abides. Fear not. I created and create. I possess all wealth. And I will give a prosperous new future.”