Haggai 2:1-23

Never *Give Up!

Haggai

Gordon Churchyard

Chapter 2

v1 On 17 October the *LORD spoke to Haggai the *prophet. He said, v2 ‘Speak now to:

• Zerubbabel; he is leader of Judah and son of Shealtiel

• Joshua; he is the *High Priest and the son of Jehozadak

• the *remnant of the people also.

Say this to them. v3 Some of you remember this house in its first *glory. (I know) how you see it now. You say, “It is not as good.” ’ v4 But the *LORD says, ‘Be strong, Zerubbabel. Be strong, Joshua, the *High Priest and son of Jehozadak. Everybody must be strong.’ The *LORD says: ‘Work, because I am with you. v5 My *spirit is still with you. Do not be afraid. This is what we agreed when you came out of Egypt.’

v6 The *LORD of everything says, ‘Soon I will *shake the skies and the earth. I will *shake the sea and the dry land. v7 I will *shake all the *nations. Everything that I love will come. It will come from all the *nations. My house will fill with *glory.’ The *LORD of everything says this. v8 ‘The *silver is mine and the gold is mine’, says the *LORD of everything. v9 ‘You are building me a house. The *glory of it will be great. It will be greater than the *glory of the old house.’ This is what the *LORD of everything says. ‘In this place I will give *peace’, says the *LORD of everything.

v10 On 18 December Darius was in his second year as king. The *LORD spoke to Haggai the *prophet. He said, v11 ‘The *LORD of everything says, “Ask the *priests this. v12 If somebody:

• has *holy food for God in his bag

• then he touches bread, meat, *wine, *oil or any other food

• will the bread, meat, *wine or *oil become *holy?” ’

The *priests answered, ‘No’. v13 Then Haggai said, ‘What happens if he touches a dead body? If he (then) touches something else, will that become *unholy?’ The *priests said ‘Yes’.

v14 Then Haggai said, ‘This country and this *nation were like that to me, says the *LORD. Also everything that their hands made was like that. What they offer is not *holy. v15 Now, think again about this. Think, before you build one stone on another in the *temple of the *LORD. v16 When you came for 20 (buckets of *corn) there were only 10. And when you came for 50 (buckets) of *wine there were only 20. v17 I hit you with *blight, *mildew and *hail. I did this to all your work, but you did not turn to me. This is what the *LORD says. v18 Think about what you are doing. Think from today, 18 December, to the future. Today we put down the *foundation of the *temple of the *LORD. Think about it. v19 The *corn is not in the *barn. The *grapes, *figs, *pomegranates and the *olives have not given fruit. But from today I will be good to you.’

v20 Again on 18 December the *LORD spoke to Haggai. He said, v21 ‘Tell Zerubbabel the leader of Judah, I will *shake the skies and the earth. v22 I will knock down the kings of the earth. I will destroy the strong *kingdoms of the world. I will destroy their arms and those that use them. Their soldiers will fall from their horses. They will fight each other. v23 In that day, says the *LORD of everything, I will make my servant like a special finger ring. My servant is Zerubbabel. He is the son of Shealtiel. The *LORD of everything says, “I chose you.” ’

What Chapter 2 means

Verse 3 ‘in its first *glory’ means as it was 70 years before. This was before Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, destroyed it. Old people said that the new *temple was not as good as the old *temple.

Verse 5 ‘when you came out of Egypt’ means the promise God made then. (See Exodus 19:4-6.) That was 1400 years *B.C. ‘My *spirit’ here means God.

Verses 6-7 ‘*Shake’ is what a strong wind does to leaves! ‘Everything that I love... from all the *nations’ means: ‘their valuable things of gold and *silver’ and ‘their people that God loves’.

Verse 9 The *glory of the *temple will be greater because Jesus will teach in it! (See Mark 12:35; Matthew 21:14; Matthew 21:15. But see also Matthew 12:6.) It is only Jesus that offers the world *peace.

Verse 12 The things that we give to God will not make anyone *holy. The food in his bag is what the *priest will offer to God.

Verse 13 To understand this, think about water. If you put dirty water into clean water, it will all be dirty. If you put clean water into dirty water, it will still all be dirty.

Verse 14 People cannot make each other *holy, because people are bad. They are like the dirty water in the verse above.

Verse 16 This means that not much fruit came from their plants.

Verse 17 *Blight, *mildew and *hail means bad weather and bad times when the plants grew. God did this.

Verse 19 ‘I will be good’ means that God will not send *drought, bad *crops and *inflation.

Verse 22 This tells us that God is king of history! History is the story of the world. God decides what will happen. And he decides what will not happen.

Haggai’s message for us

Haggai spoke 3 times to the *Jews:

• On 29 August 520 *B.C. It is in Haggai 1:2-11.

• On 17 October 520 *B.C. It is in Haggai 2:3-9.

• On 18 December 520 *B.C. It is in Haggai 2:11-23.

We call these words prophecies. A prophecy is what a *prophet says.

*Prophecy 1

Enemies caused trouble. The *Jews were afraid. So they said, ‘It is not time to build the *temple.’ So they built their houses. God was angry. He spoke to the *Jews by what happened:

• the weather was bad (Haggai 1:10)

• there was not much to eat or drink (Haggai 1:6)

• their money did not buy much (Haggai 1:6).

Then God spoke by Haggai. He said. ‘Think again about what you are doing.’ God sometimes tells us to do something. It becomes very difficult. It may become dangerous. So we stop doing it. Haggai says to us, ‘Do not stop or *give up!’ That is why we called this book ‘Never *Give Up!’

*Prophecy 2

The *Jews thought of another reason to stop work. Some of them were very old. They remembered the first *temple. Nebuchadnezzar destroyed it in 587 *B.C. ‘This new *temple is not so good’, they said. The *LORD said, ‘Work, because I am with you.’ Then he said that this was an old plan. He made it when they came out from Egypt. That was 1000 years before! Then God told them his secret! This new *temple will become better than the old *temple. There are many reasons. ‘Everything that I love will come. It will come from all the *nations. My house will fill with *glory’ (verse 7). This was because Jesus would come to the new *temple.

*Prophecy 3

This is a strange message! In the new *temple they would offer food to God. The food would be sheep or small birds. It was *holy because they offered it to God. If it touched anything else would that become *holy? The answer was no. This means a good person cannot make another person good. Only God can make someone good. But a bad person can make another person bad! This is what verse 13 means. God says that some *Jews are bad. They make the other *Jews bad also. This is why God sent bad weather and bad fruits. But now everything will become different. ‘From today I will be good to you’ (verse 19). This is because the *Jews obeyed God. There is a bit more in verses 21-23. It did not happen in 520 *B.C. It never happened. But it will happen in the future.

Something to do

Learn to know when God is speaking to you. He does this:

• when we read the Bible

• when we pray

• when we are with other Christians.

We do not hear a voice. Instead, an idea comes into our minds. We must always check that the idea is not a bad one. If it is against what the Bible tells us, it is a bad idea. Then we must ask God for help. Then we must obey God. Usually we must wait for the right time to obey God.

This publication is written in EasyEnglish Level A (1200 words)

give up ~ to stop doing something good.
LORD ~ a special name for God: only his people use it. Really, it is the covenant name for God. A covenant is when two or more people agree together. Here, God and his people agree. LORD translates Yahweh or Jehovah in the language called Hebrew. It is not the same as Lord, which means someone with authority. Lord can be another name for God.
prophet ~ someone that speaks for God; sometimes a prophet says what will happen in the future.'High Priest ~ the leader of the priests.
priests ~ servants of God in his house or temple.
temple ~ here, the house of God in Jerusalem. (The Jews had several other temples.)
Jew ~ a person who is born from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children.
remnant ~ a little bit that is left over (here it means a few Jews that still loved God).
Jew ~ a person who is born from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children.
glory ~ something that shines very much and is very beautiful.
spirit ~ the part of us that still lives when our body dies. (The Holy Spirit is another name for God, like LORD and Lord; here ‘my spirit’ is a name for God.)
holy ~ very, very good; only God is really holy.
LORD ~ a special name for God: only his people use it. Really, it is the covenant name for God. A covenant is when two or more people agree together. Here, God and his people agree. LORD translates Yahweh or Jehovah in the language called Hebrew. It is not the same as Lord, which means someone with authority. Lord can be another name for God.
shake ~ move something from one side to another many times and very fast.
nation ~ leaders and all the people in one country.
silver ~ a beautiful metal of great value.
peace ~ when there is no war and we do not fight anyone.
priests ~ servants of God in his house or temple.
temple ~ here, the house of God in Jerusalem. (The Jews had several other temples.)
Jew ~ a person who is born from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children.
holy ~ very, very good; only God is really holy.
wine ~ a drink with alcohol in it; people make it from grapes.
grape ~ a fruit.
oil ~ not oil for cars, but a food made from olives.
olive ~ a fruit.
unholy ~ the opposite of holy.
holy ~ very, very good; only God is really holy.
temple ~ here, the house of God in Jerusalem. (The Jews had several other temples.)
Jew ~ a person who is born from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children.
corn ~ a food plant that we make bread from.
blight ~ something that makes plants ill.
mildew ~ something that makes plants ill.
hail ~ rain made from ice.
foundation ~ the hard ground that people build houses on.
barn ~ building where farmers keep their fruit and animal food.
grape ~ a fruit.
fig ~ a fruit.
pomegranate ~ a fruit.
olive ~ a fruit.
kingdom ~ the land that a king rules.
shake ~ move something from one side to another many times and very fast.
blight ~ something that makes plants ill.
drought ~ no rain for a long time.
crops ~ plants for food.
inflation ~ when things cost more and more.
Jew ~ a person who is born from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children.
prophecy ~ the message that a prophet brings.
prophet ~ someone that speaks for God; sometimes a prophet says what will happen in the future.'give up ~ to stop doing something good.