Call to Build the Temple

Overview

• Testament: Old
• Book: Haggai
• Chapters: Haggai 1
• Summary: The prophet Haggai rebukes the returned exiles for finishing their own paneled houses while leaving the LORD’s house in ruins, and after the people respond with obedience, the work on the temple resumes.

Details

The historical setting of Haggai 1 is precise: the second year of Darius the king, the sixth month, the first day of the month—around August-September 520 BC. The returned exiles under Zerubbabel and Jeshua had begun temple rebuilding after returning from Babylon but had allowed the work to stop for roughly sixteen years, discouraged by opposition and distracted by their own needs. Haggai’s opening oracle cuts to the heart of their rationalization: “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.” The people had convinced themselves that circumstances required delay. The prophet exposes this as self-serving: “Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your cieled houses, and this house lie waste?”

Haggai then makes a connection that the community had apparently not made: their economic difficulties—poor harvests, drought, inflation that sees wages disappear like putting them in bags with holes—are the direct consequence of their disordered priorities. “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 into a bag with holes.” The covenant blessings of Deuteronomy—rain, harvest, prosperity—had been withheld precisely because the people were serving themselves while the LORD’s house lay in ruins. The logic is covenantal: to put one’s own comfort ahead of God’s house is to live upside-down.

The response of the leadership and the people is immediate and exemplary. Zerubbabel the governor, Jeshua the high priest, and 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.” This is one of the Bible’s rare moments when a prophetic rebuke produces prompt, wholehearted obedience. The LORD responds immediately with the assurance of his presence: “I am with you, saith the LORD.” Within three weeks the work had begun again (Haggai 1:14-15), and Haggai’s short ministry illustrates how a single prophetic word, faithfully delivered and faithfully received, can reverse years of spiritual stagnation.

Key People Involved

• Haggai — the prophet who delivered the rebuke and call to action
• Zerubbabel — civil governor of Judah who led the people’s obedient response
• Jeshua — high priest who responded alongside Zerubbabel

Key Places

• Jerusalem (Zion) — the site of the ruined temple and the renewed construction

Important Verses

“Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your cieled houses, and this house lie waste?” — Haggai 1:4

“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 into a bag with holes.” — Haggai 1:6

Cross-References

• Glory of the Latter House — Haggai 2:1-9; the encouragement given after construction resumed
• Ezra 5:1-2 — Ezra’s record of Haggai and Zechariah stirring up the people
• Night Visions of Zechariah — Zechariah’s companion ministry encouraging the same building project