Day 244: Haggai 1-2 | Read The Bible In A Year | Bible Study with Commentary by Dr. Manny Arango

Welcome to the Bible Department podcast, powered by Arma. We are walking through the entire Bible in a year. You can go to the description or thebibledepartment.com to download a reading plan and join the journey. (upbeat music) Family, let's dive into the book of Haggai Together. It's day 244 here at the Bible Department. And we are diving into the book of Haggai. We're just spending one day on the book of Haggai. It's a really, really short book of the Bible. And my job is to give you context clues, give you some nerdy nuggets, and leave off with a timeless truth so that you can apply the book of Haggai to your life. So, let's dive in. If you've done the reading, then everything that I'm gonna say is gonna make perfect sense. But if you haven't done the reading, then you're probably gonna be a little lost as to what I'm exactly talking about in today's episode. So, let's dive in. If you haven't done the reading, stop the video, pause the audio. Go get the reading done just two short chapters from the book of Haggai today. And you could honestly do the reading really, really, really, really, really fast.

Let's dive in. Okay, so, Haggai is our first post-exilic prophet, post-exilic. That means that Haggai is actively prophesying after the exile, okay? So, we took a whole chunk of time and focused on pre-exilic prophets. Those are the prophets who were prophesying or predicting that the exile was gonna happen. They were prophesying before the exile. Prophets like Micah, prophets like Isaiah. And then we focused on exilic prophets, prophets who are alive during the exile. Prophets who are prophesying to the community of exiles living in Babylon. Jeremiah would be a pre-exilic prophet and an exilic prophet because he lived through the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BC. He predicted it and lived through it. So, he is kind of a transition prophet, but Ezekiel and Daniel, like these people prophesied as exiles. They're living in Babylon. They would be exilic prophets. Now, we've got three post-exilic prophets. The people are back in the land. The people are attempting to rebuild their lives. And God is gonna send three prophets to encourage, admonish, rebuke, correct the people. Those three post-exilic prophets are Haggai,

Zechariah and Malachi. Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi. So, over the next couple of days, we're actually going to look at all three of these prophets because we are studying the prophets in chronological order. So, now that you kind of have an orientation of like where Haggai falls, we can dive in, okay? We actually have an exact date for Haggai's prophecies. Haggai is going to give four oracles and they're all going to be dated, okay? Shortbook, two chapters and he's gonna give four oracles. All right, this post-exilic prophet is prophesying in 520 BC, 520 BC. So, again, to get some context around when is Haggai prophesying? What are the circumstances around his prophetic ministry? He's prophesying in 520 BC, okay? What, like, what, what importance does that date have? Well, let me give you some context, okay? The people are exiled for 70 years in 539 BC, okay? So, 19 years before the ministry of Haggai, okay? In 539 BC, Cyrus gives a decree and Cyrus gives a decree that the people of Israel who have been exiled can go back home. Everyone who's been exiled can go back home. Now, historically, here's what happened. The Babylonians believed in exiling people, but the Persians believed in sending people back home. And I don't know if you remember this, Daniel chapter 5, a regent, aka king by the name of Belchasar, is giving a feast in the palace,

and the Persians overtake the Babylonians. And in a night, the leading empire of the world switches from the Babylonians to the Persians. And when the Persians take over the Babylonian empire, the Persians, aka Cyrus, has a different political emo. He has a different way of dealing with subjugated foreign people groups. Okay, the Babylonians wanted to take the best of the brightest, bring them to Babylon, and exile them into Babylon. But the Persians believed, keep people back home, like send everybody back. Okay, so the Jews aren't the only group that the Persians sent back home. Like, hey, anybody want to go back home? You can go back home. And so the Jewish people get to go back home. They start going back home in 538 BC. So 539 BC, the Edict by Cyrus gives them permission to go back. And then within a year, they're back in Jerusalem. Okay, by 537, 536, so two years after they get back to Jerusalem, they have finished the altar. Okay, the altar for the temple is rebuilt. Now, Ezra is really going to focus, the book of Ezra is really going to focus on the temple getting rebuilt. Nehemiah is going to focus on the walls of Jerusalem getting rebuilt. And both Ezra and Nehemiah are both going to talk about the ministries of Haggai and Zechariah. Here's what Ezra chapter 5 verse 1 and 2 says. This is Ezra chapter 5, verse 1 and 2. It says, "Now Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the prophet, a descendant of Edo, prophesied to the Jews in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel, who was over them." Okay, when Zerubbabel shut off Sheltiel and Joshua, son of Josodak, set to work to rebuild a house of God in Jerusalem and the prophets of God were with them, supporting them. So, Ezra chapter 5, verse 1 and 2. And Nehemiah is going to talk about the ministry of Haggai and Zechariah. So, you can think about Haggai and Zechariah as a pair. And what is Haggai's message? Well, Haggai's message is fascinating. Remember, I was kind of giving you an outline, like a historical outline. So, 539 BC, Cyrus declares all the Jews can go back home. Within a year, they're back in Jerusalem. That's 538 BC. By 537, 536 BC, they have rebuilt the altar. Okay, the altar of the temple is rebuilt. Remember, these people get back to Jerusalem and it's rubble. Everything is just destroyed. It's been destroyed for 70 years. And then in 536, the work stops. They build the altar and they don't do another thing. They don't let the finger. They don't continue the work of rebuilding the temple. They've rebuilt the altar. It took them about two years to rebuild the altar. Cyrus, how they can go home at 539, by 536, they've rebuilt the altar and then the work stops. In 520, okay, 16 years have gone by where they've done nothing. The people have come back to Jerusalem and they have not done anything.

They've made no progress. They built the altar and then they just got tired. They stopped. For 16 years, they've hit the pause button on building. And this is what is going to prompt. Haggai to kick them in the rear end and begin to get them working to rebuild the temple again. Max, you're going to read some of Haggai. So Haggai starts prophesying in 520, okay, after a 16-year hiatus where the people are literally not doing what Yahweh set them back to Jerusalem to do. It says this, verse 3 of Haggai chapter 1, "Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses while this house remains a ruin? So you came back and you built It's your house, but you Now this is what the Lord Almighty says, give careful thought to your ways. You have planted much, but harvested little, which means you're living in poverty. You planted, but you're not harvesting. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages only to put them in a purse with holes in it. I don't know why Haggadah didn't get preached more, 'cause this is fire right here, okay? Here we go, this is what the Lord Almighty says, give careful thought to your ways. Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build my house so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored, says the Lord. How dare you wait 16 years before you make progress on my house and you're over here building your house. Essentially, man, oh, this is gonna get into our timeless truths for the day. The people are saying we're not building God's house

because we're poor. We're not building God's house, we're poor. You know, we can't do it. We don't have the resources. We're impoverished. And Haggadah turns it, flips it on the head and goes, no, you're poor 'cause you're not building God's house. You think that you're not building God's house 'cause you're poor, but actually you're poor because you're not building God's house. And until you build God's house, until you put the house of God into the center of your society, then you will continue to plant but not harvest. You will continue to eat but not have enough. You will continue to drink but never have to fill. You'll put clothes on but not be warm. You'll earn wages only to put them in a purse with holes in it. Go up to the mountains, bring down timber and build my house. And then verse nine, Haggadah gets into their emotions, gets into what's going on at a heart level. Says, "You expected much, but see it turned out to be little." It's, can you imagine being an ex out for 70 years and prophets like Ezekiel prophesied that one day, God was gonna bring you back to Jerusalem. And so you signed up to go back to Jerusalem and then you got back to Jerusalem and it's just rubble. It's just destroyed.

It's literally just ruined. Everything is ruined. Everyone's been telling you all these stories about how awesome Jerusalem is. But Nebuchadnezzar didn't leave one stone on top of the other. When he came in 586 BC and destroyed Jerusalem, he utterly destroyed it. He burned it to the ground. And so Haggadah is saying, "Hey, you expected much, but see it turned out to be little." What you brought home, I blew away. Why declares the Lord? Because of my house, which remains a ruin. While each of you is busy with your own house, verse 10, "Therefore because of you, the heavens have withheld their due and the earth its crops. I called for a drought on the fields and the mountains on the grain, the new wine, the olive oil and everything else the ground produces on people in livestock and on all the labor of your hands." Verse 12, "Then's the rubable son of Shaltiel, Joshua, son of Josodak, the high priest and the whole remnant of the people, obey the voice of the Lord, their God, and the mess of the prophet Haggai, because the Lord, their God, had sent him and the people feared the Lord." And so the people start building again. They get it back, they get the mojo back. They like, "Yo, let's stop messing around."

Okay, we gotta build, we gotta build this thing. Okay, so that's the first prophetic word, okay? What if I told you that what you're learning in this video was just the tip of the iceberg? The Bible department is actually powered by Arma. What is Arma? I'm so glad you asked. Arma is an online subscription based platform that we designed to help people. Everyday people learn the Bible for themselves. We started Arma so that anybody, anywhere, can have access to trustworthy and entertaining Bible and theology content. In addition to this podcast, we have over 60 courses on individual books of the Bible, on theology topics, and on some hot topics, like homosexuality, tithing, and women in ministry. But really, Arma is a community. A community of people that I've gotten to know. A community where thousands of people are currently finding family, asking questions, and nerding out on the Bible together. If you want a community to read the Bible with you this year, or if you wanna dive into some deeper theological content, or if you want more exclusive access to me in the entire Arma team, I'll be sure to post the link in the description of this video. Let's make this your year to become a Bible nerd. I'm actually gonna give you a timeline

because the prophetic words are all dated. Okay, so that's the first one. You kinda just read through a good chunk of that first prophetic word. God is saying, you're building your own house, you're not building my houses, and you're building your houses, but you're not building my house. And you think that you're too poor to build my house. But the reality is that you're not building my house, and that is why you're poor. And if you begin to prioritize my house, then I'll open up the windows of heaven, I'll bless you. I think that when we start talking about tithing and prioritizing God's house and church, we always go to Malachi. But this content here in Haggai is inspiring, it's motivating, and at work, the people begin to get it together, and they begin to build God's house, they obey. Now, Taggai chapter two, verse one, tells us of the second oracle, which is going to happen. So this first oracle happens on the 29th of August 520 BC. Okay, the 29th of August 520 BC. After 16 years of the people just doing nothing. The second oracle is going to happen on the 17th of October 520 BC. So the end of August, and then the middle of October. So we got almost two months, okay?

And then we're going to get the second oracle. What is the second oracle about? Haggai is going to address the people at the temple on the final day of the Feast of Tabernacles. His message was again of encouragement, but this time to encourage, despite what they had built, the impression is that the people who had just gone through the first feast and the new temple were not impressed. And honestly, this is where we're going to get a famous verse. Okay, so I want you to go to chapter two, verse three. Okay, chapter two, verse three. 'Cause in church, we always say, your ladder will be greater than your former. Like we say that a lot, but that comes from chapter three, verse nine, says this, the glory of this present house, that's the one that they're rebuilding, will be greater than the glory of the former house. That would be Solomon's temple, okay? So Haggai is actually talking about the glory of Zerubbabel's temple versus the glory of a Solomon's temple. So verse three, start in chapter two, verse three. Who of you is left who saw the house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Does it seem to you like nothing? He's saying, hey, you're actually, you got a bad attitude 'cause you're comparing the glory of this new thing that God's doing to the one that you remember. And the reality is that this new one pales in comparison to Solomon's temple.

Solomon's temple is built at the height of Judah and Israel's power, economic power. And the Bible tells us that Solomon is gonna get gold from all over. He's gonna get the most exotic building materials to build the temple. However, the way that God measures glory and the way that we measure glory are not the same. And so Haggai's gonna prophesy, he's gonna say, hey, hey, hey, this is what I covenant with you when you came out of Egypt and my spear remains among you. Do not fear, verse six. This is what the Lord says, in a little while, I will once more shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. I will shake all the nations. And what is desired by the nations will come and I will fill this house with glory. Man, but this temple never got to be beautiful. So what kind of glory did God fill it with? Oh, there's a poor peasant couple named Mary and Joseph who brought a baby named Jesus to this temple, to Zerubbabel's temple, to the temple that the people in Haggai's context are rebuilding. And he gets circumcised in the temple. And then as a boy, he's arguing in the temple and Jesus is gonna teach in this temple. Oh, Jesus actually visited this temple multiple times, which means that the glory is not in how beautiful the stones were or in how much gold there was,

the glory is in who would be in it, which means glory is never about how much wealth we have. Glory is always about how many relationships we have. It's the human experience. It's the human dynamic. I actually was telling one of my spiritual sons today, I was saying, hey, your network is your net worth because human beings. And Jesus is the most valuable of the most valuable of the most valuable. And so Jesus is going to step foot in this temple. And so, Haggai is trying to help the people from being carnal. Right now, we're in the middle of church planting. And I'm trying to pray carnal people away 'cause carnal people want LED screens and carnal people want fog machines and carnal people want all their senses titillated. Then when you're church planting, you don't need carnal people. You need builders. You need people who are down to build. You need people who are down to sit in uncomfortable chairs. You need people who are okay in the building season of a ministry. And so, Zerubbabel and Joshua, they're getting help. They're the leaders. Okay, Joshua's the high priest. Zerubbabel is the leader. And they need Haggai to remind people,

hey, stop being carnal. Stop looking at this with your natural eyes. You need to look at the situation in the spirit and spiritually, I'm telling you right now, that the glory of this former, of this ladder temple is going to outshine the glory of the ladder temple. But if you're just looking at it with your eyes, you'll always think Solomon's temple is more beautiful or more majestic or more glorious. But the glory doesn't lie in how much gold and silver and ornate stones were built into it. No, the glory lies and who's in it? And Jesus is going to walk into Zerubbabel's temple. And it's the people. It's the human, it's the image bear. It's the glory of God in the person of Jesus that is actually going to make the ladder temple more glorious than the former temple. All right. There's a third oracle in this third oracle. The Haggai begins to teach a lesson using an analogy. He says, hey, if somebody, if a priest, okay, touch is something dead. And then they go touch something in the temple. They've contaminated it, right? And the priest is like, yeah. And he goes, all right. Well, the people are getting their hands dirty by not being holy. And then they're coming here to help build the temple.

They can't do that. The temple is holy. You can only build the temple if you got clean hands. And clean hands mean there's got to be some sin and some habits that you remove out of your life so that you can dedicate your hands to building what God has called you to build because what God's called you to build needs to be holy, needs to be set apart. And you can't contaminate what you're building with the sin that's in your life. I remember for a season, I mean, I really just battled with a lot of anger, but I'm trying to build this thing called the Bible department or build this thing called armor. And I remember realizing, wait a second, I keep contaminating what I'm building with the anger that I've got on the inside of me. I need to go get this anger dealt with because I'm gonna keep coming up against a wall. And man, I need to be able to lead from a place of love and lead with a heart of patience. So I'm building something holy. And so Haggai begins to prophesy to the people. Hey, you got to get your actions, your heart. You got to get that stuff in line 'cause you're building something holy. And then there's a fourth oracle. That third oracle is chapter two, verse 10 to 19.

And then the fourth oracle is chapter two, verse 20 to 33. This final oracle is both a personal one for is a rubble and also a corporate message for the people. Some context is needed to fully appreciate the image here. And Jeremiah chapter 22, verse 24. Jeremiah spoke a word against Jehoiachin, the last legitimate king of Judah. In this word, he is described, Jehoiachin is described, as a signet ring on Yahweh's finger, a ring used to sign documents with the authority of the owner. Jehoiachin was king with the authority of Yahweh, the true king. But Jeremiah says that Yahweh was tearing off his signet ring and hurling it to Babylon. Jehoiachin had lost the authority, but not only him. He was the son of David, of the house of David. But now the authority David's line held was gone, lost in the exile. But the promise had been made not just to David, but to the people that future hope was in the line of David. And here now is a rubble. The grandson of Jehoiachin, the son of David, has led the people home. Had rebuilt the temple as Solomon, the son of David had done. So Yahweh picked up the signet ring and put it back on his finger. David's line had been restored. So they may no longer be kings, okay, Zorubable's not a king. But the promise to David still holds true.

His family was still the hope of Israel. Through them is the authority of Yahweh, and through them salvation would come. So that's an overview of all four oracles given by Haggai to the people. Our Thomas' truth, okay, our Thomas' truth for the day is really, really simple. The people believe that they are too poor to build God's house. But in reality, if they refuse to build God's house, that's making them poor. Oh man, I wish I had money for every person who said I'm too poor to tithe. I can't afford to tithe. I can't give God 10% and man, you're talking to the wrong person because I watched my mom tithe off of her disability check. I watched my mom tithe off of her welfare check and we defeated poverty in one generation. I am no longer poor. I grew up poor, but I'm no longer poor because I prioritize God's house. I prioritize the house of God. And because I prioritize the house of God, can I be honest? God has blessed my house. And that's not just true for the book of Haggai or in 520 BC when these words were prophesied or spoken to the people of Israel. That's true today. There are many people who believe, oh, I, I, I'm not tithing because I'm poor and I think God would flip that and say to them, no, you're poor because you're not tithing. And a lot of times we have the cause and the effect reversed and God begins to go ahead and put the cause where it needs to be and the effect where it needs to be. And I think that is timelessly true. That's true for Haggai and that's definitely true for me and I believe it's true for you. Tomorrow we got day 245 and we're going to talk about Haggai's prophesying buddy, his prophesy pal, Zechariah, we're going to be in the book of Zechariah for a couple of days. It's going to be great. I'll see you right here tomorrow for another day studying the Bible together.

We got a brand new book of the Bible tomorrow. If you're on a streak, don't break it. If you're on a streak, I'm so proud of you. I'll see you right here tomorrow for day 245 of the Bible department. Love you. Thanks so much for joining us on the Bible department podcast. If this episode was helpful, how about you leave a comment, share with a friend and subscribe so that you never miss an episode. To learn more about the show, head to thebobledepartment.com. We'll see you right back here tomorrow. (upbeat music) [BLANK_AUDIO]