Prophet of Temple Rebuilding
Prophets · 5 verses
Haggai prophesied in 520 BC, eighteen years after the first exiles returned from Babylon under Zerubbabel. Though they had laid the temple's foundation, opposition and discouragement had halted construction while the people built their own 'cieled houses.' Haggai's pointed message challenged this misplaced priority: 'Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your cieled houses, and this house lie waste?' Economic hardship—sowing much but harvesting little, earning wages that disappeared 'into a bag with holes'—resulted from neglecting God's house. Haggai's four dated oracles (five specific dates within a four-month period make this one of Scripture's most precisely dated books) called for temple completion. The prophet encouraged the builders not to despair that this temple seemed inferior to Solomon's glory: 'The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former'—a prophecy fulfilled when Christ, 'the desire of all nations,' entered this very temple. Zerubbabel, the governor, is singled out as God's signet ring, a messianic type pointing to Christ.
Scripture References
“Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your cieled houses, and this house lie waste?”
“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.”
“And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith the LORD of hosts.”
“The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the LORD of hosts: and in this place will I give peace, saith the LORD of hosts.”
“In that day, saith the LORD of hosts, will I take thee, O Zerubbabel, my servant, the son of Shealtiel, saith the LORD, and will make thee as a signet: for I have chosen thee, saith the LORD of hosts.”