Haggai 1:2, commentary and pictures

Spoken through Haggai to Zerubbabel and Joshua in the second year of Darius, the word exposes the returned exiles justifying delay by claiming hindrances from enemies proved the right time to rebuild the temple had not yet come. The Lord calls them this people rather than my people because they had put their own interests first, building and beautifying their own comfortable houses while leaving His house neglected and well-nigh forsaken and losing sight of His purpose in restoring them. Their drought, meager harvests and inability to prosper temporally and spiritually were the direct result of that neglect, for delay dishonors God who expects prompt obedience. The rebuke therefore requires making God's house the first consideration and acting at once to provide a place for worship rather than excusing delay or waiting for means. Had they made His work first they would have invited His presence and blessing, and even in that dark hour hope remained as God raised up Haggai and Zechariah to reveal the cause of trouble.

Setting and Wording

The message came in the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month on the first day, through Haggai to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel governor of Judah and to Joshua son of Josedech the high priest. The Lord calls Israel this people rather than my people, and the wording is significant because their neglect did not reflect the conduct of a people chosen and led to glorify His name. They framed excuses in self-justification for following their own way, saying they had begun to rebuild but were broken off by hindrances from enemies. They reasoned that those hindrances proved the proper time had not come and that the Lord had interposed difficulties to reprove their haste.

Their claim that the time had not come involved misapplying and misinterpreting God's prophetic word. Strong determined opposition from enemies, disappointment of older men who had seen Solomon's temple when the cornerstone was laid over the seeming inferiority of the second temple, and growing boldness of the Samaritans caused the builders to lose heart. From that discouragement they began to question whether the time had come, and that feeling spread widely. They made this declaration when wonderful opportunity was open while heaven was working on the hearts of kings, yet they were unwilling and failed to cooperate with God in restoring the temple and its services and re-establishing themselves in Judea.

Self-Seeking and Its Result

The returned exiles let the Lord's house lie waste and well-nigh forsaken while they put their own interests and temporal prosperity first. After opposition stopped the work, disheartened workmen went back to their homes to the ordinary pursuits of sowing and reaping and to building and beautifying houses for themselves. They built large, convenient houses for themselves and constantly improved their own homes and premises while viewing the Lord's ruined temple with apathy. To excuse neglecting a fit house for God they said the time had not come, putting self-interest above His cause and remaining content with an unsuitable, shamefully neglected place for His holy presence to dwell. In doing so many lost sight of God's purpose in restoring them to Judea.

Pleas for delay dishonor God, because prompt obedience is expected of those He chooses and leads. Their lack of temporal prosperity was the result of neglecting God's interests first. Drought and shortage followed, with meager harvests and the elements of nature seeming to conspire against them, so that work as they might they could not prosper. Spiritually as well as temporally they came into a pitiable, deplorable state of long murmuring and doubt. Had they honored God and shown Him due respect and courtesy by making the building of His house their first work, they would have invited His presence and blessing.

Even in that dark hour there was hope for those whose trust was in God. Haggai and Zechariah were raised up to meet the crisis. In stirring testimonies they revealed to the people the cause of their troubles.

Call to Build Now

The time to provide a place for worship has come, and delay in building a house for the Lord is not to be allowed, but the people are to act at once, with regret that they had not done their best earlier, making the building of a chapel for worship the practical answer to the message. To say the time has not come is an excuse for putting off the needs of the Lord's house and for delaying the work, and the meaning is that His house must not be left as the last consideration while other needs are met, but must be made a first consideration and not left neglected, with the work regarded as under God's supervision. The first two chapters hold lessons for God's people now, requiring them to give first consideration to building a house for the Lord and to securing a place of worship in which to assemble rather than remaining in a place that is too small, for to remain without a proper house of worship is not according to the will of God.

In its setting the call is to proceed with the meetinghouse rather than stand back in hesitation or wait for means, for after instruction the people decided to arise and build, and moving forward by faith can bring the needed support. Building a place for God to meet with His people honors Him and expresses reverence and should be among the first works undertaken, and doing so would give the work a different character and meet God's approval, while putting it off shows failure to make God and His service the first consideration. The excuse exposes putting self-interest above God's cause by building large convenient houses for self and constantly improving personal premises while being content with an unsuitable, shamefully neglected place for God's holy presence to dwell, and this spirit keeps churches small. God regards comfortable homes joined with barns, miserable out-of-the-way buildings, or cheap forsaken rooms for meeting with His people, little better than the stable of His birth, as dishonoring to His character and majesty, and believers are called to test motives and faith and to provide a neat, attractive, even if humble, house dedicated to God where Jesus is invited as guest.

Applied to churches, the chapter calls people to stop neglecting God's house while giving priority to their own interests, including neglect to build or maintain buildings and borrowing to build without sacrificing to free the church from debt, for such neglect and selfish management dishonor God. The delay that claims the appointed time has not come is met by using God's resources to lift the burdens on His institutions rather than allowing the work to languish. The first chapter corrects the excuse by calling all who realize the nearness of the Lord's coming to act faith now: when one of God's instrumentalities is languishing or in peril, those heart and soul in the work must manifest their interest and be one in mind and heart with heavenly intelligences so they can be worked by them, and human agencies as stewards must unitedly take of the Lord's own substance to lift the burdens, and then the Lord will cooperate with them. The first chapter also teaches that dearth of means in the treasury is the sure result of work that God cannot sanction, and the excuse applies to robbing brethren of their rights and selfishly grasping all available means to turn to the advantage of one institution while justifying it as done for the cause, to being swayed by human preferences and prejudices in confederating to sustain methods contrary to the Word of God, and to selfishness leading those who ought to be true to principle to make crooked paths.