Haggai 2:15, commentary and pictures

The call is to consider from that day onward by looking back to the time before a stone was laid upon a stone in the temple, before rebuilding was resumed, and to compare the former condition with the present. That earlier period was one in which every work of their hands and what they offered was unclean before God. In those days He diminished their increase and struck the labor of their hands, so that a heap expected to yield twenty measures yielded only ten, and the press expected to yield fifty vessels yielded only twenty. He smote them with blasting and with mildew and with hail, in poor harvests and losses sent by God.

Despite those judgments, the people had not turned to Him. In this way the verse unveils the heart and shows that the Lord takes notice of all human works. He can diminish and He can increase and bless.

The people were to mark the day the foundation was laid as the beginning of a promised blessing from that day onward. That promise came even while seed was still in the barn and the vine and fig tree and pomegranate and olive had not yet yielded. As part of the lessons of the first two chapters for today, the appeal applies as a call to honor God by building a house for humble and orderly worship without further delay. The Lord's house is not to be left until last but made a first consideration.