Summary:

God told Haggai to ask the priests some questions about the Law (2:11) because the “lawyers” mentioned in the New Testament were not His idea. They weren’t baptized (Lu. 7:30) so they weren’t saved (Mark 1:4) and so would answer questions wrongly. Their appearance in the Lord’s day show how far Israel had drifted from the Law. The Law said that priests should answer Law questions (Mal. 2:7).

“Holy flesh” (2:12) was the flesh of animal sacrifices (cf. Ex. 29:32-34). Men carried them to the priests in the “skirt” of their garment like an apron. The Law said that if the sacrifice touched something it was holy (Lev. 6:24-27), but not the skirt holding it, so the priests answered right. In times like this, when the Law didn’t address questions like this exactly, it was the priest’s job to settle it (Ezek. 44:15,23,24).

If a man touched a dead body he was unclean (Num. 19:11), and if he in turn touched something, it was unclean (v.22), so the priests answers this question right as well (Hab. 2:13). These laws should teach us not to hang around Christians who engage in unclean things (I Cor. 5:6).

But God’s point for Israel was that their sacrifices, which were usually holy (Ex. 23:32-34), could not make the people holy because the “skirt” of their disobedience was in between them and the holy sacrifices they were offering.

It’s like in the past when they offered their babies as human sacrifices “through the fire” to Molech (Jer. 32:35). God said the blood of those poor innocents was on their skirts (Jer. 2:34). Not literally, for fire doesn’t cause blood, just figuratively. And the skirts of the Jews’ disobedience in Haggai’s day kept their sacrifices from making them holy (cf. Isa. 1:11-13). So instead of their sacrifices making them holy, their sin was making the sacrifice unholy, just as when the man made unclean by a dead body touched something.

When they sinned, God chastened them with things like bad crops (Lev. 26:18-20), and that was happening in Haggai’s day (1:5-9). They looked for much but brought in little (1:9 cf. 2:15,16). “Blasting” and “mildew” (2:17) were also God’s chastening (Deut. 28:15,22). With no seed in the barn to plant that year (2:19), things were looking grim. But God promised to bless them now that they had repented (2:19).

Their ultimate blessing will come when God conquers their enemies at Armageddon (Hag. 2:20-22 cf. Joel 3:16) in “the day of the Lord” (Joel 3:14). The nations will have one “throne” (singular) in that day (Hag. 2:22) because the nations will give their power to Antichrist (Rev. 17:3,13).

The overthrowing of chariots and horses (Hag. 2:22) reminds us of Pharaoh’s overthrow in the Red Sea (Ex. 14:27,28), a picture of the day of the Lord (Isa. 19:2). The “Zerubbabel” of the day of the Lord in Haggai 2:23 can’t be the governor of ancient Israel in Haggai’s day any more than the “Egyptians” of Isaiah 19:2 can be the ancient Egyptians showing up at the day of the Lord. The “Zerubbabel” here is Christ. This Zerubbabel is called God’s chosen servant (2:23), making him a type of Christ was (Mt. 12:18).

Christ is called God’s “signet,” the king’s insignia that he pressed into a seal (cf. Dan. 6:17) to seal something up and serve notice that anyone messing with the seal messed with the king. In the day of the Lord, God will seal His people safely with Christ as their signet seal, and serve notice that anyone messing with them messed with God Himself.

The reason God brings up this business of a “signet” is because God promised David that Messiah would come from his seed (II Sam. 7:12,13). That meant anyone messing with any of Judah’s kings threatened God’s promise, so every king of Judah was one of God’s signets (Jer. 22:24).

But Coniah messed up somehow, so God swore no son of his would sit on Judah’s throne (Jer. 22:24-30), ending the line of David at Coniah. But how then could Christ be a son of David (Mt. 1:1) with Coniah in his ancestry (Mt. 1:12-16)? How could God give Him David’s throne (Lu. 1:32)? Well, by Law if a man has no sons to inherit his possessions, his daughters inherit (Num. 27:1-8), and Mary was a son of David as well (Lu. 3:23-31). The genius of God!

Summary:

The Jews in Haggai’s day were discouraged that the new temple wasn’t as big as Solomon’s temple, so God planned to glorify it by shaking the nations down for their money to finance it, the way a bully shakes down a classmate (2:6-8) When the mountain of the Lord’s kingdom is established (Isa. 2:2) the nations “shall flow unto it” (v.6). Isaiah mentions their “silver and gold” because God plans to shake them into bringing it to Israel (Isa. 2:21). But an earthquake alone usually doesn’t separate men from their money, so God will shake heaven and earth (Hag. 2:6 cf. Joel 3:16,17).

But how would it encourage the Jews in Haggai’s day to know that God didn’t plan to glorify their temple until after they died? Well, doesn’t it encourage you to know that God is going to glorify the temple of your body until after you die if the Rapture doesn’t come first (Phil. 3:21,22)? If that doesn’t encourage you, you need to grow up (Eph. 4:15) and stop looking for instant gratification in this life.

But if all that’s true, why’d Haggai say the Lord would glorify the temple in “yet a little while”? Well, that phrase can mean a few moments (Lu. 22:56-59) or weeks or months (John 7:33) or thousands of years (Heb. 10:37), as it does here in Haggai 2 (cf. II Pe. 3:8).

God will only have to shake the nations “once” because that shaking will remove the world’s kingdoms (Heb. 12:26-28). After that their kingdoms will become the Lord’s kingdoms (Dan. 2:44; Rev. 11:15) and there will no further need to shake the nations.

“The desire of nations” (Hag. 2:7) is not Christ, it is money, and all the things money can buy (Eccl. 6:2). A stream of it will come to Jerusalem so steadily they’ll never be able to close the gates (Isa. 60:7-11). This will go on for eternity in New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:22-25).

It is wrong when a bully shakes down a classmate for his lunch money, but it isn’t wrong for God to shake down the nations, for their money is His (Hag. 2:8). By virtue of the fact that God is the Creator of all things, He owns all things (Ps. 50:10-12). Men don’t know that now, but they will when it comes time to glorify the temple, just as the Jews knew when it came time to build Solomon’s temple (I Chron. 29:14-16). In the same way, the money you give to the Lord is His! Just like the body you give Him (Rom. 12:1 cf. I Cor 6:19,20). If you don’t give Him the body He owns, you’re not rendering to God what is God’s (Mark 12:17).

Solomon was the richest man who ever lived, how could the new temple be grander? It’ll be glorified with the combined wealth of everyone on earth (Isa. 2:7).

But how could God call the millennial temple “this latter house” when “this house” in the context is temple in Haggai’s day that was destroyed in 70 ad? Well, if the house of your body is destroyed, you have a resurrection body (II Cor. 5:1). It’s so sure that you’ll have it that God says you “have” it now, since He promised it to you (cf. Rom. 4:17). But your resurrection body will be your body (cf. Job 19:26,27), just far more glorious (I Cor. 15:37,38). Well, if God can call your resurrection house “your” house, even after it is destroyed, He can call the millennial temple “this house”, even though that house was destroyed in 70 ad.

All of this is symbolic of the difference between the Old and New Covenants. Just as the glory of the new temple will exceed the glory of the old temple, the glory of the New Covenant will exceed the glory of the Old (II Cor. 3:7-10). The Law was glorious, it upheld the high, perfect standards of God. But it condemned everyone, for no one could keep it. But the New Covenant of grace exceeds the Old Covenant in glory because it upholds the high standards of God, but gives believers perfect righteousness because of the blood of the New Covenant! The Law has no glory at all by comparison with that, just as Solomon’s temple will have no glory at all compared to the glory of the millennial temple.

Finally, God says “in this place will I give peace” (Hag. 2:9). That land that has known less peace than any other spot on the planet throughout history will not only have peace, it will be the source of peace for the rest of the world.

Summary:

It had been 70 years since Solomon’s temple was destroyed, but there were some “left” in Israel (v.1) who remembered it. We know they were discouraged that the new temple wasn’t as big because they “wept” when they saw the foundation (Ezra 3:12).

They were also discouraged by the king’s order to cease building the temple. But Zechariah, who was raised up with Haggai to encourage the Jews (Ezra 5:1,2), predicted the “mountain” of Persia’s king would flatten before Israel’s governor Zerubbabel (Zech. 4:7) — and he did!

But Zerubbabel didn’t level that mountain by lifting his hand against the authority of the king. He just reminded him that a previous king had ordered the temple built, and when the king checked, he found that it was true (Ezra 6:1-3), and knew that that command couldn’t be altered (Dan. 6:8).

That’s why Zechariah went on to predict that Zerubbabel would finish the temple (Zech. 4:8,9). But for that to happen they would have to learn not to despise “the day of small things” (v.10), and instead “be strong” (Hag. 2:4). That’s the secret to overcoming discouragement!

“The people of the land” (v.4) is a phrase that appears 52 times, and refers to the land of Canaan. Jews and Arabs fight over which people are the people of the land, but God promised it to Abraham and his seed “for ever” (Gen. 17:8).

But Abraham took his time about going there (Gen. 12:1), and by the time he got there, Satan had filled the land with his people — and Moses called them “the people of the land” three times (Gen. 23:7-13). Moses knew God promised the land to Abraham, but he knew God recognized the “squatter’s rights” of the Canaanites. People who occupy a land have legal right to it until the rightful owner evicts them.

But Joshua served an eviction notice when he led God’s people into Canaan and God enforced His promise to Abraham to give him the land. After that, the phrase “the people of the land” referred to the Jews — until they were taken away captive to Babylon. Then some new squatters moved in, and we know God recognized their rights because He called them “the people of the land” (Ezra 4:4; 10:2,11).

The land still belongs to Israel, but God won’t enforce His promise to them until the Lord returns, any more than He’ll enforce His promise that Jews should rule the world until then. So until then, we should be concerned with who owns the Jews’ hearts, not who owns their land (Rom.10:1).

By the way, Haggai called the Jews “the people of the land” at the same time Ezra called the Canaanites by that name to remind them they are the true owners of the land and had the right to build a temple on it. Plus, this chapter is a type of the kingdom. The chapter began on the day of Tabernacles (2:1 cf. Lev. 23:39), a type of the kingdom. It was the last of Israel’s feasts, like the kingdom is the last thing on their program. It’s called the feast of “ingathering” (Ex. 23:16), and that’s how the kingdom will start (Mt. 24:31).

God’s command to “be strong” was not for them to defy the king’s order, but to be strong in faith (cf.Rom. 4:19,20 cf. Josh. 1:6). To be strong and know that the king’s order wouldn’t be overturned by their might or power (Zech. 4:6,7) but by God. But the people would have to shout grace to the headstone (4:7), i.e., the cornerstone of the temple (cf. Ps. 118:22). The word “shout” should remind you of how some “shouted” when the temple foundation was laid (Ezra 3:11-13). It was their shouts of praise and thanksgiving that would bring the foundation forth to a temple (Zech. 4:7). Grace is God doing for us what we can’t do for ourselves, and that’s what their shouts were asking God to do — overturn the king’s order. Shouts also brought down Jericho’s walls (Jer. 6:5-20), God doing it for them!