Thy Strong Word — Haggai 2: God Presence Makes the Temple Holy and Beautiful

You finally commit to that project you’ve been putting off for years. You dive in with enthusiasm, start making real progress, and then reality hits. It’s smaller than you dreamed, less impressive than you imagined, especially when compared to what others have accomplished. That’s exactly where we find God’s people three weeks into rebuilding the temple. The older folks who remembered Solomon’s magnificent temple were saying, ‘This is nothing compared to what we had before.’ The workers were getting discouraged. And that’s when God shows up with His promise: ‘The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former” not because of outward appearances, but because God dwells within and will bless his people.

The Rev. David Boisclair, senior pastor at Our Redeemer Lutheran Church in Overland, MO, joins the Rev. Dr. Phil Booe to study Haggai 2.

To learn more about Our Redeemer, visit ourredeemerstl.org.

The Persian king Cyrus issues an astonishing decree: the exiles may go home. Among them are the Jews—God’s chosen people—whom this pagan ruler not only repatriates, but commands to rebuild the temple of the Lord. Ezra 1–4 tells of their return, the joy of restored worship, and the crushing opposition that brings construction to a standstill. Then the prophets Haggai and Zechariah speak with God’s authority, calling His people to courage, repentance, and hope. In Ezra 5–8 the temple is completed, worship flourishes, and hearts are renewed in God’s Word. This series on Thy Strong Word follows the events in the order they happened, revealing how the Lord moves kings and prophets, overcomes opposition, and restores His people.

Thy Strong Word, hosted by Rev. Dr. Phil Booe, pastor of St. John Lutheran Church of Luverne, MN, reveals the light of our salvation in Christ through study of God’s Word, breaking our darkness with His redeeming light. Each weekday, two pastors fix our eyes on Jesus by considering Holy Scripture, verse by verse, in order to be strengthened in the Word and be equipped to faithfully serve in our daily vocations. Submit comments or questions to: thystrongword@kfuo.org.

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Haggai 2

The Coming Glory of the Temple

2 In the seventh month, on the twenty-first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet: ²“Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to all the remnant of the people, and say, ³‘Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? How do you see it now? Is it not as nothing in your eyes? ⁴Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, declares the Lord. Be strong, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land, declares the Lord. Work, for I am with you, declares the Lord of hosts, ⁵according to the covenant that I made with you when you came out of Egypt. My Spirit remains in your midst. Fear not. ⁶For thus says the Lord of hosts: Yet once more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land. ⁷And I will shake all nations, so that the treasures of all nations shall come in, and I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of hosts. ⁸The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, declares the Lord of hosts. ⁹The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts. And in this place I will give peace, declares the Lord of hosts.’”

Blessings for a Defiled People

¹⁰On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet, ¹¹“Thus says the Lord of hosts: Ask the priests about the law: ¹²‘If someone carries holy meat in the fold of his garment and touches with his fold bread or stew or wine or oil or any kind of food, does it become holy?’” The priests answered and said, “No.” ¹³Then Haggai said, “If someone who is unclean by contact with a dead body touches any of these, does it become unclean?” The priests answered and said, “It does become unclean.” ¹⁴Then Haggai answered and said, “So is it with this people, and with this nation before me, declares the Lord, and so with every work of their hands. And what they offer there is unclean. ¹⁵Now then, consider from this day onward.^[a] Before stone was placed upon stone in the temple of the Lord, ¹⁶how did you fare? When^[b] one came to a heap of twenty measures, there were but ten. When one came to the wine vat to draw fifty measures, there were but twenty. ¹⁷I struck you and all the products of your toil with blight and with mildew and with hail, yet you did not turn to me, declares the Lord. ¹⁸Consider from this day onward, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month. Since the day that the foundation of the Lord‘s temple was laid, consider: ¹⁹Is the seed yet in the barn? Indeed, the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree have yielded nothing. But from this day on I will bless you.”

Zerubbabel Chosen as a Signet

²⁰The word of the Lord came a second time to Haggai on the twenty-fourth day of the month, ²¹“Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, I am about to shake the heavens and the earth, ²²and to overthrow the throne of kingdoms. I am about to destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the nations, and overthrow the chariots and their riders. And the horses and their riders shall go down, every one by the sword of his brother. ²³On that day, declares the Lord of hosts, I will take you, O Zerubbabel my servant, the son of Shealtiel, declares the Lord, and make you like a^[c] signet ring, for I have chosen you, declares the Lord of hosts.”

Footnotes

Haggai 2:15 Or backward; also verse 18
Haggai 2:16 Probable reading (compare Septuagint); Hebrew Lord, since they were. When
Haggai 2:23 Hebrew the

Rev. Dr. Phil Booe

Native North Carolinian Rev. Dr. Phil Booe serves pastor of St. John Lutheran Church of Luverne, MN, and host of Thy Strong Word on KFUO Radio. His parishioners probably think he can’t teach Bible study without a mug of coffee in his hand, and he’ll always be happy to eat a plate of sushi. When he’s not shepherding his flock or teaching on the radio, you might find him watching bad movies from the 50s, 60s, and 70s, and especially binging RiffTrax and MST3K episodes. Some day he’d love to travel to the Lutheran homeland in Germany, but for now he spends time in Minnesota with his wife, son, daughter, and cat, and looks forward to Holy Week every year.