Year 2, Week 25, Day 2 Bible Reading Observations

Year 2, Week 25, Day 2

I have a brief observation for today’s reading of Psalm137; Haggai 1-2.

Today’s reading steps out of Ezra to cover some other ground with readings that coincide with the historical material thus far covered in Ezra. Today’s reading, first of all, involves Psalm 137. Psalm 137, set somewhere around 586 BC, captures the sorrow that the exiles felt as they considered singing the songs that they once sang at the Temple: “By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept, when we remembered Zion. For there our captors required of us songs, and our tormentors, mirth, saying, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!” How shall we sing the LORD’s song in a foreign land?” (Psalm 137, 1-2,4). Perhaps out of a sense of derision, the Babylonian captors forced the exiles to sing. Today’s reading also includes the Book of Haggai. As it has been noted from the Book of Ezra, Haggai, along with Zechariah, were prophets whom the LORD raised up to stir up the returnees to resume the work of completing the Temple: “Then the word of the LORD came by the hand of Haggai the prophet…Thus says the LORD of hosts: Consider your ways. Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house, that I may take pleasure in it and that I may be glorified, says the LORD” (Haggai 1:3,7-8). Haggai began his prophesying around 520 BC after the work on the Temple had floundered for some eighteen year. By 516 BC, the Temple project would be completed and the people would renew their worship of the LORD.

One of the things that struck me from today’s reading was the role that God’s Word played in the rebuilding of the Temple: “Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the LORD their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the LORD their God had sent him. And the people feared the LORD” (Haggai 1:12). The Temple construction would resume and the Temple would be completed. This work came about in essentially the same way that the LORD’s work always comes about: God moves His people to trust and obedience by His Word through the power of the Spirit: “Then Haggai, the messenger of the LORD, spoke to the people with the LORD’S message, “I am with you, declares the LORD.” And the LORD stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people. And they came and worked on the house of the LORD of hosts, their God” (Haggai 1:13-14). The Word challenged the returnees; but is also comforted, as it provided clear assurance of the presence of 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, according to the covenant that I made with you when you came out of Egypt. My Spirit remains in your midst. Fear not” (Haggai 2:4b-5).

Without the Word of the LORD, the people floundered. The returnees had convinced themselves that it was not a suitable time to rebuild the Temple, for they had so many personal matters to attend to: “Thus says the LORD of hosts: These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the LORD.” Then the word of the LORD came by the hand of Haggai the prophet, “Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins?” (Haggai 1:2-4). The Word corrected and confronted the returnees: “Now, therefore, thus says the LORD of hosts: Consider your ways. You have sown much, and harvested little. You eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes” (Haggai 1:5-6). But the Word also called them to trust and obedience: “You looked for much, and behold, it came to little. And when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why? declares the LORD of hosts. Because of my house that lies in ruins, while each of you busies himself with his own house. Therefore the heavens above you have withheld the dew, and the earth has withheld its produce. And I have called for a drought on the land and the hills, on the grain, the new wine, the oil, on what the ground brings forth, on man and beast, and on all their labors” (Haggai 1:9-11).

As the Book of Haggai unfolds another element connected to how God accomplishes His work. As already noted, God moves His people to trust and obedience by His Word through the power of the Spirit. What Haggai adds to this is that God moves His people to trust and obedience by His Word through the power of the Spirit as Christ is proclaimed. In the case of Haggai’s proclamation of Christ, it is a prophetic Word which previews the coming of Christ: “Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, I am about to shake the heavens and the earth, and 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” (Haggai 2:21-22). The line of David would be restored and His Kingdom would be unraveled by the kingdoms of the world. The restoration of the Davidic Kings would come through the line of Zerubbabel: “On 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 signet ring, for I have chosen you, declares the LORD of hosts” (Haggai 2:23). When Christ arrives, He will begin the fulfillment of Haggai’s Words. Thus, the Christ-centered Word in reference to the completion of the Temple gave true purpose to the work that the LORD had set before His people.

What struck you in today’s reading? What questions were prompted from today’s reading?

Pastor Joe