Biblical Theology XXXIII: Haggai

The Book of Haggai is set in the time of the return from the exile that occurred in the latter half of the sixth century B.C., somewhere around 520 B.C. The people were busy rebuilding and making their houses look nice, but were arguing that the time to rebuild the temple had not yet come. They would do it when they were finished establishing themselves. God rebukes them for not placing the rebuilding of the temple over their concerns of being established in every day life.

Theology: The presence of God is through the temple,  and it is having the temple at the center of the community that then connects God to all aspects of the community’s life. Hence, it brings the blessings of His presence into all of their lives. If God is withholding the blessings of His presence from His people, it is because His presence and work is not being supported by them as central.  Worship is at the center of life, and life is not meant to function without God at the center. Hence, to neglect His ministry as central is to neglect all aspects of one’s life, even when all other aspects of life are maintained.

The placing of priorities over God’s ministry is a placing of priorities over God Himself. This is a lack of fear of God, a lack of recognizing who He is as the center and authority of all life.

In this regard, God's ministry at the center of life a means by which God will bring about the new world.

Ethics: When God’s people think of His ministry among them as central to their lives, they will seek His presence through it first above all other priorities. When they work to build up their own lives over the work of God and His presence in the world, they cease to be agents of creation and order, and become agents of chaos instead. Hence, they are given chaos rather than creation and order, and nothing they do prospers them. Hence, the idea that one must get his life in order before he really pursues God and His work is the opposite of what God teaches here in Haggai. One must prioritize God and His ministry first in his life, and then God will order his life. In making him clean, the Lord commands them to remember what happens in terms of chaos/disorder in their lives when He and His ministry are not central.

To repent is to fear God and recognize His authority and who He is as Creator and Sustainer, the center of all life. When one does so, God and His ministry will be prioritized over everything else.

When His people prioritize His work above their own lives, even if the work seems small, God promises that their small part in His ministry will one day yield the whole of creation and the splendor of a finished temple/creation. In other words, the small work today is toward a cosmic work accomplished in the future kingdom.

God argues that because the people are unclean, they cannot make the temple of God clean. The ministry of God is holy, but it is defiled by unholy hands. Nevertheless, God Himself, being in the work, will make it clean and holy and bless the people through their participation in it.