3Then Yahweh’s word came by Haggai the prophet, saying, 4“Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies waste? 5Now therefore this is what Yahweh of Armies says: ‘Consider your ways. 6You have sown much, and bring in little. You eat, but you don’t have enough. You drink, but you aren’t filled with drink. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; and he who earns wages earns wages to put them into a bag with holes in it.’
7“This is what Yahweh of Armies says: ‘Consider your ways. 8Go up to the mountain, bring wood, and build the house. I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified,” says Yahweh. 9“You looked for much, and, behold, it came to little; and when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why?” says Yahweh of Armies, “Because of my house that lies waste, while each of you is busy with his own house. 10Therefore for your sake the heavens withhold the dew, and the earth withholds its fruit. 11I called for a drought on the land, on the mountains, on the grain, on the new wine, on the oil, on that which the ground produces, on men, on livestock, and on all the labor of the hands.”
12Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed Yahweh their God’s voice, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as Yahweh their God had sent him; and the people feared Yahweh.
God has already told Haggai all the excuses that the people will use. How can we build the temple, we are in the middle of a recession! We know it needs done but it’s just not the right time, we need to get through this first. When we get our wages it’s like there are holes in our pockets. We eat but are never satisfied, we wear clothes but are never warm. When we bring the harvest home it disappears. They try to blame God on all these things, but then Haggai points out a vital truth they people are trying not to discuss. They are living in luxury with wooden panelled houses, while God’s temple lies in ruins after 14 years of neglect. The wood for the houses is expensive and has to be imported, they have obviously over stretched themselves in buying and building these very expensive homes and our now trying to blame God!
Haggai seeks out Zerubbabel the Governor and the Priest Jeshua to remind them of their Godly responsibility. Zerubbabel should have been King as he was next in line to King David’s royal throne; but as they were still under Assyrian rule he was only allowed to use the title of Governor. Haggai gives them an important challenge in v 5 which is repeated in verse 7, in the Hebrew text it reads ‘sumn lebab derek’ or considers your ways. In Hebrew literature if a statement is repeated it means that it is of great importance and we need to pay it special attention. We too read the same words today and hear the same challenge repeated. Is God calling us to consider our ways, if he is we should give his request our undivided attention. Zerubbabel and Jeshua took the words of the prophet very seriously and began to call the people together to start the work.