Building the Second Temple

A Call to Action

And they that are far off shall come and build in the temple of the LORD, and ye shall know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me unto you. And this shall come to pass, if ye will diligently obey the voice of the LORD your God.—Zechariah 6:15

A verse-by-verse study of Haggai 1

Over a decade had passed since the foundation of a temple to replace that of Solomon was laid in Jerusalem. Matters of personal concern for earning a livelihood, combined with discouragement in the face of strong opposition from the people of the land, caused early zeal to flag.

It was into this condition that the prophet Haggai appeared on the scene. The historian Marcus Dods observes, “No prophet ever appeared at a more critical juncture in the history of the people, and, it may be added, no prophet was more successful” (International Standard Bible Encyclopedia).

Haggai’s mission, as was that of his contemporary Zechariah, was to reignite the religious fervor of the Jews who returned from the Babylonian captivity in response to the decree of Cyrus (Ezra 1:1-3).

The Background—Haggai 1:1

In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, in the first day of the month, came the word of the LORD by Haggai the prophet unto Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, saying …

This Darius is not to be confused with Darius the Mede of Daniel 5:31, but rather Darius Hystaspis, a successor to Cambyses some fifteen years later. It fell to Haggai to initiate a reform in Jerusalem and encourage the completion of the earlier zeal that laid the temple’s foundations. In a similar vein, the Great Reformation of the sixteenth century, while laying a foundation for God’s spiritual temple, left that work unfinished until the second advent of Christ.

If the year was reckoned after the religious year, beginning in Nisan, this prophecy would be in the month Elul (August-September). Both Ezra and Nehemiah appear to have used the Nisan year in their dating as did both the contemporary Babylonians and Persians. This would be an auspicious time for this prophecy, both from the standpoint that the fruit crops were beginning to be harvested and they would have time for the temple work, and the meagerness of their prospective harvest would be fresh in their memory, something to which the prophet draws their attention. The first day of the month would correspond to the regular feast of the new moon. Zechariah begins his message two months later after the rebuilding had begun.

Haggai delivers his message to the two who are in a position to lead the people in the grand work of building the house of the Lord: Zerubbabel, the legal heir to the throne of David, and Joshua, the high priest. It is likely that Zerubbabel is called the “governor of Judah” instead of a king since that royal title would rest with the Persian monarch who dominated the entire area.

If Josephus and the apocryphal book of Esdras are correct, Zerubbabel was a friend of Darius Hystaspis, having successfully competed before him in a contest whose object was to determine what was the strongest thing in the world: wine, kings, women, or truth. Zerubbabel, having demonstrated that truth was the mightiest of all, was called the king’s “cousin,” and was granted permission to go up to Jerusalem to build the temple (1 Esdras 3,4).

The Hebrew phrase rendered “by” in the King James literally means “in the hand of,” thus acknowledging God as the real author of the prophecy, with Haggai merely acting as the messenger of Jehovah.

“The Time Is Not Come”—Haggai 1:2

Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, This people say, The time is not come, the time that the LORD’s house should be built.

Their discouragement may have been the result of a ban on building the temple that had been issued by Artaxerxes (Ezra 4:23,24). Since this edict had not been rescinded, the returned exiles claimed that any effort to rebuild the temple would result in a forced stoppage.

The singers of Asaph (Ezra 2:41), are generally credited with penning the words of Psalm 74 in lamentation over this ban. The similarities between the post-exilic conditions and the words of this psalm are remarkable. Incidentally, the same words were prophetic of the destruction of Herod’s Temple in A.D. 70; and again of the true church’s captivity to the great antitypical Babylon of Revelation.

“Perpetual desolations” (verse 3)—Compare to the desolations predicted in 2 Chronicles 36:19-21.

“The enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary” (v. 3)—Corresponding to the ban on temple building secured by the people of the land.

“They set up their ensigns for signs” (v. 4) —Encamping around Jerusalem, seeking to intimidate the people from their construction efforts.

“Cast fire into thy sanctuary” (v. 7)—As Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Solomon’s temple.

“The oppressed return” (v. 21)—Coming back after decades of captivity in Babylon.

The people claimed to be awaiting a sign to resume construction: “We see not our signs: there is no more any prophet: neither is there among us any that knoweth how long” (Psalm 74:9). They were awaiting some dramatic indication that the Lord wanted them to resume their work. In the initial return from their exile there was no generally accepted prophet to prod them into the sustained zeal required for the task. But now there was not only one prophet, but two—Haggai and Zechariah—to announce that it was time to resume the rebuilding efforts. Neither of these would hesitate to make such a proclamation.

Setting Priorities—Haggai 1:3,4

Then came the word of the LORD by Haggai the prophet, saying, Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your cieled houses, and this house lie waste?

They left the Lord’s house in its unfinished state and set about establishing themselves in the promised land. They not only built houses for their families, but fancy ones at that. The word “cieled” means “paneled” and is so translated in the New King James. This paneling was often made of cedar, preferred for both its beauty and its aromatic qualities (see Jeremiah 22:14). Evidently the first to return had done well financially in Babylon and used their wealth to pay for a luxuriant life style.

The problem was not so much in the selection of building materials for their own homes, but for doing it while the house of the Lord remained unfinished. It was a matter of priorities.

The same question has always confronted the followers of Jehovah. What is their primary interest: personal adornment or the work of God and the state of his temple?

“Consider Your Ways”—Haggai 1:5,6

Now therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways. Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes.

Rotherham captures well the meaning of the admonition “Consider your ways.” He renders it, “Apply your heart to your own experience.” It is as though the prophet were asking, “What has your choice of conduct brought you?”

Their labors in the field brought only meager rewards. They had neither enough to eat nor to drink. The clothes they wore were inadequate for the cool night air. The wealth they had brought from Babylon was being frittered away, like money placed in a leaky bag.

“Apply your heart,” the prophet urges, “to this experience; what lessons does it teach?” Sin lies not so much in making wrong decisions, but in not taking heed to the lessons and their consequences. Cain was not punished for making the wrong sacrifice, but for not observing why God accepted the offering of his brother and not curbing the jealous rage that resulted in the world’s first recorded homicide.

Again “Consider Your Ways”—Haggai 1:7-11

Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways. Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith the LORD. Ye looked for much, and, lo, it came to little; and when ye brought it home, I did blow upon it. Why? saith the LORD of hosts. Because of mine house that is waste, and ye run every man unto his own house. Therefore the heaven over you is stayed from dew, and the earth is stayed from her fruit. And I called for a drought upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the corn, and upon the new wine, and upon the oil, and upon that which the ground bringeth forth, and upon men, and upon cattle, and upon all the labour of the hands.

In reiterating his message, Haggai points out that it is not sufficient that they comprehend the lesson; they needed to act on it as well. Put in New Testament terms, they must both “repent … and be converted” (Acts 3:19). He urges them to action, to start rebuilding on the sure foundation they had previously laid. For this temple there would be no cedars imported from Lebanon, no skilled artisans to be hired from the king of Tyre. They were to provide their own raw materials. This was to be a truly domestic temple.

The same is true for God’s spiritual temple. The Reformation laid only the foundations of the sole authority of the Bible and the priesthood of all believers. Justification, which could not be attained by works, was freely available by grace through faith. But these were only foundations. Centuries later the harvest work would build a structure of truth upon these fundamental verities.

The materials for this rebuilding would not be imported from Satan’s “kingdom of Tyre,” but would result from hard work in searching anew for those truths which would build upon the basics laid in the Reformation.

The failure to build this house following the formation of Protestantism was due, like Israel’s stoppage of temple building, to seeking personal prosperity rather than doing the work God wanted them to do. They looked for good increase in their crops, but Jehovah brought their efforts to naught by a great drought produced when the Lord “blew it away” with strong, dry desert winds. The Targum reads, “I sent a curse upon it,” suggesting a rot or insect infestation. What they did reap they “brought it home” to increase their own wealth.

The prophet brings another contrast to their attention. While they were slow in rebuilding a house for God, they did “run every man to his own house.” The Revised Standard Version reads, “You busy yourselves each with his own house.” Some manuscripts use the Hebrew verb ratsah (Strong’s #7521), meaning “to take pleasure,” indicating that they were more pleased with their status than they were with God.

Where verse 9 gives the visible symptoms of their trouble (the wasting of their crops), verses 10 and 11 give the invisible cause (God calling for a drought). The prophet oratorically emphasizes his point with the use of a Hebrew homophone. The Hebrew word for “drought” (choreb, Strong’s #2721) and for “waste” (chareb, Strong’s #2720) have nearly the identical sound. Thus their inaction in leaving God’s house waste (chareb) is brought into sharp contrast with his bringing on a drought (choreb).

Spurred to Action—Haggai 1:12-15

Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Josedech, 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 did fear before the LORD. Then spake Haggai the LORD’s messenger in the LORD’s message unto the people, saying, I am with you, saith 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 Josedech, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people; and they came and did work in the house of the LORD of hosts, their God, In the four and twentieth day of the sixth month, in the second year of Darius the king.

Haggai’s message obtained its intended results. Within a space of just over three weeks (presumably enough time to finish bringing in the harvest) the people along with their leaders, Zerubbabel and Joshua, were so stimulated by his message that they willingly volunteered their time to the great work ahead of them, an effort that would take four years to accomplish (Ezra 6:15; cf. Ezra 4:24).

Now the tone of the prophet turns from rebuke to encouragement: “I am with you, saith the LORD.” In just over a month Zechariah would help shore up the people’s enthusiasm.

In just twenty-seven days the framework of the new temple began to appear (Haggai 2:1). As the people, particularly those old enough to have remembered Solomon’s temple, saw how paltry it was compared to the temple destroyed by the forces of Nebuchadnezzar, they wept (Haggai 2:3). Using the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles as a platform, the prophet assures them that in due time this house would be even greater than the one which had been destroyed (Haggai 2:9).

This was true literally when Herod built a magnificent temple, expanding on the one upon which the people in Haggai’s day were so diligently laboring. But it would be more importantly true since it was this temple in its magnificent expansion that would be graced by the presence of Jesus of Nazareth, the son of God. It will be true in the fullest sense when, in Christ’s kingdom, there will no longer be need of a literal temple “for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it” (Revelation 21:22).

A final message was needed two months later in mid- to late-December. This message had two purposes: first, to forewarn the people against conduct that would alienate them from God; and second, to further secure them against despondency by the prospect of rich and speedy blessings as a result of their repentance and obedience.

It is for us, in these latter days, to be on guard that we labor diligently to complete the Lord’s spiritual temple, “which temple ye are” (1 Corinthians 3:17). In the words of David to those who would build the first temple, “Be strong, and do it” (1 Chronicles 28:10). Let us answer affirmatively to those he sought to volunteer for that work: “Who then is willing to consecrate his service this day unto the LORD?” (1 Chronicles 29:5).