Haggai 2:1-5
Does It Look Like Nothing to You
1On the twenty-first day of the seventh month, the word of the LORD came through Haggai the prophet, saying:
2“Speak to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and also to the remnant of the people. Ask them,
3‘Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Does it not appear to you like nothing in comparison?’
4But now be strong, O Zerubbabel, declares the LORD. Be strong, O Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest. And be strong, all you people of the land, declares the LORD. Work! For I am with you, declares the LORD of Hosts.
5This is the promise I made to you when you came out of Egypt. And My Spirit remains among you; do not be afraid.”
Berean Standard Bible
The month has turned over since the last date in this book. They have been building.
God's first move is to ask for the old men. Anybody still alive who saw the former house in its glory, and he means saw it, not heard about it. Then he puts a question to them about the thing standing in front of them now.
Does it not appear to you like nothing in comparison?
He is the one who raises it. He does not tell them they are being ungrateful, and he does not remind them how far they have come, and he does not explain that the comparison is unfair to a foundation. He says the discouraging thing out loud, in the bluntest words available, before anybody in the crowd has to confess to thinking it. He knew what was in the room, so he said it first.
But now be strong, O Zerubbabel, declares the LORD. Be strong, O Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest. And be strong, all you people of the land, declares the LORD.
Be strong to the governor. Be strong to the priest. Be strong to all the people of the land. Each of them is addressed, so nobody gets to decide quietly that the instruction was meant for somebody more important.
The next word is work. Not cheer up, not wait until the disappointment lifts, not talk it over among yourselves and see how you feel by evening. Work. The remedy for standing still and measuring this house against the one in your memory turns out to be picking something up and carrying it.
He tells them again that he is with them, which is the sentence he gave them in chapter 1. He said it when they began. He says it a second time now, when they have looked at what they have made and found it thin.
This is the promise I made to you when you came out of Egypt. And My Spirit remains among you; do not be afraid.
Then he reaches back a very long way indeed. Past the ruin, past the exile, past the first house altogether, to a crowd walking out of Egypt with nothing built at all. The promise these men are standing on is older than the building they are disappointed about.
How We Know
Haggai's question assumes eyewitnesses, and another book records them.
Ezra 3:12 says that many of the older priests and Levites and family heads who had seen the former house wept aloud when the foundation of this one was laid, while others shouted for joy. Ezra 3:13 says the two noises could not be told apart.
Ezra 3:12 records that comparison being made at the earlier foundation-laying, and Ezra 4:24 has the work stopped after it until the second year of Darius. Haggai 2:3 speaks later, to whoever from that group is still there.
The promise in verse 5 reaches further back still. Exodus 29:45 has God saying he will dwell among the Israelites and be their God, spoken at the exodus, about a tent rather than a temple.
Questions
1 Who does God ask for first, and what is his question to them?
AnswerAnyone still alive who saw the first house standing. Not people who had been told about it, people who had seen it. His question is how this one looks to them by comparison, and whether it does not look like nothing next to what they remember.
2 Think of something you worked hard on that came out smaller than you hoped. What did that feel like?
AnswerThat feeling is the one God names before anybody else can. He does not talk these men out of it or tell them they should be pleased. He says it plainly and in harder words than they would have used, and only then tells them to be strong.
3 Who is told to be strong, and what are they told to do next?
AnswerThe governor, the high priest and all the people of the land, each of them addressed in turn so that nobody can quietly assume it was meant for somebody else. And then one word: work. Not feel better, not wait until the mood improves. Go back to carrying things.
4 How far back does the promise in verse 5 reach?
AnswerTo the exodus. Past the ruined house, past the exile, past the first temple altogether. What they are standing on is older than the building they are disappointed about.
What This Means for Us
God does not manage these men by talking around the obvious. He puts their disappointment into words harder than they would have dared use themselves, and only then says be strong. So the encouragement is not resting on anybody pretending. It rests on a promise that was already old when the first temple was new. If something in this house has turned out smaller than we hoped, say so plainly at the table rather than talking it up, and then pick up the next piece of work anyway.
Prayer
Father, we compare what we have to what we remember and it comes up short. Thank you that you say the hard thing first and do not ask us to pretend. Remind us that your promise is older than our disappointment, and give us something to do today. Amen.