Justin Houtz

Haggai 2

DateVersionReading Plan
@December 12, 2023ESV (2016)ESV Prophets Plan 2023

Pericopes

  • The Coming Glory of the Temple
  • Blessings for a Defiled People
  • Zerubbabel Chosen as a Signet

Notes/Application

Haggai’s second prophecy came on the last day of the Feast of Shelters: October 17, 520 BC. He addressed Zerubbabel, Joshua and the remnant of Israel, inquiring who among them recalled the former glory of the Solomonic temple. God tells them to be strong and firmly committed to the rebuilding of the temple and that His Spirit remains in their midst. There will be a future period in which all nations will come to Jerusalem to worship. Haggai then prophecies a third time and that the work of their hands had become unclean, leading to diminished crop yields. It was God who struck them and the products of their toil with blight, mildew and hail, but from that day forward He would bless them. Haggai’s fourth prophecy is of God’s declaration to overthrow the kingdoms and establish Zerubabbel as a “signet ring” (Hag. 2:23), a symbol of the Davidic line, and that God had chosen him.

God’s commission on the people to “be strong” and “fear not” and of His promise that He was with them, had chosen them and that would bless them is pervasive throughout this chapter. It is those whom God chooses that will ultimately be blessed because they receive the highest of all blessings: restored relationship with Him. As followers of Christ, we step into this truth by being strong in our faith, bold in our proclamation of the gospel and fearless in the face of opposition. There is no place for fear in the life of a believer because we are called to a love that casts out fear. As His chosen, it is this love that we abide—a divine, transcendent love—gripped with the reality that He first loved us.

Scripture Journal Notes

Commentaries & Resources Used