The Prophet Haggai: Expository Commentary from Sermons by Dr Peter Masters

Bible Commentary on Haggai

by Dr Peter Masters, Metropolitan Tabernacle, London (adapted from sermons) with content from Bible Notes

It is 520 BC. The children of Judah had been spread throughout the empire of Babylon for seventy years. The seventy years of captivity had come to an end – that was in 539 BC – and within one or two years the first party of Jews returned to Jerusalem. Nothing like the entire people came back, of course; only about 50,000 of them, so quite a small remnant of the population of Judah, but nevertheless this was the prophesied remnant that would return to Jerusalem. They came under Zerubbabel. He was of the royal line of David, a prince, a descendant of David. That is most significant, especially when we look at the last few verses of the book. There was also an authentic high priest who really was descended from Aaron. So the high priest, and Zerubbabel who had been appointed by the Persian king to be the governor of Jerusalem and the land immediately around it, led the party that came back first of all. We read about them in the opening chapters of the book of Ezra, and their history, and this is confirmed here in the book of the prophet Haggai.

The Jews that returned came to a city that was rubble. They had to make their home there, and to build their own houses, and they were also charged with building the temple. But the project to rebuild the temple very quickly ran into trouble and they were greatly discouraged. It was partly because of the difficulties of such an extensive work and their own need to build their homes, and to establish their community in a city that had been reduced to rubble. But they also had trouble from the surrounding Samaritans, who tried to discourage the work, and so they had come to the conclusion that now was not the suitable time to build the temple.

After 16 years of having marked out a foundation and got no further, Haggai is sent and so is Zechariah, whose writing forms the next prophetic book in the Bible, and they are the two prophets in Jerusalem at this time. About Haggai we know next to nothing. He does not seem to have been active before being called to give the messages that we read about here, but he is an interesting man. He is nothing like Isaiah, for example. You read the book of the prophet Isaiah: marvellous literature, wonderful soaring statements, amazing prophecies. It is stirring and moving and unfailingly original chapter after chapter. Well, Haggai is about the opposite. He is an utterly plain man, and a plain speaker. He puts everything into as few words as you can imagine, but he means it, and he has a tremendous effect upon the people, because they respond and comply with alacrity. It is really quite encouraging. If you think it requires great eloquence to be a preacher or a Sunday School teacher, or a witness for Christ – well, one of the most successful prophets was Haggai, and yet he was such a plainspoken man, without anything to make his speech attractive. But straightaway the people listened to him.

The book consists of four separate prophecies, introduced with a key phrase usually translated, ‘came the word of the LORD’. All are given within the same year, and the last two are delivered on the same day. We can see how many days, how many months apart these prophecies are, and that has a bearing on the message. Haggai was very precise at numbers and so we can calculate virtually every date found in the book.

People are worried to look at the minor prophets, because they are negative. Yes they are, but there is much positive also. Haggai is a four-point sermon, so is easy to follow, and so well balanced. The foundation of the temple had been laid, but then there was a 15 to 16 year delay, during which time they did nothing. He therefore calls the remnant to get on with the work of building the house of God. His message consists of an exhortation to the people to reorder their priorities and put the Lord first. He urges them not to be discouraged at the reduced scale of the new temple they are constructing, when they compare it with the last. He shows them the limitations of the ceremonial law and the symbolic worship of the Old Testament, and he directs their gaze towards the coming Messiah and the gospel age which will be the fulfilment of all that the temple symbolised. Haggai encourages them, and they complete the building work in four years.

Haggai is a book promising God’s blessing to us as we serve him in this life. It links the blessing of God’s people to their commitment and sacrifice for the Lord. Therefore all other obstacles that seem to stand in the way are nothing, and can be easily removed by God. He can change circumstances in a moment. Yes, God’s dealings with the nations are sovereign and he determines the level of blessing in any day and age, but if his people are ready to serve him diligently, if they delight to advance his kingdom and see the strongholds of unbelief thrown down, if they eagerly await the return of Christ, they will see real blessing on their work for the Lord.