Thus speaketh Jehovah of hosts, saying, This people say, The time is not come, the time that Jehovah's house should be built.
God's first word through Haggai does not name the enemies who had stopped the work. It names a sentence the people kept repeating about timing. The building of His house had stood still for years. God sends the prophet to show them where the real blockage lay.
The history of that time records how enemies halted the work. Haggai looks past them to the words of the builders themselves.
If we judge by the history alone, we might conclude that what the enemies said stopped the building of the house. From the word of the LORD, through the prophet, we learn the true reason: it lies in what the people said... For twelve years they had stopped doing the one thing for which God had delivered them from Babylon. They try to excuse their failure by saying that "the time has not yet come" to build the LORD's house.
The wording of the message carries its own rebuke. God does not call them by the warm name He might have used.
His message starts with the excuse the people offered for their apathy in the things of God... The Lord does not address them as "My people." He speaks of them in a way that shows His disapproval. Their excuse, that His time had not yet come, was empty. In reality they were cold towards the cause of the Lord, and sought their own things instead of it.
They read "the time" off the state of things around them: enemies nearby, and no peace. One writer asks what such a delay is waiting for.
The Lord had worked in the heart of Cyrus, and had stirred up the spirit of His people, to carry out His purpose of rebuilding His house. Now they had forgotten the purpose of their return, and they claimed to see that this was not a suitable time for their work. And what led them to this conclusion? There were enemies, and the times were not peaceful. As if enemies to the Lord's work would ever cease! As if the time would ever come when the natural eye would see the right moment for work for the Lord! Ah, we all have to learn the lesson that the Word — the mind of the Lord — is our authority for service.
Was the official ban on building the real cause? One writer compares the dates and finds that the people had already stopped long before any ban existed.
There were enemies in the land who made them afraid, and so stopped their building... The ban only came two reigns later. The Jews had already given up building through fear of their enemies... And they did not start building again because a king's decree reached them. They started again because they feared the LORD and did not fear the king's command, as people who see Him who is invisible. God was no more to be feared in the reign of Darius than in the reign of Cyrus or Artaxerxes. Their weakness came from having forgotten God.
The excuse did not mean idleness. These people were busy — just not with the work they came back to do.
Divine energy will never lose its purpose for God. Human energy will say, "The time has not yet come to build the Lord's house," and will keep itself busy with its vineyards, its fields and its houses. It wastes the time. It does not press on with tireless energy in the settled purpose of the soul, through all the difficulties and dangers that may threaten or oppose.
The plea that God's moment has not arrived is not confined to one generation of builders.
This is a common excuse — a lack of care for the glory of the Lord, on the plea that His time has not come. We find exactly the same pretence today, and it misuses the coming of the Lord Jesus. It says that the time has not come for glory to set things right by divine power, so we may give in easily to the moral confusion, the disorder, and the departure from the will of God found at this present moment.
- The saying. God quotes their own words back to them, not their enemies' threats. Their saying is why the house lay unbuilt.
- The naming. He calls them "this people," not "My people." The cool distance matches their coldness toward His cause.
- The reason. Fear of enemies and forgetting God lay behind the talk of timing. They had stopped building long before any decree forbade it.
- The cost. Human energy still works hard on vineyards, fields and houses. It spends the very time it says has not yet come.
- The remedy. The mind of the Lord, not good circumstances, is our authority for service. Once He has spoken, the number of enemies settles nothing.
And the word of Jehovah came by Haggai the prophet, saying,
The people had just excused themselves: the time to rebuild had not come. Verse 3 is the turn — God answers that excuse by sending a word through a prophet. So who decides when God's work is due: the circumstances, or the word of the LORD?
This verse stands between what the people said and God's answer. One writer sets the two side by side, and God's reply comes as a question:
So when they said, "The time has not come for the LORD's house to be built," the word of the LORD comes through the prophet and says, "Is it a time for you yourselves to live in your panelled houses, while this house lies in ruins?" In this there was a serious forgetfulness of the glory of the LORD. It was all the more painful because they had begun better.
Read the history alone and you would blame the opposition. The word that arrives here points somewhere else:
Judging only by the history, we might conclude that the enemies' words stopped the building of the house. The word of the LORD through the prophet teaches us something else: the true reason lies in what the people said. So the message opens with the words, "This people say, The time has not come for the LORD's house to be built." For twelve years they had stopped doing the one thing God had brought them out of Babylon to do.
Scripture records the opposite case: a man judged it was time to build, and a prophet forbade him. The contrast shows that timing is not ours to decide:
David planned to build a house for the ark of God, a house of cedars, costly and lasting. But the word of a prophet forbade him; the time had not come... In the day of Haggai we find the opposite. A prophet rebukes Israel for not building the house of the Lord. David was wrong in saying the time had come for such a work; the returned captives are now wrong in saying the time has not come. And the Spirit of the Lord knew the times, and what Israel ought to do, whether to build or not to build.
The people judged by what they could see. Another writer shows what should have guided them instead:
And what led them to this conclusion? There were enemies, and the times were not peaceful. As if enemies to the Lord's work would ever stop! As if the time would ever come when the natural eye would see the right moment to work for the Lord! Ah, we all have to learn the lesson. The Word — the mind of the Lord — is our warrant for service. When He speaks, we have only to go forward, whatever the circumstances and however many the enemies.
One writer names the real weakness behind the delay, and the grace in this word:
God was no more to be feared in the reign of Darius than in the reign of Cyrus or Artaxerxes. The source of their weakness was that they had forgotten God. This shows the great grace of God in awakening them by the mouth of Haggai.
When the work began again, the cause was not a change in politics:
The building of the house, as I noted, had stopped for about fourteen years. It is a happy thing to find that the work started again — not by force of a decree from the great Persian king who ruled the Jews at that time, but by the voice of God's prophets, Haggai and Zechariah. The Lord did move the heart of the king; but not until His prophet had moved the heart of Israel... The Lord turned the heart of the king, their master, to favour them, when they had taken again the place of faith and obedience.
One writer finds the same excuse among Christians in his own day:
The people took a fatalistic attitude, saying, "the time has not come… for the Lord's house to be built"; and started to build up their own affairs. Some sixty years ago we heard Christians saying, despite the Lord's words in Acts 1:8, that the time had not come to take the gospel to distant nations. They settled down to build up their own spiritual affairs, as they saw them. It was not wrong for these Jews to build themselves houses. It was wrong to settle down to that and leave the house of God in ruins.
- The word comes. God answers an excuse about timing. He does not change their circumstances; He sends a word through His prophet.
- The word exposes. History blames the enemies. The word points to what the people themselves said.
- The word decides. A prophet stopped David from building. A prophet now sends this generation to build. The mind of the Lord, not the outlook, is our warrant for service.
- The word is grace. After years of neglect, God awakens His people rather than dropping them.
- The word moves hearts. The work resumed through the prophets' voice, and only then did the king's favour follow.
Is it time for you that ye should dwell in your wainscoted houses, while this house lieth waste?
The people had laid the temple's foundations, then let the work stop while they finished comfortable homes of their own. God's question through Haggai is not about timing. It asks what their building and decorating show about what they love.
The word describes more than bare shelter.
Covering the roof of a room with wood, shaped into patterns. Some panels were fir, as in 2 Chronicles 3:5; others were cedar, and painted.
The timeline makes the contrast sharper. Something had to fill the years when the work stood still.
After the first burst of enthusiasm, when the people were as one man, they lose confidence in God's power and the work stops. Fifteen years go by. Only the foundations of the temple have been laid. All building has come to a halt. During these long years the people have to be doing something. And when the Lord no longer has His place in the heart, what fills a person's time if not his own interests?
The people had said the time had not come to build. The prophet turns their own words back on them.
They had begun well, as we read in Ezra 3, when they set the altar on its bases. But now they had given up that effort. Their interest in the one thing had faded, and selfish aims took their place. They were living in luxurious houses, while His house lay neglected and in ruins. So their empty excuse was shown to be insincere.
The history seems to say that enemies stopped the work. One writer compares the dates in the prophets and blames the returned exiles — the remnant — themselves.
I have examined the prophecies that throw so much light on the history of that time, and I have compared their dates. From this it seems clear to me that the true hindrance was a lack of faith in the remnant… They did not start building again because the king's decree reached them. They started again because they feared the Lord and did not fear the king's command, as seeing Him who is invisible. God was no more to be feared in the reign of Darius than in the reign of Cyrus or Artaxerxes. Their weakness came from having forgotten God.
There is a reason the private project advanced while the public one stalled.
How could they claim this was a good moment to put their own interests first and neglect the Lord's claims? The secret was simple: building and decorating their own houses raised no opposition. Doing good to themselves would sooner win the approval of their enemies. Only testimony for the Lord — in word, work, and life — stirs up the hostility of the world. So they had chosen the path of selfish ease and self-interest, minding their own things, and not the things of the Lord.
The verses that follow show the outcome of the arrangement they had chosen.
They were diligent for themselves. And what was the result? "You eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill; you clothe yourselves, but no one is warm." Bitter disappointment, as always, must be the portion of God's people who live for themselves instead of trusting Him who takes special care of the faithful. Our business is to care for His things. His gracious work is to care for us in our own things, and indeed in all things.
Another writer asks who made the holes in the bag.
In Haggai's day the people were living in paneled houses, while the house of God lay in ruins. Self was uppermost, but God was watching over His people. His hand was on them, so we read, "He who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes." How did the holes get there? I believe the Lord cut them.
The same question reaches us. One writer names what our excuses hide.
Whatever excuses we make about the time not being right, the real reason we neglect the principles of God's house is that we are taken up with our own things. Even in the Apostle's day we read of believers that "they all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ" (Philippians 2:21). One has said, "It is an inevitable alternative that we must be occupied either with the Lord's things, or with our own."
- Excuse. They said the time had not come. God's question points to what they had found time to build. That showed the excuse was insincere.
- Cause. The work stopped because faith was weak, not because enemies were strong. Their weakness came from having forgotten God.
- Comfort. Their own houses went up with no opposition. Only testimony for the Lord stirs up the world's hostility, so self-interest is the cheaper road.
- Cost. They ate and drank and were never satisfied. Those who live for themselves instead of trusting Him meet bitter disappointment. One writer says the Lord Himself cut the holes in their bag.
- Choice. The choice is unavoidable: either the Lord's things fill our time, or our own do. There is no third house.
And now thus saith Jehovah of hosts Consider your ways.
These words come to people who had returned from exile to rebuild God's house. They left it in ruins and finished their own homes instead. So before God tells them to do anything, He tells them to think.
The Hebrew behind "consider your ways" is not a mild suggestion to reflect. It asks for the heart, not just the mind. And it points them to what their own experience already showed.
Then comes the exhortation to consider their ways (literally: set your heart upon your ways). Had it been profitable for them? No. Ever since they stopped building His house, bitter disappointment had been their lot. All their self-seeking brought them no gain, but steady loss.
Verse 5 turns God's charge against them into a demand for self-examination. The subject is the clash between our own interests and His.
After this solemn appeal to the conscience comes the exhortation, "Consider your ways." God asks the remnant, as He asks us, to consider one thing. What comes of being taken up with our own things and our own soul's blessing, while we neglect the deeper interests of the LORD and the things that concern His glory?
God does not leave them guessing what to examine. The next verse lists what their hard work produced. Each loss there has a spiritual meaning too.
The result then, as now, shows in the words, "You have sown much, and harvested little" — great activity but little return. Moreover, this neglect of the house of God leads to spiritual starvation, for, says the prophet, "You eat, but you never have enough." Again, it brings no spiritual satisfaction: "you drink, but you never have your fill." It leaves the spiritual affections cold: "You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm." And it carries no reward: "he who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes."
They had explanations ready for the shortfall.
No doubt they blamed the recession, the political instability of the time, the abnormal weather conditions. It never occurred to them that God was trying to get through to them.
The strange thing is that these people were not lazy. They worked hard — for themselves — and still came up empty. One writer connects that outcome to a principle Jesus taught.
As our own blessed Lord taught, "Whoever would save his life will lose it," so it was with the remnant. They set their hearts on rest, ease, and prosperity in this world. They wanted to find their "life" in their comforts, and so they lost it, for they had left God out of the account. They made themselves, and not God, their object. They put their own things first and grew indifferent to His honour, claims, and interests. So they forfeited the very blessings they worked for.
The same writer explains what God was aiming at.
In this way God dealt with them, to exercise their souls, to wean them from their selfish aims, and to recall them to the purpose for which He had brought them back to their own land. He wanted them to lose sight of themselves and find their blessing in fellowship with the mind and heart of God.
The danger here is self-deception. We assume all is well while God's hand is already correcting us. So this weighing must be constant, and done in one place.
Considering our ways in the presence of God should in fact be our constant, everyday work. There all delusions disappear. There, in the pure light of His holy presence, the secrets of the inmost heart come to light. And there alone we discern our true condition and our failures, and receive grace to judge ourselves by the infallible standard of God's glory. So, confessing our sins, we enter once again upon the enjoyment of forgiveness and restoration.
The same command comes back later in the book, pointed at something new.
The frequent occurrence of the word "Consider" in this short prophecy is worth noting. Twice in the first section the prophet had to say to the people, "Consider your ways." In this later section the word comes three times. Now the prophet says in effect, "Consider God's ways." He is glad to recognise any measure of energy and faithfulness in His service, even when uncleanness and failure are mixed with it. And He delights to answer it with blessing.
- Consider — the word means "set your heart upon your ways." God asks for the heart's attention, not a passing glance.
- Consider the cost — work aimed at ourselves came back empty. Sowing without harvest, eating without fullness, wages in a bag with holes.
- Consider the cause — they had left God out of the account. They put their own things first, and lost the very blessings they worked for.
- Consider often — do this weighing in God's presence. There delusions vanish, and confession opens the way back to forgiveness and restoration.
- Consider God's ways — later the same word turns outward. He is glad to recognise even faltering faithfulness and answer it with blessing.
Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but are not satisfied; ye drink, but are not filled with drink; ye clothe yourselves, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages for a bag with holes.
The people had come back from exile. They worked hard, yet nothing they earned stayed with them, and Haggai lists their losses one by one before naming the cause.
The verse is not one complaint said four times. Each phrase marks a different emptiness, and each one has a match in the soul.
The result then, as now, comes out in the words, "You have sown much, and harvested little" — great activity but little return. This neglect of the house of God also leads to spiritual starvation, for the prophet says, "You eat, but you never have enough." It brings no spiritual satisfaction: "You drink, but you never have your fill." It leaves the spiritual affections cold: "You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm." And it carries no reward: "He who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes."
Nobody in Haggai's day was lazy. They aimed all their energy at their own comfort while God's house lay in ruins.
There was diligence for themselves; but what was the result? Bitter disappointment, as always, must come to the people of God who live for themselves instead of trusting the One who especially looks after the faithful. Our business is to care for His things; His gracious work is to care for us in our own things and indeed in all things.
A leaking bag looks like ordinary wear and tear. But where did the damage come from?
I believe it is often proved with us, as you find it stated of Israel in Haggai's day. They were living in panelled houses, and the house of God was lying waste. Self was uppermost, but God was watching over His people. His hand was on them, and so we read, "He who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes." How did the holes get there? I believe the Lord cut them.
They lost the very thing they were working for. The Lord's own teaching names that pattern.
As our own blessed Lord taught, "Whoever would save his life will lose it," so it was with the remnant. They set their hearts on rest, ease, and prosperity in this world. They wanted to find their "life" in their comforts, and they lost it, for they had left God out of the account. They made themselves, and not God, their object. They put their own things first and grew indifferent to His honour, claims, and interests. So they forfeited the very blessings they were working for... Let us never forget that there is such a thing as a present judgment of God. He notices the conduct of His people. As a Father, in His government and care, He deals with them according to their state of heart. He dealt with them this way to exercise their souls, to wean them from their selfish aims, and to call them back to the purpose for which He had brought them home.
A shrinking income always has an explanation ready to hand.
They earned good money, but it trickled away as in a bag full of holes. No doubt they blamed the recession, the political instability of the time, the abnormal weather conditions. It never occurred to them that God was trying to get through to them.
The verse sits under the command to consider their ways. That call is the way out, not just the accusation.
Again, the Lord calls His people to consider their ways. This is blessed work for His saints at all times. We always tend to deceive ourselves into believing that all is well, above all in times of decline. It can be so even when we may be under the chastening hand of God for our unfaithfulness... Considering our ways in the presence of God should in fact be our constant and habitual work. There all delusions disappear; there, in the pure light of His holy presence, the secrets of the inmost heart are revealed.
- Sown — They sowed much and brought in little. The problem was not a lack of effort. It was the direction of that effort.
- Starved — Food, drink, clothes and wages each fail in turn. Neglecting God's house starves the soul in the same four ways.
- Cut — The holes in the bag were not accidental. God's hand was on His people while self stayed uppermost.
- Forfeited — They put their own things first and lost the very blessings they were working for. Whoever would save his life will lose it.
- Considered — The remedy is the call itself. Consider your ways in God's presence, where self-deception cannot survive.