Then Haggai answered and said, “So is it with this people, and with this nation before me, declares the LORD, and so with every work of their hands. And what they offer there is unclean.
The priests give their ruling on holy flesh and on defilement by a dead body. The Lord then turns their answer straight back on them. The verdict falls on the returned remnant themselves. It covers everything they produced, even what they laid on His altar.
The Priests' Own Answers Become the Verdict
Each question had one obvious answer. Together they settle which way holiness and defilement travel.
William KellyThe priests were right when they said "No." A holy person passes on no holiness to anything else… A defiled person passes on defilement… Israel was like a man in an unclean condition: the nation defiled whatever they took up. All works and offerings are unclean. A person must be clean himself before he can act or offer in the right way.
What the Dead Body Was
The uncleanness in view is not that of an outsider. These people were already set apart for God, and their own priorities were what defiled them.
Edward DennettIsrael was a holy people, separated to God. (The restored remnant stood in the place of the nation before God.) But that gave them a responsibility. They had to live in keeping with the place God's sovereign grace had put them in… At this moment God's mind was on the building of His house; their minds were on their own houses. So they were out of communion with the One who had called them. They were living for themselves, and not for the Lord… In practice they had become defiled… unclean through contact with the dead body of their own selfish thoughts and desires. And what was the consequence? The work of their hands was defiled, and so were the sacrifices they laid on the Lord's altar.
Measured in God's Sight, Not Their Own
The words "before me" set the standard. They had already restarted the building work. That success carried its own danger.
F. B. HoleThey had been stirred up to put their hands to the work of building the house. So there would have been a tendency to self-satisfaction, as though all was as it should be. The prophet told them plainly it was not so. What was imperfect and unclean marked their best work. A humbling lesson for them — and for us also. If God in His mercy gives us some little reviving today, how easily the defilements of the flesh creep in.
Why Contact Defiles Instead of Cleansing
Uncleanness spreads by contact. That rules out one popular way of trying to do good.
Hamilton SmithMany people think we can cleanse the world by associating with it, or help the people of God by associating with the corrupt systems they may be found in. That idea is false, and worse than false. Acting on it is no help to others, and we ourselves become defiled — for what is unclean defiles by association.
The same principle works out in two directions. The first is a move away from evil, and towards others who want the Lord's will:
William KellyOn the one side, we are bound to separate from what dishonours the Lord. On the other side, we are bound to follow what is good, according to His will, with those who have His glory and will at heart. Isolation is wrong. But for the Christian, separating from what is evil in the Lord's sight is a binding duty. We separate so that we may unite, according to God's word, with those who call on Him with a pure heart.
The second is personal watchfulness before we gather with others: "Have we become defiled through carelessness, through contact with a 'dead body'? And do we mingle with the saints, as if all were well with our souls?" (Edward Dennett)
Cleansing First, Then Blessing
The verse gives the diagnosis. The cure has an order.
Arno Clemens GaebeleinAll their works and offerings were unclean, because they were in that condition. They had to be cleansed first. Separation from evil, from what defiles, was therefore demanded. So it is today. The order is "cease to do evil" and then "learn to do well."
The message does not end with the verdict. Once the people obeyed, God's word to them changed: "as soon as the remnant take up the work of the house, the LORD can say, 'From this day I will bless you.'" (Hamilton Smith)
The Priest Who Carries Our Defective Offerings
There is comfort here too, for anyone who fears that every offering they bring falls short.
F. B. HoleLet us not think that the finest offerings we ever made were perfect, whether in praise and worship or in service. They were not. The flesh is still in us, and in subtle ways it spoils the best things we offer. But we have a great High Priest. He bears the iniquity of our holy things, and He presents our flawed worship or service to God in His own perfections.
Summary
- Direction. Holiness does not rub off; uncleanness does. That one-way traffic is the whole logic of the verse.
- Cause. The "dead body" they touched was their own self-interest. They neglected His house and built their own.
- Reach. Defilement did not stop at the person: it spread to their work, and then to what they offered on the altar.
- Cure. Cleansing comes first, then service. Cease to do evil, then learn to do well — separate from evil so as to unite with those who call on the Lord with a pure heart.
- Result. The moment they obeyed and took up the work, the verdict gave way to a promise: from this day I will bless you. And a great High Priest still carries our imperfect offerings in His own perfection.