‘Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? How do you see it now? Is it not as nothing in your eyes?
God aims this question at the few men old enough to have seen Solomon's temple standing. It makes them measure the building rising under their hands against the one they remembered. Why would God press His discouraged workers to admit that their work looks like nothing — and what does He intend to do with that admission?
Why the comparison hurt
The sorrow behind this verse was reasonable. One writer sets the two buildings side by side and lists what the second one lacked — including the Shechinah, the visible glory of the Lord's presence:
The Christian's FriendThis sorrow of the old men was completely natural. To the outward eye, the contrast in their minds was humbling in the extreme. Solomon built the first temple in the glory days of his reign. He was the king who pictured the Prince of peace, and he used all the resources of his mighty empire and of the peoples paying him tribute to build a house for Jehovah to live in among His people... But a few feeble captives were raising this house. They depended on a Gentile king for the very materials they used. Hostile tribes surrounded them. Beyond all this, they had none of the visible signs of the Lord's presence — no Shechinah, and no fire coming down from heaven to consume the sacrifices they laid on the altar.
Worse still, the same writer adds, the memory of past glory carried a sting. It reminded them that their own sins had cost them the first temple and left them in this low state.
A question that leaves no room for self-flattery
God does not soften the comparison. He asks for it. One writer sees in the question a refusal to let His workers think well of themselves.
William KellyThere is no allowance of self-complacent thoughts. God would make us real in our souls and ways. It is a good thing not to have too high imaginations, but the truth, a just weight and measure. At the same time let us leave room for the grace and power of God... There is no greater danger than forgetting the spirit that suits those to whom God has shown His mercy... The more we learn of God, the more we should cultivate lowliness of mind... We feel how far the church has fallen, and from what height, but we ought not to be discouraged. There is nothing of Christ in despair or distrust.
Feelings the Lord reads
God asks because He had already heard the thoughts His message answers.
The Christian's FriendHere is the point we want to press. The Lord read these thoughts of His people, and sent them a message of comfort and consolation. It is well for us to understand this. Even the feelings of the saints — feelings that arise in connection with the Lord's ways or His service — He regards with tender concern.
One house, however ruined
The phrase "this house" carries weight. One writer notes that Scripture never splits the temple into two separate buildings. Through ruin and rebuilding, it stays one house.
The Bible TreasuryScripture, on the contrary, is careful, as we may see in Haggai, to maintain in faith the unity of God's house. "Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? How do you see it now?" (Hag. 2:3). It is "Jehovah's house" while it is "waste" (Hag. 1:9), no less than when it is magnificent.
Neither boasting nor weeping, but strength
The comparison could have ended in tears. Haggai points his people somewhere else.
Truth & TestimonyHaggai does not suggest that this fact should lead to weeping. Instead, surprisingly, he goes on at once to say "be strong… and work" (v. 4)... The prophet brings before them a two-fold encouragement... First, he points to present resources: the Lord with them, His Word and His Spirit (vv. 4-5). Second, he draws their attention to future glory... Their present building may be far poorer than Solomon's, but it is linked with one that will be greater than Solomon's.
The danger of living backwards
This verse names a real risk for anyone serving God today. We can measure the present by a golden past until our work seems pointless.
George DavisonSighing and grieving over what the past was like will not achieve anything real today. Those past days were days of responsibility for the saints who lived through them, and they are now in heaven. Today is our day. We have our own responsibility to do the work of the Lord... God's rest is still before us; today is the time to work.
Summary
- Nothing — God makes His builders admit their work looks like nothing next to the old glory. He clears away self-satisfaction before He gives strength.
- Noticed — the Lord read the very feelings that discouraged them, and sent this prophecy as His answer.
- One house — Scripture never treats the poor building as a different house. It is Jehovah's house in ruins as much as in splendour.
- Resources — the cure is not comparison but what God gives now: the Lord with them, His Word and His Spirit.
- Forward — the small work ties into a glory still to come. So the answer to a humbling comparison is "be strong… and work," not tears.