Blessing From Building the Temple

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PASSAGE: Haggai 2:10-23

COMMENT: Though the Israelites had become unclean, yet by their obedience to the Lord in building the temple they will bring blessings upon themselves both in the near future and in the time to come.

WHAT DOES IT SAY?

1.                   The Lord told Haggai to ask the priests concerning the _________.

2.                   Haggai concluded that the offerings of the people of the nation were ___________.

3.                   The Lord complained to Israel, that though He had smitten the labors of their hands with blasting, mildew and hail, “yet ye _________ not to me.”

4.                   God promised, ”I will _______ the heavens and the earth.”

5.                   God also promised to overthrow the throne of _____________.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

1.                   Haggai asked the priests if one that was unclean touched a piece of bread or other item, would it be then unclean (v.13).  The answer is yes, it would then be unclean.  Why do you think this is so?  What does this tell us about the spread of uncleanness?

2.                   Verse 16 states, “Since those days were, when one came to an heap of twenty measures, there were but ten: when one came to the pressfat for to draw out fifty vessels out of the press, there were but twenty.”  How is this a picture of divine judgment?

3.                   Zerubbabel was the governor in charge of bringing the first returning Jews back from Babylon to Israel.  He was also behind the rebuilding of the temple.  In verse 23, the Lord promises to take Zerubbabel and make him as a signet.  A signet was a ring that contained the owner’s name engraved on it. It was used to make an impression in something like clay to give authority to a document much as a signature does for us today.  What do you think God meant when He said that he would make Zerubbabel as a signet?

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO ME?

1.                   Uncleanness was transferred by simple contact (v.13), but holiness could not be transferred in this way (v.12).  What does this show us about our Christian lives?  In what ways can we catch uncleanness?  What is required in order to become holy to God?

2.                   A key word of the book of Haggai is the word consider.  It is found two times in chapter one (1:5, 7) and three times in chapter two (2:15, 18).  In chapter one, Haggai tells Israel to consider their ways, to notice that nothing has been going right for them, and to realize that it is because they have not completed God’s house.  In chapter two, the Israelites have returned to the building of the temple.  They got back to work on the 24^th day of the 6^th month (1:14-15).  Haggai speaks to them three months later on the 24^th day of the 9^th month (2:18) and tells them to consider now from this day and upward.  The crops have not yet come. But because of their obedience things will be much better than they have been.  Does God bless us for obedience today and make things lean and hard when we are disobedient?  Tell of some examples in your life that demonstrate both ways.

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