The temple was indeed completed by Zerubbabel. But that was almost sixty years ago and the people have again come to a place of spiritual deadness. They need a revival and God has prepared a special man. Ezra had dedicated his life to learning, doing, and teaching the law of the Lord (Ezra 7:10). God gives him favor with the king of Persia and he organizes a successful return to the land of promise.
The work on the temple has stopped because of opposition. However, even when the opposition has died down, the people do not get back to God’s house. They are concerned about building their own houses, working their own fields, taking care of their own stomachs. But things are not going well. It seems that no one can get ahead. Now comes two prophets of God: Haggai and Zechariah. They point out the real problem: they left the work of the Lord to feed themselves. Therefore, God has not blessed them. The answer is to return to the original work to which they were called: the rebuilding of the temple. The people hear the words of the prophets and they respond. The work on the temple resumes.
God wants us to be faithful as was Daniel. We need to learn to be faithful in the spiritual practices of love and obedience to the Lord and especially in our time of prayer with the Lord.
Clothed with humility (1Peter 3:3-4); as pride is the primary and base sin (1Timothy 3:6), so humility can be seen as the primary and base virtue (Proverbs 15:33).
This psalm points to the final deliverance of Israel in the time of the future kingdom age. However, much help is given to the believers of any age.
