Haggai 1:11-15
Haggai 1:11
(KJV)
And I called for a drought upon the land, and upon the
mountains, and upon the corn, and upon the new wine, and upon the oil, and upon
that which the ground bringeth forth, and upon men, and upon cattle, and upon
all the labour of the hands.
In verse ten God gives a general result of what he has
done to the people who have willfully neglected the rebuilding of the temple.
In this verse he gives a more detailed description of the judgments he
pronounced on them. The words “and
I called” are in the Qal stem in Hebrew making it a strong verb which includes
the active voice. The active voice
means that an action is taking place and the action that God is taking in this
verse is one of specific judgments on Judah for not rebuilding the temple.
God called for a drought upon the land which means it will become arid
which means nothing will be able to grow, in fact, anything planted would die.
Then there was the drought upon the mountains where there would normally
be the olives, vines and fruitful and much pasture.
This would include the corn which can also represent all the planted
crops. Upon new wine means the
vines would not yield its grapes for the making of new wine.
Upon the oil means they would have no olive oil for cooking or for
medicinal purposes since the olive trees would fall under the same curse of the
drought. Upon the ground which
means all phases of what the ground yields such as food for people and even
grass for the flocks. Upon men
would mean they may suffer from diseases which means a weakened population and
open for attack. Upon cattle means
that the livestock would be suffering from animal diseases like Murrain and even
leanness which means they did not grow fat but lost weight to the point of
death. Upon the labor of the hands
which means that anything they undertook would lack the blessing of the Lord and
ultimately come to ruin. They
basically would be under the curse of God for their neglect of the house of God.
Haggai 1:12
(KJV)
Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son
of Josedech, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the
voice of the LORD their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the LORD
their God had sent him, and the people did fear before the LORD.
Then once God had finished his message to Zerubbabel and
Joshua, they must have conveyed the very words of the Lord to the people because
they now saw the error of their ways and would now obey the voice of the Lord
and his commands to rebuild the temple.
They feared before the Lord knowing that all things which was happening
to them was because of their own negligence.
They also obeyed the words of Haggai which were the words of God given to
him. This is also a message for us.
We need to obey the Bible because they are the words of God given to us
through the divinely inspired writers and preserved down through the ages.
Notice term used twice “Lord their God” which shows that God was their
God, the one who brought them out of Egypt and guided them in the past 900 years
and watched over them and protected them even in time of chastisement because
the Messiah was still 520 years from coming to earth.
He was letting them know that the words he gave to Haggai, were personal
for the nation of Israel at this time.
Haggai 1:13
(KJV)
Then spake Haggai the LORD'S messenger in the LORD'S
message unto the people, saying, I am with you, saith the LORD.
Here is a great lesson for Christians of all ages to
learn. Once the children of Israel
began to work on the house of God, then the Lord sent another message through
Haggai that he was with them. As
they were building the temple God promised to be with them which would mean
guidance and ability for them to complete the task.
Basically the Lord was telling them that they would receive blessings
from him while they built the temple.
When we do ministry of any sort, the Lord is with us.
Matthew 28:20 (KJV) Teaching them
to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you
alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
The word “alway” is an important word because it carries with it the
meaning of “all the way.” No matter
what the Christian faces in ministry, the Lord is there with them to see them
all the way through. This is why
the word “alway” is a very important word for the believer in the King James
Bible.
Haggai 1:14
(KJV)
And the LORD stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son
of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Josedech,
the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people; and they came
and did work in the house of the LORD of hosts, their God,
When there is desire for the believer to do the work of
the Lord, he will stir up the people to do whatever work has to be done.
The word “stir up” in the Hebrew carries with it the meaning of “awaken
or arouse.”
1 Thessalonians 5:6-7 (KJV) Therefore let
us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.
{7} For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are
drunken in the night. When
Christians are doing nothing they are basically sleeping.
Proverbs 26:14 (KJV) As the door
turneth upon his hinges, so doth the slothful upon his bed.
Those who sleep are actually doing nothing.
Look at what the Proverbs verse states.
It compares those who sleep to a door on its hinges.
A door on hinges remains in one place and all it does is switch
positions, one moment it is on one side of the wall and the next it is on the
other side of the wall. Just like
someone in bed, they turn from one side to the other never actually moving but
remaining in one place. This is the
picture that the Lord wants us to see that those who sleep must be aroused out
of sleep.
Romans 13:11 (KJV)
And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of
sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.
It is time for every believer who reads this to assess their spiritual
lives and see where they are. Then
if they find they have been sleeping, then it is time to be awakened and get
busy for the kingdom of God.
Haggai 1:15
(KJV)
In the four and twentieth day of the sixth month, in the
second year of Darius the king.