Who, When, Where

Written by Haggai. Haggai means “To Make Pilgrimage”, and Haggai lived at the end of the Exile, around the time the Jews started to return to Israel.
Around 520BC. The exile in Babylon is ending. People are moving back to Jerusalem and starting to rebuild their lives.
We don’t know if Haggai lived in Babylon or Jerusalem, but his message was to the Jews who were returning home.

Summary

The Jews were having a tough time.They were heading back from 70 years of exile in Babylon, but food was always short. They seemed to harvest plenty but when they came to eat it there wasn’t enough.

Yahweh sends Haggai to tell them it is because he isn’t happy. They are rebuilding their houses with nice wood panels. But his house, the temple, is still in ruilns. They have their priorities wrong.

Zerubbael listened… and gathered people to build God’s house.

Before You Read

What is a good percentage of your income to give to God?
How about your time? What percentage of that should you give?
How about your priorities?

Haggai’s message seems to be saying that when they didn’t give proper attention to God’s priorities, the Jews were losing half their harvest. So if he was happy with them giving 30% they would still come out 20% in front! How much do you give again?
How did you pick that number?

Key Verses

Haggai 1:3-4

Then Yahweh’s word came by Haggai, the prophet, saying, “Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies waste?

Well? Is it?
How much time do you spend on your house? Do you like to show it off?
How much time do you spend building the church?
What does this verse say about that, even now, almost 3,000 years later.

Haggai 1:5

… Consider your ways.

This phrase appears several times in Haggai.
It's good advice whenever you're not happy with how things are going for you…
Consider your ways. Maybe it's you.

Haggai 1:6

You have sown much, and bring in little. You eat, but you don’t have enough. You drink, but you aren’t filled with drink. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm, and he who earns wages earns wages to put them into a bag with holes in it.

Been there?
Want to go there again?
Know how to avoid it?

Haggai 2:9

The latter glory of this house will be greater than the former

It was impressive before. Read about it in 1 Kings.
But Yahweh tells them before they even start… the future glory of this place is going to be even greater.
Have you lost something great? God can restore it even greater.

After You Read

What verses really stood out to you?

How would you summarize this book in a sentence or two? What is it about? What is God trying to say to us?

So where is your time, money, effort going? On building your own house or building God’s house?
It’s a challenging question isn’t it.
Is your mortgage more than your giving?

Do you give a percentage of your capital gains to God? Or do you keep all that for yourself?

How is that working out for you? Always short of money? Things keep breaking? Unexpected expenses keep coming up?
Maybe you need to read Haggai again.