Haggai

[wolfpurplemoon]

Haggai tells the people that their bad luck with crops is because they've allowed God's temple to become ruins.

Comments

[zteccc.livejournal.com]

Haggai's message came some time after the Persians conquered the Babylonians (about 40 years after that time, around 520BC). Under the Persian empire, the Hebrews were treated well and were free to live wherever they desired in the empire. Cyrus the Great had issued a decree allowing them to return to Judea (Israel) and to restore the temple. This task would have fallen to the governor of Judea, Zerubbabel. Zerubbabel was the grandson of Jehoiachin, the former king of Judah prior to the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians (and an ancestor of Jesus). Jerusalem and the temple was still in ruins from the Babylonians at the time of Haggai's preaching.

Haggai tells the governor and high priest that they are living in nice houses, but dragging their feet in rebuilding the temple which should be their primary focus. Because of this, they are not experiencing the blessings that God wants to bestow on them (Similar to when an employee doesn't complete a project and doesn't get a raise, a manager will often tell the employee to finish the project and they'll get the raise).
Zerubbabel and Joshua accepted this message and began work on the temple within a few weeks (presumably the delay was to discuss whether to accept the message and to gather workers and supplies).
Note that these people listened to the prophet and began to do the work that God wanted. What followed was indeed a rebuilding of not just the temple, but the reestablishment of the Hebrews in Jerusalem and Judea and better times for them than when they were doing their own thing.

God promises to make supplies available to make the new temple glorious and will bring peace to the city.
Haggai has a religious discussion with the priests regarding the purity of meat to be sacrificed to God. They discussed how taking care of things set aside (holy) was important. This is an analogy to the behavior of the people in Judea who had chosen to do pursue other work to the exclusion of rebuilding the temple (they hadn't set aside and taken care of the temple). This isn't to say that they shouldn't have done anything else, but rather that they shouldn't have completely ignore the temple while doing their other work. God however says that if they continue to work on the temple as they had been for the prior two months, they will be blessed with a bountiful harvest and other riches.
Zerubbabel is told (because he obeyed God's instructions) that while wars will range around Judea, God will preserve Judea and Zerubbabel.

The events in Haggai stand in contrast to the attitudes of the people in the divided kingdoms of Israel and Judah. The people have learned to listen to God's prophets and they receive positive and encouraging prophecies as a result (which did come true, Judea existed and was still flourishing over 500 years later when Jesus came to bring forth the new covenant). Recall the comments that were made about the absurdity of the idea that exiling the Jews and punishing them would make them want to come back to God, yet in effect that is exactly what happened (perhaps God understands pretty well). The descendants of the exiled people from Judah and Israel learned that living under other rulers, and dealing with their religions and their idols, without the blessings of God, wasn't very much fun and they wanted to return to their own land and rededicate themselves to God and get back the blessings of their covenant.

The Gospels

[(Anonymous)]

In two days you will begin reading the first of the four books that define the Christian faith. Hang on every word, and make sure you give their meaning full consideration. As Christians, we are charged not with harrassing atheist or condemning sinners, or invoking needless theological arguments, but with being a witness and presenting the gospel. If what you are reading is true and "every knee shall bow before God and every tongue shall confess to God", then you will be in the unenviable position of having read directly from the source and yet still rejected the message. If you gain nothing else from your readings, at least know that the message is one of love and grace, not one of fury and veangence. We are motivated out of love for you and those that may read this to post on your journal because we were first loved by God.

-Adam... not bored just quietly observing and praying

[morgian-le-faye.livejournal.com]

I have to say I am impressed with how far you have gone. I tried from Genesis many times and just got annoyed at the whole thing. Then I tried from the Gospels, but when each one had different "facts" I got even more annoyed that even smart people can believe something that contradicts itself. I've wanted to try again, but I just get angry every time I read it.

[wolfpurplemoon]

I think I may be slightly OCD, once I start something I doggedly press on until the end, and keeping this blog makes me feel obliged to keep going as well. I can totally understand having the reactions you've had, the mental gymnastics some of these people must go through in order to believe in it all does astound me.