Chapter 26 HAGGAI ZECHARIAH AND MALACHI
We are now in Act-one-scene-three. After this the curtain will slowly close for a four-hundred-year interval and narrators Malachi and Zechariah will come front stage to give us a trailer as to how Act-two will open.
In the meantime, two of the three, (Haggai and Zechariah), will have the job of tying up some Old Testament lose ends. These three books are often overlooked. If a church wants to embark on a new vision, it will often turn to Nehemiah in preparation. But when the vision doesn’t quite end as it ought the church wonders why. It is probably because the vision has failed to take account of the work being done behind the scenes by these three folk. We saw in Nehemiah and Ezra that there were three attempts to build Jerusalem.
These books are written under the new rising Greek influence. They are written like journals, so we can date to the day what was said and why. We are still under the three-sixty-day calendar so, someone claiming to be seventy-one might be nearer to seventy, but it is near enough to get the picture. Haggai only spoke for three-months and Zechariah for two-years. They overlapped by one-month and it all took place in Jerusalem. Malachi came on the scene a few years later.
Those that came in the first group had not seen their expectations met. Even when the walls were up, the gates were on and the temple was up and running, in their eyes things were nowhere near the good old days when the temple had all its gold and silver treasures. They are still under Persian rule and the beginnings of the cry for freedom can be heard by a few. They have not seen the rest of Daniel’s statue prophesy or Ezekiel’s four beasts prophesy come to pass yet. There are still two more foreign oppressors to rule before messiah comes, the Greeks were already influencing the world culture, after them would come the Romans. By the time Malachi comes on the scene twenty years before the close of the Prophetic era, small groups of zealots like the parents of the Maccabee brother were beginning to speak out and so priests and teachers were watering down the scriptures once again to take account of this rising populist point of view.
Those that went back were not the wealthy but those motivated by spiritual interest of rebuilding the temple. Most of the Jews were making a good living in Babylon because it was a trade route crossroads. Zerubbabel was born in Babylon so he had not seen the state of Jerusalem, but he had plenty of “oldies” to tell him what the good old days were like. Zerubbabel, being king in all but title, (Cyrus would not allow that title), led the first band of fifty-thousand back. They went back full of enthusiasm only to see devastation of the city. When they saw it they had concluded God had caused this disaster as part of their punishment, actually it was their own fault. Jeremiah had told them to co-operate with Babylon, so they could save the temple, but they had called him a traitor and tried to join Egypt against Babylon. Because of this, Babylon left Jerusalem a heap of rubble. When God punishes us for sin, he remembers that sin no more, but he does not send in an army of angels to restore everything to its former glory, we have to start again from where we left off. Zerubbabel kept his promise to Cyrus by repairing the fences around the temple area and erecting an altar. For the first time in seventy-years they made a sacrifice offering to God. But for those who had seen the old temple, disillusionment spread to rest of the group and the enthusiasm drained. They had been caught up in the vision but it was not a realistic vision. That was their first failing.
When Ezra came down eighty years later with a merry band of Priest, they were expecting the social structure to be up and running under prince Zerubbabel. The priests were expecting just to run the temple, not build walls. The priests came with a vision of restoring religious life, they expected to take their positions in the temple city when they arrived. But by the time they got there the enemy had pulled down the walls again so the were seconded to wall building. Imagine one-thousand-eight-hundred disgruntled priests not being able to get on with their calling. This was not my calling! One commentator writes, “If you have not learned humility in seventy-years of exile you are not in the right position to lead a church”. Maybe that is why Paul says be careful about laying hands on young leaders because they are more prone to conceit. The priests were sure of their calling but could not fulfil it until the walls were built and society focused.
A third wave returned with Nehemiah in four-hundred-and-forty-five-BC. Here was a man that had wept and fasted because the temple had not been restored after so many years, a man with a burden. Weeping and Fasting are two roads to humility. Nehemiah was an administrator, under him they rebuild the city walls in record time. But after that, the momentum stopped again as the weary folk sought to house their families before finishing the temple. But there was a shortage of houses, so that was the next avenue of attack on these tired and hungry workers and their families. Family life began to disintegrate. By this time they were intermarrying with Samaritan girls which was neither lawful nor helpful because the did not share a common vision or the same God.
If the purpose of this book was a series of sermons and not a survey, we could stop off here for the next three chapters to examine why they had so many problems. We could focus on the leadership to see it was disjointed. We could see the vision of the people was flawed, we could see the strategy of the enemy was underestimated, we could see the people became exhausted because they tried to juggle too many tasks. The purpose of these three prophets however, is first to tie up a few loose ends, second to move smoothly from a prophetic era to a priestly era. The three prophets show they now have a treasure called the scriptures. There would be no more prophets until Elijah came again to prepare the way for Messiah. When the curtain did go up in act-two-scene-one, the people recognised who that was. John the Baptist came, and all the people flocked to him in the desert calling him Elijah.
Enter stage left our first two prophets Haggai and Zechariah. As part of their ministry they were encouragers to see the work is completed. Haggai confronted them for their wrong thinking. The later temple was more glorious than the first because God’s presence was back. It had nothing to do with wealth. He contrasts their thinking with that of Moses and Elijah, neither of whom had wealth but both of whom had the Spirit of God on them. Haggai, enters the stage and is only around for three months but makes eight points to change their thinking. They had concluded God had caused this disaster and they were suffering from it. Haggai followed eight themes:
you say its not the right time to build because you cannot provide beautiful gold and silver vessels and ornaments. But you have decorated houses for yourselves. I am looking for a beautiful people adorned with beautiful generous and encouraging spirits280
You lack the energy because you think the task as too big ‘Be strong and build’, Stand up to the opposition, (both from within and without), and see the Lord fight the battles for you.281
Your older folk remember a bustling temple packed with gold, culture and ceremony. ‘Don’t despise the day of small beginnings’. Watch and rejoice at the growth of the spirit in the people.282
You thought you are called to build a Nationwide landmark to be admired by the world. But this is the day of beginnings and you were called to build an indigenous church in a small town named Jerusalem. Build a beautiful people.283
You think you don’t have enough money or talent to build a house fit for God to live in but ‘I will build my house and I will live in it’.284
You think when I say the glory of the latter house will be greater than the first I meant stone wealth and influence. I mean a bride of people fit for a bridegroom king. I mean a people of spiritual stature and grace just as I told you in the Exodus covenant when you took marriage vows, at Sinai,285
You think the lack of rain means work harder and store more in case of famine. But I have already told you, lack of rain means checkout your sin. You are building with people of unclean minds who are contaminated by foreign gods. Put away those gods and return.
(When they confessed it the rain began next day two months late)286
The final message was to honour Zerubbabel in front of the people. You think you are the king and must deliver alone. But you are my signet ring says God You are line of sceptre, Lower your ambitions as a king without the title and build a kingdom people that is without recognition.287
Zechariah overlapped Haggai by one-month and in Chapter eight, he carries on exactly where Micah left off. (Perhaps he gave the final rallying convention address)?
The Lord Almighty says, Get on with the job and finish it! You have been listening long enough! For since you began laying the foundation of the Temple, the prophets have been telling you about the blessings that await you when it’s finished. Before the work began there were no jobs, no wages, no security; if you left the city, there was no assurance you would ever return, for crime was rampant. But it is all so different now says the Lord Almighty. For I am sowing peace and prosperity among you. Your crops will prosper; the grapevines will be weighted down with fruit; the ground will be fertile, with plenty of rain; all these blessings will be given to the people left in the land.“May you be as poor as Judah,” the heathen used to say to those they cursed! But no longer! For now Judah is a word of blessing, not a curse. “May you be as prosperous and happy as Judah is,” they’ll say. So don’t be afraid or discouraged! Get on with rebuilding the Temple! 288
Haggai’s final act was to prophesy over Zerubbabel:
This is what the Lord All-Powerful says: “Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, my servant, I have chosen you. I, the Lord, tell you