Live Pure Lives

                                                                Sunday School Lesson                                            

Lesson: Haggai 2:10-19                                                                                                 
Golden Text: “Is the seed yet in the barn? yea, as yet the vine, and the fig tree, and the pomegranate, and the olive tree, hath not brought forth: from this day will I bless you” (Haggai 2:19).

I.  INTRODUCTION.  Living a pure life is a command from God that He will help us keep if we are willing.  In our previous lessons from Haggai, the children of Israel had become very materialistic and were not obeying the Lord by rebuilding His house.  Once they decided to obey and began to rebuild the temple, the Lord also began to bless them and give them what they lacked.  God’s greatest desire for His children is not success or happiness, but that we be like Him, holy and pure in all we do (see I Peter 1:15-16).
II. DEFILED PEOPLE (Haggai 2:10-14).  Last week’s lesson ended with Haggai 2:9 as God promised His people that the temple they were now starting to rebuild would have greater glory than the first one built by Solomon.  He also promised that it would be a place of peace.  The Lord made this promise to encourage those to build who thought the second temple would not measure up to the first.
A. Questions for the priests (Haggai 2:10-11). 
1. (vs. 10).  Our first verse says “In the four and twentieth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet, saying.”  This was Haggai’s third message (see Haggai 1:3-11; 2:1-9) to the remnant of Jews who had returned from Captivity to rebuild the temple.  This third message was given “In the four and twentieth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius.”  This was about two months after the second message (see Haggai 2:1).  The “ninth month” was “Chisleu” on the Hebrew calendar.  This would correspond to our November-December. 
2. (vs. 11).  Haggai continued to say in this verse “Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Ask now the priests concerning the law, saying.”  Haggai was directed to ask the priests some questions because the issues God was about to present in His message through the porphet had to do with the Mosaic Law.  The questions Haggai was about to ask involved the differences between holy and unholy things, and clean and unclean things (see Leviticus chapter 11).  The priests were experts in this area.
B. The effects of contact (Haggai 2:12-13).
1. (vs. 12).  The first question in this verse was “If one bear holy flesh in the skirt of his garment, and with his skirt do touch bread, or pottage, or wine, or oil, or any meat, shall it be holy? And the priests answered and said, No.”  This first question illustrates that holiness, or for the Jews, ceremonial purity cannot be transferred from one person to another.  The phrase “If one bear holy flesh in the skirt of his garment” presents an example of a man carrying “holy flesh” or meat to be used as a sacrifice, which made it sanctified or holy.  The word “holy” like sanctification means to set apart for God’s use.  The exact meaning of the term “skirt” like many ancient items of clothing is unknown, but most Bible translations used the term “fold.”  However, the New American Standard Bible (NASB) says that the word “skirt” literally means “wing,” a reference to the arm.  This may be the best translation since the man in the illustration is carrying the holy meat or sacrifice.  The question continued “and with his skirt do touch bread, or pottage, or wine, or oil, or any meat, shall it be holy.”  In other words, if the man’s skirt where he is carrying the holy meat touches other items like bread, stew, wine, olive oil, or any other meat, will these items become holy also?  The priests answered no.  That was the correct answer.  Holiness cannot rub off onto other things or persons.  A husband or wife can be holy, but that holiness will not rub off on the one who is not holy or even the children.  Each person has to become holy before God in his or her own right (see I Peter 1:15-16: I Peter 2:9).  By application, this illustration means that no person can be saved simply because someone else in the family is saved.  Each of us has to make our own decision whether or not to receive Jesus as Lord and Saviour.  Each individual determines his or her own eternal destination based on the decision they make regarding the Saviour, Jesus Christ.
2. (vs. 13).  Haggai asks a second question in this verse. “Then said Haggai, If one that is unclean by a dead body touch any of these, shall it be unclean? And the priests answered and said, it shall be unclean.”  The second question illustrated that for the Israelites ceremonial impurity or defilement could be transferred from one person to another. This question to the priests was “If one that is unclean by a dead body touch any of these, shall it be unclean?”  In other words, if a person who is “unclean” or defiled by touching a dead body (see Leviticus 22:4-6) touches the same items mentioned in the previous verse, would those items also be unclean or defiled?  The priests again answered correctly: “it shall be unclean.”  Those who touch unclean things will become unclean also (see Numbers 19:16, 22).  For sure, holiness cannot rub off on other people but just as sure, holiness can be affected by un-holiness.  The law gives a list of things that were unclean for the people of Israel, who were a holy people (see Exodus 19:5-6).  These unclean things were said to make any person who comes in contact with them unclean, or defiled (see Leviticus 11:24-26).  Note:  These two questions and the correct answers given by the priests speak of our sanctification or purity.  In Scripture the word “sanctify” means to set apart for God’s use.  When applied to this lesson, sanctification, or cleanliness of life is not and cannot be transferred from one person to another.  However, defilement can be transferred from one to another.  For those not familiar with Old Testament ritual and ceremonies dealing with defilement or contamination, a modern illustration may be helpful.  Let's say that a very healthy person walked into a room full of sick people, would his health heal everyone in the room? No, it wouldn't! It’s more likely that the healthy person would get sick too.  On the other hand, could one sick person walk into a room of healthy people and suddenly become well?  Of course not!  In fact the healthy people might get sick.  Simply put, just keeping company with a Christian won’t make you clean.  But for sure, if you hang around trash you’ll get dirty.  Beware of the company you keep (see I Samuel 8:4-9; II Corinthians 6:14-17)!  The old saying is true, "if you lie down with dogs you'll gt up with fleas."  C. The application for Judah (Haggai 2:14).  This verse says “Then answered Haggai, and said, So is this people, and so is this nation before me, saith the Lord; and so is every work of their hands; and that which they offer there is unclean.”  Here the Lord was reminding His people of their behavior before they decided to obey Him and continue the work on the temple.  The word “So” used three times identifies the Israelites with the two illustrations previously given.  They had been religious in “every work of their hands” and in the offerings they gave toward the temple, but their hearts were not right with God because they had stopped the work on the temple.  All their offerings and sacrifices may have been holy, but that didn’t make the one giving the offerings holy.  In fact, since the people were disobedient, all their offerings and sacrifices meant nothing.  Their disobedient hearts defiled them making their service to God and their worship unclean.  The people’s sin caused their sacrifices to be ineffectual, and their good works and offerings couldn’t make them clean.  Simply put, sin is contagious, righteousness is not (see I Samuel 15:22; Hosea 6:6).  Note:  The people working on the temple couldn’t impart any holiness to it, but they could defile it by their sins.  Not only was it important that they do God’s work by completing the temple, but it was also important that they do His work with hearts that were pure and devoted to Him.
III. BLESSED EFFORTS (Haggai 2:15-19)    
A. A need to consider (Haggai 2:15).  This verse says “And now, I pray you, consider from this day and upward, from before a stone was laid upon a stone in the temple of the Lord.”   The phrase “I pray you, consider from this day and upward” means that Haggai was urging the people to give some thought to what he was about to say to them from that day forward.  They were to think about the time “before a stone was laid upon a stone in the temple of the Lord.”  In other words, they were to think back and consider how things were at the beginning of the rebuilding process before any stones had been laid.
B. The “before” effects (Haggai 2:16-17).  
1. (vs. 16).  In this verse, the people are told what they needed to consider and think about.  It says “Since those days were, when one came to an heap of twenty measures, there were but ten: when one came to the pressfat for to draw out fifty vessels out of the press, there were but twenty.”  The Lord reminded them of what things were like before they continued working on the temple.  The phrase, “Since those days were” refers to the day they stopped the rebuilding of the temple up to the present time when they resumed the construction.  The people were in a bad situation as a result of their disobedience to God’s will, which was rebuilding the temple.  The situation was so bad that “when one came to an heap of twenty measures, there were but ten.”  This means that the harvests never measured up to what they hoped for.  They planted enough grain to reap a “heap” or stack of twenty measures, but instead they only got ten.  They only reaped 50 % of what they planned for which caused great poverty.  In addition “when one came to the pressfat for to draw out fifty vessels out of the press, there were but twenty.”  The “pressfat” was a large tub in which juice is pressed from grapes in order to make wine (see Judges 6:11; Nehemiah 13:15; Isaiah 5:2; Matthew 21:33).  When anyone came to the winepress to get fifty vessels full of juice to make the wine, they only got twenty vessels, a reduction of 60%.  This caused great disappointment to say the least.  Both grain and wine were a large part of Israel’s economy and the Jews’ diet: so when both of these articles were reduced by such large amounts, the people suffered tremendously.  Talk about a Great Depression: they had one!
2. (vs. 17).  In this verse God continued to say “I smote you with blasting and with mildew and with hail in all the labours of your hands; yet ye turned not to me, saith the Lord.”  The Lord not only brought economic disaster but He also said “I smote you with blasting and with mildew and with hail in all the labours of your hands.”  The term “blasting” refers to the withering of plants caused by a hot, dry wind (see Amos 4:9).  This word is often translated as “blight” (see Haggai 2:17 in the NIV) which is a reference to diseases that attack grain.  The term “mildew” refers to a fungus that attacked the crops in Israel during damp weather.  Of course, “hail” refers to lumps or pellets of ice.  God said that He brought these conditions upon “all the labours of your hands” meaning everything that they worked to produce didn't produce as expected.  God was displeased that they put themselves before Him, so they suffered greatly.  After all these things happened to His people, God went on to say “yet ye turned not to me.”  The Lord wanted His people to realize that these things didn’t happen to them as a result of natural causes, but by His control of those causes.  He was trying to get their attention to refocus on what He wanted them to do: obey and rebuild His house.  Note:  Our God is the same “yesterday, today and forever” (see Hebrews 13:8) so we should understand that what was happening to Israel because of their hardness of heart could also happen to us.  We see the same kind of hardness of heart in people today.  It just may be that the fires, floods, ice storms, droughts, tornadoes and many other things that we are experiencing are happening because we continue to ignore God.
C. The “after” effects (Haggai 2:18-19).
1. (vs. 18).  In this verse Haggai says “Consider now from this day and upward, from the four and twentieth day of the ninth month, even from the day that the foundation of the Lord's temple was laid, consider it.”  The phrase “Consider now from this day and upward” refers to the time that they restarted working on the temple going forward.  The people were to think about the change in direction their lives were taking as a result of obeying God and continuing the work on God’s house.  They were to think about how things had improved for them beginning with the very day the message was given which was “the four and twentieth day of the ninth month, even from the day that the foundation of the Lord's temple was laid.”  This was the 24th day of the Hebrew month of “Chisleu” (see the commentary on verse 1).  It was also the day that the people re-laid the temple foundation.  The original foundation was laid under Ezra after the first group or captives returned to Judah in 538 B.C. (see Ezra 3:8-10).  That means it had been at least 16 years since they stopped the work on the temple.  Therefore the foundation needed repairs as well.  Now that the people were obeying God and rebuilding His house, they would experience blessing as we shall see in the next verse.
2. (vs. 19).  In order to get the people to really think about going from disaster to blessing, in this verse the Lord asked “Is the seed yet in the barn? yea, as yet the vine, and the fig tree, and the pomegranate, and the olive tree, hath not brought forth: from this day will I bless you.”  The question “Is the seed yet in the barn?” required a “no” answer, because up to this point the people had only seen a decrease in what they reaped from their crops.  God also said “yea, as yet the vine, and the fig tree, and the pomegranate, and the olive tree, hath not brought forth.”  In addition to the crops being limited, God also said “yea” or yes even the vines, the fig trees, the pomegranate trees and the olive trees had not produced what they expected.  The point the Lord was making to His people was that the difficult economic disasters they suffered all happened during the time they were disobedient to His will.  But now that they had committed to obey the Lord and finish the temple, things would be different.  Instead of more disasters, they would receive God’s blessings. 
               
V. Conclusion.  Our lesson for this week is very clear: If we are not willing to live pure and obedient lives as God directs, we can’t expect His blessings on our lives.  We may even experience God’s discipline.  He may limit our successes and/or send other difficulties.  Every aspect of our lives must be in subjection to His will, and we have the Holy Ghost to guide us.  The Lord wants to lead us in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake (see Psalms 23), so we must trust Him and obey Him in order to see His mighty hand act positively on our behalf (see James 4:10).