LESSON 5
LESSON 5 EZRA 5 : 1 , HAGGAI 1 : 1 – 2 : 23
Thus says the L ord of hosts: These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the L ord . —Haggai 1:2
In our last lesson, the Jews ceased their work on the temple, and sixteen long years passed. In this lesson, God raises up His prophets Haggai and Zechariah to proph- esy to the people. Their messages address the people’s failure to honor, fear, and obey God (Hag. 1:9; Zech. 1:2–6). Unfortunately, opposition from the people of the land caused the Jews to stop building, and as a result, they turned their attention away from the things of God to their own personal interests. Amid their spiritual stupor, the Lord sent Haggai with four messages, which he delivered over the course of four months. Through Haggai, the Lord would both warn the exiles and encourage them to complete the building of His house.
READ THE WORD Pray. Take a moment to pray, asking the Lord to prepare your heart and teach you.
Ezra 5:1 5 Now the prophets, Haggai and Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophesied to the Jews who were in Judah and Jerusalem, in the name of the God of Israel who was over them. Haggai 1:1–2:23 1 In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the L ord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest: 2 “Thus says the L ord of hosts: These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the L ord .” 3 Then the word of the L ord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet, 4 “Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins? 5 Now, therefore, thus says the L ord of hosts: Consider your ways. 6 You have sown much, and harvested little. You eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes. 7 “Thus says the L ord of hosts: Consider your ways. 8 Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house, that I may take pleasure in it and that I may be glorified, says the L ord . 9 You looked for much, and behold, it came to little. And when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why? declares the L ord of hosts. Because of my house that
Ezra 5:1, Haggai 1:1–2:23 | 51
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