Haggai 2:19-The Lord Promises to Bless the Remnant of Judah Because of Their Obedience
Bill Wenstrom
Haggai Chapter Two • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 1:07:42
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Haggai 2:10 On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month of Darius’ second year, the Lord spoke again to the prophet Haggai: 2:11 “The Lord who rules over all says, ‘Ask the priests about the law. 2:12 If someone carries holy meat in a fold of his garment and that fold touches bread, a boiled dish, wine, olive oil, or any other food, will that item become holy?’ ” The priests answered, “It will not.” 2:13 Then Haggai asked, “If a person who is ritually unclean because of touching a dead body comes in contact with one of these items, will it become unclean?” The priests answered, “It will be unclean.” 2:14 Then Haggai responded, “ ‘The people of this nation are unclean in my sight,’ says the Lord. ‘And so is all their effort; everything they offer is also unclean. 2:15 Now therefore reflect carefully on the recent past, before one stone was laid on another in the Lord’s temple. 2:16 From that time when one came expecting a heap of twenty measures, there were only ten; when one came to the wine vat to draw out fifty measures from it, there were only twenty. 2:17 I struck all the products of your labor with blight, disease, and hail, and yet you brought nothing to me,’ says the Lord. 2:18 ‘Think carefully about the past: from today, the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, to the day work on the temple of the Lord was resumed, think about it. 2:19 The seed is still in the storehouse, isn’t it? And the vine, fig tree, pomegranate, and olive tree have not produced. Nevertheless, from today on I will bless you.’” (NET)
Haggai 2:19 begins with a rhetorical question followed by two declarative statements.
It also completes the third message the prophet Haggai communicated to the citizens of the remnant of Judah on behalf of the Lord according to Haggai 2:10 and which message began in Haggai 2:11.
Now, in Haggai 2:19, the Lord through the prophet Haggai poses a rhetorical question to each one of the citizens of the remnant of Judah, which asks “if the seed is still in the storehouse?”
This question demands an emphatic negative response.
The seed is absolutely not or by no means still in the storehouse.
I believe the rhetorical question in Haggai 2:19 demands an emphatic negative response since the context demands it.
First, the first declarative statement here in Haggai 2:19 which follows this rhetorical question asserts that the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate tree as well as the olive tree have by no means produced for the remnant of Judah.
Furthermore, as we noted, Haggai 2:14-18 like this first declarative statement in Haggai 2:19 describes agricultural shortages.
The first declarative statement in Haggai 2:19 which follows the rhetorical question is a temporal clause which asserts that while there was no seed in the storehouse, the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate tree as well as the olive tree still have by no means produced for the remnant of Judah.
The second and final declarative statement in Haggai 2:19 stands in stark contrast with the emphatic negative response to the rhetorical question and the temporal clause.
In it, the Lord asserts that from this day forward, He would cause each one of the citizens of the remnant of Judah to be blessed.
We noted that “this day” refers here in Haggai 2:19 to the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month of the second year of King Darius’ reign.
This is indicated in Haggai 2:18 by the phrase which follows yôm in this verse, namely, ʿeśrîm wĕʾarbāʿâ lattĕšîʿî (עֶשְׂרִ֨ים וְאַרְבָּעָ֜ה לַתְּשִׁיעִ֗י), “from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month.”
Therefore, “from this day” is marking the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month of the second year of King Darius’ reign, as the starting point from which the Lord would bless the agricultural production of the citizens of Judah.
In this second declarative statement, the Lord is promising to endue with power the seed in the storehouses of the citizens of the remnant of Judah to bear fruit abundantly.
Also it speaks of the Lord promising to endue with power the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate tree and olive tree to produce fruit abundantly.
Thus, it refers to the Lord promising to bring about abundant agricultural production in the future for the remnant of Judah.
Specifically, the Lord would bless them from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month of the second year of Darius’ reign over Persia onwards.
Therefore, this second declarative statement in Haggai 2:19 records the Lord announcing that He would no longer be disciplining the kingdom of Judah.
The reason is not explicitly given in Haggai 2:10-19.
However, Haggai 1:12-15 does record the reason why, namely, because the citizens of the remnant of Judah led by Zerubbabel the governor of Judah and Joshua, the high priest of the nation obeyed the Lord’s command to complete the rebuilding of His temple in Jerusalem.
Notice Haggai 1:15 records that the date the citizens of the remnant of Judah repented and resumed work on the temple was on the twenty-fourth day during the sixth month of Darius’ second year of reign over Persia.
On the other hand, Haggai 2:10 and 18 record that the Lord’s promise to bless the nation agriculturally was on the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month of the second year of Darius’ reign.
Therefore, a comparison reveals a three month interval had taken place from the date of the nation’s obedience to the Lord’s command to complete the rebuilding of His temple to the date the Lord promised to bless the nation agriculturally.
The question then arises as to why the Lord didn’t say He would bless on the day they obeyed His command?
Why not announce He would bless them on the day they obeyed His command?
Of course, the Lord could have done so knowing, because He is omniscient, that the nation would continue to rebuild during this three month interval.
The reason why He didn’t announce His blessing on the nation on the day they obeyed His command was for the benefit of the nation and not Him.
He was testing their faith in order to produce endurance in them and to reward them with agricultural blessing.
The Lord rewards the believer after his faith has been tested.
James 1:12 Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. (NASB95)
Their faith in Him produced obedience to His command to resume and complete the rebuilding of His temple since Hebrews 11:8 teaches that by means of his faith, Abraham obeyed the Lord when He was called by Him to go out to a place he would later receive as an inheritance.
Hebrews 11:8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place he would later receive as an inheritance, and he went out without understanding where he was going. (NET)
Now, this faith and obedience we see demonstrated by the remnant of Judah in Haggai 1:12 also demonstrated their repentance.
In relation to the Christian, repentance involves confession of sin to be restored to fellowship with God (1 John 1:9) and this fellowship is maintained by obedience to the Word of God (1 John 2:3-6).
Repentance for both the believer and non-believer is made possible through the unique theanthropic Person of history, the Lord Jesus Christ, the God-Man.
It is based upon Jesus Christ’s substitutionary spiritual and physical deaths on the cross, which reconciled all of sinful humanity to a holy God, propitiated the holy demands of the Father that sin and sinners be judged and redeemed every member of the human race out of the slave market of sin.
The Father accepted these deaths as the propitiation for our sins and sin nature problem because Jesus Christ is His Son or in other words, these deaths on the cross have merit with the Father because Jesus of Nazareth is His Son and therefore, the perfect sacrifice for sin which the Father requires.
If not for the cross of Jesus Christ and His finished work on the cross, there would be no need for repentance because there would be no possible way to save sinful humanity.
Now, when the Lord asserts in Haggai 1:13 and 2:4 that He was with the remnant of Judah, it was to encourage them and empower them to complete the work of rebuilding His temple.
So therefore, these verses are teaching that the Lord’s personal presence would empower Zerubbabel, Joshua and all the citizens of Judah to complete the work of rebuilding His temple in Jerusalem despite the opposition from their enemies to do so.
In other words, they were to be strong and complete this task because His personal presence would enable them to do so.
His personal presence would provide His omnipotence to complete this task.
Now, in Haggai 2:19 when the Lord promises the citizens of the remnant of Judah that He would bless them agriculturally, He is in effect, promising them that they would see the visible results of their obedience to His command to complete the rebuilding of His temple.
This would be in accordance with the Mosaic Law, which not only asserts that the Lord would discipline the nation for their unrepentant disobedience but also would bless them for their obedience to His commands and prohibitions.
Deuteronomy 28:22 along with Leviticus 26:4, 20 and Deuteronomy 11:11-17, Amos 4:6-10 and Psalm 67:6 taught Israel that if they obeyed the Lord, then He would send rain in its season and the ground would yield its crops.
However, if they disobeyed, then He would make the sky like iron and the ground like bronze and the ground as a result would not produce its crops.