Shortage in the Heaps and Pressfats Haggai 2:16

The LORD desired for the people of Israel to “consider from this day and upward” their actions even before a “stone was laid upon stone” in the temple. In chapter two and verse sixteen of his prophesy, Haggai continues his thought by having the people consider their shortages in “the heaps” and in the “pressfats” where we read:

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 verse begins, “Since those days were, when one came to an heap of twenty measures, there were but ten:” Haggai began with the phrase, “Since those days were, when one came” which is all one Hebrew word “bow'” and means “to go in, enter or come in” “to an heap” or “pile such as sheave piles” “of twenty” or “the amount, measure and number twenty” “measures there were but ten” which is the Hebrew word “`eser” and means “the amount, measure and number ten”. In other words, people who were expecting “twenty measures” from their “sheave piles” were only finding “ten” available for harvest.

The verse goes on to say, “when one came to the pressfat for to draw out fifty vessels out of the press, there were but twenty.” Haggai continued, “when one came” or “to go in, enter or come in” “to the pressfat” which is a “wine vat or wine-press” “for to draw out” or “strip, strip off, lay bare, make bare or draw out” “fifty” which means “the amount, measure and number fifty” “vessels out of the press” which refers to a “winepress”, “there were but twenty” or “the amount, measure and number twenty”. In addition to the shortage in the “sheave piles”, the people who were pressing out grape-juice and expecting to find fifty vessels full of grape-juice, they only found twenty.

When we think about these words of Haggai, we see the people of Israel coming up short in all they invested. They were expecting “twenty” sheaves and “fifty” vessels, but only reaped one half or less than the amount they hoped. The LORD was sharing the folly of their ways. When they did not have Him first in their lives, it actually cost them in their own. We may find the challenge of our relationship with the LORD Jesus by looking at our own rewards for labor. Are we coming up short in areas where we should be prospering? Perhaps we should look at our relationship with the LORD as a primary source of our spiritual lack which is manifested in our material possessions. As we consider this, may the LORD add Haggai's evaluation time to our own.

Next time through Haggai the LORD shares with the people concerning “blasting and mildew”, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.

Until tomorrow…there is more…

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