Drought Haggai 1:11

After telling the Israelites to “consider” their “ways” and “go up to the mountain” to gather supplies to build His temple, the LORD Jehovah through Haggai the prophet began to explain why they would bring things into their own homes and the LORD would “blow upon” them. He sited this as the reason “the heaven over you is stayed from dew, and the earth is stayed from her fruit”. In chapter one and verse eleven of His prophecy, the LORD told them a “drought” has come upon them because they neglected rebuilding His temple where we read:

And I called for a drought upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the corn, and upon the new wine, and upon the oil, and upon that which the ground brings forth, and upon men, and upon cattle, and upon all the labor of the hands.

The verse begins, “And I called for a drought upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the corn, and upon the new wine, and upon the oil,...” Haggai began, “And I called” which means “the LORD GOD Almighty proclaimed, uttered, read aloud, appointed and summoned” “for a drought” or “dryness, parching heat and desolation” “upon the land” which refers to “earth, country, territory, district, region and piece of ground” “and upon the mountains” or “hills, range of hills and hill country” “and upon the corn” which refers to “wheat, cereal or grain” “and upon the new wine” or “fresh squeezed grape-juice or new sweet wine” “and upon the oil” which was “shining pure oil as producing light”. Five areas have been stricken by “drought” in this portion of Haggai's prophecy – “the land, the mountains, the corn, new wine and the oil”, and there are four more areas which were affected as well.

The verse goes on to say, “...and upon that which the ground brings forth, and upon men, and upon cattle, and upon all the labor of the hands.” Haggai continued, “and upon that which the ground” or “land, piece of ground, specific plot of land or the earth's substance, territory or country” “brings forth” which means “goes forward with, proceeds, delivers or shoots forth” “and upon men” which is the Hebrew word “'adam”and means “mankind or human beings” “and upon cattle” which refers to “the beasts, livestock and wild beasts” “and upon all the labor” which means “toil, work, production or acquired property” “of the hands” or “palm, hollow or flat of the hand”. Haggai added these four areas to the LORD's “drought” upon the people - “the ground”, “men”, “cattle” and “the labor of the hands”. There seems to be no area in which the Israelites were involved where the LORD did not affect their lives through “dryness, parching heat and desolation”.

We we think about Haggai's words, we understand how thorough the LORD was in attempting to alter the people's path. There were few areas in their lives where the wasn't a shortage, and the LORD claims responsibility for their lack. When the “kingdom of God” is not first, this passage of scripture should come to mind for us. We may wonder why it seems that everything we touch is in “drought” or “dryness, parching heat or desolation”. Perhaps an examination of our priorities should be implemented, and if it is found that Jesus takes a back seat to our other ventures, desires, material possessions, energy and time, an adjustment must be made. Let the “drought” be gone by making the LORD Jesus Christ first in our lives, and let the rains begin.

Next time Haggai shares how the leaders and people “obeyed the voice of the LORD their God”, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.

Until tomorrow…there is more…

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