As Haggai the
prophet neared the end of his prophesy, the LORD though him asked the
people of Israel to consider “from this day and upward before
from before a stone was laid upon a stone in the temple of the LORD”
how they would go to their “heap of twenty measures” and
only find “ten”, and they would go to their winepresses
“to draw out fifty vessels” and only find “twenty”.
In chapter two and verse seventeen of his prophesy, the LORD through
Haggai shared how He brought “blasting, mildew and hail”
upon the “labors” of the people as well where we read:
I smote
you with blasting and with mildew and with hail
in all the
labors of your hands; yet you turned
not to me, says the LORD.
The
verse begins, “I smote you with blasting and with mildew
and with hail in all the labors of your hands;”
Haggai began with the phrase, “I smote”
which means “struck, hit, beat, slayed and killed the Israelites”
“you with blasting”
or “blight which is when the wind violently bursts upon a crop”
“and with mildew”
which means “paleness, lividness or rust” “and with
hail” or “ice stones from
the sky or hailstones” “in all the labors”
which means “deeds, things done, acts, business, pursuits,
undertakings, enterprises and achievements” “of your
hands” which refers to “their
strength, power, part, portion, share and time”. It is interesting
to note that it was the LORD who brought the“blasting,
mildew and hail” against the
people of Israel and the works of their hands.
The
verse goes on to say, “yet you turned
not to me, says the LORD.”
Haggai continued with the phrase, “yet
you turned not to me says”
which is all one Hebrew word or “nĕ'um”
which means “declares, reveals, utters, speaks, answers or avows”
“the LORD”
which is “Yehovah or Jehovah” and is “the existing One” and
“the proper name for the one true God”. Even though the LORD
attempted through their lack to show the people of Israel their
alienation of Him, they still did not turn to Him.
When
we meditate upon the LORD's words through Haggai, we can almost hear
the wonder and compassion of the LORD in them. He attempted to show
the Israelites the error of their ways, how they should return to
Him, and the blessings they were not experiencing because they were
far from Him. Jesus asked the people in His time, “And
why do you take thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the
field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:”,
and He also told them, “Therefore take no thought,
saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, how shall we
be clothed?” The idea was that
God would take care of these things when they put the kingdom of God
first. Maybe we wonder why it seems that all “the labor
of our hands” comes to little,
and perhaps the error of the Israelites is our own. If we have
“blasting, mildew and hail” upon
our works, the LORD is calling us to make His kingdom first, and when
we turn to Him, we will receive the blessings He has in store.
Next
time through Haggai the LORD tells the people of Israel to consider
these things “from the day the foundation of the temple was
laid”, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.
Until
tomorrow…there is more…
Look
for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From
Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be
Married”, and the new devotional “One Year in the Sermon on the
Mount” in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com
; http://www.barnesandnobles.com
; download to e-books, and find it locally at
www.mrzlc.com/bookstore.
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