2019, November 10 ~Haggai 1:15b-2:9 and 2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17
TODAY’S READINGS IN CONTEXT
NOVEMBER 10, 2019
Haggai 1:15b – 2:9
Reading
In the second year of King Darius, in the seventh month, on the twenty-first day of the month, the word of the LORD came by the prophet Haggai, saying:
Speak now to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to the remnant of the people, and say,
Who is left among you that saw this house in its former glory?
How does it look to you now? Is it not in your sight as nothing?
Yet now take courage, O Zerubbabel, says the LORD; take courage, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest; take courage, all you people of the land, says the LORD; work, for I am with you, says the LORD of hosts,
according to the promise that I made you when you came out of Egypt. My spirit abides among you; do not fear.
For thus says the LORD of hosts: Once again, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land;
and I will shake all the nations, so that the treasure of all nations shall come, and I will fill this house with splendor, says the LORD of hosts.
The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, says the LORD of hosts.
The latter splendor of this house shall be greater than the former, says the LORD of hosts; and in this place I will give prosperity, says the LORD of hosts.
Commentary
Haggai is one the “Minor Prophets” – the 12 prophets whose works are much shorter than those of the “Major Prophets” (Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel) and are found in a single scroll.
The Persian King Cyrus defeated the Babylonians in 538 BCE, decreed that the captive Judeans were permitted to return to Jerusalem, and encouraged them to rebuild the Temple. Little progress was made on the Temple in the next 18 years, but in 520 BCE, the rebuilding process began in earnest and the Temple was rebuilt by 515 BCE.
Haggai, along with the prophet Zechariah, was primarily responsible for inspiring the Jewish leadership and populace to complete the reconstruction of the Temple.
The first verses of Haggai (vv.1-11) were an oracle of judgment against the people for failing to complete the Temple. The leaders and people responded favorably (vv.12-15a). In today’s reading, Haggai encouraged the people in their efforts and stated that YHWH (“LORD” in all capital letters) would support them.
The precise date for Haggai’s exhortation is October 17, 520 BCE, and he would have spoken during the Festival of Booths, a time of remembering the Exodus (v.5).
It is possible that some of the Judeans present in 520 BCE would have remembered the Temple of Solomon that was destroyed in 586 BCE, and would know that the new Temple would be more splendid than the former (v.9).
The balance of this short book (two chapters) consists of an oracle of salvation, and the promise of an ideal age. This ideal age did not occur, though Judea remained under the generally benevolent rule of the Persians until the Persians were defeated by Alexander the Great in 333 BCE.
2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17
Reading
As to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we beg you, brothers and sisters,
not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as though from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord is already here.
Let no one deceive you in any way; for that day will not come unless the rebellion comes first and the lawless one is revealed, the one destined for destruction.
He opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, declaring himself to be God.
Do you not remember that I told you these things when I was still with you?
But we must always give thanks to God for you, brothers and sisters beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the first fruits for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and through belief in the truth.
For this purpose, he called you through our proclamation of the good news, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by our letter.
Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and through grace gave us eternal comfort and good hope, comfort your hearts and strengthen them in every good work and word.
Commentary
Thessalonica, a port city in northern Greece, was capital of the Roman province of Macedonia in the First Century. Paul’s First Letter to the Thessalonians is the oldest part of the Christian Scriptures and was written by Paul before 50 CE, about 20 years before the first Gospel (Mark) was written. A principal theme of both 1 and 2 Thessalonians was the return of the Lord Jesus in the end time.
In 2 Thessalonians, however, there was an emphasis on living in the present and warnings about forgeries of Paul’s writings. For these reasons, many scholars conclude that 2 Thessalonians was written by one of Paul’s disciples after Paul’s death in 64 CE.
The first part of today’s readings discussed what has come to be known as the “Second Coming” of Christ. The idea of a Second Coming arose because many of the understandings about the “Day of the Lord” and the expected effects of the Messiah were not fulfilled either in the lifetime of Jesus of Nazareth or in the period after his death. For this reason, the early Jesus Follower Community developed ideas about a “Second Coming” which would fulfill these expectations. Projections about a Second Coming are also found in the Synoptic Gospels (Mark 13, Matt 24 and Luke 21) and the Book of Revelation – all written in the last 30 years of the First Century CE.
Today’s reading emphasized that the Second Coming had not yet occurred and urged rejection of the false claims regarding it. The writer suggested that an unidentified “lawless one” (v.3) would be revealed as an event before the Second Coming/Day of the Lord.
The second part of today’s reading was a customary thanksgiving for the acceptance by the Jesus Follower Community of the good news (v.14) and an exhortation to hold fast to “Paul’s” teachings (v.15).