Haggai 2:10-19--Blessings for a Defiled People

Haggai 2:10-19
English Standard Version

Blessings for a Defiled People
10 On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came by Haggai the prophet, 11 “Thus says the LORD of hosts: Ask the priests about the law: 12 ‘If someone carries holy meat in the fold of his garment and touches with his fold bread or stew or wine or oil or any kind of food, does it become holy?’” The priests answered and said, “No.” 13 Then Haggai said, “If someone who is unclean by contact with a dead body touches any of these, does it become unclean?” The priests answered and said, “It does become unclean.” 14 Then Haggai answered and said, “So is it with this people, and with this nation before me, declares the LORD, and so with every work of their hands. And what they offer there is unclean. 15 Now then, consider from this day onward. Before stone was placed upon stone in the temple of the LORD, 16 how did you fare? When one came to a heap of twenty measures, there were but ten. When one came to the wine vat to draw fifty measures, there were but twenty. 17 I struck you and all the products of your toil with blight and with mildew and with hail, yet you did not turn to me, declares the LORD. 18 Consider from this day onward, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month. Since the day that the foundation of the LORD's temple was laid, consider: 19 Is the seed yet in the barn? Indeed, the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree have yielded nothing. But from this day on I will bless you.”

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We are two months and a few days after the passage we looked at last time.  The Word of the LORD came to Haggai and told him to ask the priests about the Law.  Specifically the LORD told him to ask about if someone caries holy meat in the fold of his garment and then touches his fold and "common" food like bread, stew, wine or oil, does that food like bread, stew, wine or oil become holy because it touched the fold of his garment which was touching the holy meat?  The priests answered "No."

Then the priests were asked if someone who was unclean because they came in contact with a dead body touches any food item, does it become unclean?  They said "It does become unclean."  Uncleanness is transmitted through passive contact, but holiness is not.  The LORD says it is the same with His people.  Everything they touch is unclean because they are unclean.

This is why the LORD did not pour out His blessings on them before the Temple was built  They would go to get simple things like butter or wine, and they never had enough.  Everything they produces was struck down by blight and mildew and with hail because it was all unclean because it was the work of an unclean people--the people were unclean because they did not make sacrifices for atonement, purification, and the remission of sins.

Now, the people have been made holy unto the LORD once again, and things are going to change because they have reached the point where the foundations of the Temple have been laid.  The LORD is not going to wait for the job to be 100% complete before He blesses them.  He sees their obedience and sees the finished product and blesses them in response to what He sees, even though it is not finished yet.