November 21, 2009

It Shall Be Unclean - Haggai 2:10-14


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, saying, "Thus says the Lord of hosts: 'Now, ask the priests concerning the law, saying, "If one carries holy meat in the fold of his garment, and with the edge he touches bread or stew, wine or oil, or any food, will it become holy?"'"

Then the priests answered and said, "No."

And Haggai said, "If one who is unclean because of a dead body touches any of these, will it be unclean?"

So the priests answered and said, "It shall be unclean."

Then Haggai answered and said, "'So is this people, and so is this nation before Me,' says the Lord, 'and so is every work of their hands; and what they offer there is unclean.'"

While many of the detailed requirements of Old Testament ritual were fulfilled in the sacrifice of Christ, these laws nonetheless contained eternal principles that remain entirely intact. Buried in the little book of Haggai is one such principle which our modern world would do well to assimilate.

Haggai had been tasked by God to refocus the hearts of the exiles who had returned from Babylon and were supposed to be rebuilding the temple in Jerusalem. Because they had gotten distracted by the preoccupations of their own lives, God had lifted His blessings from them. He then warned the people, through Haggai, to "Consider your ways."

You have sown much, and bring in little;
You eat, but do not have enough;
You drink, but you are not filled with drink;
You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm;
And he who earns wages,
Earns wages to put into a bag with holes. (1:6)

It's clear that the people were not being lazy. Nor is there any mention of moral wrongdoing. The only accusation God made against them is that they had built themselves "paneled houses" before they built a house for Him. In other words, His priorities had become secondary to theirs.

In case they might see their financial struggles as random bad luck, or perhaps an attack of the devil, God spelled out the truth quite bluntly in verses 9-11.

"You looked for much, but indeed it came to little; and when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why?" says the Lord of hosts. "Because of My house that is in ruins, while every one of you runs to his own house. Therefore the heavens above you withhold the dew, and the earth withholds its fruit. For I called for a drought on the land and the mountains, on the grain and the new wine and the oil, on whatever the ground brings forth, on men and livestock, and on all the labor of your hands."

The people took Haggai's words to heart, and it is said they "feared the presence of the Lord." God immediately responded by stirring up their spirits to work on rebuilding His house. He also encouraged them to be strong, for He was with them. "According to the word that I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt, so My Spirit remains among you: do not fear!" (2:5)

How quickly God returns to us when we return to Him. He has no pleasure in our poverty or distress. He even "stirs up our spirits," giving us the needed strength to do what He has commanded, and comes alongside as we walk in His ways.

However, God had one more important point to impress upon the people through the words of Haggai. He gave the priests a little quiz taken from their law books. The first question: If holy meat touches something else, like bread or stew or wine or oil, will any of these become holy as well? The priests answered rightly, "No."

Question two: If someone who has become ritually unclean because he touched someone who died then touches any of the same bread or stew or wine or oil, will it become unclean? The priests answered, "It shall be unclean."

The bad always corrupts the good. The good can never purify the bad. How often we reverse these principles in our day. A few wrong words, some immoral situations...but the acting was so good! The show was SO funny, or clever, or had such amazing special effects.

I believe God is saying to His people in our day that humor and brilliance and talent do not sanitize the things we take into our spirits. A little arsenic poisons an entire candy bar. A teaspoon of manure ruins even the best batch of brownies.

The exiles in Jerusalem had repented of their wrong priorities. They had returned to the assignment God had given them. But God still knew they would be most vulnerable not to the large-scale assaults of their enemies, but to the little--seemingly innocent--compromises.

The only way they would avoid these snares, God told them, was never to forget the "blight and mildew and hail" with which He had previously struck them. In the same way God chastens us today, so we might realize the absolute standard of obedience to which we are also called.