SUMMARY
Haggai reassures the people who remember the glory of the first templeThe Jerusalem temple, unlike the tabernacle, was a permanent structure, although (like the tabernacle) it was a place of worship and religious activity. On one occasion Jesus felt such activity was unacceptable and, as reported in all four Gospels, drove from the temple those engaged... More that the LORD will “shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land” and will bring the treasure of the nations to Jerusalem to make the second temple more glorious than the first.
ANALYSIS
The first temple in Jerusalem, built by King Solomon, was made of stones and cedar and overlaid with gold (1 Kings 7). There were those in Jerusalem in Haggai’s time who remembered Solomon’s temple, and they were apparently dismayed by the relative modesty of the second temple. In answer, Haggai prophesies that the LORD will “shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land” and “all the nations,” so that the treasure of the nations will come to Jerusalem and adorn the second temple. This rebuilt temple, then, will be more glorious than the first temple.
Part of Haggai 2:6 is quoted in Hebrews 12:26 to refer to the coming of God’s heavenly kingdom.
