Glory Of The Latter Temple

Haggai 2:9 - ‘The glory of this latter temple shall be greater than the former,’ says the Lord of hosts. ‘And in this place I will give peace,’ says the Lord of hosts.”

The Word of the Lord come through the prophet Haggai to His people.

To understand this verse better, we need to understand the background behind this.

Israelites were in bondage in the land of Egypt. From there, the Lord led them to the land of Canaan through 40 years of wandering in the desert. They settled in the land of Canaan and evolved as a nation of Israel. They initially had judges over them and later kings ruled over them. During the reign of king Solomon, he built a magnificent temple for the Lord. Later, the land of Israel was divided into two kingdoms - Judah and Israel. They disobeyed the Lord and refused to repent even though the Lord sent prophets to warn them. The Lord therefore give them into the hands of their enemies. The Babylonians came and attacked the land of Judah and took away the people as captives. The capital city Jerusalem was also besieged. All the treasures from Solomon’s temple and the people in Jerusalem were taken to Babylon as captives and the temple was burnt.

2 Kings 24:13 - And he carried out from there all the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king’s house, and he cut in pieces all the articles of gold which Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of the Lord, as the Lord had said. Also he carried into captivity all Jerusalem: all the captains and all the mighty men of valor, ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and smiths. None remained except the poorest people of the land.

2 Kings 25:8, 9 - And in the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month (which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon), Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. He burned the house of the Lord and the king’s house; all the houses of Jerusalem, that is, all the houses of the great, he burned with fire.

After about 70 years of captivity in Babylon, these Israelites found favour in the sight of the Persian king who was then ruling over Babylon. The exiles returned to their homeland and rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem under the leadership of Nehemiah. They laid the foundation of the temple under the leadership of Ezra. However, the work was halted, mired in discouragement and derailed by a lack of focus.

Several years passed by but the temple was not completely rebuilt.

Why? The people were discouraged.

The word of the Lord comes through Haggai to these discouraged group.

Haggai 2:1 - In the seventh month, on the twenty-first of the month, the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet, saying:

This marks the festive time in Israel. The 21st day of the seventh month was the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles.

Leviticus 23:33-36 - Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the children of Israel, saying: ‘The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days to the Lord. On the first day there shall be a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work on it. For seven days you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord. On the eighth day you shall have a holy convocation, and you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord. It is a sacred assembly, and you shall do no customary work on it.

The festival was celebrated to remember the goodness of the Lord when He led them from Egypt to the land of Canaan through the wilderness.

Lev 33:42 - You shall dwell in booths for seven days. All who are native Israelites shall dwell in booths, that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.'

The day prior to this (20th day) was the day of Atonement where sacrifices were offered to the Lord for the sins of the nation and the people

Lev 23:26 - Also the tenth day of this seventh month shall be the Day of Atonement. It shall be a holy convocation for you; you shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire to the Lord.

So, these were the days when people had to be encouraged and remember the great things that the Lord had done to them in the past. Even now, they were released from the Babylonian exile and returned to their homeland.