The Lord revealed another message, an oracle of encouragement, to Haggai almost one month later, on the twenty-first day of the seventh month (Tishri, modern October17) of the same year, 520 B.C. This was the last day of the feast of Tabernacles (Booths). Tishri was a month of celebrations for the Israelites. On the first of this month they celebrated the feast of Trumpets, and on the tenth, the day of Atonement. The feast of Tabernacles lasted seven days, and the following day was a day of rest ( Leviticus 23:33-44). [source][source][source]
Context Summary
Haggai 2:1-9 - The True Glory Of God's House
One earnest man can arouse an entire community. Let a fire glow in our hearts, and it will spread. Assured of God's presence and favor, within three weeks the whole land was awake. Note the cooperation of God's Spirit with the message of His servant, "the Lord stirred up." Let us ever seek and rely on His cooperation! "We are witnesses, so also is the Holy Spirit!" Three prophecies occupy the following chapter. In the first, Haggai 1:1-9, the Jews are encouraged to persevere. Although there was no comparison between the glory of Solomon's Temple and the splendor of this, they must not be discouraged. Though they might deplore the absence of the sacred fire of the Shekinah, of the Ark with its cherubim, of the Urim and Thummim, and of the spirit of prophecy, yet the Messiah's presence, which would be associated with the second Temple would more than compensate for their deficiency, since He was the antitype of them all. If we lack many of the advantages and attractions in which others excel, let us be more than satisfied to possess Christ. And be it always remembered that Christian worship seeks to realize the presence of Him who said: "I am in the midst." Without that a cathedral is an empty void; with that, a barn will be heaven. For Haggai 1:6-7 see Hebrews 12:26-28. This little while in God's arithmetic lasted for 517 years. [source]
Chapter Summary: Haggai 2
1He encourages the people to the work, 4by promise of greater glory to the second temple than was in the first 10In the type of holy things and unclean he shows their sins hindered the work 20God's promise to Zerubbabel
What do the individual words in Haggai 2:1 mean?
In the seventh [month]on twentyand the firstof the monthcamethe wordof YahwehbyHaggaithe prophetsaying