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(10) On the twenty and fourth of the ninth `month', in the second year of Darius, hath a word of Jehovah been by the hand of Haggai the prophet, saying: (11) Thus said Jehovah of Hosts: `Ask, I pray thee, the priests `of' the law, saying: (12) Lo, one doth carry holy flesh in the skirt of his garment, and he hath come with his skirt against the bread, or against the pottage, or against the wine, or against the oil, or against any food -- is it holy?' And the priests answer and say, `No.' (13) And Haggai saith, `If the unclean of body doth come against any of these, is it unclean?' And the priests answer and say, `It is unclean.' (14) And Haggai answereth and saith, `So `is' this people, and so `is' this nation before Me -- an affirmation of Jehovah -- and so `is' every work of their hands, and that which they bring near there -- it is unclean. (15) And now, lay `it', I pray you, to your heart, From this day, and onwards, Before the laying of stone to stone in the temple of Jehovah. (16) From that time `one' hath come to a heap of twenty, And it hath been ten, He hath come unto the wine-fat to draw out fifty purahs, And it hath been twenty. (17) I have smitten you with blasting, And with mildew, and with hail -- All the work of your hands, And there is none of you with Me, An affirmation of Jehovah. (18) Set `it', I pray you, to your heart, from this day and onwards, from the twenty and fourth day of the ninth `month', even from the day that the temple of Jehovah hath been founded, set `it' to your heart. (19) Is the seed yet in the barn? And hitherto the vine and the fig, And the pomegranate, and the olive-tree, Have not borne -- from this day I bless.'
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The first Chislev 24 prophecy, found in this passage, concerns the uncleanness of the covenant people and God's response to it. Through a series of questions that Haggai asks the priests, God makes the point that uncleanness is transferable, but holiness is not. Defilement or impurity can spread from an object to a person to another object, but purity and holiness cannot.
This is especially relevant in light of what was happening at the time. The people and the leaders were finally in the process of building the dwelling place of the Holy God. It contained a number of objects that were also holy, as well as the Most Holy Place. Yet, even the presence of God could not, by itself, make the people clean. In order to make the nation clean, it would take something more than just having the Temple nearby, with all of its holy objects and even the glory of God. Something else was required to cleanse the people.
This prophecy has a curious ending. It does not contain a call to repentance, except perhaps by implication. God says that His people are unclean, that the presence of something holy cannot make them clean, and that their hearts were not turned to Him—then He suddenly announces that from this day forward, He would bless. In this first prophecy, God does not specify exactly what the blessing will be, though there is a hint in verse 19: "Is the seed still in the barn? As yet the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree have not yielded fruit. But from this day I will bless you." This hint becomes clearer in the next Chislev 24 prophecy (Haggai 2:20-23).
— David C. Grabbe