Thank you for the interpretive question, “What does Hagai (Haggai) 2:6-8 mean?”
As I read again the contexts of Haggai 2, the writer is comparing the present glory of the Temple to the former glory of the Temple. The present condition and state of the Temple was pale in comparison to the former building to those who saw the Temple before it was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar.
As the writer continues in his prophetic words, he declares that the glory of this seemingly poor condition of the Temple will be greater than the former Temple that they saw. “The glory of the present house will be greater than the glory of the former house,” says the LORD Almighty” (vs. 9).
The future glory of the house/Temple will happen when God will shake up the heavens and the earth as well as the nations. There will be an upheaval of the nations so that the present condition will change so that the house/Temple will be rebuilt with more glory than before. God does not declare what event will bring that about but the promise of a future glory that exceeds the First Temple.
The time frame is in a little while. From a historical perspective, the Persians were the rulers of the world. Persia will fall to the Greeks-Romans through Alexander the Great who conquered the known world. The battle of the Persians-Greek on sea and land did cause an upheaval of the known world. With the death of Alexander the Great, the empire was divided between his four generals with ultimately Rome becoming dominate.
Can rebuilding of the Temple by Herod the Great refer to the physical rebuilding of the Temple in the first century? Is there any allusion that the glory is referring not the physical building but to a person who comes into the Temple? The text is vague at this point. Minimally one o can refer to a physical beauty of the Temple, but is there a “spiritual” glory that comes with the arrival of the Messiah.
As a Christian, I am inclined to that belief, but I am aware that I must be careful not to read one’s belief into the text. The text must speak for itself. As one correlates other biblical passages of the Bible, then one may give that interpretation.
As one reads Revelation, the glory of the Lord will be in Jerusalem. Yes, she will be beautiful as a Temple but the beauty only reflects the majesty of the Lord God who will dwell in that Temple. As one reads Revelation 21, Haggai 2 is ultimately fulfilled with the New Heaven and the New Earth with a New Temple with God dwelling in her midst.
Revelation 21 says this, “9 One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” 10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. 11 It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal…22 I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23 The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. 24 The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. 25 On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. 26 The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. 27 Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life” (A searchable online Bible in over 150 versions and 50 languages).
From an eschatological perspective, one can interpret Haggai 2:6–9 is prophetic of the future. There is the imminent referral of an upheaval in the world with the clash of the Persians and the Greeks and of a distant referral of a clash with the kingdoms of the world and the Messiah. God’s promise that the future glory of the Temple will come about after the upheaval in the world.
SUMMARY: God has a greater plan for the Temple than Zerubbabel can even imagine that exceeds the physical beauty of the Temple. The Presence of God Himself will indwell the new Temple which will makes it brilliance and majesty unparalleled on earth. This will come about after the world’s great upheaval that will shake the heavens and the earth-the Great Tribulation on earth.
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