Commentaries and Other Bible Study Helps - Prayer Tents - Prayer Tents

2:15-17 Consider Life before Restoration Began: You Did Not Turn. The Lord calls the people to reflect upon their economic situation prior to the start of reconstruction. The past lack of agricultural prosperity did not lead to repentance.

2:15 consider (lit., "set your hearts"; cf. v. 18 [2x]). They are to keep an eye on past experience while looking forward to the new thing that God is presently doing. Before stone was placed. The play on this verb (Hb. sim, translated both "consider" and "placed") supports a correlation between the current state of the people's hearts and their common experience before construction restarted (vv. 16-17).

2:16 how did you fare? There is a direct correlation between the lack of progress on the temple and the people's shattered agricultural expectations (1:6, 9).

2:17 I struck. A drastic action motivated by the love of a Father for his children, but to no avail (Deut. 8:1-5; 30:1-10; Heb. 12:7-11). blight . . . mildew. These examples of covenant curses (Deut. 28:22; 1 Kings 8:37; Amos 4:6-9) represent the spectrum of dangers (heat and moisture) faced by crops. to me (lit., "and there is not you to me"; cf. Amos 4:9). The people come "to" (Hb. ’el) their failed agricultural production (Hag. 2:16) but not "to me" (Hb. ’elay), i.e., they do not return to God.

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