HAGGAI CHAPTER 1 - 2

BOOK OF HAGGAI

The first of the three prophets come to stand
After the return to the Promised Land,
Haggai speaks in five warnings on the sand
Encouraging the hopeless to the grand
Vision of temenos and temples planned.
Obscure though Naqi may be in the rate
Of divine proof both in the Persian State
And in fair Palestine come up of late,
The start of David’s realm returned is well
The tenor of my heart and not to quell
After two thousand and five hundred years.
Let priest and king faint in their well-earned fears.
Five roots of faith Haggai brings to the fore,
And even now I wish for no roots more.

HAGGAI 1

1 In second year of Darius
The king, in the sixth month to trust
In the first day of the month, came
YHWH’s word by Haggai in flame
The prophet to Zerubbabel
Who was son of Shealtiel,
Governor of Judah, and to
Joshua son of Josedech,
The high priest, saying with a hue:
2 “So says YHWH of hosts for a speck:
‘This folk says, “The time has not come,
The time that YHWH’s house should be plumb.”’”
3 Then YHWH’s word came by Haggai
The prophet, saying, 4 “Is time nigh
For you yourselves to live in fine
Cedar-panelled houses, while this
Temple lies in ruins amiss?”

Two thousand years have passed since when that king
And priest and governor heard spoke the thing
That time was not yet ripe to build the wall
And raise the temple roof. Beloved, I call
You as a witness that the people say
The same today. They say that human way
And heart have not progressed to that degree
That all can know there is no I to see
But You alone. They say the mystic fire
Is for the few not lost in vain desire.
I say that he who can say I can tell
There is no I but You between both hell
And heaven. The panelled house makes blind the man
Who might see temple arch gargantuan.

5 Now therefore, so says YHWH of hosts:
“Ponder your attitudes for boasts.
6 “You have sown much, and bring in little,
You eat, but do not have a fiddle,
You drink, but mostly just a piddle,
You deck yourselves, but no one’s warm,
Your salaries leak but conform.”

For all my frantic running here and there
To catch a mite of wealth that I might share
With family, dependent, and, if some
Be left, with indigent, the dervish drum
And shaman’s wand warn that no man can eat
Beyond his portion. Manna is a treat
But none may take beyond the measure of
The day. The worm eats all the human love
That’s set by lock and key. Beloved, make me
To know the moment from all care set free.
Breath must be breathed and then let go or die.
I see the gold and silver passing by.
I thank You that the money bag has holes
That I may live in now instead of goals.

7 So says YHWH of hosts: “Think about
Your attitudes in what you spout!
8 “Go up to the mountains and bring
Wood and build the temple for fling,
That I may take pleasure in it
And be glorified,” says YHWH fit.
9 “You looked for much, but indeed it
Produced little, and when you brought
It into store, I blew the lot.
Why?” says YHWH of hosts. “Because My
House lies in ruins, while your sty
Is your refuge under the sky.”

O my Beloved, let my stone chamber in
This fleshly heart not be a den of sin,
But rather washed and poshed and brightened with
The candle of Your presence and not myth.
I lay within its standing, private wall
A carpet for my prayers to grace the hall
With colour and with wool. There I prostrate
Both night and day while I in my estate
Take on the busy round of my affairs.
My soul recites Your name upon the stairs
Of granite and of flint, while feet take on
The shape of shovel in the rosy dawn,
While hand is bent to saw and axe. I seek
My bread with body though my soul is meek.

10 “Therefore the skies above you keep
Back the dew, and the earth as deep
Withholds its fruit. 11 “For I called drought
On the land and the hills and wrought
On the corn and the new grape juice
And the oil, on what of use
The earth has the power to produce,
On men and cattle and their spruce.”

Let labour of my hands be full or vain,
Let earth miss dew, and let the cloud lack rain,
And let the earth, the lovely earth, withhold
The fruitful harvest, I am meek and bold
To trust You, my Beloved, for nourishment
In what in dearth or in abundance sent
I have from Your own hand. There’s nothing else
I would have, not my earnings nor the pelts
Of others’ gifts. What wine and oil I take
In luxury or destitution make
No dent on my resolve to drink Your cup
And drink no other. This day I look up
And find the sky immense above the earth,
And earth here where I stand to be of worth.

12 Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel,
Joshua son of Jehozadak,
The high priest, with all head and heel
Left of the folk that had come back,
Obeyed the voice of YHWH their God,
And the words of Haggai the prod,
As YHWH their Ælohim had sent,
And the folk feared the face of YHWH.
13 And Haggai, Messenger of YHWH
Spoke YHWH’s message to the folk due,
Saying “I am with you, says YHWH.”
14 So YHWH stirred up the spirit of
Zerubbabel who was son of
Shealtiel, governor of Judah,
And the spirit of Joshua
Son of Jehozadak, high priest,
And spirit of all the released
Remnant of the folk, and they came
And worked on the house of YHWH’s fame,
That of their Ælohim in claim,
15 On twenty-fourth day of month six,
In King Darius’ second tricks.

Beloved, I build by day and night the web
Of Your temple with every flow and ebb
Of hope’s recall. The silent fashions group
Around the threads of gold across my stoop.
Let there not be, Beloved, an idol store
Within the sanctuary of my door.
The heavenly pattern that You once sent down
To Moses and Ezekiel for a crown
Be the print whereupon I meet Your way.
Lead me, Beloved, into a brighter day,
Or if not brighter, at least scented by
The sweeter guidances of earth from sky,
By more than flame of poppies on the round,
By meeting Your law firmly on the ground.

HAGGAI 2

1 In month the seventh, twenty-first
Day of the month, then YHWH’s word burst
Upon Haggai the prophet, saying:
2 “Speak to Zerubbabel waylaying
The son of Shealtiel, of Judah
The governor, and to Joshua
Son of Jehozadak, high priest,
And to the folk’s remnant increased,
Saying, 3 ‘Who’s left of man or beast
Among you who saw temple in
Its former glory sapphirine?
And how then do you see it now?
Compared with that, you must avow
That this is nothing in your sight.
4 ‘Yet now be strong, Zerubbabel,’
Says YHWH, ‘and increase in your might,
Joshua, son of Jehozadak,
The high priest, and be strong in paddock,
All you folk in the land who dwell,’
Says YHWH, ‘and work, for I’m with you,’
Says YHWH of hosts. 5 ‘According to
The word that I agreed with you
When you came out of Egypt’s land,
So My spirit remains with you,
Do not fear then!’ 6 “For so says YHWH
Of hosts, ‘Once more, a little stand,
I shall shake heaven and earth, the sea
And the dry land, 7 ‘and I will shake
All nations, and Muhammad be
Of all nations come for My sake,
And I will fill this temple, see,
With glory,’ says YHWH of hosts’ wake.
8 ‘The silver’s Mine, the gold is Mine,’
Says YHWH of hosts. 9 ‘The glory fine
Of this latter temple shall be
Greater than the former,’ says He,
YHWH of hosts. ‘And in this place I
Will give Islam,’ says YHWH of sky.”

The glory that David and Solomon
Put on the temple mount in benison
Was thrown down by the king of Babylon.
Rebuilt a shadow of the former grace,
The people wept to see its loss of face,
Until the prophet came to say the place
Would be filled with a greater glory when
The hoped for should appear among mere men.
Jesus walked on the sacred stones set there
And looked forward to see caught up in air
Muhammad and his horse before Your throne.
I grasp the peace of Islam teeth and bone,
And thank You for the message clear and fair,
And bow to You, Beloved, to You alone.

10 On twenty-fourth day of month nine,
In Darius’ second year fine,
Came the word of YHWH by Haggai
The prophet, saying, not so sly,
11 So says YHWH of hosts, “Ask the priests
About the law of beasts and feasts:
12 ”If someone carries holy flesh
In the hem of his robe in mesh,
And with the cloth touch bread or cheese,
Or wine or oil or what you please,
Shall it be holy by the touch.”
The priests answered, “No, not as much.”
13 Then Haggai says “If the unclean
Of body comes against the seen
Of these, is it then thing unclean?”
And the priests say “It is unclean.”
14 Then Haggai answered and said
“So is this folk and nation led
Before Me,” so says YHWH and dread,
“And so is every thing they do,
And what they bring into their pew,
It is unclean from crown to shoe.
15 “And now, please think about today
And onward, before stone did lay
On stone in YHWH’s temple to stay;
16 “Since those times when once came to
A pile of twenty, ten were due;
When one came to the press to draw
Out fifty measures if a straw,
There were but twenty held in paw.
17 “I stuck you with blast and mildew
And hail on all the things you do,
But you repented not,” says YHWH.
18 Consider now today and on,
From twenty-fourth of ninth month draw,
From the day YHWH’s foundations lay,
Consider that temple today.
19 Is the seed still in the barn? yea,
As still the vine and fig tree sway,
And pomegranate, and olive tree,
They bear not: from this day you see
I will bless you in house and bay.

All the concern of priest with the unclean
And the clean seems to have its source and bean
In Persian customs and in Persian prophet.
Water is more use than to come and quaff it.
Ablutions for unclean to make them clean
Are well recorded in Biblical scene
Despite the fact the Christians in their store
Forget to wash themselves before the door.
Beloved, though I like Peter was both hands
And feet and head according to commands
Of those who sit in Moses’ seat, I still
Pray for a clean heart and a cleaner bill.
And then I’ll rise up to Your sacred house,
Both I and my offspring along with spouse.

20 And once again came word of YHWH
To Haggai in the day then due,
Twenty-fourth of the month to say:
Zerubbabel without delay,
Governor of Judah to say:
“I’ll shake the heavens and earth and sway;
22 “And I will overthrow the throne
Of kingdoms and I’ll break the bone
Of kingdoms of the heathen grown;
And I’ll overthrow chariot,
And those that ride in them for nought,
The cavalry shall fail, each one
Felled by sword of his brother’s son.
23 “In that day,” says YHWH of hosts, “I
Will take you, Zerubbabel, My
Servant, the son of Shealtiel,”
Says YHWH, “and will make you as well
A signet, for I’ve chosen you,”
Says YHWH of hosts, and so says YHWH.

If anyone is here to satisfy
Some prophecy of messianic spy,
It’s not Jesus or Ahmad unawry
In Pakistan, but good Zerubbabel,
Who’s chosen even in the din and spell
Of cavalry and falling of the sword,
And shaking of the powers of heaven adored.
If anyone rose up to meet the sway
Of challenges in messianic way,
It was the good Zerubbabel one day.
It’s not his fault, Beloved, the years go by,
And history is filled with evil guy,
And all seems as no messiah has come.
We’re always faced with truth if just a hum.

AUTHOR: THOMAS G. MCELWAIN

Copyright © 2007 Adams & McElwain Publishers and Thomas McElwain First Published in two volumes, The Beloved and I 2005, and Led of the Beloved, 2006. Second Edition, 2010 Third and revised edition, 2012 All rights reserved. No part of this verse commentary on the sacred Scriptures may be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in a retrieval system, in any form or by any means, without permission in writing from publisher.

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