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HAGGAI in the CONTEXT of IMMANUEL, “God With Us”WOW, Spring 2021SG LEADER’S GUIDE WEEK 10: Haggai 2:10-19 KEY VERSE: Haggai 2:18b-19a “Give careful thought: Is there any seed left in the barn?”Pray as you begin your study at home or in your small group (over the phone or other “virtual” gathering with a few or even just one WOW sister during these weird days Covid).1. For perspective on this lesson, think about a time in your life when you found it challenging to “go all in”—to commit to something or someone 100%, holding nothing back! What helped you make your decision or what kept you from making it?LEADER’S NOTE: This may be a good question to ask your group before or at the end of your small group time.Read this week’s passage SLOWLY, and THOUGHTFULLY. OBSERVATION of what the passage says and how the passage says it (details, repetitions, conjunctions…)Verses 2:10—14 1. Compare the time from 2:1 to 2:10 and determine how much time has passed. LEADER’S NOTE: 2:1 is October 17th 520 BC and 2:10 is December 18th of the same year.2. This is the first time Haggai is directed by the LORD to address “the priests” (v.11) directly. What two questions did Haggai ask? And what was the reply of the priests to each question? (Remember to just observe here and wait a bit for interpreting what this might mean!) LEADER’S NOTE: The priests of God’s people were not just to maintain liturgical services for Israel, but they were commissioned from the beginning to be the teachers of God’s law and models of what it means to love and serve the Lord whole heartedly. See Leviticus 10:10—11 where the Mosaic Law gets at the very thing that is the focus of this passage section. Verses 2:15—19 3. What does the LORD want the priests as teachers and people to “give careful thought to”?LEADER’S NOTE: The LORD wants the priests, people, and leaders to think about the past, even the recent past situation described in chapter 1 of Haggai, and compare it to the change in them and their attitudes and the “not time to work on the temple” to the joyous work they have undertaken in the last few months. God wants them to think historically—because history is the arena in which God deals with them. Time matters to God, to holiness, to discipleship, to faithfulness. Help your group OBSERVE the words used to indicate “time” throughout the entire passage. 4. Note the repetition of the phrase “from this day on” three times in this section. Identify the three distinct ideas connected to this phrase. LEADER’S NOTE: v. 15, compare past with present. v. 18, from the day the people started to rebuild the temple, to the present day---about two months when the late-season seeds were sown to this time of waiting and v. 19, YHWH wants to bless them and for them to be a blessing to Him and to others. INTERPRETATION—working to understand the passage in its own context, “there and then” means this 3rd “sermon” of Haggai to God’s people who were left in the land or returned from exile in 520 BC.Verses 2:10—14 5. Given that the priests answered the two questions correctly, summarize what this “quiz” might mean concerning the distinction between that which is holy and what which is defiled and how each may or may not be transmitted. LEADER’S NOTE: Bottom line is that “everyone” knows what the priests know and what Judeo-Christian theology makes clear: defilement is easy to pass on from germs to sin from the beginning, but it is impossible to pass on holiness. This is why children have to be taught how to behave, have good manners, use good words, but they (and we) do not have to be taught how to misbehave, be selfish or remember and recite the one curse word you or your spouse used when they were in ear-shot! 6. Consider what God is trying to teach these priestly teachers about their own work on behalf of God and God’s people and summarize how you interpret the “lesson”. It may help your interpretation to think about a contemporary parallel and note that after your initial consideration. LEADER’S NOTE: Give the group time to come up with contemporary comparisons, especially women with little kids at home. If a 5 year-old comes in muddy, everything they walk on or touch gets muddy; but the same 5 year-old comes in all shiny clean and in perfect outfit, and they touch something that could ruin the perfection for a picture, so what do we do? We yell, “Don’t touch anything! Don’t spill that!” because it’s easy to get dirty, but very hard to stay clean. Same with sin and holiness. The former we can track all the way to the man and woman in the garden, but the latter takes work, obedience, faith, effort. Holiness is not passed on. Sin is. Verses 2:15—19 7. Note the significant three-time repetitions of two different phrases in this passage section.v. 15, compare past with present. v. 18, from the day the people started to rebuild the temple, to the present day---about two months when the late-season seeds were sown to this time of waiting—is an illustration in “farmer’s time” to “faith time”. “IS THERE ANY SEED LEFT IN THE BARN?” is our key verse for today’s passage because it’s the whole point. It’s like saying, “You farmers don’t hold back from sowing if you want a big harvest, do you? No! You sow it all and hope for a bumper crop, right?!” YHWH wants the people to be “all in”, holding nothing back from their relationship with Him. Note this: the remnant and those who returned from Babylon may be done with idolatry (very seldom mentioned after this time of returning to Judah), but they also must not hold back anything in their relationship with YHWH. V. 19, YHWH sees a “bumper crop” in them—He wants to bless them and for them to be a blessing to Him and to others. Whole life discipleship is the aim. 8. What in this section pertains to the “past”, the “present” and the “future”?LEADER’S NOTE: v. 10—14 is present tense for Haggai and he’s teaching a lesson that the priests need to learn to teach. v. 15—17 is a comparison of the near past to the present day to help everyone see that obedience to YHWH bears fruit and ends in satisfaction. v. 18-19 is from the present day as decision day, are you “all in” or not? God promises to bless you IF you ‘leave no seed in the barn’—radical discipleship in every moment. APPLICATION: your response as a disciple of Jesus in the “here and now” of your life, congregation, community, and world. Verses 2:10—19 9. Think about one thing in your life, family, congregation, or community that is not yet “all in” in terms of holiness issues, learning hard lessons through your past or faith to believe God’s promises of blessing. After identifying this one thing, pray about knowing the first step and taking this step “now” v.15 and “from this day” v.15, 19. LEADER’S NOTE: Again, you know your group, so can do this around-the-circle or have groups of 2 women share with each other and pray one for the other. ................
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