| HAGGAI |
| Explanatory Footnotes |
| 2:12 The Spread of Good and Evil "Which is contagious, good or evil?" In the Old Testament law Haggai found that consecrated meat - set aside to be used in sacrificial worship - did not "spread" its holiness. But a person who became "unclean" did spread his or her defilement. Under the Old Testament law, evil spread, but goodness did not. Their failure to rebuild the temple had defiled everything the Israelites touched - even their good deeds. 2:23 The Imprint of the Master Some 78 years before, King Jehoiachin had been captured and taken into Babylon. God had rejected him: "Even if you, Jehoiachin . . . , were a signet ring on my right hand, I would still pull you off" (Jeremiah 22:24). But now his grandson Zerubbabel had come back to Jerusalem, chosen again as the Lord's "signet ring." Such a ring was used in place of a signature, to impress the king's seal on important documents. God had accepted men from the royal line of David as his chosen leaders again. The complete fulfillment of this prophecy would have to wait for Zerubbabel's descendant Jesus, a son of David who fully printed God's image on humanity. |