Study on The Book of Haggai

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On the plains of Moab, prior to Israel entering the Promised Land Moses delivered to the people a series of messages that may be considered the constitution for the theocracy of Israel once she was established in the land. The people were facing war, temptations, and a new, settled way of life under the unproved leadership of Joshua. Moses's congregation was the survivals of the forty years wandering in the wilderness. They had not experienced the deliverance from the hand of the enemy at the Red Sea or the giving of the law at Sinai.

Moses warned the people when they enter and settle in the Promised Land they must not add to or take away from the commandments and statues of the Lord. If they obeyed the commands and statues of the Lord, they will prosper in the offspring of their bodies, of their beasts, and in the produce of the ground. God will open His good storehouse and give rain to the land in its season. They will be the head and not the tail. If they do not keep the commandments and statues of the Lord, they will suffer internal calamites, such as death, despair, disease, and decline, external judgments, such as defeat by their enemies.

When the Israelites entered The Promised Land under the leadership of Joshua, they were undefeatable. The reason they were undefeatable, their God was with them. They were His chosen people and He would lead them to victory. Following their settling in the land, they became corrupt in the structure of their society and in their obedience to God. They did not heed the words of Moses. The Lord then left them to the mercy of their enemies who showed them no mercy.

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