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The Pastor Nathaniel's Blog

August 10, 2023

"God’s Care and Judgement XXI"

Last week we witnessed an unexpected use of the Hebrew phrase "coh amar y'adonai" - thus says the Lord - in Haggai 2:6-7, which contained God's promise of the Messiah.  This week we are met by another unexpected use of the Hebrew phrase "coh amar y'adonai" in Haggai 2:11-12, but this time we are confronted by our need of a relationship with God.  Haggai 2:11-12 states, "Thus says the LORD of hosts: 'Now, ask the priests concerning the law, saying, "If one carries holy meat in the fold of his garment, and with the edge he touches bread or stew, wine or oil, or any food, will it become holy?"'  Then the priests answered and said, 'No'" (NKJV).  Obviously, it seems a little bizarre that an intense discussion is taking place about food items and clothing.  The significance of this has to do with how ancient Israel understood the categories of "clean" and "unclean." 

According to Leviticus, God's holiness made everything clean, if everything participated in his holiness; if it did not, then it existed at various levels of uncleanness - which was not a moral or medical condition, but rather a statement on how close or far away someone or something was to God.  Holy meat was meat that not only came from a clean animal, but which had also been consecrated to God.  God is asking a rhetorical question of his priests: if you have a holy/clean item and it touches other items, do those items become holy/clean?  The answer, according to ancient Israel, is no - that's not how holy items interact with "neutral" items.  But verse 13 points out that uncleanness works differently: if someone has touched a dead body (and therefore is unclean) and then touches any of the aforementioned items, those items become unclean. 

God explains the rationale for this extended reflection on clean and unclean food and clothing items in verse 14: the people of Israel are a lot like those items that become unclean from being touched by a person who had handled a dead body.  Israel doesn't realize that they are in need of being made holy, which is why they don't come to God; instead, they convince themselves that they already have him.  That's why God sends the Messiah to them: so they can be rescued from their sin and made holy. 

Friends, it's easy to convince ourselves that our relationship with God is exactly what it should be.  But only Jesus the Messiah can make our relationship with God a truly holy experience.  If God is telling you today to turn to him, to trust in Jesus, or to leave behind something long cherished, I encourage you to do that - because "thus says the Lord." 

 

God bless,

Pastor Nathaniel Gamble

Pastor Nathaniel Gamble