In the short book of Haggai, after a couple of prophecies about rebuilding the temple in Jerusalem, the next prophecy still refers to the temple, but it seems a little different from the previous two. (By the way, just to provide some chronological context, this date of “Year 2, Month 9, Day 24” has been calculated as December 18, 520 B.C. by commentators Hahlen and Ham [p.258].)
On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came to the prophet Haggai: “This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘Ask the priests what the law says: If someone carries consecrated meat in the fold of their garment, and that fold touches some bread or stew, some wine, olive oil or other food, does it become consecrated?’ ”
The priests answered, “No.”
Then Haggai said, “If a person defiled by contact with a dead body touches one of these things, does it become defiled?”
“Yes,” the priests replied, “it becomes defiled.”
Then Haggai said, “ ‘So it is with this people and this nation in my sight,’ declares the LORD. ‘Whatever they do and whatever they offer there is defiled.
Haggai 2:10-14 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/hag.2.10-14.NIV
This prophecy starts with the priests. It contains a couple of questions, which sound like a teacher’s test for God’s “students”. The priests answer correctly, providing background to what the rest of this prophecy was about to tell them. (Later in history, we find rabbis in Jesus’ day discussing topics and teaching through questions as well, so this probably wasn’t an unusual approach.)
The principle makes sense, though: If you were under the Mosaic law, carrying something consecrated or holy (like meat dedicated for temple activities), and you bumped up against something else, the thing you ran into wouldn’t become holy. Conversely, under the Mosaic law, if you were unholy to start with – for instance, if you were defiled or unclean because you’d touched a dead body – what you touched would become unclean. (By the way, the still broken-down temple might have even been the corpse that was mentioned here, per Hahlen & Ham, p.261.)
As a result, I think that we can safely conclude that holiness – being special and set apart for a particular purpose – doesn’t just spread by touching or by association, but uncleanness does.
That makes sense when we understand what it means to be holy, consecrated, or set apart. You can’t just “catch” holiness by being around something that is holy. One must actually be set apart and have that holiness preserved to remain holy. On the other hand, evil – or even just “commonness” or “ordinariness” – tends to be contagious.
In Haggai’s time, it sounds like the people were currently not behaving in a holy manner, further propagating their unholiness. Maybe they were sacrificing on an altar in an unbuilt temple (i.e., not finishing the job of honoring God by rebuilding His temple). Maybe they were sacrificing somewhere else, and not following God’s instructions for worship. Maybe they were sacrificing out of a sense of obligation rather than out of honor to God. Maybe they weren’t sacrificing or practicing other commandments of God at all.
Regardless, they had a new opportunity in front of them, with construction underway on a new temple. They could – and should – set apart the temple as holy, but I think that it was even more important for them to set themselves apart as holy: a holy people, set apart for the true God of the universe, without splitting their allegiance to any other gods.
As Haggai 2:15-19 continues, it explains how God’s blessing hadn’t been on the people prior to them resuming work on the temple (similar to earlier messages in this short book). At the end of verse 19, though, God stated that He would bless them going forward.
So, how about us? Are we working to keep ourselves holy, set apart for service to the one true God and His special plan for us? We cannot achieve “holiness through association”, merely going to church or being around friends and family who are committed to following Jesus Christ. We must make our own choice to give our whole lives over to the superior authority of God Himself, accepting the righteousness of Jesus (since we can’t be perfect through our own deeds) and trusting that His way is better than anything we might come up with on our own.
That might seem counterintuitive in a world that tells us that they (or we) know what is best for us. Whenever we put human ideas above God’s perfect holiness, though, we end up not only contaminating ourselves with lesser things, but also spreading spiritual death and destruction to others.
No one wants their food to touch gross dead animals by the side of the road, and in the same way, our lives must also be kept clean from contamination in this fallen world. So, let’s make the choice to accept God’s holiness for ourselves; then, let’s encourage others to do the same. Only then can we expect God’s blessings to remain upon us.
From Sunday School lesson prepared for August 10, 2025
References:
- Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
- The College Press NIV Commentary – Minor Prophets Volume 2 (Nahum-Malachi), by Mark Allen Hahlen and Clay Alan Ham. © 2006 College Press Publishing Co.
Those Who Sin Differently 