be called ‘my’ people or ‘Israel’ (cf. 2:14). Because of their neglect and indifference towards the things of God, they had forfeited that coveted title. They were too busy looking after their own interests to be owned by God, too self-centred to be named as his special people. God disowns the disobedient. These people were saying: ‘The time has not yet come for the LORD’s house to be built.’ The literal Hebrew reads: ‘It is not time for the coming of the time of the house of the LORD to be rebuilt.’
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