unable to retain what was deposited in it (Hag 1:6). In spite of their determined efforts, the prosperity that they craved eluded them. Their experience calls to mind a paradox: “For whoever wants to save his life will lose it” (Mark 8:35; Matt 16:25; Luke 9:24). It fell to the prophet Haggai to show why the attitude of the postexilic Israelite community did not honor the God they professed to serve. Haggai’s ministry was one of calling his generation to a renewed commitment to the task of the immediate
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