‘Go up to the mountain, and you must bring in lumber. And build the house, that I may take pleasure in it and I may be glorified,’ Jehovah has said.”

4. Despite the imperial ban, what action did Jehovah prescribe for the Jews to take, and what decisive question did this pose for the Jews?

⁴ When those foregoing words were declared, the unconstitutional ban that was laid by the late King Artaxerxes of Persia upon the building of Jehovah’s temple at Jerusalem was still in effect. Yet Jehovah of armies, speaking through Haggai, told the hard-faring Jews to get materials and “build the house, that I may take pleasure in it and I may be glorified.” (Haggai 1:8) The question at issue now became, Which is to be obeyed​—Jehovah’s will or the imperial ban, the will of a now dead misinformed man? Whose order is to be carried out​—that of the living Most High God, the Great Theocrat, or that of a dead Persian emperor? If they did as the later Christian apostles did, “obey God as ruler rather than men,” they would arouse the objections and opposition of those who favored the ban, but they would gain the approval of God. (Acts 5:29) They were already pleasing those pagan oppositionists but were displeasing God. So, now, were they willing to stir up the displeasure of their pagan adversaries and thereby win the good pleasure of Jehovah of armies?

The house of so great a Personage as Jehovah of armies, the Great Theocrat, ought to be put first. Fear of man ought not to deter them from building it, that he might take pleasure in it and be glorified.

7, 8. (a) Why did Jehovah tell the Jews to bring in lumber for the house? (b) Why was such a material house not necessary, and yet fitting, for Jehovah?

⁷ That was the remedy for their having such disappointing conditions in a material and spiritual sense​—namely, obey God as ruler rather than man and go ahead and build God’s house of worship. Let them go up to the forest-clad mountain and fell trees and bring in lumber for building the all-important house. Not that God’s temple was to be built all of wood. But the stones of the former demolished temple were lying there at the site, and wood for paneling and other needs was the material most required to be prepared. Not as though Jehovah of armies needed an earthly material house as a home in which to dwell among the well-housed Jews. He already had his dwelling place not made with human hands, in the holy heavens, and this stone and wood temple on Mount Moriah at Jerusalem was just a representation of a future spiritual temple, a true house of worship of the Most High God. It was just as Solomon the temple builder said:

⁸ “But will God truly dwell upon the earth? Look! The heavens, yes, the heaven of the heavens, themselves cannot contain you; how much less, then, this house that I have built!”​—1 Kings 8:27.

9. (a) Hence, how would God reside in that house? (b) By worshiping at such a temple, what would the Jews renew, with what results to themselves?

⁹ Hence God would dwell in the rebuilt temple at Jerusalem, not personally, but only by his spirit, his holy invisible active force, and by turning his face or attention to that temple. He would sanctify it or make it a holy house, and it would be the center of religious worship for the whole nation. There sacrifices for individuals or for the whole nation would be offered on the one authorized altar, and it would be the place to which the nation would assemble during its three annual festivals and on the Day of Atonement for the whole nation. There the high priest Joshua the son of Jehozadak and all the underpriests could officiate in behalf of the people. Thus the nation of Israel could maintain renewed relationship with their Theocratic Ruler, Jehovah, and keep in good condition spiritually. Jehovah would be glorified by the rebuilding of the temple upon which His name would be placed, and he would make his good pleasure known by pouring down blessings upon them, blessings spiritual and material.