KFLCC Kingdom Economics

C HAPTER 9

9 B REAKING THE S PIRIT OF P OVERTY AND L ACK

You have sown much, and bring in little; you eat, but do not have enough; you drink, but you are not filled with drink; you clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; and he who earns wages, earns wages to put into a bag with holes. H AGGAI 1:6 (NKJV) ew Testament Christians tend to spend ample time reading the wisdom writings of David and Solomon, but often ignore the prophetic truths in the twelve Biblical books of the minor prophets (minor in the sense that their books have shorter texts). One of those prophets was Haggai who wrote two chapters found in the Old Testament. N Haggai was one of several prophets who ministered after the Babylonian captivity in the days of the rebuilding of the Temple under Ezra, when Zerubbabel was governor of Judea (Ezra 2:2; 3:2; 4:2-3). The Hebrew name Haggai means “my festival,” causing some to suggest he may have been born during one of Israel’s major feasts. He is mentioned in Ezra 5:1 and 6:14, and he wrote when the Jews had returned from Babylon and things were in a condition of deterioration. Imagine that you had been away from your home and property for seventy years. You departed with your family as a young child, and now you are in your eighties with children and grandchildren. As you return to Israel, you arrive at your property to a heartbreaking scene. The ceiling in your former family dwelling has fallen in, and large thorn bushes and weeds are clinging to the outside stone like glue. The withered vineyards have not been pruned, and it is now your responsibility to repair this once beautiful home for you and your

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