According to Rev. Michael Piazza in Liberating Word “Like Haggai, Zechariah was a prophet who lived during the period after the return from exile, and he, too, raised his voice to call for the people to rebuild the temple and the city. I wonder how the residents who had been left behind felt about these returning exiles. I mean, they had been gone a long time! A generation had passed, and those left behind had moved on with their lives. Now, these idealistic strangers come back wanting to “restore” things.
The restoration of the temple met with some resistance and was delayed for about 18 years. Like Haggai, Zechariah is trying to motivate the exiles to get back to work on it. They had gotten distracted with making a living and building a home and forgotten that they had a larger responsibility both to society and to posterity. The prophet’s job was to challenge, cajole and harass them into rising up and giving their time and efforts to a larger cause.” Have we, too, forgotten our larger responsibility to society and to posterity?
According to Rev. Michael Piazza in Liberating Word “Like Haggai, Zechariah was a prophet who lived during the period after the return from exile, and he, too, raised his voice to call for the people to rebuild the temple and the city. I wonder how the residents who had been left behind felt about these returning exiles. I mean, they had been gone a long time! A generation had passed, and those left behind had moved on with their lives. Now, these idealistic strangers come back wanting to “restore” things.
ReplyDeleteThe restoration of the temple met with some resistance and was delayed for about 18 years. Like Haggai, Zechariah is trying to motivate the exiles to get back to work on it. They had gotten distracted with making a living and building a home and forgotten that they had a larger responsibility both to society and to posterity. The prophet’s job was to challenge, cajole and harass them into rising up and giving their time and efforts to a larger cause.” Have we, too, forgotten our larger responsibility to society and to posterity?