Haggai's second message came about a month after the work began. Haggai 2:1 dates it to the twenty-first day of the seventh month. Older people who had seen Solomon's temple compared it with the modest new building. God named their feelings directly: isn't it in your eyes as nothing? Then he spoke courage to the governor, the high priest, and all the people: be strong, all you people of the land, says Yahweh, and work, for I am with you.
God rooted this courage in his covenant: this is the word that I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt, and my Spirit lived among you. Don't be afraid. He promised to shake the heavens and the earth and all nations, and to fill this house with glory. God says, the silver is mine, and the gold is mine. The latter glory of this house will be greater than the former, says Yahweh of Armies; and in this place I will give peace. The people's worth was not in the size of the building but in God's presence. Christians believe this promise finds its fullness in Jesus, and in the New Testament, Hebrews 12:26 quotes God's promise to shake the heavens and the earth.
Two months later, Haggai used questions about clean and unclean things to show that holiness is not passed on by contact, but uncleanness spreads. Their earlier neglect had tainted all their work. Yet God made a turning-point promise: from today I will bless you. The book closes with a word to Zerubbabel: I will take you, Zerubbabel my servant, the son of Shealtiel, says Yahweh, and will make you like a signet ring, for I have chosen you. A signet ring carried a king's authority, a sign that God had not forgotten his promises to David's family.