The hard financial times the Jews were experiencing meant God was trying to get their attention, as He warned He would (Deut. 28:15-41). God told them they would sow much and reap little (28:38) and it was happening. Their fruitful land wouldn’t prosper if they refused to listen and obey.

Here in Haggai they got discouraged and then found other things to do, so God tells them to “consider” their ways. They ate, but didn’t have enough to eat, something else God warned about (Lev. 26:14,26; Hos. 4:10; Mic. 6:13,14).

They ignored Leviticus 25:4 for 490 years, so God told them the Land would need to rest for 70 years.  They were given an all expenses paid trip to bondage in Babylon. That means all the nutrients farming takes out of land were restored, and their land should have been producing again. When it didn’t, they should have known they were being judged.

Just as the coats they were putting on weren’t warming them, the money they were making wasn’t profiting them. God warned them they’d spend their strength at work in vain (Lev. 26:14,20). So when God told them to consider their ways they should take Him seriously.

It was time to go back to work on the temple.