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Divinity for Advanced Secondary Schools

among other things, the punishment of as priests, pastors, and church elders,
the nations rising against Israel (1:18- deliver messages that please people.
21) and the purging of the sin of the They avoid saying something that will
people. God also promises hope for hurt their listeners. A true prophet is
the future (9:9) and the time of purified responsible and sees that he has the
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living (14: 21). authority and obligation to deliver the
message of God as received, knowing
As stressed above, humankind draws that they are accountable.
inspiration, patterns, and energy from
God to live responsibly. God’s concern, Joshua, the high priest and Zerubbabel
as revealed in the books of Haggai the governor, reveal responsibility for
and Zechariah, calls people to be receiving the prophetic message and
concerned and act responsibly for the acting on it with obedience (Hag. 1:12).
welfare of fellow human beings and the The fact that the rebuilding of the temple
environment. resumed to the stage of completion bears

witness to the effectiveness of these
Responsible leaders: Haggai, Zechariah, leaders in acting responsibly. Some
Joshua and Zerubbabel leaders today act irresponsibly either
In both cases, the prophets met their by neglecting their responsibilities or
obligations by delivering the message even embezzling funds to carry out their
they received from God. The prophets’ assigned tasks. Such leaders should
readiness to deliver God’s message to be instructed to follow the example of
the people is worth imitating. It is worth successful God-fearing leaders like
noting that the message the prophets Joshua and Zerubbabel. In addition,
were asked to deliver was not always in they should always be reminded that
line with the expectations and tastes of responsibility has a sense of liability, in
the people. At times the prophets were which case the property or funds they
asked to deliver a distasteful message. have misappropriated become a debt on
One example is when Haggai was to their side.
tell the people of Judah that they were
suffering because of abandoning the Irresponsible and responsible people
temple (Hag. 1:6, 9). The people of Judah and Jerusalem
exhibited inconsistent patterns.
Another example is when Zechariah Sometimes, they behaved irresponsibly,
was to deliver a message of repentance whereas they behaved responsibly other
(Zec. 1:4). Such situations were likely times. Their irresponsible behaviour is
to make the prophets not deliver the seen in their indifference to the temple’s
message out of fear of being attacked or ruins (Hag. 1:4).
disliked. Some of today’s servants, such

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