Cyrus, the Persian king allowed the Israelites to return to their land in 536 B.C. They began immediately rebuilding the temple, but because of persecution stopped the work two years later, and did not begin again until the work of Haggai, in 520 B.C.

God, through Haggai, asked the priests two questions: “If one carries holy meat in the fold of his garment, and with the edge he touches bread or stew, wine or oil, or any food, will it become holy? Then the priests answered and said, No. And Haggai said, If one who is unclean because of a dead body touches any of these will it be unclean? So the priests answered and said, It shall be unclean. Then Haggai answered and said, So is this people, and so is this nation before Me, says the Lord, and so is every work of their hands; and what they offer there is unclean” (Haggai 2:12-14).

Notice first that there was a law that regulated what was clean and unclean.  “Holy meat” (that which  was sacrificed) could not communicate holiness to one who was unholy (Lev. 6:27).  In fact, “He who touches the dead body of anyone shall be unclean seven days...Whatever the unclean person touches shall be unclean” (Num. 19:11,22). The unclean person communicated pollution to anything he touched. The years of selfishness and neglect had rendered Israel unclean. They were beginning to rebuild the temple, but their offerings were still unclean because they had not completed the job. Since they were unclean, everything they touched became unclean.

To make an understandable analogy today, we could ask if a healthy man can infuse health to a sick person? The answer is negative, but one sick person can spread disease to a number of people. Although we do not live under the law that Haggai was discussing, the same principles are true.

First, duty requires a spirit of obedience. Paul said, “For if there is first a willing mind, it is accepted according to what one has, and not according to what he does not have” (2 Cor. 8:12). A bad heart will pollute any good deed that we may perform. Even if “I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing” (1 Cor. 13:3). We are not to “conform to this world” but to be “transformed by the renewing of your mind…” (Rom. 12:2). Good acts must come from a good heart.

Second, the evil effects of continuing to fellowship sinful people will have the effect of causing the whole group to become unclean. The Corinthians were told that “a little leaven leavens the whole lump,” therefore they were to remove the sinful person from their midst (1 Cor. 5:6,7). One way we keep ourselves pure is by maintaining the purity of the church. Remember, holiness is not contagious, but un-holiness is!