The ultimate source of the people’s obedience was not raw willpower, or self-reliance, or a holy dread, or a greater spirituality than their forefathers. We are not left to guess. This verse opens the curtain and takes us behind the willing response of the leaders and the people: And the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people.
Their obedience was the fruit of the Lord’s silent working by his Spirit in their hearts.1 The Lord had sent Haggai with his Word. Then the Lord works powerfully through his Word, by his Spirit, to transform the leaders and the people. Spiritual transformation, spiritual renewal does not happen through raw willpower, through finding your own wherewithal. To be sure, Zerubbabel, Joshua, and the remnant certainly made a conscious choice to believe God, and to obey God. They were not robots, and neither are we. Yet the passage tells us that this virtually unprecedented transformation in Jerusalem was God’s work. The Lord stirred up the spirit
of the leaders and the remnant. He roused, he awakened, he disturbed, he moved their hearts, their affections, convicted them of sin, and made them willing servants of God. He emboldened them to not only hear the word but fulfill his will.2
14 And the LORD stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people. And they came and worked on the house of the LORD of hosts, their God,