What might explain the gap of time between hearing the message and the start of the work on the temple?
Between Haggai’s message and the start of the rebuild were twenty-three days. Why the delay? This was in fact no delay. The text has made clear that the Word and Spirit had changed the peoples’ hearts. Thus, the gap was not filled with idleness. Rather, it can be explained by noting that the sixth month marked the completion of the grape, fig, and pomegranate harvests.1 So there would have been work to complete on the farms. Further, the people could not simply start rebuilding the day after Haggai’s message. They needed to collect materials, clear away rubbish, organize workers, and draw up building plans, all in order to start building on the foundation that had been set in 535 BC (Ezra 3:10–11).2 This they did in twenty-three days, and on day twenty-four they started rebuilding. The speed of their response is incredible. They did not have trucks, skid steers, cranes, or a lumber store nearby. How did they manage to do all this work in just twenty-three days? They were full of zeal, and worked intensely hard. See how powerful the Word and Spirit of the Lord are.
15 on the twenty-fourth day of the month, in the sixth month, in the second year of Darius the king.