The text literally reads, Is it not like it, like nothing, in your eyes?
Taylor and Clendenen argue that Haggai’s use of the preposition like
(ְכּ) equates the temple with nothingness. They write, This building and nothingness amounted to the same thing!
1
What is God really doing with his questions? Is he calling the temple as nothing in your eyes
to make his people feel bad about their work so far? No. Is he calling the temple as nothing in your eyes
to make his people work harder, as though the temple’s glory is ultimately a matter of skill and craftsmanship? The Lord is saying something about the character of their day. In ages past, as evidence of God’s favour, Israel could point to their Davidic king, or to the grandeur and magnificence of their city, or to their supremacy over other nations. All of that displayed something of the glory of Israel and the glory of God. But those days were a distant memory. Now they have no power, wealth, or influence. They were just a conquered people, just one small cog in the machine of the great Persian Empire. We know from Haggai’s colleague Zechariah that many saw their day as the day of small things
(Zechariah 4:10), and were discouraged.2 For them, the past seemed incomparably better than the present, and the present seemed much less than worthwhile.
3 God’s dwelling place among the nation was like nothing in their eyes. So the unimpressive temple matches their humble stage in redemptive history.
3 ‘Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? How do you see it now? Is it not as nothing in your eyes?