THE name Haggai means "my feast"; given, according to COCCEIUS, in anticipation of the joyous return from exile. He probably was one of the Jewish exiles (of the tribes Judah, Benjamin, and Levi) who returned under Zerubbabel, the civil head of the people, and Joshua, the high priest, 536 B.C., when Cyrus (actuated by the striking prophecies as to himself, Isa 44:28; 45:1) granted them their liberty, and furnished them with the necessaries for restoring the temple ( 2Ch 36:23; Ezr 1:1; 2:2). The work of rebuilding went on under Cyrus and his successor Cambyses (called Ahasuerus in Ezr 4:6) in spite of opposition from the Samaritans, who, when their offers of help were declined, began to try to hinder it. These at last obtained an interdict from the usurper Smerdis the Magian (called Artaxerxes in Ezr 4:7-23), whose suspicions were easy to rouse. The Jews thereupon became so indifferent to the work that when Darius came to the throne (521 B.C.), virtually setting aside the prohibitions of the usurper, instead of recommencing their labors, they pretended that as the prophecy of the seventy years applied to the temple as well as to the captivity in Babylon ( Hag 1:2), they were only in the sixty-eighth year of it [H ENDERSON]; so that, the proper time not having yet arrived, they might devote themselves to building splendid mansions for themselves. Haggai and Zechariah were commissioned by Jehovah ( Hag 1:1) in the second year of Darius (Hystaspes), 520 B.C., sixteen years after the return under Zerubbabel, to rouse them from their selfishness to resume the work which for fourteen years had been suspended. Haggai preceded Zechariah in the work by two months.
The dates of his four distinct prophecies are accurately given: (1) The first ( Hag 1:1-15), on the first day of the sixth month of the second year of Darius, 520 B.C., reproved the people for their apathy in allowing the temple to lie in ruins and reminded them of their ill success in everything because of their not honoring God as to His house. The result was that twenty-four days afterwards they commenced building under Zerubbabel ( Hag 1:12-15). (2) The second, on the twenty-first day of the seventh month ( Hag 2:1-9), predicts that the glory of the new temple would be greater than that of Solomon's, so that the people need not be discouraged by the inferiority in outward splendor of the new, as compared with the old temple, which had so moved to tears the elders who had remembered the old ( Ezr 3:12, 13). Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel had implied the same prediction, whence some had doubted whether they ought to proceed with a building so inferior to the former one; but Haggai shows wherein the superior glory was to consist, namely, in the presence of Him who is the "desire of all nations" ( Hag 2:7). (3) The third, on the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month ( Hag 2:10-19), refers to a period when building materials had been collected, and the workmen had begun to put them together, from which time forth God promises His blessing; it begins with removing their past error as to the efficacy of mere outward observances to cleanse from the taint of disobedience as to the temple building. (4) The fourth ( Hag 2:20-23), on the same day as the preceding, was addressed to Zerubbabel, as the representative of the theocratic people, and as having asked as to the national revolutions spoken of in the second prophecy ( Hag 2:7).
The prophecies are all so brief as to suggest the supposition that they are only a summary of the original discourses. The space occupied is but three months from the first to the last.
The Jews' adversaries, on the resumption of the work under Zerubbabel, Haggai, and Zechariah, tried to set Darius against it; but that monarch confirmed Cyrus' decree and ordered all help to be given to the building of the temple ( Ezr 5:3, &c.; Ezr 6:1, &c.). So the temple was completed in the sixth year of Darius' reign 516-515 B.C. ( Ezr 6:14).
The style of Haggai is consonant with his messages: pathetic in exhortation, vehement in reproofs, elevated in contemplating the glorious future. The repetition of the same phrases (for example, "saith the Lord," or "the Lord of hosts," Hag 1:2, 5, 7; and thrice in one verse, Hag 2:4; so "the spirit," thrice in one verse, Hag 1:14) gives a simple earnestness to his style, calculated to awaken the solemn attention of the people, and to awaken them from their apathy, to which also the interrogatory form, often adopted, especially tends. Chaldaisms occur ( Hag 2:3; 2:6; 2:16), as might have been expected in a writer who was so long in Chaldea. Parts are purely prose history; the rest is somewhat rhythmical, and observant of poetic parallelism.
Haggai is referred to in Ezr 5:1; 6:14; and in the New Testament ( Heb 12:26; compare Hag 2:6, 7, 22).
Hag 1:1-15. HAGGAI CALLS THE PEOPLE TO CONSIDER THEIR WAYS IN NEGLECTING TO BUILD GOD'S HOUSE: THE EVIL OF THIS NEGLECT TO THEMSELVES: THE HONOR TO GOD OF ATTENDING TO IT: THE PEOPLE'S PENITENT OBEDIENCE UNDER ZERUBBABEL FOLLOWED BY GOD'S GRACIOUS ASSURANCE.
1. second year of Darius--Hystaspes, the king of
Medo-Persia, the second of the world empires, Babylon
having been overthrown by the Persian Cyrus. The Jews
having no king of their own, dated by the reign of the
world kings to whom they were subject. Darius was a common
name of the Persian kings, as Pharaoh of those of Egypt,
and Cæsar of those of Rome. The name in the cuneiform
inscriptions at Persepolis is written Daryawus, from
the root Darh, "to preserve," the
Conservator [LASSEN]. HERODOTUS [6.98] explains it
Coercer. Often opposite attributes are assigned to the
same god; in which light the Persians viewed their king.
Ezr 4:24 harmonizes with Haggai in making this year the
date of the resumption of the building.
sixth month--of the Hebrew year, not
of Darius' reign (compare
Zec 1:7; 7:1, 3; 8:19). Two months later ("the
eighth month,"
Zec 1:1) Zechariah began to prophesy, seconding
Haggai.
the Lord--Hebrew, JEHOVAH:
God's covenant title, implying His unchangeableness,
the guarantee of His faithfulness in keeping His promises
to His people.
by Haggai--Hebrew, "in the
hand of Haggai"; God being the real speaker, His
prophet but the instrument (compare
Ac 7:35; Ga 3:19).
Zerubbabel--called also Shesh-bazzar
in
Ezr 1:8; 5:14, 16, where the same work is attributed to
Shesh-bazzar that in
Ezr 3:8 is attributed to Zerubbabel. Shesh-bazzar is
probably his Chaldean name; as Belteshazzar was that
of Daniel. Zerubbabel, his Hebrew name, means
"one born in Babylon."
son of Shealtiel--or Salathiel. But
1Ch 3:17, 19 makes Pedaiah his father. Probably he was
adopted by his uncle Salathiel, or Shealtiel, at the
death of his father (compare
Mt 1:12; Lu 3:27).
governor of Judah--to which office
Cyrus had appointed him. The Hebrew Pechah is akin
to the original of the modern Turkish Pasha; one
ruling a region of the Persian empire of less extent than
that under a satrap.
Joshua--called Jeshua (
Ezr 2:2); so the son of Nun in
Ne 8:17.
Josedech--or Jehozadak (
1Ch 6:15), one of those carried captive by
Nebuchadnezzar. Haggai addresses the civil and the
religious representatives of the people, so as to have them
as his associates in giving God's commands; thus
priest, prophet, and ruler jointly testify in God's
name.
2. the Lord of hosts--Jehovah, Lord of the powers of heaven
and earth, and therefore requiring implicit
obedience.
This people--"This" sluggish
and selfish "people." He does not say, My
people, since they had neglected the service of God.
The time--the proper time for building
the temple. Two out of the seventy predicted years of
captivity (dating from the destruction of the temple, 558
B.C.,
2Ki 25:9) were yet unexpired; this they make their plea
for delay [H ENDERSON]. The seventy years of captivity were
completed long ago in the first year of Cyrus, 536 B.C. (
Jer 29:10); dating from 606 B.C., Jehoiakim's
captivity (
2Ch 36:6). The seventy years to the completion of the
temple (
Jer 25:12) were completed this very year, the second of
Darius [V ATABLUS]. Ingenious in excuses, they pretended
that the interruption in the work caused by their enemies
proved it was not yet the proper time; whereas their
real motive was selfish dislike of the trouble, expense,
and danger from enemies. "God," say they,
"hath interposed many difficulties to punish our rash
haste" [C ALVIN]. Smerdis' interdict was no longer
in force, now that Darius the rightful king was on the
throne; therefore they had no real excuse for not beginning
at once to build. A UBERLEN denies that by
"Artaxerxes" in
Ezr 4:7-22 is meant Smerdis. Whether Smerdis or
Artaxerxes Longimanus be meant, the interdict referred only
to the rebuilding of the city, which the Persian
kings feared might, if rebuilt, cause them trouble to
subdue; not to the rebuilding of the temple. But the
Jews were easily turned aside from the work. Spiritually,
like the Jews, men do not say they will never be religious,
but, It is not time yet. So the great work of life is left
undone.
4. Is it time--It is not time (
Hag 1:2), ye say, to build Jehovah's house; yet how
is it that ye make it a fit time not only to build,
but to "dwell" at ease in your own houses?
you, O ye--rather, for "you,
you"; the repetition marking the shameful contrast
between their concern for themselves, and their
unconcern for God [MAURER]. Compare a similar repetition in
1Sa 25:24; Zec 7:5.
ceiled--rather,
"wainscoted," or "paneled," referring
to the walls as well as the ceilings; furnished not only
with comfort but luxury, in sad contrast to God's house
not merely unadorned, but the very walls not raised above
the foundations. How different David's feelings (
2Sa 7:2)!
5. Consider your ways--literally, "Set your heart" on your ways. The plural implies, Consider both what ye have done (actively, La 3:40) and what ye have suffered (passively) [JEROME]. Ponder earnestly whether ye have gained by seeking self at the sacrifice of God.
6. Nothing has prospered with you while you neglected your
duty to God. The punishment corresponds to the sin. They
thought to escape poverty by not building, but keeping
their money to themselves; God brought it on them
for not building (
Pr 13:7; 11:24; Mt 6:33). Instead of cheating God, they
had been only cheating themselves.
ye clothe . . . but
. . . none warm--through insufficiency of
clothing; as ye are unable through poverty from failure of
your crops to purchase sufficient clothing. The verbs are
infinitive, implying a continued state: "Ye
have sown, and been bringing in but little; ye have
been eating, but not to being satisfied; ye
have been drinking, but not to being filled;
ye have been putting on clothes, but not to being
warmed" [MOORE]. Careful consideration of
God's dealings with us will indicate God's will
regarding us. The events of life are the hieroglyphics in
which God records His feelings towards us, the key to which
is found in the Bible [MOORE].
wages . . . put
. . . into a bag with holes--proverbial for labor
and money spent profitlessly (
Zec 8:10; compare
Isa 55:2; Jer 2:13). Contrast, spiritually, the
"bags that wax not old, the treasure in heaven that
faileth not" (
Lu 12:33). Through the high cost of necessaries, those
who wrought for a day's wages parted with them at once,
as if they had put them into a bag with holes.
8. Go up to the mountain--Moriah [ROSENMULLER]; Lebanon
[HENDERSON]. Rather, generally, the mountains
around, now covered with wood, the growth of the long
period of the captivity. So
Ne 8:15, "Go forth unto the mount,"
that is, the neighboring hills [MAURER].
wood--Haggai specifies this as being
the first necessary; not to the exclusion of other
materials. Stones also were doubtless needed. That
the old walls were not standing, as the Hebrew interpreters
quoted by JEROME state, or the new walls partly built,
appears from
Hag 2:18, where express mention is made of laying
the foundations.
I will take pleasure in it, and I will
be glorified--I will be propitious to suppliants in it (
1Ki 8:30), and shall receive the honor due to Me which
has been withheld. In neglecting the temple, which is the
mirror of My presence, ye dishonor Me [CALVIN]; in its
being built, ye shall glorify Me.
9. Ye looked for much--literally, "looked" so as
to turn your eyes "to much." The Hebrew
infinitive here expresses continued looking. Ye
hoped to have your store made "much" by
neglecting the temple. The greater was your greediness, the
more bitter your disappointment in being poorer than
ever.
when ye brought it home, I did blow
upon it--even the little crop brought into your barns I
dissipated. "I did blow upon," that is, I
scattered and caused to perish with My mere breath, as
scattered and blighted corn.
mine house . . . his own
house--in emphatic antithesis.
ye run--expressing the keenness of
everyone of them in pursuing their own selfish interests.
Compare "run,"
Ps 119:32; Pr 1:16, contrasted with their apathy about
God's house.
10. heaven . . . is stayed from dew--literally, "stays itself." Thus heaven or the sky is personified; implying that inanimate nature obeys Jehovah's will; and, shocked at His people's disobedience, withholds its goods from them (compare Jer 2:12, 13).
11. I called--what the "heaven" and
"earth," the second causes, were said to do (
Hag 1:10), being the visible instruments,
Jehovah, in this verse, the invisible first cause, declares
to be His doing. He "calls for" famine, &c.,
as instruments of His wrath (
2Ki 8:1; Ps 105:16). The contrast is striking between
the prompt obedience of these material agencies, and the
slothful disobedience of living men, His people.
drought--Hebrew, Choreb, like
in sound to Chareeb, "waste" (
Hag 1:4, 9), said of God's house; implying the
correspondence between the sin and its punishment. Ye have
let My house be waste, and I will send on all that
is yours a wasting drought. This would affect not
merely the "corn," &c., but also
"men" and "cattle," who must perish in
the absence of the "corn," &c., lost by the
drought.
labour of the hands--all the fruits of
lands, gardens, and vineyards, obtained by labor of the
hands (
De 28:33; Ps 78:46).
12. remnant of the people--all those who have returned from
the exile (
Zec 8:6).
as . . . God sent
him--according to all that Jehovah had enjoined him to
speak. But as it is not till
Hag 1:14 after Haggai's second message (
Hag 1:13) that the people actually obeyed,
MAURER translates here, "hearkened to the voice
of the Lord," and instead of "as,"
"because the Lord had sent him." However,
English Version rightly represents their
purpose of obedience as obedience in God's eyes
already, though not carried into effect till
Hag 1:14.
13. the Lord's messenger--so the priests (
Mal 2:7) are called (compare
Ga 4:14; 2Pe 1:21).
in the Lord's message--by the
Lord's authority and commission: on the Lord's
embassage.
I am with you-- (
Mt 28:20). On the people showing the mere disposition
to obey, even before they actually set to work, God passes
at once from the reproving tone to that of tenderness. He
hastens as it were to forget their former unfaithfulness,
and to assure them, when obedient, that He both is and
will be with them: Hebrew, "I with
you!" God's presence is the best of blessings, for
it includes all others. This is the sure guarantee of their
success no matter how many their foes might be (
Ro 8:31). Nothing more inspirits men and rouses them
from torpor, than, when relying on the promises of divine
aid, they have a sure hope of a successful issue [CALVIN].
14. Lord stirred up the spirit of, &c.--God gave them
alacrity and perseverance in the good work, though slothful
in themselves. Every good impulse and revival of religion
is the direct work of God by His Spirit.
came and did work--collected the wood
and stones and other materials (compare
Hag 1:8) for the work. Not actually built or "laid
the (secondary) foundations" of the temple, for this
was not done till three months after, namely, the
twenty-fourth day of the ninth month (
Hag 2:18) [GROTIUS].
15. four and twentieth day--twenty-three days after the first message of Haggai ( Hag 1:1).
Hag 2:1-9. SECOND PROPHECY. The people, discouraged at the inferiority of this temple to Solomon's, are encouraged nevertheless to persevere, because God is with them, and this house by its connection with Messiah's kingdom shall have a glory far above that of gold and silver.
1. seventh month--of the Hebrew year; in the second year of Darius' reign ( Hag 1:1); not quite a month after they had begun the work ( Hag 1:15). This prophecy was very shortly before that of Zechariah.
3. Who is left . . . that saw . . .
first glory--Many elders present at the laying of the
foundation of the second temple who had seen the first
temple (
Ezr 3:12, 13) in all its glory, wept at the contrast
presented by the rough and unpromising appearance of the
former in its beginnings. From the destruction of the first
temple to the second year of Darius Hystaspes, the date of
Haggai's prophecy, was a space of seventy years (
Zec 1:12); and to the first year of Cyrus, or the end
of the captivity, fifty-two years; so that the elders might
easily remember the first temple. The Jews note five points
of inferiority: The absence from the second temple of (1)
the sacred fire; (2) the Shekinah; (3) the ark and
cherubim; (4) the Urim and Thummim; (5) the spirit of
prophecy. The connection of it with Messiah more than
counterbalanced all these; for He is the antitype to all
the five (
Hag 2:9).
how do ye see it now?--God's
estimate of things is very different from man's (
Zec 8:6; compare
1Sa 16:7). However low their estimate of the present
temple ("it") from its outward inferiority, God
holds it superior (
Zec 4:10; 1Co 1:27, 28).
4. be strong . . . for I am with you--The greatest strength is to have Jehovah with us as our strength. Not in man's "might," but in that of God's Spirit ( Zec 4:6).
5. According to the word that--literally, "(I
am with you) the word (or thing) which I
covenanted"; that is, I am with you as I covenanted
with you when ye came out of Egypt (
Ex 19:5, 6; 34:10, 11). The covenant promise of
God to the elect people at Sinai is an additional motive
for their persevering. The Hebrew for to
"covenant" is literally "to cut,"
alluding to the sacrificial victims cut in
ratification of a covenant.
so--or, "and."
my Spirit remaineth among you--to
strengthen you for the work (
Hag 1:14; Zec 4:6). The inspiration of Haggai and
Zechariah at this time was a specimen of the presence of
God's Spirit remaining still with His
people, as He had been with Moses and Israel of old (
Ezr 5:1; Isa 63:11).
6. Yet once, it is a little while--or, "(it is) yet a little while." The Hebrew for "once" expresses the indefinite article "a" [MAURER]. Or, "it is yet only a little while"; literally, "one little," that is, a single brief space till a series of movements is to begin; namely, the shakings of nations soon to begin which are to end in the advent of Messiah, "the desire of all nations" [MOORE]. The shaking of nations implies judgments of wrath on the foes of God's people, to precede the reign of the Prince of peace ( Isa 13:13). The kingdoms of the world are but the scaffolding for God's spiritual temple, to be thrown down when their purpose is accomplished. The transitoriness of all that is earthly should lead men to seek "peace" in Messiah's everlasting kingdom ( Hag 2:9; Heb 12:27, 28) [MOORE]. The Jews in Haggai's times hesitated about going forward with the work, through dread of the world power, Medo-Persia, influenced by the craft of Samaria. The prophet assures them this and all other world powers are to fall before Messiah, who is to be associated with this temple; therefore they need fear naught. So Heb 12:26, which quotes this passage; the apostle compares the heavier punishment which awaits the disobedient under the New Testament with that which met such under the Old Testament. At the establishment of the Sinaitic covenant, only the earth was shaken to introduce it, but now heaven and earth and all things are to be shaken, that is, along with prodigies in the world of nature, all kingdoms that stand in the way of Messiah's kingdom, "which cannot be shaken," are to be upturned ( Da 2:35, 44; Mt 21:44). Heb 12:27, "Yet once more," favors English Version. Paul condenses together the two verses of Haggai ( Hag 2:6, 7, and Hag 2:21, 22), implying that it was one and the same shaking, of which the former verses of Haggai denote the beginning, the latter the end. The shaking began introductory to the first advent; it will be finished at the second. Concerning the former, compare Mt 3:17; 27:51; 28:2; Ac 2:2; 4:31; concerning the latter, Mt 24:7; Re 16:20; 18:20; 20:11 [BENGEL]. There is scarcely a prophecy of Messiah in the Old Testament which does not, to some extent at least, refer to His second coming [SIR ISAAC NEWTON]. Ps 68:8 mentions the heavens dropping near the mountain (Sinai); but Haggai speaks of the whole created heavens: "Wait only a little while, though the promised event is not apparent yet; for soon will God change things for the better: do not stop short with these preludes and fix your eyes on the present state of the temple [C ALVIN]. God shook the heavens by the lightnings at Sinai; the earth, that it should give forth waters; the sea, that it should be divided asunder. In Christ's time God shook the heaven, when He spake from it; the earth, when it quaked; the sea, when He commanded the winds and waves [GROTIUS]. CICERO records at the time of Christ the silencing of the heathen oracles; and D IO, the fall of the idols in the Roman capitol.
7. shake--not convert; but cause that agitation
which is to precede Messiah's coming as the healer of
the nations' agitations. The previous shaking shall
cause the yearning "desire" for the Prince
of peace. MOORE and others translate "the
beauty," or "the desirable things (the precious
gifts) of all nations shall come" (
Isa 60:5, 11; 61:6). He brings these objections to
applying "the desire of all nations" to Messiah:
(1) The Hebrew means the quality, not the
thing desired, namely, its desirableness or
beauty, But the abstract is often put for the concrete. So
"a man of desires," that is, one desired
or desirable (
Da 9:23; 10:11, Margin;
Da 10:3, Margin). (2) Messiah was not desired by
all nations, but "a root out of a dry ground,"
having "no beauty that we should desire
Him" (
Isa 53:2). But what is implied is not that the nations
definitely desired Him, but that He was the only one
to satisfy the yearning desires which all felt
unconsciously for a Saviour, shown in their painful rites
and bloody sacrifices. Moreover, while the Jews as a nation
desired Him not (to which people
Isa 53:2 refers), the Gentiles, who are plainly pointed
out by "all nations," accepted Him; and so to
them He was peculiarly desirable. (3) The verb, "shall
come," is plural, which requires the noun to be
understood in the plural, whereas if Messiah be
intended, the noun is singular. But when two nouns
stand together, of which one is governed by the other, the
verb agrees sometimes in number with the latter,
though it really has the former as its nominative, that is,
the Hebrew "come" is made in number
to agree with "nations," though really agreeing
with "the desire." Besides, Messiah may be
described as realizing in Himself at His coming
"the desires (the noun expressing collectively
the plural) of all nations"; whence the verb is
plural. So in
So 5:16, "He is altogether lovely," in the
Hebrew the same word as here, "all
desires," that is, altogether desirable, or the
object of desires. (4)
Hag 2:8, "The silver is mine," &c.;
accords with the translation, "the choice things of
all nations" shall be brought in. But
Hag 2:8 harmonizes quite as well with English
Version of
Hag 2:7, as the note on eighth verse will show; see on
Hag 2:8. (5) the Septuagint
and Syriac versions agree with M OORE'S
translation. But Vulgate confirms English
Version. So also early Jewish Rabbis before J
EROME'S time. PLATO [Alcibiades, 2] shows the
yearning of the Gentiles after a spiritual deliverer:
"It is therefore necessary," says Alcibiades on
the subject of acceptable worship, "to wait until One
teach us how we ought to behave towards the gods and
men." Alcibiades replies, "When shall that time
arrive, and who shall that Teacher be? For most glad would
I be to see such a man." The "good tidings of
great joy" were "to all people" (
Lu 2:10). The Jews, and those in the adjoining nations
instructed by them, looked for Shiloh to come
unto whom the gathering of the people was to be, from
Jacob's prophecy (
Ge 49:10). The early patriarchs, Job (
Job 19:25-27; 33:23-26) and Abraham (
Joh 8:56), desired Him.
fill this house with glory-- (
Hag 2:9). As the first temple was filled with the cloud
of glory, the symbol of God (
1Ki 8:11; 2Ch 5:14), so this second temple was filled
with the "glory" of God (
Joh 1:14) veiled in the flesh (as it were in the
cloud) at Christ's first coming, when He entered it and
performed miracles there (
Mt 21:12-14); but that "glory" is to be
revealed at His second coming, as this prophecy in its
ulterior reference foretells (
Mal 3:1). The Jews before the destruction of Jerusalem
all expected Messiah would appear in the second temple.
Since that time they invent various forced and false
interpretations of such plain Messianic prophecies.
8. The silver is mine-- ( Job 41:11; Ps 50:12). Ye are disappointed at the absence of these precious metals in the adorning of this temple, as compared with the first temple: If I pleased I could adorn this temple with them, but I will adorn it with a "glory" ( Hag 2:7, 9) far more precious; namely, with the presence of My divine Son in His veiled glory first, and at His second coming with His revealed glory, accompanied with outward adornment of gold and silver, of which the golden covering within and without put on by Herod is the type. Then shall the nations bring offerings of those precious metals which ye now miss so much ( Isa 2:3; 60:3, 6, 7; Eze 43:2, 4, 5; 44:4). The heavenly Jerusalem shall be similarly adorned, but shall need "no temple" ( Re 21:10-22). Compare 1Co 3:12, where gold and silver represent the most precious things ( Zec 2:5). The inward glory of New Testament redemption far exceeds the outward glory of the Old Testament dispensation. So, in the case of the individual poor believer, God, if He pleased, could bestow gold and silver, but He bestows far better treasures, the possession of which might be endangered by that of the former ( Jas 2:5).
9. The glory of this latter house . . . greater
than of the former--namely, through the presence of
Messiah, in (whose) face is given the light of
the knowledge of the glory of God (
2Co 4:6; compare
Heb 1:2), and who said of Himself, "in this place
is one greater than the temple" (
Mt 12:6), and who "sat daily teaching in it"
(
Mt 26:55). Though Zerubbabel's temple was taken
down to the foundations when Herod rebuilt the temple, the
latter was considered, in a religious point of view, as not
a third temple, but virtually the second
temple.
in this place . . .
peace--namely, at Jerusalem, the metropolis of the kingdom
of God, whose seat was the temple: where Messiah "made
peace through the blood of His cross" (
Col 1:20). Thus the "glory" consists in this
"peace." This peace begins by the removal of the
difficulty in the way of the just God accepting the guilty
(
Ps 85:8, 10; Isa 9:6, 7; 53:5; Zec 6:13; 2Co 5:18, 19);
then it creates peace in the sinner's own heart (
Isa 57:19; Ac 10:36; Ro 5:1; 14:17; Eph 2:13-17; Php
4:7); then peace in the whole earth (
Mic 5:5; Lu 2:14). First peace between God and man,
then between man and God, then between man and man (
Isa 2:4; Ho 2:18; Zec 9:10). As "Shiloh" (
Ge 49:10) means peace, this verse confirms the
view that
Hag 2:7, "the desire of all nations," refers
to Shiloh or Messiah, foretold in
Ge 49:10.
Hag 2:10-19. THIRD PROPHECY. Sacrifices without obedience (in respect to God's command to build the temple) could not sanctify. Now that they are obedient, God will bless them, though no sign is seen of fertility as yet.
10. four and twentieth day . . . ninth month--three days more than two months from the second prophecy ( Hag 2:1); in the month Chisleu, the lunar one about the time of our December. The Jews seem to have made considerable progress in the work in the interval ( Hag 2:15-18).
11. Ask . . . the priests--Propose this question to them on the law. The priests were the authorized expounders of the law ( Le 10:11; De 33:10; Eze 44:23; Mal 2:7).
12. "Holy flesh" (that is, the flesh of a sacrifice, Jer 11:15), indeed, makes holy the "skirt" in which it is carried; but that "skirt" cannot impart its sanctity to any thing beyond, as "bread," &c. ( Le 6:27). This is cited to illustrate the principle, that a sacrifice, holy, as enveloping divine things (just as the "skirt" is "holy" which envelops "holy" flesh), cannot by its inherent or opus operatum efficacy make holy a person whose disobedience, as that of the Jew while neglecting God's house, made him unholy.
13. On the other hand, a legally "unclean" person imparts his uncleanness to any thing, whereas a legally holy thing cannot confer its sanctity on an "unclean" person ( Nu 19:11, 13, 22). Legal sanctity is not so readily communicated as legal impurity. So the paths to sin are manifold: the paths to holiness one, and that one of difficult access [GROTIUS]. One drop of filth will defile a vase of water: many drops of water will not purity a vase of filth [MOORE].
14. Then answered Haggai--rather, "Then Haggai
answered (in rejoinder to the priests' answer) and
said" [MAURER].
so is this people--heretofore not in
such an obedient state of mind as to deserve to be called
My people (
Tit 1:15). Here he applies the two cases just stated.
By the first case, "this people" is not made
"holy" by their offerings "there"
(namely, on the altar built in the open air, under Cyrus,
Ezr 3:3); though the ritual sacrifice can ordinarily
sanctify outwardly so far as it reaches (
Heb 9:13), as the "holy flesh" sanctified the
"skirt," yet it cannot make the offerers in their
persons and all their works acceptable to God, because
lacking the spirit of obedience (
1Sa 15:22) so long as they neglected to build the
Lord's house. On the contrary, by the second case, they
made "unclean" their very offerings by
being unclean through "dead works"
(disobedience), just as the person unclean by contact with
a dead body imparted his uncleanness to all that he touched
(compare
Heb 9:14). This all applies to them as they had been,
not as they are now that they have begun to obey; the
design is to guard them against falling back again. The
"there" points to the altar, probably in view of
the audience which the prophet addressed.
15. consider--literally, "lay it to heart." Ponder earnestly, retracing the past "upward" (that is, backward), comparing what evils heretofore befell you before ye set about this work, with the present time when you have again commenced it, and when in consequence I now engage to "bless you." Hence ye may perceive the evils of disobedience and the blessing of obedience.
16. Since those days were--from the time that those
days of your neglect of the temple work have been.
when one came to an heap of
twenty measures--that is, to a heap which he had
expected would be one of twenty measures, there were
but ten.
fifty vessels out of the
press--As the Septuagint translates
"measure," and Vulgate "a
flagon," and as we should rather expect vat
than press. MAURER translates (omitting
vessels, which is not in the original),
"purahs," or "wine-measures."
17. Appropriated from Am 4:9, whose canonicity is thus sealed by Haggai's inspired authority; in the last clause, "turned," however, has to be supplied, its omission marking by the elliptical abruptness ("yet ye not to Me!") God's displeasure. Compare "(let him come) unto Me!" Moses in excitement omitting the bracketed words ( Ex 32:26). "Blasting" results from excessive drought; "mildew, from excessive moisture.
18. Resumed from
Hag 2:15 after
Hag 2:16, 17, that the blessing in
Hag 2:19 may stand in the more marked contrast with the
curse in
Hag 2:16, 17. Affliction will harden the heart, if not
referred to God as its author [MOORE].
even from the day that the
foundation of . . . temple was laid--The first
foundation beneath the earth had been long ago laid in the
second year of Cyrus, 535 B.C. (
Ezr 3:10, 11); the foundation now laid was the
secondary one, which, above the earth, was laid on the
previous work [TIRINUS]. Or, translate, "From this day
on which the temple is being begun," namely, on the
foundations long ago laid [GROTIUS]. MAURER translates,
"Consider . . . from the four and twentieth
day . . . to (the time which has elapsed)
from the day on which the foundation . . . was
laid." The Hebrew supports English
Version.
19. Is the seed yet in the barn?--implying, It is not. It has been already sown this month, and there are no more signs of its bearing a good crop, much less of its being safely stored in the barn, than there were in the past season, when there was such a failure; yet I promise to you from this day (emphatically marking by the repetition the connection of the blessing with the day of their obedience) a blessing in an abundant harvest. So also the vine, &c., which heretofore have borne little or nothing, shall be blessed with productiveness. Thus it will be made evident that the blessing is due to Me, not to nature. We may trust God's promise to bless us, though we see no visible sign of its fulfilment ( Hab 2:3).
Hag 2:20-23. FOURTH PROPHECY. God's promise through Zerubbabel to Israel of safety in the coming commotions.
20. the month--the ninth in the second year of Darius. The same date as Prophecy III ( Hag 2:10).
21. to Zerubbabel--Perhaps Zerubbabel had asked as to the
convulsions foretold (
Hag 2:6, 7). This is the reply: The Jews had been led
to fear that these convulsions would destroy their national
existence. Zerubbabel, therefore, as their civil
leader and representative is addressed, not Joshua, their
religious leader. Messiah is the antitypical Zerubbabel,
their national Representative and King, with whom God the
Father makes the covenant wherein they, as identified with
Him, are assured of safety in God's electing love
(compare
Hag 2:23, "will make thee as a signet";
"I have chosen thee").
shake . . . heavens--(see on
Hag 2:6, 7); violent political
convulsions accompanied with physical prodigies (
Mt 24:7, 29).
22. All other world kingdoms are to be overthrown to make way for Christ's universal kingdom ( Da 2:44). War chariots are to give place to His reign of peace ( Mic 5:10; Zec 9:10).
23. take thee--under My protection and to promote thee and
thy people to honor (
Ps 78:70).
a signet-- (
So 8:6; Jer 22:24). A ring with a seal on it; the legal
representative of the owner; generally of precious stones
and gold, &c., and much valued. Being worn on the
finger, it was an object of constant regard. In all which
points of view the theocratic people, and their
representative, Zerubbabel the type, and Messiah his
descendant the Antitype, are regarded by God. The safety of
Israel to the end is guaranteed in Messiah, in whom God
hath chosen them as His own (
Isa 42:1; 43:10; 44:1; 49:3). So the spiritual Israel
is sealed in their covenant head by His Spirit (
2Co 1:20, 22; Eph 1:4, 13, 14). All is ascribed, not to
the merits of Zerubbabel, but to God's gratuitous
choice. Christ is the "signet" on God's
hand: always in the Father's presence, ever pleasing in
his sight. The signet of an Eastern monarch was the sign of
delegated authority; so Christ (
Mt 28:18; Joh 5:22, 23).