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The prophet reproves the people

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HAGGAI.

2 Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, This people say, The time is not come, the time R. Roman., 15. that the LORD's house should

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for delay in rebuilding the temple.

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7 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways. 8 Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be

3 Then came the word of the LORD by glorified, saith the LORD. Haggai the prophet, saying,

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9 ° Ye looked for much, and, lo, it came to little; and when ye brought it home, I did blow upon it. Why? saith the LORD of hosts.

5 Now therefore thus saith the LORD of Because of mine house that is waste, and ye hosts; Consider your ways.

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run every man unto his own house.

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10 Therefore the heaven over you is stayed from dew, and the earth is stayed from her fruit. 11 And I called for a drought upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the corn, with and upon the new wine, and upon the oil, and upon that which the ground bringeth forth, and

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and Haggai was sent to encourage his countrymen to proceed with the work. Darius came to the throne about the year B. C. 521, and published his edict of permission for the Jews to rebuild the city and temple in the second year of his reign, which was the sixteenth of their return from Babylon.

NOTES ON CHAP. I.

Verse 1. In the sixth month] Called Elul by the Hebrews. It was the sixth month of the ecclesiastical year, and the last of the civil year, and answered to a part of our September.

Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel] Who was son of Jeconiah, king of Judah, and of the family of David, and exercised the post of a governor among the people, but not over them, for both he and they were under the Persian government; but they were permitted to have Zerubbabel for their own governor, and Joshua for their high priest; and these regulated all matters relative to their peculiar political and ecclesiastical government. But it appears from Ezra, v. 3, that Tatnai, the governor on this side the river, had them under his cognizance. None of their own governors was absolute. The Persians permitted them to live under their own laws and civil regulations; but they always considered them as a colony, over which they had a continual superintendence,

Joshua the son of Josedech] And son of Seraiah, who was high priest in the time of Zedekiah, and was carried into captivity by Nebuchadnezzar, 1 Chron. vi. 15. But Seraiah was slain at Riblah, by order of Nebuchadnezzar, 2 Kings xxv. 18-21.

Verse 2. The time is not come] They thought that the seventy years spoken of by Jeremiah were not yet completed, and it would be useless to attempt to rebuild until that period had arrived. But Abp. Usher has shown that from the commencement of

m Zech. viii. 10. Heb. pierced through. —0 Chap. ii. 16. PChap. ii. 17.4 Or, blow it away. Lev. xxvi. 19; Deut. xxviii. 23; 1 Kings viii. 35.— 1 Kings xvii, 1; 2 Kings viii. 1.

the last siege of Jerusalem unto this time, precisely sixty-nine years had been completed.

Verse 4. Is it time for you] If the time be not come to rebuild the temple, it cannot be come for you to build yourselves comfortable houses: but ye are rebuilding your houses; why then do ye not rebuild the house of the Lord? The foundation of the temple had been laid fourteen years before, and some considerable progress made in the building; and it had been lying waste in that unfinished state to the present time.

Verse 5. Consider your ways] Is it fit that you should be building yourselves elegant houses, and neglect a place for the worship of that God who has restored you from captivity?

Verse 6. Ye have sown much] God will not bless you in any labour of your hands, unless you rebuild his temple and restore his worship. This verse contains a series of proverbs; no less than five in the compass of a few lines.

Verse 8. Go up to the mountain, and bring wood] Go to Lebanon, and get timber. In the second year of the return from the captivity, they had procured cedar trees from Lebanon, and brought them to Joppa, and had hired masons and carpenters from the Tyrians and Sidonians; but that labour had been nearly lost by the long suspension of the building. Ezra iii. 7.

Verse 9. Ye looked for much] Ye made great pretensions at first; but they are come to nothing. Ye did a little in the beginning; but so scantily and unwillingly that I could not but reject it.

Ye run every man unto his own house.] To rebuild and adorn it; and God's house is neglected!

Verse 10. Therefore the heaven over you is stayed from dew] It appears from the following verse that God had sent a drought upon the land, which threatened them with scarcity and famine,

He assures them of

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CHAP. II.

upon men, and upon cattle, and upon all the labour of the hands. 12 Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the LORD their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the LORD their God had sent him, and the people did fear before the LORD.

13 Then spake Haggai the LORD's messenger in the LORD's message unto the people, Chap. ii. 17.- - Ezra v. 2.- Matt. xxviii. 20; Romans

viii. 31.

Verse 12. Then Zerubbabel] The threatening of Haggai had its proper effect. The civil governor, the high priest, and the whole of the people, united together to do the work. When the authority of God is acknowledged, his words will be carefully obeyed.

Verse 13. Then spake Haggai] He was the Lord's messenger, and he came with the Lord's message, and consequently he came with authority. He is called malach Yehovah, the angel of Jehovah, just as the pastors of the seven Asiatic Churches are called ANGELS of the Churches, Rev. i. 2.

I am with you, saith the Lord.] Here was high encouragement. What may not a man do when God is his helper?

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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 Josedech, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people : and they came and did work in the house of the LORD of hosts, their God.

15 In the four and twentieth day of the sixth month, in the second year of Darius the king...

w 2 Chron. xxxvi. 22; Ezra i. 1.- - Chap. ii. 21.—y Ezra v. 2, 8.

Verse 14. And the Lord stirred up the spirit] It is not only necessary that the judgment should be enlightened, but the soul must be invigorated by the Spirit of God, before any good work can be effectually done.

Verse 15. In the four and twentieth day] Haggai received his commission on the first day of this month; and by the twenty-fourth day he had so completely succeeded that he had the satisfaction to see the whole people engaged heartily in the Lord's work; they left their own houses to build that of the Lord. Here was a faithful reprover, and he found obedient ears; and the Lord's work was done, for the people had a mind to work,

CHAPTER II.

When this prophecy was uttered, about four years before the temple was finished, and sixty-eight after the former one was destroyed, it appears that some old men among the Jews were greatly dispirited on account of its being so much inferior in magnificence to that of Solomon. Compare Ezra iii. 12. To raise the spirits of the people, and encourage them to proceed with the work, the prophet assures them that the glory of the second temple should be greater than that of the first, alluding perhaps to the glorious doctrines which should be preached in it by Jesus Christ and his apostles, 1–9. He then shows the people that the oblations brought by their priests could not sanctify them while they were unclean by their neglect of the temple; and to convince them that the difficult times they had experienced during that neglect proceeded from this cause, he promises fruitful seasons from that day forward, 10-19. The concluding verses contain a prediction of the mighty revolutions that should take place by the setting up of the kingdom of Christ under the type of Zerubbabel, 20–23. As the time which elapsed between the date of the prophecy and the dreadful concussion of nations is termed in ver. 6, a lITTLE WHILE, the words may likewise have reference to some temporal revolutions then near, such as the commotions of Babylon in the reign of Darius, the Macedonian conquests in Persia, and the wars between the successors of Alexander; but the aspect of the prophecy is more directly to the amazing victories of the Romans, who, in the time of Haggai and Zechariah, were on the VERY EVE of their successful career, and in the lapse of a few centuries subjugated the whole habitable globe; and therefore, in a very good sense, God may be said by these people to have shaken "the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land;" and thus to have prepared the way for the opening of the Gospel dispensation. See Heb. xii. 25-29. Others have referred this prophecy to the period of our Lord's second advent, to which there is no doubt it is also applicable; and when it will be in the most signal manner fulfilled. That the convulsion of the nations introducing this most stupendous event will be very great and terrible, is sufficiently plain from Isaiah xxxiv., xxxv., as well as from many other passages of holy writ.

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NOTES ON CHAP. II. Verse 1. In the seventh month] This was a new message, and intended to prevent discouragement, and excite them to greater diligence in their work. Verse 3. Who is left among you that saw this house in her first glory? Who of you has seen the temple built by Solomon? The foundation of the present house had been laid about fifty-three years after the destruction of the temple built by Solomon; and though this prophecy was uttered fifteen years after the foundation of this second temple, yet there might still survive some of those who had seen the temple of Solomon.

Is it not in your eyes] Most certainly the Jews at this time had neither men nor means to make any such splendid building as that erected by Solomon. The present was as nothing when compared with the former.

Verse 4. Yet now be strong] Do not let this discourage you. The chief glory of the temple is not its splendid building, but my presence; and as I covenanted to be with you when ye came out of Egypt, so I will fulfil my covenant; for my Spirit remaineth among you, fear not; ver. 5. What is the most splendid cathedral, if God be not in it, influencing all by his presence and Spirit? But he will not be in it unless there be a messenger of the Lord there, and unless he deliver the Lord's message.

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with the building of the temple,

Josedech, the high priest; and be strong, all ye people of the land, saith the LORD, and work for I am with you, saith the LORD of

hosts:

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5 According to the word that I covenanted with you when ye came out of Egypt, so my Spirit remaineth among you: fear ye not. 6 For thus saith the LORD of hosts: h Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land;

7 And I will shake all nations, and the Desire of all nations shall come; and I will fill this house with glory, saith the LORD of hosts.

f Neh. ix. 20; Isa. lxiii. 11.. - Isa. vii. 4.xii. 26.- -Joel iii. 16.

Ver. 21; Heb.

Gen. xlix. 10; Mal. iii. 1.

to the giving of the law, or from the giving of the law to the coming of the Messiah's kingdom. It must be understood that the word nachath, once, has a clear sense, if understood of the evangelical age; for many political revolutions succeeded, as the conquest of Darius Codomanus, and the various fortunes of Alexander's successors; but only one great and final religious revolution."—Newcome.

Verse 7. And the Desire of all nations shall come] The present Hebrew text is as follows:

in. This is a difficult place if understood of a person: but ♫ chemdath, desire, cannot well agree with 1 bau, they shall come. It is true that some learned men suppose that no chemdoth, desirable things, may have been the original reading: but this is supported by no MS., nor is 】 found in the singular number in any. It is generally understood of the desirable or valuable things which the different nations should bring into the temple; and it is certain that many rich presents were brought into this temple. All are puzzled with it. But the principal difficulty lies in the verb 11 ubau, they shall come. If we found 7821 ubaa chemdath in the singular, then it would read as in our text, And the Desire of all nations shall come: but no such reading appears in any MS.; nor is it fairly acknowledged, except by the Vulgate, which reads, Et veniet desideratus cunctis gentibus, "And that which is desired," or the desired Person, "shall come to all nations." In ver. 7 God says he will shake or stir up all nations; that these nations shall bring their desirable things; that the house shall be filled with God's glory; that the silver and gold, which these nations are represented as bringing by way of gifts, are the Lord's; and that the glory of this latter house shall exceed the former. Bp. Chandler labours to vindicate the present translation; but he makes rash assertions, and is abandoned by the Hebrew text. The ba, to come, is often used in the sense of bring, and that

Verse 6. Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens] When the law was given on Mount Sinai, there was an earthquake that shook the whole mountain, Exod. xix. 18. "The political or religious revolutions which were to be effected in the world, or both, are here," says Abp. Newcome," referred to; compare ver. 21, 22; Matt. xxiv, 29; Heb. xii. 26-28. The political ones began in the overthrow of the Persian monarchy by Alexander, within two centuries after this prediction; and if the Messiah's kingdom be meant, which is my opinion, this was erected in somewhat more than five centuries after the chemdath, desire, may be considered as the second year of Darius; a short period of time when compared with that which elapsed from the creation

plural for П, having the point holem instead of the vau, and thus mean desirable things, will not be de

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8 The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the LORD of hosts.

9 The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the LORD of hosts and in this place will I give peace, saith the LORD of hosts. 10 In the four and twentieth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the LORD by Haggai the prophet, saying,

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nied by those who are acquainted with the genius and construction of the Hebrew language. Bp. Chandler thinks that , he came, cannot be used of things, but of persons only. Here he is widely mistaken, for it is used of days perpetually; and of the ark, 2 Sam. vi. 9; and of mounts coming against Jerusalem, Jer. | xxxii. 24; and of trees coming to adorn the temple, Isa. Ix. 13; and of silver and gold coming into the temple, Josh. vi. 19; and Jer. vi. 20, Why doth incense come to me? See Abp. Secker's notes. cannot see how the words can apply to Jesus Christ, even if the construction were less embarrassed than it is; because I cannot see how he could be called THE DESIRE OF ALL NATIONS. The whole seems to be a metaphorical description of the Church of Christ, and of his filling it with all the excellences of the Gentile world, when the fulness of the Gentiles shall be brought in.

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Verse 9. And in this place will I give peace] Div shalom, a peace-offering, as well as peace itself; or Jesus Christ, who is called the Prince of peace, through whom peace is proclaimed between God and man, between man and his fellows; and through whom peace is established in the disconsolate soul. And at this temple this peace was first promulgated and proclaimed.

But it is said that the glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former. Now this cannot be said because Jesus Christ made his personal appearance in that temple, or rather in that built by Herod; for, though we allow that Jesus Christ is equal with God, we do not grant that he is greater. Now the first temple was the dwelling-place of God: here he manifested his glory between the cherubim, and it was his

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the former in glory.

unclean? And the priests answered and said, It shall be unclean.

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14 Then answered Haggai, and said, " So is this people, and so is this nation before me, saith the LORD; and so is every work of their hands; and that which they offer there is unclean.

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15 And now, I pray you, a consider from. this day and upward, from before a stone was laid upon a stone in the temple of the LORD: 16 Since those days were, when one came to a heap of twenty measures, there were but ten when one came to the press-fat for to draw out fifty vessels out of the press, there were but twenty.

17 I smote you with blasting and with mildew and with hail in all the labours of your hands; "yet ye turned not to me, saith the LORD.

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constant residence for more than four hundred years. But the glory of this latter house was greater because under it the grand scheme of human salvation was exhibited, and the redemption price paid down for a lost world. As all probably applies to the Christian Church, the real house of God, its glory was most certainly greater than any glory which was ever possessed by that of the Jews. See on ver. 22, 23.

Verse 10. In the four and twentieth day of the ninth month] Three months after they had begun to rebuild the temple, Haggar is ordered to go and put two questions to the priests. 1. If one bear holy flesh in the skirt of his garment, and he touch any thing with his skirt, is that thing made holy? The priests answered, No! ver. 12. 2. If one has touched a dead body, and thereby become unclean, does he communicate his uncleanness to whatever he may touch? And the priests answered, YES! ver. 13.

Verse 14. Then answered Haggai-So is this people] As an unclean man communicates his uncleanness to every thing he touches, so are ye unclean; and whatever ye have hitherto done is polluted in the sight of God. For your neglect of my temple has made you unclean, as if you had contracted legal pollution by touching a dead body.

Verse 16. Since those days were] I have shown my displeasure against you, by sending blasting and mildew; and so poor have been your crops that a heap of corn which should have produced twenty measures produced only ten; and that quantity of grapes which in other years would have produced fifty measures, through their poverty, smallness, &c., produced only twenty. And this has been the case ever since the first stone was laid in this temple; for your hearts

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Promises of fruitful seasons.

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18 Consider now from this saying, I will shake the heavens day and upward, from the four and the earth; and twentieth day of the ninth month, even from the day that the foundation of the LORD's temple was laid, consider it.

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19 Is the seed yet in the barn? yea, as yet the vine, and the fig tree, and the pomegranate, and the olive tree, hath not brought forth from this day will I bless you.

20 And again the word of the LORD came unto Haggai, in the four and twentieth day of the month, saying,

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22 And I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms, and I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the heathen; and I will overthrow the chariots, and those that ride in them; and the horses and their riders shall come down, every one by the sword of his brother.

23 In that day, saith the LORD of hosts, will I take thee, O Zerubbabel, my servant, the son of Shealtiel, saith the LORD, and will make thee as a signet: for I have chosen

21 Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, thee, saith the LORD of hosts.

▾ Zech. viii. 9.

Zech. viii. 12.- Chap. i. 14. y Ver. 6, 7; Heb. xii. 26. Dan. ii. 44; Matt. xxiv. 7. were not right with me, and therefore I blasted you in all the labours of your hands; and yet ye have not turned to me, ver. 17.

Verse 18. Consider now from this day] I will now change my conduct towards you: from this day that ye have begun heartily to rebuild my temple, and restore my worship, I will bless you. Whatever you sow, whatever you plant, shall be blessed; your land shall be fruitful, and ye shall have abundant crops of all sorts. Verse 20. Again the word of the Lord came] This was a second communication in the same day.

Verse 21. I will shake the heavens and the earth] Calmet supposes that the invasion of Cambyses, and his death, are what the prophet has in view by this shaking of the heavens and the earth: but this invasion and defeat happened three years before they had begun to work at the temple; and how could it be made a matter of interest to Zerubbabel? Calmet answers this, by translating the words in the past tense; and shows that the fact was recalled to Zerubbabel's attention, to fix his confidence in God, &c. Bp. Newcome says we may well understand this and the twentysecond verse of the calamity undergone by Babylon in the reign of Darius; of the Macedonian conquests in Persia; and of the wars which the successors of Alexander waged against each other: others understand it of the Romans.

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a Mic. v. 10; Zech. iv. 6; ix. 10. Cant. viii. 6; Jer. xxi. 24; Ecclus. xlix. 11. Isa. xlii. 1; xliii. 10.

difficult work to do, and it was necessary that he should be assured of God's especial care and protection during the whole.

ON the three last verses of this prophecy a sensible and pious correspondent sends me the following illustration, which I cheerfully insert. Though in many respects different from that given above, yet I believe that the kingdom of Christ is particularly designed in this prophecy.

"I think there is an apparent difficulty in this passage, because the wars of the Persians and Babylonians were not so interesting to the rising commonwealth of the Jews as many subsequent events of less note in the world, but which were more directly levelled at their own national prosperity; and yet neither the one nor the other could be termed 'a shaking of the heavens and the earth, and an overthrow of the throne of kingdoms.'

"I know not if the following view may be admitted as an explanation of this difficult passage. I take the shaking of the heavens and earth' here (as in ver. 6) to have a more distant and comprehensive meaning than can belong to Zerubbabel's time, or to his immediate posterity; and that it extends not only to the overthrow of kingdoms then existing, but of the future great monarchies of the world; and not excepting even the civil and ecclesiastical establishments of the Jews themselves. For I take the heavens,' in the prophetic language, uniformly to denote the true Church, and never the superstitions and idols of the nations.

Verse 23. In that day, saith the Lord] Some think, says this same learned writer, that Zerubbabel is put here for his people and posterity: but it may well be said that the commotions foretold began in the rebellion of Babylon, which Darius besieged and took; and exercised great cruelties upon its inhabitants.-Herod. "What, then, are we to understand by the promise lib. iii., sec. 220. Justin. i. 10. Prideaux places this made to Zerubbabel, 'I will make thee as a signet" event in the fifth year of Darius; others, with more In the first place, the restitution of the religious and probability, in the eighth year. Compare Zech. ii. 9. civil polity of the people of Israel, conformably to the And will make thee as a signet] I will exalt thee promises afterwards given in the four first chapters of to high dignity, power, and trust, of which the seal Zechariah. And, secondly, as the royal signet is the was the instrument or sign in those days. Thou shalt instrument by which kings give validity to laws, and be under my peculiar care, and shalt be to me very thereby unity and consistence to their empire; so precious. See Jer. xxii. 24; Cant. viii. 6; and see Jehovah, the God and King of Israel, condescends to the notes on these two places. promise he will employ Zerubbabel as his instrument For I have chosen thee] He had an important and of gathering and uniting the people again as a distin

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