Holy Bible

Came the Word of the Lord by the prophet Haggai. Haggai 2:1, 2 Encouraging the people P. A. Nordell, D. D. The recovery of the Jews from the disasters attending the Babylonian Captivity was necessarily slow and painful. The handful of patriots who returned with Zerubbabel were poor, weak, and despised. They found Jerusalem and the temple heaps of ruins, covered with weeds and rubbish. The first two years witnessed the rebuilding of the altar, the re-establishment of the burnt sacrifices, and the laying of the foundation of the second temple amid the liveliest conflict of emotions. Just at this point a second oracle, full of Divine encouragement, came to Haggai. Weak hands were strengthened, timid hearts were cheered, religious faith and patriotic zeal were kindled into a glow of enthusiasm that never failed until the work was done. We note four considerations by which the prophet wrought this happy change in the temper of his people. I. JEHOVAH'S ABIDING PRESENCE. Regarded from a merely human point of view there were many and cogent reasons either for an abandonment of the work, or for its postponement until a more auspicious time. The hostility of the neighbouring peoples showed itself in persistent plots to harass the returned exiles, in fomenting discords among them, and in discrediting them at the Persian court. In comparison with the number, wealth and influence of their adversaries, were not the Jews themselves weak and contemptible? Only a few years had passed since their return to a ruined city and a desolate land. In their poverty and distress would it not be audacious folly to undertake the rebuilding of a structure that had taxed the resources of the kingdom in its meridian glory and power? Had not this generation borne burdens enough without being crushed under another? Why not relinquish this enormous load to a better equipped posterity? Moreover, since they returned from Babylon, had not the Lord withheld the legitimate increase of the fields and vineyards? In these straitened circumstances did not the care of their families demand all their time and substance? It might be a pardonable, but was it not a rash enthusiasm in the prophet that had incited them to waste a month of labour on this hopeless task? Religious leaders are always unreasonable! These discouraged Jews could have invented a hundred excuses for abandoning the work. Self-justification is easy when one is eager to recede from an unwelcome task or duty. All human objections, however, are as chaff before an explicit Divine command. The voice of prophecy, re-awakened after long silence, had spoken the authoritative word. However sore the discipline to which their sins had subjected them, they were His people still, a "holy seed," a "very small remnant" indeed, but one over whose preservation He had watched with jealous care. With loving reiteration Jehovah exhorts them to forget their own weakness in joyful recognition of His omnipotence; to assure themselves that "the hope of Israel, the Saviour thereof in time of trouble, is not as a sojourner in the land, nor as a wayfaring man that turneth aside to tarry for a night." As He covenanted with them when they came out of Egypt, so "His Spirit abideth among them." "Be strong and. work, saith the Lord of hosts; for I am with yea, and fear ye not." There is no better ground for victorious confidence than that. His presence is infinitely more desirable than unlimited worldly wealth and power. We, likewise, face the depressing problems of our own day, grappling with them as we can, only to be overwhelmed by the consciousness of our inability. Through repeated failures we learn that without Divine help we can do nothing. We are overmatched in the battle. "All power is given unto Me in heaven and on earth; and lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." II. JEHOVAH'S EXHAUSTIBLE RESOURCES. What if Jehovah's people are poor, insignificant, despised? He who is in the midst of them is the rightful owner of the world's treasures. The silver and the gold are His. He will "shake all the nations, and the costliest things of all the nations shall come" into His sanctuary. Now, see, when the people really trusted the Lord and went to work ( Ezra 6:3-9 ), how wonderfully the prophet's word was fulfilled; how the expense of rearing the massive walls, and the cost of the wood-work were defrayed from the treasury of the Persian Empire; how the priceless vessels of silver and gold, that Nebuchadnezzar had carried to Babylon for his own glory, as he thought, but really for safe keeping during the exile, were all restored again; how the adversaries of the Jews, who had plotted against them, were compelled by the royal decree to furnish them day by day with young bullocks, rams and lambs for sacrifices, and with wheat, salt, wine, and oil as the priests had need. Not only this, but from the very day ( Haggai 2:19, 20 ) when the rebuilding of the temple began, Jehovah would bless their land with affluence, instead of smiting it with blasting, with mildew, and with hail. God's work never stops for lack of means when men are willing to obey Him, and to launch out confidently on His promises. The silver and the gold are forthcoming, not by miracle, but through natural channels, as surprising sometimes as actual miracles. Is the time ripe for carrying the Gospel into the heathen world? See how the millions are poured every year into the Lord's treasury. If men will not give spontaneously, as did Darius, to the furtherance of God's purposes, He compels them to bring the best of their substance, as the Samaritans were forced to do. God scatters His resources neither extravagantly nor in conformity to the whims of men. The law of parsimony withholds Him from giving so freely as to make unnecessary the discipline of anxiety and struggle. Even when social and moral reformations are greatly needed He does not purchase transient success by lavish expenditures. Moral results are not permanently secured by material agencies. God could have supplied the early Church with means enough to have freed every slave in the Roman Empire. Instead, He projects into humanity two lofty ideals, the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man, confident that these ideals will ultimately and for ever accomplish what neither gold nor force can do. Nor does He waste His resources in perpetuating institutions that have survived their usefulness. Local churches, as well as individual saints, are but temporary factors. "Holy relics" He suffers with absolute indifference to moulder into common dust. III. JEHOVAH'S GRACIOUS PURPOSES. Haggai prophesied in a transition period. The older men who heard him had witnessed the wreck of the Jewish monarchy. The return of the captives to Jerusalem was the glimmering dawn after a dark and stormy night. The glory of the past was a memory; that of the future a dream. Transition periods are always charged with doubts and fears, with peril and pain. The sorest trials are alleviated by an assurance that they lead to higher and richer experiences. And yet men would often forego these if they could thereby escape the trial. They cling to long-cherished errors because they dread the effort and pain of adjusting themselves to new truths. Hoary abuses linger in the community, in the State, in the Church, because men shrink from the sharp but transient evils attending a crisis. modern science, philosophy, criticism, — the forces that are continually precipitating these crises — are not enemies but friends. God's purposes do not move backward. A new and better world always emerges from the chaos of the old. So long as God's hand directs the development every transition will be, not toward darkness and anarchy, but toward truth and order. Haggai encouraged his people with the assurance that their sufferings were not meaningless. Painful as their national discipline had been, it was but an unavoidable step in the evolution of a sublime purpose. Not only did he assure them that Jehovah, their covenant-keeping God, was still in the midst of His People; not only were His resources inexhaustible, and ready to be poured out in their behalf; but He had also a purpose of grace concerning them and the whole world, immeasurably exceeding the brightest memories of the past. Despicable as this new house might appear to those who had seen the splendours of Solomon's temple, the new would nevertheless outshine the old. Greater shall be the latter glory of this house than the former, saith the Lord of hosts." Observe that it is the "latter glory" (R.V.) and not the "latter house" (A.V.); for whatever be its material condition, Jehovah knows of but one abiding dwelling on His holy hill of Zion. That messianic day, moreover, will be characterised by universal peace. For "in this place will I give peace, saith the Lord of hosts." Peace, first of all, between man and God, that which every true heart yearns for supremely, but which is not found in the world. Peace also between man and man. Inter national rivalries, the ambition of conquerors, royal greed of power will no longer hurl nation against nation in bloody strife. Peace, finally, between man and the wild beasts of the field ( Isaiah 11:6-9 ). The distrust between them will cease. As nature has shared in man's curse, so it will share in the benefits of man's redemption. IV. JEHOVAH'S "LITTLE WHILE," Some of the despondent ones might have retorted, "Such glowing pictures were painted by the older prophets, but they are as far from realisation as ever." "No," says Haggai; "it is only one period more, a very brief one, and then Jehovah will work signs and wonders among the nations to arouse them from indifference, to turn them unto Himself, and thus prepare for the golden age." In a measure His utterance was fulfilled at once, but in its larger signification it still awaits complete fulfilment. The centuries after the Exile were really a brief preface to the messianic period which began with the coming of Christ into His temple, and which still continues. Men are impatient at the moderate pace of events in the kingdom of God. They wonder why He does not force men into swift obedience by stupendous displays of power. Because love and obedience are not wrought by force. Love conquers the kingdom of hatred only inch by inch. Viewing these things by and by from the side of eternity, men will see that earth's longest periods are only Jehovah's "little whiles." The world is ripening faster than we think. Who knows but that the full glory of the messianic time may be close at hand? Whether near or far, every man's supreme duty to God and to his fellow-man is so to live, by the Holy Spirit's help, as to make the world better, and thus to hasten the advent of that golden age. ( P. A. Nordell, D. D. )

Benson Commentary Haggai 2:1 In the seventh month , in the one and twentieth day of the month, came the word of the LORD by the prophet Haggai, saying, Haggai 2:1-3 . In the seventh month, &c. — For the further encouragement of the people to proceed in rebuilding the temple, Haggai was sent again to them, about a month after he had been sent the first time, to assure them from God, that the glory of this latter temple, how little appearance soever there might be of it now, should be greater than that of the former. This message, or prophecy, of Haggai, was communicated a little before Zechariah was sent to them for the like purpose. Who is left among you that saw this house in her first glory? — About sixty-six years had elapsed from the destruction of the former temple, (before Christ 587,) to the time when this prophecy was delivered; (see notes on Ezra 6:15 , and Blair’s tables;) nevertheless, it appears by this question of the prophet, that some of the Jews there present had seen the former temple when young, before they were carried to Babylon, and could remember what a magnificent building it was. Is it not in your eyes as nothing — That is, in comparison of the former. The words are an elegant Hebraism. We learn from Ezra 3:12 , (where see the note,) that when the foundation of the second temple was laid, in the second year of Cyrus, many of the ancient men, that had seen the first house, wept to see how much this second was likely to fall short of the glory of it. Undoubtedly the slender substance of the Jews at this time, and the haste they were in to rebuild the temple, that they might have a place for public worship, made them lay the foundation of it at first of much smaller dimensions than those of the former temple, and also to build it with less strength and magnificence. Haggai 2:2 Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, and to the residue of the people, saying, Haggai 2:3 Who is left among you that saw this house in her first glory? and how do ye see it now? is it not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing? Haggai 2:4 Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, saith the LORD; and be strong, O Joshua, son of 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: Haggai 2:4-5 . Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel — Do thou and all the rest of you exert yourselves, and proceed in rebuilding the temple with spirit and pleasure; for I am with you, saith the Lord of hosts — And will enable you to bring the work to a happy issue. According to the word that I covenanted with you — I will fulfil to you what I promised to your ancestors, namely, that I would be their God, and that it should be well with them, if they obeyed my voice; that I would keep them from evil, and moreover, bless and prosper them; (see the margin;) and so will I act toward you upon the same conditions, namely, your obeying my voice. So my Spirit remaineth — Rather, So my Spirit shall remain among you, namely, as a source of strength and courage, of wisdom and understanding, of zeal and fervency, to carry you through this work. Fear ye not — Let no discouraging fears or apprehensions have place in your minds, or weaken your hands. Haggai 2:5 According to the word that I covenanted with you when ye came out of Egypt, so my spirit remaineth among you: fear ye not. Haggai 2:6 For thus saith the LORD of hosts; Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land ; Haggai 2:6-7 . Yet once — Or, once more, ??? ???? , as the LXX. render it, whom St. Paul follows, Hebrews 12:26 . The phrase implies such an alteration, or change of things, as should be permanent, and should not give place to any other, as the apostle there expounds it. The expression, says Bishop Newcome, “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;” namely, a revolution, not introductory to, but consequent upon the coming of the Messiah; the change of the Mosaic economy for that of the gospel. A little while — Though it was five hundred years from the time of the uttering of this prophecy to the coming of the Messiah, which was the event here intended, yet it might be called a short time, when compared with that which had elapsed from the creation to the giving of the law, or from the giving of the law to the return of the Jews from Babylon, and the erection of this second temple. And I will shake the heavens and the earth, &c. — These and similar figurative expressions are often used in the prophetical Scriptures, to signify great commotions and changes in the world, whether political or religious. The political ones here intended began in the overthrow of the Persian monarchy by Alexander, within two centuries after this prediction, which event was followed by commotions, destructive wars and changes among his successors, till the Macedonian empire, which had overturned the Persian, with the several kingdoms into which it was divided, was itself subdued by the Roman. The expressions, the sea and the dry land, are added as a particular explication of what is meant by the general term earth, and signify only what is expressed without a figure in the next clause. I will shake all nations — All nations were more or less involved in, and shaken by, the wars that overthrew the Persian kingdom, and still more in and by those that overturned the empire of the Greeks. Grotius explains this prophecy as being, in part, at least, accomplished by the extraordinary phenomena in the heavens, and on the earth, at the birth, death, and resurrection of Christ, and mission of the Holy Spirit. But certainly the other is the interpretation chiefly intended. And the Desire of all nations — Christ, most desirable to all nations, and who was desired by all that knew their own misery, and his sufficiency to save them; who was to be the light of the Gentiles, as well as the glory of his people Israel: such a guide and director as the wise men among the heathen longed for; and whose combat was the expectation of the Jewish nation, and the completion of all the promises made to their fathers. And I will fill this house with glory — A glory not consisting in the magnificence of its structure, its rich ornaments, or costly sacrifices, which would have been only a worldly glory; but a glory that was spiritual, heavenly, and divine. Haggai 2:7 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. Haggai 2:8 The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the LORD of hosts. Haggai 2:8-9 . The silver is mine — Solomon’s temple was more richly adorned with silver and gold than this, and I, that am the Lord of all the world, could easily command the riches of it, and bring them together for beautifying this my house, if I took delight in, or wanted any thing of this sort. A like expression as this is used, Psalm 50:10 , with regard to sacrifices. The glory of this latter house, &c. — The glory of this second temple shall exceed that of the former, not in riches or costly ornaments, but in this, that there the prince of peace shall make his appearance, and there the gospel of peace shall be preached and published. See Isaiah 9:6 ; Micah 5:5 ; Ephesians 2:14 . “Notwithstanding the former temple had the Urim and Thummim, the ark containing the two tables of the law, (written with the finger of God,) the pot of manna, Aaron’s rod that budded, and the cloud that overshadowed the mercy-seat, and was the symbol of the divine presence; yet the glory of this latter house shall be greater by the appearance, doctrines, and miracles of Christ. Some interpret this passage of the richer decorations in the latter temple; but it may well be doubted whether the second temple could exceed that of Solomon in the splendour and costliness of its ornaments. The presumption is, that the former temple was more magnificent and sumptuous in its furniture than the latter, though inferior to it in point of magnitude. Prideaux values the gold, with which the holy of holies alone was overlaid, at four million three hundred and twenty thousand pounds sterling. P.I.B. 3. Ann. 534.” — Newcome. What were the magnificence and beauty which adorned the former temple? What was even the Shechinah, the resplendent cloud of glory, which rested upon the mercy-seat, compared with the emanations of the divine perfections from Immanuel: the almighty power and boundless goodness exerted in acts of beneficence which shone forth in Christ, when the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them; and the infinite wisdom displayed in his divine discourses, when he taught daily in the temple, Luke 19:47 , and his doctrine dropped as the rain, and his speech distilled as the dew? And never, surely, was such peace given to men by any other as was imparted by and through him; peace between God and man, between Jews and Gentiles, and between man and man, wherever his religion is received in the truth and power of it: peace, spiritual, internal, and heavenly; peace of conscience, tranquillity of mind, serenity of heart; a peace which, as the apostle observes, passeth all understanding, all purely rational conception, or, which no one can comprehend, save he that receives it. Haggai 2:9 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. Haggai 2:10 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, Haggai 2:10-14 . In the four and twentieth day of the ninth month — At which time, as appears from Haggai 2:16 ; Haggai 2:19 , (the materials being collected,) they began to go on again with the building of the temple. Ask now concerning the law — What the law saith in this case. The question was put to the priests, whose office it was to put a difference between holy and unholy, between clean and unclean, Leviticus 10:10 : that is, to be thoroughly acquainted with all the ceremonial laws, and to instruct others concerning them. If one bear, or carry, holy flesh — Part of the sacrifice, legally sanctified, or made holy, by the altar on which the whole was sanctified; in the skirt — In the lap; of his garment — Or in any other cloth; and if this cloth touch any common thing, as bread, &c., shall that become legally holy? And the priests said, No — By the answer of the priests in this, compared with the following verse, we find, that legal holiness was not so easily communicated as legal impurity: for the holy flesh did not make any thing that was touched by it holy; but the touch of a person who was unclean rendered holy things unclean. Thus is vice much more easily contracted than virtue! Broad and easy is the way that leadeth to sin. but narrow and difficult is that which leads to holiness! Then said Haggai — Now a second case is proposed; If one that is unclean by a dead body touch any of these — Namely, the things mentioned in the former verse, bread, pottage, wine, &c. shall it be unclean? — Shall that which the unclean person doth touch become unclean? Though a touch of what is holy will not make holy, yet, will not a touch of what is polluted defile? and the priests answered, It shall be unclean — The law was plain in this case: see Numbers 19:11 . The least defect is sufficient to make a thing evil, whereas, to make it good and perfect, a concurrence of all good qualities is requisite. So is this people before me — In like manner, saith God, your neglect of my temple, and your disregard of my worships have made you unclean, as if you had contracted legal pollution by touching a dead body; and rendered every thing you undertake, even the sacrifices you offer on my altar, unclean and unacceptable. Haggai 2:11 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Ask now the priests concerning the law, saying, Haggai 2:12 If one bear holy flesh in the skirt of his garment, and with his skirt do touch bread, or pottage, or wine, or oil, or any meat, shall it be holy? And the priests answered and said, No. Haggai 2:13 Then said Haggai, If one that is unclean by a dead body touch any of these, shall it be unclean? And the priests answered and said, It shall be unclean. Haggai 2:14 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. Haggai 2:15 And now, I pray you, consider from this day and upward, from before a stone was laid upon a stone in the temple of the LORD: Haggai 2:15-17 . And now, consider from this day, &c. — Reflect on what has happened to you, from the time that a stop was put to the building of the temple, after the first foundation of it was laid, till you began again to rebuild it. And upward — Or, forward. He had bid them look back, Haggai 1:5 ; Haggai 1:7 ; now he bids them look forward. Since those days — All the time the temple lay neglected. When one came to a heap — Namely, of corn, which seemed likely to produce twenty measures; there were but ten — Only half the quantity expected was found to be produced, through the poverty of the ear. The verse, it must be observed, according to the present rendering, is very elliptical; but if the first clause be explained by the second, which it ought to be, the sense will clearly appear to be this: When one came to a heap for twenty measures; that is, when a person came to a heap of corn on his floor, either of sheaves unthrashed, or of corn unwinnowed, and expected that it would have produced twenty measures after it was thrashed and winnowed, to his great disappointment he had but ten out of it. Such also was the case of those who came to draw out fifty measures of wine from the wine-press. I smote you with blasting — Burning and scorching winds; and with hail — Which even in cold countries many times destroys corn, fruits, and trees, by its violence; but in those hot countries does it much oftener. In all the labours of your hands — In all that you sowed or planted; yet ye turned not to me — Ye did not lay my judgments to heart, nor consider that they were inflicted for your sin, in neglecting to rebuild my temple, and restore my worship in it. Haggai 2:16 Since those days were, when one came to an heap of twenty measures , there were but ten: when one came to the pressfat for to draw out fifty vessels out of the press, there were but twenty. Haggai 2:17 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. Haggai 2:18 Consider now from this day and upward, from the four and twentieth day of the ninth month, even from the day that the foundation of the LORD'S temple was laid, consider it . Haggai 2:18-19 . Consider now, from this day and upward — That is, forward. In the 15th verse the prophet exhorted them to reflect upon the calamities they had suffered, from the time the rebuilding of the temple was intermitted. Now he bids them look forward, from the day the building was recommenced, (see Haggai 1:15 ,) and they would find a visible change in their affairs for the better. Even from the day that the foundation was laid, &c. — The prophet expresses the carrying on of the building as if it were laying the foundation anew, because the work had been so long interrupted; (compare Zechariah 8:9 ;) but yet there is no doubt to be made that they built upon the same foundation which had been laid some years before, of which we have an account Ezra 3:8 , and did not lay a new foundation. Is the seed yet in the barn — Is the harvest already laid up in the barn? or any fruits of the earth gathered in? No, certainly: for this is but the ninth month, (answering to our November,) when no judgment can be formed what will be the increase of the year following; yet, from this time, I promise you the blessing of a fruitful year, as an encouragement to you to carry on the building. Yea, as yet the vine and the fig-tree hath not brought forth — No sign yet appears what vintage you shall have, what store of wine, oil, figs, and pomegranates; yet by the word of God I tell you, you shall be blessed in them all, and have a large produce. Haggai 2:19 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 . Haggai 2:20 And again the word of the LORD came unto Haggai in the four and twentieth day of the month, saying, Haggai 2:20-22 . Again the word of the Lord came unto Haggai — Probably on the same day that he uttered what precedes, from Haggai 2:10 ; speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah — The same title which is given to him chap. Haggai 1:1 ; in which character he was the type of the Messiah, to whom the following words chiefly belong. I will shake the heavens and the earth — I will cause great commotions, and bring great things to pass. I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms — This is supposed to be spoken of the overthrow of the Persian empire, in Egypt, which, lying near to the Jewish territories, was regarded by them with great awe; and therefore its subversion was foretold to them, to encourage them to go on in the rebuilding of the temple. I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the heathen — Or, of the nations. The strength of the Persians, whose empire consisted of many kingdoms, or nations, was broken in a most remarkable manner by the little country of Greece. Such vast overthrows, both by sea and land, as they received from the Greeks, are scarcely to be paralleled. The horses and their riders shall come down — Shall fall to the earth; every one by the sword of his brother — That is, of his fellow-creature. Perhaps the different nations which should be concerned in these commotions, namely, the Persians, Egyptians, and Greeks, are here called brothers, because they were all idolaters, or worshippers of fictitious gods. Haggai 2:21 Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, I will shake the heavens and the earth; Haggai 2:22 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. Haggai 2:23 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 thee, saith the LORD of hosts. Haggai 2:23 . In that day will I take thee, O Zerubbabel, &c. — Amidst the commotions which I will cause in the world, I will so order it, that Judea shall remain safe under thy government, O Zerubbabel, and thy successors, and be molested by none. A signet, or seal, particularly a royal one, is kept with great care; therefore the promise of making Zerubbabel as a signet, signified keeping him safe, or preserving him as a person of great estimation. For I have chosen thee — To be the ruler of my people. This whole prophecy, from Haggai 2:21 , addressed to Zerubbabel, is considered by Bishop Chandler, Mr. Lowth, and many others, as parallel to that contained in Haggai 2:6-9 ; that the same commotions and shaking of nations are intended in both passages; and therefore that by Zerubbabel here, the Messiah, typified by him, is chiefly intended. That the prediction could not be properly and fully accomplished in Zerubbabel, personally considered, is evident, as in all likelihood he did not live many years after the finishing of the temple, and certainly did not see any of those great changes here foretold; and therefore the Messiah must be here described under the name of Zerubbabel, as he elsewhere is under that of David. He is, indeed, the signet on God’s right hand; for all power is given to him, and derived from him, he being constituted Head of the church, and Judge of the world. In him the great charter of the gospel is signed and sanctified, and it is in him that all the promises of God are yea and amen. And what is foretold, Haggai 2:22 , respecting the overthrow of the throne of kingdoms, may probably ultimately refer to his second coming, or to that illustrious display of divine power, whereby a period shall be put to all anti-christian empires, and the kingdoms of this world shall be made the kingdoms of our God and of his Christ, Daniel 2:44 ; Revelation 11:15 . Benson Commentary on the Old and New Testaments Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.

Expositor's Bible Commentary Haggai 2:1 In the seventh month , in the one and twentieth day of the month, came the word of the LORD by the prophet Haggai, saying, 2. COURAGE, ZERUBBABEL! COURAGE, JEHOSHUA AND ALL THE PEOPLE! { Haggai 2:1-9 } The second occasion on which Haggai spoke to the people was another feast the same autumn, the seventh day of the Feast of Tabernacles, { Leviticus 23:34 ; Leviticus 23:36 ; Leviticus 23:40-42 } the twenty-first of the seventh month. For nearly four weeks the work on the Temple had proceeded. Some progress must have been made, for comparisons became possible between the old Temple and the state of this one. Probably the outline and size of the building were visible. In any case it was enough to discourage the builders with their efforts and the means at their disposal. Haggai’s new word is a very simple one of encouragement. The people’s conscience had been stirred by his first; they need now some hope. Consequently he appeals to what he had ignored before, the political possibilities which the present state of the world afforded-always a source of prophetic promise. But again he makes his former call upon their own courage and resources. The Hebrew text contains a reference to the Exodus which would be appropriate to a discourse delivered during the Feast of Tabernacles, but it is not found in the Septuagint, and is so impossible to construe that it has been justly suspected as a gloss, inserted by some later hand, only because the passage had to do with the Feast of Tabernacles. "In the seventh month, on the twenty-first day of the month, the word of Jehovah came by Haggai the prophet, saying:-" "Speak now to Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, Satrap of Judah, and to Johoshua’, son of Jehosadak, the high priest, and to the rest of the people, saying: Who among you is left that saw this House in its former glory, and how do ye see it now? Is it not as nothing in your eyes? And now courage, O Zerubbabel-oracle of Jehovah and courage, Jehoshua, son of Jehosadak, O high priest; and courage, all people of the land!-oracle of Jehovah; and get to work, for I am with you-oracle of Jehovah of Hosts-and My Spirit is standing in your midst. Fear not!" "For thus saith Jehovah of Hosts: It is but a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth and the sea and the dry land; and I will shake all nations, and the costly things of all nations shall come in, and I will fill this House with glory, saith Jehovah of Hosts. Mine is the silver and Mine the gold-oracle of Jehovah of Hosts. Greater shall the latter glory of this House be than the former, saith Jehovah of Hosts, and in this place will I give peace-oracle of Jehovah of Hosts." From the earliest times this passage, by the majority of the Christian Church, has been interpreted of the coming of Christ. The Vulgate renders Haggai 2:7 b, " Et veniet Desideratus cunctis gentibus ," and so a large number of the Latin Fathers, who are followed by Luther, " Der Trost aller Heiden ," and by our own Authorized Version, "And the Desire of all nations shall come." This was not contrary to Jewish tradition, for Rabbi Akiba had defined the clause of the Messiah, and Jerome received the interpretation from his Jewish instructors. In itself the noun, as pointed in the Massoretic text, means "longing" or "object of longing." But the verb which goes with it is in the plural, and by a change of points the noun itself may be read as a plural. That this was the original reading is made extremely probable by the fact that it lay before the translators of the Septuagint, who render: "the picked," or "chosen things of the nations." So the old Italic version: " Et venient omnia electa gentium ." Moreover this meaning suits the context, as the other does not. The next verse mentions silver and gold. We may understand what he says, writes Calvin, "of Christ; we indeed know that Christ was the expectation of the whole world; but as it immediately follows, ‘Mine is the silver and Mine is the gold,’ the more simple meaning is that-which I first stated: that the nations would come, bringing with them all their riches that they might offer themselves and all their possessions a sacrifice to God." HAGGAI AND THE BUILDING OF THE TEMPLE Haggai 1:1-15 ; Haggai 2:1-23 WE have seen that the most probable solution of the problems presented to us by the inadequate and confused records of the time is that a considerable number of Jewish exiles returned from Jerusalem to Babylon about 537, upon the permission of Cyrus, and that the Satrap whom he sent with them not only allowed them to raise the altar on its ancient site, but himself laid for them the foundation-stone of the Temple. We have seen, too, why this attempt led to nothing, and we have followed the Samaritan obstructions, the failure of the Persian patronage, the drought and bad harvests, and all the disillusion of the fifteen years which succeeded the Return. The hostility of the Samaritans was entirely due to the refusal of the Jews to give them a share in the construction of the Temple, and its virulence, probably shown by preventing the Jews from procuring timber, seems to have ceased when the Temple works were stopped. At least we find no mention of it in our prophets; and the Jews are furnished with enough of timber to panel and ceil their own houses. { Haggai 1:4 } But the Jews must have feared a renewal of Samaritan attacks if they resumed work on the Temple, and for the rest they were too sodden with adversity, and too weighted with the care of their own sustenance, to spring at higher interests. What immediately precedes our prophets is a miserable story of barren seasons and little income, money leaking fast away, and every man’s sordid heart engrossed with his own household. Little wonder that critics have been led to deny the great Return of sixteen years back, with its grand ambitions for the Temple and glorious future of Israel. But the like collapse has often been experienced in history when bands of religious men, going forth, as they thought, to freedom and the immediate erection of a holy commonwealth, have found their unity wrecked and their enthusiasm dissipated by a few inclement seasons on a barren and a hostile shore. Nature and their barbarous fellowmen have frustrated what God had promised. Themselves, accustomed from a high stage of civilization to plan still higher social structures, are suddenly reduced to the primitive necessities of tillage and defense against a savage foe. Statesmen, poets, and idealists of sorts have to hoe the ground, quarry stones, and stay up of nights to watch as sentinels. Destitute of the comforts and resources with which they have grown up, they live in constant battle with their bare and unsympathetic environs. It is a familiar tale in history, and we read it with ease in the case of Israel. The Jews enjoyed this advantage, that they came not to a strange land, but to one crowded with inspiring memories, and they had behind them the most glorious impetus of prophecy which ever sent a people forward to the future. Yet the very ardors of this hurried them past a due appreciation of the difficulties they would have to encounter, and when they found themselves on the stony soil of Judah, which they had been idealizing for fifty years, and were further afflicted by barren seasons, their hearts must have suffered an even more bitter disillusion than has so frequently fallen to the lot of religious emigrants to an absolutely new coast. Haggai 2:10 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, 3. THE POWER OF THE UNCLEAN { Haggai 2:10-19 } Haggai’s third address to the people is based on a deliverance which he seeks from the priests. The Book of Deuteronomy had provided that, in all difficult cases not settled by its own code, the people shall seek a "deliverance" or " Torah " from the priests, "and shall observe to do according to the deliverance which the priests deliver to thee." Both noun and verb, which may be thus literally translated, are also used for the completed and canonical Law in Israel, and they signify that in the time of the composition of the Book of Deuteronomy that Law was still regarded as in process of growth. So it is also in the time of Haggai: he does not consult a code of laws, nor asks the priests what the canon says, as, for instance, our Lord does with the question, "how readest thou?" But he begs them to give him a Torah or deliverance, based of course upon existing custom, but not yet committed to writing. For the history of the Law in Israel this is, therefore, a passage of great interest. "On the twenty-fourth of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of Jehovah came to Haggai the prophet, saying: Thus saith Jehovah of Hosts, Ask, I pray, of the priests a deliverance, saying":- "If a man be carrying flesh that is holy in the skirt of his robe, and with his skirt touch bread or pottage or wine or oil or any food, shall the latter become holy? And the priests gave answer and said, No! And Haggai said, If one unclean by a corpse touch any of these, shall the latter become unclean? And the priests gave answer and said, It shall." That is to say, holiness which passed from the source to an object immediately in touch with the latter did not spread further; but pollution infected not only the person who came into contact with it, but whatever he touched. "The flesh of the sacrifice hallowed whatever it should touch, but not further; but the human being who was defiled by touching a dead body, defiled all he might touch." "And Haggai answered and said: So is this people, and so is this nation before Me-oracle of Jehovah-and so is all the work of their hands, and what they offer there"-at the altar erected on its old site-"is unclean." That is to say, while the Jews had expected their restored ritual to make them holy to the Lord, this had not been effective, while, on the contrary, their contact with sources of pollution had thoroughly polluted both themselves and their labor and their sacrifices. What these sources of pollution are is not explicitly stated, but Haggai, from his other messages, can only mean, either the people’s want of energy in building the Temple, or the unbuilt Temple itself Andree goes so far as to compare the latter with the corpse, whose touch, according to the priests, spreads infection through more than one degree. In any case Haggai means to illustrate and enforce the building of the Temple without delay; and meantime he takes one instance of the effect he has already spoken of, "the work of their hands," and shows how it has been spoilt by their neglect and delay. "And now, I pray, set your hearts backward from today, before stone was laid upon stone in the Temple of Jehovah: when one came to a heap of grain of twenty measures, and it had become ten, or went to the wine vat to draw fifty measures, and it had become twenty. I smote you with blasting and with withering, and with hail all the work of your hands, and - oracle of Jehovah. Lay now your hearts on the time before today (the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month), before the day of the foundation of the Temple of Jehovah-lay your hearts" to that time! "Is there yet any seed in the barn? And as yet the vine, the fig-tree, the pomegranate and the olive have not borne fruit. From this day I will bless thee." This then is the substance of the whole message. On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, somewhere in our December, the Jews had been discouraged that their attempts to build the Temple, begun three months before, had not turned the tide of their misfortunes and produced prosperity in their agriculture. Haggai tells them, there is not yet time for the change to work. If contact with a holy thing has only a slight effect, but contact with an unclean thing has a much greater effect ( Haggai 2:11-13 ), then their attempts to build the Temple must have less good influence upon their condition than the bad influence of all their past devotion to themselves and their secular labors. That is why adversity still continues, but courage from this day on God will bless. The whole message is, therefore, opportune to the date at which it was delivered, and comes naturally on the back of Haggai’s previous oracles. Andree’s reason for assigning it to another writer, on the ground of its breaking the connection, does not exist. These poor colonists, in their hope deferred, were learning the old lesson, which humanity finds so hard to understand, that repentance and new-born zeal do not immediately work a change upon our material condition; but the natural consequences of sin often outweigh the influence of conversion, and though devoted to God and very industrious we may still be punished for a sinful past. Evil has an infectious power greater than that of holiness. Its effects are more extensive and lasting. It was no bit of casuistry which Haggai sought to illustrate by his appeal to the priests on the ceremonial law, but an ethical truth deeply embedded in human experience. Haggai 2:20 And again the word of the LORD came unto Haggai in the four and twentieth day of the month, saying, 4. THE REINVESTMENT OF ISRAEL’S HOPE Haggai 2:20-23 On the same day Haggai published another oracle, in which he put the climax to his own message by reinvesting in Zerubbabel the ancient hopes of his people. When the monarchy fell the Messianic hopes were naturally no longer concentrated in the person of a king; and the great evangelist of the Exile found the elect and anointed Servant of Jehovah in the people as a whole, or in at least the pious part of them, with functions not of political government but of moral influence and instruction towards all the peoples of the earth. Yet in the Exile Ezekiel still predicted an individual Messiah, a son of the house of David; only it is significant that, in his latest prophecies delivered after the overthrow of Jerusalem, Ezekiel calls him not king any more, but prince. After the return of Sheshbazzar to Babylon this position was virtually filled by Zerubbabel, a grandson of Jehoiakin, the second last king of Judah, and appointed by the Persian king Pehah or Satrap of Judah. Him Haggai now formally names the elect servant of Jehovah. In that overturning of the kingdoms of the world which Haggai had predicted two months before, and which he now explains as their mutual destruction by war, Jehovah of Hosts will make Zerubbabel His signet-ring, inseparable from Himself and the symbol of His authority. "And the word of Jehovah came a second time to Haggai on the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, saying: Speak to Zerubbabel, Satrap of Judah, saying: I am about to shake the heavens and the earth, and I will overturn the thrones of kingdoms, and will shatter the power of the kingdoms of the Gentiles, and will overturn chariots and their riders, and horses and their riders will come down, every man by the sword of his brother. In that day - oracle of Jehovah of Hosts-I will take Zerubbabel, son of She’alti’el, My servant-oracle of Jehovah-and will make him like a signet-ring; for thee have I chosen-oracle of Jehovah of Hosts." The wars and mutual destruction of the Gentiles, of which Haggai speaks, are doubtless those revolts of races and provinces which threatened to disrupt the Persian Empire upon the accession of Darius in 521. Persians, Babylonians, Medes, Armenians, the Sacae and others rose together or in succession. In four years Darius quelled them all, and reorganized his empire before the Jews finished their Temple. Like all the Syrian governors, Zerubbabel remained his poor lieutenant and submissive tributary. History rolled westward into Europe. Greek and Persian began their struggle for the control of its future, and the Jews fell into an obscurity and oblivion unbroken for centuries. The "signet-ring of Jehovah" was not acknowledged by the world-does not seem even to have challenged its briefest attention. But Haggai had at least succeeded in asserting the Messianic hope of Israel, always baffled, never quenched, in this re-opening of her life. He had delivered the ancient heritage of Israel to the care of the new Judaism. Haggai’s place in the succession of prophecy ought now to be clear to us. The meagerness of his words and their crabbed style, his occupation with the construction of the Temple, his unfulfilled hope in Zerubbabel, his silence on the great inheritance of truth delivered by his predecessors, and the absence from his prophesying of all visions of God’s character and all emphasis upon the ethical elements of religion-these have moved some to depress his value as a prophet almost to the vanishing point. Nothing could be more unjust. In his opening message Haggai evinced the first indispensable power of the prophet: to speak to the situation of the moment, and to succeed in getting men to take up the duty at their feet; in another message he announced a great ethical principle; in his last he conserved the Messianic traditions of his religion, and though not less disappointed than Isaiah in the personality to whom he looked for their fulfillment, he succeeded in passing on their hope undiminished to future ages. The Expositor's Bible Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.