Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Haggai 1:1

In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, in the first day of the month, came the word of the LORD by Haggai the prophet unto Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, saying,

Ch. Hag 1:1-11. The First Prophecy

1. Darius the king ] Lit., Daryavesh. “ Daryavesh is a more accurate transcript of the name of the Persian kings than (Darius). Darius calls himself in his descriptions Dryavush, which means the ‘holder,’ or ‘supporter.’ ” Max. Mller in Pusey’s Book of Daniel, p. 570.

This was Darius the son of Hystaspes, who had deposed the impostor Smerdis and succeeded him on the throne of Persia, and who on his accession returned to the policy of Cyrus with reference to the Jews.

the sixth month ] i.e., of the Jewish year. While they had kings of their own the Jewish historians were wont, as we see throughout the Books of Kings and Chronicles, to date events by the years of their reigns. Now that their own monarchy was at an end, they use instead the year of the foreign Sovereign to whom they were tributary. The transition is observable in ver. 8 of 2 Kings 25 as compared with ver. 1. But the months are still those of their own calendar. The sixth month was called Elul after the return from Babylon. (Neh 6:15; 1Ma 14:27 .)

by Haggai ] Lit., by the hand of, i.e. by his means or instrumentality. And so in ver. 3.

Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel ] Both in the history of the return in Ezra (Ezr 3:2; Ezr 3:8, Ezr 5:2) and Nehemiah (Neh 12:1) and in the genealogies of our Lord, Mat 1:12; Luk 3:27, Zerubbabel is called as he is in this book the son of Shealtiel or Salathiel. But in 1Ch 3:19 he is said to be the son of Pedaiah. The probable explanation of the discrepancy is that Shealtiel, who was the elder brother and the head of the family, had no sons of his own, and that consequently his nephew Zerubbabel, who was the eldest son of the younger brother Pedaiah, became the heir of his uncle Shealtiel, and was commonly regarded and described as his son. He was the recognised head of the Jews in Babylon, “the Prince of Judah,” as he is called (Ezr 1:8), at the time when the decree of Cyrus was issued for their return. He bears a leading part in the history of the return, and of the events which followed immediately upon it. He was among the first to respond to the prophetic call of Haggai and Zechariah (Hag 1:12). Many of their prophecies were addressed to him by name (Hag 1:1; Hag 2:2; Hag 2:21; Zec 4:6); and his spirit was specially stirred up by God (Hag 1:14) to promote the reformation of the people and the rebuilding of the temple. He has been described as “a man inferior to few of the great characters of Scripture, whether we consider the perilous undertaking to which he devoted himself, the importance, in the economy of the Divine government, of his work, his courageous faith, or the singular distinction of being the object of so many and such remarkable prophetic utterances.” Smith’s Bible Dict. Art. Zerubbabel. The fact that his name Zerubbabel (“scattered to Babylon,” or “born at Babylon,” Gesenius) was changed, like those of Daniel and his companions, to the Chaldee name Sheshbazzar, as well as his appointment by Cyrus to the office of “Governor,” makes it probable, as has been suggested, that he was in the service of the king of Babylon. In the Apocryphal account of the return from Babylon contained in the first book of Esdras, Zerubbabel who is apparently regarded by the writer as a distinct person from Sheshbazzar (Sanabassar, 1Es 2:12), under whom the Jews returned in the time of Cyrus, is described as one of the young men who formed the body guard of king Darius. The story told is, that three of these young men agreed to compete before the king as to which of them could compose and write the wisest sentence. “The first wrote, Wine is the strongest. The second wrote, The king is strongest. The third wrote, Women are strongest: but above all things Truth beareth away the victory” ( 1Es 3:10-12). To this third sentence which was Zerubbabel’s, the king and his wise men awarded the palm, and its author, on being invited by the king to name his reward, claimed the fulfilment of the vow which Darius had made on his accession, to build Jerusalem and restore the holy vessels for the Temple. (See the story in full 1 Esdr. ch. 3, 4; and for the additions and variations of Josephus Dict. of the Bible, Art. Zerubbabel.)

governor ] The foreign name ( Pechah) here used for the “Governor” of the Jews is again a badge of their servitude. The word itself is an interesting one. It is first used in the Hebrew Bible in the time of Solomon (1Ki 10:15; 2Ch 9:14) of some “governors of the country” in his outlying dominions who sent him a yearly supply of gold. Even there it is probably a foreign title. “It seems to me most probable,” writes Dr Pusey, “that Solomon adopted the title, as it already existed in the Syrian territories, for it is not said that he ‘placed Pechahs,’ but only that they paid him gold. Thus the name ‘Rajah’ is continued in our Indian dominions.” We next find it when Benhadad after his first defeat is advised to depose the thirty-two subordinate kings who helped him, and to put Pechahs, Syrian Governors, in their place (1Ki 20:24). “Then, still in that neighbourhood, and in part doubtless in the same country, they are in military command in Sennacherib’s army, leading doubtless their own contingent of troops, in his multitudinous host (2Ki 18:24). Sennacherib compares Hezekiah to one of the ‘Governors’ of the subjugated provinces, which he held subdued (Comp. Isa 10:8-9; 2Ki 18:34). Then, in each case joined with Sagans, Pechah is used of Babylonian, (Jer 51:23; Jer 51:57; Eze 23:6; Eze 23:23) and Median (Jer 51:28) governors. Daniel, in recounting the Babylonian governors, places the Pechahs the third, after the Satraps and Sagans (Dan 3:2-3; Dan 3:27). Under Darius, they are not immediately united with the Sagans, but still are enumerated with these only, the Satraps and the haddaberin, ‘privy Councillors,’ Dan 6:8. Somewhat later, (Est 8:9; Est 9:3) the Pechahs are mentioned without the Sagans, but with the Satraps and the ‘princes of the provinces.’ In the times after the captivity there were several such Pechahs, westward of the Euphrates, between it and Judea (Ezr 8:36; Neh 2:7; Neh 2:9), probably the same locality, in regard to which the name was first used under Solomon. Specifically, Tatnai is entitled as ‘ Pechah beyond the river,’ Ezr 5:3; Ezr 6:6, who (although apparently he dwelt at Jerusalem, Neh 3:7) is yet, in the same rescript of Darius, distinguished from ‘the Pechah of the Jews’ (Ezr 6:7), whom naturally there was most occasion to mention (Hag 1:1; Hag 1:14; Hag 2:2; Hag 2:21; Mal 1:8; Neh 5:14; Neh 5:18; Neh 12:26).” Pusey, Book of Daniel, p. 567; where also the possible connection of Pechah with Pashah is discussed by Max Mller.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

In the second year of Darius – , i. e., Hystaspis. The very first word of prophecy after the captivity betokens that they were restored, not yet as before, yet so, as to be hereafter, more than before. The earthly type, by Gods appointment, was fading away, that the heavenly truth might dawn. The earthly king was withdrawn, to make way for the heavenly. God had said of Jeconiah Jer 22:30, No man of his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and ruling anymore in Israel: and so now prophecy begins to be dated by the years of a foreign earthly ruler, as in the Baptism of the Lord Himself Luk 3:1. Yet God gives back in mercy more than He withdraws in chastisement. The earthly rule is suspended, that people might look out more longingly for the heavenly.

In the sixth month – They counted by their own months, beginning with Nisan, the first of the ecclesiastical year (which was still used for holy purposes and in sacred history), although, having no more any kings, they dated their years by those of the empire, to which they were subject (See Zec 1:7; Zec 7:1) in the sixth month, part of our July and August, their harvest was past, and the dearth, which they, doubtless ascribed (as we do) to the seasons, and which Haggai pointed out to be a judgment from God, had set in for this year also. The months being lunar, the first day of the month was the festival of the new moon, a popular feast Pro 7:20 which their forefathers had kept Isa 1:13-14, while they neglected the weightier matters of the law, and which the religious in Israel had kept, even while separated from the worship at Jerusalem (2Ki 4:23; add Amo 8:5; Hos 2:11). In its very first day, when the grief for the barren year was yet fresh, Haggai was stirred to exhort them to consider their way; a pattern for Christian preachers, to bring home to peoples souls the meaning of Gods judgments. God directs the very day to be noted, in which He called the people anew to build His temple, both to show the readiness of their obedience, and a precedent to us to keep in memory days and seasons, in which He stirs our souls to build more diligently His spiritual temple in our souls .

By the hand of Haggai – God does almost everything which He does for a person through the hands of people. He commits His words and works for people into the hands of human beings as His stewards, to dispense faithfully to His household. Luk 12:42. Hence, He speaks so often of the law, which He commanded by the hand of Moses; but also as to other prophets, Nathan 2Sa 12:25, Ahijal, 1Ki 12:15; 1Ki 14:16; 2Ch 10:15. Jehu 1Ki 16:7, Jonah 2Ki 14:25, Isaiah Isa 20:2, Jeremiah Jer 37:2, and the prophets generally. Hos. 7:20; 2Ch 29:25 the very prophets of God, although gifted with a Divine Spirit, still were willing and conscious instruments in speaking His words.

Unto Zerubbabel – (so called from being born in Babylon) the son of Sheatiel. By this genealogy Zerubbabel is known in the history of the return from the captivity in Ezra and Nehemiah Ezr 3:2, Ezr 3:8; Ezr 5:2; Neh 12:1. God does not say by Jeremiah, that Jeconiah should have no children, but that he should in his lifetime be childless, as it is said of those married to the uncles or brothers widow Lev 20:20-21, they shall die childless. Jeremiah rather implies that he should have children, but that they should die untimely before him. For he calls Jeconiah Jer 22:30, a man who shall not prosper in his days; for there shall not prosper a man of his seed, sitting on the throne of David, and ruling anymore in Israel. He should die (as the word means) bared of all, alone and desolate. The own father of Shealtiel appears to have been Neri Luk 3:27, of the line of Nathan son of David; not, of the line of the kings of Judah. Neri married, one must suppose, a daughter of Assir, son of Jeconiah 1Ch 3:17-19 whose grandson Shealtiel was; and Zerubbabel was the own son of Pedaiah, the brother of Shealtiel, as whose son he was in the legal genealogy inscribed, according to the law as to those who die childless Deu 23:5-10, or as having been adopted by Shealtiel being himself childless, as Moses was called the son of the daughter of Pharaoh Exo 2:10. So broken was the line of the unhappy Jehoiachin, two thirds of whose own life was passed in the prison Jer 52:31, into which Nebuchadnezzar did cast him.

Governor of Judah – The foreign name betokens that the civil rule was now held from a foreign power, although Cyrus showed the Jews the kindness of placing one of themselves, of royal extraction also, as his deputy over them.

The lineage of David is still in authority, connecting the present with the past, but the earthly kingdom had faded away. Under the name Sheshbazzar Zerubbabel is spoken of both as the prince and the governor Ezr 5:14, of Judah. With him is joined Joshuah the son of Josedech, the high priest, whose father went into captivity 1Ch 6:15, when his grandfather Seraiah was slain by Nebuchadnezzar 2Ki 25:18-21. The priestly line is also preserved. Haggai addresses these two, the one of the royal, the other of the priestly, line, as jointly responsible for the negligence of the people; he addresses the people only through them. Together, they are types of Him, the true King and true priest, Christ Jesus, who by the resurrection raised again the true temple, His Body, after it had been destroyed .

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Hag 1:1-2

Came the Word of the Lord by Haggai.

Duty revealed

The grail subject of the whole chapter is duty. Duty revealed, duty postponed, duty vindicated These two verses direct us to the revelation of duty. Here we have–

(1)

The time of its revelation. Every duty has its time, every true work has its hour.

(2) The organ of its revelation. Came the Word of the Lord by Haggai.

(3) The order of its revelation Haggai had to deliver the message to men nearest to him, with whom he was most identified, and the men too who had the most power in influencing others.

I. Duty is the burden of divine revelation. The great purpose of Haggais mission was, in the name of God, to urge his countrymen to the fulfilment of a work which was morally incumbent on them, namely, the rebuilding of the temple, What was the burden of Haggais mission is in truth the burden of the whole Divine revelation–duty. It contains, it is true, histories of facts, effusions of poetry, discussions of doctrine; but the grand all-pervading substance of the whole is duty; its grand voice is not merely to believe and feel, but to do; it regards faith and feeling as worthless unless taken up and embodied in the right act. It presents the rule of duty, it supplies the helps to duty, it urges the motives to duty. This fact shows two things–

1. That the Bible studies the real well-being of man. Not an assemblage of beliefs and emotions, but an assemblage of acts and habits. The fact shows–

2. That unpractised religion is spurious.

II. Duty is increased by social elevation. This is implied in the circumstance that Haggai went directly with the message from God to the most influential men in the state, to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest. This fact serves two purposes.

1. To supply a warning to men in great places.

2. A lesson to ministers. Let the ambassadors of heaven carry their messages first, if possible, to men in authority. (Homilist.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET HAGGAI

Chronological Notes relative to this book

-Year from the Creation, according to Archbishop Usher, 3484.

-Year of the Julian Period, 4194.

-Year since the flood, 1828.

-Year from the vocation of Abram, 1301.

-Year since the first celebration of the Olympic games in Elis by the Idaei Dactyli, 934.

-Year since the foundation of the monarchy of the Israelites by the Divine appointment of Saul to the regal dignity, 576.

-Year from the foundation of the temple, 492.

-Year from the division of Solomon’s monarchy into the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, 456.

-Year since the re-establishment of the Olympic games at Elis by Lycurgus, Iphitus, and Cleosthenes, 365.

-Year since the conquest of Coroebus at Olympia, usually called the first Olympiad, 257.

-First year of the sixty-fifth Olympiad.

-Year from the building of Rome, according to the Varronian or generally received computation, 234.

-Year from the building of Rome, according to Cato and the Fasti Consulares, 233.

-Year from the building of Rome, according to Polybius the historian, 232.

-Year from the building of Rome, according to Fabius Pictor, 228.

-Year of the era of Nabonassar, 228.

-Year since the destruction of the kingdom of Israel by Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, 202.

-Year since the destruction of the kingdom of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, 68.

-Year since the destruction of the Chaldean empire by the Persians, 18.

-Year before the birth of Christ, 516.

-Year before the vulgar era of Christ’s nativity, 520.

-Cycle of the Sun, 22.

-Cycle of the Moon, 14.

-Second year of Darius I., king of Persia.

-Twenty-eighth year of Amyntas, king of Macedon.

-Seventh year of Demaratus, king of Lacedaemon, of the family of the Proclidae.

-Eleventh year of Cleomenes, king of Lacedaemon, of the family of the Eurysthenidae.

-Fifteenth year of Tarquinius Superbus, the last king of the Romans.

-This was about twelve years before the abolition of the regal government of the Romans by the expulsion of the Tarquins.

-Confucius, the celebrated Chinese philosopher, is supposed to have flourished about this time.

CHAPTER I

The prophet reproves the people, and particularly their ruler

and high priest, for negligence and delay in rebuilding the

temple; and tells them that their neglect was the cause of

their having been visited with unfruitful seasons, and other

marks of the Divine displeasure, 1-11.

He encourages them to set about the work, and on their doing

so, promises that God will be with them, 12-15.

We know nothing of the parentage of Haggai. He was probably born in Babylon during the captivity, and appears to have been the first prophet sent to the Jews after their return to their own land. He was sent particularly to encourage the Jews to proceed with the building of the temple, which had been interrupted for about fourteen years. Cyrus, who had published an edict empowering the Jews to return to Jerusalem and rebuild their city and temple, revoked this edict in the second year of his reign, through the evil advice of his courtiers and other enemies of the Jews. After his death Cambyses renewed the prohibition, but after the death of Cambyses, Darius, the son of Hystaspes, renewed the permission; 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, Ezr 5:3, 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, 1Ch 6:15. But Seraiah was slain at Riblah, by order of Nebuchadnezzar, 2Kg 25:18-21.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

Darius: of this name there were seven, Darius Medus, Hystaspes, Longimanus, Nothus, Ochus, Arsames, Codomanus; one before Cyrus, viz. that Darius which is distinguished from the other by Medus, the Mede; the next Darius was son of Hystaspes, and third king of Persia, (if we leave out Smerdis the cheat, who on Cambyses’s death counterfeited the true Smerdis, slain by Cambyses’s order, got into the throne, but was discovered and slain at seven months’ end,) of whom the text speaketh; unless you can think Joshua high priest through one hundred and forty-four years, and some considerable number of Jews to have lived one hundred and ninety-six years, and the returned captives to have wanted a temple for one hundred and twelve years at least, which incredible things attend them who will have this Darius to be Nothus.

The king; as being the greatest of that time, and by way of eminency above others.

In the sixth month; Elul, answering to part of our August and September.

The word of the Lord; the command or direction what they should do, and reproof for what they had omitted to do.

Haggai: we read nothing of his parentage or country in the Scripture; he doted that thought him an angel.

The prophet; inspired, sent, approved, and assisted of God in his office.

Zerubbabel; whose name speaks either his birth in Babylon, or his interest and power there as some conjecture: probably his birth in Babylon might be ground of trusting him with the government of Judah, to which he had right.

Son of Shealtiel; adoptive son to Shealtiel, being of the royal line, probably he was the chief branch thereof, uncle to him; but by nature, or by generation, son of Pedaiah; or else there were two Zerubbabels, sons of two brothers, Pedaiah and Shealtiel.

Governor of Judah; appointed to this by the Persian king, under whose power the Jews were now fallen, and at whose pleasure governors were placed or displaced over the remnant returned out of Babylon, and once at last settled in the land of Judah.

Joshua; a type of the great Deliverer; one Joshua leads them into Canaan, another restores the temple.

Josedech; whose name did portend good to this people, and bespoke God’s righteousness; his father Seraiah was high priest and slain by Nebuchadnezzar.

The high priest, by lineal descent according to the law, chief of power in church matters, as Zerubbabel was chief in civil things: to these the prophet is sent to stir them up to the building of the temple.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

1. second year of DariusHystaspes,the king of Medo-Persia, the second of the world empires, Babylonhaving been overthrown by the Persian Cyrus. The Jews having no kingof their own, dated by the reign of the world kings to whom they weresubject. Darius was a common name of the Persian kings, as Pharaoh ofthose of Egypt, and Csar of those of Rome. The name in thecuneiform inscriptions at Persepolis is written Daryawus, fromthe root Darh, “to preserve,” the Conservator[LASSEN]. HERODOTUS[6.98] explains it Coercer. Often opposite attributes areassigned to the same god; in which light the Persians viewed theirking. Ezr 4:24 harmonizes withHaggai in making this year the date of the resumption of thebuilding.

sixth monthof theHebrew year, not of Darius’ reign (compare Zec 1:7;Zec 7:1; Zec 7:3;Zec 8:19). Two months later (“theeighth month,” Zec 1:1)Zechariah began to prophesy, seconding Haggai.

the LordHebrew,JEHOVAH: God’s covenanttitle, implying His unchangeableness, the guarantee of Hisfaithfulness in keeping His promises to His people.

by HaggaiHebrew,“in the hand of Haggai”; God being the real speaker, Hisprophet but the instrument (compare Act 7:35;Gal 3:19).

Zerubbabelcalled alsoShesh-bazzar in Ezr 1:8; Ezr 5:14;Ezr 5:16, where the same work isattributed to Shesh-bazzar that in Ezr3:8 is attributed to Zerubbabel. Shesh-bazzar is probably hisChaldean name; as Belteshazzar was that of Daniel. Zerubbabel,his Hebrew name, means “one born in Babylon.”

son of ShealtielorSalathiel. But 1Ch 3:17; 1Ch 3:19makes Pedaiah his father. Probably he was adopted by his uncleSalathiel, or Shealtiel, at the death of his father (compare Mat 1:12;Luk 3:27).

governor of Judahtowhich office Cyrus had appointed him. The Hebrew Pechah isakin to the original of the modern Turkish Pasha; one ruling aregion of the Persian empire of less extent than that under a satrap.

Joshuacalled Jeshua(Ezr 2:2); so the son of Nun inNe 8:17.

Josedechor Jehozadak(1Ch 6:15), one of thosecarried captive by Nebuchadnezzar. Haggai addresses the civil and thereligious representatives of the people, so as to have them as hisassociates in giving God’s commands; thus priest, prophet, and rulerjointly testify in God’s name.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

In the second year of Darius the King,…. That is, of Persia; he is spoken of as if he was the only king in the world; and indeed he was the then greatest king in it; and therefore is emphatically called “the king”. This was not Darius the Mede, as Genebrard; who was contemporary with Cyrus, and partner in the kingdom; nor Darius Nothus, as Scaliger, and those that follow him; since the second year of this Darius was, according to Cocceius, who follows this opinion, one hundred and thirty eight years after the first edict of Cyrus; and so Zerubbabel and Joshua must exercise their office, the one of governor, the other of high priest, such a term of years, and more, which is not credible; and some of the Jews in captivity must have lived upwards of two hundred years; even those who saw the temple in its first glory, before the captivity, and now behold it in Haggai’s time, in a very different condition, Hag 2:3. It seems therefore more probable, according to Josephus i, and others, that this was Darius Hystaspis, who was chosen king by the nobles of Persia, upon his horse’s neighing first as Herodotus k relates: the second year of his reign was about seventeen or eighteen years after the proclamation of Cyrus; during whose reign, he being much engaged in affairs abroad, and the reign of his successor Cambyses, the enemies of the Jews, encouraged by the latter, greatly obstructed the building of the temple, and discouraged them from going on with it; but when this king came to the throne, things took another turn, being favoured by him; for Josephus l relates, that, when a private person, he vowed, if ever he became king, whatever of the holy vessels were in Babylon, he would send to the temple at Jerusalem; and upon solicitations made to him, the Jews were encouraged to go on with the building of it:

in the sixth month; the month Elul, answering, to part of August, and part of September; which was the sixth, reckoning from the month Nisan:

in the first day of the month; which was the feast of the new moon:

came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet; or, “by the hand of Haggai” m; by his means; he was the instrument by whom the Lord delivered his word; the word was not the prophet’s, but the Lord’s; and this is observed, to give weight and authority to it:

unto Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel: the same who is called Salathiel, Mt 1:12 according to Kimchi and Ben Melech, he was the grandson of Salathiel; though rather Salathiel seems to be his uncle, he being the son of Pedaiah his brother, 1Ch 3:17 however, he was his heir and successor in the government, and so called his son; [See comments on Mt 1:12]:

governor of Judah; not king; for the country was under the dominion of the king of Persia, and Zerubbabel was a deputy governor under him; so the apocryphal Ezra calls him governor of Judea,

“And also he commanded that Sisinnes the governor of Syria and Phenice, and Sathrabuzanes, and their companions, and those which were appointed rulers in Syria and Phenice, should be careful not to meddle with the place, but suffer Zorobabel, the servant of the Lord, and governor of Judea, and the elders of the Jews, to build the house of the Lord in that place.” (1 Esdras 6:27)

and, according to Josephus n, he was made governor of the captive Jews, when in Babylon, being in great favour with the king of Babylon; and, with two more, were his body guards; and he was continued governor by the Persians, when the Jews returned to their land:

and to Joshua the son of Josedech the high priest; who is called Jeshua, and his father Jozadak, Ezr 3:2 his father was carried captive by Nebuchadnezzar, 1Ch 6:15 now, to these two principal persons in the commonwealth of Judea was the word of the Lord sent by the prophet; the one having the chief power in civil things, and the other in things ecclesiastical; and both had an influence upon the people; but very probably were dilatory in the work of building the temple; and therefore have a message sent to them, to stir them up to this service:

saying: as follows:

i Antiqu. l. 11. c. 3. sect. 1. and c. 4. sect. 5, 7. k Thalia, sive l. 3. c. 84, 85, 86. l Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 11. c. 3. sect. 1. and c. 4. sect. 5, 7.) m “in manu Aggaei”, V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Cocceius. n Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 11. c. 3. sect. 1. and c. 4. sect. 5, 7.)

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

In Hag 1:1 this address is introduced by a statement of the time at which it had been delivered, and the persons to whom it was addressed. The word of Jehovah was uttered through the prophet in the second year of king Darius, on the first day of the sixth month. answers to the name Daryavush or Darayavush of the arrow-headed inscriptions; it is derived from the Zendic dar , Sanskrit dhri , contracted into dhar , and is correctly explained by Herodotus (vi. 98) as signifying = corcitor . It is written in Greek ( Darius). The king referred to is the king of Persia (Ezr 4:5, Ezr 4:24), the first of that name, i.e., Darius Hystaspes, who reigned from 521 to 486 b.c. That this is the king meant, and not Darius Nothus, is evident from the fact that Zerubbabel the Jewish prince, and Joshua the high priest, who had led back the exiles from Babylon to Judaea in the reign of Cyrus, in the year 536 (Ezr 1:8; Ezr 2:2), might very well be still at the head of the returned people in the second year of the reign of Darius Hystaspes, i.e., in the year 520, but could not have been still living in the reign of Darius Nothus, who did not ascend the throne till 113 years after the close of the captivity. Moreover, in Hag 2:3, Haggai presupposes that many of his contemporaries had seen the temple of Solomon. Now, as that temple had been destroyed in the year 588 or 587, there might very well be old men still living under Darius Hystaspes, in the year 520, who had seen that temple in their early days; but that could not be the case under Darius Nothus, who ascended the Persian throne in the year 423. The prophet addresses his word to the temporal and spiritual heads of the nation, to the governor Zerubbabel and the high priest Joshua. is written in many codd. , and is either formed from , in Babyloniam dispersus , or as the child, if born before the dispersion in Babylonia, would not have received this name proleptically, probably more correctly from , in Babylonia satus s. genitus , in which case the was assimilated to the when the two words were joined into one, and received a dagesh. Zerubbabel (lxx ) was the son of Shealtil. is written in the same way in Hag 2:23; 1Ch 3:17; Ezr 3:2, and Neh 12:1; whereas in Neh 12:12 and Neh 12:14, and Hag 2:2, it is contracted into . She’alt’el , i.e., the prayer of God, or one asked of God in prayer, was, according to 1Ch 3:17, if we take ‘assr as an appellative, a son of Jeconiah (Jehoiachin), or, if we take ‘assr as a proper name, a son of Assir the son of Jeconiah, and therefore a grandson of Jehoiachin. But, according to 1Ch 3:19, Zerubbabel was a son of Pedaiah, a brother of Shealtiel. And lastly, according to the genealogy in Luk 3:27, Shealtiel was not a son of either Assir or Jeconiah, but of Neri, a descendant of David through his son Nathan. These three divergent accounts, according to which Zerubbabel was (1) a son of Shealtil, (2) a son of Pedaiah, the brother of Shealtil, and a grandson of Assir or Jeconiah, (3) a son of Shealtil and grandson of Neri, may be brought into harmony by means of the following combinations, if we bear in mind the prophecy of Jeremiah (Jer 32:30), that Jeconiah would be childless, and not be blessed with having one of his seed sitting upon the throne of David and ruling over Judah. Since this prophecy of Jeremiah was fulfilled, according to the genealogical table given by Luke, inasmuch as Shealtil’s father there is not Assir or Jeconiah, a descendant of David in the line of Solomon, but Neri, a descendant of David’s son Nathan, it follows that neither of the sons of Jeconiah mentioned in 1Ch 3:17-18 (Zedekiah and Assir) had a son, but that the latter had only a daughter, who married a man of the family of her father’s tribe, according to the law of the heiresses, Num 27:8; Num 36:8-9 – namely Neri, who belonged to the tribe of Judah and family of David. From this marriage sprang Shealtil, Malkiram, Pedaiah, and others. The eldest of these took possession of the property of his maternal grandfather, and was regarded in law as his (legitimate) son. Hence he is described in 1Ch 3:17 as the son of Assir the son of Jeconiah, whereas in Luke he is described, according to his lineal descent, as the son of Neri. But Shealtil also appears to have died without posterity, and simply to have left a widow, which necessitated a Levirate marriage on the part of one of the brothers (Deu 25:5-10; Mat 22:24-28). Shealtil’s second brother Pedaiah appears to have performed his duty, and to have begotten Zerubbabel and Shimei by this sister-in-law (1Ch 3:19), the former of whom, Zerubbabel, was entered in the family register of the deceased uncle Shealtil, passing as his (lawful) son and heir, and continuing his family. Koehler holds essentially the same views (see his comm. on Hag 2:23).

Zerubbabel was pechah , a Persian governor. The real meaning of this foreign word is still a disputed point.

(Note: Prof. Spiegel (in Koehler on Mal 1:8) objects to the combination attempted by Benfey, and transferred to the more modern lexicons, viz., with the Sanscrit paksha , a companion or friend (see at 1Ki 10:15), on the ground that this word (1) signifies wing in the Vedas, and only received the meaning side, party, appendix, at a later period, and (2) does not occur in the Eranian languages, from which it must necessarily have been derived. Hence Spiegel proposes to connect it with pavan (from the root pa , to defend or preserve: compare F. Justi, Hdb. der Zendsprache, p. 187), which occurs in Sanskrit and Old Persian (cf. Khsatrapavan = Satrap) at the end of composite words, and in the Avesta as an independent word, in the contracted form pavan . “It is quite possible that the dialectic form pagvan (cf. the plural pachavoth in Neh 2:7, Neh 2:9) may have developed itself from this, like dregvat from drevat , and hvogva from hvova .” Hence pechh would signify a keeper of the government, or of the kingdom ( Khsatra).)

In addition to his Hebrew name, Zerubbabel also bore the Chaldaean name Sheshbazzar, as an officer of the Persian king, as we may see by comparing Ezr 1:8, Ezr 1:11; Ezr 5:14, Ezr 5:16, with Ezr 2:2; Ezr 3:2, Ezr 3:8, and Ezr 5:2. For the prince of Judah, Sheshbazzar, to whom Koresh directed the temple vessels brought from Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar to be delivered, and who brought them back from Babylon to Jerusalem (Ezr 1:8, Ezr 1:11; Ezr 5:14), and who laid the foundation for the house of God, according to Ezr 5:16, is called Zerubbabel in Ezr 2:2, as the leader of the procession, who not only laid the foundation for the temple, along with Joshua the high priest, according to Ezr 3:2, Ezr 3:8, but also resumed the building of the temple, which had been suspended, in connection with the same Joshua during the reign of Darius. The high priest Joshua ( Y e hoshua , in Ezr 3:2, Ezr 3:8; Ezr 4:3, contracted into Yeshua ) was a son of Jozadak, who had been carried away by the Chaldaeans to Babylon (Ezr 1:11), and a grandson of the high priest Seraiah, whom Nebuchadnezzar had caused to be executed at Riblah in the year 588, after the conquest of Jerusalem (2Ki 25:18-21; Jer 52:24-27). The time given, “in the sixth month,” refers to the ordinary reckoning of the Jewish year (compare Zec 1:7 and Zec 7:1, and Neh 1:1 with Neh 2:1, where the name of the month is given as well as the number). The first day, therefore, was the new moon’s day, which was kept as a feast-day not only by a special festal sacrifice (Num 28:11.), but also by the holding of a religious meeting at the sanctuary (compare Isa 1:13 and the remarks on 2Ki 4:23). On this day Haggai might expect some susceptibility on the part of the people for his admonition, inasmuch as on such a day they must have been painfully and doubly conscious that the temple of Jehovah was still lying in ruins (Hengstenberg, Koehler).

Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament

The Jews Reproved; God’s Controversy with the Jews; The Prophet’s Good Advice.

B. C. 520.

      1 In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, in the first day of the month, came the word of the LORD by Haggai the prophet unto Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, saying,   2 Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, This people say, The time is not come, the time that the LORD‘s house should be built.   3 Then came the word of the LORD by Haggai the prophet, saying,   4 Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your cieled houses, and this house lie waste?   5 Now therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways.   6 Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes.   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 glorified, saith the LORD.   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. Because of mine house that is waste, and ye run every man unto his own house.   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, and upon the new wine, and upon the oil, and upon that which the ground bringeth forth, and upon men, and upon cattle, and upon all the labour of the hands.

      It was the complaint of the Jews in Babylon that they saw not their signs, and there was no more prophet (Ps. lxxiv. 9), which was a just judgment upon them for mocking and misusing the prophets. We read of no prophets they had in their return, as they had in their coming out of Egypt, Hos. xii. 13. God stirred them up immediately by his Spirit to exert themselves in that escape (Ezra i. 5); for, though God makes use of prophets, he needs them not, he can do his work without them. But the lamp of Old-Testament prophecy shall yet make some bright and glorious efforts before it expire; and Haggai is the first that appears under the character of a special messenger from heaven, when the word of the Lord had been long precious (as when prophecy began, 1 Sam. iii. 1) and there had been no open vision. In the reign of Darius Hystaspes, the third of the Persian kings, in the second year of his reign, this prophet was sent; and the word of the Lord came to him, and came by him to the leading men among the Jews, who are here named, v. 1. The chief governor, 1. In the state; that was Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, of the house of David, who was commander-in-chief of the Jews, in their return out of captivity. 2. In the church; and that was Joshua the son of Josedech, who was now high priest. They were great men and good men, and yet were to be stirred up to their duty when they grew remiss. What the people also were faulty in they must be told of, that they might use their power and interest for the mending of it. The prophets, who were extraordinary messengers, did not go about to set aside the ordinary institutions of magistracy and ministry, but endeavoured to render both more effectual for the ends to which they were appointed, for both ought to be supported. Now observe,

      I. What the sin of the Jews was at this time, v. 2. As soon as they came up out of captivity they set up an altar for sacrifice, and within a year after laid the foundations of a temple, Ezra iii. 10. They then seemed very forward in it, and it was likely enough that the work would be done suddenly; but, being served with a prohibition some time after from the Persian court, and charged not to go on with it, they not only yielded to the force, when they were actually under it, which might be excused, but afterwards, when the violence of the opposition had abated, they continued very indifferent to it, had no spirit nor courage to set about it again, but seemed glad that they had a pretence to let it stand still. Though those who are employed for God may be driven off from their work by a storm, yet they must return to it as soon as the storm is over. These Jews did not do so, but continued loitering until they were afresh reminded of their duty. And that which they suggested one to another was, The time has not come, the time that the Lord’s house should be built; that is, 1. “Our time has not come for the doing of it, because we have not yet recovered, after our captivity; our losses are not repaired, nor have we yet got before-hand in the world. It is too great an undertaking for new beginners in the world, as we are; let us first get our own houses up, before we talk of building churches, and in the mean time let a bare altar serve us, as it did our father Abraham.” They did not say that they would not build a temple at all, but, “Not yet; it is all in good time.” Note, Many a good work is put by by being put off, as Felix put off the prosecution of his convictions to a more convenient season. They do not say that they will never repent, and reform, and be religious, but, “Not yet.” And so the great business we were sent into the world to do is not done, under pretence that it is all in good time to go about it. 2. “God’s time has not come for the doing of it; for (say they) the restraint laid upon us by authority in a legal way is not broken off, and therefore we ought not to proceed, though there be a present connivance of authority.” Note, There is an aptness in us to misinterpret providential discouragements in our duty, as if they amounted to a discharge from our duty, when they are only intended for the trial and exercise of our courage and faith. It is bad to neglect our duty, but it is worse to vouch Providence for the patronising of our neglects.

      II. What the judgments of God were by which they were punished for this neglect, Hag 1:6; Hag 1:9-11. They neglected the building of God’s house, and put that off, that they might have time and money for their secular affairs. They desired to be excused from such an expensive piece of work under this pretence, that they must provide for their families; their children must have meat and portions too, and, until they have got before-hand in the world, they cannot think of rebuilding the temple. Now, that the punishment might answer to the sin, God by his providence kept them still behind-hand, and that poverty which they thought to prevent by not building the temple God brought upon them for not building it. They were sensible of the smart of the judgment, and every one complained of the unseasonable weather, the great losses they sustained in their corn and cattle, and the decay of trade; but they were not sensible of the cause of the judgment, and the ground of God’s controversy with them. They did not, or would not, see and own that it was for their putting off the building of the temple that they lay under these manifest tokens of God’s displeasure; and therefore God here gives them notice that this is that for which he contended with them. Note, We need the help of God’s prophets and ministers to expound to us, not only the judgments of God’s mouth, but the judgments of his hands, that we may understand his mind and meaning in his rod as well as in his word, to discover to us not only wherein we have offended God, but wherein God shows himself offended at us. Let us observe,

      1. How God contended with them. He did not send them into captivity again, nor bring a foreign enemy upon them, as they deserved, but took the correcting of them into his own hands; for his mercies are great. (1.) He that gives seed to the sower denied his blessing upon the seed sown, and then it never prospered; they had nothing, or next to nothing, from it. They sowed much (v. 6), kept a great deal of ground in tillage, which, they might expect, would turn to a better advantage than usual, because their land had long lain fallow and had enjoyed its sabbaths. Having sown much, they looked for much from it, enough to spend and enough to spare too; but they were disappointed: They bring in little, very little (v. 6); when they have made the utmost of it, it comes to little (v. 9); it did not yield as they expected. Isa. v. 10, The seed of a homer shall yield an ephah, a bushel’s sowing shall yield a peck. Note, Our expectations from the creature are often most frustrated when they are most raised; and then, when we look for much, it comes to little, that our expectation may be from God only, in whom it will be outdone. We are here told how they came to be disappointed (v. 10): The heaven over you is stayed from dew; he that has the key of the clouds in his hands shut them up, and withheld the rain when the ground called for it, the former or the latter rain, and then of course the earth is stayed from her fruit; for, if the heaven be as brass, the earth is as iron. The corn perhaps came up very well, and promised a very plentiful crop, but, for want of the dews at earing-time, it never filled, but was parched with the heat of the sun and withered away. The restored captives, who had long been kept bare in Babylon, thought they should never want when they had got their own land in possession again and had that at command. But what the better are they for it, unless they had the clouds at command too? God will make us sensible of our necessary and constant dependence upon him, throughout all the links in the chain of second causes, from first to last; so that we can at no time say, “Now we have no further occasion for God and his providence.” See Hos. ii. 21. But God not only withheld the cooling rains, but he appointed the scorching heats (v. 11): I called for a drought upon the land, ordered the weather to be extremely hot, and then the fruits of the earth were burnt up. See how every creature is that to us which God makes it to be, either comfortable or afflictive, serving us or incommoding us. Nothing among the inferior creatures is so necessary and beneficial to the world as the heat of the sun; it is that which puts life into the plants and renews the face of the earth at spring. And yet, if that go into an extreme, it undoes all again. Our Creator is our best friend; but, if we make him our enemy, we make the best friends we have among the creatures our enemies too. This drought God called for, and it came at the call; as the winds and the waves, so the rays of the sun, obey him. It was universal, and the ill effects of it were general; it was a drought upon the mountains, which, lying high, were first affected with it. The mountains were their pasture-grounds, and used to be covered over with flocks, but now there was no grass for them. It was upon the corn, the new wine, and the oil; all failed through the extremity of the hot weather, even all that the ground brought forth; it all withered. Nay, it had a bad influence upon men; the hot weather enfeebled some, and made them weary and faint, and spent their spirits; it inflamed others, and put them into fevers. It should seem, it brought diseases upon cattle too. In short, it spoiled all the labour of their hands, which they hoped to eat of and maintain their families by. Note, Meat for the belly is meat that perishes, and, if we labour for that only, we are in danger of losing our labour; but we are sure our labour shall not be in vain in the Lord if we labour for the meat which endures to eternal life. For the hand of the diligent, in the business of religion, will infallibly make rich, whereas, in the business of this life, the most solicitous and the most industrious often lose the labour of their hands. The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong. (2.) He that gives bread to the eater denied his blessing upon the bread they ate, and then that did not nourish them. The cause of the withering and failing of the corn in the field was visible–it was for want of rain; but, besides that, there was a secret blast and curse attending that which they brought home. [1.] When they had it in the barn they were not sure of it: I did blow upon it, saith the Lord of hosts (v. 9), and that withered it, as buds are sometimes blasted in the spring by a nipping frost, which we see the effects of, but know not the way of. I did blow it away; so the margin reads it. When men have heaped wealth together God can scatter it with the breath of his mouth as easily as we can blow away a feather. Note, We can never be sure of any thing in this world; it is exposed, not only when it is in the field, but when it is housed; for there moth and rust corrupt, Matt. vi. 19. And, if we would have the comfort and continuance of our temporal enjoyments, we must make God our friend; for, if he bless them to us, they are blessings indeed, but if he blow upon them we can expect no good from them: they make themselves wings and fly away. [2.] When they had it upon the board it was not that to them that they expected: “You eat, but you have not enough, either because the meat is washy, and not satisfying, or because the stomach is greedy, and not satisfied. You eat, but you have no good digestion, and so are not nourished by it, nor does it answer the end, or you have not enough because you are not content, nor think it enough. You drink, but are not cooled and refreshed by it; you are not filled with drink; you are stinted, and have not enough to quench your thirst. The new wine is cut off from your mouth (Joel i. 5), nay, and you drink your water too by measure and with astonishment; you have no comfort of it, because you have no plenty of it, but are still in fear of falling short.” [3.] That which they had upon their backs did them no good there: “You clothe yourselves, but there is none warm; your clothes soon wear out, and wax old, and grow thin, because God blows upon them,” contrary to what Israel’s did in the wilderness when God blessed them. It is God that makes our garments warm upon us, when he quiets the earth, Job xxxvii. 17. [4.] That which they had in their bags, which was not laid out, but laid up, they were not sure of: “He that earns wages by hard labour, and has it paid him in ready current money, puts it into a bag with holes; it drops through, and wastes away insensibly. Every thing is so scarce and dear that they spend their money as fast as they get it.” Those that lay up their treasure on earth put it into a bag with holes; they lose it as they go along, and those that come after them pick it up. But, if we lay up our treasure in heaven, we provide for ourselves bags that wax not old, Luke xii. 33.

      2. Observe wherefore God thus contended with them, and stopped the current of the favours promised them at their return (Joel ii. 24); they provoked him to do it: It is because of my house that is waste. This is the quarrel God has with them. The foundation of the temple is laid, but the building does not go on. “Every man runs to his own house, to finish that, and to make that convenient and fine, and no care is taken about the Lord’s house; and therefore it is that God crosses you thus in all your affairs, to testify his displeasure against you for that neglect, and to bring you to a sense of your sin and folly.” Note, As those who seek first the kingdom of God and the righteousness thereof shall not only find them, but are most likely to have other things added to them, so those who neglect and postpone those things will not only lose them, but will justly have other things taken away from them. And if God cross us in our temporal affairs, and we meet with trouble and disappointment, we shall find this is the cause of it, the work we have to do for God and our own souls is left undone, and we seek our own things more than the things of Jesus Christ, Phil. ii. 21.

      III. The reproof which the prophet gives them for their neglect of the temple-work (v. 4): “Is it time for you, O you! to dwell in your ceiled houses, to have them beautified and adorned, and your families settled in them?” They were not content with walls and roofs for necessity, but they must have for gaiety and fancy. “It is high time,” says one, “that my house were wainscoted.” “It is high time,” says another, “that mine were painted.” And God’s house, all this time, lies waste, and nothing is done at it. “What!” says the prophet, “is it time that you should have your humour pleased, and not time you should have your God pleased?” How much was their disposition the reverse of David’s, who could not be easy in his house of cedar while the ark of God was in curtains (2 Sam. vii. 2), and of Solomon’s, who built the temple of God before he built a palace for himself. Note, Those are very much strangers to their own interest who prefer the conveniences and ornaments of the temporal life before the absolute necessities of the spiritual life, who are full of care to enrich their own houses, while God’s temple in their hearts lies waste, and nothing is done for it or in it.

      IV. The good counsel which the prophet gives to those who thus despised God, and whom God was therefore justly displeased with. 1. He would have them reflect: Now therefore consider your ways, v. 5 and again v. 7. “Be sensible of the hand of God gone out against you, and enquire into the reason; think what you have done that has provoked God thus to break in upon your comforts; and think what you will do to testify your repentance, that God may return in mercy to you.” Note, It is the great concern of every one of us to consider our ways, to set our hearts to our ways (so the word is), to think on our ways (Ps. cxix. 59), to search and try them (Lam. iii. 40), to ponder the path of our feet (Prov. iv. 26), to apply our minds with all seriousness to the great and necessary duty of self-examination, and communing with our own hearts concerning our spiritual state, our sins that are past, and our duty for the future; for sin is what we must answer for, duty is what we must do; about these therefore we must be inquisitive, rather than about events, which we must leave to God. Many are quick-sighted to pry into other people’s ways who are very careless of their own; whereas our concern is to prove every one his own work, Gal. vi. 4. 2. He would have them reform (v. 8): “Go up to the mountain, to Lebanon, and bring wood, and other materials that are wanting, and build the house with all speed; put it off no longer, but set to it in good earnest.” Note, Our considering our ways must issue in the amending of whatever we find amiss in them. If any duty has been long neglected, that is not a reason why it should still be so, but why now at length it should be revived; better late than never. For their encouragement to apply in good earnest to this work, he assures them, (1.) That they should be accepted of him in it: Build the house, and I will take pleasure in it; and that was encouragement enough for them to apply to it with alacrity and resolution, and to go through with it, whatever it cost them. Note, Whatever God will take pleasure in, when it is done, we ought to take pleasure in the doing of, and to reckon that inducement enough to set about it, and go on with it in good earnest; for what greater satisfaction can we have in our own bosoms than in contributing any thing towards that which God will take pleasure in? It ought to be the top of our ambition to be accepted of the Lord, 2 Cor. v. 9. Though they had foolishly neglected the house of God, yet, if at length they will resume the care of it, God will not remember against them their former neglects, but will take pleasure in the work of their hands. Those who have long deferred their return to God, if at length they return with all their heart, must not despair of his favour. (2.) That he would be honoured by them in it: I will be glorified, saith the Lord. He will be served and worshipped in the temple when it is built, and sanctified in those that come nigh to him. It is worth while to bestow all possible care, and pains, and cost, upon that by which God may be glorified.

Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary

CHART

HAGGAI

Book of Challenge To Temple Builders

(Five addresses)

I. A Message of Rebuke and Warning, Hag 1:1-11.

II. A Message of Commendation, Hag 1:12-15.

III.A Message of Encouragement, Hag 2:1-9.

IV.A Message of Purity and Patience, Hag 2:10-19.

V. A Message Concerning Safety, Hag 2:20-23.

CHRONOLOGY OF THE REBUILDING OF THE TEMPLE

(The Post-Exile Prophets, Haggai, Zachariah and Malachi)

(A Foreshadow of the More Glorious Temple Yet To Be)

The first step in restoration of Israel’s national life, after her 70 years of captivity in Babylon, 606-586 B.C., was the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem, which began 536 B.C. Ezr 3:10.

Judah had been conquered, Jerusalem burned, the Temple destroyed when the people were carried into captivity; After the 70 years of captivity about 50,000 Jews, by an edict of King Cyrus, returned to their homeland 536 B.C..and began rebuilding theTemple. But their enemy neighbors caused the work to be interrupted before the foundation had hardly been finished. Fifteen (15) years later Darius, a new King, ascended the Persian throne. Under the preaching of the prophets, Haggai and Zechariah, the Temple work was resumed and completed in four years, 520-516 B.C. About 70 years later the walls of Jerusalem were rebuilt by Nehemiah, perhaps in association with Malachi.

Chronology: (Of Temple Reconstruction)

536 B.C. – 50,000 Jews returned to Jerusalem, under governor Zerubbabel.

536 B.C. – 7th month, the altar rebuilt—sacrifice offered.

535 B.C. – 2nd month, Temple work begins, then interrupted.

520 B.C. – 6th month, (Sept.) 1st day, Haggai challenge to resume building.

6th month, 24th day, building resumed.

7th month, (Oct.) 21st day, Haggai’s second message of appeal.

8th month, (Nov.) Zechariah’s opening address.

9th month, (Dec.) 24th day, Haggai’s 3rd and 4th messages.

11th month, (Feb. 24th day, Zechariah’s vision related.

518 B.C. – 9th month, (Dec.) 4th day, Zechariah’s further vision. 516 B.C. – 12th month (Mr) 3rd day, completion of Temple.

515 B.C. – 1st month (Apr.) 14-21, joyful passover observed.

457 B.C. – Ezra came to Jerusalem, instituted numerous reforms.

444 B.C. – Nehemiah rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem–Period of Malachi.

HAGGAI—GENERAL ANALYSIS

WHO SPEAKS?

This book was written by Haggai, tenth of the minor prophets, and first of the three post-exile or post-captivity prophets. Zechariah and Malachi are the other two. His name means “festal one” or “my feast.” He is mentioned in 5:1 and 6:4 simply as “Haggai the prophet.” He is one of the Jewish exiles who returned to Jerusalem and Judea under Zerubbabel, after 70 years of captivity of the people of Judah, by consent and assistance from Cyrus, king of Persia, about 536 B.C., Isa 44:28; Isa 45:1. Prophecies and Jewish influence motivated Cyrus to grant a remnant of the Jews to return to Jerusalem and Judea and furnished them people and material to restore the temple, 2Ch 36:23; Ezr 1:1; Ezr 2:2. Little is known of his personal history except that recounted Hag 1:1; Hag 2:1; Hag 2:10; Hag 2:20; Ezr 5:1; Ezr 6:14.

TO WHOM?

Haggai addressed five messages to Zerubbabel, governor of Judea, and Joshua the high priest and a remnant of exile Jews who were permitted by Cyrus to return to their homeland, about 520 B.C. These messages were delivered over a period of about three months, to hearten, rebuke, and instruct the low morale of the feeble and divided remnant to proceed with the rebuilding of their Temple of worship.

ABOUT WHAT?

The theme of His message was the rebuilding of the Temple forthwith, without further delay, as the chosen, future glory people of God who were destined for a day of victory.

WHEN?

The time was in the second year and sixth month and first day of the reign of Darius, king of Persia, about 520 B.C. Haggai certified “the word of the Lord came to him,” that he was delivering it to Zerubbabel, then civil ruler of Judah, and to Joshua, high priest and appointed religious leader of the religious activities of the returned Jewish remnant in Israel, Hag 1:1.

WHAT WAS THE OCCASION?

Sixteen years had passed since the Jews, under Zerubbabel returned to Jerusalem, 536 B.C., began repairing the Temple, then interrupted it after seven months. Then in the 6th month (September) 520 B.C. he began challenging the people to rebuild the Temple with Holy Pride.

HAGGAI – CHAPTER 1

OCCASION AND THEME OF THE BOOK

Verses 1, 2:

Verse 1 sets forth the specific time of the events of the rebuilding of the Temple. It was about 520 B.C., in the second year of the reign of Darius, king of Medo-Persia; This was second of the world empires. Cyrus had overthrown Babylon, to establish the Persian Empire. On the first day of the sixth month (Dec.), the word of the Lord came to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua, the high priest of the Jews, by the mouth of Haggai, the prophet of the Lord, Jehovah. God was the real speaker. Haggai was His spokesman, Act 7:35; Gal 3:19. Zerubabbel is also known as Sheshbazzar, Ezr 1:8; Ezr 5:14-15. Thus Haggai the prophet, Joshua the priest, and Zerubbabel the civil ruler, were jointly testifying in God’s name as they led the Jews in rebuilding the Temple, Hag 2:10; Ezr 4:24; Zec 1:1; Zec 1:7; See also Ezr 5:1; Ezr 6:14; 1Ch 3:19; Ezr 2:2; Zec 4:6; Mat 1:12-13; Ezr 3:2; Neh 12:1; Zec 3:1-5; Zec 6:11-12. These extended passages give further information about Haggai, Zerubabbel, and Joshua.

Verse 2 subtly refers to the Jews as “this people”, not “my people,” because they had selfishly neglected the service of God, though they had been back in Jerusalem some 15 years. Two years of the seventy of their predicted captivity were yet unexpired, dating from the destruction of the temple, 588 B.C., Jer 25:11-12; 2Ki 25:9. They (this Jewish remnant) of the 50,000 who had earlier returned to the Jerusalem area), had turned aside to selfish material, pursuits, delaying rebuilding their Temple, saying that the time was not right. So many people today, like them, will not renounce religious worship, but take the attitude “it is not the right time now,” thus they drift, Jas 4:17;

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

The Prophet mentions here the year, the month, and the day in which he began to rouse up the people from their sloth and idleness, by the command of God; for every one studied his own domestic interest, and had no concern for building the Temple.

This happened, he says, in the second year of Darius the king. Interpreters differ as to this time; for they do not agree as to the day or year in which the Babylonian captivity began. Some date the beginning of the seventy years at the ruin which happened under Jeconiah, before the erasing of the city, and the destruction of the Temple. It is, however, probable, that a considerable time had passed before Haggai began his office as a Prophet; for Babylon was taken twenty years, or little more, before the death of king Cyrus; his son Cambyses, who reigned eight years, succeeded him. The third king was Darius, the son of Hystaspes, whom the Jews will have to be the son of Ahasuerus by Esther; but no credit is due to their fancies; for they hazard any bold notion in matters unknown, and assert anything that may come to their brains or to their mouths; and thus they deal in fables, and for the most part without any semblance of truth. It may be sufficient for us to understand, that this Darius was the son of Hystaspes, who succeeded Cambyses, (for I omit the seven months of the Magi; for as they crept in by deceit, so shortly after they were destroyed;) and it is probable that Cambyses, who was the first-born son of Cyrus, had no male heir. Hence it was that his brother being slain by the consent of the nobles, the kingdom came to Darius. He, then, as we may learn from histories, was the third king of the Persians. Daniel says, in the Dan 5:0, that the city of Babylon had been taken by Cyrus, but that Darius the Mede reigned there.

But between writers there is some disagreement on this point; though all say that Cyrus was king, yet Xenophon says, that Cyaxares was ever the first, so that Cyrus sustained only the character, as it were, of a regent. But Xenophon, as all who have any judgement, and are versed in history, well know, did not write a history, but fabled most boldly according to his own fancy; for he invents the tale that Cyrus was brought up by his maternal grandfather, Astyages. But it is evident enough that Astyages had been conquered in war by Cyrus. (127) He says also that Cyrus married a wife a considerable time after the taking of Babylon, and that she was presented to him by his uncle Cyaxares, but that he dared not to marry her until he returned to Persia, and his father Cambyses approved of the marriage. Here Xenophon fables, and gives range to his own invention, for it was not his purpose to write a history. He is a very fine writer, it is true; but the unlearned are much mistaken who think that he has collected all the histories of the world. Xenophon is a highly approved philosopher, but not an approved historian; for it was his designed object fictitiously to relate as real facts what seemed to him most suitable. He fables that Cyrus died in his bed, and dictated a long will, and spoke as a philosopher in his retirement; but Cyrus, we know, died in the Scythian war, and was slain by the queen, Tomyris, who revenged the death of her son; and this is well known even by children. Xenophon, however, as he wished to paint the image of a perfect prince, says that Cyrus died in his bed. We cannot then collect from the Cyropaeda, which Xenophon has written, anything that is true. But if we compare the historians together, we shall find the following things asserted almost unanimously:—That Cambyses was the son of Cyrus; that when he suspected his younger brother he gave orders to put him to death; that both died without any male issue; and that on discovering the fraud of the Magi, (128) the son of Hystaspes became the third king of the Persian. Daniel calls Darius, who reigned in Babylon, the Mede; but he is Cyaxares. This I readily admit; for he reigned by sufferance, as Cyrus willingly declined the honor. And Cyrus, though a grandson of Astyages, by his daughter Mandane, was yet born of a father not ennobled; for Astyages, having dreamt that all Asia would be covered by what proceeded from his daughter, was easily induced to marry her to a stranger. When, therefore, he gave her to Cambyses, his design was to drive her to a far country, so that no one born of her should come to so great an empire: this was the advice of the Magi. Cyrus then acquired a name and reputation, no doubt, only by his own efforts; nor did he venture at first to take the name of a king, but suffered his uncle, and at the same time his father-in-law, to reign with him; and yet he was his colleague only for two years; for Cyasares lived no longer than the taking of Babylon.

I come then now to our Prophet: he says, In the second year of Darius it was commanded to me by the Lord to reprove the sloth of the people. We may readily conclude that more than twenty years had elapsed since the people began to return to their own country. (129) Some say thirty or forty years, and others go beyond that number; but this is not probable. Some say that the Jews returned to their country in the fifty-eighth year of their captivity; but this is not true, and may be easily disproved by the words of Daniel as well as by the history of Ezra. Daniel says in the ninth chapter Dan 9:1 that he was reminded by God of the return of the people when the time prescribed by Jeremiah was drawing nigh. And as this happened not in the first year of Darius, the son of Hystaspes, but about the end of the reign of Belshasar before Babylon was taken, it follows that the time of the exile was then fulfilled. We have also this at the beginning of the history, ‘When seventy years were accomplished, God roused the spirit of Cyrus the king.’ We hence see that Cyrus had not allowed the free return of the people but at the time predicted by Jeremiah, and according to what Isaiah had previously taught, that Cyrus, before he was born, had been chosen for this work: and then God began openly to show how truly he had spoken before the people were driven into exile. But if we grant that the people returned in the fifty-eighth year, the truth of prophecy will not appear. They therefore speak very thoughtlessly who say that the Jews returned to their country before the seventieth year; for thus they subvert, as I have said, every notion of God’s favor.

Since then seventy years had elapsed when Babylon was taken, and Cyrus by a public edict permitted the Jews to return to their country, God at that time stretched forth his hand in behalf of the miserable exiles; but troubles did afterwards arise to them from their neighbors. Some under the guise of friendship wished to join them, in order to obliterate the name of Israel; and that they might make a sort of amalgamation of many nations. Then others openly carried on war with them; and when Cyrus was with his army in Scythia, his prefects became hostile to the Jews, and thus a delay was effected. Then followed Cambyses, a most cruel enemy to the Church of God. Hence the building of the Temple could not be proceeded with until the time of this Darius, the son of Hystaspes. But as Darius, the son of Hystaspes, favored the Jews, or at least was pacified towards them, he restrained the neighboring nations from causing any more delay as to the building of the Temple. He ordered his prefects to protect the people of Israel, so that they might live quietly in their country and finish the Temple, which had only been begun. And we may hence conclude that the Temple was built in forty-six years, according to what is said in the second chapter of John (130) (Joh 2:20); for the foundations were laid immediately on the return of the people, but the work was either neglected or hindered by enemies.

But as liberty to build the Temple was given to the Jews, we may gather from what our Prophet says, that they were guilty of ingratitude towards God; for private benefit was by every one almost exclusively regarded, and there was hardly any concern for the worship of God. Hence the Prophet now reproves this indifference, allied as it was with ungodliness: for what could be more base than to enjoy the country and the inheritance which God had formerly promised to Abraham, and yet to make no account of God, nor of that special favor which he wished to confer—that of dwelling among them? An habitation on mount Sion had been chosen, we know, by God, that thence might come forth the Redeemer of the world. As then this business was neglected, and each one built his own house, justly does the Prophet here reprove them with vehemence in the name and by the command of God. Thus much as to the time. And he says in the second year of Darius, for a year had now elapsed since liberty to build the Temple had been allowed them; but the Jews were negligent, because they were too much devoted to their own private advantages.

And he says, that the word was given by his hand to Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, and to Joshua, the son of Josedech. We shall hereafter see that this communication had a regard without distinction to the whole community; and, if a probable conjecture be entertained, neither Zerubbabel nor Joshua were at fault, because the Temple was neglected; nay, we may with certainty conclude from what Zechariah says, that Zerubbabel was a wise prince, and that Joshua faithfully discharged his office as a priest. Since then both spent their labor for God, how was it that the Prophet addressed them? and since the whole blame belonged to the people, why did he not speak to them? why did he not assemble the whole multitude? The Lord, no doubt, intended to connect Zerubbabel and Joshua with his servant as associates, that they three might go forth to the people, and deliver with one mouth what God had committed to his servant Haggai. This then is the reason why the Prophet says, that he was sent to Zerubbabel and Joshua.

Let us at the same time learn, that princes and those to whom God has committed the care of governing his Church, never so faithfully perform their office, nor discharge their duties so courageously and strenuously, but that they stand in need of being roused, and, as it were, stimulated by many goads. I have already said, that in other places Zerubbabel and Joshua are commended; yet the Lord reproved them and severely expostulated with them, because they neglected the building of the Temple. This was done, that they might confirm by their authority what the Prophet was about to say: but he also intimates, that they were not wholly free from blame, while the people were thus negligent in pursuing the work of building the Temple.

Zerubbabel is called the son of Shealtiel: some think that son is put here for grandson, and that his father’s name was passed over. But this seems not probable. They quote from the Chronicles a passage in which his father’s name is said to be Pedaiah: but we know that it was often the case among that people, that a person had two names. I therefore regard Zerubbabel to have been the son of Shealtiel. He is said to have been the governor (131) of Judah; for it was necessary that some governing power should continue in that tribe, though the royal authority was taken away, and all sovereignty and supreme power extinguished. It was yet God’s purpose that some vestiges of power should remain, according to what had been predicted by the patriarch Jacob,

‘

Taken away shall not be the scepter from Judah, nor a leader from his thigh, until he shall come;’ etc. (Gen 49:10.)

The royal scepter was indeed taken away, and the crown was removed, according to what Ezekiel had said, ‘Take away the crown, subvert, subvert, subvert it,’ (Eze 21:26😉 for the interruption of the government had been sufficiently long. Yet the Lord in the meantime preserved some remnants, that the Jews might know that that promise was not wholly forgotten. This then is the reason why the son of Shealtiel is said to be the governor of Judah. It now follows—

(127) According to the opinions of Plato and Cicero, the Cyropaedia of Xenophon was a moral romance; and these venerable philosophers suppose, that the historian did not so much write what Cyrus had been, as what every true, good, and virtuous monarch ought to be.”— Lempriere’s Class. Dict.

(128) The account of the Magi is briefly this:—Cyrus had two sons, Cambyses and Smerdis. When Cambyses ascended the throne, suspecting the fidelity of his brother, he caused him to be secretly put to death. This was known to some of the Magi. On the death of Cambyses, one of them, named Smerdis, who resembled the deceased prince, was by the Magi declared king, under the pretense of being the brother of Cambyses. The imposition was detected, and seven of the nobles of Persia dethroned him after six months’ reign, and on themselves, Darius Hystaspes, was made king, in the year before Christ 521.— Ed.

(129) Adam Clark says, that is was in the sixteenth year after their return from Babylon.— Ed.

(130) The reference in Joh 2:19, seems to have been made not to the time in which it was built then, but to the time in which it was built or rebuilt by Herod the Great. For this temple was finished in the sixth year of Darius (see Ezr 6:15,) and about twenty-one years after the temple was finished in 515. It was about four years in building under Darius.— Ed.

(131) [ פחה ]; it is a word currect in several languages, Chaldee, Persic, etc. Parkhurst derives it from [ פה ], to extend. Theod. Aq. and Syn. render it ἡγούμενον, governor. He is called Sheshbazzar in Ezr 5:14; and Cyrus is said to have made him [ פחה ], governor or deputy. It is the name of a person endued with authority by a sovereign. Zerubbabel, [ זרבבל ], has been derived from [ זר ], a stranger, and [ בבנ ], Babylon, a stranger or sojourner at Babylon. It deserves to be noticed, that the civil governor is put here before the chief priest; and we find from Ezra that it was to the civil governor that Cyrus delivered the holy vessels of the temple. See Ezr 5:14.— Ed.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

HAGGAIOR GODS TEMPLE AND TRIUMPHS

Hag 1:1 to Hag 2:23

THE Prophet Haggai has been variously estimated by different students. Some have condemned his volume as a tame, uninteresting product; while others have so highly esteemed it as to insist that the phrase, Jehovahs messenger in Jehovahs message indicated his angelic character, and proved him to be nothing short of a supernatural being who visited the earth to deliver the words of this prophecy. As is usual with those who hold extreme positions, both of these are doubtless wrong. The probable history of the man is that of one of the exiles who returned with Zerubbabel and Joshua, and possibly a man of such age to have seen the first Temple in its splendor. His prophecy seems to date clearly to the year 521 B. C. The unprejudiced student of his speech will find it vigorous and will be profoundly impressed with the fact that this rugged man was sent of God, and became eminently successful in his mission. There are people who are telling us now that one can accomplish nothing after fifty years of age; but let it be remembered that Bob Burdette entered the ministry at that point in life and without a peer on the Pacific coast; and that the remarkable genius of Grace Temple, Philadelphia, Russell Conwell, had already made himself famous in two or three other professions before he felt called to be Gods spokesman to the people, and yet in the last twenty years the Lord has wrought miracle after miracle at his hands. Too often men excuse themselves from entering the ministry because the conviction of duty came not upon them in youth. God knew better what He could do with Moses when he had seen his eightieth summer than did the adopted child of an Egyptian princess. Haggai should enhearten the man who, in late life, has heard the call of God, and help him to give ready response.

Again, the ministry of this man seems to have been but four months long; and only two messages ever fell from his lips. We speak often, and justly, against the short pastorate, but better four months ministry under God than forty years without Him; and two sermons preached in the power of the Spirit than two thousand delivered in the energy of the flesh.

But we turn from the man to his message and call attention to three suggestions contained in these two chapters, The Temple of God, The Tests of God, and The Triumphs of God.

THE TEMPLE OF GOD

Haggai seems to have been raised up for the express purpose of preaching the restoration of the Temple. Jehovah spake after this manner,

This people say, The time is not come, the time that the Lords House should be built.

Then came the Word of the Lord by Haggai the Prophet, saying,

Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your cieled houses, and this house lie waste?

* * Consider your ways, * * consider your ways.

Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith the Lord (Hab 1:2-5; Hab 1:8).

The neglect of Gods House is infidelity in conduct. A careful study of the Old Testament Scripture reveals the unchangeableness of human nature and character. This people say, the time is not come, the time that the Lords House should be built. How modern that sounds! How many men we have known in churches who were never ready to undertake any work requiring sacrifice. They will admit it is needful; and that it ought to be done; but, with these Jews, say, The time is not come. And I find that these are not the men who treat their own business after the same manner. They are not the class who say, It is not the time to make money; it is not the time to acquire property; it is not the time to build up a great business; it is not the time to provide for a luxurious old age, and the fortunes of our children; their caution looks to one cause, and one only, and that is the cause of ChristGods house. Such characters are common; they have been the curse of churches in all ages. Any institution situated as this one is, namely, free from men who feel that their vocation in life is to stand on the breaks of church work, is to be congratulated indeed. This renewed and beautified house is made possible this morning because we have not a man in that company of officials to whom this work has fallen who was ever heard to say, It is not the time for the improvement of the House of God.

The neglect of the sanctuary is commercial poverty. There are people who never have any money to invest in Gods House because they have to put up one for themselves. They just must provide for their families; children must be sent to college; and the stock of the business must be increased. Yes, we admit it all. It is a good thing for men to have homes of their own; it adds permanence and character to family life. It is a good thing to provide for ones family; if he does not do it he is worse than an infidel, and hath denied the faith. It is a good thing to educate ones children; they are a charge from God and He will hold us accountable for their training. It is a good thing to build up a business; large amounts of money are needed for the cause of our Christ. But let it not be forgotten that in nine cases out of ten when a man neglects the sanctuary for the sake of these things he is laying the foundation of his own financial failure, and like the people of Haggais day, looking for much; little will come because the House of God has been left waste while they turn every man to his own house;

Ye run every man unto his own house.

Therefore the heaven over you is stayed from dew, and the earth is stayed from her fruit.

And I called for a drought upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the corn, and upon the new wine, and upon the oil, and upon that which the ground bringeth forth, and upon men, and upon cattle, and upon all the labour of the hands (Hag 1:9-11).

Any observing man must have noticed that the most wicked districts of a city are always the poorest districts of a city; the most wicked towns are those in which pauperism abounds. It is written of the righteous Whatsoever he doeth shall prosper; the ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. Irreligion impoverishes! People sometimes seem to be profoundly convinced of this fact. When drought has smitten the land, when the last green blade turns crisp, the very leaves droop, and song is parched from the throat of birds, cattle grow lean; when men drink from low water and lie down in fevers, how often they turn to God in unwonted prayer; and, in contrition and confession, ask to be forgiven, and beg for refreshing showers to quicken the earth again! Science may laugh at this; the Sacred Word of God encourages it! So long ago as the time of the dedication of the first Temple, Jehovah appeared unto Solomon by night and said unto him,

I have heard thy prayer, and have chosen this place to Myself for an house of sacrifice.

If I shut up heaven and there he no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people;

If My people, which are called by My Name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from Heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

In Kansas they used to plan against the ravages of the grasshopper; in Texas they experiment on the possible extermination of the boll weevil; and in Minnesota we send our scientists to study wheat-rust and watch the seasons with alarm lest it be too wet or too dry and the wheat fail. But the fact is the best way to fight the grasshopper in Kansas, and the weevil in Texas, and rust in Minnesota is to give attention to the sanctuary. Erect houses to God; assemble the people in prayer; and walk according to the Divine will. If it was once true that unfaithfulness upon the part of Gods people reduced an heap of twenty measures to but ten, and a wine vat of fifty vessels to but twenty; if it was once true that this unfaithfulness resulted in blasting, in mildew, and hail, who will dare to tell us that God has so far changed that He does not call the conduct of His professed followers into question and correct them by severe afflictions? And if it be true in Haggais day that the time when they made sacrifice to rebuild the sanctuary became the very day from which the fields yielded their fruit, the vine and the fig tree and the pomegranate, and the olive tree brought forth, who will dare to stand up and say that God is not now showing favor to that people who remember His sanctuary, and make glad sacrifice for His Names sake? This is New Testament teaching. Philosophize as you will upon this point, the Word of Jesus is plain. The man who lays up treasure for himself, forgetting the Father, is only making ready for rust and moth, and even for thieves. The man who seeks first Gods Kingdom and His righteousness will find all essential things added unto him.

The improvement of Gods House is the Divine pleasure. One cannot go through the Minor Prophets in careful study without being impressed with the fact that God gives no respite to His people so long as His House lies in ruins. Rebuilt it must be if they are to know the Divine favor. As Robertson Nichol says, Without the Temple continuity of Israels religion could not be maintained. An independent state with the full course of civic life was then impossible. The ethical spirit, the regard for each other and God, could prevail over their material interests in no other way than by common devotion to the worship of the God of their fathers in urging them to build the Temple. * * Haggai illustrated at once the sanity and the spiritual essence of prophecy in Israel.

We remember that Henry Drummond has a booklet entitled The City without a Church in which he exploits the idea that the time will come when in all the cities of the world God will be worshiped so perfectly that no temple will be needful; every man will find Him in every place. The home will be the place of worship; the street will be the place of worship; and no church house will need to call attendance; no hour of devotion will need to be set apart for worship, for all men, everywhere, will worship at all times and under all circumstances. But Drummond overlooks the fact that his text comes out of the twenty-first chapter of Revelation, which is a description not of this world, but of the New Jerusalem, Coming down from God out of Heaven and located in the new earth. So long as this old world stands as it is, and sin continues to smite, the sanctuary is a necessity. And men will not be forgiven who say, It is high time that I got my house repainted; it is high time that I had it wainscoted; it is high time I broadened its verandas; it is high time I hung the richest paintings upon its walls and spread more beautiful carpets upon its floors; but as for Gods House the time of its improvement is not yet. Oh how the speech of such contrasts the disposition of David who said unto Nathan, the Prophet, See now, I dwell in an house of cedar, but the ark of God dwelleth within curtains, and who was distressed that he should have made his own home more beautiful than the place dedicated to His Heavenly Father. And, how it contrasts with the conduct of Solomon who would not lay hand to his own palace until he had finished the Temple of God. These are the men worthy of imitation by the modern church. It was their spirit pulsing again in the heart of G. F. Handel when he wrote:

I love Thy Church, O God;Her walls before Thee stand,Dear as the apple of Thine eye,And graven on Thy hand.

For her my tears shall fall;For her my prayers ascend;To her my cares and toils be given,Till toils and cares shall end.

Beyond my highest joy I prize her Heavenly ways,Her sweet communion, solemn vows,Her hymns of love and praise.

Sure as Thy Truth shall last,To Zion shall be givenThe brightest glories earth can yield,And brighter bliss of Heaven.

THE TESTS OF GOD

But we turn from the Temple of God in this subject to the Tests of God. When Haggai, the Prophet, wanted to teach them their true condition he remembered the custom established in the time of the Pentateuch, when it was appointed that, the priests lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the Law at his mouth: for he is the messenger of the Lord of Hosts. If any troublesome question arose they were to inquire of him. Now Haggai puts to the priests two questions concerning the Law; First, 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! (Hag 2:12).

Oh, men and women of the nineteenth century, here is suggested a great truth for us:

The clean do not necessarily convert all they touch. That makes an end to some of our latest theology and most modern methods. All up and down the land there are men preaching social regeneration and establishing social settlements in slum-centers, saying, If we can only come into contact with these people we will show them how to live above sin. We will set them an example, and they will become clean in person, and tidy in their homes. We will associate with them and they will learn purity of speech at our lips and cease from profanity; we will exhibit before them self-possession and they will come to hate their unholy passions. We will give them a sample of domestic beauty, and family-fussing will find an end. In other words, We will show them how to be Christians, and will say, Imitate us and so they shall be saved. But is that according to the Word of the Lord? 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? If one go live in the midst of wicked people will they be changed by the power of his example? You who preach such a gospel, you who contribute your money to the promotion of such a philosophy, remember the criticism you pass upon Christ! He lived in Nazareth and there was no more wicked village on earth. Did He fail to set them a good example? He walked the streets of Capernaum; he taught in Chorazin; He visited again and again Bethsaida. And Capernaum went on hellward; Chorazin became more criminal; and the morals of Bethsaida blacker and blacker. Jerusalem was His favorite city; in its streets were heard His holy footfalls; He stood in its streets to speak; into its synagogues He went to teach; up and down its length and breadth He walked without sin, giving them an example of conscience, of courage, of purity, or sanity and salvation; and what came of it? Society grew more putrid still and as the sun only hastens the decomposition of the dead, so His glorious presence only the more revealed the moral putrifaction of the people with whom He dwelt. No, no, my friends; men cannot manifest forth what is not found within them, and character is not accomplished by change of outward circumstance; and salvation is not wrought by seeing another live sweetly. Ask the priest whether the clean convert all they touch and he has but one answer, No! Sometimes a moral leper will live in the church forty years and never lose one white blotch; sometimes an unregenerate man will dwell with a saved and sanctified woman for a half a century and yet die in his iniquity. Salvation is not by contact with the clean; salvation is in Christ! There is none other name under Heaven given among men.

But the Prophet brings out another great truth:

The unclean do defile by their contact. (Hag 1:13). 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. Where did he get that notion? From the Law of the Lord, Whatsoever the unclean person toucheth shall be unclean * * until even.

But some man will say, A mere assertion does not make a truth. Ah, but this is a truth. You will find it so in the street tomorrow. There is a woman that passes you in whiteimmaculate! She touches you, and you are not a whit improved in appearance; for cleanliness is not communicable after that manner. Here is a chimney-sweep that goes by, and he rubs against you, and lo, as you look, he has left a black mark of soot. Here is a man of health that walks by; you have no sense of increased vigor when he has gone. Here is another of diseased body; you give him wide berth, lest his malady be communicated! Yes, Evil communications corrupt good manners and the unclean do defile by their contact. I knew an office once in which young men, members of my church, forgot the vows they had taken; treated with contempt the church in which they were members; behaved like worldlings indeed, notwithstanding the profession they had made. I could not understand it, and wondered why the men in that particular office seemed to live at such a low level; and to entertain such pauperized notions of their privilege in Christ. Finally I had occasion to visit their chief, the man who was over them all, and the secret was out. He too had professed Christ; he, too, was a member of the church; but profane speech seemed to him no sin; and neglect of the sanctuary he justified; and Christianity he held in practical contempt. The unclean defile by their conduct. You remember that in the sixteenth century the sweating sickness terrorized England; in the seventeenth, the Black Plague almost depopulated the continent; and later, in the nineteenth, cholera cut down its tens of thousands. Knight, in his History of England says, Filth and imperfect ventilation were among the main causes of epidemic disease in each of these periods. Yes, Beloved, history attests the truth of Haggai! Contact with the unclean is defilement! We may not be saved because some holy person has passed, but the very look of an evil one may accomplish defilement!

I believe the Devils voice

Sinks deeper in our ear

Than any whisper sent from Heaven,

However sweet and clear.

What is the message then? This

Prosperity rests with true repentance.

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.

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:

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.

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.

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 Lords Temple was laid, consider it!

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 (Hag 2:14-19).

The way to God is right-about-face. How often men adopt another method. They forget God, and the fields parch, and the fruit fails, and they make up their minds that they must secure a better variety; plan to accomplish irrigation. They forget God and their business goes on the rocks and they say, Now how can I find some fellow who has money and inveigle him to invest with me that we may yet lift this whole plant to the point of neat net income? Ah, that is not the way! The poor prodigal knew better. He did not spend time saying, How can I recuperate my fortune? How can I so far recover it as to secure good clothing again; put up at the best inn; and appear afresh in first circles? I will watch my chance and steal some of these pigs and send them to the market. I will wait until this miserable Gentile comes to visit his swine ranch, and I will snatch his purse. He did not even say, I will make myself so invaluable to my employer that he will take me into partnership. He adopted the more direct route! 7 will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against Heaven, and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. And he arose, and came to his father. In less time than it takes to tell it, his poverty gave place to riches; his miserable vocation of swine-herd gave place to the office of sonship; his filthy garments went, and he was clothed in the best robe; his hunger was at an end, and he sat a son at the festal board. His unhappy thoughts no longer drove him to despair for now music was in his ears. His father did more for him in a minute than his most strenuous efforts could have accomplished in a thousand years. Let us see our way, repent and return to God. Peace He can give; prosperity He can bestow; possession He can appoint. Why be a slave of adversity when He stands ready to receive you into His own house and make you His son?

But I must pass on to speak finally of

THE TRIUMPHS OF GOD

Hag 2:21-23

Look into these last verses. Haggai has another message. It came on the four and twentieth day of the month,

Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, I will shake the heavens and the earth;

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.

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.

Three things are perfectly clear concerning the triumphs of God.

They will be attended by mighty demonstrations. I will shake the heavens and the earth. Men may talk of natural law as they please, and argue, as is their wont, concerning its unchangeableness; but let not men forget that God who created this world has not released His hold upon it. Describe what orbits it may, it will never pass from the hollow of His hand. When He pleases He can shake it; when He likes He can lay His thumb upon it; when He likes He can crush its crust, and release its eternal fires; when He will He can spread His hand before the face of the sun, and fling an awful blackness over the inhabitants of the earth. And He is going to do it one day! That day will be the beginning of His mightiest triumph. The Son who has been in His counsel from eternity knew and declared this truth. Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. The Prophet Haggai, and Gods greater Prophet, Jesus Christ, were speaking of one and the same thing. And men have always expected, and they still expect, that God will yet fulfill these words.

You remember the consternation that we saw in America on the black day more than a hundred years ago. They feared the end had come. Why? Because the sun was darkened. We have heard our fathers tell what fear filled the earth when in 1833 there was a great meteoric display and the inhabitants believed the stars to be falling from their places; and, in our own day the Charleston earthquake sent the people, for miles and miles in that South land, to prayer because they believed the end was on. The earth was writhing at their feet; the sun was darkened; and a sound as of angry voices filled the air. But, beloved, these are only earnests of the awful hour of which the text speaks. When God shall march forth in triumph, the world to its very center shall quiver at His tread, and the sun shall fade out before His presence, and the moonlight die, for in that hour He shall take hold of the ends of the earth, that the wicked might be shaken out of it (Job 38:13).

Again, These triumphs will result in the overthrow of the world-kingdoms.

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. (Hag 2:22).

This is no new teaching. The voice of Prophet joins with that of Prophet and Apostle, and their speech is one. God speaks the same through the Psalmist,

Come, behold the works of the Lord, what desolations He hath made in the earth.

He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; He breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; He burneth the chariot in the fire.

Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth (Psa 46:8-10).

The Prophet Ezekiel spake of the same, Then all the princes of the sea shall come down from their thrones, and lay away their robes, and put off their broidered garments: they shall clothe themselves with trembling; they shall sit upon the ground, and shall tremble at every moment, and be astonished at thee, Zephaniah was not stranger to this coming event, for at his lips the Lord had said, My determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them Mine indignation, even all My fierce anger: for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of My jealousy! While Micah said of the same, Nations shall see and be confounded at all their might: they shall lay their hand upon their mouth, their ears shall be deaf. They shall lick the dust like a serpent; they shall move out of their holes like worms of the earth: they shall be afraid of the Lord our God, and shall fear because of thee.

Beloved, if the Jews of olden time failed utterly to appreciate the first coming of Christ by refusing to take literally the words of His birth and humiliation, His suffering on the Cross and death at the hands of men, let us not fail to be prepared for His Second Coming by refusing to accept utterly the references to the times of the tribulation, the clear speech concerning the overthrow of the earthly kingdoms, the darkness of the sun and the convulsion of all nature; for when God rides forth in His chariot of triumph I believe the very universe will tremble in its wake.

He will reveal a Ruler of His own appointment.

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 (Hag 2:23).

The rebuilding of that Temple was to be accomplished by this man, the man of Gods appointment. The same God who appointed him, empowered him; and God has another man under whose hand a more glorious Temple is yet to arise, chosen to the office of King indeed! And God will yet make Him as a signet; it is the Man Christ! The dominion of the Father will be entrusted to Him and He shall [reign] from sea even to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth. All kings shall fall down before Him: all nations shall serve Him. You remember that in Tytlers History we are told of the day when the army of Richmond sang a hymn to God upon the field of battle, (Bosworth) and with loud acclamation proclaimed Henry VII king of England. This auspicious day put an end to the civil wars between the houses of York and Lancaster. Henry, by marrying the princess Elizabeth, daughter of Edward V united in his own person the interests and rights of both these families. This excellent prince, who knew how to govern as well as to conquer, was one of the best monarchs that ever reigned in England. The nation under his wise and politic administration recovered the wounds it had sustained in those unhappy contests. The parliaments which he assembled made the most salutary laws, the people paid their taxes without reluctance, the nobles were kept in due subordination, and that spirit of commercial industry, in these latter ages, justly distinguished, began to make vigorous advances under the reign of Henry VII. The only failing of this prince was an economy perhaps too rigid, which, in his latter years, degenerated even into avarice. Oh, beloved, the kingliest King is yet to come to the throne; the One Man, under whose beneficent reign wars are to cease to the ends of the earth, is the Man of Gods appointment. He is to rule over the whole world. In His person Jew and Gentile will be united indeed; and by His counsel the commerce of the world will flourish in richness; and, when the record is finished it will not be found that they had to write down against Him a single failure; for, as Gods Prophet, He was without sin, and when He shall come to sit upon the thrones of the earth He will reign in righteousness.

I never think of this fact without feeling to repeat the words of Joseph Parker, commenting upon the same, Oh, ye apprentices to the Deity; ye who try to do work for which ye seek the admiration of heaven, know ye that God is the Builder of His own City, the Keeper of His own House, and that not one stone can be touched by fire or by storm, because it is the Lords building, and He will bring on the topstone with shoutings of Grace, grace unto it!! And He will fill the whole house with glory as with the very morning of heaven. * * The Lord of Hosts! The Lord of Hosts! In this Name doth the King ride forth in this chapter. It is a Name of significance; it means Gods arm has in it omnipotence. Oh, rest in the Lord; wait patiently for Him, and He will give thee thy hearts desire

Fuente: The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist by Riley

CRITICAL NOTES.] By] Lit. in the hand of Haggai, the prophet, merely a conscious medium; God the real speaker (cf. Act. 7:35; Gal. 3:19). Governor] Pechah, akin to the Turkish Pasha, one who rules a less country than a Satrap.

Hag. 1:2. This] Not my people, but reproachfully, this people, as in acts disowning him, and so deserving to be disowned by him [Pusey]. Come] i.e. to build. Two out of seventy predicted years of captivity unexpired: this a plea for delay (cf. Henderson).

Hag. 1:3.] A repetition, to give greater prominence to the antithesis.

Hag. 1:4.] God meets them with a question, and appeals to the conscience. You] Yourselves; the shameful contrast between them and Jehovah. Cieled] Heb. to cover, wainscot, or overlay with boards, so that what is predicated of the houses is not to be confined to the ceiling, but must be extended to the walls which were thus covered, at once for comfort and ornament [Henderson].

HOMILETICS

THE CALL TO DUTY.Hag. 1:1-2

The prophet addresses the people through their rulers, and seeks to rouse them to their work. The first day, the day of the new moon and a time of festal sacrifice, was an appropriate time. On such a day they must have been conscious of the ruins of the temple, and the work they had to do. In season and out of season God calls to duty.

I. A call through an inspired messenger. The prophet was invested with a Divine commission, and spoke with Divine authority. The voice was human, but the word was from Jehovah. He entrusts ministers with His words and works, and they should dispense them, as faithful stewards, to his people. This is a motive, an encouragement, and a help to perform his will.

II. A call to all people. The people were only few, a remnant, but none must excuse (Hag. 1:12; Hag. 1:14).

1. To the prince. Unto Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel. The prince of royal blood, the governor of the land, was not to be exempt.

2. To the priest. And to Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest. The heads in civil and religious authority, rulers in Church and State, were jointly responsible for the negligence of the people. Great and good men must be stirred up when they grow remiss. Men in high position have greater opportunities of knowing, and should set a better example in doing, Gods will. No institution must be set aside, and no social elevation must excuse from duty.

3. To the people. The few are addressed through their officials. All have equal share and equal responsibility. Duty is the cry to all. Duty only is truth, and there is no true religion but in its accomplishment. This alone is the end of the highest life, and the truest happiness is derived from the consciousness of its fulfilment. Duty performed, says George Herbert, gives us music at midnight. The word duty seems to me, says one, the biggest word in the world, and is the uppermost in all my serious doings. This call to duty is loud, continual, and urgent. Whatsoever he saith to you, do it.

THE GUILTY EXOUSES FOR DELAY IN DUTY.Hag. 1:2-4

The people are charged with neglect in their work, bereft of every excuse to justify their negligence, and refuted in their pretences by their own sinful conduct. They did not question the call, nor deny the obligation to duty, but were criminal in delaying it.

I. They were actuated by selfishness. They dwelt in ceiled houses, adorned them with comforts and luxuries, while the temple was in ruins. They were more concerned for themselves than for the cause of God. They were not poor in means, but in spirit. Self-love will hinder all effort to repair and build the house of God. It is fatal to spiritual interests. Woe to you who join house to house, and field to field, and regard not the work of the Lord.

II. They were hindered through fear. They might urge that their relation with Persia was not favourable, and that the edict to cease labour, were reasons for inaction. But this was a more pretext. They had made no effort to discover the mind of the legitimate king, Darius Hystaspis. Their neglect was not the opposition to zealous patriots and ardent worshippers, but the selfish indifference of an unfaithful people. The intrigues of the enemies, and cowardice, determined them from serious effort. They grew fainthearted through difficulty (Ezr. 3:11-13; Ezr. 4:4). Woe unto him that is faint-hearted, says the son of Sirach. No blessings equal a stout heart in the service of God. Cherish the spirit of Nehemiah, The God of heaven, he will prosper us; therefore we, his servants, will arise and build.

III. They delayed in presumption. This people say, The time is not come. Ingenious in excuses, they declared that interruptions proved that the proper time to build had not arrived. God hath interposed many difficulties to punish our rash haste [Calvin], why then work till the full period is expired? Many, like the Jews, do not say, Never, but not yet. Conscience will not let them say, We will never be religious and work for God; but they procrastinateput off till to-morrow what should be done to day (2Co. 6:1-2), and thus leave the great work of life undone. The time is always come to him who wishes to do right. In his providence and by his prophets, God calls now. The present is the opportunity to respond, undertake, and finish the work which God has given us to do. Should worldlings exert themselves for pleasure and self-indulgence, and the servants of God stand back amid the ruins of the temple, and the loss of immortal souls? Surely I will not come into the tabernacle of my house, nor go up into my bed; I will not give sleep to mine eyes, or slumber to mine eyelids, until I find out a place for the Lord, a habitation for the mighty God of Jacob (Psa. 132:3-5; 2Sa. 7:2.)

A MISSIONARY SERMON.Hag. 1:4

The captivity of Babylon had passed away. The Jews were now called to rebuild the second temple, and restore the worship of God. Adversaries watched them, and tried to cause their work to cease for a time. The prophets Haggai and Zechariah were raised up to urge them to begin afresh. This state of things existed in other periods of the world. To excite you to zeal and greater diligence in the cause of God, look at the words in the following aspects

I. As representing a depression in the cause of God. The house of God lieth waste. There is a painful imperfection in the work of God in the present day. What are the scenes in lands where Christianity is professed? In our own land the cause of God is depressed. Much that is opposed to purity and happiness abounds. In other countries which bear the name of Christendom, in the continent of Europe, we behold the strong-holds of the prince of the power of the airmystic Babylon, having in her hand the cup full of abominations. Over the vast portions of the East reigns the vile impostor in barbarism and sensuality. Beyond these are the regions of heathenism. The light is only just gathering which is to dissipate the darkness, and change the world into brightness and beauty. Are we not compelled to say, the temple of God lieth waste?

II. As describing a pursuit of temporal gratification on the part of those confessedly attached to the cause of God. All neglect exertions which God justly demands. Some think the cause is impolitic, others that it is unjust. Generally, it is often a lamentation that large portions of wealth, talent, and influence in the world are not devoted to God. More particularly, is there sufficient exercise of talent and opportunity? Do not the principles of selfishness prevent us from making sacrifices which ought to be made? From the period of the Reformation, little has been done to purify the Church and advance its interests. The spirit of missions has to Christianize the Church, before the Church can Christianize the world. The time must come when wealth, splendour, talents, and influence must dedicate their most hallowed powers to God. Individual exertion is still very imperfect in the great cause. Let each consider how much of his time, natural gifts, and property have been given to promote the interests of his fellow-men. It will be little indeed, while an immense portion of each has been given to the world. Contrast our state with the votaries of false religion, Mahommedanism, and heathenism. Think of almost incredible sums devoted to degrading superstitions. Think of Whitfield and others, whose memory we cherish; emulate their zeal and catch their spirit.

III. As challenging the employment of our various talents, and urging the claims of God.

1. Consider the nature of those obligations under which God has placed you, and regard the services which you are called to render.
2. Consider the peculiar nature of the gospel which you have embraced.
3. Consider that while there is not energy in the cause of God, there is an awful amount of misery resting upon your fellow-men.
4. Consider the prospect of success. God has promised that every enemy shall be overcomethat the mountain of the Lords house shall be established upon the tops of the mountainsthat he will cause peace and righteousness to prevail in all the earth, and that the world shall be given to Christ, and filled with the glory and power of his grace [James Parsons].

HOMILETIC HINTS AND OUTLINES

Hag. 1:1. Joshua, the high priest, was a type of Christ.

1. In his name, which signifieth a Saviour.
2. In his office of high priesthood.
3. In his partner-agency with Zerubbabel, in bringing the people home to their country [Trapp]. Together they are types of him, the true King and true Priest, Christ Jesus, who by the Resurrection raised again the true Temple, his body, after it had been destroyed [Pusey].

Hag. 1:2. This people, instead of My people. The loss of Gods confidence.

1. Its occasions.
2. Its consequences.
3. Its retrieval [Lange]. This people say. Words then have their weight; neither are mens tongues their own; but there is a Lord over them (Psa. 12:4), that will call them to a strict account of all waste words (Mat. 12:36), and hard speeches (Jud. 1:15). He that weighs his words before he utters them, shall prevent an after-reckoning for them [Trapp].

The time is not come.

1. An indication of the wrong spirit.
2. A misinterpretation of Divine providence.
3. A manifestation of disobedience.
4. An expectation of times without difficulty. Never lay by present duty, for which you have positive command, in anticipation of plainer providence or better days

The primal duties shine aloft, like stars. [Wordsworth.]

Hag. 1:2-4. There is a time for everything with men; but they should consider

1. Who it is that claims their first and most devoted service.
2. The means and methods of serving him best [Lange]. Men are very ingenious when they wish to hide their delinquencies [Calvin]. Many have plenty of money when they build houses for themselves, but great scarcity of it when it is wanted for churches, schools, or anything to promote Gods glory [Cramer].

ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 1

Hag. 1:1. In its very first day, when the grief for the barren years was yet fresh, Haggai was stirred to exhort them to consider their ways; a pattern for Christian preachers to bring home to peoples souls the meaning of Gods judgments. God directs the very day to be noted in which he called the people anew to build his temple, both to show the readiness of their obedience, and a precedent to us to keep in memory days and seasons in which he stirs our souls to build more diligently his spiritual temple in our souls [Pusey.]

Hag. 1:2-4. The disingenuousness of their plea is self-evident, and is assumed in the following discourse, which is intended to awaken in them a sense of their ingratitude to God. It is represented to them most impressively, with an allusion to the very language of their pretext, that while they held their own wants, and even their luxuries, to be matters of pressing moment, they thought any time suitable to attend to the claims of their God; that while their own houses had been regained, there was yet no habitation for the God of Israel; that while their wealthy members were using their superfluous means to adorn and beautify their dwellings, Gods dwelling-place still lay desolate, appealing in vain to their piety and patriotism, which had been overborne by selfishness and supineness. The allusion, moreover, could not fail to expose the insincerity of their excuses. If some of them had now the command of such resources as enabled them to live in princely splendour, they might surely have reserved a portion for the requirements of the temple, when the work of building it should be resumed, if that work had been giving them the least concern [Lange].

Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell

CHAPTER XXIV

EXPOSITION OF HAGGAI

THE FIRST MESSAGE . . . Hag. 1:1-15

RV . . . In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, in the first day of the month, came the word of Jehovah by Haggai the prophet unto Zeruhbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehoozadak, the high priest, saying, Thus speaketh Jehovah of hosts, saying, This people say, It is not the time for us to come, the time for Jehovahs house to be built. Then came the word of Jehovah by Haggai the prophet, saying, Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your ceiled houses, while this house lieth waste? Now therefore thus saith Jehovah of hosts: Consider your ways. Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes. Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: Consider your ways. Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith Jehovah. Ye looked for much, and lo, it came to little; and when ye brought it home, I did blow upon it. Why? saith Jehovah of hosts. Because of my house that lieth waste, while ye run every man to his own house. Therefore for your sake the heavens withhold the dew, and the earth withholdeth its fruit. And I called for a drought upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the grain, and upon the new wine, and upon the oil, and upon that which the ground bringeth forth, and upon men, and upon cattle, and upon all the labor of the hands. Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of Jehovah their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as Jehovah their God had sent him; and the people did fear before Jehovah. Then spake Haggai Jehovahs messenger in Jehovahs message unto the people, saying, I am with you, saith Jehovah. And Jehovah stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people; and they came and did work on the house of Jehovah of hosts, their God, in the four and twentieth day of the month, in the sixth month, in the second year of Darius the king.

LXX . . . In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the hand of the prophet Aggaeus, saying, Speak to Zorobabel the son of Salathiel, of the tribe of Juda, and to Jesus the son of Josedec, the high priest, saying. Thus saith the Lord Almighty, saying, This people say, The time is not come to build the house of the Lord. And the word of the Lord came by the hand of the prophet Aggaeus, saying, Is it time for you to dwell in your ceiled houses, whereas our house is desolate? And now thus saith the Lord Almighty; Consider your ways, I pray you. Ye have sown much, but brought in little; ye have eaten, and are not satisfied; ye have drunk, and are not satisfied with drink, ye have clothed yourselves, and have not become warm thereby; and he that earns wages has gathered them into a bag of holes. Thus saith the Lord Almighty; Consider your ways. Go up to the mountain, and cut timber; build the house, and I will take pleasure in it, and be glorified, saith the Lord. Ye looked for much, and there came little; and it was brought into the house, and I blew it away. Therefore thus saith the Lord Almighty, Because my house is desolate, and ye run every one into his own house; therefore shall the sky withhold dew, and the earth shall keep back her produce. And I will bring a sword upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the corn, and upon the wine, and upon the oil, and all that the earth produces, and upon the men, and upon the cattle, and upon all the labours of their hands. And Zorozabel the son of Salathiel, of the tribe of Juda, and Jesus the son of Josedec, the high priest, and all the remnant of the people hearkened to the voice of the Lord their God, and the words of the prophet Aggaeus, according as the Lord their God had sent him to them, and the people feared before the Lord. And Aggaeus the Lords messenger spoke among the messengers of the Lord to the people, saying, I am with you, saith the Lord. And the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zorobabel the son Salathiel, of the tribe of Judah, and the spirit of Jesus the son of Josedec, the high priest, and the spirit of the remnant of all the people; and they went in, and wrought in the house of the Lord Almighty their God, on the four and twentieth day of the sixth month, in the second year of Darius the king.

COMMENTS

The first message of Haggai to the indifferent and discouraged remnant merits special examination for the simple reason that it got results! Those whose concern is for the building of the spiritual temple of God, the church, will do well to learn from this prophet of action. (cp. Eph. 2:19-22)

THE WORD OF JEHOVAH CAME . . . Hag. 1:1

It was exactly twenty-three days from the time Jehovah delivered the message through Haggai until they began to work. That kind of response to a sermon today would leave most preachers speechless!
Darius had assumed the Persian throne by assassinating his predecessor in 521 B.C. Even with his approval, there was no movement to resume building the temple. So God spoke to Haggai (and to Zechariah and Malachi) with a message for the people, beginning with the civil and religious leaders, Zerubbabel the governor and Joshua the high priest.
The name Zerubbabel means born in Babylon . . . no special significance. He was the son of Shealtiel, according to Haggai.

This presents a problem. In Chronicles Zerubbabel is called the son of Pedaiah, brother of Shealtiel and grandson of Assir. (1Ch. 3:17-19) In Lukes genealogy Zerubbabel is the son Shealtiel and the grandson of Neri. (Luk. 3:27)

Zedekiah, son of King Jeconiah had no children. Assir, another son of Jeconiah (cf. Jer. 22:30) had a daughter, but no son. (1Ch. 3:16) Legally, Assirs daughter was heir to the throne, and so must marry a man from her fathers tribe. (Num. 27:8; Num. 36:8-9)

She married Neri, of the Davidic line through Nathans branch. Luke makes no mention of Assir who descended from David through Solomon, but traces the lineage rather through Nathan of whom Zerubbabel was the grandson. This fulfills the prediction of Jer. 22:30,

Neri and Assirs daughter produced a son named Shealtiel and others as mentioned in 1Ch. 3:18. Shealtiel had no children, so, according to law, his brother, Pedaiah must marry his widow to produce an heir for Shealtiel. (cp. Deu. 25:5-10)

Zerubbabel was the son of this Levirate marriage. Legally Shealtiel was Assirs son and Jeconiahs grandson. Actually he was the son of Neri. Zerubbabel was legally the son of Shealtiel, but actually was Pedaiahs son. See the diagram below.

Jeconiah

Assir

Zedekiah

(no child)

Daughter & Neri

Shealtiel, Pedaiah
(no child)

Legal Actual
Zerubbabel

Since Joshua the high priest and his father, Jehozadek, are not mentioned elsewhere in the Bible excepting for Haggais contemporary, Zechariah, we do not know anything about them other than Joshuas influential responsibility as spiritual leader during the rebuilding of the temple.

IS IT TIME . . . Hag. 1:2-4

The message is not Haggais but Gods. The claim to inspiration is unmistakable.
It is addressed to those who are responsible for the attitudes and actions (or inaction) of the people. (v. l) The civil and spiritual leaders are responsible for the spiritual and moral fibre of any nation. As water rises no higher than its source, a nation is no stronger than its leaders.

THIS PEOPLE . . . NOT MY PEOPLE . . .

The terminology seems designed to express dissatisfaction with the remnant God does not disclaim them, but He is stern. He will not tolerate the kind of attitudes which brought about the captivity from which they were so recently returned.
The message immediately attacks the excuses being made for not building the house of God. It is not time. There has not been sufficient time since our return from exile. We have built an altar as our first act upon return. It is enough until we get settled in. Seventy years have not lapsed, as Jeremiah predicted, since the destruction of the first temple. Two more years are needed, then we will build. With so much uncertainty in the international situation effecting the national economy, it is a poor time to build.

If youve ever been on a fund drive for a church building, youve heard all this! Our own needs are not met, we have a place of worship, the Bible doesnt allow for church buildings, there may be another war or an economic recession, etc.
What it all amounts to, whether in Haggais day or our own is simply that Gods people are more concerned with their own interests than with providing an adequate house of worship. Haggai tells his people this in no uncertain terms. Is it time for you to dwell in your ceiled (paneled) houses while this house lieth waste? Then as now, those who object most to building an adequate house of worship are those who spend most on their own houses.

Actually, the message becomes even more pointed in our time if we read Eph. 2:19-22. Whereas Haggai is concerned with building a building of wood and masonry, we are concerned with building the real temple of God, the church constructed not of materials but of men. To make these excuses for not getting on with this task is to tamper with and neglect the most important work in the world Jesus Himself has spoken to this neglect, Seek ye first the Kingdom and take no thought saying What shall ye eat? or What shall we drink? or Wherewithal shall we be clothed? After all these things do the Gentiles seek. (Luk. 12:29)

CONSIDER YOUR WAYS . . . WHY? . . . Hag. 1:5-11

Stop and think, Gods word through Haggai challenges the people. You have sown much, and bring in little, You work hard in the fields, you plant and till and labor for the harvest, but the harvest is scant and meager.

You eat, but you have not enough. You are not starving but you are not satisfied, there is never enough of the right food on your tables.

You drink, but you are not filled. There is a drought. Drinking water is scarce and must be used sparingly. In such dry times the vineyards do not produce properly and the wine is in scant supply.

You clothe you, but there is none warm. No one is naked; you have clothes, but they are not adequate. You are not warm. Your clothes do not provide comfort.

He that earneth wages earneth wages to put into a bag with holes. There are jobs. Men are employed, but their wages are inadequate. No one is able to make ends meet. There is too much month left, at the end of the paycheck.

Again consider your ways, look how things are. You looked for much. Your expectations were high when you started home from Babylon. But it came to little.

You were able to bring home crops and wages, but I did blow upon it. instead of blessing and magnifying it.

WHY? SAITH JEHOVAH OF HOSTS . . .

Have you not wondered why things are as they are? It is because you have not put first things first. Go up into the mountain, and bring wood and build the house . . . my house lieth waste while ye run every man to his own house.

Therefore for your sake . . . to teach you a lesson . . . I withhold the moisture and the earth withholds its fruit.

I CALLED FOR A DROUGHT.

How many Christians do you know today who are living dull monotonous lives, who are not really rejoicing in the Lord, whose life is seemingly blessed little more than their pagan neighbors? Such people are pre-occupied with their own affairs. They have not learned that Gods temple, the church, must come first. They do not believe that Jesus spoke the truth for our time when He said if we seek His kingdom first these things will be added to us.

It is our own fault if we live a humdrum life of spiritual drought and dissatisfaction.

AND JEHOVAH STIRRED UP THE SPIRIT OF ZERUBBABEL . . . Hag. 1:12-15

To the man who obeys the message of God in whose heart the Spirit of God has stirred there is no question of the right time, Such a one lives by eternal values. The only time he knows is now, The only thing that counts is Gods work.

Zerubbabel got the message, and so did Joshua the high priest and so did Gods remnant. They were still close enough to the captivity to know God was not playing games. Their fathers had refused to hear Isaiah and Amos and Micah and the rest and they had themselves grown up in exile as a consequence.
That was enough. They obeyed the voice of Jehovah as it had spoken through Haggai.
Then came the reassurance of God.

(Hag. 1:12) Haggai is careful to record that not just the leaders but the people themselves heeded His admonition. The Word of God brought about obedience, from the greatest to the least. The lack of wisdom manifest in their failure to fear God is in contrast to the response of the remnant. The fathers had refused to hear the pre-exilic prophets because they did not fear God. Fearing God, their children obeyed the message of the Lord voiced by Haggai.

I AM WITH YOU . . . Hag. 1:13

The very first sign of obedience was seized upon by God. He, at once, declares because of their fear and obedience that He is with them.

GOD STIRRED UP THE SPIRIT . . . Hag. 1:14

The Spirit stirred in both Zerubbabel and Joshua and the people. Through the preaching of His word through Haggai, Gods Spirit stirred in the hearts of His covenant nation.
It is ever so. When His Word is heeded and obeyed, His presence through the Spirit is with His people.
And the result is inevitable. The people in whom the Spirit stirred rose up and built the house of God.
And the God Who lived in Haggais day is just the same today. When Gods covenant people, both leaders and others, fear the Lord, heed and obey His Word, the Spirit always moves in their hearts and His house is built. We who are, as Christians, concerned with the building of the real temple, the church, will do well to learn this eternal lesson. We do not need to agonize and grovel and beg for His Spirit. We need rather to fear Him, even in this sophisticated age when a misunderstanding of His love often causes us to be overly familiar and without fear, We need to obey Him as He tells us through inspired writers what He would have us do. When this is done, His Spirit will move in us and His house will be built.

By the same token, we need to recognize it is His Spirit who must motivate us if what we do is to be His work. Our American overemphasis on methods and techniques for church growth often seems to deny this. As Don Atkin put it recently, We need to stop trying to get Him into our programs and become concerned for getting ourselves into His. It is one thing to know the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. It is quite another to know the Spirit Himself. It is not enough to know the Word of God. We must know the God of the Word!

IN THE FOUR AND TWENTIETH DAY . . . Hag. 1:15

It was just twenty three days from the beginning of Haggais preaching to the beginning of building. Surely God must always be pleased when His people are so responsive to His Word.

Chapter XXIVQuestions

Exposition of Haggai

1.

Write an outline of Haggai.

2.

Haggais first message is concerned with?

3.

What were the results of the first message?

4.

Discuss the ancestry of Zerubbabel in light of Hag. 1:1, 1Ch. 3:17-19, and Luk. 3:27,

5.

The message Haggai was _____________ message.

6.

Haggais first message attacks _____________.

7.

How does the message apply to us who would build the church?

8.

How does Haggai account for the drought and austere conditions which had beset the people?

9.

Discuss Jehovah stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel.

10.

What is the gist of Haggais second message? To whom is it addressed?

11.

What was missing from the second temple?

12.

What is meant by the latter glory of the house?

13.

Discuss Hag. 2:7 in light of Heb. 8:1 -ff and Gal. 3:29.

14.

What is meant by desire of all nations?

15.

What is the gist of Haggais third message?

16.

What false motives might have been involved in rebuilding the temple?

17.

What malady confronting Haggai was also addressed by Jesus?

18.

Show evidence that Haggai considered his message to be Gods rather than his own.

19.

Discuss the shaking of the heavens and earth (Hag. 2:21 cp. Hag. 2:6)

20.

Why could not this shaking have referred to the chaotic conditions of Darius early reign?

21.

Where in the Bible do we find the ultimate fulfillment of this prophecy?

22.

Discuss Zerubbabel as a type of Christ. Show parallels between them.

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

(1-11) The First Utterance.The neglect of Gods House denounced, and declared to be the cause of the prevalent dearth.

(1) Darius the king.Scil., Darius I., son of Hystaspes, who became king of Persia in B.C. 521. The fact that there were still men living who had seen the First Temple (Hag. 2:3), which fell in B.C. 586, sufficiently disproves the absurd theory that Darius Nothus is meant, who did not accede to the throne until B.C. 423-4. Prophecy is now dated by the years of a foreign ruler, for Zerubbabel, though a lineal descendant of David, was only a pechh, or viceroy of Persian appointment, not a king in his own right.

The sixth month.That named Elul, corresponding nearly with our September.

In the first dayi.e., on the festival of the new moon, a holy day which had always been marked not only by suspension of labour, but by special services in the Temple (Eze. 46:3; Isa. 66:23). It was thus an appropriate occasion for Haggai to commence a series of exhortations so intimately connected with the Temple. Besides, it appears to have been an ancient custom that the people should resort to the prophets for religious instruction on new moons and Sabbaths. (See 2Ki. 4:23.)

Came the word . . .Literally, there was a word of the Lord by the hand of Haggai, &c. This expression, which occurs repeatedly in this book, indicates that Jehovah was the direct source of these announcements, and Haggai only their vehicle.

The prophet.See Hab. 1:1, Note.

Son of Shealtiel.Strictly speaking, Zerubbabel was the son of Pedaiah, who contracted a Levirate marriage with the widow of his brother Shealtiel. (See Notes on 1Ch. 3:17; Jer. 22:30; Luk. 3:27.)

Governor.Satrap, or viceroy, a term applied in the Old Testament to the provincial prefects of the Assyrian and Babylonian and Persian empires. (See Note on 1Ki. 10:15.) Joshua, the high priest, is a prominent character in the prophecy of Zechariah. Haggai addresses Zerubbabel as the civil, Joshua as the ecclesiastical head of the restored exiles.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

MESSAGE OF REBUKE FOR RELIGIOUS INDIFFERENCE, 1-11.

The Book of Haggai contains four separate prophetic utterances (Hag 1:1-11; Hag 2:1-23); to the first is added an historical section (Hag 1:12-15), setting forth the effect of this utterance upon the hearers.

The first discourse contains a rebuke of religious indifference and an exhortation to rebuild the temple. Hag 1:1 gives the time when the discourse was delivered and the names of the persons to whom it was addressed; Hag 1:2-11 reproduce the discourse. The prophet rebukes the religious indifference that has permitted the people to erect comfortable houses for themselves, while the temple remained in ruins (Hag 1:2-4); he calls attention to the disappointments, distress, and suffering which they were experiencing as a result of drought, and tells them that these afflictions have come to them as divine judgments for their religious apathy. If they would find relief they must speedily restore the dwelling place of Jehovah (Hag 1:5-11).

Hag 1:1 is an integral part of the report of Haggai’s first address (compare Zec 1:1).

The second year of Darius Darius Hystaspis reigned from 521 to 486 B.C.; his second year, therefore, is 520.

The king It was not necessary to add “of Persia,” for the king of Persia was the only prominent ruler with whom the Jews were acquainted during the early part of the postexilic period, and until the fall of the Persian empire he was the king, because he was their king (compare Ezr 5:4).

The sixth month Called Elul; it corresponds to the latter part of August and the first part of September (compare Neh 6:15).

The first day Which was the new moon festival, when the people gathered for worship a splendid opportunity for reaching a large number; besides, on such a day the lack of a house of worship would be felt most keenly. Chronological notes of this character are found only in postexilic writings; the greater exactness is undoubtedly due to Babylonian influence.

By Haggai Literally, by the hand of Haggai (compare Hag 1:13; see on Mic 5:12). Haggai was the instrument used by Jehovah to make known his will. On the person of the prophet see Introduction, p. 547. The message was addressed especially, though not exclusively (compare Hag 1:4 ff.), to the civil and ecclesiastical heads of the community.

Zerubbabel governor of Judah Mentioned also by Zechariah as the civil ruler. How he came to be governor we do not know. He is named among the first exiles who returned (Ezr 2:2), but the governor appointed by Cyrus is called Sheshbazzar (Ezr 1:8; Ezr 5:14). Some have thought that the two names belong to one and the same person, but this is exceedingly doubtful. It is more probable that Zerubbabel was the successor of Sheshbazzar as governor of Judah.

Son of Shealtiel See Ezr 3:2; Ezr 5:2; compare 1Ch 3:19.

Joshua , the high priest Zechariah also names Joshua as the head of the priesthood (see especially Zec 3:1 ff.).

The son of Josedech R.V., “Jehozadak,” which is a fuller form of the same name; it means Jehovah is righteous (compare Zec 6:11; Ezr 3:2).

Hag 1:2 ff. contain the words of the prophet.

Thus speaketh Jehovah of hosts The verb is the same as that rendered “saith” in the rest of the book. In Haggai as in Zechariah the affirmation that the prophet is the spokesman of Jehovah occurs very frequently (see on Zec 1:3). For Jehovah of hosts see on Hos 12:5.

This people The people gathered at the new moon celebration. The phrase may be used in a contemptuous sense (Hag 2:14), though it does not necessarily imply reproach (compare Isa 8:11-12).

The time is not come, the time that the Lord’s house should be built R.V., “It is not the time for us to come, the time for Jehovah’s house to be built.” The ancient versions omit the first “time,” and, since the construction of the present Hebrew text is very awkward, we may be justified in doing the same, so that the clause will read, “The time is not (yet) come for the building of Jehovah’s house” (see margin R.V.). The people may have misunderstood the seventy years of Jeremiah (Jer 25:11-12; Jer 29:10). If they reckoned from the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 the time would not be accomplished until four years after the delivery of this prophecy. For other causes that may have been responsible for the delay see Introduction, p. 549 . However, Haggai considers the delay inexcusable. On the view that previous to the preaching of Haggai no steps had been taken toward the rebuilding of the temple see Introduction, pp. 550f.; compare H.P. Smith, Old Testament History, pp. 344ff.

In Hag 1:4 ff. the prophet, after affirming once more that he is the spokesman of Jehovah, points out the unfairness of the people’s neglect. They have left Jehovah without a dwelling place, while they themselves live in costly and magnificently decorated homes. Surely they cannot urge poverty or lack of resources as an excuse.

Is it time R.V., “Is it a time”; a proper or fit time.

For you, O ye R.V., “for you yourselves.” Their own interests should be of less consequence than the interests of their God.

Cieled houses Houses whose walls and ceilings were covered or inlaid with costly woodwork. Such decorations were exceedingly expensive (compare 1Ki 6:9; Jer 22:14), and yet these people, who, judging from the words of the prophet, urged poverty as an excuse for the neglect of the temple, used them extensively.

And this house lie waste A circumstantial clause, which should be rendered with R.V., “while this house lieth waste.”

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Introduction.

Hag 1:1

‘In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, in the first day of the month, came the word of YHWH by Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, saying,

The date was 520 BC. Having taken over the throne on the death of Cambyses, son of Cyrus, Darius had established his position, and by the time of his second year the only thing that awaited his attention was a rebellious Egypt that had claimed independence. He would deal with that small problem in the following year. So in this particular year nothing special was happening. He was totally oblivious of the fact that in one small part of his empire things were stirring, not politically but religiously. Things that would have a profound effect on the world, for they were beginnings which would lead to profound changes.

The dating of the prophecy in terms of Darius instead of a king of Judah was indicative of the situation in which the people found themselves. They had no king. They had no army. They were in no way a nation. Instead they were simply a small group of returned exiles struggling to survive in not very helpful conditions. It may, however, be that we are to see in this dating a sign of YHWH’s approval of the kings of Persia whom He had chosen for the purpose of re-establishing His people and His Temple (Isa 44:28 to Isa 45:1). They too were part of His new plan.

The returned exiles were finding things particularly hard at this time. Their neighbours had not been pleased to see them arrive, especially when they appeared to be religiously exclusive (Ezr 4:2-3), and were far from welcoming, and they had had a series of bad harvests. They had also probably found that the best land was already being farmed. Things were at a low ebb, and the initial confidence that they had had on first arriving from Babylonia had waned.

They were ruled over at the local level by Zerubbabel, a prince of the house of David, and their religious affairs were in the hands of Joshua the High Priest. But Zerubbabel was not governor of a Persian province. He was simply the local governor, appointed because of his royal connection to oversee the exiles and the land allotted to them.

Joshua’s grandfather Seraiah had been High Priest when Jerusalem was taken by Nebuchadnezzar, and had been executed along with the other leading men (2Ki 25:18-21; Jer 52:24-27) because they were seen as leaders of the resistance of Jerusalem. His son Jehozadak had been spared and taken captive to Babylon (1Ch 6:15). Now his grandson Joshua had received the High Priesthood.

And it was to these two men, Zerubbabel and Joshua, that Haggai the prophet came with a message from YHWH. It is significant that he approached the leaders. Clearly they were seen as godly men who could be depended on to respond once they knew that YHWH had spoken. All they needed was a push from God.

How often that is precisely what we need as well. How easily we settle down and accept things as they are without stirring ourselves and doing something about it. If only we had a Haggai to give us a similar push.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Hag 1:1  In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, in the first day of the month, came the word of the LORD by Haggai the prophet unto Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, saying,

Hag 1:1 Comments The Dates of Haggai’s Ministry – Douglas Stuart believes Zephaniah prophesied around 520 B.C., after the return from Babylon. [6]

[6] Douglas Stuart, Hosea-Jonah, in Word Biblical Commentary: 58 Volumes on CD-Rom, vol. 31, eds. Bruce M. Metzger, David A. Hubbard and Glenn W. Barker (Dallas: Word Inc., 2002), in Libronix Digital Library System, v. 2.1c [CD-ROM] (Bellingham, WA: Libronix Corp., 2000-2004), comments on “General Introduction,” and “The Canonical Order of Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, and Jonah.”

Comments The Manner in which Divine Oracles were Delivered unto the Prophets – God spoke through the Old Testament prophets in various ways, as the author of the epistle of Hebrews says, “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets” (Heb 1:1). The Lord spoke divine oracles ( ) through the Old Testament prophets in three general ways, as recorded in the book of Hosea, “I have also spoken by the prophets, and have multiplied visions; I have given symbols through the witness of the prophets.” (Hos 12:10) ( NKJV) In other words, the prophets spoke to Israel through the words they received, they described divine visions to the people, and they acted out as divine drama an oracle from the Lord.

(1) The Word of the Lord Came to the Prophets – God gave the prophets divine pronouncements to deliver to the people, as with Hos 1:1. The opening verses of a number of prophetic books say, “the word of the Lord came to the prophet” Thus, these prophets received a divine utterance from the Lord.

(2) The Prophets Received Divine Visions – God gave the prophets divine visions ( ), so they prophesied what they saw ( ) (to see). Thus, these two Hebrew words are found in Isa 1:1, Oba 1:1, Nah 1:1, and Hab 1:1. Ezekiel saw visions ( ) of God.

(3) God Told the Prophets to Deliver Visual Aids as Symbols of Divine Oracles – God asked the prophets to demonstrate divine oracles to the people through symbolic language. For example, Isaiah walked naked for three years as a symbol of Assyria’s dominion over Egypt and Ethiopia (Isa 20:1-6). Ezekiel demonstrated the siege of Jerusalem using clay tiles (Eze 4:1-3), then he laid on his left side for many days, then on his right side, to demonstrate that God will require Israel to bear its iniquities.

Hag 1:2  Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, This people say, The time is not come, the time that the LORD’S house should be built.

Hag 1:2 Comments The Jews were building their housed to dwell in while neglecting the house of the Lord. The circumstances seemed inappropriate for them to take the time to focus upon the construction of the Lord’s house when they had pressing needs.

Illustration In 1989 the Lord spoke to me while standing by the kitchen table in apartment 161 at Brown Trail Apartments, Hurst, Texas, saying, “Take care of my needs first.” I then understood that the Lord was telling me that as I take care of God’s needs, He takes care of mine (8 December 1989).

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

The Indifference of the People Rebuked.

When the exiles, under the leadership of Zerubbabel and Joshua, had returned to Jerusalem, they had begun the work of rebuilding the Temple with great eagerness. But when the Samaritans and others had placed various obstacles in their way, they had discontinued their efforts, making no determined effort to remove the difficulties. A few years after, when a certain measure of prosperity was found in Judea, they grew indifferent to the project, and so the situation continued for some sixteen years. It was then that the Lord selected Haggai as His messenger to rebuke the people.

v. 1. In the second year of Darius, the king, the year 520 B. C. in the sixth month, that is, of the Jewish year, corresponding roughly to our September, in the first day of the month, came the word of the Lord by Haggai, the prophet, who was therefore simply the medium through which the Lord communicated His message and in no way presented his own ideas, unto Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua, the son of Josedech, the high priest, Cf Ezr 3:2, saying,

v. 2. Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, the prophet employing this formula in order to bring out the importance of his message, saying, This people say, The time is not come, the time that the Lord’s house should be built, that being the lame excuse with which the people tried to cover their indifference, for they had reached a stage in which they were ready to let matters take their course, allow them to drift along.

v. 3. Then came the word of the Lord by Haggai, the prophet, saying,

v. 4. Is It time for you, O ye, to dwell In your celled houses, for yourselves to dwell in wainscoted houses, paneled in the most expensive manner, showing that they lived not only in comfort, but in luxury, and this house lie waste? since it had never gotten beyond the foundations, only the altar of burnt offerings standing on the top of Moriah.

v. 5. Now, therefore, thus saith the Lord of hosts, Consider your ways, literally, “Set your hearts upon your ways,” contemplating the consequences of their late behavior and upon the manner in which the Lord had regarded it, as His treatment of them showed.

v. 6. Ye have sown much, or have been sowing much, in the expectation of big crops, and bring in little, the harvest being small in spite of all their efforts; ye eat, but ye have not enough, they were not really satisfied in spite of the apparent abundance; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, seemingly having enough clothes, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put It Into a bag with holes, that is, they found themselves unable to save anything. All this indicated that there could be no real prosperity without the blessing of the Lord, and that was evidently lacking, as it always is when people think only of themselves and not of Him.

v. 7. Thus saith the Lord of hosts Consider your ways, think them over very carefully, for the matter was urgent,

v. 8. Go up to the mountain, to the great forests of the country, and bring wood, timber for building, and build the house; and I will take pleasure In It, glad to regard it as the house where He might be worshiped, and I will be glorified, saith the Lord, receiving the honor which was due to Him, which had been withheld on account of their indifference to the state of His house.

v. 9. Ye looked for much, expecting still greater crops and a corresponding prosperity, and, lo, it came to little; and when ye brought it home, believing that at least the little which they had gotten was safe, I did blow upon it, thus dissipating and scattering it. Why? saith the Lord of hosts. He Himself undertakes to explain this condition to the people in order to explain it to them more impressively. Because of Mine house that is waste, still unfinished and desolate, and ye run every man unto his own house, in a base selfishness, which regarded only their own interests.

v. 10. Therefore the heaven over you is stayed from dew, withholding the moisture necessary to insure full crops, and the earth is stayed from her fruit, it does not yield even its ordinary harvest.

v. 11. And I called for a drought upon the land, upon the cultivated fields, and upon the mountains, with their rich meadows, and upon the corn, the grain products, and upon the new wine, and upon the oil, all the chief products of the country. and upon that which the ground bringeth forth, and upon men, and upon cattle, and upon all the labor of the hands, His blessing being withheld from all animate and inanimate beings. This earnest rebuke was heeded by the people.

v. 12. Then Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua, the son of Josedech, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, all the rest of the returned exiles, obeyed the voice of the Lord, their God, and the words of Haggai, the prophet, as the Lord, their God, had sent him, probably an additional discourse or a further explanation which was not recorded, and the people did fear before the Lord, with reverence and awe.

v. 13. Then, when the people showed such obvious signs of repentance, spake Haggai, the Lord’s messenger, in the Lord’s message unto the people, the fact that his mission was that of Jehovah being brought out time and again, saying, I am with you, saith the Lord, He accepted their repentance as genuine and acted accordingly.

v. 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, they took steps to continue building operations, in the house of the Lord of hosts, their God,

v. 15. in the four and twentieth day of the sixth month, twenty-three days after the first message of Haggai, in the second year of Darius, the king. When people are filled with the spirit of repentance and of the fear of the Lord, it is an easy matter for them to take up any part of the work which the Lord has entrusted to them, and to bring it to a successful issue, with His blessing.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

EXPOSITION

Hag 1:1-15

Part I. THE FIRST ADDRESS: EXHORTATION TO BUILD THE TEMPLE AND ITS RESULT.

Hag 1:1-6

1. The people are reproved for their indifference with regard to the erection of the temple, and admonished that their present distress is a chastisement for this neglect.

Hag 1:1

In the second year of Darius the king. This is Darius Hystaspes, who reigned over Persia from B.C. 521 to B.C. 486. He is called in the inscriptions Daryavush, which name means “Holder,” or “Supporter.” Herodotus (6:98) explains it as “Coercer” (). Hitherto the prophets have dated the time of the exercise of their office from the reigns of the legitimate Hebrew monarchs; it shows a new slate of things when they place at the head of their oracles the name of a foreign and a heathen patenlate. The Jews had, indeed, now no king of their own, “the tabernacle of David had fallen” (Amo 9:11), and they were living on sufferance under an alien power. They had returned from exile by permission of Cyrus in the first year of his occupancy of the throne of Babylon sixteen years before this time, and had commenced to build the temple soon after; but the opposition of neighbours, contradictory orders from the Persian court, and their own lukewarmness had contributed to hinder the work, and it soon wholly ceased, and remained suspended to the moment when Haggai, as the seventy years of desolation drew to an end, was commissioned to arouse them from their apathy, and to urge them to use the opportunity which was afforded by the accession of the new monarch and the withdrawal of the vexatious interdict that had checked their operations in the previous reign (see Introduction, 1; and comp. Ezr 4:24). The sixth month, according to the sacred Hebrew calendar, which reckoned from Nisan to Nisan. This would be Elul, answering to parts of our August and September. In the first day. This was the regular festival of the new moon (Num 10:10; Isa 1:13), and a fitting time to urge the building of the temple, without which it could not be duly celebrated. By; literally, by the hand (as in verse 3), the instrument whom God used (Exo 9:35; Jer 37:2; Hos 12:11; Act 7:35) Haggai the prophet (see the Introduction). Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel; Septuagint, , “Speak to Zorobabel the son of Salathiel.” The temporal head of the nation, the representative of the royal house of David, and therefore with the high priest jointly responsible, for the present state of affairs, and having power and authority to amend it. The name, as explained, and rightly, by St. Jerome, means, “Born in Babylon,” and intimates the truth concerning his origin. He is called Sheshbazzar in Ezr 1:8; Ezr 5:14, which is either his name at the Persian court, or is an erroneous transliteration for a synonymous word (see Kuabenbauer, in loc.). The name is found in the cuneiform inscription, as Zir-Babilu. Shealtiel (or Salathiel) means, “Asked of God.” There is a difficulty about Zerubbabel’s parentage. Here and frequently in this book, and in Ezra and Nehemiah, as well as in Mat 1:12 and Luk 3:27, he is called “son of Shealtiel;” in 1Ch 3:19 he is said to be the son of Pedaiah the brother of Salathiel. The truth probably is that he was by birth the son of Pedaiah, but by adoption or the law of the levirate, the son of Salathiel. He was regarded as the grandson of Jehoiachin, or Jeconiah. Governor (pechah). A foreign word, used in 1Ki 10:15, in Isaiah (Isa 36:9) and frequently in Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther, to denote an inferior satrap or subordinate governor. Strassmaier (ap. Knabenbauer) notes that in Assyrian the word is found in the form pachu, that pichatu means “a province,” pachat, “a district.” It seems natural, though probably erroneous, to connect it with the Turkish pashah. But see the discussion on the word in Pusey, ‘Daniel the Prophet,’ p. 566, etc. Instead of “Governor of Judah,” the LXX. here and verse 12 and Hag 2:2 reads, “of the tribe of Judah.” One of the house of David has the government, but the foreign title applied to him shows that he holds authority only as the deputy of an alien power. Judah was henceforward applied to the whole country. The prophecy in Gen 49:10 still held good. Joshua. The highest spiritual officer (Ezr 3:2, Ezr 3:8; Ezr 4:3). This Joshua, Jehoshua, Jeshua, as he is variously called, was a son of Josedech who, in the time of Nebuchadnezzar, had been carried captive to Babylon (lCh Jos 6:15), and grandson of that Seraiah who, with other princes of Judah, was slain at Riblah by the Babyloniaes (2Ki 25:18, etc.). The parentage of Zerubbabel and Joshua is specially mentioned to show that the former was of the house of David and the latter of the family of Aaron, and that even in its depressed condition Israel retained its rightful constitution (see note on Zec 3:1).

Hag 1:2

The Lord of hosts. Haggai, as the other prophets, always uses this formula in enunciating his messages (see note on Amo 9:5). Trochon justly remarks that this expression is not found in the earlier books of the Biblethe Pentateuch, Joshua, and Judges. If these books were contemporary with the prophets, the phrase would certainly occur in them (see a valuable note in the Appendix to Archdeacon Perowne’s Commentary on Haggai, in ‘The Canibridge Bible for Schools’). This people; populus iste (Vulgate), with some contempt, as if they were no longer worthy to be called the Lord’s people (Hag 2:14). It looks as if they had often before been admonished to proceed with the work, and had this answer ready. The time is not come; literally, it is not time to come (comp. Gen 2:5), which is explained by the new clause, the time that the Lord’s house should be built. The versions shorten the sentence, rendering,” the time for building the Lord’s house has not come.” The excuse for their inaction may have had various grounds. They may have said, reckoning from the final destruction of Jerusalem, that the seventy years’ captivity was not complete; that there was still danger from the neighbouring population; that the Persians were adverse to the undertaking; that the unfruitful season rendered them unable to engage in such a great work; and that the very fact of these difficulties existing showed that God did not favour the design.

Hag 1:3

Then came the word of the Lord, etc. The formula of Hag 1:1 is repeated to give more effect to the Lord’s answer to the lame excuses for inaction. This emphasis by repetition is common throughout the book.

Hag 1:4

For you, O ye; for you, yourselves; such as ye are (see Zec 7:5). He appeals to their consciences. You can make yourselves comfortable; you have time and means and industry to expend on your own private interests, and can you look with indifference on the house of God lying waste? Your cieled houses; your houses, and those cieledwainscoted and roofed with costly woods (1Ki 7:3, 1Ki 7:7; Jer 22:14), perhaps with the very cedar provided for the rebuilding of the temple (Ezr 3:7). Septuagint, , “your vaulted houses,” or, as St. Cyril explains, “houses whose doorposts were elaborately adorned with emblems and devices.” They had naught of the feeling of David (2Sa 7:2), “I dwell in an house of cedar, but the ark of God dwelleth within curtains.”

Hag 1:5

Consider; literally, set your heart upon (so Hag 1:7; Hag 2:15, Hag 2:18). Your ways. What ye have done, what ye have suffered, your present projects, and the consequences thereof.

Hag 1:6

Their labours for years past had lacked the Divine blessing. Though they had fine houses to dwell in, they had been visited with scanty harvests and weak bodily health. Ye have sown much, and bring in little; but to bring in little (Hebrew). And this infinitive absolute is continued in the following clauses, giving remarkable force to the words, and expressing an habitual result. We see from Hag 2:15-17 that these unfruitful seasons had visited them during all the continuance of their negligence (Deu 28:38). But ye have not enough. The food which they ate did not satisfy them; their bodies were sickly and derived no strength from the food which they took (Le 26:26; Hos 4:10) or from the wine which they drank (see note on Mic 6:14). But there is none warm. Perhaps the winters were unusually rigorous, or their infirm health made their usual clothing insufficient to maintain their bodily heat. To put it into a bag with holes. A proverbial saying. The money gained by the hired labourer vanished as if he had never had it, and left no trace of benefit. Comp. Plaut.,’Pseudol.’ 1, 3, 150

“In pertusum ingerimus dicta dolium; operam ludimus.”

Hag 1:7-11

2. The prophet urges the people to work zealously at the building; only thus could they hope for the removal of their present disasters.

Hag 1:7

(See note on Hag 1:5.) The repetition of the call to reflection is needed (comp. Php 3:1). Former experience opens the way to the injunction in Hag 1:8.

Hag 1:8

Go up to the mountain. The hill country in the neighbourhood of Jerusalem, whence by their own personal exertions they might procure material for the building. The temple mount is certainly not meant, as if they were to bring wood from it. Nor can Lebanon be intended, as in Ezr 3:7; for the injunction looks to an immediate actual result, and in their depressed circumstances they were scarcely likely to interest the Sidonians and Tyrians to provide cedar for them. There was abundance of wood close at hand, and the “kings forest” (Neh 2:8) was in the immediate neighbourhood of Jerusalem. There is no mention of stone, probably because the foundations had long been laid, and the ruins of the old temple supplied material for the new one; and, indeed, stone was to be had in abundance everywhere; or it may be that the prophet names merely one opening for their renewed activity, as a specimen of the work required from them. Not costly offerings were desired, but a willing mind. I will be glorified; I will glorify myself by showering blessings on the house and the people, so that the Hebrews themselves and their neighbours may own that I am among them (comp. Exo 14:4; Le Exo 10:3; Isa 66:5).

Hag 1:9

He shows the real cause of the calamities that had befallen them. Ye looked for much, and, lo, it came to little. Emphatic infinitive, as in Hag 1:6. “To look for much, and behold! little.” They fixed their expectations upon a rich harvest, and they reaped less than they had sown (Isa 5:10). And when they had stored this miserable crop in their barns, I did blow upon it; or, did blow it away, dissipated it as if it were mere chaff, so that it perished. Doubtless, as Dr Pusey observes, they ascribed the meagreness of their crops to natural causes, and would not see the judicial nature of the infliction. The prophet brings the truth home to their conscience by the stern question, Why? And he answers the question for them, speaking with God’s authority. Because of mine house that is waste. The reason already given in Hag 1:4, etc; is repeated and enforced. And (while) ye run. Ye are indifferent to the miserable condition of the house of God, while ye haste with all diligence to your own houses for business or pleasure, being entirely absorbed in worldly interests, or eager only to adorn and beautify your own habitations. Or, your zeal is all expended on your own private dwellings.

Hag 1:10

Over you. This would be a reference to Deu 28:23. But the preposition is probably not local, but means rather, “on your account,” i.e. on account of your sin, as Psa 44:22. This is not tautological after the preceding “therefore,” but more closely defines and explains the illative. Is stayed from dew; hath stayed itself from dew; withholds not only rain, but even dew (comp. Zec 8:12). On the importance of dew in the climate of Palestine, see note on Mic 5:7. The dews generally are remarkably heavy, and in the summer months take the place of rain. Dr. Thomson speaks of the dew rolling in the morning off his tent like rain. The earth is stayed from her fruit; hath stayed her fruit; according to the threat (Deu 11:17).

Hag 1:11

I called for a drought. So Elisha says (2Ki 8:1) that “the Lord hath called for a famine.” There is a play of words in the Hebrew: as they had let the Lord’s house lie” waste” (thatch) (Hag 1:4,Hag 1:9), so the Lord punished them with “drought” (choreb). The Septuagint and Syriac, pointing differently, translate this last word “sword,” but this is not suitable for the context, which speaks of the sterility of the land only. The land, in contradistinction to the mountains, is the plain country. Nothing anywhere was spared. All the labour of the hands (Psa 128:2, etc.). All that they had effected by long and wearisome toil in the cornfield, the vineyard, etc. (comp. Hos 2:9; Joe 1:10).

Hag 1:12-15,

3. The appeal meets with respect and attention, and for a time the people apply themselves diligently to the work.

Hag 1:12

All the remnant of the people (Hag 2:2); i.e. the people who had returned from the Captivity, who are technically named “the remnant” is being only a small portion of all Israel (Isa 10:21, Isa 10:22; Zec 8:6; Mic 2:12). Others, not so suitably, understand by the expression, all the people beside the chiefs (Hag 1:14). Obeyed; rather, listened unto. The active obedience is narrated in Hag 1:14. And the words. The prophet’s words are the voice of the Lord; and the people heeded the message which the Lord had commissioned him to give. Did fear. They should that true religion which the Bible calls “the fear of the Lord.” They saw their faults, perhaps dreaded some new chastisement, and hastened to obey the prophet’s injunction (Ezr 5:1, Ezr 5:2).

Hag 1:13

Then spake Haggai. God hastens to accept their repentance and to assure them of his protection. The Lord’s messenger. Haggai alone of the prophets uses this title of himself, implying that he came with authority and bearing a message from the Lord (comp. Num 20:16, where the word “angel” is by some applied to Moses). Malachi’s very name expresses that he was the Lord’s messenger, and he uses the term of the priest (Mal 2:7), and of John the Baptist, and of Messiah himself (Mal 3:1). In the Lord’s message (1Ki 13:18). In the special message of consolation which he was commissioned to deliver. The Septuagint rendering, , “anong the angels of the Lord,” led some to fancy that Haggai was an angel in human farm, which opinion is refuted by Jerome, in loc. I am with you (Hag 2:4). A brief message comprised in two words, “I with you,” yet full of comfort, promising God’s presence, protection, aid, and blessing (comp. Gen 28:15; Gen 39:2; Jos 1:5; Jer 1:8; Mat 28:20).

Hag 1:14

The Lord stirred up, etc. The Lord excited the courage, animated the zeal, of the chiefs of the nation, who had themselves succumbed to the prevailing indifference, and had suffered their ardour to be quenched. They came and did work. They went up to the temple and began to do the work which they had so long neglected.

Hag 1:15

In the four and twentieth day of the sixth month. The first admonition had been made on the first day of this month; the three intervening weeks had doubtless been spent in planning and preparing materials, and obtaining workmen from the neighbouring villages. The note of time is introduced to show how prompt was their obedience, and the exact time when “they came and did work in the house of the Lord” (Hag 1:14). Some, on insufficient grounds, consider this clause to be an interpolation from Hag 2:10, Hag 2:18, with a change of “ninth” to “sixth month.” In the Latin Vulgate, in Tischendorf’s Septuagint, and in many editions of the Hebrew Bible, the whole of this verse is wrongly annexed to the following chapter. St. Jerome arranges it as in the Authorized Version. It is possible that, as St. Cyril takes it, the words, in the second year of Darius the king, ought to begin Hag 2:1-23. The king’s reign has been already notified in Hag 2:1, and it seems natural to affix the date at the commencement of the second address.

HOMILETICS

Hag 1:1

Divine revelations.

I. SELECT THEIR OWN TIMES. These are:

1. Often unexpected. In the present instance this was probably the case. The band of exiles who, availing themselves of Cyrus’s permission (Ezr 1:3), returned to Judah and Jerusalemnearly 50,000 persons in all (Ezr 2:64, Ezr 2:65), though Pusey estimates the company of immigrants at 212,000, counting free men, women, children, and slaveshad for sixteen years at least not heard a prophet’s voice. The last that had fallen on their ears had been Daniel’s in Babylon (Dan 9:1), which had predicted the going forth of a commandment to build and restore Jerusalem, and the coming, “seven weeks and three score and two weeks” thereafter, of Messiah the prince (Dan 9:25). Now, in the second year of Darius the king (Ezr 4:24), i.e. about B.C. 520, the interval of silence terminated, and the lips of a new prophet were unsealed. That God reserves in his own hands “the times and seasons” of his special supernatural interpositions in human history, while it should keep men alive to every movement of the Divine presence in their midst, ought to guard them against presumption both in making and in interpreting prophecy.

2. Always appropriate. The interpositions of Heaven are never post horam. The clock of eternity always keeps time. When the hour comes, so does the man. Man often speaks at an inopportune moment; God, never. When Haggai stood forth among the Jews who had returned from Babylon, they were in urgent need of such a messenger from heaven as he proved himself to be. Sixteen years at home in their own land, for a year and a half they had been disheartened about the building of their temple, and had even discontinued work. Some had even begun to lose interest in the restoration of the sacred edifice (verse 2). Hence they much wanted rousing from indolence and rebuke for unbelief, as well as comfort in sadness and succour in weakness; and all this they received from the new monitor from Jehovah that bad arisen in their midst. So have God’s revelations ever been as suitable to men’s necessities as to time’s urgencies. Notably was this the case with his showing of himself to Moses at the bush (Exo 3:2), and his disclosure of himself to mankind in the Person of Christ (Gal 4:4).

3. Sometimes suggestive. This was so in the case under consideration. First, the year in which Haggai appeared was suggestive of the people’s sadness; having no more a king of their own to count from, they reckoned the date as that of the second year of Darius, i.e. of Darius Hystaspes (Darajavus of the cuneiform inscriptions), who reigned from B.C. 521 to B.C. 486. Next, the monththe sixth of their ordinary Jewish year, and therefore towards the close of harvestought at least, by the comparatively barren fields they had reaped, to have reminded them of their chastisement (verses 10, 11), and so induced in them a spirit of humility. Lastly, the day of the month, the new moon’s day, which the Law had directed to be kept as a day of special sacrifice (Num 28:11), which their forefathers had observed as a popular festival, and marked by religious gatherings at the local sanctuaries (Isa 1:13, Isa 1:14; 2Ki 4:23), and which probably they also celebrated as a holiday, might have spoken to them of their sin in preserving the outward forms of religion while neglecting its inward spirit, and perhaps also of their duty, to attend with true docility to the admonition which proceeded from the new prophet’s lips.

II. FIND THEIR OWN INSTRUMENTS. These also are:

1. Mostly humble. Only once did Divine revelation find an organ that was truly exalted, viz. when he who, as the only begotten Son, had been in the Father’s bosom, made him known (Joh 1:18)although even then it was needful that that Son should empty himself of his glory and. veil his Divinity behind a garment of humanity before he could properly accomplish his work (Php 2:6, Php 2:7). But in all other instances the instruments selected by Jehovah for the transmission of his will to mankind are humble and lowly in comparison with him whose will they bear (Isa 40:18), even when they are angels; how much more when men, as they mostly are! And of these it is seldom the most exalted in rank or wisdom that he selects, but most frequently the lowliestpersons in obscure stations, like Moses when a stranger in Midian (Act 7:29-31), like Elisha when holding the plough (1Ki 19:19), or like Am when amens the herdsmen of Tekoa (Amo 1:1); and persons of unknown family, like Elijah the Tishbite, or Nahum the Elkoshite, or Habakkuk, of whom almost nothing is known.

2. Always suitable. Men frequently err in choosing instruments to execute their will; God, never. He can always discern spirits, while men only think they can. Men judge according to appearance; he, according to the heart. Haggai was, perhaps, not such a vehicle as man would have pitched upon to be the medium of a Divine communication. But for God’s purpose he was fitted beyond most. Though not absolutely certain, it is most probable he was an old man of eighty years (Ewald, Pusey), who had seen the first temple in its glory (Hag 2:3), and who could therefore speak with greater emphasis and solemnity as one standing on the confines of eternity, who knew the vanity of earthly greatness, and could appreciate the superior excellence and desirability of things inward and spiritual. Besides, his very nameHaggai, or “Festive”fitted him to be the bearer of a message to desponding builders. What they wanted was inspiriting incitement, encouragement, and hope; and of that there was a promise in the old man’s designationHaggai, or “The Festal One”especially if this only expressed the habitual disposition of his soul.

3. Generally efficient. “It has been the wont of critics, in whose eyes the prophets were but poets,” writes Pusey, “to speak of the style of Haggai as ‘tame’ and destitute of life and power; but, for all that, it was adapted to the object sought to be accomplished. Haggai had no need to complain, as the eloquent Isaiah (first or second), “Lord, who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?” (Isa 53:1); of him it is recorded that his words awoke an immediate response in his hearers’ hearts, and “they came and did work in the house of the Lord of hosts, their God” (verse 14). Man cannot always say of his instruments, however finely polished, that they will never fail; God can always predict of his, however rude, that they will certainly succeed.

III. CHOOSE THEIR OWN RECIPIENTS. These are commonly diverse, as in the present instance. Haggai’s message was directed:

1. To Zerubbabel; concerning whom may be noted:

(1) His names Sheshbazzar (Ezr 1:8), most probably Chaldean or Babylonian, and perhaps signifying “Worshipper of Fire” (Gesenius); Zerubbabel (Ezr 2:1), obviously Hebrew, and meaning “Born in Babylon;” and Tirshatha (Ezr 2:63; Neh 7:65), most likely Persian, and equivalent to “The Feared.”

(2) His descent. Described in the text as the son of Shealtiel, who was the son of Jeconiah the captive (1Ch 3:17, Authorized Version), or, if Assir be taken as a proper name (1Ch 3:17, Authorized Version), the grandson of Jeconiah; or again, if Luke’s register be followed (Luk 3:27), the son of Neri;Zerubbabel is expressly stated by the chronicler to have been a son of Pedaish, a brother of Shealtiel (1Ch 3:19). Probably as good a solution cf the difficulty as any other is Keil’s, that Jeconiah, according to the prophecy of Jeremiah (Jer 22:30), had no sons, but only a daughter, who married Neri, a descendant of David, and became by him the mother of Shealtiel and Pedaiah, who accordingly were reckoned sons of Jeconiah, and that Shealtiel having died without issue, his brother Pedaiah married his widow, and raised up for him a son named Zerubbabel.

(3) His office. As a descendant of the royal house of Judah, he Was the recognized head of the Jewish exiles in Babylon, and as such was by Cyrus appointed governor of the pilgrim band who returned to their native land.

2. To Joshua; who also is described by his ancestry as the son of Josedech, who had been carried away by the Chaldeans to Babylon (1Ch 6:15), when his father Zeraiah had been put to death by Nebuchadnezzar (2Ki 25:18-21; Jer 52:24-27), and by his office as the high priest of the young community that had returned to Judea and Jerusalem. As Zerubbabel was their cirri, so was Joshua their religious, head; and “together they are types of him, the true King and true Priest, Christ Jesus, who by his resurrection raised again the true temple, his body, after it had been destroyed” (Pusey).

3. To the people. Though Haggai’s words were directed in the first instance to Zerubbabel and Joshua, they were in the second instance designed for the whole congregation; and that the whole congregation received them, whether directly from the prophet’s own lips or indirectly through those of the prince and the priest, is expressly stated (verses 12, 13).

LESSONS.
1. The possibility of revelation.

2. The human medium of inspiration.

3. The greater privilege of the Christian Church in having as a revealer of the Divine will, not a human prophet merely, but the incarnate Son.

4. The higher responsibility which this entails.

Hag 1:2-5

The mistakes of the temple builders: a warning.

I. THEY FAILED TO DISCERN THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. They imagined the time had not come for them to build the Lord’s house, whereas it had fully arrived.

1. What led them to suppose or say so, though not stated, may easily be inferred.

(1) They were disheartened by the opposition they encountered (see next head).

(2) The original grant obtained from Cyrus (Ezr 3:7) was probably then exhausted.

(3) They had been interdicted by a decree of Artaxerxes, or of pseudo-Smerdis (Ezr 4:23, Ezr 4:24). And

(4) they were suffering from had trade and worse harvests (Hag 1:6), and consequently were unable to contribute towards the expense of the building.

2. The indications that the time had fully come were so plain that they should hardly have been misread.

(1) The seventy years during which the whole land of Judah was to lie desolate, and its inhabitants should serve the King of Babylon (Jer 25:11, Jer 25:12), and at the end of which the exiles should return to their own land (Jer 29:10), had manifestly rolled by.

(2) The very deliverer of whom Isaiah had spoken by name, Cyrus (Isa 44:28; Isa 45:1), had appeared, and opened the two-leaved gates of Babylon (Ezr 1:2, Ezr 1:3).

(3) The sacred vessels which Nebuchadnezzar had carried off to Babylon (2Ki 24:13), and Jeremiah (Jer 28:3) predicted would again be brought from Babylon, had actually been delivered over into the hands of Zerubbabel by Cyrus (Ezr 1:8).

(4) The bad harvests and depressed trade from which they were suffering were a manifest token of the Divine displeasure on account of their negligence, and were no real excuse for their illiberal conduct, since they could obviously find money enough to build ceiled mansions for themselves.

(5) The decree of Artaxerxes only forbad the building of the city (Ezr 4:21), not of the temple; and even though it had been directed against the latter, Artaxerxes himself no longer reigned, having been driven from the throne he had usurped, and his place having been occupied by Darius Hystaspes, so that the repressive edict, had they been anxious, might easily have been revoked. This mistake of the builders has often been committed; as e.g. by Moses in Egypt, who misread the signs of the times, and thought the hour had struck for Israel’s deliverance when it had not (Exo 2:11-15; Act 7:25); by the Jewish rulers in Christ’s day, who failed to discern in the Galilaean Prophet the manifest tokens of Messiah (Mat 16:3, Mat 16:4); by the city of Jerusalem, which knew not the day of her visitation (Luk 19:42); and by the present day unbeliever, who cannot see that “now is the accepted time, and now is the day of salvation” (2Co 6:2).

II. THEY WERE TOO EASILY DAUNTED BY OPPOSITION.

1. The nature and source of this opposition is described in the Book of Ezra (4). Prevented from taking part in the building of the temple, the Samaritan settlers first “weakened the hands of the builders,” next “hired counsellors against them,” and ultimately obtained an interdict commanding them to cease. It was certainly annoying, but:

2. They should not have been so easily discouraged. No enterprise of any moment was ever carried through without encountering difficulties and frequently hostilities, and without calling for patient perseverance in well doing. How otherwise would Israel have been brought from Egypt at the first, or Judah from Babylon a few years before?

3. The same mistake is committed still by those who imagine the spiritual temple of Jehovah, either in the individual soul or in the Church as a whole, can be built without difficulty, without experiencing resistance from enemies within and without, or in any other way than by indomitable perseverance.

4. “Never despair“ and “Never give in“ should be the twin mottoes of every one engaged in temple building for Godof the individual believer, of the Christian minister, of the foreign missionary.

III. THEY PREFERRED THE MATERIAL AND TEMPORAL TO THE SPIRITUAL AND RELIGIOUS. The ordinary occupations of life had more attraction for them than the duties of religion. To assert that they cared nothing for religion would, perhaps, be wrong, since what had brought them back from Babylon, where for the most part they had comfortable settlements, was a true feeling of piety no less than an ardent spirit of patriotism. Yet were they not long back upon their much loved ancestral soil before they showed they had brought back with them from Babylon a passion stronger than even their love for religion, namely, devotion to the earthly and material pursuits of life. Their zeal in temple building was quickly damped, but not so their enthusiasm in ploughing and sowing their fields, in working for wages, in erecting magnificent mansions, sumptuous palaces like those they had seen and perhaps lived in in Babylon, with walls of polished stone and roofs of cedar. With much case they could see that “the time for building God’s house was not come,” as they supposed; they had large difficulty in perceiving it was not the season to attend to their ordinary avocations. So do many on becoming Christians carry over with them into their new life “passions for things material and temporal,” which, while religious feeling is fresh, are kept in abeyance, but which, the moment this begins to abate, assert themselves to the hindrance of what is properly religious work, and to the detriment of the soul’s religious life. This constitutes a third mistake against which Christians should be on their guard.

IV. THEY FOLLOWED THEIR OWN INTERESTS RATHER THAN THE GLORY OF GOD. One cannot help thinking that, had the building of the Lord’s house been a matter that concerned their own glory, comfort, or interest, they would not have suffered it to lie waste as they did; but only the honour of the Deity was involved, and what was that to their material advantage and temporal felicity? Was it not of greater moment that they themselves should be well housed, well fed, well clothed, than that even God, who dwelleth not in temples made with hands, and requireth not to be worshipped as though he needed anything, should be well lodged? If it came to the worst, they could do without a temple altogether, could worship in the open air, as they had done since coming from Babylon, but they could not well do without well stocked farms and finely celled houses. And so they let the work, which had only God’s glory as its motive, drop, and applied themselves to that which contemplated man’s or their own material good. Is it wrong to find in this a parable for Christians? Is not the essence of Christianity just thisthat a man, like Christ whom he follows, shall seek, not his own glory, but God’s; shall do, not his own will, but the will of him who hath sent him into the world? Yet among professing Christians are those who cannot see beyond their own little selves, and who imagine that a man’s chief duty upon earth, even after having become a Christian, is to do the best he can for himself, whereas it is to do the best he can for God. Acting on the former principle leads to spiritual blindness, to cowardice, to this-worldism, all of which are deplorable mistakes; acting on the latter.principle terminates in no such disastrous results, but brings with it to the individual so acting spiritual insight, moral courage, and heavenlymindedness three qualities which ennoble all by whom they are possessed.

Lessons.

1. The duty of discerning the signs of the times.

2. The necessity of combining courage with forethought.

3. The propriety of guarding against the disturbing influence of supposed self-interest.

Hag 1:5,Hag 1:7

Considering one’s ways.

I. AN EXALTED PRIVILEGE. The faculties of introspection and reflection, which enable man to consider his ways, constitute a lofty endowment, which places him incontestably at the apex of creation.

1. It distinguishes him from the lower animals. These may Do possessed of capabilities which enable them to perform actions in some degree resembling the fruits of intelligenceit may even be conceded are, in some instances at least, endowed with faculties of memory, imagination, and judgment; but they are wholly devoid of the powers of self-introspection and reflection here ascribed to man. Of the noblest of brute beasts it still remains to be proved that it ever said to itself, “I communed with mine own heart: and my spirit made diligent search” (Psa 77:6); or “I thought on my ways” (Psa 119:59).

2. It sets him in the neighbourhood of God. The Hebrew psalmist conceived the ideal man as a being only a little short of Divinity (Psa 8:5); and though the basis on which he rested this conception was man’s manifest dominion over the creatures, yet this arose, as he well knew, out of the fact that man, as distinguished from the lower creatures, had been made in the Divine image (Gen 1:26); which again, in part at least, consisted in his capacity to consider his ways, or to look before and behind in whatever way he was treading. “Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world” (Act 15:18); “He declareth the end from the beginning” (Isa 46:10); and though the Preacher affirms that “no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end” (Ecc 3:11), yet to each man has been granted the ability to consider the way in which he himself goeth (Ecc 5:1), and in this high capacity of pondering the path of his feet he possesses an endowment that in him a finite Doing corresponds to the omniscience of the infinite God.

II. AN URGENT DUTY. The consideration of one’s ways required by two things.

1. Divine commandment. In addition to the twice-repeated exhortation here addressed to the builders, the admonition frequently occurs in Scripture (Psa 4:4; Pro 4:26; 1Co 11:28; 2Co 13:5; Gal 6:4) to commune with one’s own heart, to search and try one’s ways, to examine carefully into one’s spiritual condition. And this to a good man is enough to constitute an imperative obligation. “Where the word of a king is”much more where the word of the King of kings is”there is power.”

2. Present safety. No one can travel long securely or comfortably along the path of life who does not ponder well at the outset from what point the course he is pursuing starts, who does not frequently pause to notice whither it is tending, and who does not always have an eye upon the where and the how it shall terminate. The man that lives purely by haphazard, that rushes on blindfold into whatever enterprise he takes in hand, whether in business or religion, is sure to come to grief, if not to fall into the ditch.

3. Future responsibility. There might be less need for attending to this duty if the issues of our ways and actions always exhausted themselves on earth and in time. But they do not. “We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, and give an account of the deeds done in the body, whether these be good or whether they be bad” (2Co 5:10). The ways of every man project themselves into the unseen beyond. Every man is making his future by the, ways he is travelling and the deeds he is doing in the present.

III. A PROFITABLE EXERCISE. Apart altogether from the duty of it, the advantages to be derived from it should go far to recommend this practice.

1. Self-knowledge. No one will ever attain to a trustworthy or valuable acquaintance with his own heart who does not frequently undertake a review of “the issues of life” (Pro 4:1-27 :28) that proceed from it. Yet next to the knowledge of God and Christ, which constitute the essence of “life eternal” (Joh 17:2), the knowledge of self is the highest attainment to which one can rise.

2. Moral discernment. The power of distinguishing between right and wrong, which belongs to all as an intuitive endowment, is nevertheless susceptible of improvement or deterioration, according as it is exercised or neglected. It may be clarified, intensified, quickened, strengthened; or it may be dulled, darkened, weakened, deadened. Through diligent personal culture the soul may become sensitive to nicest distinctions of right and wrong as an aneroid barometer to smallest variations in the atmosphere; or, through want of use, it may become hard as a fossilized organism or as a petrified log of wood.

3. Spiritual improvement. No one is likely to make progress in religion without an intimate acquaintance with his own ways. Without this one may even not suspect that his religion is defective. In proportion as one knows what in himself is dark and needs illumining, or feeble and requires strengthening, or low and demands upraising, or deficient and calls for supplementing, or wrong and wants correcting, will one advance in moral and spiritual attainment.

Learn:

1. The dignity of man.

2. The responsibility of life.

3. The duty of circumspection.

Hag 1:6-11

Hard times.

I. A FREQUENT OCCURRENCE. Poor harvests and profitless trade, famine and idleness, lack of bread and want of employment, nothing to eat, and nothing to do. The two commonly go together. Examples of famines were in ancient times those which occurred in Canaan (Gen 12:10), in Egypt (Gen 41:54), in Samaria (1Ki 17:2; 2Ki 6:25), in Jerusalem (Jer 52:6); in modern times those which have taken place in India, China, and other parts of Asia.

II. A SORROWFUL EXPERIENCE. When the husbandman has laboured, and, perhaps through long continued drought, has obtained an altogether insufficient return for his labours. When through deficient harvests the people of a country are reduced to a state of semi-starvation. When through this failure in the sources of wealth the wheels of a nation’s industry are stopped. When strong men who would willingly work can find no work to do. When wages already scanty are eaten up by exorbitant prices.

III. A PROVIDENTIAL JUDGMENT. Hard times:

1. Are of God‘s sending. To say that bad harvests and dull trade are the results of natural (physical and social) laws does not show them to be disconnected with God. The Almighty is behind both nature and society, Jehovah claimed that the state of matters in Judah after the exile was his doing.

2. Have their occasions, if not their causes, in sin. Haggai’s countrymen had been made to suffer because of their indifference to religion and devotion to self-interest (verse 9). Were modern nations to reflect more deeply, they might discover connections between their characters and their conditions, their sins and their sufferings.

IV. A SALUTARY DISCIPLINE. Intended as all chastisement is:

1. To arrest attention. Inconsiderateness a principal sin of men and nations.

2. To convince of sin. A remarkable proof of depravity that moral perceptions require to be awakened by physical corrections.

3. To excite repentance. Though confessions under the lash are not the same thing as penitence, yet they may and should be, and often are, accompanied by penitence.

4. To promote amendment. Though punishment is not exclusively reformatory in its character, yet it is mostly (on earth at least) inflicted with design to benefit the sufferer.

LESSONS.
1. Religion in individuals and nations the best defence against hard times.
2. Repentance and prayer the best resort in bad times.

Hag 1:12-15

Ancient temple builders.

I. UNIVERSAL ACTIVITY. “They came and did work”all of them: “Zerubbabel the governor, Joshua the high priest, and all the remnant of the people.” There was not an idler amongst them. Every person was engaged at something in connection with the building, The spectacle was:

1. The reproduction of an old scene, when in the wilderness of Sinai, orders having been issued for the construction of a tabernacle, “as many as were willing hearted came, both men and women,” and contributed their aid to the work (Exo 35:20-29).

2. The foreshadowing of a later scene, when the infant Church of the New Testament was assembled in the upper room, and “there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, which filled all the house where they were sitting,” and “they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and all began to speak with tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance (Act 2:1-4).

3. The picture of a (possibly) present scene. What is wanted is the carrying over of this scene of universal activity into the Christian Church, and the spectacle of every professing disciple of Jesus Christ contributing his quota of work to the building of that spiritual edifice which is today being erected on the foundation of the apostle and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief Cornerstone, for the inhabitation of God through the Spirit Eph 2:20-22). “The kingdom of heaven is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work” (Mar 3:34).

II. CHEERFUL WILLINGNESS. “They all came.” Not one required to be coerced or in any way dragged forth against his will. Nobody skulked or came forward with a grudge, but each was readier than his neighbour. So was it in the erection of the tabernacle; so should it be in the building of the Christian Church. Yet how to realize this ideal in the latter case is one of the problems o

from a depressed condition of religion in the soul. The cure for the first may be found in the grace of God (2Co 12:9); for the second, in a high conception of God’s ability (Php 4:13); for the third, in doing the first thing that comes to hand (Ecc 9:10); and for the fourth, in a quickening of the soul by the Holy Ghost (Psa 80:18).

2. The forwardness of Christians to engage in Christian work might be expected on many grounds. Gratitude to God, if nothing else, should constrain them (Psa 116:12). Love to Christ might impel them (2Co 5:14, 2Co 5:15). The nobility of the work might attract them; it would be walking in the footsteps of Christ (Act 10:38). The splendour of the reward might induce them (Dan 12:3; Mat 25:40; 1Co 15:58; Rev 2:10; Rev 14:13). The clamant need there is for such work might move them (1Jn 5:19). The good it would do might urge them (Tit 3:8).

III. ARDENT ENTHUSIASM. They came and did work. Not merely “putting in the time,” as the workmen’s phrase is; or simply dragging on with heartless indifference; or hurrying up the job with utmost, speed and in careless fashion, anxious to get it done, no matter how; but toiling honestly and earnestly, with a business like energy and determination, doing good work, and doing it with a will. Such had been the manner in which the tabernacle makers worked; such should be the style of working in the Christian Church.

1. The Founder of the Christian Church was an enthusiastic Worker. From the commencement of his ministry (Mar 4:23; Joh 2:17) to its close (Luk 9:51; Luk 12:50), Jesus was consumed with a burning devotion to his work of glorifying God and blessing men.

2. The apostles and early preachers of the Christian Church were enthusiastic workers. The eleven (Mar 16:20); the twelve (Act 5:42); Paul (Php 3:13); Apollos (Act 18:25); Epaphroditus (Php 2:27).

3. The Christian Church has in almost every age possessed workers of at like spirit. Ministers, like Augustine, Athanasius, Chrysostom, Cyril, Calvin, Knox, Latimer, Baxter, Wesley, Chalmers; missionaries, like St. Augustine, St. Columba, St. Aidan, St. Mungo, Brainerd, Martyn, Carey, Williams, Moffat, Livingstone; private Christians, like the late Earl of Shaftesbury and others.

IV. INDOMITABLE PERSEVERANCE. Too soon discouraged on the first occasion by the angry speeches and malicious threats of their enemies, on this occasion the temple builders met their adversaries with a bold front (Ezr 5:11), and rested not until they brought the work to completion (Zec 4:7, Zec 4:9). Perseverance:

1. A characteristic of all sincere Christian workers. Exemplified in the history of Jesus, of Peter and John, of Paul, and of others who have followed in their steps.

2. A necessary condition of all true success in Christian working. The greater the work, the more does it demand patient perseverance. Enterprises that can be carried through with a rush and an effort are seldom of moment.

3. A certain guarantee of ultimate success. The man who perseveres winsin ordinary life commonly, in religious life certainly.

CONCLUSION. The Christian worker’s encouragement. “I am with you, saith the Lord” (verse 13; cf. Mat 28:20).

1. For aid, to help you with needed strength in your labours (Psa 127:1; Isa 41:10; Zec 12:1).

2. For protection, to defend you against the machinations of your adversaries (Ezr 5:5; Psa 91:1-7; Pro 2:7; Zec 2:5; 1Pe 3:13; Rev 3:10).

3. For approbation, to accept your service when it is finished (Hag 2:9).

HOMILIES BY S.D. HILLMAN

Hag 1:1

The introduction.

The Bible student, with a view to the clear understanding of the Old Testament Scriptures, should fix in his mind the order of the prophetical writings. These books of prophecy may appropriately be arranged under three heads.

1. Those which stand related to the Assyrian period, including the books of Jonah, Joel, Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, Micah, and Nahum.

2. Those connected with the Babylonian period, including Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Ezekiel, and Obadiah.

3. Those associated with the return from the exile: Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi. The introduction of this brief prophecy by Haggai suggests to us

I. THE CHANGES MARKED BY THE REVOLVING WHEEL OF TIME. We are able, through this opening verse, to fix the exact date of this prophecy. It was “in the second year of Darius the king” that Haggai fulfilled this special mission, i.e. B.C. 521. Hence upwards of a century had passed away since Zephaniah had declared so faithfully the terrible Divine judgments which should overtake the nation on account of its guilt. His words had proved strictly true, and had been very literally and completely fulfilled. The land had been rendered utterly desolate; its cities had been entirely destroyed; its temple reduced to a heap of ruins; and its people carried away into exile. No King of Judah was referred to by Haggai in commencing his book, for the simple reason that the throne had fallen, and he had to recognize the authority of a Persian sovereign, and to speak of his favoured land as a province of a foreign power (verse 1). The dispersion, however, had in a measure been followed by the regathering. Zephaniah had prophesied respecting the return of “a remnant,” and his prophecy had, in a sense, now been fulfilled, for Cyrus permitted the Jews to colonize their own land, and a number had availed themselves of this permission, and had now spent some years in the bad given to their fathers, seeking to repair the waste and desolation which the march of events and the lapse of time had wrought.

II. THE WILL OF GOD AS COMMUNICATED THROUGH HUMAN INSTRUMENTALITY. The returned exiles commenced well. Their first concern had reference to the rebuilding of the house of the Lord, and with all possible speed they laid the foundation of the second temple. They were, however, weak and poor; they laboured amidst untold difficulties and discouragements, and it is not surprising that, their hearts becoming downcast and depressed, their ardour declined and their zeal languished. They needed stimulus; they required some message from the Lord their God declarative of his will and purpose; and this need was supplied, for they heard “a voice from heaven” speaking unto them through Haggai and Zechariah (Hag 1:1, Hag 1:2; Zec 1:1). In every age God has communicated his will and intention through the instrumentality of man. He has made holy men, full of human sympathies, the medium of Communicating his purposes. His agents in this instance, as ever, were admirably chosen. Haggai was advanced in life; he had probably seen the former temple; he was a link connecting the old with the new, and brought to bear upon the difficulties of the times a ripened and matured experience; whilst Zechariah was young, and with all the enthusiasm and warmth of youth. They worked together in perfect harmony and for the common good, their prophecies being at times admirably interwoven. There are two elements in the Biblethe Divine and the human. God speaks to us in every page, and he does so all the more emphatically, in that he addresses us through men who possessed throbbing hearts and who passed through experiences like our own.

III. THE RAISING UP IN THE ORDER OF PROVIDENCE OF EFFICIENT LEADERS TO DIRECT GREAT MOVEMENTS. “The word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet unto Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, Governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Josadech, the high priest“ (verse 1). Zerubbabel, of royal descent from David, and Joshua, who was in the priestly line, had secured the confidence and esteem of the Jewish community in the land of captivity; and the former had won the regard of Cyrus, the Persian monarch; so that when the time for the return came, leaders, esteemed alike by the Jews and their foreign rulers, were prepared to guide the movement and to carry it through successfully. God’s work shall never fail through lack of suitable agents to do his bidding, but he will raise up a bright succession of leal-hearted men to carry on his cause, until the ruin and desolation wrought by sin has been completely repaired, and the topstone of the temple of redeemed humanity be “brought forth” amidst rapturous praise.S.D.H.

Hag 1:2

Procrastination.

“This people say, The time is not come, the time that the Lord’s house should be built.” There are several ways of accounting for the delay which occurred in the work of re-erecting the temple in Jerusalem.

1. In part it arose from the returned exiles being preoccupied in seeking to secure to themselves material prosperity.

2. Then they were daunted by the opposition they had to encounter as they engaged in this work. The powerful neighbouring tribes, being alike antagonistic to the restoration of Jerusalem as the centre of the pure and unadulterated worship of God, combined to place obstacles in the way of the repairers of the breaches.

3. Further, they had grown somewhat accustomed to being without the structure. Comparatively few of them had seen “the first house.”

4. It is to be feared also that they had lost, through the changes they had experienced, that strong sense of the need of the Divine abiding presence in their midst. Influenced by such considerations as these, and forgetful that “good is best when soonest wrought,” they kept postponing carrying out the great undertaking to which they had pledged themselves, and excused themselves by saying, “The time is not come,” etc. (Hag 1:2). This habit of delay is far too general, and is not limited to any age or race. It prevails widely today as in all past times; and in no respect more so than in matters affecting man’s relation to God. Time was when man was wholly devoted to his Maker’s praise. God formed him in his own image, holy, spotless, pure; but he mournfully fell. He who had been the temple of God became a moral waste. “Ichabod” became inscribed upon the once consecrated spiritual man.. Every power of the soul became corrupt, every propensity became drawn to that which is evil. “The gold became dim, and the most fine gold changed.” And the voice of God calls us to the glorious work of rebuilding tills temple. He has presented to us, in the perfect life of his own Son, the pattern after which we should seek to raise in ourselves the superstructure of a holy life, and offers us his gracious aid so that we may build into our character the noble materials of truth and virtue, wisdom and love. And it is just at this point that the temptation to delay meets men.

1. They are not insensible to the claims of God, nor are they altogether indifferent about attending to these, but they say, “The time is not come,” etc. (Hag 1:3).

2. They are immersed in other matters at present:

(1) the cares of the world;

(2) the pursuit of riches;

(3) the pleasures of life, absorb them; they are preoccupied just now; they say, “The time is not come” (Hag 1:3).

3. They reason that there is the whole future yet before them, and that ample opportunity will be given them in due course. So they go on robbing themselves of “aspirations high and deathless hopes sublime.”

“Procrastination is the thief of time;
Year after year it steals, till all are fled,
And to the mercies of a moment leaves
The vast concerns of an eternal scene.”

S.D.H.

Hag 1:3-11

The stirring appeal.

It must not be supposed that, for purposes of revelation, there was any suspension of the powers of the men who were honored of God in being the medium of communicating a knowledge of his will; rather there was the retention of their own individual peculiarities and natural gifts, the Divine Spirit operating through these, and turning them to the most profitable account. One beauty of the Bible lies in the fact that, whilst upon the writings of each of its contributors there is unmistakably the impress of the operation of the Spirit of God, there is likewise throughout the whole clear indications of the preservation of those natural endowments which the respective writers possessed, and hence the remarkable variety in style and form of presentation meeting us in the Holy Word, and which constitutes one great charm of the volume. Viewing this particular book of Scripture from this human standpoint, biblical writers have described it as being inferior in respect of literary merit as compared with other prophetical writings; and it must be granted that we find lacking here “the poetical swing” and “the finished beauty” characteristic of “the curlier prophetical diction.” The circumstances, however, under which he gave utterance to his message will account for this. It did not devolve upon him to any extent, as it had done upon his predecessors, to make prophetic announcements concerning the future age; his simple mission was to stimulate and stir a lethargic people to renewed action, to reprove them for their neglect of solemn duty, and to impel them to fulfil their trust. And whatever there may be lacking here of poetic genius, the picture presented to us of this noble-hearted man standing “in grey-haired might” amidst the ruins of Jerusalem, and, strong in conviction that the favour and blessing of Jehovah was the great essential in order to the happiness of his people, urging them to knowledge him in all their ways, and without further delay to rear his sanctuary, is one truly beautiful, and which we could have ill spared from these holy records. Consider his stirring appeal.

I. HIS SUMMONS TO REFLECTION. “Consider your ways” (Hag 1:5, Hag 1:7); i.e. “Set your heart upon your ways”your conduct, actions, designs, purposes. Thoughtlessness is the source of so much evil. Men do not always intend to do wrong or to fail in respect of duty, but they do not “give heed.” They allow their minds to wander into other courses, and to be preoccupied with other matters.

“Evil is wrought by want of thought,

As well as want of heart.”

It is in view of men’s highest interests, then, that God by his providential dealings, or the ministry of his servants, or the inward voice of conscience, says to them at times, “Consider your ways.” We should consider:

1. Whether our ways are true and right.

2. How they stand affected to the claims which God has upon us.

3. The motives by which we are being influenced.

4. The results to which our actions are tending, whether the sowing is such as will yield a harvest of good.

The momentous importance of the admonition is seen in its repetition here. Man is wondrously free. He can choose good or evil. This freedom increases his responsibility, and the sense of this should lead to frequent self-examination. “Let each man prove his own work” (Gal 6:4).

II. THE WEIGHTY CONSIDERATIONS HE URGED UPON THEIR ARRESTED ATTENTION. Their great excuse for the unwarrantable delay which had taken place in the work of the temple was the hardness of the times; and in his stimulating address Haggai kept this excuse before his mind, and completely exposed to them its hollowness and swept it away by setting before them two important facts.

1. He brought home to them a sense of their own inconsistency. Hard though the times were, the fact remained that in these hard times they had built for themselves durable dwellings, and had enriched these with costly adornments; and surely if they could do all this for themselves, they might have done something by way of proceeding with the erection of the house of the Lord (verse 4). Clearly they had lacked not so much the ability as the disposition to do their duty.

2. Admitting the severity of the times, Haggai pointed out that the way in which to have improved these would have been by their discharging more faithfully their duty to their God. In vivid language he described the depressed state of things then prevailing (verse 6), but his contention was that God had visited them with such adverse experiences in retribution. They had forgotten his claims, and had selfishly cared only for their own interests; and lie, knowing their hearts and observing their ways, had withheld from them the dews of heaven, and had caused drought to prevail, that by failure and loss they might be led to reflection and to a truer and more devoted life (verses 9-11). When the times are hardtrade slack and commercial depression prevailingmen too often begin retrenchment by withholding from God his due, and long before they sacrifice a single luxury of life will they plead inability to sustain his cause. Wiser far would it be for them to give full recognition to him and to his claims, and, whilst thus honouring him, to look to him for his blessing and the renewal of the temporal blessings of his providence.

III. THE PROMPT ACTION, IN VIEW OF THESE THOUGHTS, UPON WHICH HE SO STRONGLY INSISTED. “Go up to the mountain,” etc. (verse 8). This stirring appeal of the prophet was made on “the sixth month, in the first day of the month” (verse 1), i.e. the new moon’s day. That day was a special day amongst the people. A festal sacrifice was offered (Num 28:11-15), and a solemn assembly of the people at the sanctuary took place (Isa 1:13; 2Ki 4:23). On this occasion, therefore, we may suppose the people as gathered together on the site of the temple, the bare foundations of which silently testified against their inertness, and the prophet appearing amongst them, addressing words of stem reproof to them, and then bidding them without longer delay go to the mountains and fetch the cedars, and build forthwith the house for God. Such he declared to be the will of God, obedience to which, on their part, would yield pleasure to the Most High, and bring glory to his Name, and would result in the promotion of their own temporal and spiritual well being (verse 8).S.D.H.

Hag 1:4

The house of the Lord lying waste.

The temple was designed to be the centre of hallowed influence to the Jewish nation. It was the recognized dwelling place of God, the shrine where, in bright symbol, his glory, was specially revealed. The pious Jew rejoiced to repair to it, and wherever his lot might be cast he looked towards it with ardent and longing desire. The desecration of it by the introduction of idolatrous practices into its courts had materially contributed to the nation’s collapse. It was of the utmost importance, therefore, that the work of its restoration should be pressed forward with all zest, now that the captives bad been permitted to return, and at first it seemed as though this course would have been pursued, but unhappily they soon allowed their zeal to flag, and year after year passed by and nothing was done. The house of the Lord lay “waste.” The Divine Teacher, when he came to usher in a new dispensation, declared that God is a Spirit, and is to be worshipped “in spirit and in truth” (Joh 4:23, Joh 4:24). He taught that place has but little to do with worship, and that there is no spot we may not consecrate by our praises and prayers, and render to us “hallowed ground.” Still, he constantly resorted to the temple, and we read of his apostles how that they went up to the temple “at the hour of prayer” (Act 3:1). The erection and maintenance of Christian sanctuaries is most thoroughly in harmony with his will, and is calculated to promote the truest interests of the race. Close all such sanctuaries, and

(1) good men would be left to sigh for the holy fellowship they had lost;

(2) spiritual darkness would steal over the land;

(3) the streams of true benevolence would rapidly diminish;

(4) men in general, losing sight of the common relationship they sustain to the Eternal, would also overlook the interest they ought to feel in each other’s weal;

(5) iniquity would pass unreproved, and vice unchecked. As lovers of God, our country, and our fellow men, we do well to sustain Christian sanctuaries, and not to allow them to “lie waste.” Notice, “the house of the Lord” may “lie waste”

1. IN THE SENSE OF THE MATERIAL STRUCTURE BEING NEGLECTED. There should be correspondence in respect of beauty and adornment, comfort and cleanliness, between the houses in which we live and the sanctuary in which we meet for worship, and where this is lacking, the want indicates a wrong state of mind and heart.

II. IN THE SENSE OF ITS PECUNIARY RESOURCES BEING OVERLOOKED, AND THERE BEING THUS STRAITNESS IN RESPECT TO MEETING THE EXPENSES NECESSARILY INCURRED IN ITS MAINTENANCE. Giving should be regarded as an act of worship. “Bring an offering, and come into his courts” (Psa 96:8). Contributions for the maintenance of the worship of God ought not to be regarded in the light of charitable gifts, but as the discharge of bounden obligation.

III. IN THE SENSE OF ITS SEATS BEING UNOCCUPIED. There is far too much of “waste” in this respect. The growing habit of attending only one of the services on the sabbath, and none during the week days, needs to be checked Personal influence should be brought more to bear upon the inhabitants of a locality with a view to securing their presence. “Come, let us go up to the house of the Lord” (Psa 122:1).

IV. IN THE SENSE OF THE EXERCISES CONDUCTED THEREIN BEING MARKED BY BALDNESS AND INEFFICIENCY. The services should be marked by culture, variety, heart; the worshippers should throw their whole souls into all its engagements, and render each part of the service “heartily” and as “unto the Lord.”

V. IN THE SENSE OF PAUCITY OF SPIRITUAL RESULTS. With a view to the prevention of this, let us “pray for Jerusalem,” that its services may yield comfort to the mourning and guidance to the perplexed, and that through these the cold in heart may regain the fervour of their “first love,” and “the dead in trespasses and sins” be quickened to a new and heavenly life. “Save now, O Lord; O Lord, we beseech thee send us now prosperity” (Psa 118:25); “Repair the waste places of Zion” (Isa 58:12); “Build thou the walls of Jerusalem” (Psa 51:18).S.D.H.

Hag 1:12-15

The hearty response.

The human spirit is so backward in respect to the performance of the duties and the fulfilment of the obligations it is under in relation to the higher life, that it requires stimulus, and acts of renewed dedication to the service of God cannot fail to be spiritually helpful. There are moments in life when we become specially impressed as God’s servants with a sense of his claims to our most devoted service, and when holy emotions rise within us, moving us to a more unreserved consecration of ourselves to his service. And we do well to make these impressions permanent by placing upon them the stamp of holy. resolution. It is wonderful how soon, if we do not take this course, these impressions and emotions vanish. We should therefore foster all holy impulses, and take advantage at once of all emotions and aspirations which would constrain us to render to the Lord our God a truer service than we have rendered in the past. Such impressions are buds we should not nip, sparks of heavenly fire we should not extinguish, the breathings of God’s own Spirit, from the influence of which it is at our peril that we remove ourselves. The interest in these closing verses (12-15) lies in that they present to us a bright example of this wise course being pursued. The earnest address of the aged seer touched the hearts of his hearers; they became painfully conscious of past omission and shortcoming and neglect of duty, and were led to consecrate themselves anew to the service of him who had brought them up out of captivity and to their own land.

I. THE SPIRIT THAT WAS CHERISHED.

1. It was the spirit of obedience. “They obeyed the voice of the Lord their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet” (verse 12).

2. It was the spirit of reverential fear. “And the people did fear before the Lord” (verse 12). “Whom God would make strong for his service he first subdues to his fear.”

3. This obedient and devout spirit was cherished by all. Zerubbabel the governor, Joshua the high priest, and all the remnant of the people alike made this full surrender of themselves to the service of their God (verse 14).

II. THE EFFECTS THAT FOLLOWED.

1. The Divine favour was experienced. Haggai was again commissioned to speak to them in the name of the Lord, and to say to them for God, as his messenger, “I am with you, saith the Lord” (verse 13). The abiding sense of God’s presence with them had made the heroes of their nation the men they were. Moses could face the whole Israelitish tribes when they were murmuring against him and against Aaron; David could confront the mail-clad Goliath; Daniel could be steadfast in the performance of his religions duties despite the lions; Ezekiel could utter burning denunciations against ungodly nations;because they realized in their inmost hearts the consciousness of the presence and power of God. And now this same presence was pledged to them, and in the Divine might they would be able to overcome every obstacle. The promptness with which this assurance was given is instructive. “God is waiting to be gracious, and will meet the returning wanderer even before his hand has begun the work of service.”

2. The spiritual life was quickened. “The Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel,” etc. (verse 14). He gave new life to them all, so that they were ready with zeal and alacrity and with holy courage to do his bidding.

3. The good work was advanced. “And they came and did work in the house of the Lord of hosts, their God” (verse 14)S.D.H.

HOMILIES BY D. THOMAS

Hag 1:1, Hag 1:2

Duty revealed.

“In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, in the first day of the month, came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet unto Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, Governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, saying, Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, “This people say, The time is not come, the time that the Lord’s house should be built.” Haggai is the first of the three prophets who lived and taught after the restoration t the Jews from the Babylonian captivity. It is generally supposed that he returned with the Hebrew exiles under Zerubbabel and Joshua the high priest, in the year B.C. 536. He prophesied in the reign of Darius Hystaspes, who ascended the Persian throne B.C. 521. He and Zechariah were employed by Jehovah to excite and encourage the Jews to the rebuilding of the temple. This book consists of four messages, which were delivered in three months of the year B.C. 620, and all refer to the work of temple restoration. His style, being somewhat interrogatory, has much vigour and vehe mence. The grand subject of this whole chapter is dutyduty revealed, duty postponed, duty vindicated. Those two verses direct us to the revelation of duty. Here we have:

1. The time of its revelation. Every duty has its time, every true work has its hour. Woe to us if that hour is neglected!

2. The organ of its revelation. “Came the word of the Lord by Haggai. God speaks to humanity through individual men whom in sovereignty he appoints. In all ages there are certain great men through whom God speaks to the world. They are his messengers.

3. The order of its revelation. Haggai had to deliver the message to men nearest to him, with whom he was most identified, and the men, too, who had the most power in influencing others. To the greatest man in the state, Zerubbabel; to the greatest man in the Church, Joshua. I make two remarks as suggested by this subject.

I. DUTY IS THE BURDEN OF DIVINE REVELATION. The great purpose of Haggai’s mission was, in the name of God, to urge his countrymen to the fulfilment of a work which was morally incumbent on them, viz. the rebuilding of the temple. It was the purpose of God that the temple should be rebuilt, and he required the Jews to do that work. He could have restored the structure by a miracle or by the hands of others; but he imposed the building of it on the Jewish people for reasons best known to himself. What was the burden of Haggai’s mission is in truth the burden of the whole Divine revelationduty. It contains, it is true, histories of facts, effusions of poetry, discussions of doctrine; but the grand all-pervading substance of the whole is duty; its grand voice teaches, not merely to believe and feel, but to do; it regards faith and feeling as worthless unless taken up and embodied in the right act. It presents the rule of duty, it supplies the helps to duty, it urges the motives to duty. This fact shows two things.

1. That the Bible studies the real well bring of man. According to our constitution, our strength, dignity, and blessedness consist, not merely in our ideas and emotions, but in our settled character. But what is character? Not an assemblage of beliefs and emotions, but an assemblage of acts add habits.

2. That unpractised religion is spurious. There is the religion of creed, of sentimentality, of sacerdotalism, of routine. These are all spurious; it is the doer of the Word that is blessed; it is the doer of the Divine will that God approves. “Every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not,” etc. (Mat 7:26).

II. DUTY IS INCREASED BY SOCIAL ELEVATION. This is implied in the circumstance that Haggai went directly with the message from God to the most influential men in the state, to “Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, Governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest.” The former was one of the head men in the state, the commander-in-chief at the head of the Jews in their return from their captivity in Babylon; the latter was the head man in the Church, he was the high priest. It was the duty of all the Jews to set to the work; but the obligation of these men, on account of their high position, had an increased force. These men had greater opportunities of knowing the Divine will, and greater facilities for carrying it out. The influence of men in high position is a great talent that God requires to be used. This fact serves two purposes.

1. To supply a warning to men in high places. The man who is in a high position, and disregards his great responsibilities, is more an object of pity than envy. “Unto whom much is given, of him much will be required.” Elevated positions in life invest men with an immense social powerpower which God intended to bless, but which is often used to curse men.

2. A lesson to ministers. Let the ambassadors of Heaven carry their messages first, if possible, to men in authority. Do not be afraid; none need your message more; none, if they receive it in faith, can render you better assistance in the great work of spiritual reformation. It is common to lecture the poor on duty. How seldom the Divine voice of duty is made to ring into the hearts of men in authority and power!D.T.

Hag 1:3, Hag 1:4

Duty adjourned.

“Then came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet, saying, Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your celled houses, and this house lie waste. The seventy years of the Babylonian captivity had passed away. The Babylonian empire had fallen; and Cyrus, the founder of the Persian empire, gave the Jews permission to return to their land, slid commanded them to rebuild the temple of Jehovah in Jerusalem. Hence fifty thousand captives, with their menservants and maidservants, went forth, led by Zerubbabel and by the high priest Joshua, to their own lands. Forthwith on their arrival they commenced restoring the altar of burnt offering and re-establishing. the sacrifical worship, and began to lay the foundation of the new temple. The Samaritans speedily inferrered and impeded their progress. Because the chiefs of Judah would not accept their cooperation in the undertaking they set themselves to the work of obstruction. They made the hand of the people of Judah idle, as we read, in frightening them while building, and hiring counsellors against them to frustrate their design, so that the work at the house of God at Jerusalem ceased and was suspended until the second year of the reign of King Darius of Persia (Ezr 4:24). Hereupon the zeal of the Jews so cooled down that they relinquished the work altogether, and simply began to provide for their own necessities and to build their own houses, Hence Heaven employs Haggai to rouse them, again, from their, wickedness. The subject of verses is the adjournment of duty The time is not come, the time that the Lord’s house should be built. They do not question the desirableness or the obligation of the work. This indeed seems to be assumed. During the Captivity, we are told elsewhere that they. hanged their harps upon the willows, and wept when they “remembered Zion.” Often, perhaps, in those circumstances did they resolve, should they ever be restored, to rebuild that temple which was the glory of the land; but now that they are there on the spot, and the ruins lying before them, their ardour is cooled, and they say, “The time is not come.” We see three evils coming out here, which, perhaps, are always connected with the adjourment of duty,

I. COWARDICE. They did not say,” We will not build the temple, we Will leave it to remain in ruins;” they were too cowardly for that, Their consciences rendered them incapable of making, such a decision. Men who neglect duty are too cowardly to say, “We will never attend to it, we will never study the Scriptures, worship God.”

1. Sin is cowardice.

2. Sin is cowardice because conscience, the truly heroic element, is ever against it.

II. SELFISHNESS. What was it that prompted them to adjorn this duty? The answer is at hand, Selfishness. “Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your ceiled houses, and this house lie waste?” They set to work for their own private interests. Virtually they said, “We must build houses for ourselves first, for all is in ruin about us; we must cultivate our own land first; we must attend to our own business, and after all that is completed we will see to the temple.”

1. Selfishness is a perversion of self-love.

2. Selfishness is fatal to self-interest.

III. PRESUMPTION. “The time is not come.” How did they know that? Were they judges of time and seasons? Had they the hardihood to suppose that circumstances can set aside or modify our obligations? “Go to, now, ye that say, Today and tomorrow” (Jas 4:13).

1. Such presumption is always guilty. It implies that we know better than our Maker about times and season.

2. Such presumption is always perilous. It treads upon an awful precipice. – D.T.

They were selfish motives that brought secular disasters to the Jews now. The verses teach us that duty is vindicated by the Divine government. We offer two remarks here.

I. THAT THE DIVINE GOVERNMENT RECOGNIZES THE SELFISH MOTIVES THAT ACTUATE MEN. Men are governed in everything by motive. Motive is the mainspring that keeps the world in action; motive is the fountain from which all the streams of life proceed; motive is the germ from which springs every branch and leaf of the great tree of character. We judge each other from appearance; God, from motives. God sees theft, blasphemy, and all other crimes where they have never been expressed in words or acts. This Divine inspection of motives argues three things.

1. The necessity of moral reformation in the world. If all pertaining to human life springs from motive, and the motives of the world are depraved, then the grand necessity of the world is reformation. Knowledge, civilization, refinement, social older, mercantile prosperity, wholesome legislation,these will be of no real service where the motives are bad. Hence the great Reformer has said, “Ye must be born again.” To accomplish this reformation is the great aim of the gospel. It is the fire to burn up false motives, it is the axe to strike the upas at the roots.

2. The necessity for attending more to the spiritual than the formal in the Church. It is not conformity to standards of faith, however scriptural, attention to rituals, however aesthetic and impressive, the repetition of prayers, however beautiful in language, devout in sentiment, and correct in doctrine; it is not, in fact, in any externalism that religion consists or that God delights; it is in holy motive. “Neither circumcision.; nor uncircumcision,” etc. (Gal 5:6). In all true worship man is at once the temple, the sacrifice, and the priest. When will the time come that men shall regard the Church, not as a piece of timber carved into certain forms by the hand of art, remaining the same from age to age, but as a living tree, working itself by the power of its own life into living forms with every season that passes, over it?

3. The possibility of solemn disclosures on the last day. Here men conceal their real hearts from each other. We only know each other after the flesh. Sometimes here Providence takes off the mask from those whom we thought friends, and we recoil from their hideousness with horror. At the last day all will be uncovered. “The hidden things of darkness will be brought to light” (1Co 4:5). What a revelation on that day!

II. THAT THE DIVINE GOVERNOR AVENGES THE SELFISH MOTIVES OF ACTION. “Ye looked for much, and, lo, it came to little.” The passage shows two ways in which God opposes the labour of selfish men.

1. He neutralizes the results of their labour. “I will blow upon it.” The man may realize the means which he thought would make him happy; God will hinder it from doing so. One selfish man may get wealth in abundance; another may acquire vast treasures of knowledge; another, immense power in society; yet in all cases there may be unhappiness, because God “blows” upon the whole. In fact, nothing can make a selfish man happy.

2. He renders ineffective the materials of their labour. Labour always employs three thingsagent, instrument, and materials. The materials of labour are here specified”light,” “air,” “water,” “earth.” On these men operate. Out of these we weave our clothing, of them we construct our dwellings. God acts upon these and renders them all ineffective for happiness. “Therefore the heaven over you is stayed from dew, and the earth is stayed from her fruit. And I called for a drought upon the land.”

(1) God directs the universe; not necessity, not chance.

(2) God directs the universe for mind.

(3) God directs the universe so as to meet the state of every heart. “To the pure all things are pure.”D.T.

Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary

Hag 1:1. Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel Zerubbabel was of the family of David, the grandson of Jechoniah, and the son of Shealtiel, as he is said to be here, and in Mat 1:12 or the son of Pedaiah, and the grandson of Shealtiel, as it seems we ought to infer from 1Ch 3:18 or, most probably, the son of Pedaiah by nature, and of Salathiel by adoption. He is called the governor, not the king of Judah. See 1Ki 20:24 which is the rather to be observed, as there are some who strangely apply to Zerubbabel those prophesies wherein it is foretold that Israel should return and serve David their king; prophesies which pertain only to Messiah, the king of the Jews. Josedech was high-priest in the reign of Zedekiah, and was carried away captive by Nebuchadnezzar. See 1Ch 6:15. His son succeeded him in the same dignity, when Judah returned from captivity, being confirmed in his office by the great Sanhedrin. See Grotius and Calmet.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

FIRST ADDRESS

Rebuke and Expostulation of the People for their Neglect of the Temple

Hag 1:1-11

1In the second, year of Darius1 the king, in the sixth month, in the first day of the month, there was a word of Jehovah, by the hand of Haggai the Prophet, to Zerubbabel,2 son of Shealtiel, governor3 of Judah, and to Joshua, son of Josadak, 2the High Priest, saying: Thus speaketh Jehovah of Hosts, saying: This people say, It is not the time to come,4 the time for the House of Jehovah to be built. 3And 4a word of Jehovah was by the hand of Haggai the Prophet, saying: Is it the time for you yourselves5 to dwell in wainscoted6 houses, and this House lying waste

5, 6 But come! saith Jehovah of Hosts, set your heart upon your ways. Ye have been sowing much and bringing in little; eating, and it was not to satisfaction; drinking, and it was not to fullness;7 clothing yourselves, and it was not to any ones being warm;8 and he who has been earning wages has been earning them into 7a torn purse.9 Thus saith Jehovah of Hosts, Set your heart upon your ways. 8Go up to the mountain and bring wood and build the House, and I will take pleasure in it, and will be honored,10 saith Jehovah. 9Ye have kept looking for much,11 and lo (it came) to little!12 and ye brought it home and I blew upon it. Because of what?13 saith Jehovah. Because of my House which is desolate, while ye are running each 10to his own house. Therefore above you have the heavens restrained themselves 11from dew, and the earth has restrained her increase. And I invoked desolation upon the earth and upon the mountains, and upon the corn, and upon the new-made wine, and upon the oil, and upon all that the soil produces, and upon man and upon beast, and upon all the labor of (mens) hands.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Hag 1:1. In the second year of Darius the King, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month. The dates affixed to the prophecies generally contemplate the perpetuation of the several books and the requirements of readers in all succeeding time. Haggai indicates with special care the precise date of the delivery of each of his messages. In accordance with the practice necessarily adopted by the Old Testament writers after the people of God were subjected by heathen powers, the year of his prophecies is reckoned from the accession of the king to whom the Jews were then subject. The Darius here mentioned is Darius Hystaspes, who ascended the throne of Persia b. c. 521, and whose treatment of his Jewish subjects is recorded in Ezr 6:14 to Ezr 6:22. That it could not have been Darius Nothus (b. c. 423), as J. J. Scaliger and a few others have maintained, appears plainly from Hag 2:3, where our Prophet, according to the only natural interpretation of the verse, addresses those who had beheld the First Temple, which was destroyed b. c. 588. The month is named according to the sacred order in the Jewish year (comp. Zec 1:7; Zec 7:1; Zec 8:19). The sixth month is Elul, answering nearly to our September, or, more strictly, extending from the sixth to the seventh new moon of the year. The first day of the month was specially suitable for the delivery of the Prophets message, as being the feast-day of the New Moon, when he would be more likely to attract attention (Hengstenberg). There was a word of the Lord by the hand of Haggai the Prophet. The word of the Lord, as always in the Prophets, indicates a freedom from all human admixture; while the expression, , intimates that the Prophet himself was merely a medium of communication, the word simply passing through his hands. On the name and person of the Prophet see Introd. 1. To Zerub-babel, son of Shealtiel, Governor of Judah, and to Joshua, son of Josadak, the High Priest. Zerubbabel is called in Ezr 1:8; Ezr 5:14 by his Persian name Sheshbazzar (of uncertain origin). In 1Ch 3:17, Shealtiel appears as a son of Assir and grandson of Jeconiah (Jehoiachin). According to 1Ch 3:19, Zerubbabel was a son of Pedaiah, a brother of Shealtiel. According to Luk 3:27, Shealtiel was a son of Neri, a descendant of David through his son Nathan. The best method of harmonizing these statements is that adopted by Koehler and Keil. The latter says: These three divergent accounts may be brought into agreement by means of the following combinations, if we keep in mind the prophecy of Jeremiah (Jer 22:30), that Jeconiah would be childless and not be blessed with seeing one of his seed sitting upon the throne of David and ruling over Judah. This prophecy was fulfilled according to Lukes genealogical table, inasmuch as Shealtiels father there is not Assir or Jeconiah, a descendant of David in the line of Solomon, but Neri, a descendant of Davids son Nathan. It follows therefore that neither of the sons of Jeconiah mentioned in 1Ch 3:17-18 (Zedekiah and Assir), had a son, but that the latter had only a daughter, who married a man of the family of her fathers tribe, according to the law of heiresses (Num 27:8; Num 36:8-9), namely, Neri, who belonged to the tribe of Judah and the family of David. From this marriage sprang Shealtiel, Malkiram, Pedaiah, and others. The eldest of these took possession of the property of his maternal grandfather, and was regarded legally as his son. Hence he is described in 1Ch 3:17 as the son of Assir the son of Jeconiah, whereas in Luke he is regarded, according to his lineal descent, as the son of Neri. But Shealtiel also appears to have died without posterity, and to have left only a widow, which necessitated a Levirate marriage on the part of one of the brothers (Deu 25:5; Deu 25:10; Mat 22:24; Mat 22:28). Shealtiels second brother Pedaiah appears to have performed this duty, to have begotten Zerubbabel and Shimei by this sister-in-law (1Ch 3:19), the former of whom, Zerubbabel, was entered in the family register of the deceased uncle Shealtiel, passing as his (legal) son and heir, and continuing his family. (governor) is a general term for a civil and military ruler of a division of a kingdom, applied at first to those of the Persian monarchy, and extended to those of others in writings of the later period (1Ki 10:15). It was applied both to satraps, as Tatnai (Ezr 5:3), and to inferior governors, as Zerubbabel. Joshua is the same person so frequently mentioned in the Book of Zechariah, upon whom the high distinction was conferred of representing the Messiah as the future Prince and Priest of Israel, in the symbolical transaction recorded in Zechariah 3. It is in accordance with this typical function that Joshua is addressed here along with Zerubbabel, not merely as the highest representative of the sacred priestly office, but also, to a certain extent, as ruling the people jointly with the civil governor. Such authority was gradually more and more assumed by the High Priests after the dissolution of the kingdom until the tendency culminated in the Maccaban princes, who formally united the two functions in one person. It was, therefore, as the leaders of the people civil and ecclesiastical, that Zerubbabel and Joshua were appealed to. Upon them the responsibility is laid if the work enjoined by Jehovah is not accomplished (Koehler).

Hag 1:2. Thus speaketh Jehovah of Hosts. This venerable formula is employed uniformly by our Prophet to introduce his messages. This people say. There is no ground for assuming, as many have done, that the word this is here used in a contemptuous manner, like and iste. There is, however, a significance in the choice of the word. The Jews, are not called Israel or My people, but by an attributive which denotes indifference, and thus indicates the divine displeasure against them. It is not the time to come. That this is the correct translation, is proved in the grammatical note upon this verse. The second clause: time for the House of Jehovah to be built, is both explanatory of the first and parallel to it throughout in thought and construction. Coming means preparing to build the Temple, as the separate stages of preparation and erection are distinguished also in Hag 1:14. So most of the recent German expositors, after Osiander, Junius, Tremellius, and Cocceius. The people had probably been urging as an excuse for their inactivity that their relations with Persia were not favorable to a resumption of work upon the Temple. But this was a mere pretext; for they had made no effort to discover whether the new and legitimate king Darius Hystaspes would not regard them with favor. Their inaction was not the compulsory and painful restraint of zealous patriots and ardent worshippers, but the easy and selfish indifference of an ungrateful and unfaithful people. See a fuller estimate of their disposition at this time in the Introduction, 2.

Hag 1:3-4. And a word of Jehovah And this House lying desolate. The disingenuous-ness of their plea is self-evident, and is therefore simply assumed in the following discourse, the design of which is to awaken in them a sense of their ingratitude to God. It is represented to them most impressively, with an allusion to the very language of their pretext, that while they held their own wants and even their luxuries to be matters of pressing moment, they thought any time suitable to attend to the claims of their God; that while their own homes had been regained, there was yet no habitation for the God of Israel; that while their wealthy members were using their superfluous means to adorn and beautify their dwellings, Gods dwelling-place still lay desolate, appealing in vain to their piety and patriotism, which had been overborne by selfishness and supineness. The allusion, moreover, could not fail to expose the insincerity of their excuses. Houses wainscoted with cedar were the residence of kings (1Ki 7:7; Jer 22:14), and if some of them had now the command of such resources as enabled them to live in princely splendor, they might surely have reserved a portion for the requirements of the Temple, when the work of building it should be resumed,if that work had been giving them the least concern. The personal pronoun is repeatedyou yourselvesfor the sake of emphasis, in order to make more prominent the antithesis between them and Jehovah. See Grammatical note.

Hag 1:5. Set your heart upon your ways. This expression, so frequent in our Prophet (Hag 1:7; Hag 2:15; Hag 2:18), is equivalent to: consider your ways. As the next verse shows, the people were bidden to contemplate the results of their late course. In these, as displaying the operation of the principles of Gods moral and theocratical government, they might discern evidences of a disregard of his plainly revealed will. They were to infer the nature of their conduct from its results.

Hag 1:6. Ye have been sowing muchinto a torn purse. On the peculiar constructions in this verse see the grammatical note. The consequences of the peoples ways are now specified as they appeared in the unproductiveness of their fields and the unprofitableness of their labor generally. The various expressions are intended to form one general picture, and to set forth in language partly literal and partly figurative, that not only was their labor to a very large extent profitless, but that even what their fields and their manual toil did produce gave them but little enjoyment. The latter result did certainly happen, and was due, moreover, to the withdrawal of Gods blessings, as appears plainly from Hag 1:9. But to assume that all the expressions are to be taken in their unqualified literalness, as Calvin, Osiander, Koehler, and Keil seem to have done, must be regarded as an unwarranted as well as unnecessary interpretation. If we compare the prediction of a similar condition of things in Lev 26:26 (see on Hag 1:5), we find that the words: ye shall eat and shall not be satisfied, imply, as shown by the context, that the hunger threatened in case of disobedience would result simply from the scarcity of food. It is natural to suppose that similar circumstances are described here by the like expressions. But to hold generally that the hunger and thirst and cold were not in any degree removed by food, and drink, and clothing, would be to postulate a miracle quite without necessity. , to bring in, is the term proper to harvesting (comp. 2Sa 9:10, and the figurative use of the word in Psa 90:12). The last clause, in a striking figure, illustrates the inadequacy of the remuneration for labor, from which we may infer that business generally was almost prostrated.

This verse and Hag 1:9-11 are not at all inconsistent with Hag 1:4. There the rebuke is directed against the wealthier members, as before indicated. They, having probably become possessed of some property in Babylon, and having prospered during the first few years of their Jewish residence, still lived in comparative prosperity, and were therefore in a position to give of their means and time to the work they had neglected. The mass of the people, however, though presumably also prosperous at first, were now suffering from those temporal inflictions visited upon them by God on account of their neglect of their paramount duty to Him, which would soon involve the entire community, rich and poor, in complete destitution, unless they aroused themselves from their sinful indifference.

Hag 1:7. The admonition of Hag 1:5 is repeated here, both as betokening greater urgency, and also for the purpose of reinforcing the argument of Hag 1:5-6, by showing to what course a conscientious review of their conduct should determine them. They should be impelled, as is next shown, to make immediate preparations for the complete restoration of the Temple.

Hag 1:8. Go up to the mountain and bring wood, and build the House. It is somewhat difficult to determine the precise application of in this passage. Leaving out of view the altogether improbable notion of Grotius, Rosenmller, and Newcome, that it refers to Mount Moriah itself, on which the Temple stood, we find that while perhaps the majority of modern expositors (e.g. J. D. Michaelis, Maurer, Keil, Moore, Fausset) regard it as a collective expression for the hilly parts of Palestine generally, in accordance with Neh 8:15; Jos 9:1; Jos 11:2; Jos 11:12, many others (e. g., Cocceius, Ewald, Henderson) limit its application to Mount Lebanon. It is most probable that no definite mountain was thought of, the command not restricting the sphere of operation even to Palestine itself, but urging the people in general terms to seek building material in those districts in which it could best be obtained. It is hardly necessary to remind the reader that it was upon the high lands of the country that the most suitable timber grew. As there is no command with reference to stone for the walls, the building of which had already begun (Hag 2:18; Ezr 3:10; Ezr 5:16), it is plain that wood is put here for building material generally. And I will take pleasure in it and will be honored. Koehler and Keil translate reflexively: will glorify myself, that is, upon the people by blessing them. But this sense is not obvious. It is best, with Maurer, Moore, and others, to take the word in its primary application. See Textual note.

Hag 1:9-11. The exhortation of the last verse is now reinforced by a more fresh and elaborate presentation of those disastrous consequences of disobedience which had been urged in Hag 1:6. The connection with Hag 1:8 may be easily perceived. Jehovah had there promised to manifest his approbation if the people would return to their duty. The certainty of this must be evident to them; for was not their domestic distress a consequence of their neglect of his claims upon their service? The relation of these verses to all of the discourse that precedes, becomes clearer when we perceive that the whole passage, Hag 1:5-11, is intended to force upon the minds of the people the consideration that ruin is awaiting them, unless they proceed at once with the rebuilding of the Temple. The command in Hag 1:8 therefore, though expressing the practical conclusion to which the whole message tends, is not the leading sentence in the discourse, but is introduced as subsidiary to the main argument Hag 1:5, and again Hag 1:7, exhort the people to consider their ways. Hag 1:8 shows the joyful consequences of obedience. Hag 1:9-11 suggest, by depicting the baleful results of past disobedience, the evils which the continuance of such a course would entail.

Hag 1:9. Ye looked for muchevery man to his own house. On the construction, see Grammatical note. The literal translation of the first clause would be: ye turned towards much (Exo 16:10). The allusion is to a frequent inspection of the growing crops. I blew upon it, for the purpose of scattering and dissipating it. The small quantity that was gathered profited but little, on account of the absence of Gods blessing, according to the general notion conveyed by Hag 1:6. See the remarks upon that verse. Why? saith Jehovah of Hosts. Though the present condition of things could very well have been accounted for by the people themselves, Jehovah condescends to explain it to them. He Himself asks the cause, and gives the solution to which the whole of the discourse had been leading,that while their own affairs had been absorbing their thoughts, his claims had been disregarded. Because of my house which is desolate, and ye are running every man to his own house. As in Hag 1:4, the different feelings with which the people were regarding Gods House and their own houses, are sharply contrasted, but here the latter do not seem to be limited in application to the dwellings themselves, the word house being probably employed as the centre of that activity which they all manifested in their haste to attend to their own concerns.

Hag 1:10. We concur with Keil in the opinion that it is impossible to determine whether is to be translated: above you, or: on your account. We incline rather to the former view, though it is stoutly opposed by Hitzig, Henderson, and others. A difficulty likewise meets us in the rest of the clause. , in the second member of the verse, is transitive, with a direct object. If transitive here also, we expect an object expressed or understood; but Khler and Keil, who deny an intransitive or reflexive sense, do not inform us what that object is; for they maintain rightly that is privative (from dew), and in fact use in an intransitive sense the verb which they employ in their translation (darum haben ber euch die Himmel zurckgehalten dass kein Thau fiel). If is privative, the reflexive sense would seem to be unavoidable. Ewald, Umbreit, Henderson, take that word as the object, and that in a partitive sense: has restrained of her dew, a rendering which Khler rightly condemns as too prosaic.

Hag 1:11. And I invoked desolationupon all the labor of (mens) hands. This verse still depends upon the therefore of Hag 1:10, completing the picture of misfortune and threatening ruin evoked by the unfaithfulness of the people. We translate desolation, because it is the only word which will apply to all the objects cited in the verse. The phrase has moreover been chosen designedly by the Prophet to indicate both the justice and the fitness of the retribution. They allowed Gods House to lie desolate (Hag 1:4; Hag 1:9). Disaster and failure had already visited their fields and the labor of their hands, and very soon, if they should remain unmoved in their guilty indifference, the blighting curse invoked by their of fended God would fall upon them in its unrestrained severity, when they should realize the full meaning of that sentence afterwards pronounced upon their obdurate and ungrateful descendants: Behold your house is left unto you desolate.

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. The two great objects of the institution of Prophecy were to direct the inner life of Gods people into harmony with the commands and the spirit of the Law, and to point forward to Him who was to fulfill both the Law and the Prophets. Our Prophet, as we shall see, represented both of these functions. In this chapter he is concerned with the religious condition of the people as expressed by their attitude towards Gods true worship. Their persistent disregard of the claims of their Deliverer and King indicated plainly a growing estrangement and disloyalty of heart. They could only be recalled to devotion and duty through a message of rebuke and warning from God through an inspired and chosen messenger (comp. Hag 1:13). And such utterances were naturally directed against the most patent and flagrant violation of their religious duty,their neglect of the House of God. The Temple, as the centre of the Jewish worship, the place where Jehovahs presence was manifested, where national and individual sins might be covered over, and where the favor of God might be invoked upon his people, was indispensable to the very life of the nation as a people of God. To neglect it was to commit treason against Him, to reject Him as their God and King, and to invite his rejection of them.

2. Such indifference to the demands of God upon the service of his people was necessarily followed by his estrangement from them. For, as the worship in the Temple secured their admission into the very presence of God, it was both in type and reality a meeting not simply of reconciliation but of cordial friendship, a renewed ratification of the Covenant (comp. Rev 21:3). As loving Gods House and being devoted to its service, could He fittingly call them My People: and it seems no less fitting and necessary that indifference on their part to the enjoyment of his favor and confidence should alienate his regard, that tenderness in Him should become aversion, that the Israel of God should be coldly recognized as this people.

3. But other and more palpable consequences must follow such a course of conduct on the part of Gods people. It was a warning repeatedly urged upon them by Moses in the illustration of that Law which was to be the guide of their national and individual life; it was a lesson impressed upon them by many a hard experience of public and private distress and calamity, culminating in that long captivity from which they had so lately emerged, that the loss of Gods favor involves not merely religious and moral deterioration, but the withdrawal of that providential care which secures a due return to labor, with fruitful seasons and bounteous harvests, and even follows men to their homes, leading every act and thought to enjoyment and happiness. Deprived of such care, they, in all their pursuits, might look and look again for much, but they would surely bring in little.

4. Such dealings on the part of God towards his people, while setting forth clearly the doctrine of retribution (De Wette), are not simply punitive: they are also corrective and remedial in design and tendency. Otherwise prophecy would be nothing but the repeated announcement of an impending doom. Otherwise there would be no meaning in the message of our Prophet, who, while holding out to his people no other prospect than that of distress and desolation as the result of continued disobedience, presents also the inspiring and quickening vision of their God and King restored by their obedience to the dwelling-place which they are urged to prepare for Him, and looking forth upon them thence in favor and love (Hag 1:8). In this he is the prophet, not of his faithless countrymen alone, but also of a God-despising yet not God abandoned world: he still calls out to men on behalf of God: Consider your ways.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

Hag 1:2-4. (This people instead of My people): The loss of Gods confidence: (1) Its occasions; (2) Its consequences; (3) Its retrieval.There is a time for everything with men; but they should consider, (1) Who it is that claims their first and most devoted service; (2) the means and methods of serving Him best.

Calvin: Men are very ingenious, when they wish to hide their delinquencies.

Matthew Henry: There is an aptness in us to misinterpret providential discouragements in our duty, as if they amounted to a discharge from our duty, when they are only intended for the trial and exercise of our courage and faith. It is bad to neglect our duty; but it is worse to vouch Providence for the patronizing of our neglects.

Cramer: There are many men, who have a plenty of money when they are going to build houses for themselves, but a great scarcity of it when any is wanted for churches, or schools, or anything else to promote Gods glory.

Moore: The carved ceilings and costly ornaments will have a tongue in the day of judgment.

Hag 1:5-6. In considering our ways, we should seek to discover, (1) the motives that have urged us; (2) whither our present ways would lead us at the end of our earthly course.

Gerlach: Fruitfulness or sterility comes from God, not from blind and powerless Nature. This is the teaching of the Scriptures from Paradise and the Fall to its close.

Moore: A careful pondering of Gods dealings with us will often indicate to us Gods will regarding us.

Hag 1:8. God will not come to bless us as an uninvited Guest. His favor will be displayed towards us only when we have prepared Him a temple in our hearts.

Hag 1:9-11. Inflictions of suffering by God in his providence are always charged with a salutary lesson: they are a warning to his despisers, and a correction to his children.

Fausset: The very evils which men think to escape by neglecting Gods ordinances, they actually bring on themselves by such unbelieving neglect.

Footnotes:

[1]Hag 1:1.. Some MSS. of Hagg., Zech., Dan., and Ezra read (Doryavesh), and others, . The correctness of the common reading is established by the forms Dryavush and Drayavush, found in the Cuneiform Inscriptions. The name is usually held to be derived from the Zendic dar, to preserve, Sanskrit dhar, the normal and root form of the verb dhri. The explanation of Herodotus (6:98), , coercitor, conservator, is therefore probably correct.

[2]Hag 1:1. is a name derived from and (Dispersed to Babylon), or from and (Begotten in Babylon). As Zerubbabel was probably born during the Exile, it is impossible to determine which is the correct explanation. Either etymology would of course account for the doubling of the first Beth. Ayin is dropped in the name , from and .

[3]Hag 1:1.. The derivation of this word cannot be said to be yet settled. The commonly received etymology (suggested by Benfey) from the Sanskrit paksha, a companion (of the king), from which the modern term pasha is also supposed to be derived, is disputed by Spiegel, chiefly on the ground that the word is not found in the Eranian languages. He proposes to derive from the form pvan, from p. to defend, which occurs in Zend and Sanskrit at the end of compounds (e. g., khsatrapvan, satrap, a defender of the kingdom), and in the Avesta as a separate word in the contracted form pavan. He then conjectures a dialectic variation, pagvan, to account more naturally for our word.

[4]Hag 1:2. . The only plausible defense for reading , and rendering: the time has not come, as all the ancient translators have done, as well as most of the English and early Continental expositors, is that according to the received reading the infinitive would be written defectively. This, however, is quite common (comp. Exo 2:18; Lev 14:48; Num 32:9; 1Ki 14:28; Isa 20:1). Moore and; Henderson retain the inf. and yet give the above translation. This can be assumed as correct only on the supposition that the inf. is used absolutely as equivalent to a finite verb. The position, however, that such a construction can be adopted when no finite verb precedes in the sentence, is very precarious, really resting only upon Eze 1:14 (comp. Green, Heb. Gr., 268, 1 a, and Ewald, 280 a). But there is not the least necessity of resorting to it; for the translation here adopted, and held by most of the recent German expositors, is quite natural and agreeable to the context. For the construction of the last clause of the verse, see Green, 267 b; Ewald, 237 c.

[5]Hag 1:4.. On this emphatic repetition of the pers. pronoun, see Ewald, 105 f., and comp. Jer 2:31.

[6]Hag 1:4.. This is one of the rare cases in which an adjective qualifying a definite substantive is without the article.

[7]Hag 1:6.The absol inf. being properly a verbal noun, , , etc., depend upon , and are determined in sense by it; see Green, 268, 1. The literal translation therefore is: Ye have sown much, and (there was) a bringing in of little, etc.

[8]Hag 1:8.The impersonal force of the absol. inf. above suggested by the employment in the last clause but one of instead of , which would be naturally expected; literally: there was a clothing (of ones self), and it was not for warming to him.

[9]Hag 1:6.In the last clause we have a pregnant construction: earns wages (and puts them) into a purse with holes.

[10]Hag 1:8.The keri is , which is also found in some MSS. in Kennicott. The He paragogic in the voluntative future occurs regularly in sentences denoting a consequence (Ewald, 347 a.). But it is sometimes absent (comp. Zec 1:3 with Mal 3:7). Its omission in decides nothing, since it is appended but very rarely to verbs (Green, 172, 3; Ewald, 228 c.). The letter representing the number five, its omission here has been regarded by later Talmudists as betokening that the Second Temple was deprived of the five following things: (1) The Ark of the Covenant with the Mercy Seat and the Cherubim; (2) The Sacred Fire; (3) The Shekinah; (4) The Holy Spirit: (5) The Urim and Thummim.

[11]Hag 1:9.. The inf. abs. occurs here without any finite verb preceding, unlike the construction in Hag 1:6. See the grammatical remarks upon that verse. It is therefore strictly a verbal noun: (there was) a looking for much, etc. Such a mode of expression often indicates a certain degree of emotion, after the utterance of which the ordinary manner of speaking Is easily resumed (Ewald, 328 b). Accordingly a finite verb, , is found in the next clause.

[12]Hag 1:9.Before some such verb as is to be understood: (it came) to little.

[13]Hag 1:9. . This is one of the numerous cases cited by Ewald ( 182 b), in which occurs for without any assignable cause. Khler suggests that the analogy of ,, might possibly explain the change as being occasioned by a preceding preposition. The laws of Hebrew vocalization are, however, determined by the form and not by the meaning of words, and the existence of such anomalies as (1Sa 4:14), (2Ki 2:7), would seem to show that further investigation would be hopeless.

Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange

CONTENTS

In this Chapter Haggai reproves the people’s negligence, and incites them to the building of the Temple, and God promiseth his assistance therein.

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

“In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, in the first day of the month, came the word of the LORD by Haggai the prophet unto Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, saying, (2) Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, This people say, The time is not come, the time that the LORD’S house should be built.”

The text Haggai would have chosen to have preached this Sermon from, had he been blessed with it, would have been those sweet words of the Lord Jesus: Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. Mat 6:33 . He was stirred up to call the people to the consideration of their ways, and the deplorable state in which the Lord’s house laid waste. That awful delay which for the most part forms the character of most men, in providing for their grand concerns, operated with the people of God, after their return from Babylon, in respect to the Lord’s house. They found Solomon’s temple in ruins; but none thought of rebuilding it. Haggai is informed of this by the word of the Lord; and it should seem that the prophet’s mind was greatly excited thereby. What a sad state of putting off it is in soul concerns!

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

A Prophetic Idyl

Hag 1

“Then came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet saying” ( Hag 1:3 ).

How did the word of the Lord come to Haggai and through Haggai? The prophet himself tells us in his brief epistle, for an epistle it may be called, seeing that it was delivered so swiftly and directly and overpoweringly to the parties who were addressed by it. Haggai came into the prophetic office late in life. How wonderful is the development of human power! Sometimes there are boy preachers, whom we must always look upon with a kind of gracious distrust. I do not know what the world wants with boy-preachers, but if the Lord chooses to call them and honour them, who are we that we should criticise the way of God? Some are not called to the ministry or the prophetic office until they are well on in life. God has not been rebuking the men, he has been educating them, chastening and training them, so that although their office be but temporary, of a short duration, yet sympathetically and suggestively it stretches over the whole space of unborn time. You do not know what you may be yet. You are a long time in beginning, but when you do begin who knows how wise will be your ministry, how rich your experience, how tender your spirit? Do not give up all hope, do not count your years; remember the reign and dominion of him who is master and Lord, and constantly say to him, Lord, at thy time, not at mine: if thou dost want me to preach I am ready when thou art ready; if it be better for me not to preach until I am an old man, mighty as Haggai was in grey hairs, so be it: thy will, not mine, be done.

Haggai was only a minister for four months. We are very critical about the duration of ministries now; unless a man has been in his place five years or ten, or two tens, we have unkind remarks to make about the possibility of his not lasting much longer. There are always plenty of malign critics: the world has never been poor in downright wickedness; if wickedness had been wealth all the other stars would have been paupers compared with this earth-millionaire. Four months: what can be done in a little space of time when the whole man works head, heart, hand, every power, faculty, element of his being, all consecrated with tremendous intensity towards the prosecution and culmination of one sublime and beneficent object! Some men say more in a sentence than others can say in a lifetime. Haggai may have done more in four months than some other man would have done in four centuries. Yet criticism is very foolish, vain, self-magnifying; for the later criticism, sometimes called the “higher criticism,” has found out that the prophecy of Haggai is very tamely written. Criticism cannot come home at night after a whole day’s work and bring nothing with it, it would be ashamed to come back again. There be bold fishermen who go out in the morning with nothing but rod and creel, and come back at night just as empty-handed; but they have had fresh air, enjoyment, and they are ready for refreshment and rest; there is bloom upon the cheek, there is music in the tone. But criticism must bring something back, and criticism has brought back the report that Haggai has lost much of the old prophetic inspiration, that Haggai, because he began as an old man, has shown an old man’s senility in all the writing which he wrote. It is a blessed thing that the prophecy itself is actually before us, so that we can test for ourselves the base insinuation that in Haggai the prophetic torch was almost extinct.

The prophecy of Haggai extends only over some forty verses; it might be committed to memory. In those forty verses you have little poems that could be elaborated into marvellous epics and idyls. We shall find words in Haggai we can find nowhere else. Every prophet brings his own special offering. Haggai has flowers that no other hand culled, fairer than any that the noblest prophets ever discovered in the garden of God; but criticism pale-faced, blear-eyed criticism, with only two sharp teeth in its empty gums has appeared to tell us that Haggai has lost inspiration, and has nothing to say unique and distinctive. Some witnesses are liars.

“Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, This people ” ( Hag 1:2 ).

That is not like the Lord of hosts. “This people” as if the speaker were pointing, with at least suggestion of contempt, to some motley, nameless, reputeless crowd. In other prophets he has said, even when he was about to rebuke the Church, “My people.” Oh, this contempt of God! “This people” not a personal pronoun, but a demonstrative adjective pronoun, an indicative impersonal: “This people,” this crowd, this herd of ingrates. Language ought to be moral. The Lord’s language is always deeply steeped in morality. The Lord does not speak anything by way of mere eulogy or panegyric; the Lord is critical in his judgment: behold the goodness and the severity of God. What do these people say? “The time is not come.” They might have lived to-day. We have not advanced one inch from this position. It is a position of excuse, evasion, self-protection. Here is no denial of the divine right, not one word is spoken against the house of the Lord, but it is not “time” to repair the roof, to clean the window, and let the morning light come in; it is not time to throng into God’s sanctuary, and to make it thrill and throb with the music of thankfulness: as who should say under the sluggard’s blankets, By-and-by we will come: tomorrow, or the day following, you will hear our voices; in a short space we will arise and repair the house, or rebuild the house, or do anything that the house may require to have done to it: in the meantime a little more sleep, a little more slumber, and a folding of the arms and hands together. When is the time coming for you to be a man? When is the time coming for you to do your first noble deed? Do not dream that you are going to do something in a few summers’ time: when all the children are off your hands, when business anxieties have abated a little, when the rush and competition of life have somewhat subsided, then the Church shall hear your music in song and prayer, and see your sacrifice in labour and in gift. The devil is deceitful; he does not say to a man, Deny God, pronounce his name as if you hated it. Sometimes he says, There is no need for you positively to deny the existence of God, nor is there any need for you to sneer or show contempt when religious ordinances are referred to; but you can take up a very strong position if you will say, “The time is not come”: that will be decent, that will be civil; it will be impossible for the keenest criticism to fasten upon an assertion of that kind, and under cover of that base protestation you can serve hell. Why spend time in metaphysical reasoning with people about these excuses? Such excuses are not to be metaphysically destroyed; they are to be burnt out of a man with the fire of heaven.

Is the Lord content with the speech? Does he say, This is carefully considered: here are prudent persons, they are watching for opportunities, and when opportunities occur they will be faithful; their activity may be relied upon; they have not denied the obligation, nor have they wantonly postponed its payment; they are simply waiting for the right time? Does the Lord speak so?

“Then came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet, saying, Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your cieled houses, and this house lie waste” ( Hag 1:3-4 ).

When did man say, It is not time to make money, it is not time to look after my own interests. It is not time for me to pay the slightest attention to personal wants, or personal comforts: all these things can wait? Never do we house ourselves under gilded roofs without the Lord knowing where we are Has he not counted every inch of decoration? Has he not read the estimate of every luxury with which our home is adorned? Does he not read the garden-bill, the larder-bill, the artist’s account? And do we tell him who has just laid the invoices down that it is not time to attend to the greater house, the larger love, the wider, nobler sacrifice? Tell it to men who are blind, and deaf, and dumb, and dead, but do not tell it to him who searches the heart, and tries the reins of the children of men. He knows the exact condition of his house. Is this unreasonable? Is it unreasonable for the husbandman to come to his own field, or garden, or vineyard, and ask concerning the fruit thereof? Is it unreasonable for the householder to look into the condition of his house? And the Church is God’s house, the temple is the dwelling-place of the Most High; and if we will not attend to his house, how can he attend to our house? And will he not presently, after giving us time enough to feel our security, blow the roof off our dwelling-place, and send upon us the storms of an angry heaven? This is the argument of this prophet this prophet who is supposed to have lost the prophetic fire.

“Now therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts; Consider your ways” ( Hag 1:5 ).

Set your heart upon your ways; go into a private position up the mountain, and take the case with you, and turn it over page by page, and let your heart read it. What is the case to which he calls their attention? It is a case that can be understood by all; these are the terms:

“Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put into a bag with holes” ( Hag 1:6 ).

How is this? What fools you are! Here you have a process going on under your very eyes: you ought to look into it, and inquire about it, and settle the moral principles of the case: how is it? This might be a report of our own life to-day. We sow much, we take out whole bags filled with seed, and throw the seed right and left, from morning till night, and lo, in the harvest what is there but disappointment? Men should ask themselves questions about these things. Of course, there is a high and haughty and noble science that says, These things have nothing whatever to do with Providence. Who says so? Who are these men that talk thus? What have they done for the world? Where are their sacrifices, where are their heroisms, where are their convictions? Where are those elements of life that can compare for one moment with the heroic history of a man like the Apostle Paul? You cannot at the same time have the Bible and deny it Christians, make your minds upon this point. If you could get rid of the Bible you would have a much freer hand in all controversies it is the Bible that binds you. For God’s sake do not wriggle out of it: shut it up and throw it into the river, then we can understand your action; but do not propose to yourselves both to have the Bible and to disbelieve it; to honour it, and disobey it; and do not pretend to get over the rugged, hard parts evasively, shirkingly: face these parts, for in them is the very test of discipline. The Bible contends that the actions of men are followed by consequences; and it does not scruple to lay down the solemn doctrine that if we dishonour God he will make us feel the result of that dishonour. We cannot scorn his spirit, and steal his harvests. Ye cannot serve God and Mammon. Notwithstanding incidental circumstances that appear to go against this doctrine, this is the teaching of God regarding the great trend of history, regarding the marvellous development and purpose of providence. Thus God calls our attention to physical circumstances, that we may awaken our minds to moral considerations.

“Ye have sown much, and bring in little” ( Hag 1:6 ).

What is the meaning of that empty hand? What? “Ye eat, but ye have not enough.” How comes it that what you eat goes to nothingness, instead of repeating itself in purer blood, firmer flesh, and thus rising up and flaming into poetry, and thought, and philosophy? How comes it that you stuff the skin that withers under the burden you impose upon it? Why? “Ye clothe you, but there is none warm.” Clothing cannot get near your skin; it is so stiff, so hard, it does but create passages for cruel draughts. How is this? You have weight, but no warmth; an abundance of things to cover you with, and yet the flesh shivers in the cold. All the Lord asks of us is to think about it, consider it, test this matter in regard to conscience and behaviour. Yet this is the prophet who was supposed to have lost the prophetic fire!

What will the Lord have done? He will create a space for repentance:

“Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house” ( Hag 1:8 ).

Get the work done, then the blessing will come. There are some of us who want the blessing without the work, and we cannot have it. You cannot have the harvest without having first the seedtime, and that seedtime may be very cold and harsh, and you may have to face many a morning that is all keenness and coldness. But there is a law a law of service, a law of action, a law of sequence. The Lord will not allow us to live an irregular life, inventing philosophies for ourselves; we may blow bubbles from the pipe of invention from morning until night, but the earth will not allow one of these bubbles, sun-gilded and beautiful for a moment, to influence its solemn, regular, inexorable, and irresistible action. You must sow the seed when the earth tells you, when the sun tells you; not when you please, but when Nature says, “Now is the accepted time.” And shall we be barriered and caged by law in all these matters, and yet be allowed to lead a fool’s life in relation to things that lay hold upon eternity, and are of the nature of the quality of God?

What will the Lord do when we build the house?

“I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith the Lord. Ye looked for much, and, lo, it came to little; and when ye brought it home, I did blow upon it [Literally: I did blow it away.] Why? saith the Lord of hosts. Because of mine house that is waste” ( Hag 1:8-9 ).

“Them that honour me I will honour, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed.” The Saviour said, “Wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s house?” In the Authorised Version it is, “about my Father’s business”; but literally it should be, “about my Father’s house.” There must be some test of obedience, some test of loyalty, and worship, and character; and if the Lord has appointed this test, it is not for us to vary the scale by which our moral action shall be measured, or the standard by which our moral work shall be estimated. Why was the heaven stayed from, and the earth stayed from her fruit? Why was there a drought upon the mountains, and upon the corn, and upon the new wine, and upon the oil, and upon that which the earth bringeth forth, and upon men, and upon cattle, and upon all the labour of the hands? Why? The answer is given in plain words: “Because of mine house that is waste.” There are those who tell us that potato disease, cattle plague, bad harvest, all natural disappointments have nothing to do with moral spirit, moral discipline, moral behaviour; the only thing we can reply is this, that we have given ourselves a book called the Bible, which distinctly declares the contrary, and we cannot keep both the book and the doctrine that opposes it. Without saying which is right, here is the eternal verity; ye cannot have a Bible and no Bible, a God and no God, a Cross and no sacrifice.

Note

“In his first message to the people the prophet denounced the listlessness of the Jews, who dwelt in their ‘panelled houses,’ while the temple of the Lord was roofless and desolate. The displeasure of God was manifest in the failure of all their efforts for their own gratification. The heavens were ‘stayed from dew,’ and the earth was ‘stayed from her fruit.’ They had neglected that which should have been their first care, and reaped the due wages of their selfishness (i. 4-11). The words of the prophet sank deep into the hearts of the people and their leaders. They acknowledged the voice of God speaking by his servant, and obeyed the command. Their obedience was rewarded with the assurance of God’s presence (i. 13), and twenty-four days after the building was resumed. A month had scarcely elapsed when the work seems to have slackened, and the enthusiasm of the people abated. The prophet, ever ready to rekindle their zeal, encouraged the flagging spirits of the chiefs with the renewed assurance of God’s presence, and the fresh promise that, stately and magnificent as was the temple of their wisest king, the glory of the latter house should be greater than the glory of the former (ii. 3-91). Yet the people were still inactive, and two months afterwards we find him again censuring their sluggishness, which rendered worthless all their ceremonial observances. But the rebuke was accompanied by a repetition of the promise (ii. 10-19).” Smith’s Dictionary of the Bible.

Prayer

Almighty God, as thou hast made us to pray, so do thou teach us how to pray. We know not how to pray as we ought, but thou wilt teach us, if we bring before thee a meek and obedient heart, a waiting and expectant spirit. We know not what we need; we feel our hunger, but we cannot put it into words: answer thou the hunger that is felt, and not the words that are uttered. We need thy presence every moment, for thou art the Light; we need to feel thee near, for thou art the soul’s security; we need to feel the touch of thine hand, for in the hand of the Lord is almightiness and all gentleness. Thou knowest the littleness of our life, yet thou canst fill it with sunlight; thou knowest how poor are our faculties in their outlines and beginnings; yet thou canst employ them all in useful and holy service. We, therefore, put ourselves into thine hands, O Lord, Maker, Redeemer, Sanctifier of us all. We come to the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost, whom we adore as one God. Help us to live and move and have our being in that ineffable unity. May all our thoughts be elevated; may our expectations be fixed in the heavens; may we have a holy discontent with everything that is on the earth and that is therefore perishable; may we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen, for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. Thou hast made us for eternity. Thou hast set within us a great light, thou hast called us by name into all these relations of grace: may we accept the call of God, may we rise in loving and loyal obedience to our Father’s voice, and do all the law, and remember all the statutes gratefully and lovingly, and may we obey because of the inspiration of the Cross. For the Cross we bless thee, as for all gifts in one. It is a holy Cross; it is the way to pardon, to purity, to peace; it is the creation of God, and the crown of God’s creation. We bow down before it, we have no other plea; we rest in the Son of God. Amen,

Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker

XXVI

AN INTRODUCTION TO THE POSTEXILIAN PROPHETS AND AN INTERPRETATION OF HAGGAI

Haggai

We now take up the prophets of the last period of Israel’s history as found in the Old Testament, the period after the return from exile, the restoration, and of the many books on this period, we name the “Bible Atlas,” by J. H. Huribut, the “Pulpit Commentary,” and The Minor Prophets by Pusey.

There were three prophets after the Restoration: Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. The last pre-exilian prophet was Habakkuk, about ninety years before the postexilian prophets come on the scene, but in the meantime there were three exilian prophets, viz: Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel.

To understand these prophets we must first of all look at the historical situation, as follows: The kingdom of Israel was now under Persian rule. That rule lasted from about 538-332 B.C. It began when Cyrus captured the city of Babylon and thus became master of all western Asia. It ended when Alexander the Great crossed the Hellespont, defeated the Persian king, and thus put an end to the great Persian Empire, and spread Greek civilization throughout all western Asia. During that period of a little over two hundred years, the Israelites were in subjection to the kingdom of Persia and were a vassal state. Doubtless all that time they paid an annual tribute to their overlord. They never enjoyed national freedom until the time of the Maccabees. It was 537 or 536 B.C. when Cyrus, after his great conquest north and west of Babylonia, marched upon that city which had been for half a century the center of the world. All nations had bowed to Babylonia during the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, and for a short period following the succession of his son, Merodach, Cyrus, one of the greatest and most remarkable conquerors of all history, advanced upon the city, and according to his own inscription on a cylinder which has been discovered, the city opened its gates and surrendered itself to him while King Nabonidus fled. We have also an inscription which has been recorded by Nabonidus himself, telling us the same story: that Cyrus captured Babylonia without striking a blow. They opened the gates to him.

In about 536 B.C. Cyrus issued his decree that the Israelites who were in Babylonia might return to their native land and rebuild their Temple. He may have been moved or actuated by humane motives, for he was one of the most humane of all monarchs of Oriental and ancient history. He thus allowed any of those Israelites who longed to return to have their desires fulfilled. Whatever motive actuated him, he gave the decree which is recorded in Ezr 1 .

The decree permitted all the Jews who wished to return, compelling none whatever to go contrary to their wishes, granting them the privilege of taking all of their property with them, asking that gifts might be given by their friends, and Cyrus sent back all the vessels of the Temple, which Nebuchadnezzar carried away. The decree granted them the privilege of returning to rebuild their Temple. This was their chief purpose.

That return occurred somewhere about 536 B.C. Their Journey lasted several months. It was a large company, fifty thousand or more, with a great deal of wealth, and doubtless Was in many respects a very joyous return. This is the fulfilment of the great prophesies of Amos, Hosea, Micah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel.

We can imagine something of the joy and gladness of the nation. But when they arrived home, they found that all those glowing prophecies were yet to be fulfilled, regarding the land, the city, and the Temple, for Jerusalem was a heap of ruins; the city was as it was when Nebuchadnezzar’s soldiers destroyed and burned it. The land was largely depopulated and almost barren and their sacred Temple with all its magnificence, which had stood for about four centuries, was left with scarcely one stone upon another. They were to begin anew the civilization of the land, to begin at the very bottom, the very foundation of a new national life and existence. But they had one great advantage, they had all the traditions and laws and prophecies of the past. They had a marvelous inspiration in those prophetic writings.

Their first aim was to build an altar on the site of the old altar built by Solomon, and there offer up their sacrifices and observe the Feast of Tabernacles. They began to lay the foundation of the Temple very soon afterward, and we saw something of the strange scene that occurred as they laid that foundation, how the old men wept aloud and the young men shouted for joy, the voice of shouting and the voice of weeping were heard afar off.

But trouble very soon arises. The Samaritans from the north, the mixed race of people that had been deported by Sargon and Shalmaneser, wanted to become Jews to help in building the Temple, wanted to mix with this colony and be one with them. They met with a curt refusal; a refusal, justified by Jeremiah and Ezekiel; it would have meant the ruin and the collapse of the national life if they allowed this strange blood and this strangely mixed religion to be mingled with their own. Their very existence depended upon their separateness. As the result of their refusal, they incurred the lasting enmity of the Samaritan peoples. We call them Samaritans, but strictly speaking they were not really Samaritans at this time, because they had not received that name with all its implications. That enmity lasted all through the period of reconstruction, and it is not dead yet. It will not die until the last Samaritan is dead.

They succeeded in stopping the work of rebuilding the walls of the Temple, and from what Haggai says, it seems that they succeeded in stopping that building by preventing them from bringing up the timbers from Joppa. Cyrus’ decree permitted them to get the timbers necessary to the rebuilding of the Temple from the mountains of Lebanon, and they had to be brought by raft to Joppa and thence to Jerusalem, and it seems quite probable that the Samaritans succeeded in stopping them from bringing up that timber and hence they could not go on with the building of the Temple.

Sixteen years passed, and nothing more was done toward the rebuilding of that sacred structure, but during that time they were not idle; being defeated in their purpose of building the Temple they set to work to organize the community. They probably restored a great many of the houses in Jerusalem, and many of the houses and villages in Judah; they erected houses of their own, they laid the foundations for a new community. Some of them were not only building themselves houses, but ceiling them with beautiful cedar with carvings. They were beginning to gather some luxuries around them, and they seemed to be largely satisfied with the altar upon which they could sacrifice, and with their progress in reshaping and establishing the new community, and they settled down apparently to take it easy. The difficulties had evidently frightened them out of all thought of going on with the work; they were occupied with their own affairs, rather than with the affairs of the Temple.

In about 529 B.C. Cyrus, being killed in battle, was succeed-ed by his son, Cambyses, who invaded Western Asia as far as Egypt and doubtless Israel felt some effect of that invasion. Cambyses committed suicide and was succeeded by a usurper who in turn was killed by the nobles who conspired against him, the chief of whom was Darius, who succeeded this usurper on the throne of the Persian Empire about 521 B.C. He was a man of noble character, though not as humane and successful as Cyrus the Great, yet he was one of the greatest men of his age. As soon as Be came to the throne, the world which then constituted the Persian Empire, was convulsed with revolts and insurrections and rebellions, in attempts to throw off the yoke of Persia. Darius was engaged for four years in quelling these revolts, and finally succeeded in subjugating them and reducing his empire to order. It was during that time, when Darius was busy quelling these revolts which threatened to dissolve and destroy the Persian Empire, that this prophecy was spoken.

We take up these prophets in order. Haggai was the first. The name is derived from the Hebrew word which means “a feast,” or belonging to a feast. It is a peculiar name, occurring nowhere else. It is altogether likely that he was an exile who returned with the company. Whether he was an old man or not we cannot say. Some say that he was one of those who had been deported, had lived fifty years in exile in Babylon and returned with the first company. The problem before Haggai was to arouse the people to build the Temple. They need a temple as the center of their national and religious life. Because of the difficulties that had come through the Samaritans, and because of the intrigues against them at the royal court of Persia, the people had ceased to work at the building. They reached the conclusion that the time had not yet come, saying, “We can get along without it. We have lived during the exile without it, and fifteen years after we reached our land we did without it, and we can manage to get along. As long as these difficulties are in the way we will not trouble ourselves about building the temple.” At this juncture two prophets appear on the horizon, Haggai, who comes first, then Zechariah. About the year 520 B.C. Haggai preaches his first sermon. It is a plain, simple, direct address to the hearts of his hearers.

A fine outline of Haggai is the following:

HAGGAI THE DUTY OF COURAGE I. First Address, Hag 1:1-15 , year of Darius, Haggai 2-6-1.

II. Second Address, Hag 2:1-9 , year of Darius, Haggai 2-7-21.

III. Third Address, Hag 2:10-19 , year of Darius, Haggai 2-9-24.

IV. Fourth Address Haggai 2-20-23 year of Darius. Haggai 2-9-24.

His first prophecy was a call to build the Temple, Hag 1 . The first verses give us the exact date: In the second year of Darius the king, 520 B.C., in the sixth month, corresponding to our September, the first day of the month, came the word of Jehovah by Haggai the prophet unto Zerubbabel the governor and Joshua the son of Jehozadak the high priest. He speaks to the leaders. There is no mention of his preaching to the people, yet no doubt there were many exiles present, but he is speaking specifically to the leaders. Notice, it is the first day of the month when they were celebrating the Feast of the New Moon, which feast was observed at the beginning of each month in the year. There was, probably, an assembly in Jerusalem, and on that occasion Haggai received his first message and appeared before them.

His first remarks are a reply to the people’s excuse. The second verse tells us: “Thus speaketh Jehovah of hosts, saying, This people say, The time is not come, the time that the Lord’s house shall be built.” The margin puts it better, “The time is not come for Jehovah’s house to be built.” In answer to that excuse the word of Jehovah comes to Haggai the prophet and he put the question: “Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your ceiled houses, and this house lie waste? Now, therefore, thus saith the Lord of Hosts, Consider your ways.” Then he portrays their condition and gives the cause of it: They had sown much and brought in little; had eaten but they had not enough; they drank, but were not filled; they were clothed, but were not warm; they earned wages, but put it into a bag with holes. Why all this dissatisfaction? Why were things not going right? They were attending to their own houses and their own affairs, and not Jehovah’s. Instead of these things creating this excuse for them, they gave the very reason why they should exert themselves for God’s cause. “Thus saith Jehovah, Consider your ways.”

Then he gives a call to the people to build the Temple (Hag 1:7-11 ). Haggai here tells them exactly what they ought to do: “Go up to the mountain [hill-country] and bring wood, and build the house.” What hill country does he refer to? Some think he refers simply to the hill country of Judah, but it evidently means the hill country of Lebanon, where the great timbers were secured that were used to build Solomon’s Temple, and where they went to secure the timber to build the Temple. They have all the stone necessary; there were plenty of stones round about Jerusalem to build the Temple. “I will take pleasure in it, saith Jehovah.” He took pleasure in the house of Solomon, came and filled it with his presence when Solomon dedicated it, and promises now if they will build the house, he will take pleasure in it, and he will be glorified just as he was glorified when Solomon’s Temple was built.

He continues his admonition in Hag 1:9 : “Ye looked for much, and lo, it came to little [referring to the crops and products of their vineyards]; and when ye brought it home, I did blow upon it.” The margin says, “I did blow it away.” In some way it was wasted and they did not derive the benefit. Why this drought? “Because of my house that lieth waste, while ye run every man unto his own house. . . . For your sake the heavens withhold the dew, and the earth withholdeth fruit. And I called for a drought upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the grain, and upon the new wine, and upon the oil, and upon that which the ground bringeth forth, and upon the men, and upon cattle, and upon all the labor of the hands.” That was the cause of the drought. People now explain it by various natural causes; the weather bureau and the weather prophets have a theory. But Haggai says, “It is because of your neglect of God’s house; ye have been attending to your own affairs.” I would rather trust the insight of God’s prophet than the weather prophet.

The effect of this appeal was good. They hearkened to Haggai the prophet, both Zerubbabel and Joshua and all the remnant of the people with them, and they obeyed the voice of Jehovah their God and all the words of Haggai the prophet, and the people did fear before Jehovah. Haggai calls himself the Lord’s messenger and when he came unto the people he brought this great encouraging word (Hag 1:13 ): “I am with you, saith Jehovah.” As one great man has said, “The best of all is, God is with us.” And this is the gracious promise of Haggai to the people. As a result Jehovah stirred up the spirit of the leaders and the remnant of the people, and they came, and did work on the house of Jehovah, and they began to work exactly twenty-three days after Haggai preached to them his first sermon. The date of this sermon is “the four and twentieth day of the sixth month, in the second year of Darius the king.”

We have the second prophecy of Haggai in 2:1-9, the subject of which is “The Glory of the New Temple.” The exact date of this is given also, the twenty-first day of the seventh month. This was preached to the leaders and the people, and to meet an occasion which frequently comes in connection with building a new house, especially when the old one has been a magnificent structure, and when the people are not able to build one fully as large and magnificent. The people had begun to lay the foundation, and this afforded opportunity for comparisons to be made. There were some people there who remembered the old Temple, and they thought about the good old times and the good old building that they had before, and they began to make comparisons, and any man who has helped to erect a church knows the danger of discussion when a church building goes up.

Haggai directs himself to the occasion: “Who is left among you that saw this house in its former glory? and how do ye see it now? is it not in your eyes as nothing?” Here is the criticism. But the prophet says, “Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, saith Jehovah; and be strong, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest; and be strong, all ye people of the land, saith Jehovah, and work; for I am with you, saith Jehovah of hosts.” Now the prophet gives a great promise. He said that the time would come when this Temple would be glorified beyond that of Solomon’s Temple for, “Yet once, it is 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 desirable things of all nations shall come; and I will fill this house with glory, saith Jehovah of hosts.” The explanation is found in Hag 2:8 : “The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith Jehovah of hosts; and in this place will I give peace, saith the Lord of hosts. The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, saith the Lord of hosts; and in this place will I give peace.” A great promise, a great inspiration! No wonder that Zerubbabel and Joshua went to work with, greater zeal, largely as a result of Haggai’s prophesying.

The third prophecy of Haggai is in Hag 2:10-19 , the burden of which is the cause of their calamities and the promise of blessing. This occurred in the ninth month, just two months after the previous one and on the fourth and twentieth day of the month. Haggai comes forward with a new and fresh argument to incite them to activity. He raises a question here and it is a question as to the relative infectiousness of evil or of good: “Ask now the priests concerning the law saying, 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 food, shall it become holy? And the priests answered and said, No. Then said Haggai, If one that is unclean by reason of a dead body touch any of these, shall it be unclean? And the priests answered and said, It shall be unclean.” The question is based on the ceremonial law and customs. It is like this: A holy garment touching a piece of furniture will not make that holy, but an unclean garment touching anything will make it unclean. In other words, evil is more infectious than good.

Now what does Haggai mean? Is he simply playing with words? No, he is illustrating a great principle here. People are affected by evil much more readily than by good. This principle Haggai applies to these people. They had been in touch with things unclean; had been without their Temple; had been in the condition of pollution without their sacrifices. It is summed up in Hag 2:14 : “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.” In other words, their acceptance before God did not depend upon their place in the Holy Land, but upon their actual state of holiness before him. Then he goes on to discuss his dealings with them and the result upon their economic and religious life which had been very unsatisfactory. They had been under a curse, but they are on the threshold of a great blessing (Hag 2:15-19 ).

The fourth prophecy is found in Hag 2:20-23 , the burden of which is the restoration and the establishment of the throne of David through Zerubbabel. This is the same day on which the third one was given. This is addressed directly to Zerubbabel, the governor, the descendant of the line of David, the true, lawful heir to the throne. It is a gracious promise bringing before Zerubbabel something of the glories predicted by Jeremiah and Ezekiel, when they spoke about the prince of the house of David that should sit upon the throne forever. He encourages Zerubbabel and says, “I will shake the heavens and the earth: and I will overthrow the throne of the 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.”

The background of this prophecy is those insurrections which convulsed all the world at the succession of Darius, and which it took him four years to quell. Hag 2:23 says, “In that day, saith Jehovah of hosts, will I take thee, O Zerubbabel, my servant, the son of Shealtiel, saith Jehovah, and I will make thee as a signet,” which means that he will be God’s lawful representative, and God will delegate to him rulership, kingship and authority. The signet ring represented several things, viz: an irrevocable testimony, a delegate power, as God delegated his power to Zerubbabel. God delegated royal and divine authority to Zerubbabel, the legal heir of the throne of Israel. There was here a great promise of peace.

The fulfilment of this prophecy of Haggai did not take place fully in his day. The Persian Empire was re-established and the Jews, for over four hundred years, remained a little, obscure nation; a great conflict took place between Persia and Greece, when the battle of Marathon, Thermopylae, Salamis, and others were fought. But Haggai’s prophecy revived the old hope of the messianic age in Israel, and started Judaism with that hope burning strong in their breasts. These prophecies were fulfilled at the coming of the Messiah, and the establishment of his reign.

There are two distinctive messianic prophecies in this book, viz: (1) The greater glory to the temple, Hag 2:6-9 ; (2) David’s throne through Zerubbabel, as a representative of David, Hag 2:21-23 . There is also one quotation from the book in the New Testament, viz: Heb 12:26 is a quotation of Hag 2:6 , and is there applied to the final shaking of all material things. Star-ting with Sinai, we have a perspective of prophecy, the shaking of Sinai forecasting God’s shaking in Zerubbabel’s day, the shaking in Zerubbabel’s day forecasting Christ’s day and that in turn forecasting the shaking at Christ’s second advent.

There are three great lessons of the book: (1) The influence of God’s preachers in forward kingdom movements, as great things in God’s kingdom have always been accomplished by the instrumentality of great leaders; (2) The importance of God’s work is paramount to everything else, which is illustrated in the saying of our Lord, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things (food, clothes, houses, etc.) shall be added unto you.” (3) the necessity of a vision. They saw through the prophet’s pictures, the future glory of Israel and were stimulated to activity commensurate with the task in hand.

QUESTIONS

1. Who were the postexile prophets?

2. Who was the last pre-exile prophet, how long after he prophesied before these prophets came on the scene, and what prophets came in during the exilian period?

3. What was the historical situation in the time of these postexile prophets?

4. Who was Haggai, what was his problems and what, in general, the date of his prophecies?

5. What was the general character of his prophecies?

6. Give an outline of Haggai showing the addresses and the date of each.

7. To whom was his first address directed primarily?

8. What excuse had the people offered for their failure, what was the meaning of it, and what was this prophet’s reply?

9. What condition does he describe to them and what reason does he assign for such condition?

10. What call does he then give to the people and what incentive does he hold out to them to go forward?

11. What was the response to this appeal and what the result?

12. What was the subject of his second address and to whom was it addressed?

13. What contrast does the prophet here make, what the occasion for it, what promise did he then give respecting the Temple and what the fulfilment of it?

14. What was the burden of the third address, what analogy does he draw from the Law and what was his great lesson for the people?

15. What punishment cited and what blessing now promised?

16. What was the burden of the fourth address, what was the glorious promise here and what was its fulfilment?

17. What two distinctively messianic prophecies in this book?

18. What quotations from this book in the New Testament and what is its application there?

19. What are the great lessons of this book?

Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible

Hag 1:1 In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, in the first day of the month, came the word of the LORD by Haggai the prophet unto Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, saying,

Ver. 1. In the second year of Darius the king ] Not of Darius the Mede, as Genebrard noteth, for he was predecessor to Cyrus, Dan 5:31 , and Haggai prophesied after Cyrus and Cambyses, Ezr 4:5 ; Ezr 5:1 , neither of Darius Nothus, as Scaliger in his book, De Emend. Temporum (the doctrine whereof is almost wholly fictitious, saith one, and founded upon the confines of nothing); but of Darius son of Hystaspes, who succeeded Cambyses in the kingdom of Persia; being chosen king by the peers, upon the neighing of his horse first, as Herodotus testifieth. Whether this Darius was the husband of Queen Esther, as some affirm, or her son, as others (and was therefore so favourable to the Jews), I undertake not to determine; only take notice, that by heathen historians it is said, that the wife of this Darius was called Atossa, which sounds in part somewhat like Hadassah, that is, Esther, Est 2:7 . Hadassah was her own Hebrew name; and after she was made queen she was called Esther. He is called Darius the king, as if he were the only king on earth. His successor, Darius, in his proud embassy to Alexander, called himself the king of kings and cousin of the gods; and for Alexander, he called him his servant; but Alexander soon after became his lord: for the kingdom of Persia was lost by that Darius, as it had been restored by this to its former splendour, after the havoc made by Cambyses ( D ); who among other vile acts of his (as “wickedness proceedeth from the wicked, according to the proverb of the ancients,” 1Sa 24:18 ), forbade the building of the temple, Ezr 4:22 . But he who sets up princes at his pleasure, and turns their hearts whithersoever he will, Pro 21:1 (as the ploughman doth the watercourse with his paddle, or the gardener with his hand), turned here the heart of this great king to his people the Jews; so that he made a new decree for the advancement of the building, Ezr 5:8 . God also seasonably stirred up Haggai and Zechariah to quicken the people (who were soon after their return from Babylon grown cold again and careless), and so blessed their ministry, that the house, that is, the sanctuary, and the holy of holies, was finished in four years’ time, or thereabouts, Ezr 6:14 . The outward court, and so the whole temple, in three years after that, as Josephus witnesseth.

In the sixth month ] In the 3484th year of the world, as Ussher computeth it, on the first of September, confer Hag 2:19 when the Jews were ingathering their harvest and fruits, and found a dearth toward. This the prophet makes use of, pressing it upon the people as a just hand of God upon them, for slighting and slacking the rebuilding of his house. It is good for God’s ministers to set in with him, to strike while the iron is hot, to cry, “Hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it,” Mic 6:9 ; for as iron is very soft and malleable while in the fire; and as molten metals are fit for the mould; so when men are under the cross they are more easily wrought upon; they will hearken to instruction, that before laughed at it, as the wild ass doth at the horse and his rider, Job 39:18 . The wild ass, that is used to the wilderness, though she kick up her heels, and snuff up the wind at her pleasure, so that they that seek her will not weary themselves, yet there is a time when she may be taken; in her month they shall find her, Jer 2:24 .

In the first day of the month ] Heb. In one day. One for first is ordinary in both Testaments, Gen 1:5 ; Num 29:1 ; Dan 9:1 ; Mat 28:1 ; Joh 20:1 ; 1Co 16:2 . The time of this prophecy (as of others, Isa 1:1 Jer 1:2-3 , &c.) is precisely noted, to teach us what account we should make of God’s oracles and inspirations; and how God will one day reckon with us for the helps we have had and the time we have enjoyed them. He sets down all: how much more should we, and live up to our means and mercies, propagating our thankfulness into our practice! Jeremiah prophesied forty years, but with ill success; it was his unhappiness to be physician to a dying state, Tunc etiam, docta plus valet arte malum. The Holy Ghost sets a special mark upon these forty years of his prophesying, Eze 4:6 , by bidding the prophet lie forty days upon his right side, and bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days, a day for a year.

Came the word of the Lord ] i.e. He began to prophesy, as Ezr 5:1 , being sent and set to work by God, whose alone it is to make fit ministers of either Testaments, 2Co 3:5 , to send, gift, and bless them, Jer 23:21 . Prophetarum ora sunt Dei os The mouths of the prophets are the mouth of God. (Chrysost.).

By Haggai the prophet ] Heb. by the hand of Haggai, that is, by his means and ministry. See Trapp on “ Mal 1:1 “ Haggai signifieth merry and pleasant ( Festivus et laetus ), as at a solemn feast; which name of his excellence suited both with the time of his prophecy, viz. after the return from captivity, see Psa 126:1-2 , and also with the matter whereof he treats and whereto he drives, Christ, the Desire of all nations, Hag 2:7 Wilt thou be merry at any time? saith Seneca, think on Caesar: canst thou be sad and he be in health? How much more cause have we to be merry in the Lord Christ! Let us keep the feast with all solemnity; let us keep holy day ( ), since Christ our passover is sacrificed for us, 1Co 5:7-8 . Let this swallow up all our discontents, and crown the calendar of our lives with continual festivals; let the ransomed of the Lord return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads, &c., Isa 35:10 . The Septuagint ascribe certain of the Psalms to Haggai and Zechariah, in the titles they prefix; though some think that the Hallelujah Psalms (as they are called, because they begin and end with Hallelujah, or, Praise ye the Lord) were sung by the Jews, returning out of Babylon; those two prophets beginning the tune, or giving the verse (as they call it). And hereunto the prophet Jeremiah might have an eye, Jer 31:12 “Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow together, to the goodness of the Lord,” &c.

Unto Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel ] Philo saith he was also called Barachias; others Pedaiah, out of 1Ch 3:19 . He is called Sheshbazzar, Ezr 1:8 . His name, Zerubbabel, signifieth either, Born in Babel, or, Far from confusion. A prince (of all men) should observe order, and keep the peace. By the laws of England a nobleman cannot be bound to the peace; because it is supposed that the peace is always bound to him, and that of his own accord he will be careful to keep others in good order. But what a regnum Cyclopicum was at Rome in Nero’s days, Quando poterat quisque ea quam cuperet potiri, negare licebat nemini? Turn servus cum Domina, praesente Domino suo, et gladiator cum virgine nobili inspectante patre rem habuit (Dio in Vit. Neron). Blessed be God for better times.

Governor of Judah ] Or duke, captain, provincial, president. The many headed multitude hath need of a guide, who may be , peaceable and prudent (saith Plato), to keep and care for the welfare of his subjects. Such a one was Zerubbabel, Nobilis genere, nobilior sanctitate, Noble by birth, but more noble by his piety; drained from the dregs and sifted from the brans of the baser sort of people. In the seventeenth year of his age he led back part of the people from Babylon to Jerusalem, where he continued governor for the time of 58 years, saith Gryaenus. Those that make Darius in the text to be Darius Nothus must needs allow him a much longer life and government; which God, say they, granteth to some because he hath something to be done by them. The change of states may here also be remarked. This people was first governed by judges, or captains; then by kings, and now by captains again. So the principality of Edom, as it began with dukes, and rose to kings, so it returned to dukes again, after the death of Hadad, in Moses’ time, 1Ch 1:51 Gen 36:43 . Adeo nihil est in vita firmum aut stabile ( ). Truly, nothing in life is fixed and secure. So uncertain are all things.

And to Joshua the son of Josedech ] A brand plucked out of the fire, Zec 3:2 , and therefore the fitter for such a preferment, ut in alto positus non altum sapiat (Bernard). David came not to the kingdom till his soul was even as a weaned child, Psa 131:2 . Queen Elizabeth swam to her crown through a sea of sorrows. Matthias, King of Hungary, was taken from the prison to the throne. But to the business: Joshua, the high priest, was a type of Christ in regard, 1. Of his name, which signifieth a Saviour. 2. Of his office of high priesthood. 3. Of his partnership with Zerubbabel, in bringing the people home to their own country. The Lord Christ is both our Prince of life and our merciful and faithful High Priest, ever living to make request for us, Act 2:15 ; Heb 4:14-16 ; Heb 7:24-28

The high priest, saying ] Zerubbabel and Jehoshua were the chieftains of the people; and though not themselves in fault, or, at least, nothing so much (for they were both very religious), yet they were not so forward and forth putting as they should have been in so excellent a work. Howsoever, if the task be not done, the taskmasters are beaten, Exo 5:14 . It is the misery of those that are trusted with authority that their inferiors’ faults are beaten upon their backs. If the people gather manna on the Lord’s sabbath Moses and Aaron shall hear, “How long refuse ye to keep. my commandments?”Exo 16:28Exo 16:28 . It is Mr Calvin’s opinion that Haggai, therefore, addressed himself to these two principal persons; to the end that they might join their forces with him, in reprehending and exciting the people to the Lord’s work. When the word and the sword go together there is great likelihood of much good to be done. Upon the sword of Charles the Great was written Utriusque tabulae custos. Guard of both tables of the law. And Queen Elizabeth riding progress once in Suffolk, said, that now she saw the reason why that county was so well governed, for she observed that all the justices coming to meet her had every one his minister next to his person.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Hag 1:1-6

1In the second year of Darius the king, on the first day of the sixth month, the word of the LORD came by the prophet Haggai to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, saying, 2Thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘This people says, The time has not come, even the time for the house of the LORD to be rebuilt.’ 3Then the word of the LORD came by Haggai the prophet, saying, 4Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses while this house lies desolate? 5Now therefore, thus says the LORD of hosts, Consider your ways! 6You have sown much, but harvest little; you eat, but there is not enough to be satisfied; you drink, but there is not enough to become drunk; you put on clothing, but no one is warm enough; and he who earns, earns wages to put into a purse with holes.

Hag 1:1 In the second year of Darius the king Darius I Hystaspes claimed the throne of Persia after the suicide of Cambyses II, the son of Cyrus II (522 B.C.). Cambyses killed himself because of the revolt of an imposter from Egypt (Gaumata). Darius, the son of Cambyses’ general, was with the army when this occurred. He reigned from 522-486 B.C. From all documents we learn that he was friendly to the Jews and an effective ruler. The second year is assumed by most modern scholars to be 520 B.C. See Brief Historical Survey of the Powers of Mesopotamia .

on the first day of the sixth month Haggai is very specific in his dating of his four separate prophecies. It is interesting to note that this first prophecy occurred on the festival of a new moon (cf. Num 10:10; Num 28:11-15; 1Sa 20:5; 2Ki 4:23; Ezr 3:5; Isa 1:13-14; Eze 46:1; Eze 46:3; Eze 46:6; Hos. 1:13; Amo 8:5; Col 2:16). See Special Topics below.

SPECIAL TOPIC: THE FEASTS OF ISRAEL

SPECIAL TOPIC: Ancient near Eastern Calendars

prophet See Special Topic: Prophecy (OT) .

Haggai See Introduction, Authorship.

Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel Zerubbabel is a Babylonian name which means born in Babylon (BDB 279). He is called the son of Shealtiel in Ezra and Nehemiah and in Mat 1:12 and Luk 3:27. However, in 1Ch 3:19 his father is listed as Shealtiel’s brother. This can possibly be explained by adoption or Levirite marriage. Zerubbabel was in the line of David. Historical evidence seems to imply that he was the nephew of Sheshbazzar (see fuller notes at Ezr 1:8; Ezr 5:14-16). Both were of the royal line of David (cf. 2 Kings 24, grandson of Jehoiachin).

governor of Judah This term (BDB 808, cf. Mal 1:8; Nah 2:7; Nah 2:9) seems to mean a ruler of one of the many provinces of the satrap or district called the province beyond the river.

Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest Joshua was the grandson of Seraiah, the high priest who was killed when Jerusalem fell in 586 B.C. (cf. 2Ki 25:10-21; 1Ch 6:14). He was of the family of Zadok, the family of priests which David put in authority in the Temple. The name Joshua is the same Hebrew word as Jesus, which means YHWH saves or Salvation is from YHWH (BDB 221).

saying Since Haggai consists in a series of sermons this VERB (BDB 55, KB 65) appears often in the book:

1. Qal INFINITIVE CONSTRUCT, Hag 1:1-3; Hag 1:13; Hag 2:1-2; Hag 2:10; Hag 2:21

2. Qal PERFECT, Hag 1:1-2; Hag 1:7; Hag 2:6-7; Hag 2:9; Hag 2:11

3. Qal IMPERFECT, Hag 1:13; Hag 2:12-13(twice),14

4. Qal IMPERATIVE, Hag 2:2; Hag 2:21

Speaking was the mechanism of creation (cf. Genesis 1). Speaking is part of the image of God (cf. Gen 1:26-27). It forms the basis for interpersonal relationships. YHWH is not like the lifeless idols that do not speak. He is the God of revelation. He seeks fellowship. He desires communication, which is always a two-way street. He initiates and expects an appropriate response!

Hag 1:2

NASB, NKJV,

NRSVthe LORD of hosts

TEV, NIVthe LORDAlmighty

NJBYahweh Sabaoth

NETThe sovereign LORD

This is a very common post-exilic title. It is used 285 times in all the prophets. It is used in this book in Hag 1:1; Hag 1:5; Hag 1:7; Hag 1:9; Hag 1:14; Hag 2:4-5; Hag 2:7-9; Hag 2:11; Hag 2:23. The term hosts reflects the military term that means captain of the armies of heaven (see Special Topic: Lord of Hosts ). It is a title which depicts YHWH in control of all history.

This people says This phrase is used in a derogatory sense in Isa 6:9-10; Isa 8:6; Isa 28:11; Isa 28:14. Here it reflects an excuse that the people were giving, either verbally or by their inactivity, for not rebuilding the Temple. There had been an 18-year lapse since the setting of the foundation by Sheshbazzar (cf. Ezr 5:16). The work continued under Zerubbabel (cf. Ezr 3:8-13), but for some reason, either political pressure from the surrounding nations or the apathy of the Jewish people, work on the Temple had come to a standstill.

Hag 1:4 Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses while this house lies desolate The VERB panel (BDB 706, KB 764, Qal PASSIVE PARTICIPLE) originally meant to overlay a wall with some type of material. Often it is used in the OT for the overlay of expensive material (cf. 1Ki 7:3; 1Ki 7:7; Jer 22:14). The implication is that they had built extravagant houses for themselves (i.e., personal prosperity) while the Lord’s house lay in ruins.

Hag 1:5 Consider your ways Literally this is put your heart on your roads (BDB 962, KB 1321, Qal IMPERATIVE, also in Hag 1:7; Hag 2:15; Hag 2:18). They were urged to check their personal and collective motives for the inactivity in rebuilding the national Temple.

Hag 1:6 Haggai asserts that the poor harvest was directly related to their lack of honoring YHWH in their failure to finish the Temple, which was the cultic center of the national life of the chosen people. YHWH’s covenant with Israel had both benefits and responsibilities (i.e., cursings and blessings, cf. Deuteronomy 27-29). This verse is a series of sharp contrasts (cf. NKJV) made up of eight INFINITIVES (two Hiphil INFINITIVES , three Qal INFINITIVE ABSOLUTES and three Qal INFINITIVE CONSTRUCTS).

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

In the second year. See note on p. 1276.

Darius = Darius (Hystaspis). See App-67; and notes on Ezra and Nehemiah.

the king. In Aramaic and later books these words follow the name. In the earlier O.T. books they nearly always precede it. Compare “king David”, “king Hezekiah”, &c.

sixth month. Elul, our August-September.

the first day, &c. Therefore the feast-day or Sabbath of the full moon.

the LORD. Hebrew. Jehovah. App-4.

by = by the hand of. The Hebrew idiom for God speaking “by the prophets”. Reference to Pentateuch, where the expression occurs thirteen times (Exo 9:35; Exo 35:29. Lev 8:36; Lev 10:11; Lev 26:46. Num 4:37, Num 4:45; Num 9:23; Num 10:13; Num 15:23; Num 16:40; Num 27:23; Num 36:13). Compare the five occurrences in Joshua (Hag 14:2; Hag 20:2; Hag 21:2, Hag 21:8; Hag 22:9). Jdg 3:4. 2Sa 12:25. 1Ki 8:53, 1Ki 8:56; 1Ki 12:15; 1Ki 14:18; 1Ki 15:29; 1Ki 16:7; 1Ki 17:16. 2Ki 14:25. 2Ch 10:15; 2Ch 23:18; 2Ch 29:25. Neh 9:14. Isa 20:2. Jer 37:2, &c.

Haggai. Hebrew. Haggai from Hag = feast, or festival.

Zerubbabel. Hebrew = sown in Babylon; because he was of the royal seed of Judah born (or seed sown) in Babylon. Compare 1Ch 3:19. Ezr 2:2; Ezr 3:2. See App-99.

son. Put by Figure of speech Synecdoche (of Genus), App-6, for grandson.

Shealtiel. Hebrew = asked for from God. The son of Jeconiah (= Jehoiachin), who was taken captive to Babylon (2Ki 24:15. 1Ch 3:17). Compare Ezr 3:2, Ezr 3:8; Ezr 5:2. Neh 12:1. Mat 1:12. Luk 3:27. See App-99.

governor. Ruling Judea as a Persian province, with a Persian title pechah, from which we have the modern pasha = prefect, or satrap.

Joshua. The first high priest after the return. See Hag 1:12, Hag 1:14; Hag 2:2, Hag 2:4. Zec 3:1, Zec 3:3, Zec 3:8, Zec 3:9; Zec 6:11. Spelled “Josuah” in the 1611 edition of the Authorized Version.

Josedech. Hebrew = Jehovah is righteous.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

Haggai

Then we go to Haggai who prophesied in the second year of Darius the king. This is not the Darius of Daniel’s fame who was the Persian general when Babylon fell, but this is a Darius who came along later in the year 520 B.C., and that’s about the time of Haggai’s prophecy. They feel that his prophecy covered a period of two months. Isn’t that interesting how that in two month’s time the fellow fulfilled God’s call upon his life? Esther fulfilled the call of God upon her life in two day’s time. Remember her uncle Mordecai said, “How do you know but what God has not brought you to the kingdom for such an hour as this? This is your moment, Esther. This is why you’ve been born. This is your purpose for life.” And it was all accomplished so quickly. Here’s Haggai a prophet, prophesying for a period of a couple of months.

Now as we get into Haggai, and Zechariah, and Malachi, shift gears. Historically, now we were just in Zephaniah and that was just before the fall in Babylon, to Babylon. He was predicting the judgment that God would bring upon him through Babylon and all. Then during the time that they were in the Babylonian captivity, Daniel and Ezekiel were prophesying to them. Now the Babylonian captivity is over.

Now a remnant have gone back to Jerusalem, and have started building the temple under the leadership of Zerubbabel and Joshua. But they are hassled by the Samaritans, the people who had inhabited the land during the seventy years that they were in captivity. The Samaritans first came and offered to help them. They said, “You’re a bunch of mongrels. We don’t want your help. We’re able to do it ourselves.” So then they began to send letters to the king of Persia, and they said, “You better check out these dudes. They’re rebellious, every, their whole history is that of rebellion. If they build a city, they’re already talking about rebelling against you once they get the walls up. You better stop their building.” So the king of Persia ordered a cease and desist order. “Stop the building.” Then through other communications they said, “Look, we have the permission of Cyrus. We’ve got the papers that have given us the permission to build. Check the records.” They checked it out. So the orders came to start building again. But by this time the people had become interested in building their own homes. They were beginning to settle down in their own places, fixing up, and making their places luxurious. They had lost interest in the rebuilding of the temple.

So Haggai comes along and he is encouraging the people to get back to work in the rebuilding of the temple. His prophecies have to do with the encouragement of rebuilding the temple.

So in your books of history in the Old Testament, this prophecy of Haggai takes place during the period of Ezra and Nehemiah. Now if you want extra credit for the course, go back and read Ezra and Nehemiah in conjunction with the last three books, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. If you read it with Ezra and Nehemiah, you will then fit it with its historic position.

So in the second year of Darius [520 B.C.], in the sixth month, in the first day of the month, [the second year of the reign of Darius the king,] there came the word of the LORD by Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel [who was one of the leaders in this movement of rebuilding] the son of Shealtiel, the governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, saying, Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, This people say, The time is not come, the time that the LORD’S house shall be built ( Hag 1:1-2 ).

“This isn’t the time to do it.” There was a procrastination on the part of the people.

Then came the word of the LORD by Haggai the prophet, saying,

They were saying, “The time isn’t come,” and he said,

Is it time for you to dwell in your ceiled houses, and this house lie waste? Now therefore thus saith the LORD; Consider your ways ( Hag 1:3-5 ).

Now it is interesting how that Haggai, or the Lord through Haggai is constantly calling the people to consider. You know, there are a lot of things that happen around us and we never take it into consideration. It seems that we’ve become very shallow people. Through our television news and through our news magazines and through all of the media that we have today, we’ve become extremely broad people. We know a little bit about everything because of all of the glorious media that we now have, able to condense things down and give us a little synopsis of this, and a little synopsis of that. So we’ve become extremely broad. We know a little bit about everything. But we don’t know much about anything. We’re very shallow. We don’t really stop to consider a lot of times things that are happening around us. The Lord is saying, “Hey, look. Take a look at this. Consider this now. Consider this now.” So Haggai is calling the people to consider their ways. For he said,

[Look,] you have sown a lot of seed, but you’ve harvested very little; you don’t have enough; you drink, but you’re not filled; you are busy making your clothes, but you are not warm; and he that earns wages earns wages to put it into a bag with holes ( Hag 1:6 ).

Very descriptive, isn’t it? Remind you of anything you’ve experienced? You put your wages in a purse that has holes. Where does the money go?

Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways ( Hag 1:7 ).

The second challenge to consider, “Consider this, times are bad, your crops are failing, you don’t have enough, there’s not enough to go around.” Now he said,

Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith the LORD. For you looked for much, and, lo, it came to little; and when you brought it home, I did blow upon it. Why? saith the LORD of hosts. Because of my house that is waste, and ye have run every man to his own house. Therefore the heaven over you is stayed from dew, and the earth is stayed from her fruit. I called for a drought upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the corn, and upon the new wine, and upon the oil, and upon that which the ground brings forth, and upon men, and upon cattle, and upon the labor of their hands ( Hag 1:8-11 ).

The Lord said, “I’ve brought the drought because you have forsaken My house; you’ve allowed my house to lie waste because you are putting yourselves first.”

Now Jesus said that the heathen world, the Gentile world is seeking after what it’s gonna eat, what it’s gonna drink, and what it’s gonna wear. These are basically the things that the Lord is talking to these people about. So many people today are working double jobs. They’re both, husbands and wives working because they’re so concerned with what they’re gonna eat, what they’re gonna drink, and what they’re gonna wear. Times are tough. There’s not enough money to go around. There seems to be a drought. But the Lord said, “The reason why is because you have forsaken My house. You’ve allowed it to be desolate.” So the Lord, he said, called for the drought.

Now in the New Testament where Jesus said, “These things do the Gentiles seek,” He said, “but you seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be taken care of” ( Mat 6:33 ). You see, the people had messed up their priorities. They were seeking themselves first. They were seeking their own luxuries first, and as a result, they didn’t have enough. They were seeking to provide for their physical needs: their clothing, their food, their drink, and they never had enough. They never had enough. The Lord said, “Look, you seek first My kingdom and My righteousness, and all these other things will be added.” Get your priorities straight. Put the Lord first in your life. Seek the Lord first in your life, and God will take care of your needs.

Now our sinful hearts of unbelief said, “But I don’t know how He can do it.” But it isn’t yours to know how; it’s only yours to obey in faith. If you obey in faith and put God first and seek God first, you can be sure that His Word is true, and all these other things will be added to you. God will take care of you. God will provide for you if you put Him first. But you know one of the first things to get whacked out of a budget is the Lord’s place. One of the first things to go. “Oh, I’ve got to work on Sunday, gonna miss church, but I’ll listen. I’ll get the tapes, and I’ll catch up on the Sunday lesson.” We’re putting our own needs above the things of God. God is getting short-changed. But hey, that’s a one-way street. The more I short-change God, the shorter my change becomes. God said, “Look, I’ve called for the drought.”

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, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the LORD their God had sent him, and the people did fear before the LORD ( Hag 1:12 ).

So they responded to this exhortation of Haggai. They considered, and they responded. So Haggai came with a second message.

Then spake Haggai the LORD’S messenger in the LORD’S message unto the people, saying, I am with you, saith the LORD ( Hag 1:13 ).

Now that was a very short message, but oh, what a comforting message. They obeyed and the Lord spoke again and said, “I am with you, saith the Lord.” That was all the message.

So the LORD stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, the 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 their God. And in the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month, in the second year of Darius the king ( Hag 1:14-15 ).

“

Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary

The subject is the building of the second temple. The people had been busily employed in building their own houses some of them had gone to great expense and much labour upon these houses, but they had not built the temple of God. The prophet Haggai was sent to incite them to holy labour.

Hag 1:1-2. In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, in the first day of the month, came the word of the LORD by Haggai the prophet unto Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, Governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, saying, Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Thus people say, The time is not come, the time that the LORDS house should be built.

A bad excuse is thought to be better than none. These people would not object to the building of the Lords house, but they were willing to postpone so expensive a matter. There are always some persons who will not say that they decline self-sacrifice for Christ that were more honesty than it were reasonable to expect from them, and honesty might cost their feelings too much, but they have some other reason or pretense of reason The time is not come that the Lords house should be built. Men are generally quick enough for anything that is for their own interest. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. We must catch time by the forelock. Oh! if we had the same desire in the work and service of God if we had the same desire we should have the same promptitude to do our task. The time is not come the time that the Lords house should be built.

Hag 1:3-4. Then came the word of the LORD by Haggai the prophet, saying, Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your ceiled houses, and this house lie waste?

They had wainscoted their houses with cedar and odoriferous wood, decorated them with carving, whereas the plainest edifices would have sufficed. God will allow them to build their own house for necessary dwelling, but next to that should certainty come his house, before they took to decorating their own. Is it time for you to do this? and, indeed, it may well be said to many a wealthy man, It does not appear to you to be time to aid foreign missions, but it does seem to you to be time to put another thousand pounds in Consols. It does not seem time for you to help the Bible Society, but it seems to be time to make another investment, and purchase another estate that adjoins your own. Is it time for you, oh! ye, to dwell in your ceiled houses?

Hag 1:5-6. Now therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways. Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages, earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes.

Those people did not prosper: they were very prudent after a worldly sort, but somehow they did not get on. No! it is not what we do so much as Gods prospering us that will make us really succeed. It is vain to rise up early and sit up late, and eat the bread of carefulness. God must give us prosperity, and he often withholds this where he sees it is not right. A man will not trust a bad steward, and though God hath trusted many and many a bad steward for wise reasons, yet among his own people he often gives chastisements, and deprives them of worldly comfort, when they use not what they have for his service. I think I have heard some people say that ministers never ought to talk about money in the pulpit. The prophet Haggai did, however; and it is because ministers say so little about the consecration of their substance to Gods cause that this most important part of true piety is often treated with levity, and with some even by disgust. Nay, brethren, we must speak often. The great sin of the Christian Church is withholding from God. Now is it the sin as in the days of Haggai. Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, consider your ways. If you considered your ways, you would see that you have been losers by your attempts to gain. Consider your ways practically by altering them.

Hag 1:7-8. Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways. Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith the LORD.

That should be the great object that we should aim at in all we do, that God may be glorified that God may take pleasure in it. It does not matter who we please if God is not pleased, nor who gets honour from what we give, if God is not glorified thereby.

Hag 1:9. Ye looked for much, and, lo it came to little;

It vanished: the breeze was so strong that the unconsecrated substance went away like chaff.

Hag 1:9-11. I did blow upon it. Why? saith the LORD of hosts. Because of mine house that is waste, and ye run every man unto his own house. Therefore the heaven over you is stayed from dew, and the earth is stayed from her fruit. And I called for a drought upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the corn, and upon the new wine, and upon the oil, and upon that which the ground bringeth forth, and upon men, and upon cattle, and upon all the labour of the hands.

Men make an inventory: item so many cattle, item so much corn, item so much wine. God can make items, too, and he can curse all our blessings one by one. This catalogue looks like it. If they have saved in all these, robbing God, God will take care that they shall get nothing by their doing.

Hag 1:12. 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.

There is good bottom in those men who are led to duty when they are reminded of neglect, and it is blessed work preaching where there is a conscience quick to accede to the admonition. I do not suppose it was so with all the people of Jerusalem. but it was with some of them, and those the leading men. Where high priests and men of authority lead the way, others, if not so prompt, are often guided by the principle of imitation, and they follow the leader.

Hag 1:13. Then spake Haggai the LORDS messenger in the LORDS message unto the people, saying. I am with you, saith the LORD.

Here was the best cheer for them. They had engaged in Gods business, and God would be with them

Hag 1:14-15. 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, In the four and twentieth day of the sixth month, in the second year of Darius the king.

Notice that date the four and twentieth day of the sixth month.

This exposition consisted of readings from Hag 1:1 to Hag 2:9; Heb 7:15-28.

Fuente: Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions of the Bible

Hag 1:1-15

THE FIRST MESSAGE . . . Hag 1:1-15

The first message of Haggai to the indifferent and discouraged remnant merits special examination for the simple reason that it got results! Those whose concern is for the building of the spiritual temple of God, the church, will do well to learn from this prophet of action. (cp. Eph 2:19-22)

THE WORD OF JEHOVAH CAME . . . Hag 1:1

It was exactly twenty-three days from the time Jehovah delivered the message through Haggai until they began to work. That kind of response to a sermon today would leave most preachers speechless!

Darius had assumed the Persian throne by assassinating his predecessor in 521 B.C. Even with his approval, there was no movement to resume building the temple. So God spoke to Haggai (and to Zechariah and Malachi) with a message for the people, beginning with the civil and religious leaders, Zerubbabel the governor and Joshua the high priest.

The name Zerubbabel means born in Babylon . . . no special significance. He was the son of Shealtiel, according to Haggai.

This presents a problem. In Chronicles Zerubbabel is called the son of Pedaiah, brother of Shealtiel and grandson of Assir. (1Ch 3:17-19) In Lukes genealogy Zerubbabel is the son Shealtiel and the grandson of Neri. (Luk 3:27)

Zedekiah, son of King Jeconiah had no children. Assir, another son of Jeconiah (cf. Jer 22:30) had a daughter, but no son. (1Ch 3:16) Legally, Assirs daughter was heir to the throne, and so must marry a man from her fathers tribe. (Num 27:8; Num 36:8-9)

She married Neri, of the Davidic line through Nathans branch. Luke makes no mention of Assir who descended from David through Solomon, but traces the lineage rather through Nathan of whom Zerubbabel was the grandson. This fulfills the prediction of Jer 22:30,

Neri and Assirs daughter produced a son named Shealtiel and others as mentioned in 1Ch 3:18. Shealtiel had no children, so, according to law, his brother, Pedaiah must marry his widow to produce an heir for Shealtiel. (cp. Deu 25:5-10)

Zerubbabel was the son of this Levirate marriage. Legally Shealtiel was Assirs son and Jeconiahs grandson. Actually he was the son of Neri. Zerubbabel was legally the son of Shealtiel, but actually was Pedaiahs son. See the diagram below.

Jeconiah

AssirZedekiah

(no child)

Daughter & Neri

Shealtiel, Pedaiah

(no child)

Legal Actual

Zerubbabel

Since Joshua the high priest and his father, Jehozadek, are not mentioned elsewhere in the Bible excepting for Haggais contemporary, Zechariah, we do not know anything about them other than Joshuas influential responsibility as spiritual leader during the rebuilding of the temple.

Zerr: The reader should consult the book of Ezra, especially the last part of the 4th and first part of the 5th chapter; that will throw much light on the book we are studying. the Jews had been given authority by the king of Persia to rebuild the house of God In Jerusalem but they had let the work cease for various reasons. Then the prophets were used by the Lord to stir up the people and shame them for theIr selfishness in being more concerned with their own affairs than they were with those of the Lord. After the prodding by these prophets the workers upon the building resumed their task. The reference in Ezra is very brief but our present book will give us a fuller view of the situation. The date of the book is given as the second year of Darius who was king in the MedoPersian Empire at lhat time.

Coffman on Hag 1:1 : “Darius the king …” This was Darius the Great of Persia, also called Darius Hystaspes, after the name of his father. He reigned over the Medo-Persian Empire from 522-486 B.C.[1] He continued the benevolent policies that had characterized the reign of Cyrus who issued the original order for the rebuilding of the Temple and the return of the Jewish captives to Jerusalem. “In the sixth month, in the first day of the month …” This corresponds to “Elul, answering to parts of our August and September.”[2]

“The word of Jehovah by Haggai …” Twenty-six times the prophet affirmed in the space of these two short chapters that his word was not his own, but the word of the Lord. Commentators will never be able to understand prophecy until they are willing to take this into account. All of the speculation and wild guesses about what the prophet supposed, or thought, are absolutely immaterial and irrelevant. No matter what the prophets might have thought, and we may be reasonably certain that they thought a lot of things that were not true, it was what they wrote that constitutes the Word of God; and, as an apostle has declared unto us, the prophets themselves did not always know the meaning of what they declared to be the Word of God (See 1Pe 1:10-12).

“Unto Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah …” Note that Zerubbabel here is a deputy of Darius the Great; and despite his being of the royal seed of David, he was in no sense a true king of Judah. The name Zerubbabel means, “Seed of Babylon,” indicating that he was probably born during the Babylonian captivity. He was a friend and favorite of Darius the Great who made him governor of Judah. Zerubbabel successfully competed in a contest to determine what was the strongest thing in the world – wine, kings, women, or truth. Zerubbabel, having demonstrated that truth was the mightiest of all, was called the `king’s cousin,’ and was granted permission to go up to Jerusalem to build the temple.”[3]

“Son of Shealtiel …” Scholars, have long puzzled over the riddle posed by other passages which affirm that he was the son of Pedaiah (1Ch 3:19). Several plausible solutions involving Levirate marriages, adoptions, etc., have been proposed, but they are of minor interest. Zerubbabel was universally known as the “son of Shealtiel” (Luk 3:27; Mat 1:12) and is so listed in the genealogies of both Matthew and Luke. “Salathiel” is another form of the same name. In harmony with Jeremiah’s prophecy that no seed of Jeconiah should sit upon David’s throne, it would appear that Zerubbabel was not a blood relative of that weak and incompetent monarch. Nevertheless, he was “most certainly his successor of the 3or 4th generation, and the legitimate heir to the throne of David.”[4] The two New Testament genealogies of Matthew and Luke both list his name; and it would appear that Christ was both a literal descendant of Zerubbabel through Mary the daughter of Heli, and the legal descendent and heir of David through Zerubbabel and Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was the legal son, but not his actual son.

“And Joshua … the High Priest …” Note the prominence of the Jewish high priest. Not to the governor only, but to the High Priest likewise came the sacred message. Henceforth in Israel (Judah), the king would not be the “all in all” of former days, but the High Priest would move into a similar position of authority as the custodian of the peoples’ fortunes. This was continued throughout the subsequent history of Judah until the coming of Christ, at which time the high priest, Caiaphas, appears as one of near-equal authority with the governor, or procurator, Pontius Pilate.

IS IT TIME . . . Hag 1:2-4

The message is not Haggais but Gods. The claim to inspiration is unmistakable. It is addressed to those who are responsible for the attitudes and actions (or inaction) of the people. (Hag 1:1) The civil and spiritual leaders are responsible for the spiritual and moral fibre of any nation. As water rises no higher than its source, a nation is no stronger than its leaders.

Zerr: Hag 1:2 reveals the excuse that was given by the people why they were not going on with the work of the temple. It was the ageold attempt at defence by saying it was not the right time yet, or that “there is plenty of time yet.” This was the word of the Lord (Hag 1:3) although the people received it at the mouth of the prophet who was His inspired spokesman. Haggai chides them with their inconsistency because they were interested in their own personal affairs (Hag 1:4) instead of the Lord’s. They were building homes for their personal uae and allowing the Lord’s house to lie waste.

Coffman on Hag 1:2-4 :”Thus speaketh Jehovah of hosts, saying, This people say, It is not the time for us to come, the time for Jehovah’s house to be built.” The awkward rendition here is due to uncertainties in the text, which despite any flaws is nevertheless clear enough The people did not wish to rebuild the Temple, because they said, “It is not time!” What fund raiser has not heard that? “It is not a good time …” “This is hardly the right time for it …” etc. Other versions have rendered the clause: “The time is not yet come for building the house of the Lord.”[5] “This people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord” (RSV). “These people say that this is not the right time to rebuild the Temple” (Today’s English Version).

“This people …” This must be one of the most important things in the verse. Note that God does not refer to Judah as “my people,” but as “this people.” In no sense, were they to be received back with all the privileges and blessings of former years. Their autonomy would never be fully restored, and the nation would suffer innumerable hardships before the coming of the Messiah. We are not informed as to the manner of the people’s conclusion that the time had not come. Instead of counting the captivity from 606 B.C., when the first captives were removed, they might have been counting from the destruction of the Temple (586 B.C.), in which latter case the full seventy prophetic years had not fully elapsed. But whatever the reason for their excuse, God did not allow it. One receives the impression that the principal thing they meant was, “It is not convenient for us, at this time, to rebuild it!” “At root, however, the community’s objection to rebuilding was not due to selfishness. They were preoccupied with personal matters to the the neglect of larger issues of importance to the whole community. In short, they had placed themselves before God.”[6]

“Then came the word of Jehovah by Haggai the prophet, saying, Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your ceiled houses, while this house lieth waste?”

“Then came the word of Jehovah …” Through his repetition of this formal affirmation that it was God’s Word, not his own, that Haggai was delivering, he dramatically confronted the people with the fact of their disobeying the will of God.

“To dwell in your ceiled houses …” There are a number of other possible renditions of “ceiled,” including “paneled” and “roofed,”[7] also “wainscoted.”[8] The supposition that none of the exiles who had returned were able to build expensive houses is groundless. We have already noted that the Jews prospered during their captivity and that many of them were very wealthy. Haggai’s words here surely carry the impression the the returnees were living in excellent houses. What he condemned was the fact of their lavishing wealth upon themselves and neglecting to rebuild the Temple.

THIS PEOPLE . . . NOT MY PEOPLE . . .

The terminology seems designed to express dissatisfaction with the remnant God does not disclaim them, but He is stern. He will not tolerate the kind of attitudes which brought about the captivity from which they were so recently returned. The message immediately attacks the excuses being made for not building the house of God. It is not time. There has not been sufficient time since our return from exile. We have built an altar as our first act upon return. It is enough until we get settled in. Seventy years have not lapsed, as Jeremiah predicted, since the destruction of the first temple. Two more years are needed, then we will build. With so much uncertainty in the international situation effecting the national economy, it is a poor time to build.

If youve ever been on a fund drive for a church building, youve heard all this! Our own needs are not met, we have a place of worship, the Bible doesnt allow for church buildings, there may be another war or an economic recession, etc.

What it all amounts to, whether in Haggais day or our own is simply that Gods people are more concerned with their own interests than with providing an adequate house of worship. Haggai tells his people this in no uncertain terms. Is it time for you to dwell in your ceiled (paneled) houses while this house lieth waste? Then as now, those who object most to building an adequate house of worship are those who spend most on their own houses.

Actually, the message becomes even more pointed in our time if we read Eph 2:19-22. Whereas Haggai is concerned with building a building of wood and masonry, we are concerned with building the real temple of God, the church constructed not of materials but of men. To make these excuses for not getting on with this task is to tamper with and neglect the most important work in the world Jesus Himself has spoken to this neglect, Seek ye first the Kingdom and take no thought saying What shall ye eat? or What shall we drink? or Wherewithal shall we be clothed? After all these things do the Gentiles seek. (Luk 12:29)

CONSIDER YOUR WAYS . . . WHY? . . . Hag 1:5-11

Stop and think, Gods word through Haggai challenges the people. You have sown much, and bring in little, You work hard in the fields, you plant and till and labor for the harvest, but the harvest is scant and meager.

You eat, but you have not enough. You are not starving but you are not satisfied, there is never enough of the right food on your tables.

You drink, but you are not filled. There is a drought. Drinking water is scarce and must be used sparingly. In such dry times the vineyards do not produce properly and the wine is in scant supply.

You clothe you, but there is none warm. No one is naked; you have clothes, but they are not adequate. You are not warm. Your clothes do not provide comfort.

He that earneth wages earneth wages to put into a bag with holes. There are jobs. Men are employed, but their wages are inadequate. No one is able to make ends meet. There is too much month left, at the end of the paycheck.

Again consider your ways, look how things are. You looked for much. Your expectations were high when you started home from Babylon. But it came to little.

You were able to bring home crops and wages, but I did blow upon it. instead of blessing and magnifying it.

Zerr: As a means of arousing them to a sense of their real position before God, the prophet calls their attention to some circumstances in their affairs (Hag 1:5) that should have Indicated to them that something was wrong. The general subject of Hag 1:6 is that almost everything in their personal occupations was having very little success. Those were the years when God sometimes punished his people with temporal reverses of various kinds. and their experiences were along that line. Calling attention to their unrighteous ways, the prophet proceeds to tell his people what they should do to regain (Hag 1:7) the good will of the Lord. The temple was constructed of various materials such as stone, metal and wood. The wood (Hag 1:8) was to be obtained from the mountains because the valleys did not produce it. They were told that by taking this interest in the work of the Lord they would glorify Him and their conduct would be pleasing in the divine sight. The prophet backs up the exhortation of Hag 1:8 by resuming the thought expressed in Hag 1:6. The key to the subject is in the words because of mine house that is waste (Hag 1:9). They could not make the plea of inability for work, for they were at that very time running every man unto his own house. Moisture from above and fertility from the earth (Hag 1:10) had been withheld from their crops as a punishment for their neglect of duty. The words in Hag 1:11 sum up the general shortages they had suffered in about all the departments of their industrial and agricultural life. Of course they knew they had been thus restricted but they acted as it they thought it had been by accident. Hence the Lord informs them that He had called for all of their afflictions.

Coffman on Hag 1:5-11

“Now therefore thus saith Jehovah of hosts, Consider your ways. Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes.” (Hag 1:5-6)

The picture that emerges here is one of general want and frustration, which seems to conflict with the paneled homes just mentioned; but such a conflict evaporates when we discern that Haggai may have been using this language to depict the spiritual poverty of the people. The basic spiritual lesson of the whole Bible is “that man shall not live by bread alone”; and that was true when Haggai wrote as well as at the present day. How many are there in our society now who eat, drink, and clothe themselves, live in substantial houses, and yet, in the spiritual sense, are hungry, thirsty, poor, and naked?

Most of the scholars we have consulted reject that possible interpretation of what Haggai wrote, and apply the words as a description of the economic hardship and near-destitution of the returnees. Certainly, this could be the correct view, supported by the sheer impact of the literal words, “ye bring in little … ye have not enough … ye are not filled with drink … there is none warm … a bag with holes !” Feinberg viewed the poverty here as real:

“There is no contradiction between the description of poverty here, and the description of the expensive, ceiled houses in Hag 1:4. As in other societies, the wealthy were found along with the poor. That age, as every age in man’s history, proved the truth of Mat 6:33. When God is forgotten, all labor is without profit.”[9]

Jamieson summarized the teaching of Hag 1:6 – “Nothing has prospered with you while you neglected your duty to God.”[10]

“Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, Consider your house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith Jehovah.” (Hag 1:7)

Hag 1:7, except for the words “now, therefore” is identical with Hag 1:5. The order which the prophet here gave the people was to go at once to the mountains and cut timber that would be needed in rebuilding the Temple, and to get on with the job! Nothing is indicated by this regarding the stone which was also required, because the rubble ruins of the devastated city and Temple provided all they needed.

“I will take pleasure … I will be glorified …” (Hag 1:8) God always takes pleasure and is glorified when his people obey his word; and the reconstruction of the ruined Temple was clearly a project included in the will of God. It was God’s spirit that stirred up Cyrus to command it; and it was the same which launched the burning words of Haggai against the indifferent laziness of the returned exiles. How could that rude pile of stone and timber glorify God? It was God’s promise that the ancient covenant with Abraham still existed, despite the chosen people’s having broken it and having been repudiated by their God and removed from many of their ancient privileges. It was the visible promise of God Himself that, in time, the Messiah would appear. It meant that Judah, unlike the northern Israel, would never disappear until God’s purpose relative to their Messiah was accomplished. Such indeed did glorify the God of heaven and earth.

Ye looked for much, and lo, it came to little; and when ye brought it home, I did blow upon it. Why; saith Jehovah of hosts. Because of my house that lieth waste, while ye run every man to his own house.” (Hag 1:9)

“When ye brought it home, I did blow upon it …” In his youth, this writer knew a man who reaped an abundant harvest of wheat and built a large new granary to store it, whereupon a tornado touched down and scattered wheat all over Callahan County! His first name was Newt; and, shortly afterward, while reading this passage, he accepted the disaster as a personal judgment against himself and promptly became a Christian. Of course, we cannot believe that God provides an individual determination and judgment upon every man by any such events during this whole dispensation. Nevertheless, the judgments are general and abundant enough to allow any perceptive soul to get the message, whether the judgment falls upon him individually, or upon another. The judgments are clearly of God, being a part of the primeval curse (Gen 3:17-22), and they are very much in the world until this very hour.

The great impact from this verse is the truth that God simply will not bless a people determined not to do his will. The returnees were having a very hard time; the message of the Lord was simply this: “If you would have better times, turn to your God.” The message is perpetual and eternal.

“Doubtless, as Dr. Pusey observes, they ascribed the meagerness of their crops to natural causes, and would not see the judicial nature of the infliction; but Haggai brings the stern truth home to their conscience by the stern question, `Why?'”[11]

Modern man has a great deal to learn in the context that appears in these verses. No matter what kind of disaster may descend upon mankind today, it is usually ascribed to “natural causes,” which more and more tend to be written off as things which men know all about. Well, do they? Do men know all about the vicissitudes that plague our existence upon earth? Alas, the answer is negative, whether men are willing to have it so, or not. These passages emphatically declare:

Back of the loaf is the flour,

And back of the flour the mill;

And back of the mill is the wheat

That waveth on yonder hill.

And back of the hill is the sun

And the rain and the Father’s will.

“Therefore for your sake the heavens withold the dew, and the earth witholdeth its fruit.” (Hag 1:10)

“For your sake …” These are most significant words, and they point squarely to the following passage from Genesis: “Cursed is the ground FOR THY SAKE!” (Gen 3:17). The teaching of the Bible reveals emphatically that providential intervention is continual, and a constant possibility in all of the affairs of men. God often called for drought upon Israel, and sent prophets to announce it in advance; nor are such episodes confined to the Old Testament. Agabus prophesied a four-year famine under Claudius Caesar (Act 11:28). That was in this current dispensation; and the same God who can foretell a great drought can as easily send or withhold it! All such impediments to man’s ease and prosperity are intended as guideposts to point him to the Father in heaven. “For Adam’s sake” (Gen 3:17) … “For your sake” … (Hag 1:10).

“And I called for a drought upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the grain, and upon the new wine, and upon the oil, and upon that which the ground bringeth forth, and upon men, and upon cattle, and upon all the labor of the hands.” (Hag 1:11)

Here is an elaboration of the truth that all productivity of every conceivable kind depends, in the last analysis, upon the will of God. Such an uncontrollable and unpredictable thing as a shift in the jet stream that roars through the earth’s atmosphere at vast altitudes could wipe out a whole civilization. A sudden increase of the earth’s temperature in the south polar region could increase the depths of the oceans by more than a hundred feet, wiping out most of the cities of the whole world. The chairman of the Rockefeller Medical Foundation once said that over four thousand viruses, capable of bringing death to multiplied millions, are already identified and awaiting only some propitious moment to spread death and devastation all over the earth. One such unpredictable outbreak in the 14th century destroyed the majority of mankind! “Oh, it cannot happen now!” The wisest men on earth know it can happen now and have not failed to warn us. If men would continue to enjoy the blessings of God, may they never neglect to honor the God of all blessing and to obey his will.

“Men simply have not learned the lesson that God’s Temple comes first (the church, in our age). They do not believe that Jesus spoke the truth for our times, when he said, `Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and these things shall be added unto you’ (Mat 6:33).”[12]

WHY? SAITH JEHOVAH OF HOSTS . . .

Have you not wondered why things are as they are? It is because you have not put first things first. Go up into the mountain, and bring wood and build the house . . . my house lieth waste while ye run every man to his own house. Therefore for your sake . . . to teach you a lesson . . . I withhold the moisture and the earth withholds its fruit.

I CALLED FOR A DROUGHT.

How many Christians do you know today who are living dull monotonous lives, who are not really rejoicing in the Lord, whose life is seemingly blessed little more than their pagan neighbors? Such people are pre-occupied with their own affairs. They have not learned that Gods temple, the church, must come first. They do not believe that Jesus spoke the truth for our time when He said if we seek His kingdom first these things will be added to us. It is our own fault if we live a humdrum life of spiritual drought and dissatisfaction.

AND JEHOVAH STIRRED UP THE SPIRIT OF ZERUBBABEL . . . Hag 1:12-15

To the man who obeys the message of God in whose heart the Spirit of God has stirred there is no question of the right time, Such a one lives by eternal values. The only time he knows is now, The only thing that counts is Gods work. Zerubbabel got the message, and so did Joshua the high priest and so did Gods remnant. They were still close enough to the captivity to know God was not playing games. Their fathers had refused to hear Isaiah and Amos and Micah and the rest and they had themselves grown up in exile as a consequence. That was enough. They obeyed the voice of Jehovah as it had spoken through Haggai. Then came the reassurance of God.

(Hag 1:12) Haggai is careful to record that not just the leaders but the people themselves heeded His admonition. The Word of God brought about obedience, from the greatest to the least. The lack of wisdom manifest in their failure to fear God is in contrast to the response of the remnant. The fathers had refused to hear the pre-exilic prophets because they did not fear God. Fearing God, their children obeyed the message of the Lord voiced by Haggai.

Zerr: The exhortation of the prophet had the desired effect. It is interesting to note that in their obedience it includes the words of the prophet with those of God (Hag 1:12). It was as it should be for when God inspires a man to deliver an order to the people it comes with as much authority as if He spoke directly to them.

Coffman: “Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the High Priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of Jehovah their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as Jehovah their God had sent him; and the people did fear before Jehovah.” (Hag 1:12)

“With all the remnant of the people …” is a reference to the balance of the returnees, all of them who had returned from Babylon. They constituted the remnant.

The double reference in this verse to the “word of Jehovah” and “the word of Haggai the prophet” is for the purpose of showing that, “The voice of the Lord and the words of Haggai the prophet are identical. This is true prophecy.”[13] The people recognized this and acknowledged the authority of God’s Word as binding upon themselves and responded in fear of God and obedience of his word. What a blessing would be poured out upon our beloved country this day if any great proportion of the people responded in a similar way to the word of the Lord!

“Joshua the son of Jehozadak …” Strangely, the name of the great High Priest who accompanied the returnees to Babylon was the same as that of the great leader who brought the children of Israel into Canaan. The name “Joshua” means “Salvation,”[14] and is identical with the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Jesus being the Greek form of Joshua. Just as the Joshua who entered Canaan was in some ways typical of Jesus Christ, there likewise seems to be some important typical aspects of the life of this Joshua. Two visions of him are in the prophecy of Zechariah, that of the attack of Satan against Joshua (Zec 3:1-10), and that of the Crown (Zec 6:9-15). These will be discussed in the notes on Zechariah. “His father was among the captives at the fall of Jerusalem (586 B.C.), and also his grandfather Seraiah, who was put to death at Riblah (2Ki 25:18 ff, 1Ch 6:15).”[15]

I AM WITH YOU . . . Hag 1:13

The very first sign of obedience was seized upon by God. He, at once, declares because of their fear and obedience that He is with them.

Zerr: When the people showed a willingness to obey the Lord the prophet encouraged them by reassuring (Hag 1:13) them that the Lord was with them.

Coffman: “Then spake Haggai Jehovah’s messenger in Jehovah’s message unto the people, saying, I am with you, saith Jehovah.” (Hag 1:13)

“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 that, when obedient, that he both is and will be with them.”[16]

“Jehovah’s messenger …” This title is applied to himself by Haggai alone, among all the prophets. Deane assures us that, by implication, it is also applied to Moses, Malachi, John the Baptist, and to our Lord Jesus Christ.[17] Malachi referred to Christ as “the messenger of the covenant” (Mal 3:1).

GOD STIRRED UP THE SPIRIT . . . Hag 1:14

The Spirit stirred in both Zerubbabel and Joshua and the people. Through the preaching of His word through Haggai, Gods Spirit stirred in the hearts of His covenant nation. It is ever so. When His Word is heeded and obeyed, His presence through the Spirit is with His people. And the result is inevitable. The people in whom the Spirit stirred rose up and built the house of God.

And the God Who lived in Haggais day is just the same today. When Gods covenant people, both leaders and others, fear the Lord, heed and obey His Word, the Spirit always moves in their hearts and His house is built. We who are, as Christians, concerned with the building of the real temple, the church, will do well to learn this eternal lesson. We do not need to agonize and grovel and beg for His Spirit. We need rather to fear Him, even in this sophisticated age when a misunderstanding of His love often causes us to be overly familiar and without fear, We need to obey Him as He tells us through inspired writers what He would have us do. When this is done, His Spirit will move in us and His house will be built.

By the same token, we need to recognize it is His Spirit who must motivate us if what we do is to be His work. Our American overemphasis on methods and techniques for church growth often seems to deny this. As Don Atkin put it recently, We need to stop trying to get Him into our programs and become concerned for getting ourselves into His. It is one thing to know the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. It is quite another to know the Spirit Himself. It is not enough to know the Word of God. We must know the God of the Word!

Zerr: The Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel (Hag 1:14). The context shows what means the Lord used to do this stirring, for it was through the mouth of the prophet.

Coffman: “And Jehovah came and stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jehozodak, the High Priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people; and they came and did work on the house of Jehovah of hosts, their God.” (Hag 1:14)

All of this verse has the concise meaning of, “All the leaders and all the people were stirred by the spirit of God, and they arose and began work on the Temple.”

“Stirred up the spirit …” “To awaken the spirit of any man is to make him willing and glad to carry out his resolutions.”[18]

IN THE FOUR AND TWENTIETH DAY . . . Hag 1:15

It was just twenty three days from the beginning of Haggais preaching to the beginning of building. Surely God must always be pleased when His people are so responsive to His Word.

Zerr: When God does anything through lhe words of an inspired spokesman it is equivalent to doing it direct and will have the same result as if done in such a manner. The date of the events of this chapter is made more specific than it was in the first verse by giving the particular day of the month (Hag 1:15); the 24th.

Coffman: “in the four and twentieth day of the month, in the sixth month, in the second year of Darius the king.” (Hag 1:15)

The Catholic Bible and some other versions associate this verse with the next chapter, but the appearance of a similar dating in the very next verse surely would seem to forbid it. The significant thing here would appear to be the promptness with which the people had responded. The call to work was made on the first day of this same month (verse 1); and therefore, only about three weeks had elapsed before the work actually commenced. Deane agreed that, “The note of time was introduced to show how prompt was their obedience.”[19]

It is quite obvious to practically all scholars that the Douay Version is wrong in associating this verse with the next chapter; and the amazing fact of the Tischendorf’s Septuagint having done the same thing show how easily, sometimes, scholars merely adopt what is popular, instead of what is obviously true.

Questions

Exposition of Haggai

1. Write an outline of Haggai.

2. Haggais first message is concerned with?

3. What were the results of the first message?

4. Discuss the ancestry of Zerubbabel in light of Hag 1:1, 1Ch 3:17-19, and Luk 3:27,

5. The message Haggai was _____________ message.

6. Haggais first message attacks _____________.

7. How does the message apply to us who would build the church?

8. How does Haggai account for the drought and austere conditions which had beset the people?

9. Discuss Jehovah stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel.

10. What is the gist of Haggais second message? To whom is it addressed?

11. What was missing from the second temple?

12. What is meant by the latter glory of the house?

13. Discuss Hag 2:7 in light of Heb 8:1 -ff and Gal 3:29.

14. What is meant by desire of all nations?

15. What is the gist of Haggais third message?

16. What false motives might have been involved in rebuilding the temple?

17. What malady confronting Haggai was also addressed by Jesus?

18. Show evidence that Haggai considered his message to be Gods rather than his own.

19. Discuss the shaking of the heavens and earth (Hag 2:21 cp. Hag 2:6)

20. Why could not this shaking have referred to the chaotic conditions of Darius early reign?

21. Where in the Bible do we find the ultimate fulfillment of this prophecy?

22. Discuss Zerubbabel as a type of Christ. Show parallels between them.

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

The prophet Haggai delivered his first message on the first day of the sixth month in the second year of the reign of Darius. It was addressed especially to those in authority. The people were excusing themselves from building by saying that the time had not come. The prophet replied by reminding them that they were dwelling in their own ceded houses, while the house of God was lying waste. He called them to consider their ways, reminding them of the long-continued material failure in which they had lived.

He then urged them to build the house of God, declaring that all the failure to which he had already referred was of the nature of divine punishment for their neglect of His house.

There was an immediate response to Haggai’s appeal, first by the governor and priest, and then by the people. This response was followed, first, by a word of encouragement, in which the prophet declared that Jehovah was with them, and, second, by new enthusiasm among the people.

Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible

Selfish and Shortsighted Thrift

Hag 1:1-11

Zerubbabel is the Sheshbazzar of Ezr 1:8. He was of the royal line, and appointed governor by Cyrus. Josedech was son of Seraiah, high priest when Jerusalem was taken, 2Ki 25:18-21. The returned exiles had been experiencing a succession of bad seasons. They had sown much, and reaped little; their money ran out of the bag as quickly as they put it in; a drought lay on all the land, and the reason for it was to be found in the neglected Temple. How frequently our disasters and losses in business arise from our failure to remember Gods cause. We say that we have not the time, cannot afford the money, and see no necessity for setting apart the Lords Day or the daily period for meditation and prayer. Did we see things as they really are, we should find that this is false economy, and wastes more than we save. There is that which withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty. The mower does not waste time when he stops to whet his scythe.

Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary

Notes on the Prophecy of Haggai

Introduction

There are six books of the Old Testament which may be read together most profitably. I refer to Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther, of the historical part of the Bible, coupled with the prophetic messages of Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. To these a seventh might be added, viz., the book of Daniel, showing the exercises of soul which led up to the restoration.

The book of Ezra opens with the people of the Lord in captivity to the Persian, dwelling in the provinces once controlled by the kings of Babylon. Gods centre, Jerusalem, where He had set His name, was a blackened ruin. The walls of the Holy City had been thrown down, and the very stones buried beneath piles of rubbish. All this may well be looked upon as a picture of the subjection of the Church of God to human systems of error and superstition. For long centuries the truth as to simply gathering to the name of the Lord Jesus had been lost. The place of the name, we may say, was at Jerusalem destroyed by her enemies. The walls, speaking of that godly separation from the world that should have kept the Church as a garden enclosed, had been completely demolished, and ecclesiastical rubbish of all descriptions had so buried the truth that it seemed as though it was lost beyond all recovery. Separation from evil, then, is ever Gods principle for His people.

However, God was watching over all, and in His grace raised up a testimony to these precious and important teachings, which had lain dormant, as it were, in His Word for so long. Then the result was a movement very much like that detailed in the record made by Ezra. From the confusion of human theologies and man-made sects and parties, there was a returning on the part of some whose hearts God had touched to the simplicity of early days. In much weakness, yet in much freshness too, and with a deep sense of the ruin of the Church, as a testimony for God in the world, and fully owning their own sad part in it all, a remnant returned to the Lord, finding in His name their centre of gathering, and abjuring everything for which they could not find a Thus saith the Lord. This is all foreshadowed, one might say, or at any rate a similar movement is pictured, in the book of Ezra. There is a separation of the clean from the unclean, a taking forth of the precious from the vile, and a setting up of the altar, called by Malachi The Table of the Lord (Mal 1:7), round which gather the recovered remnant-great in nothing but the faith that led them thus to put Jehovahs claims before all else: for, be it remembered, their circumstances were such under the rule of the Persian that they might well have dwelt more comfortably in the land of their captivity than in the land of Israel.

Nehemiah emphasizes the need of complete separation from all that is contrary to the mind of God. He comes up later than Ezra, but his special work is to restore and build Jerusalem. Led on by this faithful servant, the remnant engage in the building of the wall that was to shut them in to God; and that angered their neighbors by its, in their eyes, sinister exclusiveness. Bit by bit the rubbish of years was cleared away, and one by one the stones of the wall were brought to light and fitted into their appointed places. Surely to all this there has been something analogous among those who at first gathered in feebleness and with little light around the table of the Lord. Gradually, yet in such a manner as to make it manifestly the testimony of the Holy Ghost, the thoughts of men were put to one side, the rubbish of traditionalism was cleared away, and the stones of divine truth were recovered and built up-shall I say?-into a wall of separation, which angered the societies, who could not bear to think of a work of God carried on apart from their organized control. But unmoved by mockery, undeterred by threats, and unseduced by proffers of help from those who had neither part nor lot in the matter, the work went on till the wall was finished. The truth as to the individual believers standing and state; the unfolding of the great mystery of Christ and the Church; the cluster of precious truths connected with the Coming and Day of the Lord, with their sanctifying effect on heart and life,- one by one, and often at the cost of deepest exercise and soul-travail, coupled with severe conflicts with the enemy within and without, were these stones of the separating wall recovered, and thus God was glorified and His people blessed.

In the book of Esther we have set forth His gracious care over those who, while equally His, yet chose to remain where they were, rather than return to Gods centre: but as I have treated of this at length elsewhere, I need not follow it out here.29

Happy would it have been if what has been traced above from the records of Ezra and Nehemiah were the only things necessary to notice. But, alas, it is far otherwise. It was not long till almost all the evils which had at one time been on the outside, appeared within the wall. Pride, dissension, covetousness, worldliness in its various forms, self-seeking, and kindred unholy things which no walls could shut out (because they dwelt in the heart and were allowed to exist unjudged), soon marred the lovely scene. And oh, who with eyes to see and a heart to understand and mourn, can fail to observe how in all this likewise we have a picture of what has been so sadly true among those whose happy boast it has been that Christ alone is their Centre, and His Name their tower of strength?

But, blessed be the God of all grace, He left not His people without needed conscience-stirring ministry; but among the returned remnant He raised up prophets whose messages led to self-judgment and abasement of soul in His presence. Haggai and Zechariah come in here, as polished shafts from the quiver of the Lord, whose mission it was to recall the hearts of those so privileged to Himself. The province of the latter was especially to unfold the glories to come, that they might be stirred up to live then in the light of that coming day. He is emphatically the prophet of the glory. To Haggai it was given, on the other hand, to press home upon the conscience the actual conditions existing, and with trumpet voice to recall them to ways of practical holiness, with signal blessing resultant.

That Malachi follows, in a generation later, bewailing the complete breakdown of the people, is pregnant with warning, and may well cause us to search and try our ways, who today seek to answer to what I have been considering. Truth alone will not preserve if there be not corresponding exercise as to living in its power, and being controlled thereby.

Nothing is more wretched than to see unspiritual, carnal men debating questions involving nice discriminations as to the relative bearing of particular lines of truth, whose unholy ways are a reproach to Him whose truth it is.

It is important to remember that God teaches through the conscience, not merely through the head; therefore the spectacle often presented of brilliant, gifted men floundering where humble, godly men walk securely! Blessed it is when gift and godliness go together; unhappy indeed when they are divorced!

Of Haggai himself little is recorded in Scripture. Even his fathers name is not given, nor his tribe in Israel. He appears suddenly on the page of inspiration in Ezr 5:1, in all the dignity of a heaven-appointed messenger, with no credentials but that the word of the Lord was on his lips and the power of the Lord was manifested in his ways. And these are surely credentials enough. God had fitted him to be, as he himself puts it, the Lords messenger in the Lords message. There is something very fine in this. It brings before us the divine character of prophetic ministry-a ministry much needed in our day, and for which, in measure, we often have cause to give thanks. He that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort (1Co 14:3). Such ministry is Spirit-given, and sure to result in blessing; for what God Himself gives shall never return unto Him void. What that ministry was in the special case before us we shall now proceed to notice.

Chapter 1

Consider Your Ways

The date given in verse 1 is in harmony with the statement recorded in Ezr 4:24. There we learn that, owing to the opposition of the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin, the work of rebuilding the house of the Lord ceased unto the second year of Darius, king of Persia. As the letter which resulted in a prohibition to continue was written in the reign of Artaxerxes, several years had elapsed in which nothing had been accomplished. A period of lethargy had set in, which only came to an end when a God-appointed ministry was given to stir up the consciences of the people.

In the year above referred to, on the first day of the sixth month, Haggai addressed himself to the rulers, Zerubbabel the governor, who was of Davids line, and Joshua the high priest, saying, Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, This people say, The time is not come, the time that the Lords house should be built (vers. 1, 2). It is evident from this that they were only too ready to refrain from the work, and that had there been the energy of faith, the decree of Artaxerxes, apparently contradicting that of Cyprus, would have been no real hindrance. The unalterable character of Persian decrees rendered the second one invalid had it really repealed the first. But already self-seeking, and consequent listlessness as to the things of God, had come in. Hence they could build their own houses while neglecting the house of the Lord. But Artaxerxes decree, rightly read, contained no direct prohibition against building the temple, but rather was directed against restoring and fortifying the city.

When the conscience is not active people readily interpret circumstances to suit themselves; and at such times it is often amazing the amount of energy that will be expended on that which ministers to ones own comfort, whereas utter indifference characterizes that which is connected with the Lords glory.

Thus saints have time and means for much that does not profit, who find it difficult to get a few hours for a meeting, or to spare of their means for the furtherance of the gospel. Once let the conscience be in exercise, and all will be in place.

Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your ceiled houses, and this house lie waste? is the Lords challenge through His prophet. No Persian decree hindered their providing warm and even expensive houses for themselves; but it was readily made the excuse for indifference to what should have had the first place in their thoughts (vers. 3, 4).

Now therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways. Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages, earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes (vers. 5, 6). This is all intensely solemn. May reader and writer weigh it well. Undoubtedly it gives the secret of many failures and disappointments among Christians today, as well as among the Jews of old. God cannot bless self-seeking. He calls on each one to Consider your ways. The Hebrew reads, Set your heart on your ways. It is a summons to self-Judgment; for the ways manifest the state of soul.

We may look at it as entering into every ramification of the life. Consider your ways, ye who have to do with the commercial world in its present conditions. How much is often tolerated among us that would not bear the all-searching eyes of Him who seeth not as man seeth! The covetous spirit of the age is eating the very life out of many companies of the Lords people. The grasping avariciousness everywhere prevalent in the world is making dreadful inroads among Christians. Alas, how much is sacrificed for money! Christian fellowship, the joys of gathering at the table of the Lord, gospel work, and privileges of mutual edification and instruction in divine things-all are parted with often simply because the opportunity arises of adding a few paltry dollars to the monthly income and savings. Brethren with families even will leave a town or city where the spiritual support and fellowship of their brethren is found, and where their children have the privileges of the gospel meeting and the Sunday-school, simply because they see, or fancy they see, an opportunity to better their earthly circumstances. Alas, in many instances I they miss all they had hoped for, and lose spiritually what is never regained!

Consider your ways in the home life. What place do you give the things of God there? Is the Bible habitually neglected, and the knee seldom bowed in prayer before the children? What wonder then if they grow up to think lightly of what you seem to place so slight a valuation upon! Do you discuss servants of Christ, and the people of God in a cold, hard, critical manner before these same children? Then do not be surprised if they learn to despise all ministers of the Word, and lightly esteem all those that bear the name of Christ.

Consider your ways in connection with the service of the Lord and the assembling of His people. Do trifles keep you from the assemblies of Gods people for the remembrance of our Lord in His sufferings for us? Or do you neglect the preaching of the Word on the plea that it is only the gospel? Are you generally missed at the prayer-meeting, and seldom found at the Bible-reading? Is it months, or years, since you handed out a tract, or spoke to others of Christ? How then can you expect Gods blessing to be on you and your plans while you are so indifferent to Him and His purposes?

Thus saith the Lord of hosts: CONSIDER YOUR ways. Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith the Lord (vers. 7, 8). Aroused from the deadening effects of self-seeking, judge yourself and your past loose ways in Gods presence; then Put first things first, as one has said, and give the Lord the supreme place in heart and life. Because of the lack of this purpose of heart to cleave to Him, He could not bless as He otherwise would; hence Ye looked for much, and, lo, it came to little; and when ye brought it home, God blew upon it, and it fled away. Did you wonder why failure succeeded failure, and plan after plan did not result as you hoped? Because God was not given His place, His house is neglected, Therefore the heaven over you is stayed from dew, and the earth is stayed from her fruit, and drought and barrenness prevail in place of blessing and refreshment (vers. 9-11).

The effect of Haggais words was at once manifest. Oh that this rehearsal of them may also be used to the arousing of those of us who are sleeping among the dead!

Both leaders and people forthwith obeyed the voice of the Lord their God, and the neglected work was at once resumed (ver. 12).

Then spake Haggai, the Lords messenger in the Lords message unto the people, saying, I am with you, saith the Lord (ver. 13). It was a word of cheer and encouragement, and the way it is introduced is very fine-the Lords messenger in the Lords message! It is quite possible to be truly the Lords messenger, and yet to miss the Lords mind. To give His message, one must be in touch with Himself. Such was Haggais happy state.

Aroused by the stirring call to consider their ways, and comforted by the knowledge of the Lords presence with them, the remnant went willingly to work, so that the actual labor on the house of God was resumed in twenty-four days (vers. 14, 15). The next chapter gives further ministry as the work proceeded.

Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets

Analysis and Annotations

CHAPTER 1:1-11 Haggais First Address

1. The introduction (Hab 1:1)

2. The reproof (Hab 1:2-6)

3. Consider your ways (Hab 1:7-11)

Hab 1:1. Darius Hystaspes had been king one year and had entered upon the second year, 520 B.C., when, in the sixth month, in the first day of the month, the word of the Lord was given by Haggai. It was addressed to Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua, the son of josedech, the high-priest. Zerubbabel and Joshua were the prominent civic and religious leaders of that day. Zerubbabel was the son of Shealtiel (which means asking of God in prayer). Zerubbabel (sown in Babylon) was of royal seed, in direct line of descent from David. In Ezra this princely leader is called by his Persian name Sheshbazzar. In the genealogy of Luk 3:27 he is called a son of Neri, a descendant of David through his son Nathan; he is also called a son of Pedaiah. These divergent statements have been satisfactorily explained by the law of the Levirate marriage Deu 25:10.

Joshua is mentioned several times in Zechariah. He was the first high-priest after the captivity, and is called in Ezra and Nehemiah Jeshua, the name Joshua transcribed into Greek. He and Zerubbabel are prophetic types of our Lord as the King-Priest. Joshua was the son of Josedech (Jehozadak) the high-priest who was taken by the Babylonians into captivity 1Ch 6:15, and was the grandson of Seraiah, who was put to death by Nebuchadnezzar at Riblah, after the capture of Jerusalem.

Hab 1:2-6. His message starts with the excuse which the people offered for the apathy in the things of God. This people say, The time is not come, the time that the LORDS house should be built. The Lord does not address them as My people, but in a way which is deprecatory. It was an empty excuse, that His time had not yet come; in reality they were cold towards the cause of the Lord, and sought their own things in place of it. In their indifferent spirit they probably took the relation to Persia, produced by the Samaritan interference, as the ground of their opinion, that it was not the time to come and finish the task. They were an ungrateful people and should have known better. The Lord, who had announced through Isaiah that Cyrus should be born and say, Let Jerusalem be built, who raised up Cyrus, whom the prophet had named so many years before he was born; the Lord who had brought them back to the land and prospered them, would certainly give them the victory over all their enemies and make the building of the house possible. They hid behind the unreasonable excuse, it is not the time. How often the same excuse has been used by the professing people of God in our age!

Then the Lord answers them. is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your ceiled houses, while this house lieth waste? They had begun well, as we read in Ezr 3:1-13, when they set the altar upon its bases. But now they had departed from their endeavor; the interest in the one thing had waned, and selfish aims were substituted. They were living in luxurious houses, while His house was completely neglected, it was in a waste condition. The insincerity of their vain excuse was therefore exposed.

Then comes the exhortation to consider their ways (literally: set your heart upon your ways). Had it been profitable for them? No. Ever since they left off building His house bitter disappointment had been their lot. All their self-seeking brought them no gain, but steady loss. The Lords blessing, given to His earthly people concerning earthly things, had been withholden. They had sown much seed; there was a scanty return. They had not been satisfied in eating or drinking. Their clothing was insufficient. The wages they earned may have been good wages, but it was as if they put them in a bag with holes; the great part of them was lost. While all this must be considered on the ground of the Jew, the principle nevertheless holds good for us as well. But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you Mat 6:33, also refers primarily to the believing Jew, yet it has its application for us. The heart of the believer must always seek Him first. The life of a child of God must always be devoted to Him and the things of God. Our business is to care for His things; His gracious business is to care for us in all things. Neglect of the things of God always brings the same bitter disappointment.

Hab 1:7-11. Consider your ways; the Lord spoke again. And now He commands them to go to the mountains and fetch wood and to build the house. He declares that He will take pleasure in it and that He will be glorified. How graciously He craves the whole-heartedness of His people and their full devotion to Himself. It is in worship, indicated by the building of the house, that we glorify Him. It is worshippers the Father seeketh, worshippers in spirit and in truth Joh 4:1-54.

On account of their neglect, neglect of Himself and the honor of His Name, as centered in the house, He could not give the blessing He is so willing to bestow upon His people. He withheld the dew and the rain; He prevented the fruitfulness of the fields, and all else was stunted, on account of their attitude toward Him.

It was Jehovah who blighted their selfish efforts. He was dealing with them on account of their unbelief and neglect. It was not because He loved them not, but because He did. Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth. When the Lord allows persons to go away without rebuke, it is the sure sign that all practical bond is broken–if any bond did exist–that He now disowns them, for a time at least. Hence these very chastenings of the Jewish remnant were the proof that His eyes were still over them, and that He felt their negligence of Him and resented–in divine faithfulness–the failure of His people in the care of His glory (William Kelly) .

Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)

sixth month

i.e. September, also Hag 1:15.

Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes

second: Hag 2:1, Hag 2:10, Hag 2:20, Ezr 4:24, Ezr 5:1, Ezr 5:2, Zec 1:1

the sixth: Elul the sixth month of the ecclesiastical year, answering to a part of September.

by Haggai: Heb. by the hand of Haggai, Exo 4:13, 1Ki 14:18, 2Ki 14:25, Ezr 6:14

unto: Hag 1:12, Hag 1:14, Hag 2:2, Hag 2:4, Hag 2:21-23, 1Ch 3:17, 1Ch 3:19, Salathiel, Ezr 2:2, Ezr 3:2, Ezr 3:8, Ezr 4:2, Ezr 5:2, Neh 7:7, Zec 4:6-10, Mat 1:12, Mat 1:13, Zorobabel, Salathiel, Luk 3:27

governor: or, captain, Ezr 1:8, Ezr 2:63, Neh 5:14, Neh 8:9

Joshua: Ezr 2:2, Ezr 3:8, Ezr 5:2, Neh 12:1, Neh 12:10

Josedech: 1Ch 6:14, 1Ch 6:15, Jehozadak

Reciprocal: Ezr 5:14 – whom Ezr 10:18 – Jeshua Neh 12:7 – of Jeshua Hag 1:15 – General Zec 3:1 – Joshua Zec 4:12 – through Zec 4:14 – These Zec 6:11 – Joshua Zec 8:9 – the prophets Mal 1:1 – by

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

THE PEOPLE ADOPTED a fatalistic attitude, saying, ‘the time is not come… that the Lord’s house should be built’; and started to build up their own affairs. Some sixty years ago we heard Christians saying, in spite of the Lord’s words in Act 1:8, that the time for the evangelization of the distant heathen was not come, and they settled down to build up their own spiritual affairs, as they considered them to be. It was not wrong for these Jews to build themselves some houses, but it was wrong for them to settle down to this and let the house of God lie waste, hence the drought, and God did ‘blow upon’ all their efforts.

It is not wrong for us today to care for our own spiritual state; indeed we are admonished. ‘building up yourselves on your most holy faith’ (Jud 1:20), but as the succeeding verses show, this is to be done as the fruit of the love of God, which expresses itself in ‘compassion’ upon some, and as to others saving them with fear. We are not to concentrate upon ourselves to the exclusion of God’s work and God’s interests today. The word of our Lord still stands, ‘Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you’.

Do we modern Christians require a word of rebuke, because we neglect God’s interests in favour of our own interests? We fear that all too often we do. Let us accept the rebuke with the humility of mind that becomes us.

This is what the people did, led by Zerubbabel and Joshua, and they set to work in obedience to the word of the Lord. Haggai was to them the Lord’s messenger, bring ing them the Lord’s message, and he gave them the assurance that God Himself was with them in the prosecution of the work. It was so pleasing to God, that the very day they recommenced the work is placed on record in the last verse of the chapter; exactly twenty-three days after the word of rebuke had reached them.

The assuring word from the Lord, ‘I am with you’, really settled everything. The Apostle could write, ‘If God be for us, who can be against us?’ and this, though stated in New Testament days, was just as true in earlier days. The people soon discovered that difficulties vanished when God was with them, as the book of Ezra has shown us. Their adversaries sprang to life directly the work recommenced, and reported their activity to headquarters, but another king was now on the throne in Persia, who rescinded the decree of Artaxerxes, and restored the original decree of Cyrus, under which the remnant had returned. So once more the voice of the Lord was being obeyed: and obedience is ever the way to blessing.

Fuente: F. B. Hole’s Old and New Testaments Commentary

Hag 1:1. The reader should consult the book of Ezra, especially the last part of the 4th and first part of the 5th chapter; that will throw much light on the book we are studying. the Jews had been given authority by the king of Persia to rebuild the house of God In Jerusalem but they had let the work cease for various reasons. Then the prophets were used by the Lord to stir up the people and shame them for theIr selfishness in being more concerned with their own affairs than they were with those of the Lord. After the prodding by these prophets the workers upon the building resumed their task. The reference in Ezra is very brief but our present book will give us a fuller view of the situation. The date of the book is given as the second year of Darius who was king in the MedoPersian Empire at lhat time.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

Hag 1:1. In the second year of Darius Namely, the son of Hystaspes, king of Persia. Blair places the second year of his reign five hundred and twenty years before Christ. In the sixth month, in the first day of the month Therefore, about two months before Zechariah received a similar commission, for the word of God came to him in the eighth month of the same year: see Zec 1:1. These two prophets were sent to the Jews chiefly, it seems, to exhort them to go on with the rebuilding the temple. And the historical book of Ezra records, chap. 5., that the rebuilding of the temple was resumed and carried on again through the exhortations and encouragements of these prophets. Unto Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel And grandson of Jeconiah, who was carried captive to Babylon: see the margin. It is likely that Zerubbabel was regarded with as much respect by the Jews as if he had been their king, being of the royal family of David; but they did not give him the title of king, or invest him with the splendour of royal dignity, for fear of giving offence to the Persian kings, under whose protection they lived, and upon whom they were in a great measure dependant. And to Joshua the son of Josedech Son of Seraiah, who was high-priest when Jerusalem was taken, and who was slain at Riblah: see 1Ch 6:14; 2Ki 25:18-21. Haggai seems to have addressed Zerubbabel and Joshua probably in the hearing of the people: see Hag 1:12.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Hag 1:1. Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, the governor, or Pacha, of Judah. King Jeconiah was father of Salathiel, as the word is written in 1Ch 3:17; and Pedaiah was father of Zerubbabel. The governor therefore was great grandson of Jeconiah. Josephus says that he was one of the life guards of Darius; and if so, it must have been in his early years.

Joshua the son of Josedech, the highpriest. He was grandson of Seraiah, who was slain at Riblah, with others, for rebellion.

Hag 1:8. Go up to the mountain to cut cedar, as the Chaldaic adds. Solomons cedars were floated to Tyre, and thence drawn to Jerusalem. The jews by the mountain understood Lebanon, and not Zion, as many turn the word.

Hag 1:9; Hag 1:11. I did blow upon itI called for a drought. For the east wind to parch the corn, the wine, and the oil; yea, upon men and cattle, smiting them with sore eyes, and often with the ophthalmia, producing blindness and terror in all the east. Psa 48:7.

REFLECTIONS.

How valuable was the prophetic ministry in reproving irreligion and vice, and in promoting piety. Haggai gave a new tone to the Hebrew devotion. True ministers are the best friends of the throne and the altar.

Reflection is the first step to conviction and reformation. Consider your ways. Is it right; is it fair and just to build houses of cedar for yourselves, and let the Lords house lie in a half built and disgraceful state? What will palaces do for the nation, compared with the glory of the temple? The temple will unite the nation as one family in their Fathers house. The temple, because of the great name of Jehovah, will bring strangers from all the earth with gifts and offerings to the Lord. The temple will yet be the crown and the glory of Hebrew devotion.

Your errors are immoral, and tend to national ruin. You aim at aggrandisement, as in former days; and what is aggrandisement without a God. You rob him of his right, and he in justice withholds the latter rain; nay, he sends the east wind to dry up the verdure of grass and corn, and to wither the fruits of the vine. You might as well attempt to alter the whole course of nature, as expect covenant mercies from the Lord while you desecrate and trample his worship beneath your feet. Be warned by former errors. Hezekiah rendered not again to the Lord, according to the great mercies he had received, and in the issue all his boasted glory was carried to Babylon.Think of this, thou nobleman, thou merchant, thou yeoman, acquiring wealth and lands, and starving thy minister with a bare allowance of bread. He is sworn to serve his God, to labour for thy soul, and bless thy family; he sacrifices all the sources of wealth for you who gather treasures, and forget your God.

Being instructed by those religious characters, the prince and the priests, the people were roused by the prophet; they were encouraged to work, till they had completed the temple to the joy of the nation, and the glory of the Lord. It was a house prepared for the Messiah, as in the words which follow.

Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Hag 1:1-11. The Gist of Haggais Sermon on Sep. 1, 520 B.C.

Hag 1:1 and similar verses are the work of the editor, probably one of Haggais disciples who first wrote down an account of the prophets teaching. After by Haggai the prophet the LXX inserts saying, Say. But though this reading is probably correct, since the address in Hag 1:3 ff. is to the people rather than to Zerubbabel and Joshua, the whole of Hag 1:1 after by Haggai the prophet is a later editorial addition from Hag 2:1 f., the introductory clause being originally identical in form with Hag 2:1; Hag 2:10.

Shealtiel, Zerubbabels father, was, according to 1Ch 3:17, one of the sons of Jehoiachin. Zerubbabels office seems to be the same as that to which Gedaliah had been appointed (Jer 40:5-7; Jer 40:11), and which in the reign of Cyrus had been held by Sheshbazzar (Ezr 1:8-11). The use of the title peh in the case of Zerubbabel and of ns in the case of Sheshbazzar probably does not imply any difference in the status or authority of the two men. Zerubbabel would have no jurisdiction over Samaria.

The title here given to Joshua the high priest or, more literally, the great priest, though applied to Jehoiada (2Ki 12:10) was probably not in use before the age of Josiah, Hilkiah being termed simply the priest (2Ki 22:14; 2Ki 23:24; but cf. 2Ki 22:4; 2Ki 22:8, 2Ki 23:4). According to the late genealogy in 1Ch 6:13-15 Jehozadak, Joshuas father, was the son of Seraiah and had been carried into exile by Nebuchadnezzar. This statement, however, may be a mere inference by the Chronicler who combined the statement of 2Ki 25:18 (Jer 52:24) and the description of Joshua in Hag., and argued that since, according to his view, there were no sacrifices at Jerusalem between 586 and the appointment of Zerubbabel, Joshua must have returned with the latter, and therefore his father, Jehozadak, must have been carried into captivity.

Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible

THE FIRST MESSAGE.

Hag 1:1-11.

The first word of the LORD opens with an appeal to the conscience (2-4); followed by an exhortation (5, 6), and closes with a word of encouragement and warning (7-11).

(Vv. 2-4). The history of these times, as presented in the book of Ezra, presents the adversaries as stopping the building of the house, but is silent as to the condition of the people. The prophet Haggai makes no allusion to the adversaries, but at once lays bare the low moral condition of the remnant. History has to do with events; prophecy with the moral condition that lies behind the actions of the people of God.

Judging simply by the history, we might conclude that the building of the house was stopped by what the adversaries said. From the word of the LORD, by the prophet, we learn that the true reason is found in what the people said. Thus the message opens with the words, “This people say, The time is not come, the time that the LORD’S house should be built.” For twelve years they had ceased to do the one thing for which they had been delivered from Babylon. They seek to excuse their failure by saying. “The time is not come” to build the LORD’S house.

Alas! how often the same excuse may be made today. We may be tempted to say, All have failed, and the Church is in ruins, and because the time is not yet come to put all things right by the coming of Christ, we must lightly pass over the moral confusion that marks Christendom, and shut our eyes to the irregularities, and departure from the Scriptural order of God’s house.

If, however, we speak thus, the LORD appeals to us, as to His people of old, with the conscience reaching question, “Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your ceiled houses, and this house lie waste?” Thus we learn, that whatever excuses may be made as to the time being inopportune, the true reason for indifference to the carrying out the principles of God’s house is found in occupation with our own things. Even in the Apostle’s day we read of believers that, “All seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ’s” (Php 2:21). One has said, “It is an inevitable alternative that we must be occupied either with the Lord’s things, or with our own.”

Some may seek their own by settling down to “mind earthly things.” But apart from the snare of worldliness and earthly mindedness, we may mind our own things in the sense of simply confining our thoughts and activities to the individual blessing of souls, and entirely neglecting the great truths concerning Christ and the Church, and thus cease to walk according to the principles of God’s house. This was a great danger even in the day of the Apostle Paul, for he could write of the “great conflict” he had that believers might enter into the mystery of God. In our day, when the truth of the Church has been recovered, the constant danger is once again to give up these truths and settle down into evangelism without the mystery. It is possible to engage in much evangelical activity which may exalt ourselves in the religious world, and entail little or no reproach; but, to maintain the truths of the Church, and to act in the light of the truth, will at once involve reproach and conflict. From such conflict, our natural love of ease will shrink, with the result that, where there is a lack of faith, we are in danger of becoming [solely] a gospel mission, and letting go all the truths that have been so graciously recovered.

(Vv. 5, 6). This solemn appeal to the conscience is followed by the exhortation, “Consider your ways.” The remnant are asked, as we are asked, to consider what is the result of occupation with our own things, and our individual soul blessing, while neglecting the deeper interests of the LORD, and the things that concern His glory.

The result then, as now, is expressed in the words, “Ye have sown much, and bring in little” – great activity but little return. Moreover, this neglect of the house of God leads to spiritual starvation, for, says the prophet, “Ye eat but ye have not enough.” Again, it brings no spiritual satisfaction, for, “Ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink;” it leaves the spiritual affections cold, “Ye clothe you, but there is none warm;” and it carries no reward, “He that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes.” Such then was the sad condition, not of the people of God who were still in Babylon, but of the highly privileged remnant who, in the mercy of God had been delivered from Babylon – a condition which is wholly the result of having so largely given up the purpose for which they had been brought back to the land. Has this no voice for the people of God, in our day, who seek to answer to the mind of God?

(Vv. 7-9). For the second time the LORD exhorts the remnant to consider their ways. The first time it was in the way of reproof, now it is to encourage them to resume the work of the house of God. We know that then, as now, it was a day of small things. As we shall see, the house they built was “as nothing” compared with the former glory of the house. Nevertheless, the LORD says to this feeble remnant, “Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified saith the LORD.”

As with the remnant of old, so with ourselves, the low spiritual condition that we so often have to mourn, is the outcome of doing our own pleasure and seeking our own glory. Self-will and self-importance lie at the root of our failure. Nevertheless, is it not the deepest joy and encouragement to know that, in a day of weakness, and in spite of all our failure, it is still possible to judge our ways and do that in which God can take pleasure and, through which, God can be glorified?

Further we are again assured that the “pleasure” and “glory” of God are connected with His house, marked by holiness, prayer, worship, and testimony to the grace and goodness of God. There may be with us much zeal, and activity, as with the remnant of old who “looked for much,” but “it came to little,” because the house of God was neglected.

(Vv. 10, 11). Neglecting the great purpose of God for which they had been delivered from captivity, they brought upon themselves the chastening of the LORD.

THE SECOND MESSAGE.

Hag 1:12-15.

On the Twenty-fourth day of the same month the LORD sends a second message by Haggai, who is honoured by being called “the LORD’S messenger.” How good to realize that though the returned remnant had so grievously failed to carry out the purpose for which they had been delivered from Babylon, yet the LORD does not give them up. He still has His Messenger to deliver His message to the people.

So, too, in our day of weakness and ruin, when evil men and seducers wax worse and worse, we read of “the man of God,” and that such an one is to “preach the word; be urgent in season, out of season; convict, rebuke, encourage with all long-suffering and doctrine” (2Ti 3:17; 2Ti 4:2).

The LORD’S messenger has appealed to the people with a word of rebuke. Happily the people “Obeyed the voice of the LORD their God,” and “did fear before the LORD.” At once Haggai is sent with this second message of encouragement. Having obeyed the LORD, they can count on the presence of the LORD; “I am with you, saith the LORD.” How much blessing is involved in this short message! As one has said, “I am with you is the saving principle for faith in the weakest possible day, . . . and what had they better in the brightest day?”

The remnant that returned from Babylon in that day, even as those who have been delivered from the bondage of human systems in this day, may find themselves in circumstances of great weakness, opposed by many adversaries, and in reproach; but, if the Lord is with them their blessing is certain; the needed succour in all their weakness will be forthcoming; and all needed protection from their enemies assured. So in the parable in John 10, we have a beautiful picture of a flock of sheep wholly dependent upon the Shepherd. Left to themselves sheep are stupid, feckless things, prone to wander and easily frightened, but with the Shepherd going before all is well.

Good it is then for us, like the remnant of old, to obey the word of the LORD, “fear before the LORD,” and go forth without the camp “unto Him. ” Thus acting in simple faith we shall find in every difficulty that arises, in every opposition that we may meet, in any reproach we may have to endure, that we have the Lord present, with all wisdom to direct, all love to comfort, and all power to sustain. Obeying the word of the Lord, and walking in His fear, we can count upon His presence, and ever fall back on His words, “I am with you saith the LORD.”

Moreover, if the LORD is with us we shall find, as the remnant of old found, that He will stir up our spirits to “work in the house of the LORD.”

Fuente: Smith’s Writings on 24 Books of the Bible

1:1 In the second year of {a} Darius the king, in the sixth month, in the first day of the month, came the word of the LORD by Haggai the prophet unto {b} Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, saying,

(a) Who was the son of Histaspis and the third king of the Persians, as some think.

(b) Because the building of the temple began to cease, by reason that the people were discouraged by their enemies: and if these two notable men had need to be stirred up and admonished of their duties, what will we think of other governors, whose doings are either against God, or very cold in his cause?

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

A. Haggai’s First challenge 1:1-6

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

Like Ezekiel, Jonah, and Zechariah, the Book of Haggai contains no formal title. Yahweh sent a message to Zerubbabel ("born in Babylon" or "seed of Babylon," an allusion to his birthplace) and Joshua ("Yahweh saves") through the prophet Haggai, though it went to all the Israelites too (Hag 1:2; Hag 1:4). Zerubbabel was the political governor (overseer) of the Persian province of Judah who had led the returnees back to the land (Ezr 2:2; et al.). He was the son of Shealtiel ("I have asked of God," Ezr 3:2; Ezr 3:8; Ezr 5:2; Neh 12:1; et al) and the grandson of King Jehoiachin (Jeconiah), one of the descendants of King David (cf. 1Ch 3:17-19; Mat 1:12).

Zerubbabel apparently had two fathers (1Ch 3:17-19). Perhaps his other father, Pedaiah, was his uncle. If this was a levirate marriage (cf. Deu 25:5-10), Pedaiah would have married a woman and then died. Shealtiel, Pedaiah’s brother, would then have married the widow who gave birth to Zerubbabel in place of Shealtiel, Zerubbabel’s physical father. Another possibility is that Shealtiel adopted Zerubbabel after Pedaiah died. A third option is that one of these men was really a more distant ancestor of Zerubbabel, perhaps his grandfather.

Joshua was the high priest of the restoration community and a descendant of Aaron. He was the son of Jehozadak, who had gone into Babylonian captivity in 586 B.C. (1Ch 6:15; cf. Ezr 3:2; Ezr 3:8; Neh 12:1; Neh 12:8).

The Lord gave Haggai this message on the first day of the sixth month in the second year that Darius I (Hystaspes) ruled as king over Persia. This was Elul 1 (August 29), 520 B.C. [Note: R. A. Parker and W. H. Dubberstein, Babylonian Chronology 626 B.C.-A.D. 75, p. 30, established the equivalent modern (Julian) dates.] When the Israelites returned from exile in Babylon, they continued to follow the Babylonian calendar and began their years in the spring rather than in the fall (cf. Exo 23:16; Exo 34:22). Each new month began with a new moon, and the Israelites commonly celebrated the occasion with a new moon festival (cf. Num 28:11-15; Isa 1:14; Hos 2:11). This first prophetic revelation that God gave in the Promised Land following the return from exile came on a day when most of the Israelites would have been in Jerusalem. The meaning of Haggai’s name (festal, or festal one) was appropriate in view of when the Lord gave this first prophecy through him. The fact that the writer spoke of Haggai in the third person does not exclude Haggai himself from being the writer since this was a common literary device in antiquity. [Note: Taylor, p. 52.]

In the historical books of the Old Testament, the writers usually dated the events in reference to a king of Judah or Israel, but the Jews had no king now. They were under the control of a Gentile ruler, in "the times of the Gentiles" (Luk 21:24; cf. Daniel 2; Zec 1:1). "The times of the Gentiles" are the times during which Israel lives under Gentile control. These times began when Judah lost her sovereignty to Nebuchadnezzar in 586 B.C., and they will continue until Messiah’s second coming when He will restore sovereignty to Israel.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

HAGGAI AND THE BUILDING OF THE TEMPLE

Hag 1:1-15; Hag 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. {Hag 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 mans 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.

Fuente: Expositors Bible Commentary