Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Haggai 1:11
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 labor of the hands.
11. a drought ] The Jewish commentators have observed a paronomasia or play on words, as between the fault and the punishment. My house is “ waste ” ( charb, ver. 4, 9), through your neglect, and your punishment shall be a “ drought ” ( choreb). “Quasi dicat; quia aedem meam vastam relinquitis, ego quoque in omnia vestra vastitatem immittam.” Rosenm.
labour ] The word here used means properly wearisome labour, toil (Gen 31:42). It is rather than . Here of course it means the product of labour.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And I called for a drought upon the land – God called to the people and they would not hear. It is His ever-repeated complaint to them. I called unto you, and ye would not hear. He called to His inanimate creatures to punish them, and they obeyed. So Elisha tells the woman, whose son he had restored to life, 2Ki 8:1. The Lord hath called to the famine, and it shall also come to the land seven years.
And upon men, – in that the drought was oppressive to man. The prophet may also allude to the other meaning of the word, waste, desolation. They had left the house of the Lord waste, therefore God called for waste, desolation, upon them.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
This verse is a particular narrative of what was more generally expressed in the former verse, and all things mentioned herein are very plain.
I, your God whom you neglected, called for; commanded or willed, which is call powerful enough to bring together any of his armed soldiers, to punish rebellious and contumacious sinners.
Upon the land; either the whole land, or, in distinction to mountains. the lower grounds and valleys.
Upon the mountains; which in Canaan were fruitful in pasturage, and rich in vines, and olives, and corn; all which, for want of rain, dried up and withered, languished and came to nothing; so the condition of these people was very desolate, a just punishment for a temple desolate by their negligence.
Upon men; the very blood, humours, and constitutions of men were strangely changed hereby, and many diseases afflicted them.
Upon cattle; murrain, leanness, and death among the brute beasts.
Upon all the labour of the hands; whatever mans industry planted, as trees and plants, were under this curse, and languished, died, and were burnt up.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
11. I calledwhat the “heaven”and “earth,” the second causes, were said to do (Hag1:10), being the visible instruments, Jehovah, in thisverse, the invisible first cause, declares to be His doing. He “callsfor” famine, c., as instruments of His wrath (2Ki 8:1Psa 105:16). The contrast isstriking between the prompt obedience of these material agencies, andthe slothful disobedience of living men, His people.
droughtHebrew,Choreb, like in sound to Chareeb, “waste”(Hag 1:4; Hag 1:9),said of God’s house; implying the correspondence between the sin andits punishment. Ye have let My house be waste, and I will sendon all that is yours a wasting drought. This would affect notmerely the “corn,” c., but also “men” and”cattle,” who must perish in the absence of the “corn,”&c., lost by the drought.
labour of the handsallthe fruits of lands, gardens, and vineyards, obtained by labor of thehands (Deu 28:33 Psa 78:46).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And I called for a drought upon the land,…. Upon the whole land of Judea; as he withheld the dew and rain from falling on it to moisten it, refresh it, and make it fruitful; so he ordered a vehement heat to dry and parch it; and directed the rays of the sun to strike with great force upon it, and cause the fruits of it to wither; and which is done by a word of his; when he calls, every creature obeys. There is an elegant play on words, which shows the justness of such a proceeding, that it was according to the law of retaliation; they suffered the house of God to lie , “waste”, and therefore he calls for , a “wasting” drought, to come upon their land:
and upon the mountains; where herbage grew, and herds of cattle and flocks of sheep were fed; but now the grass through the drought was withered away, and so no pasturage for them, and in course must perish:
and upon the corn, and upon the new wine, and upon the oil; that is, upon the grain fields, and upon the vines and olive trees; so that they produced but very little grain, wine, and oil, and that not very good, and which was not satisfying and refreshing; at least there were not enough for their support and comfort: now these three things were the principal necessaries of life in the country of Judea, and therefore a scarcity of them was very distressing:
and upon [that] which the ground bringeth forth; whatever else not mentioned the earth produced, as figs, pomegranates, and other fruit:
and upon men, and upon cattle; who not only suffered in this drought, by the above said things it came upon; but by diseases it produced upon them, as the pestilence and fever among men, and murrain upon the cattle:
and upon all the labour of the hands: of men; whatsoever fields and gardens, trees and plants of every kind, that were set and cultivated by them. Of this drought, and the famine that came upon it, we nowhere else read; but there is no doubt to be made of it.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(11) And I called for a drought upon.Better, And I invoked a desolation upon. Similarly in 2Ki. 8:1, Elisha announces to the Shunammite. The Lord hath called a famine, and it shall also come upon the land seven years.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Hag 1:11 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.
Ver. 11. than call for a drought &c. ] and so for a dearth (which inevitably followed in those hot countries), and consequently for pestilence and sword, the usual concomitants? The Septuagint for drought here (by a mistake of points) translate a sword Pro chorebb legunt cherib. And in the original there is an elegance alliteration past the ability to translate. Because my house is chareb, that is, waste, therefore I have called for a choreb, drought, or for a chereb, a sword, which shall in like sort lay your land waste and make your houses desolate; according to that which is threatened, Deu 28:15-68 Mat 23:38 . And in the very next chapter Mat 24:7 , Christ telleth his apostles that those refractory Jews, and others, that rejected him, the true temple, in “whom the Godhead dwelt bodily,” Col 2:9 , that is, essentially (and not in clouds and ceremonies, as once between the cherubims, which they used to call Shechinah), because they loathed the heavenly manna, therefore they should be pined with famine. They that would have none of the gospel of peace should taste deeply of the miseries of war. They that despised the only medicine of their souls should be visited with pestilence. The black horse is ever at the heels of the red; and the pale of the black Rev 6:4 . As there hath been a conjuncture of offences, so there will be of miseries; a conflux of them abideth the neglecters of God’s house, the contemners of his gospel. Ursine tells us, that those that fled from England for religion in Queen Mary’s days, acknowledged that that great inundation of misery came justly upon them, for their unprofitableness under the means of grace, which they had enjoyed in King Edward’s days. Zanchy likewise tells us, that when he first came to be pastor at Clavenna there happened a grievous pestilence in that town, so that in seven months’ time there died twelve hundred persons. Their former pastor, Mainardus, that man of God, as he calleth him, had often foretold such a calamity, for their profaneness and Popery; but he could never be believed till the plague had proved him a true prophet; and then they remembered his words, and wished they had been warned by him (Zanch. Miscel. ep. ad Lantgrav.). Let us also fear, lest for our many and bony sins (as the prophet’s expression is, Amo 5:12 , Peccata ossea, bony sins i.e. fortia ) strong, but especially for our hateful and horrible contempt of his servants and services (never the, like known), we pull upon our land Amos’s famine, not of bread, but (which is a thousandfold worse) of hearing the words of the Lord, Amo 8:11 ; a famine long since foretold and feared by our martyrs and confessors; and now, if ever (if God forefend not), in procinctu, in readiness of battle to fall upon us, as the most unworthy and unthankful people that ever the sun of heaven beheld or the sun of Christ’s gospel shone upon so fair and so long together. The best way of prevention is prevision and reformation; beginning at our own, as Gideon did at his father’s household, Jdg 6:27 . And the best almanack we can rely upon for seasonable weather and the lengthening of our tranquillity is our obedience to God, love to our neighbours, care of ourselves.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
new wine. Hebrew. tirosh. App-27.
that which. Some codices, with Aram, and Syriac, read “all which”.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
I called: Deu 28:22, 1Ki 17:1, 2Ki 8:1, Job 34:29, Lam 1:21, Amo 5:8, Amo 7:4, Amo 9:6
upon all: Hag 2:17
Reciprocal: Psa 105:16 – Moreover Psa 107:37 – which may Isa 19:15 – General Jer 3:3 – the showers Jer 8:13 – there Joe 1:10 – the new Amo 4:7 – I have
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Hag 1:11. This verse sums 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.