Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Haggai 2:8
The silver [is] mine, and the gold [is] mine, saith the LORD of hosts.
The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine – These words, which have occasioned some to think, that God, in speaking of the glory with which He should fill the house, meant our material riches, suggest the contrary. For silver was no ornament of the temple of Solomon. Everything was overlaid with gold. In the tabernacle there were bowls of silver, in Solomans temple they and all were of gold 1Ki 7:50; 2Ch 4:8. Silver, we are expressly told, was nothing accounted of 1Ki 10:21 in the days of Solomon: he 1Ki 10:27. made silver to be in Jerusalem as stones – for abundance. Rather, as God says by the Psalmist Psa 50:10-12, Every beast of the forest is Mine, so are the cattle upon a thousand hills: I know all the fowls of the mountains, and the wild beasts of the field are Mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is Mine and the fullness thereof: so here He tells them, that for the glory of His house He needed not gold or silver: for all the wealth of the world is His. They had no ground to grieve then, that they could not equal the magnificence of Solomon who had abundance of gold and silver. All was Gods. He would fill it with divine glory. The Desire of all nations, Christ, should come, and be a glory, to which all created glory is nothing.
God says really and truly, that the silver and gold is His, which in utmost bounty He created, and in His most just government administers, so that, without His will and dominion, neither can the bad have gold and silver for the punishment of avarice, nor the good for the use of mercy. Its abundance does not inflate the good, nor its want crush them: but the bad, when bestowed, it blinds: when taken away, it tortures.
It is as if He would say, Think not the temple inglorious, because, may be, it will have no portion of gold or silver, and their splendor. I need not such things. How should I? For Mine is the silver and Mine the gold, saith the Lord Almighty. I seek rather true worshipers: with their brightness will I guild this temple. Let him come who hath right faith, is adorned by graces, gleams with love for Me, is pure in heart, poor in spirit, compassionate and good. These make the temple, i. e., the Church, glorious and renowned, being glorified by Christ. For they have learned to pray, Psa 90:17. The glory of the Lord our God be upon us.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Hag 2:8-9
The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former.
The superiority of the latter house
The prophets declaration that the silver is the Lords and the gold is the Lords is full of comfort to those who are disquieted about their own work, if they will receive it rightly. You who are poor, who have no gold and no silver to give, is it not a comfort that God does not need silver and gold from you? Rich as some may be in the eyes of the world, and in their own eyes, in Gods eyes they are miserably poor, and only the poorer the richer they deem themselves. If our riches be our own, it is poverty; if our knowledge is our own, it is ignorance; neither can be true unless it be Gods already. As the prophets words are meant to cheer those who are troubled by a false humility, so do they cast down our pride, which always lies at the bottom of such false humility. What, then, are we to give to God? Only the things which are especially our own, our own hearts and souls. How could the glory of the latter house be greater than that of the former? It is declared that the Lord of hosts would fill His house with glory. The manner in which this should he done is set forth thus–The Desire of all nations shall come. Through the coming of the Desire of all nations what had waned and decayed may be restored and renewed, until the glory of its latter state is greater than that of its former. The condition of man after the Fall was as nothing in comparison with his first glory. In Christ human nature, regenerated by the power of His Spirit, is raised to a far higher state of glory than that from which man fell. So too it is with each individual man. Under the dominion of natural impulses and passions, he may look with shame on his early years; but they who have been truly and effectually regenerated by the Spirit of Christ know how, here again, the glory of the latter house is greater than that of the former. Such is the glory which we see in St. Pauls life after his conversion. (Julius C. Hare, M. A.)
The presence of Christ in the temple
From the earliest period of time particular places were set apart for the peculiar worship of God. The shady grove and the elevated mountain were at first chosen by most nations as places of devotion. David first formed the design of building the temple. Though in many respects inferior, there was to be in the second temple a brighter glory than was in the temple of Solomon. It is the presence of Christ in it which more than compensated for the want of other things. The great truth for us to consider is, that the presence of Christ constitutes the chief glory of any Church. How is His presence in a Church displayed, and the building rendered glorious by His presence?
1. By the faithful preaching and the cordial reception of His Gospel.
2. If the ordinances of religion are regularly administered and properly prized.
3. When the professors of religion are distinguished for holiness and spiritual joy, and where sinners are converted. (H. Kollock, D. D.)
The glory of the second temple
The great and overpowering honour of the building which Solomon raised was this, that it was the only building on earth erected to the true God. By what peculiarity, then, was the second temple distinguished? The second temple was built by the children of the Captivity when they returned poor, dispirited, and feeble from the oppression of Babylon. It never approached m outward magnificence and real grandeur the original temple. And the emphatic glory of the first temple was awanting in the second. There was no visible symbol of the Divine presence; no awful cloud of brightness. There the Son of God was made manifest in the likeness of human flesh. We are to seek, in the appearance of the Son of God in our flesh, for the circumstances that were to constitute the superior honour of the latter temple. Give the occasions when our Lord visited the temple. And also, the glory of the latter house was greater than the glory of the former, inasmuch as the manifestation of God in the flesh has brought down the character of God to the level of the understanding and the sympathies of men. The cloud of glory in the former temple did not immediately address itself either to the understandings or to the hearts of the people. But the nature of the Godhead has now been embodied in human flesh. We are now privileged to look upon God as He was seen in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. We see the doings of the Eternal One when we see the actions of Christ Jesus. And the glory of the latter house is greater inasmuch as there the Son of God was manifested as the messenger of mercy and reconciliation to sinners. In this house will I give peace. (J. Bannerman, D. D.)
A dedicatory sermon
Comparing the two structures, the prophet saw, in the vision of the future, what was far more glorious than the splendour of the former house. It is in allusion to the advent of Christ that God says, I will fill this house with glory. This was the one transcendent event which made the second temple more glorious than the first. The tabernacle and the temple, as the dwelling place of God on earth, continue still to be the central symbols of all the higher forms of human organisation. The sanctuary stands to-day–the visible throne of the Deity among men, the house of Divine authority and Divine worship, the fountain of light and life, of health and blessing, to all generations.
1. How and in what respects does Christ become the glory of the sanctuary?
(1) In due time Christ withdrew His bodily presence, that His spiritual presence might abound.
(2) Christ, in the sanctuary, survives every change and outlives every foe.
(3) Christ, in the sanctuary, draws after Him the whole range of human intelligence and culture.
(4) He propagates Himself and His Spirit in the souls of all believers; and
(5) He adds new dignity and grandeur to human souls in themselves, both for the present and the future life.
2. What is the demonstration of this manifested glory of Christ in the sanctuary?
(1) Every house of Christian worship is a testimony that God exists, and that His promises continue.
(2) Every Christian temple is a visible protest against all forms of infidelity, and opposition to the Gospel scheme of redemption.
(3) It is a sign of that everlasting covenant of peace which God has made with His people.
(4) It is a dwelling-place of a spiritual Christ on earth.
(5) It is a witness of the faithfulness and constancy of Gods providence over His people. (B. Sunderland, D. D.)
The glory of the latter house
The temple of Zerubbabel was inferior to the temple of Solomon in architectural beauty. Wherein, then, was its greater glory? The Kingdom of Christ rose out of the ruins of the old dispensation, and is become the eternal order of worship (see Heb 12:27-28).
I. The greater glory of the Gospel appears in the wider area it covers. The tabernacle and temple were objects of national interest. Palestine was the only bright spot among all the countries of the world, and so great was the exclusiveness that the light did not travel beyond its boundaries, as if a wall had been built round it as high as heaven. It was the partition wall which Jesus came to break down. There was a breadth in the teachings of Jesus diametrically opposed to the prejudices of His countrymen. We, whose lives have fallen in the nineteenth century, can now survey the area of the latter temple better than they could.
II. The greater glory of the Gospel appears in the greater stability of the church. The temple of Solomon seemed a permanent building, but it was razed to the ground. The temple of Zerubbabel gave way to that of Herod. Three stages are visible in the development of the spiritual. God in creation was power and wisdom at some distance from us. God in the temple was nearer, and[assumed the personal living form which communed with the people from the Mercy-seat. The Spirit of God in us is the last stage, when all manifestations have given way to the real presence.
III. The greater glory of the Gospel will appear in the greater results. Our lot is fallen in the last days. We see the march of intellect and civilisation. We see kingdoms bowing to the authority of the Messiah. A succession of revolutions has brought us forward to the Gospel dispensation. We see another temple looming in the promise, the temple of God and the Lamb. (T. Davies, M. A.)
The greater glory of the latter house
1. The absolute dominion of the riches and splendour of the world belongs unto the Lord, who hath all these things in His power to dispose of as He pleases, and who is to be eyed, acknowledged, and submitted unto by every man in his portion or lot according as He dispenseth it.
2. It may satisfy the people of God in their wants to consider that God hath all they want at His command, and would not with hold it unless He saw such a dispensation tending to their good.
3. When the Lord withholds any glory or splendour from His people and work, it is for their advantage and flows from a purpose to give what is better, if they had eyes to see it; for when He withholds silver and gold, which they so much desired, He purposeth that the glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former.
4. The spiritual things of Christs kingdom do far surpass all the legal administrations in glory, and do put more real splendour on any place where they are administered, than all the pomp of the world beside can do.
5. As peace and reconciliation with God is the allowance of Christs subjects, which outshines all the splendour and glory of the world, so it is the great glory of the Gospel administrations that by them peace may be had through Jesus Christ, which was attainable by none of the works or ceremonies of the Law being rested on; therefore instead of their wonted splendour, and in opposition to former administrations, it is promised, that by Christs coming, His death and doctrine, in this place will I give peace, saith the Lord of hosts. (George Hutcheson.)
The glory of the second temple
Fifteen years after the commencement of the second temple Haggai uttered this prediction. Progress had been hindered by the indifference or the despair of those who were building it. Their hands became slack, and their hearts waxed faint in the work of the Lord. To furnish a stimulus and encouragement to them, Haggai was commissioned to utter this prediction. By the former house is to be understood the temple erected by Solomon. The great and overpowering honour of the building which the king of Israel raised was this, that it was the only building on earth erected to the true God. And God there vouchsafed to make visible to the very eyes of flesh a display of His uncreated majesty and glory. The prophet says that the glory of the latter house of the second temple was to be greater than the glory of the former. By what peculiar glory, then, was the second temple distinguished? In architecture or material there could be no comparison between the two. And the visible symbol of the Divine presence was never to be seen in the latter house.
1. The glory was greater inasmuch as there the Son of God was made manifest in the likeness of human flesh. He was brought to this latter house as an infant for presentation. He visited it as a youth of twelve. He taught in its courts. He made public entry into Jerusalem, and exerted authority in purifying the temple. The simple fact of the Son of God assuming human nature is calculated to awaken a feeling of more profound admiration and awe than any such visible display of the Divine Majesty as that which dwelt of old above the mercy-seat.
2. As the manifestation of God in the flesh has brought down the character of God to the level of the understanding and the sympathies of men.
3. As there the Son of God was manifested as the messenger of mercy and reconciliation to sinners. (J. Bannerman, D. D.)
The future glory of the Church
The second temple was to be more glorious than the first. The temple spiritually is the Church. There being two temples among the Jews prefigured the fact that there would be two spiritual temples, two great churches among the Christians, the first and the second Christian Church. The first was given to the apostles, but has degenerated into mystery and superstition; the second is the Church meant by the New Jerusalem. The first would be destroyed by the spiritual Babylonians; the second would have greater glory than the former, but chiefly in this, that the Lord Himself would be more intimately present therein; there He would be Immanuel (God with us). Explain in what this greater glory consists. The glory of a Church is its wisdom. The glory of the New Church now forming by the Lord under the name of the New Jerusalem surpasses the glory of the former Church in the grand and beautiful character of its disclosures on all subjects, but chiefly on the following–the Lord; His Word; the life which leads to heaven; death; the life after death. The chief glory, or the chief misfortune of man in the religion of thought, is his idea of God. He is infinite love and infinite wisdom in a Divine human form. The whole Divine trinity is in Him, as a human trinity is in a man. He is our Father. There is in all forms of nature a resemblance to humanity. All nature is human, and must have come from a Divine human Creator, a Divine Man in His infinite essence of love, wisdom, and power, from eternity, whom, therefore, it is not incredible to behold descending as a Divine Man in last principles as the Blessed Jesus. The Word of the Lord is glorious as seen in the light of the New Jerusalem. It is Divine wisdom clothed in human language. In all its sacred pages, whether they are history, prophecy, parable, or vision, there is a spiritual sense. The outside of the Scriptures is their least valuable part, the lowest step of the ladder. The Lord, the Church, the soul are everywhere the subjects. For want of a knowledge of the spiritual sense a large portion of the Bible is, to many readers, a dead record, and another large portion quite unintelligible. Then look at the life which leads to heaven. In many professors of religion the conduct of life has a very minute place. Much has been made of creeds, and but little of life. The great redeeming powers of religion have been held off by the prevalence of the dogma that good works do not contribute to salvation, but rather tend the other way. Religion, having been severed from the world, has made a sour, narrow religion, and a bad world. The spirit of love and the spirit of truth, like two guardian angels, should preside over every act of life, and sanctify the whole. Justice, in its widest sense, and religion, are the same (Mic 6:8). Never will the worlds work be rightly done until its labourers derive their motives from love to God and love to man. Now we come to death. What has the old dispensation to say about death? It speaks hesitatingly about the soul, as to whether it is in any shape or not. What becomes of it after death it cannot tell. The New Church teaches that the spirit is the man in perfect human form. It formed the body to itself, and whatever life the body had, it had from the spirit. Free from the body, the spirit will live more perfectly than before, because it will be no longer clogged by a body unequal to its wants. What about the life after death? The spiritual world is an inner sphere of being, filling the natural world as the soul does the body; visible to spiritual sight, and perceptible to all the spiritual senses, as the natural is to bodily sense. Into the realities of that world we come when we awake after death. (J. Bailey, A. M.)
The glory of the two houses
By the glory is here meant the Shechinah, or bright cloud, emblematic of Gods presence and protection, which hovered over the Holy of Holies.
I. The two permanent buildings which the Jews erected. David was grieved because, while he was accommodated in a palace of cedar, the Divine presence dwelt within curtains. He made preparations for a magnificent and durable temple. By the building of this structure, in the time of Solomon, an important promise was faithfully performed. At the consecration of it the personal Jehovah descended His radiant cloud, which filled the house as an emblem of His taking possession of it. In a night vision He assured Solomon that He had chosen this house as the home where His honour, His glory should dwell. Solomons temple subsisted upwards of four hundred years, when it was utterly demolished by Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon. When the captives, returned to Jerusalem they began to rebuild the temple, but were discouraged and delayed. To cheer them Haggai was sent, and he was to give this assurance, The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former.
II. The circumstances which fulfilled this prediction. It is said to be clearly proved that Herod reared his temple on the yet standing foundations of the temple of Zerubbabel. The superior glory of the second temple could not have been any glory that Herod added to it; it must have rested on something spiritual. Haggai explains thus.
He who should be desired and expected by all nations, both Jews and Gentiles,–shall come, and I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of hosts. Four years after the superstructure of Herod was fully built upon the foundations of the temple of Zerubbabel, the infant Jesus was introduced into that temple. The presence of Christ is the grand circumstance which verified the prediction of Haggai. Another point in which the glory of the latter house was greater than the glory of the former was the Court of the Gentiles. The temple of Solomon had only two courts–that of the priests and that of the Israelites. The Gentiles were considered as profane; and unless converted, and wholly adopting the Jewish religion, disregarded and despised. This outer court in the second temple admitted all men to a certain consideration among the chosen people. This was a step toward the further admission of the nations into the entire covenant of peace. (J. Grant.)
Utility superior to beauty
There is an oriental proverb to the effect that the useful outlasts the beautiful, and I remember how an ingenious author illustrates this bit of practical philosophy by allusions to several famous works and names. The tomb of Moses, Israels greatest chieftain, has never been known, but the traveller continues to quench his thirst at the Well of Jacob. Solomons magnificent temple is gone, but the same kings reservoirs and conduits are still available. The ancient buildings of the Holy City are not to be found, but the Pool of Bethesda is clear and limpid and refreshing to-day. The columns of Persepolis, Persias royal capital, are crumbling into decay, but its cisterns and aqueducts remain intact. The golden house of Nero at Rome is in ruins, but the Aqua Claudia pours into the city of the seven hills its bright and healthful stream, Many other triumphs of grandeur and beauty, that in their time commanded the admiration of the world, have disappeared, while humbler works of utility of the same period survive them. Certain it is that in the service of Christ usefulness alone is immortal. Many a brilliant discourse has been admired and forgotten, many a thrilling solo from a sacred oratorio has obtained a few days enthusiastic praise, while a humble preachers blunt appeal, or an uncultured singers simple hymn, has had enduring results. The former were efforts of human genius, like the grand edifices adorning once famous cities; the latter were the lowly channels through which Gods living water reached thirsty human souls. (J. Grant.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
The right as indisputable, the treasures of both as full and large, doubt not therefore but I will give enough to build this house; and I could beautify it with these as much as the first temple, but I intend a greater glory. I am the Proprietor, others but trustees; I have the full disposal of all.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
8. The silver is mine(Job 41:11; Psa 50:12).Ye are disappointed at the absence of these precious metals in theadorning of this temple, as compared with the first temple: If Ipleased I could adorn this temple with them, but I will adorn it witha “glory” (Hag 2:7;Hag 2:9) far more precious;namely, with the presence of My divine Son in His veiled glory first,and at His second coming with His revealed glory, accompanied withoutward adornment of gold and silver, of which the golden coveringwithin and without put on by Herod is the type. Then shall thenations bring offerings of those precious metals which ye now miss somuch (Isa 2:3; Isa 60:3;Isa 60:6; Isa 60:7;Eze 43:2; Eze 43:4;Eze 43:5; Eze 44:4).The heavenly Jerusalem shall be similarly adorned, but shall need “notemple” (Re21:10-22). Compare 1Co 3:12,where gold and silver represent the most preciousthings (Zec 2:5). The inwardglory of New Testament redemption far exceeds the outward glory ofthe Old Testament dispensation. So, in the case of the individualpoor believer, God, if He pleased, could bestow gold and silver, butHe bestows far better treasures, the possession of which might beendangered by that of the former (Jas2:5).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
The silver [is] mine, and the gold [is] mine, saith the Lord of hosts. This seems designed to anticipate an objection taken from the gold and silver, with which the first temple was either decorated, or were in gifts dedicated to it; and which, it might easily be foreseen, would be wanting in the second temple; and in answer to which the Lord observes, that all the gold and silver in the world were his, were made by him, and were at his dispose; and therefore whatever were bestowed upon the former temple was only giving him his own; what he had a prior right to, and was no accession of riches or honour to him; and so it would be the same, let what would be expended on this; and therefore it was an article very inconsiderable, and of little significance; nor did he regard, or was he delighted with anything of this kind; and, was he so disposed, he could easily command all the gold and silver in the world together, and bring it into this house, to enrich and adorn it, without doing any injury to any person; but these were things he delighted not in; and, besides, he had a far greater glory in view to put upon this house, as follows:
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Jehovah can fill this house with glory, because the silver and gold which the heathen nations possess belong to Him. By shaking all kingdoms He can induce the nations to present their treasures to Him as gifts for the glorification of His house. Thus (the promise closes with this in Hag 2:9), the later glory of this house will be greater than the former was. Haacharon might be regarded as belonging to habbayith hazzeh , in the sense of “the glory of this latter house;” and the majority of the commentators have taken it so, after the Itala, Vulgate, and Peschito. But it is quite as admissible to connect it with kabhod , in the sense of “the later glory of this house,” inasmuch as when one substantive is determined by another which is connected with it in the construct state, the adjective belonging to the nomen regens follows with the article (cf. 2Sa 23:1; 1Ch 23:27; and Ewald, 289, a). This is the rendering adopted by Michaelis, Maurer, Hitzig, and others, after the lxx. According to the first construction, the distinction would be drawn between a former and a later house; according to the second, simply between the earlier and later glory of the same house; and the passage would be based upon the idea, that through all ages there was only one house of Jehovah in Jerusalem existing under different forms. Hag 2:3 is decisive in favour of the second view, for there an earlier glory is attributed to this house, and contrasted with its present miserable condition. The first or former glory is that of Solomon’s temple, the later or last that of Zerubbabel’s. The difference of opinion as to the true rendering of the words has no material influence upon the matter itself; except that, if the latter view be adopted, the question so often discussed by earlier writers – namely, whether by the second temple we are to understand the temple of Zerubbabel or the temple as altered by Herod, which many have erroneously taken to be the third – falls to the ground as perfectly unmeaning. The final glory of the temple will also be a lasting one. This is implied in the closing words of the promise: “And in this place will I give peace.” “This place” is not the temple, but Jerusalem, as the place where the temple is built; and the “peace” is not spiritual peace, but external peace, which does indeed in its perfect form include spiritual peace as well. This is perfectly evident from the parallel passages, Mic 5:4, Joe 3:17, and Isa 60:18.
If we also take up the question as to the fulfilment of this prophecy, we must keep the two features quite distinct – ( a) the shaking of heaven and earth and all nations; ( b) the consequence of this shaking, the coming of the heathen with their possessions to the glorification of the temple – although they both stand in close connection. The earlier commentators were no doubt generally right, when they sought for the fulfilment in the establishment of the new covenant through Christ; they simply erred in referring the predicted shaking of the nations and the promised glorification of the temple in too one-sided and exclusive a manner to the coming of Christ in the flesh, to His teaching in the temple, and to the establishment of the kingdom of heaven through the preaching of the gospel. They were thereby compelled, on the one hand, to force upon the prophecy a meaning irreconcilable with the words themselves, and, on the other hand, to seek for its fulfilment in historical particulars to some extent of very subordinate importance. Even the predicted nearness of the time (“it is a little while”) does not suit the exclusive reference to the establishment of the new covenant, or the founding of the Christian church. The period of 520 years, which elapsed before the birth of Christ, cannot be called a little or short time, as Calovius supposes, “in comparison with the time that had passed since either the promulgation of the law or the promulgation of the protevangelium,” inasmuch as five hundred are not in relation to fifteen hundred, and the proposal to go back to the protevangelium is evidently merely a loophole of perplexity. Nor can be explained on the hypothesis that the measure of time here is not a human one, but the divine measure, according to which a thousand years are equal to one day. “For whoever speaks to men, must speak of things according to a human method of thinking; or if he do not, he must make it clear that this is the case. The prophet lays stress upon the brevity of the time, for the purpose of comforting. And only what is short in the eyes of men is fitted for this” (Hengstenberg). The shaking of the heathen world did not first begin with the birth of Christ, but commenced shortly after the time of Haggai. It is true that under Darius Hystaspes the Persian empire was still standing at the summit of its power; but its shaking began under his successor Xerxes, and came very plainly to light in his war against Greece. “Even then there were forebodings that the time of this empire would soon be accomplished, and the rapid conquests of Alexander gave fulfilment to this foreboding. And even his power, which seemed destined to last for ever, very speedily succumbed to the lot of all temporal things. Inde (says Livy) morte Alexandri distractum in multa regna, dum ad se quisque opes rapiunt lacerantes viribus, a summo culmine fortunae ad ultimum finem centum quinquaginta annos stetit. The two most powerful kingdoms that grew out of the monarchy of Alexander, viz., the Syrian and Egyptian, destroyed one another. The Romans now attained to the government of the world; but at the very time when they appeared to be at the summit of their greatness, their shaking had very considerably advanced” (Hengstenberg). The circumstance that the prophet mentions the shaking of heaven and earth before the shaking of all the heathen, cannot furnish any valid ground for objecting to these allusions; nor can it force us to the conclusion that the words are only to be understood as denoting “great political shakings, whereby the power of the heathen would be broken, their pride humbled, and so the susceptibility for salvation be evoked among them.” For even if such events do shake the world, and are poetically represented as earthquakes, even if they were regarded by the nations as heralds of the approaching destruction of the world, because the impression they produced upon the mind was as if heaven and earth were falling to pieces; all this does not satisfy the words, which do not express the subjective emotion, but announce real facts. The shaking of heaven and earth, of the sea and of the dry land, is indeed partially effected by violent earthquakes and wonderful signs in the sky, and was typified by such judgments as the flood; but it is only fully accomplished at the breaking up of the present condition of the world in the destruction of this heaven and this earth.
The prophet mentions at the very outset the utmost and the last that God will do, to clear away all existing hindrances to the completion of His kingdom in glory, and then passes on to the shakings of the world of nations which prepare the way for and lead on to this result, just as Micah in Mic 4:1-13 comes back from the most remote future to the less remote, and then to the immediate future. For the shakings of the heathen, by which their power will be broken and the dissolution of heathenism and of the ungodly power of the world will be effected, do not reach their end with the coming of Christ and the establishment of the Christian church: but just as the kingdom of the world maintains its standing by the side of the kingdom of heaven established by Christ upon the earth, until the return of our Lord to judgment; so does the shaking of the heathen and of the kingdoms of the nations continue till every power which rises against the Almighty God and His Christ is broken, and the world which has been thrown into confusion by the sin of men, and is made subject to corruptibility on their account, shall perish, and the new heaven and new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness, for which we are looking, shall be established (2Pe 3:12-13).
(Note: Aug. Koehler also assumes that the ultimate fulfilment of our prophecy will not take place till the second coming of Christ, although he is of opinion that, generally speaking, it has not been fulfilled in the manner originally intended. Starting, for example, with the fact that the fulfilment of the events predicted by Haggai and the coming of the day of Jehovah are one and the same, and that according to Mal 3:1; Mal 4:5 the day of Jehovah was to be preceded by the coming of a messenger, to prepare the way for Jehovah to come to His temple, Koehler assumes that the fulfilment of these events ought to have taken place with the coming of Jesus of Nazareth, to establish the new covenant as the Messiah. But, inasmuch as Israel was still without such moral preparation as would allow of the coming of Jehovah being a blessing to it, and rejected its Messiah, there occurred an event in connection with this rejection of Jesus on the part of Israel, which not only put a stop to the fulfilment of the prophecies, the realization of which had commenced with the coming of Jesus, but introduced a partial modification. “The new covenant,” he says, “which was established by the Lord in His incarnation, was not at first a blessing to Israel, but to the heathen world. Instead of setting up His kingdom over the earth, with Zion as the centre, the Lord returned to heaven, and there took possession of the throne above all thrones. But Israel was smitten with the ban, and scattered among the heathen nations. The sacred places which were to be glorified by the valuables of all the heathen, had become unclean through Israel’s sin, and were given up to destruction in consequence.” In his opinion there is a coming of Jehovah still in the future. Jesus will return from heaven again, but not till Israel shall have been converted to the Messiah it rejected. Then will the prophecies of Haggai that remained unfulfilled at the first coming of Jesus be accomplished, but in the only way that is still possible, since the former holy places of Israel have been destroyed, and the heathen world has already participated in the new covenant, and has at any rate in part already become the people of God. Consequently the events predicted by Haggai (Hag 2:6-9) have not been fulfilled; for the valuable possessions of all the heathen have not been applied to the glorification of the sanctuary of Jehovah built by Zerubbabel, and there has not been a place of peace created there in the midst of the judgments that were to fall upon the heathen world. But the fault of this rests purely upon Israel. And so also it is in the impenitence of Israel that we have to look for the reason why the shaking of the heaven and the earth, and all the heathen, which Haggai announced as , has been postponed for more than 500 years. This is Koehler’s view. But if there had really been any foundation in the Scriptures for this view, and the predictions of our prophet had not been fulfilled in the manner intended, the fault would not rest entirely in the impenitence of Israel, but would fall in part upon God Himself, for having sent His Son, not at the proper time, or when the time was accomplished, but too early, namely, before Israel was in that moral condition which would allow of the coming of the Messiah to become a blessing to it, whether God was mistaken as to the proper time for sending His Son, or in His judgment as to the moral condition of Israel. If Koehler had put this clearly to his own mind, he would certainly have hesitated before he built up a view on the basis of an erroneous idea of the day of the Lord which necessarily leads to the denial not only of the divine prescience or the , but also of the supernatural character of the old Testament prophecy.)
But if the shaking of the heathen commenced before the coming of Christ in the flesh, and will continue till His second coming in glory, we must not restrict the fulfilment of the predicted moral consequences of this shaking – namely, that the heathen come and consecrate their possessions to the Lord for the glorification of His house, to the conversion of the heathen to Christ, and their entrance into the Christian church – but must also regard the desire for the living God, awakened by the decay of heathendom and its religions, which was manifested in the adoption of Judaism by the more pious heathen, as a prelude to the fulfilment which commenced with the spread of the gospel among the Gentiles, and must include not only the presentation of dedicatory offerings and of gifts , with which the temple was adorned according to Josephus, de Bell. Jud. ii. 17, 3, but also the presents of king Artaxerxes and his counsellors, which Ezra received on his return to Jerusalem to carry with him for the temple (Ezr 7:15.).
(Note: We must not, however, include the additions to Zerubbabel’s temple undertaken by Herod the Great for the sake of beautifying it, because, although Herod was a Gentile by descent, the work was not undertaken from any love to the Lord, but (as Calvin; and Hengstenberg, Christol. iii. pp. 289-90, have already observed) with the intention of securing the fulfilment of Haggai’s prophecy, in order to prevent the coming of the kingdom of God, his fear of which was that it would put an end to his earthly sway. His intention is obvious enough from the address communicated by Josephus ( Ant. xv. 11, 1), through which Herod endeavoured to win over the people to his plan. After telling them that the temple built after the return of the fathers from exile was still sixty cubits lower than that of Solomon, which he proposed to add, he proceeded thus: “But since I am now by God’s will your governor, and I have had peace a long time, and have gained great riches and large revenues, and, what is the principal thing of all, I am at amity with and well regarded by the Romans, who, if I may so say, are the rulers of the whole world,” etc. The allusion to our prophecy, as Hengstenberg says, is unmistakeable here. He tries to prove that all the conditions which it lays down for the glorifying of the temple have now been realized. “All nations,” by whom the building of the temple is to be promoted, are equivalent in his esteem to “the Romans, who are the rulers of the whole world.” He whom God has called to the government has gold and silver enough. And the words “in this place will I give peace” are now fulfilled. The manner in which he strained every nerve to fulfil the words “the glory will be greater,” is evident from 3, where it is stated that “he laid out larger sums of money upon them than had been done before him, till it seemed that no one else had so greatly adorned the temple as he had done.”)
Yea, even the command of king Darius Hystaspes to his vicegerent, which no doubt reached Jerusalem after our prophecy had been uttered, not only to allow the work at this house of God to continue, but also to deliver to the elders of Judah what was required for the building as well as for the requirements of the daily sacrificial worship out of the moneys raised by taxation on this side the river (Ezr 6:6-10), may at any rate be regarded as a pledge of the certain fulfilment of the divine promise uttered by Haggai.
But whilst the honour paid to the temple of Zerubbabel on the part of the heathen and heathen princes by the presentation of sacrifices and dedicatory offerings must not be overlooked, as preludes to the promised filling of this house with the riches of the Gentiles, we must not look to this outward glorification of the temple at Jerusalem for the true fulfilment of our prophecy, even if it had exceeded Solomon’s temple in glory. This first took place with the coming of Christ, and that not in the fact that Jesus visited the temple and taught in it, and as the incarnate Logos , in whom the “glory of Jehovah” that filled the temple of Solomon dwelt in its truest essence as , glorified the temple of stone with His presence, but by the fact that Christ raised up the true temple of God not built with human hand (Joh 2:19), i.e., that He exalted the kingdom of God shadowed forth in the temple at Jerusalem to its true essence. We must draw a distinction between the substance and form, the kernel and the shell, of the prophecy. The temple, as the place where the Lord dwelt in the midst of Israel in a visible symbol of His gracious presence, was the seat and concentration of the kingdom of God, which had its visible embodiment in the temple so long as the old covenant lasted. In this respect the rebuilding of the temple that had been destroyed was a sign and pledge of the restoration of the kingdom of God, which had been broken up through the banishment of Israel among the heathen, and the attitude of those who returned from exile towards the building of the temple was a sign of their internal attitude towards the Lord and His kingdom. If, then, the old men who had seen the temple in its former glory wept aloud at the laying of the foundation of the new building, because in comparison with the former it was as nothing in their eyes, this mourning was occasioned not so much by the fact that the new temple would not be so beautiful and majestic a building as that of Solomon had been, as by the fact that the poverty of the new building set before their eyes the wretched condition of the kingdom of God. This true or deeper ground for their mourning, which might very well give rise to the question whether the Lord would restore His former gracious relation to Israel, or at any rate would restore it now, is met by the divine promise published by Haggai to the people, which attaches itself in form to the existing circumstances, and accordingly promises for the future a glorification of the temple which will outshine the glory of the former one. If we look at the thought itself which is expressed in this form, it is the following: The Lord will one day exalt His kingdom, which is so deeply degraded and despised, to a glory which will far surpass the glory of the kingdom of God at the time of Solomon, and that by the fact that all the heathen nations will dedicate their possessions to it. This glorification of the house of God commenced with the introduction of the kingdom of heaven, which Jesus Christ preached, and of which He laid the foundation in His church. And whilst the stone-temple at Jerusalem built by Zerubbabel and splendidly finished by Herod fell into ruins, because the Jews had rejected their Saviour, and crucified Him, this has been carried on through the spread of the kingdom of God among the nations of the earth, and will be completed at the end of the course of this world; not, however, by the erection of a new and much more glorious temple in Jerusalem, but in the founding of the new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God upon the new earth, after the overthrow of all the powers of the world that are hostile to God. This holy city will have the glory of God ( = ), but no temple; because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. Into this holy city of God will the kings of the earth bring their glory and honour, and the heathen who are saved will walk therein (Rev 21:10-11, Rev 21:22-24). Thus the promise covers the entire development of the kingdom of God to the end of days.
This was the sense in which the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews (Heb 12:26-27) understood our prophecy. In order, namely, to give emphasis to his admonition, not to expose themselves to still severer punishment than fell upon those who hardened themselves under the Old Testament against the incomplete revelation of God, by rejecting the far more perfect revelation of God in Christ, he quotes our prophecy, and shows from it (Heb 12:26), that at the founding of the old covenant only a comparatively small shaking of the earth took place; whereas for the times of the new covenant there had been predicted a shaking not only of the earth, but also of the heaven, which indicated that what was moveable was to be altered, as made for that purpose, that the immoveable might remain. The author of this epistle consequently brings out the fundamental thought of our prophecy, in which its fulfilment culminates, viz., that everything earthly must be shaken and altered, that the immoveable, i.e., the , may remain, or in other words, that the whole of the earthly creation must perish, in order that the kingdom of God may be shown to be immoveably permanent. He does not, however, thereby represent the predicted shaking of heaven and earth “as still in the future,” as Koehler supposes; but, as his words in Heb 12:28 (cf. Heb 12:22), “Wherefore we, receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace,” clearly show, he takes it as having already commenced, and looks upon the whole period, from the coming of Christ in the flesh till His coming again in glory, as one continuum.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
(8) Silver . . . gold.It is unnatural to suppose that this is said in the sense of Ps. 1:10, as implying I have no need of silver or gold. Clearly what is meant is that the treasures of earth are at Gods disposal, and that He will incite the Gentiles to offer their silver and gold in His Temple. A rigid application of this prediction is impossible. (See Introduction, 2.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Hag 2:8 The silver [is] mine, and the gold [is] mine, saith the LORD of hosts.
Ver. 8. The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the Lord of hosts ] Whereas the Jews might object that it was not likely the second temple should be more glorious than the first, since they wanted that wealth wherewith Solomon abounded; God answereth in like sort, as once he did Moses, alleging the slowness of his speech, “Who hath made man’s mouth?” Exo 4:10-11 , so here, whose is the silver and the gold? Am not I the true proprietor and chief Lord of all? cannot I furnish you out of my great purse, the earth, and the fulness thereof? Psa 24:1 ( Terra est marsupium Domini ). What is silver and gold but white and red earth, the guts and garbage of the earth, as one phraseth it? things that I have no need of, Psa 50:13 . They lie furthest from heaven; the best of them are in Ophir (perhaps the same with Peru), furthest from the Church. Adam had them in the first paradise, Gen 2:11-12 , in the second you shall not need them, Job 26:2-3 , &c. In defect of other, I myself will be your gold, and you shall have plenty of silver, Job 22:25 . Christ, girt about the paps (that seat of love) with a golden girdle, shall walk in the midst of his seven golden candlesticks, Rev 1:12-13 , with a golden censer in his hand, perfuming and presenting the prayers of his people upon the golden altar, Rev 8:3 , and measuring that city of pearl, his Church, with a golden reed, Rev 21:15 . Ribera and some others think that God, as of old he had stirred up Cyrus and Darius (both of them heathens) to contribute to the building of the temple, so afterwards he stirred up Herod, a wealthy king, not long before Christ came, to bestow abundance of cost upon the same temple; and that this was here afore prophesied. But I should rather incline to Calvin, who doubteth not but that the devil stirred up Herod to do as he did; that the Jews, doting upon the splendour of that brave structure (the disciples did no less, Mat 24:1-2 ), might cease looking for Christ or trusting in him. And who knows (saith be) whether Herod himself might not have such a fetch in his head. Howsoever, the devil was in it, doubtless, to take off their minds from the expectation of Christ’s coming, which was now at hand, by those external pomps; and to withdraw the spirits of the godly from the furniture and gaiety of the spiritual temple. We know how the disciples (who, leavened with the leaven of the Pharisees, dreamt of an earthly kingdom) were taken with the beauty and bravery of Herod’s temple, showing the same to our Saviour, and fondly conceiting that by that goodly sight he might be moved to moderate the severity of that former sentence of his, “Behold, your house is left unto you desolate,” Mat 23:38 ; Mat 24:1 . But his thoughts were not as their thoughts. The bramble reckoned it a great matter to reign over the trees; so did not the vine and olive. The Papists hold that God is delighted with golden and silver vessels in the administration of the eucharist, and offended with the contrary. But the primitive Christians celebrated the sacrament of the Lord’s supper in vessels first of wood, and afterwards of glass. That saying also of Ambrose is well known, Aurum sacramenta non quaerunt, nec auro placent, quae auro non emuntur. It was grown to a proverb soon after Constantine’s time, Once we had golden ministers and wooden vessels, now we have wooden ministers and golden vessels. Religion brought forth wealth; and the mother devoured the daughter.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
The silver, &c. Compare Isa 2:7; Isa 60:9-17; Isa 61:6.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
1Ki 6:20-35, 1Ch 29:14-16, Psa 24:1, Psa 50:10-12, Isa 60:13, Isa 60:17
Reciprocal: Gen 14:22 – the most Exo 11:2 – borrow Exo 38:24 – All the gold 2Ch 25:8 – The Lord Ezr 6:8 – the king’s Job 42:10 – the Lord Mat 21:3 – The Lord 2Co 9:8 – God
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Hag 2:8. These material substances used to make the literal temple all belonged to God. Likewise, the materials composing the spiritual temple all belong to him according to 1Co 6:19-20.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Hag 2:8-9. The silver is mine Solomons temple was more richly adorned with silver and gold than this, and I, that am the Lord of all the world, could easily command the riches of it, and bring them together for beautifying this my house, if I took delight in, or wanted any thing of this sort. A like expression as this is used, Psa 50:10, with regard to sacrifices. The glory of this latter house, &c. The glory of this second temple shall exceed that of the former, not in riches or costly ornaments, but in this, that there the prince of peace shall make his appearance, and there the gospel of peace shall be preached and published. See Isa 9:6; Mic 5:5; Eph 2:14. Notwithstanding the former temple had the Urim and Thummim, the ark containing the two tables of the law, (written with the finger of God,) the pot of manna, Aarons rod that budded, and the cloud that overshadowed the mercy-seat, and was the symbol of the divine presence; yet the glory of this latter house shall be greater by the appearance, doctrines, and miracles of Christ. Some interpret this passage of the richer decorations in the latter temple; but it may well be doubted whether the second temple could exceed that of Solomon in the splendour and costliness of its ornaments. The presumption is, that the former temple was more magnificent and sumptuous in its furniture than the latter, though inferior to it in point of magnitude. Prideaux values the gold, with which the holy of holies alone was overlaid, at four million three hundred and twenty thousand pounds sterling. P.I.B. 3. Ann. 534. Newcome. What were the magnificence and beauty which adorned the former temple? What was even the Shechinah, the resplendent cloud of glory, which rested upon the mercy-seat, compared with the emanations of the divine perfections from Immanuel: the almighty power and boundless goodness exerted in acts of beneficence which shone forth in Christ, when the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them; and the infinite wisdom displayed in his divine discourses, when he taught daily in the temple, Luk 19:47, and his doctrine dropped as the rain, and his speech distilled as the dew? And never, surely, was such peace given to men by any other as was imparted by and through him; peace between God and man, between Jews and Gentiles, and between man and man, wherever his religion is received in the truth and power of it: peace, spiritual, internal, and heavenly; peace of conscience, tranquillity of mind, serenity of heart; a peace which, as the apostle observes, passeth all understanding, all purely rational conception, or, which no one can comprehend, save he that receives it.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
2:8 The {e} silver [is] mine, and the gold [is] mine, saith the LORD of hosts.
(e) Therefore when his time comes he can make all the treasures of the world to serve his purpose: but the glory of this second Temple does not consist of material things, neither can it be built.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
This verse seems to support the view that impersonal wealth is in view in Hag 2:7. The Lord reminded the people that He controlled all the silver and gold in the world, so He could cause the nations to bring it to the temple in the future.
"The point may well be that because all such things are His and are therefore not of value to Him, His own glory is what is central." [Note: Merrill, p. 41.]
This reminder would have encouraged Haggai’s contemporaries as they rebuilt the temple as well. God could bring more financial resources to them so they could glorify their presently modest temple.