THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET HAG GA I. 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 Idæi 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 in Elis by Lycurgus, Iphitus, and Cleosthenes, 365.-Year since the conquest of Corobus 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 Lacedæmon, of the family of the Proclidæ.-Eleventh year of Cleomenes, king of Lacedæmon, of the family of the Eurysthenidæ.-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. A. M. 3484. B. C. 520. R. Roman., 15. IN e d N the second year of Darius | the son of Shealtiel, governor the king, in the sixth month, of Judah, and to Joshua the in the first day of the month, son of Josedech, the high came the word of the LORD priest, saying, C by Haggai the prophet unto Zerubbabel b Heb. by the hand of Ezra iii. 2. Matt. i. 12. a Ezra iv. 24. v. 1. Zech. i. 1. Taggai.- 1 Chron. iii. 17, 19. We know nothing of the parentage of Haggai. He vas probably born in Babylon during the captivity, and appears to have been the first prophet sent to he Jews after their return to their own land. He was sent particularly to encourage the Jews to pro A. M. 3484. B. C. 520. Ol. LXV. 1. Anno Tarquinii Superbi, R. Roman., 15. 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 h Ye looked for much, and, lo, it came to 5 Now therefore thus saith the LORD of little; and when ye brought it home, 'I did с hosts; Consider your ways. a Ezra v. 1. -- 2 Sam. vii. 2. Ps. cxxxii. 3, &c.--c Set your heart on your ways. d Lam. iii. 40. Ver. 7. - Deut. xxviii. 38. Hos. iv. 10. Mic. vi. 14, 15. Ch. ii. 16.- fZech. 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 v. 3, that Tatnai, the governor on this side the river, had them under his cognizance. None of their own governors was absolute. The Persians permitted them to live under their own laws and civil regulations; but they always considered them as a colony, over which they had a continual superin tendance. Joshua the son of Josedech] And son of Seraiah, who was high-priest in the time of Zedekiah, and was carried into captivity by Nebuchadnezzar, 1 Chron. vi. 15. But Seraiah was slain at Riblah, by order of Nebuchadnezzar, 2 Kings xxv. 18-21. Verse 2. The time is not come] They thought that the seventy years spoken of by Jeremiah were not yet completed, and it would be useless to attempt to rebuild until that period had arrived. But *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 viii. 10.-- Heb. pierced through. —h Ch. ii. 16.—Ɑ ii. 17. -kOr, blow it away.- Lev. xxvi. 19. Deut. xxv 23. 1 Kings viii. 35.- n1 Kings xvii. 1. 2 Kings vill i Abp. Usher has shown that from the commenceme:: of the last siege of Jerusalem unto this time, precisely sixty-nine years had been completed. Verse 4. Is it time for you] If the time be not come to rebuild the temple, it cannot be come fa you to build yourselves comfortable houses: but ye are rebuilding your houses; why then do ye not rebuild the house of the Lord? The foundation of the temple had been laid fourteen years before, and some considerable progress made in the building and it had been lying waste in that unfinished state to the present time. Verse 5. Consider your ways.] Is it fit that yo should be building yourselves elegant houses, and neglect a place for the worship of that God who has restored you from captivity? Verse 6. Ye have sown much] God will not bles you in any labour of your hands, unless you rebuild his temple and restore his worship. This verse co tains a series of proverbs; no less than five in the compass of a few lines. Verse 8. Go up to the mountain, and bring wood] Go to Lebanon, and get timber. In the second year of the return from the captivity, they had procured cedar trees from Lebanon, and brought them to Joppa, and had hired masons and carpenters fre the Tyrians and Sidonians; but that labour had been nearly lost by the long suspension of the building. Ezra iii. 7. Verse 9. Ye looked for much] Ye made great pr tensions at first; but they are come to nothing. Y. did a little in the beginning; but so scantily and t willingly that I could not but reject it. Ye run every man unto his own house.] To rebell and adorn it; and God's house is neglected! Verse 10. Therefore the heaven over you is stay from dew] It appears from the following verse th God had sent a drought upon the land, which threalened them with scarcity and famine. Verse 12. Then Zerubbabel] The threatening of Haggai had its proper effect. The civil governor, the He assures them of A. M. 3484. Ol: LXV. 1. R. Roman., 15. land, and upon the mountains, | ger in the LORD's message unto and upon that which the ground bringeth forth, and upon men, and upon cattle, a and upon all the labour of the hands. e 14 And the LORD stirred up A. M. 3484. B. C. 520. Ol. LXV. 1. Anno Tarquinii Superbi, R. Roman., 15. the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua 12 Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, the son of Josedech, the high-priest, and the and Joshua the son of Josedech, the high-spirit of all the remnant of the people: 'and priest, with all the remnant of the people, they came and did work in the house of the obeyed the voice of the LORD their God, and LORD of hosts, their God, the words of Haggai the prophet, as the LORD their God had sent him, and the people did fear before the LORD. 13 Then spake Haggai the LORD's messen a Ch. ii. 17. -b Ezra v. 2. c Matt. xxviii. 20. Rom. viii. 31. high-priest, and the whole of the people, united together to do the work. When the authority of God is acknowledged, his words will be carefully obeyed. Verse 13. Then spake Haggai] He was the Lord's messenger, and he came with the Lord's message, and consequently he came with authority. He is called 8 malach Yehovah, the angel of Jehovah, just as the pastors of the seven Asiatic churches are called ANGELS of the churches, Rev. i. 2. I am with you, saith the Lord.] Here was high encouragement. What may not a man do when God is his helper? Verse 14. And the Lord stirred up the spirit] It is 15 In the four and twentieth day of the sixth month, in the second year of Darius the king. CHAPTER II. When this prophecy was uttered, about four years before the temple was finished, and sixtyeight after the former one was destroyed, it appears that some old men among the Jews were greatly dispirited on account of its being so much inferior in magnificence to that of Solomon. Compare Ezra iii. 12. To raise the spirits of the people, and encourage them to proceed with the work, the prophet assures them that the glory of the second temple should be greater than that of the first, alluding perhaps to the glorious doctrines which should be preached in it by Jesus Christ and his apostles, 1-9. He then shows the people that the oblations brought by their priests could not sanctify them while they were unclean by their neglect of the temple; and, to convince them that the difficult times they had experienced during that neglect proceeded from this cause, he promises fruitful seasons from that day forward, 10-19. The concluding verses contain a prediction of the mighty revolutions that should take place by the setting up of the kingdom of Christ, under the type of Zerubbabel, 20-23. As the time which elapsed between the date of the prophecy and the dreadful concussion of the nations is termed in ver. 6, A LITTLE WHILE, the words may likewise have reference to some temporal revolutions then near, such as the commotions of Babylon in the reign of Darius, the Macedonian conquests in Persia, and the wars between the successors of Alexander; but the aspect of the prophecy is more directly to the amazing victories of the Romans, who, in the time of Haggai and Zechariah, were on the VERY EVE of their successful career, and in the lapse of a few centuries subjugated the whole habitable globe; and therefore, in a very good sense, God may be said by these people to have shaken "the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land;" and thus to have prepared the way for the opening of the gospel dispensation. See Heb. xii. 25-29. Others have referred this prophecy to the period of our Lord's second advent, The people encouraged to proceed HAGGAI. with the building of the temple, to which there is no doubt it is also applicable; and when it will be in the most signal manner fulfilled. That the convulsion of the nations introducing this most stupendous event will be very great and terrible, is sufficiently plain from Isaiah xxxiv., xxxv., as well as from many other passages of holy writ. A. M. 3484. B. C. 520. Ol. LXV. I. Anno Tarquinii Superbi, IN A. M. 3484. N the seventh month, in the the LORD; and be strong, O B. C. 520. one and twentieth day of Joshua, son of Josedech, the Ol. LXV. 1. Anno Tarquinii the month, came the word of high-priest; and be strong, all Superbi, R. Roman., 15. the LORD by the prophet ye people of the land, saith the Haggai, saying, LORD, and work: for I am with you saith the LORD of hosts: R. Roman, 15. a 2 Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Josedech, the high-priest, and to the residue of the people, saying, 3 Who is left among you that saw this house in her first glory? and how do you see it now? is it not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing? i Verse 1. In the seventh month] This was a new message, and intended to prevent discouragement, and excite them to greater diligence in their work. Verse 3. Who is left among you that saw this house in her first glory?] Who of you has seen the temple built by Solomon? The foundation of the present house had been laid about fifty-three years after the destruction of the temple built by Solomon; and though this prophecy was uttered fifteen years after the foundation of this second temple, yet there might still survive some of those who had seen the temple of Solomon. 5 According to the word that I covenanted with you when ye came out of Egypt, so 'my Spirit remaineth among you: fear ye not. 6 For thus saith the LORD of hosts: Ye once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land; k 7 And I will shake all nations, and the Isai. Ixiii. 11.Joel iii, 16. - Isai. vii. 4.-- Ver. 21. Hebr. xii. . Gen. xlix. 10. Mal. iii. 1. kingdom be meant, which is my opinion, this was erected in somewhat more than five centuries after the second year of Darius; a short period of time whe compared with that which elapsed from the creation to the giving of the law, or from the giving of the law to the coming of the Messiah's kingdom. It must be understood that the word nachath, once, has a clear sense, if understood of the evangelical age; for many political revolutions succeeded, as the conquest of Darius Codomanus, and the various fortunes d Alexander's successors; but only one great and find religious revolution.”—Newcome. Verse 7. And the desire of all nations shall cont Is it not in your eyes] Most certainly the Jews at The present Hebrew text is as follows: b this time had neither men nor means to make any. such splendid building as that erected by Solomon. The present was as nothing when compared with the former. Verse 4. Yet now be strong] Do not let this discourage you. The chief glory of the temple is not its splendid building, but my presence; and as I covenanted to be with you when ye came out of Egypt, so I will fulfil my covenant; for my Spirit remaineth among you, fear not; ver. 5. What is the most splendid cathedral, if God be not in it, influencing all by his presence and Spirit? But he will not be in it unless there be a messenger of the Lord there, and unless he deliver the Lord's message. Verse 6. Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens When the law was given on Mount Sinai, there was an earthquake that shook the whole mountain, Exod. xix. 18. "The political or religious revolutions which were to be effected in the world, or both, are here," says Abp. Newcome, "referred to; compare ver. 21, 22; Matt. xxiv. 29; Heb. xii. 26-28. The political ones began in the overthrow of the Persian monarchy by Alexander, within two centuries after this prediction; and if the Messiah's This is a difficult place if understood of a person: but л chemdath, desire, cannot well agra with a bau, they shall come. It is true that som learned men suppose that an chemdoth, desirabi things, may have been the original reading: but this is supported by no MS., nor is a found in the singular number in any. It is generally understand of the desirable or valuable things which the different nations should bring into the temple; and it is cerai that many rich presents were brought into this temp All are puzzled with it. But the principal difficulty lies in the verb w ubau, they shall come. If t found 21 ubaa chemdath in the singular, the it would read as in our text, And the desire of t nations shall come: but no such reading appears i any MS.; nor is it fairly acknowledged, except '? the Vulgate, which reads, Et veniet desideras cunctis gentibus, "And that which is desired," a the desired Person," shall come to all nations.” h ver. 7 God says he will shake or stir up all nations ; that these nations shall bring their desirable things : that the house shall be filled with God's glory; that the silver and gold, which these nations are reffesented as bringing by way of gifts, are the Lord's; desire of all nations shall come; and I will fill this house with glory, saith the LORD of hosts. 8 The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the LORD of hosts. R. Roman., 15. 11 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Ask now the priests concerning the law, saying, 12 If one bear holy flesh in the skirt of his garment, and with his skirt do touch bread, John i. 14.- --b Ps. lxxxv. 8, 9. Luke ii. 14. Eph. ii. 14. с Lev. x. 10, 11. Deut. xxxiii. 10. Mal. ii. 7. and that the glory of this latter house shall exceed the former. Bp. Chandler labours to vindicate the present translation; but he makes rash assertions, and is abandoned by the Hebrew text. That x2 ba, to come, is often used in the sense of bring, and that chemdath, desire, may be considered as the plural for man, having the point holem instead of the vau, and thus mean desirable things, will not be denied by those who are acquainted with the genius and construction of the Hebrew language. Bp. Chandler thinks that x2, he came, cannot be used of things, but of persons only. Here he is widely mistaken, for it is used of days perpetually; and of the ark, 2 Sam. vi. 9; and of mounts coming against Jerusalem, Jer. xxxii. 24; and of trees coming to adorn the temple, Isai. lx. 13; and of silver and gold coming into the temple, Josh. vi. 19; and Jer. vi. 20, Why doth incense come to me? See Abp. Secker's notes. I cannot see how the words can apply to Jesus Christ, even if the construction were less embarrassed than it is; because I cannot see how he could be called THE DESIRE OF ALL NATIONS. The whole seems to be a metaphorical description of the church of Christ, and of his filling it with all the excellencies of the Gentile world, when the fulness of the Gentiles shall be brought in. Verse 9. And in this place will I give peace] shalom, a peace-offering, as well as peace itself; or Jesus Christ, who is called the Prince of peace, through whom peace is proclaimed between God and man, between man and his fellows; and through whom peace is established in the disconsolate soul. And at this temple this peace was first promulgated and proclaimed. But it is said that the glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former. Now this cannot be said because Jesus Christ made his personal appearance in that temple, or rather in that built by Herod; for, though we allow that Jesus Christ is equal with 3405 the former in glory. or pottage, or wine, or oil, or any meat, shall it be holy? And the priests answered and said, No. A. M. 3484. B. C. 520. Ol. LXV. 1. Anno Tarquinii Superbi. R. Roman., 15. d 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. 14 Then answered Haggai, and said, “So is this people, and so is this nation before me, saith the LORD; and so is every work of their hands; and that which they offer there is unclean. 15 And now, I f consider from pray you, this day and upward, from before a stone was laid upon a stone in the temple of the LORD: 16 Since those days were, when one came d Namb. xix. 11.6, 9. Zech. viii. 10. God, we do not grant that he is greater. Now the first temple was the dwelling-place of God: here he manifested his glory between the cherubim, and it was his constant residence for more than four hundred years. But the glory of this latter house was greater because that under it the grand scheme of human salvation was exhibited, and the redemption price paid down for a lost world. As all probably applies to the Christian church, the real house of God, its glory was most certainly greater than any glory which was ever possessed by that of the Jews. See on ver. 22, 23. e Titus i. 15. Ch. i, 5.- -8 Ch. i. Verse 10. In the four and twentieth day of the ninth month] Three months after they had begun to rebuild the temple, Haggai is ordered to go and put two questions to the priests. 1. If one bear holy flesh in the skirt of his garment, and he touch any thing with his skirt, is that thing made holy? The priests answered, No! ver. 12. 2. If one has touched a dead body, and thereby become unclean, does he communicate his uncleanness to whatever he may touch? And the priests answered, YES! ver. 13. Verse 14. Then answered Haggai—So is this people] As an unclean man communicates his uncleanness to every thing he touches, so are ye unclean; and whatever ye have hitherto done is polluted in the sight of God. For your neglect of my temple has made you unclean, as if you had contracted legal pollution by touching a dead body. Verse 16. Since those days were] I have shown my displeasure against you, by sending blasting and mildew; and so poor have been your crops, that a heap of corn which should have produced twenty measures produced only ten; and that quantity of grapes which in other years would have produced fifty measures, through their poverty, smallness, &c., produced only twenty. And this has been the case ever since the first stone was laid in this temple; for your hearts were not right with me, and therefore I 10 H |