Haggai 2 commentary

Those who are hearty in the Lord's service shall receive encouragement to proceed. But they could not build such a temple then, as Solomon built. Though our gracious God is pleased if we do as well as we can in his service, yet our proud hearts will scarcely let us be pleased, unless we do as well as others, whose abilities are far beyond ours. Encouragement is given the Jews to go on in the work notwithstanding. They have God with them, his Spirit and his special presence. Though he chastens their transgressions, his faithfulness does not fail. The Spirit still remained among them. And they shall have the Messiah among them shortly; “He that should come.” Convulsions and changes would take place in the Jewish church and state, but first should come great revolutions and commotions among the nations. He shall come, as the Desire of all nations; desirable to all nations, for in him shall all the earth be blessed with the best of blessings; long expected and desired by all believers. The house they were building should be filled with glory, very far beyond Solomon's temple. This house shall be filled with glory of another nature. If we have silver and gold, we must serve and honour God with it, for the property is his. If we have not silver and gold, we must honour him with such as we have, and he will accept us. Let them be comforted that the glory of this latter house shall be greater than that of the former, in what would be beyond all the glories of the first house, the presence of the Messiah, the Son of God, the Lord of glory, personally, and in human nature. Nothing but the presence of the Son of God, in human form and nature, could fulfil this. Jesus is the Christ, is He that should come, and we are to look for no other. This prophecy alone is enough to silence the Jews, and condemn their obstinate rejection of Him, concerning whom all their prophets spake. If God be with us, peace is with us. But the Jews under the latter temple had much trouble; but this promise is fulfilled in that spiritual peace which Jesus Christ has by his blood purchased for all believers. All changes shall make way for Christ to be desired and valued by all nations. And the Jews shall have their eyes opened to behold how precious He is, whom they have hitherto rejected.

Many spoiled this good work, by going about it with unholy hearts and hands, and were likely to gain no advantage by it. The sum of these two rules of the law is, that sin is more easily learned from others than holiness. The impurity of their hearts and lives shall make the work of their hands, and all their offerings, unclean before God. The case is the same with us. When employed in any good work, we should watch over ourselves, lest we render it unclean by our corruptions. When we begin to make conscience of duty to God, we may expect his blessing; and whoso is wise will understand the loving-kindness of the Lord. God will curse the blessings of the wicked, and make bitter the prosperity of the careless; but he will sweeten the cup of affliction to those who diligently serve him.

The Lord will preserve Zerubbabel and the people of Judah, amidst their enemies. Here is also foretold the establishment and continuance of the kingdom of Christ; by union with whom his people are sealed with the Holy Ghost, sealed with his image, thus distinguished from all others. Here also is foretold the changes, even to that time when the kingdom of Christ shall overthrow and occupy the place of all the empires which opposed his cause. The promise has special reference to Christ, who descended from Zerubbabel in a direct line, and is the sole Builder of the gospel temple. Our Lord Jesus is the Signet on God's right hand, for all power is given to him, and derived from him. By him, and in him, all the promises of God are yea and amen. Whatever changes take place on earth, all will promote the comfort, honour, and happiness of his servants.

The Prophet now states another reason why he had been sent by God, in order that he might obviate a temptation which might have hindered the work that was begun. We have seen that they were all stirred up by the celestial spirit to undertake the building of the Temple. But as Satan, by his many arts, attempts to turn back the godly from their course, so he had devised a reason by which the desire of the people might have been checked. Inasmuch as the old people, who had seen the splendor of the former temple, considered this temple no better than a cottage, all their zeal evaporated; for, as we have said, without a promise there will continue in men no ardor, no perseverance. Now we know what had been predicted by Ezekiel, and what all the other Prophets had testified, especially Isaiah, who had spoken highly of the excellency of the Church, and shown that it was to be superior to its ancient state. (Isaiah 33:21.) Besides, Ezekiel describes the form of the Temple, and states its dimensions. (Ezekiel 41:1.) As then the faithful had learnt from these prophecies that the new Temple would be more splendid than the ancient, they were in danger, not only of becoming cold in the business, but also of being wholly discouraged, when they perceived that the new Temple in no respect reached the excellency and grandeur of the ancient Temple. And these things are described at large by Josephus.

But we may easily conclude, from the words of the Prophet, that there was then a danger lest they should lay aside the work they had begun, except they were encouraged by a new exhortation. And he says that this happened in the seventh month, and on the first day of the month.

Here arises a question, How was it that they so soon compared the new with the old building. Seven or eight days had passed since the work was begun: nothing, doubtless, could have been then constructed, which might have afforded a ground of comparison. It seems then strange, that the Prophet had been so soon sent to them. An answer to this will be easily found, if we bear in mind. that what I have stated at the beginning of the first chapter, that the foundations of the Temple had been previously laid, but that there had been a long interruption: for the people had turned to their own private concerns, and all had become so devoted to their own advantages, that they neglected the building of the Temple. For it is wholly a false notion, that the people had returned from exile before the appointed time, and it has been sufficiently refuted by clear proofs; for scripture expressly declares, that both Cyrus and Darius had been led by a divine impulse to allow the return of the people. Hence, when the Jews returned to their country, they immediately began to build the Temple; but afterwards, as I have said, either avarice, or too anxious a desire for their own private benefit, laid hold on their minds. As then the building of the Temple had been for some time neglected, they were again encouraged, as our Prophet has shown to us. They had now hardly applied their hands to the work, when, through the artifice of Satan, such suggestions as these crept in — “What are ye doing, ye miserable men! Ye wish to build a Temple to your God; but what sort of Temple will it be? Certainly it will not be that which all the Prophets have celebrated. For what do we read in Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel? Have not all these testified that the Temple which would be rebuilt after our return from Babylonian exile would be more splendid than the other? But we now build a shed. Surely this is done without authority. We do not then fight under the guidance of God; and it would be better for us to leave off the work; for our service cannot be approved of God, except it be founded on his Word. And we see how far this Temple comes short of what God has promised.”

We now hence learn, that it was not without reason that Haggai was sent on the eighth day to recover the people from their indifference. And hence also we may learn how necessary it is for us to be constantly stimulated; for Satan can easily find out a thousand impediments, by which he may turn us aside from the right course, except God often repeats his exhortations to keep us awake. Eight days only have elapsed, and the people would have ceased from their work, had not Haggai been sent to encourage them again.

Now the cause of this cessation, which the Prophet designed to obviate and to remove, ought to be especially noticed. The people had before ceased to work, because they were immoderately devoted to their own interest, which was a proof of base ingratitude and of profane impiety: for those who had no care for building the Temple were most ungrateful to God; and then their impiety was intolerable, inasmuch as they sought boarded houses to dwell in, being not content with decent houses without having them adorned, while the Temple was left, as it were, a wilderness. But the cause was different, when Haggai was sent the second time; for their indifference then arose from a good principle and a genuine feeling of religion. But we hence see what a subtle contriver Satan is, who not only draws us away openly from God’s service, but insinuates himself in a clandestine manner, so as to turn us aside, under the cover of zeal, from the course of our vocation. How was it that the people became negligent after they had begun the work? even because it grieved the old men to see the glory of the second, so far inferior to the first Temple. For though the people animated themselves by the sound of trumpets, yet the old among them drowned the sound by their lamentations. Whence was this? even because they saw, as I have said, that this Temple was in no way equal to the ancient one; and hence they thought that God was not as yet reconciled to them. Had they said, that so great an expense was not necessary, that God did not require much money to be laid out, their impiety should have been openly manifested; but when they especially wished that the splendor of the Temple would be such, as might surely prove that the restoration of the Church was come, such as had been promised by all the Prophets, we doubtless perceive their pious feeling.

But we are thus reminded, that we ought always to beware of the intrigues of Satan, when they appear under the cover of truth. When, therefore, our minds are disposed to piety, Satan is ever to be feared, lest he should stealthily suggest to us what may turn us aside from our duty; for we see that some leave the Church because they require in it the highest perfection. They are indignant at vices which they deem intolerable, when they cannot be corrected: and thus, under the pretext of zeal, they separate themselves and seek to form for themselves a new world, in which there is to be a perfect Church; and they lay hold on those passages in which the Holy Spirit recommends purity to the Church, as when Paul says, that it was purchased by Christ, that it might be without spot or wrinkle. As then these are inflamed with a zeal so rigid that they depart from God himself and violate the unity of the Church; so also there are many proud men who despise the Church of God, because it shines not forth among them in great pomp; and they think that God does not dwell in the midst of us, because we are obscure and of no great importance, and also because they regard our few number with contempt.

In all these there is some appearance of piety. How so? Because they would have God to be reverenced, so that they would have the whole world to be filled with the fear of his majesty; or they would have much wealth to be gathered, so that sumptuous offerings might be made. But, as I have already said, Satan thus cunningly insinuates himself; and hence we ought to fear his intrigues, lest, under plausible pretences, he should dazzle our eyes. But the best way of caution is to regard what God commands, and so to rely on his promises as to proceed steadily in our course, though the accomplishment of the promises does not immediately correspond with our desires; for God designedly keeps us in suspense in order to try our faith. Though then he may not as yet fulfill what he has promised, let it yet be our course to attempt nothing rashly, while we are obeying his command. It will then be our chief wisdom, by which we may escape all the crafts of Satan, simply to obey God’s word, and to exercise our hope so as patiently to wait the seasonable time, when he will fulfill what he now promises.

Prayer

Grant, Almighty God, that as we are not only alienated in mind from thee, but also often relapse after having been once stirred up by thee, either into perverseness, or into our own vanity, or are led astray by various things, so that nothing is more difficult than to pursue our course until we reach the end of our race, — O grant that we may not confide in our own strength, nor claim for ourselves more than what is right, but, with our hearts raised above, depend on thee alone, and constantly call on thee to supply us with new strength, and so to confirm us that we may persevere to the end in the discharge of our duty, until we shall at length attain the true and perfect form of that temple which thou commandest us to build, in which thy perfect glory shines forth, and into which we are to be transformed by Christ our Lord. Amen.

Lecture One Hundred and Thirty-first

The Prophet, after having declared why it was necessary to add new stimulants, now exhorts Zerubbabel and Joshua, and also the people, to be courageous, and thus to proceed with the work. And he again repeats what he had said, that the Lord was with them; I am with you, he says. Now this one thing is enough for us, that is, when God declares that he is with us; for his aid, we know, is stronger than the whole world, however Satan may on every side attempt to resist us.

He also adds, that his Spirit would be in the midst of them; and then he says, that there was no reason for them to fear. By his Spirit God means the power by which he strengthened their minds, that they might not give way to their trials, or, that fear might not hinder them. And what is particular is joined to what is general; for God is present with his own in various ways: but he especially shows, that he is present when, by his Spirit, he confirms weak minds. He then bids them all to be of a courageous mind. This is one thing. But he also shows whence this courage proceeded; for he sustained them by his Spirit when they were growing faint, or when they were not able to resist fears. The Prophet reminds them by these words, that courage was to be sought from God.

We hence learn that what belongs to our calling and duty is not required from us as though we were able to perform everything; but when the Lord, according to his own right, commands, he offers the help of his Spirit; and thus we ought to connect the promise of grace with the precept, of which foolish men take no notice, who deduce free will from what is commanded: for they thus reason — that it is in vain to require from us what is above our ability, and that as God requires us to form our life according to the rule of the highest perfection, it is therefore in our power to perform the highest justice. But the Prophet here, in the first place, exhorts Joshua and Zerubbabel, and the whole people, to be courageous, and then, he immediately adds, that the Spirit of God would be in the midst of them; as though he had said, that there was no reason for them to despond, though they had not sufficient strength in themselves; for courage was to be sought from the Spirit of God, who would dwell among them. In short, the Prophet teaches us that the faithful are so to strive as not to arrogate anything to themselves, but to offer themselves to be ruled by the Lord, that he may supply them with weapons as well as with strength, and thus conquer in them; for though the victory is ascribed to us it is yet certain that God conquers in us.

He then adds, According to the word; for so I render the particle את, at This is the most approved manner. There is no instance in which it means "according.” It may be rendered — “This is the word,” etc. There were two things which were intended to dispel their fear — the covenant made with the fathers, and the Spirit of God — the spirit of prophecy, “standing,” or existing among them. The Chaldee Paraphrase is — “My Prophets are teaching among you.” The verse may be thus translated —

This is the word which I covenanted with you At your comming forth from Egypt, And my Spirit is continuing among you; fear not.

Junius and Tremelius render the [את], “with,” and the verse thus —

With the word (i.e., having the word) which I covenanted with you When ye came forth from Egypt, And with my Spirit standing among you, fear not.

Henderson considers “the word,” and “my Spirit,” to be nominatives to the particle “standing,” or rather to the auxiliary verb which is to be understood before it, and that “standing” is in the singular number, on account of the nearer nominative “my Spirit.” Newcome follows our version, and views [את] as a preposition — “according to.” — Ed. They who think that the Jews are here reminded that it was their duty to obey God, and purely to serve him, and truly to keep his law, according to what he had commanded them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt, far depart from the design of the Prophet; for the Prophet pursues the same subject; and in the latter clause he confirms what I have just mentioned — that the Spirit of God would be in the midst of them. He therefore shows that he promises nothing new, but what God had formerly engaged to give to their fathers. If any one prefers taking the particle את, at in an explicative sense, I do not object; for the meaning would be the same — that this is the word which he had promised. The object of the Prophet is by no means doubtful; for he means to teach us that God is faithful and constant in his promises, and that the Jews would find this to be the case, for he would perform what he had formerly promised to their fathers. The word, he says, which I had covenanted with you when I brought you out of Egypt. For the Prophets were wont to remind the faithful of the ancient covenant, that they might gain more credit to their special prophecies. We indeed know that whatever God had promised to the Jews, was founded on their first adoption. When, therefore, the Prophets brought forward the ancient covenant, it was the same as though they led the Jews back to the fountain itself; for the promises, which now and then occurred, were like streams which flowed from the first spring, even their gratuitous covenant.

We now then see why an express mention is made of the ancient compact which God had made with the chosen people at their departure out of Egypt.

It must also be observed, that God became then the Redeemer of his people, in order to be their eternal Father, and thus to be the perpetual guardian of their safety. Hence the design of what the Prophet says is to show that their fathers were not formerly redeemed, that their children might reject God, but that he might continue his favor to his people to the end. But the ultimate issue is to be found in Christ, that is, the full accomplishment; for God does not cease to show kindness in him to his chosen people, but performs much more fully and abundantly what he had previously exhibited under types and shadows. For whatever he conferred on his ancient Church, was, as it were, a prelude of his vast bounty, which was at length made known by the coming of Christ.

We now clearly apprehend what the Prophet meant: For he upbraided the Jews for their stupidity, because they did not consider that their fathers were formerly delivered from Egypt, that God might defend them to the end. Hence he bids them maturely to examine the design and character of the covenant which God made at their departure from Egypt; for he entered into covenant with them, that he might be their Redeemer, and confer on them the fullness of all blessings. Since it is so, he says, the time is now come when God will perform what he then promised to your fathers; and whatever faithfulness ye have hitherto found in God, ought to be applied for this end — that ye may feel assured that ye have been now restored to your country, in order that he might re-establish his Church, and that ye might not continue in that low condition, which now depresses your minds. As then ye ought to look for that fullness of happiness which God formerly promised, either his covenant is void and he unfaithful, or ye ought with cheerfulness and alacrity to proceed with the work. It follows —

Haggai 2:6-9

6. For thus saith the LORD of hosts; Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land;

6. Quia sit dicit Iehova exercituum, Adhuc unum modicum hoc, et ego commovebo coelos et terram et mare et aridam;

7. And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith the LORD of hosts.

7. Et commovebo omnes gentes, et venient, desiderium omnium gentium; et implebo domum hance gloria, dicit Iehova exercituum.

8. The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the LORD of hosts.

8. Meum argentum, et meum aurum, dicit Iehova exercituum.

9. The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the LORD of hosts: and in this place will I give peace, saith the LORD of hosts.

9. Major erit gloria domus hujus secundae (posterioris, ad verbum,) quam prioris dicit Iehova exercituum: et in loco hoc dabo pacem, dicit Iehova exercituum.

Here the Prophet expresses more clearly, and confirms more fully, what I have said — that God would in time bring help to the miserable Jews, because he would not disappoint the assurance given to the fathers. This declaration, then, depends on the covenant before mentioned; and hence the causative particle is used, For thus saith Jehovah of hosts, as yet a small one it is, or, yet shortly, I will fill this house with glory. The expression a small thing, most interpreters aptly to time. Yet there are those who think the subject itself is denoted. The more received opinion is, that it means a small duration, a short time, because God would soon make a change for the better. “Though then there does not as yet appear the accomplishment of the promises, by which ye have hitherto supported your faith and your hope, yet after a short time God will really prove that he has spoken nothing falsely to you.”

There are yet some, as I have said, who think that the matter itself is denoted by the Prophet, even that the Temple did not yet appear in splendor before the eyes of men, a small one it is, that is, Ye see not indeed a building such as that was, before the Assyrians and the Chaldeans took possession of the city; but let not your eyes remain fixed on the appearance of this Temple. Let then this small one as yet pass by; but in a short time this house will be filled with glory

With regard to the main object, it was the Prophet’s design to strengthen the minds of the godly, that they might not think that the power of God was inefficient, though he had not as yet performed what they had hoped. In short, they were not to judge by present appearances of what had been previously said of their redemption. We said yesterday that the minds of the godly were heavily depressed, because the Prophets had spoken in high terms of the Temple as well as of the kingdom: the kingdom was as yet nothing; and the temple was more like a shed than what might have been compared in glory with the former Temple. It was hence necessary for the Prophet to meet this objection; and this is the reason why he bids them to overlook the present appearance, and to think of the glory which was yet hidden. As yet, he says, it is a small one; that is, “There is no reason for you to despair, though the grandeur of the Temple does not as yet appear to be so great as you have conceived; but, on the contrary, let your minds pass over to that restoration which is still far distant. As yet then a small one it is; and I will move the heavens and the earth.” Our common version is no doubt the best, and is materially followed by Newcome, Henderson, and many others. Retaining the tense of the passage, I would render the clause thus,

Yet once, shortly will it be, And I will shake, etc.

“Shortly will it be,” [מעט היא] (shortly it) may be taken as a parenthesis.

Yet once more, in a short time — Newcome.

Yet once, within a little, — Henderson.

The shaking of the heavens, earth, sea, and dry land is explained, according to the common manner of the Prophets, in the next verse, by shaking of all nations: the material world is named in the first instance, while its inhabitants are intended. So Henderson very properly renders the [מ] at the beginning of the seventh verse, “Yea.” — Ed.

In a word, God here bids them to exercise patience, until he should put forth the ineffable power of his hand to restore fully his Church; and this is what is meant by the shaking of the heaven and the earth.

But this is a remarkable passage. The Jews indeed, who are very absurd in everything connected with the kingdom of Christ, pervert what is here said by the Prophet, and even reduce it to nothing. But the Apostle in Hebrews 12:1 reminds us of what God means here. For this passage contains an implied contrast between the law and the gospel, between redemption, just mentioned here, and that which was to be expected, and was at length made known by the coming of Christ. God, then, when he redeemed his people from Egypt, as well as from Babylon, moved the earth: but the Prophet announces here something greater — that God would shake the heaven and the earth. But that the meaning of the Prophet may appear more evident, each sentence must be examined in order.

He says first, this once, shortly. I am inclined to apply this to time, that I may not depart from what is commonly received. But there is no reason for us to contend on the subject, because it makes little or no difference as to the main point. For we have said that what the Prophet had in view was to show that the Jews were not to fix their eyes and their minds on the appearance of the Temple at the time: “Allow,” he says, “and give place to hope, because your present state shall not long remain; for the Lord will shake the heaven and the earth; think then of God’s power, how great it is; does he not by his providence rule both the earth and the heaven? And he will shake all things above and below, rather than not to restore his Church; he will rather change the appearance of the whole world, than that redemption should not be fully accomplished. Be not then unwilling to be satisfied with these preludes, but know what God’s power can do: for though it may be necessary to throw the heaven and the earth into confusions, yet this shall be done, rather than that your enemies should prevent that full restoration, of which the Prophets have so often spoken.” But the Apostle very justly says, that the gospel is here set in contrast with the law; for God exhibited his wonderful power, when the law was promulgated on mount Sinai; but a fuller power shone forth at the coming of Christ, for then the heaven, as well as the earth, was shaken. It is not, then, without reason that the Apostle concludes that God speaks now to us from heaven, for his majesty appears more splendid in the gospel than formerly in the law: and hence we are less excusable, if we despise him now speaking in the person of his only begotten Son, and thus speaking to show to us that the whole world is subject to him.

He then adds, I will move all the nations, and they shall come. After having mentioned the heaven and the earth, he now shows that he would arrest the attention of all mortals, so as to turn them according to his will, in any way it may please him: Come, he says, shall all nations — How? because I shall shake them. Here again the Prophet teaches us that men come not to Christ except through the wonderful agency of God. He might have spoken more simply, I will lead all nations, as it is said elsewhere; but his purpose was to express something more, even that the impulse by which God moves his elect to betake themselves to the fold of Christ is supernatural. Shaking seems a forcible act. Lest men, then, should obscure the power of God, by which they are roused that they may obey Christ, and submit to his authority, it is here by the Prophet expressed by this term, in order that they might understand that the Lord does not work in an usual or common manner, when they are thus changed.

But it must be also observed, that men are thus powerfully, and in an extraordinary or supernatural manner influenced, so that they follow spontaneously at the same time. The operation of God is then twofold; for it is first necessary to shake men, that they may unlearn their whole character, that is, that forgetting their former nature, they may willingly receive the yoke of Christ. We indeed know how great is our perverseness, and how unnameable we are, until God subdues us by his Spirit. There is need in such a case of a violent shaking. But we are not forced to obey Christ, as lions and wild beasts are, who indeed yield, but still retain their inward ferocity, and roar, though led in chains and subdued by scourges and beatings. We are not, then, so shaken, that our inward rebellion remains in us; but we are shaken, so that our disposition is changed, and we receive willingly the yoke of Christ. This is the reason why the Prophet says, I will shake all nations, and they shall come; that is, there will be indeed a wonderful conversion, when the nations who previously despised God, and regarded true religion and piety with the utmost hatred, shall habituate themselves to the ruling power of God: and they shall come, because they shall be so drawn by his hidden influence, that the obedience they shall render will be voluntary. We now perceive the meaning of the Prophet.

He afterwards adds, The desire of all nations. This admits of two explanations. The first is, that nations shall come and bring with them everything that is precious, in order to consecrate it to the service of God; for the Hebrews call whatever is valuable a desire; so that under this term they include all riches, honors, pleasures, and everything of this kind. Hence some render the passage thus, I will shake all nations, and come shall the desire of all nations. As there is a change of number; others will have ב, beth, or מ, mem, to be understood, They shall come with what they desire; that is, the nations shall not come empty, but shall gather all their treasures to be a holy oblation to God. But we may understand what he says of Christ, Come shall the desire of all nations, and I will fill this house with glory. We indeed know that Christ was the expectation of the whole world, according to what is said by Isaiah. And it may be properly said, that when the desire of all nations shall come, that is, when Christ shall be manifested, in whom the wishes of all ought to center, the glory of the second Temple shall then be illustrious; but as it immediately follows, Mine is the silver, and mine is the gold, the more simple meaning is that which I first stated — that the nations would come, bringing with them all their riches, that they might offer themselves and all their possessions as a sacrifice to God.

It is, then, better to read what follows as an explanation, Mine is the silver, mine is the gold, saith Jehovah; that is, “I have not through want of money deferred hitherto the complete building of the Temple; for what can hinder me from amassing gold and silver from all quarters? Should it so please me, I could in a short time build a Temple by all the wealth of the world. Is it not indeed in my power to create mountains of gold and silver, by which I might erect for myself a Temple? Ye hence see that wealth is not wanting to me to build the Temple which I have promised; but the time is not arrived. Therefore they who believe the preceding predictions, ought to wait and to look forward, until the suitable time shall come.” This is the import of the passage. Many have been the criticisms on this clause, both as to its grammatical construction and as to the import of the word rendered “desire.” The verb “come” is plural, and the word for “desire” is singular. The easiest solution, and countenanced by the Septuagint, where the word is rendered τὰ ἐκλεκτὰ — “choice things,” is to consider [חמדת] as a plural, the [ו] being omitted. This would remove th egrammatical anomaly, and the sentiment, as Calvin says, woud be more consonant with the context.

And come shall the choice things of all nations.

There is no ground for the objection which Bishop Chandler states, that to “come” is in this case an improper expression; for there are other similar instances. See Joshua 6:12; Isaiah 60:5. It is also applied to trees, Isaiah 60:13; and to incense, Jeremiah 6:20.

Newcome takes the word as a plural, but applies it as deliciae in Latin to a person, and refers to Daniel 9:23; where Daniel is called [חמודות], rendered in our version “greatly beloved.”

The version of Henderson is the following —

And the things desired by all nations shall come.

He considers that they are the blessings of the kingdom of Christ, and thinks that the Prophet refers to the general expectation which pervaded the world of some better state of things, and especially of some deliverer.

But the most tenable is the view of Calvin, which has been held by Kimchi, Drusius, Vitringa, and others. — Ed.

He at length declares that the glory of the second Temple would be greater than that of the first, and that there would be peace in that place. As to the words there is nothing obscure; but we ought especially to attend to what is said.

It must, indeed, be first observed, that what is said here of the future glory of the Temple is to be applied to the excellency of those spiritual blessings which appeared when Christ was revealed, and are still conspicuous to us through faith; for ungodly men are so blind that they see them not. And this we must bear in mind, lest we dream like some gross interpreters, who think that what is here said was in part fulfilled when Herod reconstructed the Temple. For though that was a sumptuous building, yet there is no doubt but that it was an attempt of the Devil to delude the Jews, that they might cease to hope for Christ. Such was also, probably, the craft of Herod. We indeed know that he was only a half-Jew. He professed himself to be one of Abraham’s children; but he accommodated his habits, we know, to those of the Jews, oddly for his own advantage. That they might not look for Christ, this delusive and empty spectacle was presented to them, so as almost to astound them. Though this, however, may not have entered into the mind of Herod, it is yet certain that the Devil’s design was to present to the Jews this deceptive shade, that they might not raise up their thoughts to look for the coming of Christ, as the time was then near at hand.

God might, indeed, immediately at the beginning have caused a magnificent temple to be built: as he had allowed a return to the people, so he might have given them courage, and supplied them with materials, to render the latter Temple equal or even superior to the Temple of Solomon. But Cyrus prohibited by an edict the Temple to be built so high, and he also made its length somewhat smaller: Why was this done? and why also did Darius do the same, who yet liberally helped the Jews, and spared no expense in building the Temple? How was it that both these kings, though guided by the Spirit of God, did not allow the Temple to be built with the same splendor with which it had been previously erected? This did not happen without the wonderful counsel of God; for we know how gross in their notions the Jews had been, and we see that even the Apostles were entangled in the same error; for they expected that the kingdom of Christ would be no other than an earthly one. Had then this Temple been equally magnificent with the former, and had the kingdom become such as it had been, the Jews would have acquiesced in these outward pomps; so that Christ would have been despised, and God’s spiritual favor would have been esteemed as nothing. Since, then, they were so bent on earthly happiness, it was necessary for them to be awakened; and the Lord had regard to their weakness, by not allowing a splendid Temple to be built. But in suffering a counterfeit Temple to be built by Herod, when the manifestation of Christ was nigh, he manifested his vengeance by punishing their ingratitude, rather than his favor; and I call it counterfeit, because its splendor was never approved by God. Though Herod spent great treasures on that building, he yet profaned rather than adorned the Temple. Foolishly, then, do some commemorate what Helena, queen of Adiabenians, had laid out, and think that thus a credit is in some measure secured to this prophecy. But it was on the contrary Satan who attempted to deceive by such impostures and crafts, that he might draw away the minds of the godly from the beauty of the spiritual Temple.

But why does the prophet mention gold and silver? He did this in conformity with what was usual and common; for whenever the Prophets speak of the kingdom of Christ, they delineate or describe its splendor in figurative terms, suitable to their own age. When Isaiah foretells the restoration of the Church, he declares that the Church would be all gold and silver, and whatever glittered with precious stones; and in Isaiah 60:1 he especially sets forth the magnificence of the Temple, as though nations from all parts were to bring for sacrifice all their precious things. But Isaiah speaks figuratively, as all the other Prophets do. So then what we read of gold and of silver ought to be so explained as to be applied mystically to the kingdom of Christ; as we have already observed respecting Malachi 1:11 —

‘They shall offer to me, saith the Lord, pure sacrifices from the rising to the setting of the sun.’

What are these sacrifices? Are heifers yet to be offered, or lambs, or other animals? By no means; but we must regard the spiritual character of the priesthood; for as the gold of which the Prophet now speaks, and the silver, ought to be taken in a spiritual sense; for since Christ has appeared in the world, it is not God’s will to be served with gold and silver vessels; so also there is no altar on which victims are to be sacrificed, and no candlestick; in a word, all the symbols of the law have ceased. It hence follows that the Prophet speaks of the spiritual ornaments of the Temple. And thus we perceive how the glory of the second Temple is to be greater than that of the first.

It then follows, that God would give peace in this place; as though he had said that it would be well with the Jews if they only waited patiently for the complete fulfillment of redemption. But it must be observed, that this peace was not so evident to them that they could enjoy it according to the perception of the flesh; but it was that kind of peace of which Paul speaks, and which, he says, exceeds all understanding (Philippians 4:7.) In short, the people could not have comprehended what the Prophet teaches here respecting the future splendor of the Temple, except they leaped over all the obstacles which seemed to obstruct the progress of complete redemption; and so it was ever necessary for them to have recourse to this truth — yet a little while; as though he said that they were patiently to endure while God was exercising their faith: but that the time would come, and that shortly, when the Lord would fill that house with glory that is, when Christ would bring witch him all fullness of glory; for though they were to gather the treasures of a thousand worlds into one mass, such a glory would yet be corruptible; but when God the Father appeared in the person of his own Son, he then glorified indeed his Temple; and his majesty shone forth so much that there was nothing wanting to a complete perfection.

Prayer

Grant, Almighty God, that since we are by nature extremely prone to superstition, we may carefully consider what is the true and right way of serving thee, such as thou dost desire and approve, even that we offer ourselves spiritually to thee, and seek no other altar but Christ, and relying on no other priest, hope to be acceptable and devoted to thee, that he may imbue us with the Spirit which has been fully poured on him, so that we may from the heart devote ourselves to thee, and thus proceed patiently in our course, that with minds raised upwards we may ever go on towards that glory which is as yet hid under hope, until it shall at length be manifested in due time, when thine only-begotten Son shall appear with the elect angels for our final redemption. Amen.

Lecture one hundred and Thirty-second

Haggai 2:10-14

10. In the four and twentieth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the LORD by Haggai the prophet, saying,

10. Vicesimo quarto noni (mensis, subaudiendum,) anno secundo Darii, fuit sermo Iehovae ad Chaggai Prophetam, dicendo.

11. Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Ask now the priests concerning the law, saying,

11. Sic dicit Iehova exercituum, Interroga Sacerdotes de Lege, dicendo,

12. If one bear holy flesh in the skirt of his garment, and with his skirt do touch bread, or pottage, or wine, or oil, or any meat, shall it be holy? And the priests answered and said, No.

12. Si sustulerit vir (quispiam) carnem sanctam in ala vestis suae, et tetegerit ala sua panem, et coctionem, et vinum, et olcum, et quodvis edulium, an sanctificabitur? Et responderunt Sacerdotes et dixerunt, Non.

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.

13. Et dixit Chaggai, Si tetegerit pollutus in anima omne hoc, an polluetur? Responderunt Sacerdotes, et dixerunt, Polluetur.

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.

14. Et respondi Chaggai et dixit, Sic populus iste, et sic gens ista in conspectu meo, dicit Iehova: et sic omne opus manuum ipsorum, et quod obtulerint illic, pollutum erit.

Though interpreters seem to perceive the meaning of the Prophet, yet no one really and clearly expresses what he means and intends to teach us: nay, they adduce nothing but what is jejune and frigid; for they refer all these things to this point, — that sacrifices were not acceptable to God before the people had begun to build the Temple, but that from that time they were pleasing to God, because the people, in offering sacrifices in a waste place, proved by such negligence that they disregarded the command of God: but when their hands were applied to the work, God was appeased, and thus he began to accept their sacrifices which before he had rejected. This is, indeed, a part of what is meant, but not the whole; and the Prophet’s main object seems to me to be wholly different. He has been hitherto exhorting the people to build the Temple; he now exhorts them to build from a pure motive, and not to think that they had done everything when the Temple assumed a fine appearance before the eyes of men, for God required something else. Hence, I have no doubt but that the Prophet intended here to raise up the minds of the people to the spiritual worship of God.

It was, indeed, necessary diligently to build the Temple, but the end was also to be regarded; for God never cared for external ceremonies; nor was he delighted with that building as men are with their splendid houses. As the Jews absurdly ascribed these gross feelings to God, the Prophet here shows why so strict a command had been given as to the building of the Temple; and the reason was, — that God might be worshipped in a pure and holy manner.

I will repeat again what I have said, that the explanation may be more familiar to you. When the people neglected the building of the Temple, they manifested their in-piety and their contempt of Divine worship: for what was the cause of their delay and tardiness, except that each of them regarded nothing but just his own private interest? Now, when all of them strenuously undertook the work of building the Temple, their industry was indeed laudable, for it was a proof of their piety: but when the people thought that God required nothing more than a splendid Temple, it was manifest superstition: for the worship of God, we know, is corrupted when it is confined to external things; for, in this manner God is transformed into a nature not his own: as he is a Spirit, so he must be spiritually worshipped by us. Whosoever then obtrudes on him only external pomps in order to pacify him, most childishly trifles with him. This second part, in my view, is what the Prophet now undertakes to handle. From the seventh to the ninth month they had been diligently engaged in the work which the Lord had commanded them to do: but men, as we know, busy themselves with external things and neglect spiritual worship; hence it was necessary to join what is said here, that the people might understand, that it was not enough to satisfy God, though they spared neither expense nor labor in building the Temple; but that something greater was required, even to worship God in it in a pure and holy manner. This is the design of the whole passage. But we must first examine the Prophet’s words, and then it will be easier to gather the whole import of his doctrine.

He says then that he was ordered by God, on the twenty fourth day of the month, in the same year, in the second year of Darius, to ask the priests concerning the law This clause is literally rendered by Newcome — "Ask now the law from the priests;” or, according to the order of the words, “Ask now from the priests the law.” — Ed. Haggai is not bid to inquire respecting the whole law, but only that the priests should answer a question according to the Word of God, or the doctrine of the law according to what is commonly said — What is law, is the question: for it was not allowed to the priests to allege anything they pleased indiscriminately; but they were only interpreters of the law. This is the reason why God bids his Prophet to inquire what the law of Moses defines as to the ceremony mentioned here. And the design was, that the people, being convinced as to the legal ceremonies, might not contend nor glamour, but acknowledge that all socks are condemned as sinful which flow not from a pure and sincere heart.

Haggai asks first, If a man takes holy flesh — that is, some part of the sacrifice, — if any one takes and carries it in a sleeve or skirt, that is, in any part of his vestment, and then touches bread, or oil, or any eatable thing, will anything connected with that holy flesh be sanctified by mere touch? The priests answer, No. Here also interpreters grossly mistake: for they take sanctified as meaning polluted, altogether falsely; for there is here a twofold question proposed. Whether holy flesh sanctifies anything it may touch? and then, whether an impure and a polluted man contaminates whatever he may touch? As to the first question, the priests wisely and truly answer, that there is no such efficacy in sacrifices, as that they can sanctify what they may touch: and this is true. The second definition is also most proper, that whatever is touched by an unclean man is polluted, as the law everywhere declares.

The Prophet then accommodates this to his present case, So, he says, is this people, and this nation, and the work of their hands. For as long as they are polluted, however they may spend money in sacrifices, and greatly weary themselves in worshipping God, not only is their labor vain, but whatever they offer is polluted, and is an abomination only. We now understand the words of the Prophet, and so we may now consider the subject.

But before I speak generally of the present subject, I shall first notice what the Prophet says here, that he inquired respecting the law; for it was not allowed to the priests to allege anything they pleased. We indeed know, that they had advanced into such licentiousness, as arbitrarily to demand what God had never commanded, and also to forbid the people what was lawful, the use of which had been permitted by God’s law. But Haggai does not here allow such a liberty to the priests; he does not ask what they thought, but what was required by the law of the Lord. And this is worthy of being noticed; for it is a pernicious evil to exercise an arbitrary control over the conscience. And yet the devil has ever corrupted the worship of God, and the whole system of religion, under the pretense of extolling the authority of the Church. It is indeed true, that the sacerdotal office was very honorable and worthy of respect; but we must ever take heed lest men assume too much, and lest what is thoughtlessly conceded to them should deprive God of what belongs to him; as the case is, we know, under the Papacy. When the Pope seeks to show that all his commands ought without any dispute to be obeyed, he quotes what is found in Deuteronomy 17:8 —

‘If a question arises about the law, the high priest shall judge between what is sacred and profane.’

This is indeed true; but was it permitted to the high priest to disregard God’s law, and foolishly to allege this or that according to his own judgement? Nay, the priest was only an interpreter of the law. Whenever then God bids those pastors to be heard whom he sets over his Church, his will is, as it has been before stated, that he himself should be heard through their mouth. In short, whatever authority is exercised in the Church ought to be subjected to this rule — that God’s law is to retain its own pre-eminence, and that men blend nothing of their own, but only define what is right according to the Word of the Lord. Now this is by the way; I come now to the main point.

The priests answered, that neither flesh, nor oil, nor wine, was sanctified by touching a piece or part of a sacrifice. Why? because a sacrifice sanctifies not things unclean, except by way of expiation; for this, we know, was the design of sacrifices — that men who were polluted might reconcile themselves to God. A right answer was then given by the priests, that unclean flesh or unclean oil is not sanctified by the touch of holy flesh. Why? because the flesh itself was not dedicated to God for this end — to purify what was unclean by a mere touch. Yet, on the other hand, it is most true, that when a man was unclean he polluted whatever he touched. It is commonly thought, that he is said to be unclean in his soul who had defiled himself by touching a corpse; but I differ from this. The word soul is often taken in the law for man himself. —

‘The soul that eats of what died of itself is polluted; the soul that touches a corpse is polluted.’ (Leviticus 17:15.)

Hence he is here said to be polluted in his soul, who had an outward uncleanness, as we say in French, Pollu en sa personne. Whosoever then is unclean pollutes by touch only whatever might have been otherwise clean; and the conclusion sufficiently proves that this is the purport of this passage. The words are [טמא-נפש], polluted of soul, or polluted soul. When pollution by a carcase or a dead body is meant, the preposition [ל] is put before [נפש]. See Numbers 5:2; 9:6,7,10. A polluted person seems to be intended here, without any reference to the way in which he became so; and this is sufficient for the purpose of the Prophet. Theodoret takes this sense — ἀκάθαρτόν τινα — “an unclean person.” But most agree with our version; so do Jerome, Dathius, Newcome, Henderson, and others — “the polluted by a dead body.” — Ed. I have said enough of what the design of the Prophet is, but the subject must be more fully explained.

We know how heedlessly men are wont to deal with God; for they trifle with him like children with their puppets. And this presumption has been condemned, as it is well known, even by heathens. Hardly a Prophet could have inveighed more severely against this gross superstition than Persius, who compares sacrifices, so much thought of by all, to puppets, and shows that other things are required by God, even

A well ordered condition and piety of soul, and an inward purity of mind, and a heart imbued with generous virtue. Compositum jus, fasque animi, sanctosque recesssus Mentis, et incoctum generoso pectus honesto. — Per. Sat. 2. 74.

He means then that men ought to be imbued with true holiness, and that inwardly, so that there should be nothing fictitious or feigned. He says that they who are such, that is, who have imbibed the true fear of God, do rightly serve him, thought they may bring only a crumb of incense, and that others only profane the worship of God, though they may bring many oxen; for whatever they think avails to cover their filth is polluted by new and repeated filth. And this is what has been expressed by heathen authors: another poet says, -

An impious right hand does not rightly worship the celestials. Non ben celestes impia dextra colit.

So they spoke according to the common judgement of natural knowledge. As to the Philosophers, they ever hold this principle — that no sacrifice is rightly offered to God except the mind be right and pure. But yet the Philosophers, as well as the Poets, adopted this false notion, by which Satan beguiled all men, from the least to the greatest — that God is pacified by ceremonies: hence have proceeded so many expiations, in which foolish men trusted, and by which they thought that God would be propitious to them, thought they obstinately continued daily to procure for themselves new punishments, and, as it were, avowedly to carry on war with God himself.

They admit at this day, under the Papacy, this principle that the true fear of God is necessary, as hypocrisy contaminates all the works of men; nor will they indeed dare to commend those who seek feignedly and triflingly to satisfy God, when they are filled with pride, contempt, and impiety. And yet they will never receive what the Prophet says here — that men not only lose all their labor, but also contract new pollution, when they seek to pacify God by their sacrifices, unaccompanied by inward purity. For whence is that partial righteousness which the Papists imagine? For they say, that if one does not keep the whole law, yet obedience in part is approved by God; and nothing is more common among them than this expression, partial righteousness. If then an adulterer refrains from theft, and lays out in alms some of his wealth, they will have this to be charity, and declare it to be acceptable. Though it proceeds from an unclean man, it is yet made a covering, which is deemed sufficient in some way or another to pacify God. Thus the Papists seek, without exercising any discrimination, to render God bound to them by their works, though they may be full of all uncleanness. We hence see that this error has not sprung up today or yesterday for the first time; but it is inherent in the bones and marrows of men; for they have ever thought that their services please God, though they may be unclean themselves.

Hence this definition must be borne in mind — that works, however splendid they may appear before our eyes, are of no value or importance before God, except they flow from a pure heart. Augustine has very wisely explained this in his fourth book against Julia. He says, that it would be an absurd thing for the faithful to judge of works by the outward appearance; but that they ought to be estimated according to the fountain from which they proceed, and also according to their design. Now the fountain of works I consider to be integrity of heart, and the design or end is, when the object of men is to obey God and to consecrate their life to him. Hence then we learn the difference between good and evil works, between vices and virtues, that is, from the inward state of the mind, and from the object in view. This is the subject of the Prophet in the first clause; and he drew an answer from the priests, which was wholly consistent with the law; and it amounted to this, that no work, however praised and applauded by the world, is valued before God’s tribunal, except it proceeds from a pure heart.

Now as to the second part, it is no less difficult to convince men of its truth — that whatever they touch is contaminated, when they are themselves unclean; and yet this is what God had plainly made known to the Jews: and the priests hesitated not nor doubted, but immediately returned an answer, as though the matter was well known — that an unclean man contaminates whatever thing he touches. But when we come to apply the subject, men then reject what they had been clearly taught; nay, what they are forced to confess, until they see the matter brought home to them, and then they begin to accuse God of too much rigour: “Why is this, that whatever we touch is polluted, though we might leave some defilement? Are not our works still deserving of some praise, as they are good works?” And hence also is the common saying, That works, which are in their kind good, are always in a measure meritorious, and though they are without faith, they yet avail to merit the gift of faith, inasmuch as they are in themselves praiseworthy, as chastity, liberality, sobriety, temperance, beneficence, and all alms giving. But God declares that these virtues are polluted, though men may admire them, and that they are only abominable filth, except the heart be really cleansed and purified. Why so? because nothing can flow from an impure and polluted fountain but what is impure and polluted.

It is now easy to understand how suitably the Prophet had led the priests and the whole people to see this difference. For if he had abruptly said this to them — that no work pleased Cod, except the doer himself had been cleansed from every defilement, there would have arisen immediately many disputations: “Why will God reject what is in itself worthy of praise? When one observes chastity, when another liberally lays out a part of his property, when a third devotes himself wholly to promote the good of the public, when magnanimity and firmness shine forth in one, when another cultivates the liberal arts — are not these such virtues as deserve some measure of praise!” Thus a great glamour would have been raised among the people, had not Haggai made this kind of preface — that according to the law what is unclean is not sanctified by the touch of holy flesh, and also that whatever is touched by an unclean person is polluted. What the law then prescribed in its rituals silenced all those clamours, which might have immediately arisen among the people. Moreover, though ceremonies have now ceased and are no longer in use, yet what God has once declared still retains its force — that whatever we touch is polluted by us, except there be a real purity of heart to sanctify our works.

Let us now inquire how our works please God: for no one is ever found to be pure and perfect, as the most perfect are defiled with some vices; so that their works are always sprinkled with some spots and blemishes, and contract some uncleanness from the hidden filth of their hearts. In answer to this, I say first, that all our works are corrupt before God and abominable in his sight, for the heart is naturally corrupt: but when God purifies our hearts by faith, then our works begin to be approved, and obtain praise before him; for the heart is cleansed by faith, and purity is diffused over our works, so that they begin to be pleasing to God. For this reason Moses says, that Abel pleased God with his sacrifices,

“The Lord had respect to Abel and to his gifts.” (Genesis 4:4.)

Had Moses said only, that the sacrifices of Abel were approved by God, he would have spoken unadvisedly, or at least obscurely; for he would have been silent on the main thing. But he begins with the person, as though he had said, that Abel pleased God, because he worshipped him with an upright and sincere heart. He afterwards adds, that his sacrifices were approved, for they proceeded from the true fear of God and sincere piety. So Paul, when speaking of the real keeping of the law, says, that the end of the law is love from a pure heart and faith unfeigned. (1 Timothy 1:5.) He shows then that no work is deemed right before God, except it proceeds from that fountain, even faith unfeigned, which is always connected with an upright and sincere heart. This is one thing.

Secondly, we must bear in mind how God purifies our hearts by faith. There is indeed a twofold purification: He first forms us in his image, and engraves on us true and real fear, and an obedient disposition. This purity of the heart diffuses itself over our works; for when we are imbued with true piety, we have no other object but to offer ourselves and all we have to God. Far indeed are they who are hypocrites and profane men from having this feeling; nay, they are wholly alienated from it: they offer liberally their own things to God, but they wish to be their own masters; for a hypocrite will never give up himself as a spiritual sacrifice to God. We hence see how faith purifies our hearts, and also purifies our works: for having been regenerated by the Spirit of God, we offer to him first ourselves and then all that we have. But as this purgation is never found complete in man, it is therefore necessary that there should come an aid from gratuitous acceptance. Our hearts then are purified by faith, because God imputes not to us that uncleanness which remains, and which defiles our works. As then God regards with gracious acceptance that purity which is not as yet perfect, so he causes that its contagion should not reach to our works. When Abel offered sacrifices to God, he was indeed perfect, inasmuch as there was nothing feigned or hypocritical in him: but he was a man, we know, encompassed with infirmity. It was therefore necessary for his remaining pollution to have been purified by the grace of Christ. Hence it was that his sacrifices were accepted: for as he was accepted, so God graciously received whatever proceeded from him.

We now then see how men, while in a state of nature, displease God by their works, and can bring nothing but what is corrupt, filthy, and abominable. We farther see how the children of God, after having been renewed by his Spirit, come pure to him and offer him pure sacrifices: they come pure, because it is their object to devote themselves to God without any dissimulation; but as this devotedness is never perfect, God supplies the defect by a gratuitous imputation, for he embraces them as his servants in the same manner as though they were entirely formed in all righteousness. And in the same way he approves of their works, for all their spots are wiped away, yea, those very spots, which might justly prevent all favor; were not all uncleanness washed away by the blood of Christ, and that through faith.

We hence learn, that there is no ground for any one to deceive himself with vain delusions, by attempting to please God with great pomp: for the first thing of which the Prophet treats here is always required, that is, that a person must be pure in his heart, that inward purity must precede every work. And though this truth meets us everywhere in all the Prophets, yet as hypocrisy dazzles our eyes and blinds all our senses, it ought to be seriously considered by us; and we ought to notice in an especial manner not only this passage but other similar passages where the Prophets ridicule the solicitude of the people, when they busied themselves with sacrifices and outward observances, and neglected the principal thing — real purity of heart.

We must also take notice of what the Prophet says in the last verse, that so was every work of their hand and whatever they offered The literal rendering of the verse would be as follows, —

Then answered Haggai and said, — Such is this people and such is this nation, Before me, saith Jehovah; Yea, such is every work of their hands, And what they offer there, polluted it is.

The Prophet seems to have pointed to the altar on which they offered their sacrifices, when he says, “What they offer there.” Both Newcome and Henderson are evidently wrong in rendering the passage in the past tense. The last verb is future, used, as it is often, as a present. So we render it in Welsh, yr hyn a aberthant yna; but we understand it as a present act. We may notice here what is often the character of the Prophetic style; the two last lines explain more particularly what the two first contain. — Ed. It seems apparently a hard matter, that the very sacrifices were condemned as polluted. But it is no wonder that fictitious modes of worship, by which profane men dishonor God, should be repudiated by him; for they seek to transform him according to their own fancy, as though he might be soothed by playthings or such trifles. It is therefore a most disgraceful mockery when men deal thus with God, offering him only external ceremonies, and disregarding his nature: for they make no account of spiritual worship, and yet think that they please him. We must then, in a word, make this remark — that the Prophet teaches us here, that it is not enough for men to show obedience to God, to offer sacrifices, to spend labor in building the Temple, except these things were rightly done — and how rightly? by a sincere heart, so there should be no dissimulation, no duplicity.

Prayer

Grant, Almighty God, that inasmuch as we come from our mother’s womb wholly impure and polluted, and afterwards continually contract so many new defilements, — O grant that we may flee to the fountain, which alone can cleanse us. And as there is no other way by which we can be cleansed from all the defilements of the flesh, except we be sprinkled by the blood of thy only begotten Son, and that by the hidden power of thy Spirit, and thus renounce all our vices, — O grant that we may so strive truly and sincerely to devote ourselves to thee, as daily to renounce more and more all our evil affections, and to have nothing else as our object, but to submit our minds and all our affections to thee, by really denying ourselves, and to exercise ourselves in this strenuous effort as long as we are in this world, until we attain to that true and perfect purity, which is laid up for us in thine only-begotten Son, when we shall be fully united to him, having been transformed into that glory into which he has been received. Amen.

Lecture One Hundred and Thirty-third

Haggai 2:15-19

15. And now, I pray you, consider from this day and upward, from before a stone was laid upon a stone in the temple of the LORD:

15. Et nunc ponite quaeso (vel, agedum) super cor vestrum a die hac et supra, antequam poneretur lapis super lapidem in templo Iehovae:

16. Since those days were, when one came to an heap of twenty measures, there were but ten: when one came to the pressfat for to draw out fifty vessels out of the press, there were but twenty.

16. Ante haec quum veniret quis ad acervum viginti, fuit decem; quum veniret ad torcular ut hauriret quinquaginta e torculari, fuit summa viginti.

17. I smote you with blasting and with mildew and with hail in all the labours of your hands; yet ye turned not to me, saith the LORD.

17. Percussi vos orientali vento (vel, urente) et rubigene, et grandine in omni opere manuum vestrarum (alii vertunt, et omne opus, sed male, et potius hic debet resolvi quemadmodum dictum est, in omni ergo opere) et vos non ad me, dicit lehova.

18. Consider now from this day and upward, from the four and twentieth day of the ninth month, even from the day that the foundation of the LORD’S temple was laid, consider it

18. Ponite quaeso super cor vestrum a die hac et supra, a die vicesimo quarto noni mensis, a die quo fundatum fuit templum Iehovae, ponite super cor vestrum.

19. Is the seed yet in the barn? yea, as yet the vine, and the fig tree, and the pomegranate, and the olive tree, hath not brought forth: from this day will I bless you

19. An adhuc semen in horreo? et adhuc vitis, et ficus, et malusgranata, et arbor olivae non protulit; a die hac benedicam vobis.

I am under the necessity of joining all these verses together, for the Prophet treats of the same thing: and the import of the whole is this — that the Lord had then openly punished the tardiness of the people, so that every one might have easily known that they acted very inconsistently in attending only to their private concerns, so as to neglect the Temple. The Prophet indeed speaks here in a homely manner to earthly men, addicted to their own appetites: had they really become wiser, or made greater progress in true religion, he might have addressed them differently, and would have no doubt followed the rule mentioned by Paul,

‘We speak wisdom among those who are perfect.’ (1 Corinthians 2:6.)

But as they had their thoughts fixed on meat and drink, and were intent on their private advantages, the Prophet tells them what they could comprehend that God was angry with them, and that the proofs of his curse were evident, as the earth did not produce fruit, and they themselves were reduced to want. We hence perceive the object of the Prophet: but I shall run over the words, that the subject may become more evident.

Lay it, he says, on your heart. Here the Prophet indirectly condemns their insensibility, as they were blind in things quite manifest; for he does not here direct their thoughts to heaven, nor announce deep mysteries, but only speaks of food and daily support. Since God, then, impressed clear marks of his wrath on their common sustenance, it was an intolerable stupidity in them to disregard these. And the Prophet often repeats the same thing, in order to shame the Jews; for their tardiness being so often reproved, ought to have made them ashamed. Lay it on the heart, he says; that is, Consider what I am going to say; from this day and heretofore, Supra, [מעלה]; "upward,” Newcome; “backward,” Henderson; “forward,” Secker. The last refers to 1 Samuel 16:13, and 30:25, as the only places besides here and in verse 18, where it is applied to time: and clearly in Samuel it means “forward,” or hereafter. It means the same when applied to age, Numbers 1:20, and when applied to place, Deuteronomy 28:43

If we retain this meaning, we must consider this verse, and its repetition in verse 18, as the commencement of a sentence, which is completed at the end of verse 19, as intervening clauses. Then the passage would be as follows —

15. And now take, I pray, notice; From this day and forward, From the time of setting a stone on a stone In the Temple of Jehovah,

16. From the time you came to a heap of twenty, And it was ten, And came to the vat to draw fifty measures, And there were twenty;

17. I smote you with blight, and with mildew, And with hail, even all the work of your hands; But ye turned not to me, saith Jehovah; —

18. Take, I pray, notice; From this day and forward, From the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, From the day in which was founded The Temple of Jehovah; — take notice;

19. Is yet the seed in the granary? — And as yet the vine and the fig tree, And the pomegranate and the olive, it hath not borne; — From this day will I bless you.

I prefer “Take notice,” or, “mark,” to “consider,” as the meaning of [לבבכם שימו], “set or fix your heart.” In favor of “your” instead of “their” in verse 16, there are three MSS.; and it is more consistent with the context. The expression literally is, “From your being to come,” i.e from the time in which you came, and found out the deficiency. “Fifty measures;” [פורה] is rendered by the Septuagint μετρητὰς — “baths;” by Jerome, “Lagenas — flagons.” The word means here evidently a vessel to measure the wine from the vat; what quantity it contained is not known. It is here in the singular number, while the numeral, “fifty,” is in the plural; deugain, which literally in English is, “ten measure and forty.” In verse 17, “even all the work of your hands,” is in apposition with “you,” and explanatory of it, according to what we often find in the Prophets; for by “you” was meant their “work,” and not themselves personally. “But ye turned not to me,” literally, “But ye not to me;” perhaps the meaning is, “Ye ascribed it not to me,” that is, the judgment previously mentioned, or, “Ye attended not to me:” but the verb [שבתם] is commonly thought to be understood. See Amos 4:9. The question in verse 19 is to be taken negatively, to correspond with the negative declaration in what follows. — Ed. he says, before a stone was laid on a stone; that is, from that day when I began to exhort you to build the Temple, consider what has happened to this very day.

Then he adds, Before ye began, he says, to build the Temple, was it not that every one who came to a heap of twenty measures found only ten? that is, was it not, that when the husband men expected that there would be twenty measures in the storehouse or on the floor, they were disappointed? because God had dried up the ears, so they yielded not what they used to do; for husband men, by long experience, can easily conjecture what they may expect when they see the gathered harvest; but this prospect had disappointed the husband men. God, then, had in this case given proofs of his curse. Farther; when any one came to the vat, and expected a large vintage, had he not also been disappointed? for instead of fifty casks he found only twenty.

He afterwards adds, I have smitten you with the east wind: for שדפון, shidafun, is to be taken for a scorching wind; and the east wind proved injurious to Judea by its dryness. So also ירקון, irkun, is mildew, or a moist wind, from which mildew proceeds; for we know that corn, when it has much wet, contracts mildew when the sun emits its heat. As to the meaning of the Prophet there is no ambiguity, for he intended to teach them that they were in various ways visited, that they might clearly perceive that God was displeased with them. He then mentions the hail: for when famine happens only from the cold or from the heat, it may be ascribed to chance or to the stars: but when God employs various scourges, we are then constrained to acknowledge his wrath, as though he were determined to awaken us. This is the reason why the Prophet records here various kinds of judgements. And he says, In every work of your hands. Some read, And every work, etc., which is improper; for they were not smitten in their own bodies, but in the produce of the earth. Then he adds, And you returned not to me, that is, “During the whole of that time I effected nothing, while I was so often and in such various ways chastising you. And yet what good has the obduracy of your hearts done you? ye have not returned to me.”

Lay it, he says, on your heart from this day, and heretofore, etc. He repeats what he had said, even from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month. We have seen before, that the Prophet was sent on that day to reprove the people for their sins. Lay it then on your heart, he says, from this day, etc. We see how emphatical is this repetition, because in things evident the Jews were so insensible that their want and famine could not touch them: and we know that there is no sharper goad to stimulate men than famine. Since then the Lord snatched away their food from their mouth, and they remained inattentive to such a judgement, it was a sure evidence of extreme stupidity. It is on this account that the Prophet often declares, that the Jews were extremely insensible; for they did not consider the judgements of God, which were so manifest. He now subjoins, Is there yet seed in the barn? Jerome reads, in the bud; and the probable reason why he thus rendered the word was, that he thought that the clauses would not correspond without giving the meaning of bud to מגורה, megure; but, as I think, he was mistaken. The Hebrews propose what I cannot approve, for some of them read the sentence as an affirmation, For there is seed in the barn; because they dared not to commit the seed to the ground in their state of want. And others read it as a question, as though he had said, that the time of harvest was far off, and that what they had remaining was so small that it was not enough to support them. But, in my judgement, the seed refers not to what had been gathered, but to what had been sown. I therefore doubt not but that he speaks of God’s blessing on the harvest which was to come after five months, to which I shall presently refer. Some, indeed, render the words in the past tense, as though the Prophet had said, that the Jews had already experienced how great the curse of God was; but this is a forced view. The real meaning of the Prophet is this, Is there yet seed in the barn? that is, Is the seed, as yet hid in the ground, gathered?

He then adds affirmatively, neither the vine, nor the fig tree, nor the pomegranate, nor the olive had yet produced any thing; for it was the ninth month of the year; and the beginning of the year, we know, was in the month of March. Though then they were nearly in the midst of winter, they remained uncertain as to what the produce would be. In the month of November no opinion could be formed, even by the most skillful, what produce they were to expect. As then they were still in suspense, the Prophet says, that God’s blessing was in readiness for them. What he had in view was, to show that he brought a sure message from God; for he speaks not of a vintage the prospect of which had already appeared, nor of a harvest when the ears had already made their appearance. As then there was still danger from the hail, from scorching winds, and also from rains and other things injurious to fruit and produce of the land, he says, that the harvest would be most abundant, the vintage large, that, in a word, the produce of the olive and the fig tree would be most exuberant. The truth of the prophecy might now be surely known, when God fulfilled what he had spoken by the mouth of his servant. I now return to the subject itself

As I have before observed, the Prophet deals with the Jews here according to their gross disposition: for he might in a more refined manner have taught the godly, who were not so entangled with, or devoted to, earthly concerns. It was then necessary for him to speak in a manner suitable to the comprehension of the people, as a skillful teacher who instructs children and those of riper age in a different manner. And he shows by evidences that the Jews were unthankful to God, for they neglected the building of the Temple, and every one was diligently and earnestly engaged in building his own house. He shows by proofs their conduct, — How? Whence has it happened, he says, that at one time your fruit has been destroyed by mildew, at another by heat, and then by the hail, except that the Lord intended thus to correct your neglect? It then follows, that you are convicted of ingratitude by these judgements; for you have neglected God’s worship, and only pursued your own private advantages. This is one thing.

The latter clause contains a promise; and by it the instruction given was more confirmed, when the people saw that things suddenly and unexpectedly took a better turn. They had been for many years distressed with want of sustenance; but, when fruitfulness of a sudden followed, did not this change manifest something worthy of their consideration? especially when it was foretold before it happened, and before any such thing could have been foreseen by human conjectures? We see then, that the Prophet dwells on two things, — he condemns the Jews for their neglect, and proves that they were impious and ungrateful towards God, for they disregarded the building of the Temple; and them, in order to animate them and render them more active in the work they had begun, he sets before them, as I have said, what had taken place. God had, indeed, abundantly testified, by various kinds of punishment that he was displeased with them: but when he now promises that he would deal differently with them, there hence arises a new and a stronger evidence.

But some one may here raise an objection and say, that these evidences are not sure or unvaried; since it often happens, that when people devote themselves faithfully to the service of God they are pressed down by adverse events; yea, that God very often designedly tries their faith by withholding from them for a time his blessing. But the answer to this may be readily given: I indeed allow that it often happens that those who sincerely and from the heart serve God, are deprived of earthly blessings, because God intends to elevate their minds to the hope of eternal reward. God then designedly withdraws his blessing often from the faithful, that they may hunger and thirst in this world; as though they lost all their labor in serving him. But it was not the Prophet’s design to propound here an evidence of an unvarying character, as he counted it sufficient to convince the Jews by experience, that nothing prevented them from acknowledging that their avarice displeased God, except their extreme stupidity. The Prophet then does here reprove their insensibility; for, while they greatly labored in enriching themselves, they did not observe that their labor was in vain, because God from heaven poured his curse on them. This then might have been easily known by them had they not hardened themselves in their vices. And what the Prophet testifies here respecting the fruitful produce of wine, and corn, and oil, and of other things, was still, as I have said, a stronger confirmation.

Now, if any one objects again and says — that this was of no value, because a servile and mercenary service does not please God: to this I answer — that God does often by such means stimulate men, when he sees them to be extremely tardy and slothful, and that he afterwards leads them by other means to serve him truly and from the heart. When therefore any one obeys God, only that he may satisfy his appetite, it is as though one labored from day to day for the sake of wages, and then disregards him by whom he has been hired. It is certain that such a service is counted as nothing before God; but he would have himself to be generously worshipped by us; and he loves, as Paul says, a cheerful giver. (2 Corinthians 6:7.) But as men, for the most part, on account of their ignorance, cannot be led at first to this generous state of mind, so as to devote themselves willingly to God, it is necessary to begin by using other means, as the Prophet does here, who promises earthly and daily sustenance to the Jews, for he saw that they could not immediately, at the first step, ascend upwards to heaven; but it was not his purpose to stop short, until he elevated their minds higher. Let us then know, that this was only the beginning, that they might learn to fear God and to expect whatever they wanted from his blessing, and also that they might shake off their stupor, under which they had previously labored. In short, God deals in one way with the rude and ignorant, who are not yet imbued with true religion; and he deals in another way with his own disciples, who are instructed in sound doctrine. When I say that the Prophet acted thus towards the Jews, I speak not of the whole nation; but I regard what we have observed at the beginning of this book — that the Jews cared for nothing then but to build their own houses, and that there was no zeal for religion among them. As then the recollection of God was nigh buried among them, the Temple being neglected, and every one’s anxiety being concentrated in building his own house, we hence learn how grossly earthly their affections were. It is therefore no wonder that the Prophet treated them in the manner stated here. Let us proceed -

Haggai 2:20-23

20. And again the word of the LORD came unto Haggai in the four and twentieth day of the month, saying,

20. Et fuit (postea fuit) sermo Iehovae secundo ad Chaggai vicesimo quarto mensis, dicendo,

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

21. Dic ad Zerubbabel, ducens Iehudah, dicendo, Ego concutiam coelos et terram;

22. And I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms, and I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the heathen; and I will overthrow the chariots, and those that ride in them; and the horses and their riders shall come down, every one by the sword of his brother.

22. Et evertam solium regnorum, et perdam robur regnorum gentium; et evertam quadrigam et sessores ejus evertam quadrigam et sessores ejus; et descendent equi et sessores eorum, quisque in gladio fratris sui.

23. In that day, saith the LORD of hosts, will I take thee, O Zerubbabel, my servant, the son of Shealtiel, saith the LORD, and will make thee as a signet: for I have chosen thee, saith the LORD of hosts.

23. In die illa, dicit Iehova exercituum, sumam te Zerubbabel, fili Sealtiel, serve mi, dicit Iehova; et ponam to quasi annulum, quia elegi te, dicit Iehova exercituum.

The Prophet now proceeds still farther; for there is here a really gratuitous and spiritual promise, by which God affirms that he will have a care for his people to the end. He does not now speak of wine and corn, in order to feed the hungry; but he shows that he would be an eternal Father to that people; for he could not and would not forget the covenant he made with their fathers. There is no doubt but he points out Christ in the person of Zerubbabel, as we shall presently see. So that it is right to distinguish this prophecy from the last; for God has before shown, that the worship which the Jews had for a time disregarded was pleasing to him, as a reward was in readiness, and also that he was offended with the negligence previously reproved, as he had inflicted manifest punishment, not once, nor for a short time, but for many years, and in various ways. What then does follow? In this second prophecy he addresses Zerubbabel, and promises to be a Savior to the people under his authority.

With regard to these words, some think that a continued act is signified when he says, I shake the heavens and the earth; and they give this explanation — That though it belongs to me to shake the heaven and the earth, and I am wont to subvert kingdoms, yet I will render firm the sacred kingdom which I have raised among my people. But this view is very frigid: and we see even from this chapter what is meant by the shaking of the heaven and of the earth, of which mention is made. The Apostle also rightly interprets this passage, when he teaches us, that this prophecy properly belongs to the kingdom of Christ. (Hebrews 12:26.) There is therefore no doubt, but that the Prophet means here something special, when he introduces God as saying, Behold, I shake the heavens and the earth. God then does not speak of his ordinary providence, nor simply claim to himself the government of the heaven and of the earth, nor teach us that he raises on high the humble and the low, and also brings down the high and the elevated; but he intimates, that he has some memorable work in contemplation, which, when done, would shake men with fear, and make heaven and earth to tremble. Hence, the Prophet no doubt intended here to lead the Jews to the hope of that redemption, some prelude of which God had then given them; but its fullness could not as yet be seen — nay, it was hid from the view of men: for who could have expected such a renovation of the world as was effected by the coming of Christ? When the Jews found themselves exposed to the wrongs of all men, when so small a number returned, and there was no kingdom and no power, they thought themselves to have been as it were deceived. Hence the Prophet affirms here, that there would be a wonderful work of God, which would shake the heaven and the earth. It is therefore necessary that this should be applied to Christ; for it was, as it were, a new creation of the world, when Christ gathered together the things scattered, as the Apostle says, in the heaven and in the earth. (Colossians 1:20.) When he reconciled men to God and to angels, when he conquered the devil and restored life to the dead, when he shone forth with his own righteousness, then indeed God shook the heaven and the earth; and he still shakes them at this day, when the gospel is preached; for he forms anew the children of Adam after his own image. This spiritual regeneration then is such an evidence of God’s power and grace, that he may justly be said to shake the heaven and the earth. The import of the passage is, that it behaved the Jews to form a conception in their minds of something greater than could be seen by their eyes; for their redemption was not yet completed.

Hence he subjoins — I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms; I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the nations; and I will overthrow the chariot and him who sits in it; come down shall the horses and their riders; every one shall fall by the sword of his brother. He confirms here the former sentence — that nothing would be an hindrance that God should not renew his Church. And rightly he adds this by way of anticipation; for the Jews were surrounded on all sides by inveterate enemies; they had as many enemies as they had neighbors; and they were hated even by the whole world. How then could they emerge into that dignity which was then promised to them, except God overturned the rest of the world? But the Prophet here meets this objection, and briefly shows that God would rather that all the nations should perish, than that his Church should remain in that dishonorable state. We then see that the Prophet here means no other thing then that God would overcome all those impediments, which Satan and the whole world may throw in the way, when it is his purpose to restore his Church.

We now perceive the Prophet’s designs, and we also perceive the application of his doctrine. For whenever impediments and difficulties come in our way, calculated to drive us to despair, when we think of the restoration of the Church, this prophecy ought to come to our minds, which shows that it is in God’s power, and that it is his purpose to overturn all the kingdoms of the earth, to break chariots in pieces, to cast down and lay prostrate all riders, rather then to allow them to prevent the restoration of his Church.

But in the last verse the Prophet shows why God would do this — even that Zerubbabel might prosper together with the whole people. Hence he says — In that day saith Jehovah, I will take thee, Zerubbabel, and will set thee as a signet, for I have chosen thee. As we have before said, God addresses Zerubbabel here, that in his person he might testify that he would bless the people whom he intended to gather under that sacred leader; for though Zerubbabel never had a kingdom, nor ever wore a crown, he was yet of the tribe of Judah; and God designed that some spark of that kingdom should exist, which he had raised in the family of David. Since, then, Zerubbabel was at that time a type of Christ, God declares here that he would be to him as a signet — that is, that his dignity would be esteemed by him. This comparison of a signet is found also in other places. It is said in Jeremiah 22:24 — “Though this Coniah were a signet on my right hand I would pluck him thence.” But here God says that Zerubbabel would be to him a signet — that is, Thou shalt be with me in high esteem. For a sealing signet is wont to be carefully preserved, as kings seek in this way to secure to themselves the highest authority, so that more trust may be placed in their seal than in the greatest princes. The meaning, then, of the similitude is, that Zerubbabel, though despised by the world, was yet highly esteemed by God. But it is evident that this was never fulfilled in the person of Zerubbabel. It hence follows that it is to be applied to Christ. God, in short, shows, that that people gathered under one head would be accepted by him; for Christ was at length to rise, as it is evident, from the seed of Zerubbabel.

But this reason is to be especially noticed — Because I have chosen thee. For God does not here ascribe excellencies or merits to Zerubbabel, when he says that he would hold him in great esteem; but he attributes this to his own election. If, then, the reason be asked why God had so much exalted Zerubbabel, and bestowed on him favors so illustrious, it can be found in nothing else but in the goodness of God alone. God had made a covenant with David, and promised that his kingdom would be eternal; hence it was that he chose Zerubbabel after the people had returned from exile; and this election was the reason why God exalted Zerubbabel, though his power at that time was but small. We indeed know that he was exposed to the contempt of all nations; but God invites here the attention of the faithful to their election, so that they might hope for more than what the perception of the flesh could conceive or apprehend; for what he has decreed cannot be made void; and in the person of Zerubbabel he had determined to save a chosen people; for from him, as it has been said, Christ was to come.

Prayer

Grant, Almighty God, that as we are still restrained by our earthly cares, and cannot ascend upward to heaven with so much readiness and alacrity as we ought — O grant, that since thou extendest to us daily so liberal a supply for the present life, we may at least learn that thou art our Father, and that we may not at the same time fix our thoughts on these perishable things, but learn to elevate our minds higher, and so make continual advances in thy spiritual service, until at length we come to the full and complete fruition of that blessed and celestial life which thou hast promised to us, and procured for us by the blood of thy only begotten Son. Amen.

A TRANSLATION of

CALVIN’S VERSION of

THE BOOK OF HABAKKUK.

chapter 1

1 the burden which Habakkuk the Prophet saw:

2 How long, Jehovah, shall I cry, And thou wilt not hear? And cry aloud to thee of violence, And thou wilt not save?

3 Why showest thou me iniquity, And makest me to see trouble? And why are violence and plunder in my sight, And he who excites strife and contention? (19)

4 Therefore dissolved is the law, And judgment does not continually go forth; For the wicked surrounds the just, Therefor go forth does perverted judgment. (21)

5 Look ye among the Gentiles and see, And be astonished, be astonished; For a work will I work in your days, Which ye will not believe, though it be told you:

6 For behold, I will rouse the Chaldeans — A nation bitter and hasty, Which shall march through the breadths of the earth, To possess habitations not its own:

7 Terrible and fearful shall it be, From itself shall its judgment and its dignity proceed:

8 And swifter than leopards shall be its horses, And fiercer than the evening wolves; And numerous shall be its horsemen; And its horsemen from far shall come, They shall fly as an eagle hastening to devour: (30)

9 The whole of it for booty shall come; The aspect of their faces will be like the east-wind; And he will gather captives like the sand:

10 And at kings he will laugh, And princes shall be a scorn to him: Every fortress he will scorn, He will gather dust and take it:

11 Then will be change his spirit, And pass through and act impiously, Ascribing this his power to his god. (37)

12 Art not thou, Jehovah, from the beginning, my God? My holy One! we shall not die: Thou, Jehovah, for judgment hast set him; And thou strong One, for correction hast established him.

13 Pure art thou of eyes, so as not to behold evil, And on trouble thou canst not look: — Why lookest thou on transgressors, And takest no notice, when the ungodly devours One more righteous than himself?

14 Thou makest man like the fish of the sea, Like the reptile, which is without a leader: (46)

15 The whole by his hook will he draw up, Collect into his drag, and gather into his net; He will therefore rejoice and exult: (48)

16 Hence sacrifice will he to his drag, And incense will he offer to his net; For through them fat will be his portion, And his meat will be rich. —

17 Shall he therefore extend his drag, And continue to slay the nations, so as not to spare them?

CHAPTER 2

1 On my watch-tower will I stand, And set myself on a citadel; And I will watch to see what he may say to me, And what I may answer to the reproof given me.

2 Then answer me did Jehovah and said, Write the vision, and make it plain on tables, That run may he who reads it;

3 For yet the vision shall be for an appointed time, And will speak at the end, and will not deceive: If it tarry, wait for it; (66) for coming it will come, and will not delay.

4 Behold the elated! not right is his soul within him; But the just, by his faith, shall he live.” (72)

5 Yea, truly! as by wine, transgress does the proud man, And he will not rest; (87) For he enlarges as the grave his soul, And is like to death, and is not satisfied; Yea, he collects to himself all nations, And heaps together for himself all the people.

6 Shall not all these take up against him a parable, And against him an enigmatical taunt, and say, — “Ho! he multiplies what is not his own! how long! And he accumulates on himself thick clay!

7 Shall they not suddenly rise up who shall bite thee, And awake, who shall torment thee? And shalt not thou become tramplings to them?

8 As thou has spoiled many nations, Spoil thee shall all the remnant of the people, On account of men’s blood, and of violence To the land, to the city and to all its inhabitants.

9 Ho! he covets an evil covetousness to his house, In order to set on high his nest, That he may keep himself from the hand of evil!

10 Thou hast provided shame for thine own house, By cutting off many nations, And thou hast sinned against thine own soul.”

11 For the stone from the wall shall cry, Calvin makes here a change in the discourse; but the whole to the end of the chapter may be viewed as the parable or the taunt mentioned in verse 6, and the particle Ho! may be retained instead of Wo. The taunt seems to have been formed so as to have been especially suitable to be used by the Jews.

By regarding the passage in this light, we can understand the sudden change off person in verse 16, if the proposed emendation be disapproved; for we see the same in the former portions of the “taunt.” See 6 and 7, and also 9 and 10. That the reader may see the whole of this passage, containing the “taunt,” in the light in which I am now fully inclined to regard it, it shall be presented to him complete: —

6. Will not these, every one of them, Raise up a proverb concerning him, And a taunt, enigmas for him, and say, — “Ho! He increases what is not his! how long! And he accumulates on himself thick clay! —

7. Will they not suddenly rise up — thy biters, And awake — thy tormentors, And thou become booties to them?

8. For thou hast spoiled many nation, And spoil thee shall all the remnant of the people, On account of men’s blood, and of violence To the land, to the city, and to all its inhabitants.”

9. “Ho! he has coveted an evil covetousness to his house, To set on high his nest, In order to save himself from the hand of evil! —

10. Thou hast consulted shame to thine house, By cutting off many nations And by sinning against thine own soul:

11. For the stone — from the wall it cries, And the beam — from the woodwork it answers it, —

12. ‘Ho! he builds a town by blood, And sets up a city by oppression!’ —

13. Shall nothing be, lo! From Jehovah of hosts? Yea, labor shall the people for the fire, And nations — for vanity shall they weary themselves:

14. For filled shall be the earth With the knowledge of the glory of Jehovah, Like the waters which spread over the sea.”

15. “Ho! he gives drink to his neighbour! — Thou addest thy bottle and also strong drink, In order to look on their nakedness!

16. Thou hast been filled with reproach rather than with glory: Drink thou also, and be uncovered; Come round to thee shall the cup Of the right hand of Jehovah; And shameful spewing shall be on thy glory:

17. For the violence done to Lebanon — it shall overwhelm thee, And the plunder of beasts — it shall rend thee; On account of men’s blood, and of violence To the land, to the city, and to all its inhabitants.”

18. “What avails the graven image! For its graver — he forms it — Even the molten image and the teacher of falsehood: Yea, trust in it does the former of its form, After having made dumb idols!

19. Ho! he saith to the wood, ‘Arise, Awake;’ To the dumb stone, ‘It will teach?’ Behold it! covered it is with gold and silver, Yet there is no spirit within it! But Jehovah is in his holy temple: Silent at his presence let the whole earth be.”

The “taunt” may be deemed as terminating at the end of the 17th verse; but I regard it as continuing to the end of the chapter. The word “neighbour,” in the 15th verse, is a collective singular, meaning every neighbour: hence “their” at the end of the verse. The same may be said of “image” in verse 18, which means every image or images, as “idols” are mentioned afterwards. Such are common instances in the Prophets. “It will teach,” in verse 19, most evidently refers to “the dumb stone” — the idol; for it is expressly called “the teacher of falsehood” in verse 17. — Ed And the wood from the chamber shall answer it, —

12 “Ho! he builds a town by blood, And sets up a city by iniquity!”

13 Behold, shall nothing be from Jehovah of hosts? Hence labour shall the people in the fire, And weary themselves in vain;

14 For filled shall be earth with the knowledge of the glory of Jehovah, As the waters cover the sea.

15 Wo to him who gives his friend drink! — Uniting thy heat, thou makes them also to drink, That thou mayest look on their nakedness. (112)

16 Thou art filled with shame for the sake of glory; Drink thou also, and be thou uncovered: Poured forth to thee shall be the cup of Jehovah’s right hand, And shameful spewing shall be on thy glory:

17 For overwhelm thee shall the violence done to Lebanon, And the spoiling of beasts, which terrified them; On account of men’s blood, and of violence To the land, to the city, and to all its inhabitants.

18 What avails the graven image? For graven it hath its framer, Even the molten image and the teacher of falsehood; For trust does the framer in his own work, when he makes dumb idols. (122)

19 Wo to him who saith to wood, “Awake;” And “Arise,” to a dumb stone; — it will teach: Behold, it is covered with gold and silver; And there is no spirit in the midst of it. (124) But Jehovah is in his holy Temple: Silent at his presence let the whole earth be.

CHAPTER 3.

1 The prayer of Habakkuk the Prophet respecting ignorances:

2 Jehovah! I heard thy voice, and was terrified; Jehovah! thy work in the midst of the years, revive it; In the midst of the years, make it know; In wrath thy mercy remember. (137)

3 God! from Teman he came; And the holy One from mount Paran: Selah: Cover the heaven did his glory; Of his praise full was the earth:

4 And brightness, — as the light it was; Horns, — from his hands they were; (143) And there was the hiding of his strength:

5 Before his face walked the pestilence, And come forth did burning coals at his feet:

6 He stood, and he measured the earth; He looked, and he dissolved nations; Yea, shattered were perennial mountains, Bent down were hills of antiquity; The ways of ages were his.

7 For iniquity saw I the tents of Chusan; (150) Tremble did the curtains of the land of Madian.

8 Wert thou angry with rivers, O Jehovah? Was thine indignation against rivers? Was thy wrath against the sea? For thou didst ride on thy horses, Thy chariots were salvation.

9 Quite bare was made thy bow: The oaths to the tribes was thy word: Selah: (155) With rivers didst thou cleave the earth.

10 See thee did mountains, they fell down; The stream of waters passed away; Utter its voice did the deep, On high did it raise its hands. (158)

11 The sun and moon stood still in their habitation; At the light of thy arrows did they proceed, At the brightness of the glittering of thy spear. (160)

12 In wrath didst thou tread on the land, In anger didst thou thresh the nations:

13 Go forth didst thou for the salvation of thy people, For their salvation, with thy Christ: Strike didst thou the head From the house of the wicked, Making bare the foundation even to the neck: (164)

14 Smite didst thou with his own staffs The head of his villages: They rushed as a whirlwind to drive me away; Their joy was to devour the poor in secret:

15 A way hast thou made in the sea for thy horses, Through the heap of great waters. (168)

16 I heard, — and tremble did my bowels, At thy voice quiver did my lips; Enter did rottenness into my bones, And within me I made a great noise; That I might rest in the day of affliction, When he ascends against the people, Who shall cut them off. (171)

17 For the fig-tree shall not flourish, And no fruit shall be on the vines, Fail shall the produce of the olive, And the fields shall not bring forth food; cut off from the fold shall be the flock, And there shall be no ox in the stalls:

18 But I — in Jehovah will I exult, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation:

19 Jehovah, the Lord, is my strength; And he will set my feet as those of hinds, And on my high places will he make me to walk — To the leader on my beatings.

A TRANSLATION of

CALVIN’S VERSION of

THE BOOK OF ZEPHANIAH.

CHAPTER 1

1 The word of Jehovah, which came to Zephaniah, the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hizkiah, in the days of Josiah, the son of Amon, king of Judah.

2 By removing I will remover all things From the face of the land, saith Jehovah; I will remove man and beast;

3 And I will remove the bird of heaven, And the fishes of the sea: And stumblingblocks shall be to the ungodly! And I will cut off man From the face of the land, saith Jehovah: (190)

4 Yea, I will extend my hand upon Judah, And upon all the inhabitants of Je; And will cut off from this place the remnants of Baal, The name of its worshippers with the priests;

5 And those who worship, On their roofs, the host of heaven; And those who worship and swear by Jehovah, And swear by their own king;

6 And who turn back from following Jehovah, And who seek not Jehovah, And do not inquire of him.

7 Be silent at the presence of the Lord Jehovah! For nigh is the day of Jehovah; Yea, prepared hath Jehovah a sacrifice, He hath prepared his guests:

8 And it shall be in the day of Jehovah’s sacrifice, That I will visit the princes and the king’s sons, And all who wear foreign apparel;

9 And I will visit all those who dance on the threshold in that day, Who fill the house of their masters By means of rapine and fraud. (204)

10 And there shall be in that day, saith Jehovah, The voice of crying from the fish-gate, and howling from the second gate, And great breach from the hills. (212)

11 Howl ye, inhabitants of the lower part, For exterminated are the people of traffic, Cut off are all loaded with money.

12 And it shall be in that day, That I will search Jerusalem with candles, And visit the men, congealed on their lees, Who say in their hearts, — “Good will not Jehovah do, Nor will he do evil:”

13 And their substance shall be a spoil, And their house a water; And houses shall they build and not inhabit; And plant shall they vineyards, And shall not drink the wine of them.

14 Nigh is the great day of Jehovah, Nigh and hastening quickly; The voice of Jehovah’s day Will cry out bitterly, — then will he be strong; (222)

15 A day of wrath shall be that day, A day of distress and of affliction, A day of tumult and of desolation, A day of darkness and of thick darkness, A day of clouds and of mist;

16 A day of trumpet and of shouting Over the fortified cities And over the lofty citadels.

17 And I will straiten men, And they shall walk as the blind, Because they have done wickedly against Jehovah; And poured out shall be their blood as dust,

18 Even their silver and their gold shall not avail To deliver them, in the day of Jehovah’s wrath; And by the fire of his indignation shall their land be consumed; For a consummation, and a speedy one, Will be made of all the inhabitants of the land.

CHAPTER 2

1 Gather yourselves, gather, Ye nation, not worthy of being loved;

2 Before the decree brings forth, — (As chaff shall they pass away in a day) Before it comes upon you, The fury of Jehovah’s anger, — Before it comes upon you, The day of the anger of Jehovah. (232)

3 Seek Jehovah all ye meek of the land, who his judgment have sought; Seek righteousness, seek humility, It may be that ye shall be concealed In the day of Jehovah’s anger.

4 For Gaza, it shall be forsaken, And Ashkelon shall be a waste; Ashod shall they at mid-day drive out, And Ekron shall be rooted up.

5 Ho! the inhabitants of the line of the sea, The nation of the Cherethites! The word of Jehovah is against you; Cannaan! the land of the Philistines! I will also exterminate thee, That there may be no inhabitant:

6 And the coast of the sea shall be a habitation For sheepcots of shepherds and folds for sheep; (242)

7 And that coast shall be For the residence of the house of Judah; Among them shall they feed; In the houses of Ashkelon Shall they in the evening lie down; For visit them shall Jehovah their God, and he will restore their captivity.

8 Heard have I the reproach of Moab, And the revilings of the children of Ammon; By which they have upbraided my people; And they have extended themselves over their border: (247)

9 Therefore as I live, Saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, — Surely Moab like Sodom shall be, And the children of Ammon like Gomorrah, A soil for the nettle and a mine for salt, And a waste for ever; The residue of my people shall plunder them, And the remnant of my nation shall possess them.

10 This shall be to them for their pride; Because they have reproached, And exulted over the people of Jehovah of hosts.

11 Terrible will Jehovah be to them; For he will consume all the gods of the earth, And worship him shall each from his place, All the islands of the nations. —

12 Ye also Ethiopians! — Slain by my sword shall they be.

13 And extend will he his hand to the north, And he will destroy Assyria, And set Nineveh a waste, A desolation like the desert:

14 And lie down within it shall flocks, All the beasts of the nations; Even the bittern and the owl Shall on its pillars pass the night; A voice shall sing in the window, In the door-way there shall be desolation, For he will make bare the cedar.

15 This is the exulting city! Which sat in confidence, Which said in her heart, — “I am, and there is besides me no other.” How is she become a waste, A resting-place for beasts! Every one who shall pass by Will hiss at her, he will shake his hand.

CHAPTER 3

1 Wo to the polluted and the filthy — The city which is an oppressor! (261)

2 She has not attended to the voice, She has not received correction, In Jehovah has she not trusted, To her God she has not drawn nigh!

3 Her princes within her are roaring lions, Her judges, the wolves of the evening; They break not the bones in the morning!

4 Her Prophets are vain, men of deceits; (268) Her Priests have polluted what is holy, They have subverted the law. (269)

5 Jehovah is just in the midst of her, He will not do iniquity; Every morning his judgment He brings to light, — he fails not: Yet the unjust knoweth no shame.

6 I have cut off nations, Waste have become their citadels, I have destroyed their streets, So that no one passes through; Wasted have become their cities, That there is not a man, not an inhabitant: (275)

7 I said, “surely, thou wilt fear me, Thou wilt receive instruction;” Then cut off should not be her habitation, However I might have visited her: — (279) Truly! they have hastened, They have corrupted all their doings!

8 Therefore look for me, saith Jehovah, Till the day when I shall rise up for the prey; For my purpose is, To gather nations, to assemble kingdoms, That I may pour upon them my wrath, The whole fury of mine anger; For with the fire of my indignation Shall be devoured the whole earth. (281)

9 But I will then turn to the people a pure lip, That they may all call on the name of Jehovah, That they may serve him with one consent. (283)

10 Beyond the rivers of Ethiopia shall be my suppliants; The daughter of my dispersed shall bring mine offering.

11 In that day thou shalt not be ashamed On account of all thy doings, By which thou hast transgressed against me; For then will I remove from the midst of thee Those who rejoice in thy pride, And thou shalt not take pride any more In my holy mountain. (292)

12 And I will cause to remain in the midst of thee, A people afflicted and poor; And they shall trust in the name of Jehovah.

13 The remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity, And they shall not speak falsehood, And not found in their mouth Shall be a deceitful tongue; And they shall feed and lie down, And there shall be none to terrify them

14 Exult thou daughter of Sion, Exult thou Israel; Rejoice, exult with thy whole heart, Thou daughter of je: (299)

15 Removed has Jehovah thy judgments, He has turned aside thine enemies; The King of Israel, Jehovah, is in the midst of thee, Thou shalt see evil no more.

16 In that day it shall be said to je, Fear not; Sion! relaxed let not thine hands be.

17 Jehovah thy God is in the midst of thee, He is strong, he will save; He will exult over thee with joy, He will rest in his love, (304) He will exult over thee with triumph.

18 The afflicted, at the appointed time, Will I gather, — who shall be of thee; Who sustained for her reproach. (308)

19 Behold, I will destroy all thine oppressors at that time, And I will save the halting, And restore the driven away, To make them a praise and a name In the land of their reproach.

20 At that time will I restore you, At that time will I gather you; For I will make you a name and a praise Among all the nations of the earth; When I shall restore your captivities, Before your eyes saith Jehovah.

end of new translation of zephaniah.

A TRANSLATION of

CALVIN’S VERSION of

THE BOOK OF HAGGAI

CHAPTER 1

1 In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, came the word of Jehovah by Haggai the Prophet, to Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, the governor of Judah, and to Joshua, the son of Josedech, the high priest, saying —

2 Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, saying — This people say, “The time is not come To build the house of Jehovah.”

3 Then came the word of Jehovah, By Haggai, the Prophet, saying —

4 “Is it time for you To dwell yourselves in your boarded houses, And this house a waste!”

5 And now thus saith Jehovah of hosts, — Apply your heart to your ways:

6 Ye have sown much, and brought in little; Ye have eaten, and were not satisfied; Ye have drank, and were not replenished; Ye have clothed yourselves, and were not warmed; And he who gains wages, Gains wages for a perforated bag. (330)

7 Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, — Apply your heart to your ways;

8 Ascend unto the mountain and bring wood, And build the house; And I will be to you propitious in it, And glorified shall I be, saith Jehovah. (333)

9 Ye have looked for much, but behold little! And ye brought it home, and I blew on it: Why is this? saith Jehovah; On account of my house, because it is waste, And ye run, each of you to his own house.

10 Therefore restrained over you Are the heavens from dew; And the earth from producing is restrained:

11 Yea, I have called for drought On the land and on the mountains, And on the corn and the wine and the oil, And on everything which the earth produces, On man and on beast, And on every labour of the hands. (338)

12 And Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, the governor of Judah, and to Joshua, the son of Josedech, the high priest, and all the residue of the people, attended to the voice of Jehovah, their God, and to the words of Haggai, the Prophet, as Jehovah their God had sent him; and the people feared Jehovah.

13 Then said Haggai, the messenger of Jehovah, according to Jehovah’s message, saying to the people, “With you am I,” saith Jehovah.

14 And Jehovah stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, the governor of Judah, and to Joshua, the son of Josedech, the high priest, and the spirit of all the people; and the came and carried on the work in the Temple of Jehovah of hosts, their God,

15 on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month, in the second year of Darius the king. What is said in a Note in p. 347 does not apply to what Calvin says. He refers not, as I inadvertently apprehended, to the present division of the chapter, but to that adopted in the Septuagint; for this verse in that version forms the beginning of the next chapter. — Ed.

CHAPTER 2.

1 In the seventh month, and on the twenty-first day, came the word of Jehovah to Haggai, the Prophet, saying, —

2 Speak now to Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, the governor of Judah, and to Joshua, the son of Josedech, the high priest, and to all the residue of the people, saying, —

3 Who among you is alive, Who saw this house in its former glory, And how do ye see it now? Is it not to that as nothing in your eyes?

4 Yet now strong be thou Zerubbabel, saith Jehovah; And strong be all the people of the land; And work, for with you am I, Saith Jehovah of hosts,

5 According to the word I covenanted with you, When ye came forth from Egypt, And my Spirit shall be in the midst of you, fear ye not. (354)

6 For thus saith Jehovah of hosts, — Yet for a little while shall be this,

7 And I will shake the heavens and the earth, Also the sea and the dry land: Yea, I will shake all nations, And come shall the choice things of all nations; And I will fill this house with glory, Saith Jehovah of hosts:

8 Mine the silver and mine the gold, Saith Jehovah of hosts:

9 Greater shall be the glory Of this latter house than that of the former, Saith Jehovah of hosts; And in this place will I give peace, Saith Jehovah of hosts.

10 On the twenty-fourth of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, came the word of Jehovah to Haggai, the Prophet, saying, —

11 Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, Ask the priests respecting the law, saying, —

12 If a man carry holy flesh in the skirt of his garment, and with his skirt touch bread, or pottage, or wine, or oil, or any eatable, shall it be made holy? And the priests answered and said, No.

13 Then said Haggai, If any one polluted in his person touch any of these things, shall it be polluted? The priests answered and said, It shall be polluted.

14 Then answered Haggai, and said, — So is this people, and so is this nation, In my sight, saith Jehovah; And so is every work of their hands, And what they offer, — it is polluted.

15 And now I pray, lay it to heart, — From this day and beyond it, Before a stone was laid on a stone In the temple of Jehovah, —

16 Before this time, when one came To a heap of twenty, there were but ten measures, When he came to the vat to draw fifty, There were from the vat but twenty vessels:

17 I smote you with blasting and mildew and hail, As to every work of you hands; And ye turned not to me, saith Jehovah.

18 Lay it, I pray, to your heart, — From this day and beyond it, From the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, From the day the temple of Jehovah was founded; — Lay it to your heart, —

19 Is there now seed in the barn? And as yet the vine and the fig tree, And the pomegranate and the olive, Have produced nothing; — From this day will I bless you. (378)

20 And the word of Jehovah came again to Haggai, on the twenty-fourth of the month, saying, —

21 Speak to Zerubbabel, the governor of Judah, saying, —

22 I will shake the heavens and the earth, And will overthrow the throne of kingdoms, And destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the nations; Yea, I will overthrow chariots and their riders, And down shall come the horses and their riders, Every one by the sword of his brother:

23 In that day, saith Jehovah of hosts, I will take the Zerubbabel, The son of Shealtiel, my servant, saith Jehovah, And I will make thee as a signet, For I have chosen thee, saith Jehovah of hosts.

Indexes

Index of Scripture References

Genesis

1:22   3:1   4:4   6:13   14:14   17:8   19:1-38   19:16   24:16   25   26:20   31:30   35:18   43:10   49:10

Exodus

5:7   5:12   9:23   9:25   14:31   15:8   15:9   19:1   19:6   19:16   32:25   34:29   34:30   34:35

Leviticus

17:15   18:5   20:5   20:24   26:20   26:33

Numbers

1:20   5:2   9:6   9:7   9:10   14   15:32   15:33   16:38   16:38   23:27

Deuteronomy

6:13   11:12   11:17   17:8   19:2   19:7   26:14   27:8   28:43   32:8   32:24   33:2   33:2   33:3

Joshua

2:11   5:1   6:12   9:19   10:12   20:7

Judges

3   3:8   3:10   6:1   7:1   7:2   7:20   9:4

1 Samuel

3:1   16:13   22:2   23:5

2 Samuel

8:6   8:18   19:21   22:36

1 Kings

8:30   11:5   11:33   11:33   17:10   17:12   22:28

2 Kings

2:15   19:3   21:3   22:14   22:14   23:1   23:5   23:5   23:14

2 Chronicles

29:3   30:4   34:4   34:5   34:22   36:23

Ezra

3:7   5:14   5:14   6:15

Nehemiah

3:15   4:3   11:9

Job <div sID

CHAPTER 2

Hag 2:1-9. Second Prophecy. The people, discouraged at the inferiority of this temple to Solomon's, are encouraged nevertheless to persevere, because God is with them, and this house by its connection with Messiah's kingdom shall have a glory far above that of gold and silver.

1. seventh month--of the Hebrew year; in the second year of Darius' reign (Hag 1:1); not quite a month after they had begun the work (Hag 1:15). This prophecy was very shortly before that of Zechariah.

3. Who is left ... that saw ... first glory--Many elders present at the laying of the foundation of the second temple who had seen the first temple (Ezr 3:12, 13) in all its glory, wept at the contrast presented by the rough and unpromising appearance of the former in its beginnings. From the destruction of the first temple to the second year of Darius Hystaspes, the date of Haggai's prophecy, was a space of seventy years (Zec 1:12); and to the first year of Cyrus, or the end of the captivity, fifty-two years; so that the elders might easily remember the first temple. The Jews note five points of inferiority: The absence from the second temple of (1) the sacred fire; (2) the Shekinah; (3) the ark and cherubim; (4) the Urim and Thummim; (5) the spirit of prophecy. The connection of it with Messiah more than counterbalanced all these; for He is the antitype to all the five (Hag 2:9).

how do ye see it now?--God's estimate of things is very different from man's (Zec 8:6; compare 1Sa 16:7). However low their estimate of the present temple ("it") from its outward inferiority, God holds it superior (Zec 4:10; 1Co 1:27, 28).

4. be strong ... for I am with you--The greatest strength is to have Jehovah with us as our strength. Not in man's "might," but in that of God's Spirit (Zec 4:6).

5. According to the word that--literally, "(I am with you) the word (or thing) which I covenanted"; that is, I am with you as I covenanted with you when ye came out of Egypt (Ex 19:5, 6; 34:10, 11). The covenant promise of God to the elect people at Sinai is an additional motive for their persevering. The Hebrew for to "covenant" is literally "to cut," alluding to the sacrificial victims cut in ratification of a covenant.

so--or, "and."

my Spirit remaineth among you--to strengthen you for the work (Hag 1:14; Zec 4:6). The inspiration of Haggai and Zechariah at this time was a specimen of the presence of God's Spirit remaining still with His people, as He had been with Moses and Israel of old (Ezr 5:1; Is 63:11).

6. Yet once, it is a little while--or, "(it is) yet a little while." The Hebrew for "once" expresses the indefinite article "a" [Maurer]. Or, "it is yet only a little while"; literally, "one little," that is, a single brief space till a series of movements is to begin; namely, the shakings of nations soon to begin which are to end in the advent of Messiah, "the desire of all nations" [Moore]. The shaking of nations implies judgments of wrath on the foes of God's people, to precede the reign of the Prince of peace (Is 13:13). The kingdoms of the world are but the scaffolding for God's spiritual temple, to be thrown down when their purpose is accomplished. The transitoriness of all that is earthly should lead men to seek "peace" in Messiah's everlasting kingdom (Hag 2:9; He 12:27, 28) [Moore]. The Jews in Haggai's times hesitated about going forward with the work, through dread of the world power, Medo-Persia, influenced by the craft of Samaria. The prophet assures them this and all other world powers are to fall before Messiah, who is to be associated with this temple; therefore they need fear naught. So He 12:26, which quotes this passage; the apostle compares the heavier punishment which awaits the disobedient under the New Testament with that which met such under the Old Testament. At the establishment of the Sinaitic covenant, only the earth was shaken to introduce it, but now heaven and earth and all things are to be shaken, that is, along with prodigies in the world of nature, all kingdoms that stand in the way of Messiah's kingdom, "which cannot be shaken," are to be upturned (Da 2:35, 44; Mt 21:44). He 12:27, "Yet once more," favors English Version. Paul condenses together the two verses of Haggai (Hag 2:6, 7, and Hag 2:21, 22), implying that it was one and the same shaking, of which the former verses of Haggai denote the beginning, the latter the end. The shaking began introductory to the first advent; it will be finished at the second. Concerning the former, compare Mt 3:17; 27:51; 28:2; Ac 2:2; 4:31; concerning the latter, Mt 24:7; Re 16:20; 18:20; 20:11 [Bengel]. There is scarcely a prophecy of Messiah in the Old Testament which does not, to some extent at least, refer to His second coming [Sir Isaac Newton]. Psa 68:8 mentions the heavens dropping near the mountain (Sinai); but Haggai speaks of the whole created heavens: "Wait only a little while, though the promised event is not apparent yet; for soon will God change things for the better: do not stop short with these preludes and fix your eyes on the present state of the temple [Calvin]. God shook the heavens by the lightnings at Sinai; the earth, that it should give forth waters; the sea, that it should be divided asunder. In Christ's time God shook the heaven, when He spake from it; the earth, when it quaked; the sea, when He commanded the winds and waves [Grotius]. Cicero records at the time of Christ the silencing of the heathen oracles; and Dio, the fall of the idols in the Roman capitol.

7. shake--not convert; but cause that agitation which is to precede Messiah's coming as the healer of the nations' agitations. The previous shaking shall cause the yearning "desire" for the Prince of peace. Moore and others translate "the beauty," or "the desirable things (the precious gifts) of all nations shall come" (Is 60:5, 11; 61:6). He brings these objections to applying "the desire of all nations" to Messiah: (1) The Hebrew means the quality, not the thing desired, namely, its desirableness or beauty, But the abstract is often put for the concrete. So "a man of desires," that is, one desired or desirable (Da 9:23; 10:11, Margin; Da 10:3, Margin). (2) Messiah was not desired by all nations, but "a root out of a dry ground," having "no beauty that we should desire Him" (Is 53:2). But what is implied is not that the nations definitely desired Him, but that He was the only one to satisfy the yearning desires which all felt unconsciously for a Saviour, shown in their painful rites and bloody sacrifices. Moreover, while the Jews as a nation desired Him not (to which people Is 53:2 refers), the Gentiles, who are plainly pointed out by "all nations," accepted Him; and so to them He was peculiarly desirable. (3) The verb, "shall come," is plural, which requires the noun to be understood in the plural, whereas if Messiah be intended, the noun is singular. But when two nouns stand together, of which one is governed by the other, the verb agrees sometimes in number with the latter, though it really has the former as its nominative, that is, the Hebrew "come" is made in number to agree with "nations," though really agreeing with "the desire." Besides, Messiah may be described as realizing in Himself at His coming "the desires (the noun expressing collectively the plural) of all nations"; whence the verb is plural. So in So 5:16, "He is altogether lovely," in the Hebrew the same word as here, "all desires," that is, altogether desirable, or the object of desires. (4) Hag 2:8, "The silver is mine," &c.; accords with the translation, "the choice things of all nations" shall be brought in. But Hag 2:8 harmonizes quite as well with English Version of Hag 2:7, as the note on eighth verse will show; see on Hag 2:8. (5) the Septuagint and Syriac versions agree with Moore's translation. But Vulgate confirms English Version. So also early Jewish Rabbis before Jerome's time. Plato [Alcibiades, 2] shows the yearning of the Gentiles after a spiritual deliverer: "It is therefore necessary," says Alcibiades on the subject of acceptable worship, "to wait until One teach us how we ought to behave towards the gods and men." Alcibiades replies, "When shall that time arrive, and who shall that Teacher be? For most glad would I be to see such a man." The "good tidings of great joy" were "to all people" (Lu 2:10). The Jews, and those in the adjoining nations instructed by them, looked for Shiloh to come unto whom the gathering of the people was to be, from Jacob's prophecy (Ge 49:10). The early patriarchs, Job (Job 19:25-27; 33:23-26) and Abraham (Joh 8:56), desired Him.

fill this house with glory--(Hag 2:9). As the first temple was filled with the cloud of glory, the symbol of God (1Ki 8:11; 2Ch 5:14), so this second temple was filled with the "glory" of God (Joh 1:14) veiled in the flesh (as it were in the cloud) at Christ's first coming, when He entered it and performed miracles there (Mt 21:12-14); but that "glory" is to be revealed at His second coming, as this prophecy in its ulterior reference foretells (Mal 3:1). The Jews before the destruction of Jerusalem all expected Messiah would appear in the second temple. Since that time they invent various forced and false interpretations of such plain Messianic prophecies.

8. The silver is mine--(Job 41:11; Psa 50:12). Ye are disappointed at the absence of these precious metals in the adorning of this temple, as compared with the first temple: If I pleased I could adorn this temple with them, but I will adorn it with a "glory" (Hag 2:7, 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 with outward adornment of gold and silver, of which the golden covering within and without put on by Herod is the type. Then shall the nations bring offerings of those precious metals which ye now miss so much (Is 2:3; 60:3, 6, 7; Eze 43:2, 4, 5; 44:4). The heavenly Jerusalem shall be similarly adorned, but shall need "no temple" (Re 21:10-22). Compare 1Co 3:12, where gold and silver represent the most precious things (Zec 2:5). The inward glory of New Testament redemption far exceeds the outward glory of the Old Testament dispensation. So, in the case of the individual poor believer, God, if He pleased, could bestow gold and silver, but He bestows far better treasures, the possession of which might be endangered by that of the former (Jas 2:5).

9. The glory of this latter house ... greater than of the former--namely, through the presence of Messiah, in (whose) face is given the light of the knowledge of the glory of God (2Co 4:6; compare He 1:2), and who said of Himself, "in this place is one greater than the temple" (Mt 12:6), and who "sat daily teaching in it" (Mt 26:55). Though Zerubbabel's temple was taken down to the foundations when Herod rebuilt the temple, the latter was considered, in a religious point of view, as not a third temple, but virtually the second temple.

in this place ... peace--namely, at Jerusalem, the metropolis of the kingdom of God, whose seat was the temple: where Messiah "made peace through the blood of His cross" (Col 1:20). Thus the "glory" consists in this "peace." This peace begins by the removal of the difficulty in the way of the just God accepting the guilty (Psa 85:8, 10; Is 9:6, 7; 53:5; Zec 6:13; 2Co 5:18, 19); then it creates peace in the sinner's own heart (Is 57:19; Ac 10:36; Ro 5:1; 14:17; Ep 2:13-17; Php 4:7); then peace in the whole earth (Mi 5:5; Lu 2:14). First peace between God and man, then between man and God, then between man and man (Is 2:4; Ho 2:18; Zec 9:10). As "Shiloh" (Ge 49:10) means peace, this verse confirms the view that Hag 2:7, "the desire of all nations," refers to Shiloh or Messiah, foretold in Ge 49:10.

Hag 2:10-19. Third Prophecy. Sacrifices without obedience (in respect to God's command to build the temple) could not sanctify. Now that they are obedient, God will bless them, though no sign is seen of fertility as yet.

10. four and twentieth day ... ninth month--three days more than two months from the second prophecy (Hag 2:1); in the month Chisleu, the lunar one about the time of our December. The Jews seem to have made considerable progress in the work in the interval (Hag 2:15-18).

11. Ask ... the priests--Propose this question to them on the law. The priests were the authorized expounders of the law (Le 10:11; De 33:10; Eze 44:23; Mal 2:7).

12. "Holy flesh" (that is, the flesh of a sacrifice, Jr 11:15), indeed, makes holy the "skirt" in which it is carried; but that "skirt" cannot impart its sanctity to any thing beyond, as "bread," &c. (Le 6:27). This is cited to illustrate the principle, that a sacrifice, holy, as enveloping divine things (just as the "skirt" is "holy" which envelops "holy" flesh), cannot by its inherent or opus operatum efficacy make holy a person whose disobedience, as that of the Jew while neglecting God's house, made him unholy.

13. On the other hand, a legally "unclean" person imparts his uncleanness to any thing, whereas a legally holy thing cannot confer its sanctity on an "unclean" person (Nu 19:11, 13, 22). Legal sanctity is not so readily communicated as legal impurity. So the paths to sin are manifold: the paths to holiness one, and that one of difficult access [Grotius]. One drop of filth will defile a vase of water: many drops of water will not purity a vase of filth [Moore].

14. Then answered Haggai--rather, "Then Haggai answered (in rejoinder to the priests' answer) and said" [Maurer].

so is this people--heretofore not in such an obedient state of mind as to deserve to be called My people (Tit 1:15). Here he applies the two cases just stated. By the first case, "this people" is not made "holy" by their offerings "there" (namely, on the altar built in the open air, under Cyrus, Ezr 3:3); though the ritual sacrifice can ordinarily sanctify outwardly so far as it reaches (He 9:13), as the "holy flesh" sanctified the "skirt," yet it cannot make the offerers in their persons and all their works acceptable to God, because lacking the spirit of obedience (1Sa 15:22) so long as they neglected to build the Lord's house. On the contrary, by the second case, they made "unclean" their very offerings by being unclean through "dead works" (disobedience), just as the person unclean by contact with a dead body imparted his uncleanness to all that he touched (compare He 9:14). This all applies to them as they had been, not as they are now that they have begun to obey; the design is to guard them against falling back again. The "there" points to the altar, probably in view of the audience which the prophet addressed.

15. consider--literally, "lay it to heart." Ponder earnestly, retracing the past "upward" (that is, backward), comparing what evils heretofore befell you before ye set about this work, with the present time when you have again commenced it, and when in consequence I now engage to "bless you." Hence ye may perceive the evils of disobedience and the blessing of obedience.

16. Since those days were--from the time that those days of your neglect of the temple work have been.

when one came to an heap of twenty measures--that is, to a heap which he had expected would be one of twenty measures, there were but ten.

fifty vessels out of the press--As the Septuagint translates "measure," and Vulgate "a flagon," and as we should rather expect vat than press. Maurer translates (omitting vessels, which is not in the original), "purahs," or "wine-measures."

17. Appropriated from Am 4:9, whose canonicity is thus sealed by Haggai's inspired authority; in the last clause, "turned," however, has to be supplied, its omission marking by the elliptical abruptness ("yet ye not to Me!") God's displeasure. Compare "(let him come) unto Me!" Moses in excitement omitting the bracketed words (Ex 32:26). "Blasting" results from excessive drought; "mildew, from excessive moisture.

18. Resumed from Hag 2:15 after Hag 2:16, 17, that the blessing in Hag 2:19 may stand in the more marked contrast with the curse in Hag 2:16,17. Affliction will harden the heart, if not referred to God as its author [Moore].

even from the day that the foundation of ... temple was laid--The first foundation beneath the earth had been long ago laid in the second year of Cyrus, 535 B.C. (Ezr 3:10, 11); the foundation now laid was the secondary one, which, above the earth, was laid on the previous work [Tirinus]. Or, translate, "From this day on which the temple is being begun," namely, on the foundations long ago laid [Grotius]. Maurer translates, "Consider ... from the four and twentieth day ... to (the time which has elapsed) from the day on which the foundation ... was laid." The Hebrew supports English Version.

19. Is the seed yet in the barn?--implying, It is not. It has been already sown this month, and there are no more signs of its bearing a good crop, much less of its being safely stored in the barn, than there were in the past season, when there was such a failure; yet I promise to you from this day (emphatically marking by the repetition the connection of the blessing with the day of their obedience) a blessing in an abundant harvest. So also the vine, &c., which heretofore have borne little or nothing, shall be blessed with productiveness. Thus it will be made evident that the blessing is due to Me, not to nature. We may trust God's promise to bless us, though we see no visible sign of its fulfilment (Ha 2:3).

Hag 2:20-23. Fourth Prophecy. God's promise through Zerubbabel to Israel of safety in the coming commotions.

20. the month--the ninth in the second year of Darius. The same date as Prophecy III (Hag 2:10).

21. to Zerubbabel--Perhaps Zerubbabel had asked as to the convulsions foretold (Hag 2:6, 7). This is the reply: The Jews had been led to fear that these convulsions would destroy their national existence. Zerubbabel, therefore, as their civil leader and representative is addressed, not Joshua, their religious leader. Messiah is the antitypical Zerubbabel, their national Representative and King, with whom God the Father makes the covenant wherein they, as identified with Him, are assured of safety in God's electing love (compare Hag 2:23, "will make thee as a signet"; "I have chosen thee").

shake ... heavens--(see on Hag 2:6, 7); violent political convulsions accompanied with physical prodigies (Mt 24:7, 29).

22. All other world kingdoms are to be overthrown to make way for Christ's universal kingdom (Da 2:44). War chariots are to give place to His reign of peace (Mi 5:10; Zec 9:10).

23. take thee--under My protection and to promote thee and thy people to honor (Psa 78:70).

a signet--(So 8:6; Jr 22:24). A ring with a seal on it; the legal representative of the owner; generally of precious stones and gold, &c., and much valued. Being worn on the finger, it was an object of constant regard. In all which points of view the theocratic people, and their representative, Zerubbabel the type, and Messiah his descendant the Antitype, are regarded by God. The safety of Israel to the end is guaranteed in Messiah, in whom God hath chosen them as His own (Is 42:1; 43:10; 44:1; 49:3). So the spiritual Israel is sealed in their covenant head by His Spirit (2Co 1:20, 22; Ep 1:4, 13, 14). All is ascribed, not to the merits of Zerubbabel, but to God's gratuitous choice. Christ is the "signet" on God's hand: always in the Father's presence, ever pleasing in his sight. The signet of an Eastern monarch was the sign of delegated authority; so Christ (Mt 28:18; Joh 5:22, 23).

In the seventh month - This was a new message, and intended to prevent discouragement, and excite them to greater diligence in their work.

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.

Is it not in your eyes - Most certainly the Jews at 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.

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 fulfill my covenant; for my Spirit remaineth among you, fear not; Hag 2:5. 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.

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, Exo 19:18. "The political or religious revolutions which were to be effected in the world, or both, are here," says Abp. Newcome, "referred to; compare Exo 19:21, Exo 19:22; Mat 24:29; Heb 12:26-28. The political ones began in the overthrow of the Persian monarchy by Alexander, within two centuries after this prediction; and if the Messiah's 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 when 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 אחת achath, 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 of Alexander's successors; but only one great and final religious revolution." - Newcome.

And the Desire of all nations shall come - The present Hebrew text is as follows: ובאו חמדת כל הגוים. This is a difficult place if understood of a person: but חמדת chemdath, desire, cannot well agree with באו bau, they shall come. It is true that some learned men suppose that חמדות chemdoth, desirable things, may have been the original reading: but this is supported by no MS., nor is באו found in the singular number in any. It is generally understood of the desirable or valuable things which the different nations should bring into the temple; and it is certain that many rich presents were brought into this temple. All are puzzled with it. But the principal difficulty lies in the verb ובאו ubau, they shall come. If we found ובאה חמדת ubaa chemdath in the singular, then it would read as in our text, And the Desire of all nations shall come: but no such reading appears in any MS.; nor is it fairly acknowledged, except by the Vulgate, which reads, Et veniet desideratus cunctis gentibus, "And that which is desired," or the desired Person, "shall come to all nations." In Hag 2:7 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 represented as bringing by way of gifts, are the Lord's; and that the glory of this latter house shall exceed the former. Bp. Chandler labors to vindicate the present translation; but he makes rash assertions, and is abandoned by the Hebrew text. The בא ba, to come, is often used in the sense of bring, and that חמדת chemdath, desire, may be considered as the plural for חמדות, having the point holem instead of the ו 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 בא, 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, 2Sam 6:9; and of mounts coming against Jerusalem, Jer 32:24; and of trees coming to adorn the temple, Isa 60:13; and of silver and gold coming into the temple, Jos 6:19; and Jer 6:20, 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 excellences of the Gentile world, when the fullness of the Gentiles shall be brought in.

And in this place will I give peace - שלום 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 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 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 Hag 2:22-23 (note).

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! Hag 2:12.

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! Hag 2:13.

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.

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, etc., 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 blasted you in all the labors of your hands; and yet ye have not turned to me, Hag 2:17.

Consider now from this day - I will now change my conduct towards you: from, this day that ye have begun heartily to rebuild my temple, and restore my worship, I will bless you. Whatever you sow, whatever you plant, shall be blessed; your land shall be fruitful, and ye shall have abundant crops of all sorts.

Again the word of the Lord came - This was a second communication in the same day.

I will shake the heavens and the earth - Calmet supposes that the invasion of Cambyses, and his death, are what the prophet has in view by this shaking of the heavens and the earth: but this invasion and defeat happened three years before they had begun to work at the temple; and how could it be made a matter of interest to Zerubbabel? Calmet answers this, by translating the words in the past tense; and shows that the fact was recalled to Zerubbabel's attention, to fix his confidence in God, etc. Bp. Newcome says we may well understand this and the twenty-second verse of the calamity undergone by Babylon in the reign of Darius; of the Macedonian conquests in Persia; and of the wars which the successors of Alexander waged against each other: others under stand it of the Romans.

In that day, saith the Lord - Some think, says this same learned writer, that Zerubbabel is put here for his people and posterity: but it may well be said that the commotions foretold began in the rebellion of Babylon, which Darius besieged and took; and exercised great cruelties upon its inhabitants. - Herod. lib. iii., sec. 220. Justin. 1:10. Prideaux places this event in the fifth year of Darius; others with more probability, in the eighth year. Compare Zac 2:9.

And will make thee as a signet - I will exalt thee to high dignity, power, and trust, of which the seal was the instrument or sign in those days. Thou shalt be under my peculiar care, and shalt be to me very precious. See Jer 22:24 (note); Sol 8:6 (note); and see the notes on these two places.

For I have chosen thee - He had an important and difficult work to do, and it was necessary that he should be assured of God's especial care and protection during the whole.

On the three last verses of this prophecy a sensible and pious correspondent sends me the following illustration, which I cheerfully insert. Though in many respects different from that given above, yet I believe that the kingdom of Christ is particularly designed in this prophecy. "I think there is an apparent difficulty in this passage, because the wars of the Persians and Babylonians were not so interesting to the rising commonwealth of the Jews as many subsequent events of less note in the world, but which were more directly levelled at their own national prosperity; and yet neither the one nor the other could be termed 'a shaking of the heavens and the earth, and an overthrow of the throne of kingdoms.' "I know not if the following view may be admitted as an explanation of this difficult passage. I take 'the shaking of the heavens and earth' here (as in Hag 2:6) to have a more distant and comprehensive meaning than can belong to Zerubbabel's time, or to his immediate posterity; and that it extends not only to the overthrow of kingdoms then existing, but of the future great monarchies of the world; and not excepting even the civil and ecclesiastical establishments of the Jews themselves. For I take 'the heavens,' in the prophetic language, uniformly to denote the true Church, and never the superstitions and idols of the nations. "What, then, are we to understand by the promise made to Zerubbabel, 'I will make thee as a signet?' In the first place, the restitution of the religious and civil polity of the people of Israel, conformably to the promises afterwards given in the four first chapters of Zechariah. And, secondly, as the royal signet is the instrument by which kings give validity to laws, and thereby unity and consistence to their empire; so Jehovah, the God and King of Israel, condescends to promise he will employ Zerubbabel as his instrument of gathering and uniting the people again as a distinguished nation; and that such should be the permanency of their political existence, that, whilst other nations and mighty empires should be overthrown, and their very name blotted out under heaven, the Jews should ever remain a distinct people, even in the wreck of their own government, and the loss of all which rendered their religion splendid and attractive. "In confirmation of this interpretation, I would refer to the threatening denounced against Jeconiah, (called Coniah, Jeremiah 22), the last reigning king of Judah, and the progenitor of Zerubbabel. I apprehend I may be authorized to read Jer 22:24 thus: 'As I live, saith the Lord, though Coniah, the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, be the signet upon my right hand, yet will I pluck thee thence, and I will give thee into the hand of them that seek thy life,' etc. "If it be considered that the kings of Judah were in an especial and peculiar manner the delegates of Jehovah, governing in his name and by his authority, a peculiar propriety will appear in their being resembled to signets, or royal seals contained in rings. Compare Gen 41:42; Est 3:10, Est 3:12; Est 8:2, Est 8:8; Dan 6:7. And the promise to Zerubbabel will be equivalent to those which clearly predict the preservation of the Jewish people by the Divine command. see Zac 2:1-13; and the faithfulness of God to his covenant concerning the Messiah, who should be born of the seed of Abraham, and in the family of David, of whose throne he was the rightful Proprietor. "According to this view, by the promise, 'In that day; - I will make thee as a signet,' etc., must be understood, that the preservation of the Jews as a distinct people, when all the great empires of the heathen were overthrown, would manifest the honor now conferred on Zerubbabel as the instrument of their restoration after the Babylonish-captivity. Thus the promise to Abraham, Genesis 22, 'I will make of thee a great nation - and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed,' evidently referred to a very distant future period and the honor connected with it could not be enjoyed by Abraham during his mortal life." - M. A. B.

I think, however, that we have lived to see the spirit of this prophecy fulfilled. The earth has been shaken; another shaking, and time shall be swallowed up in eternity.

That saw - Near fourscore years ago. This house - The temple built by Solomon.

My spirit - Of strength and courage, of wisdom and understanding.

Yet once - After many confirmations of the new covenant, one more, remains to be made. A little while - Tho' above five hundred years, yet this was but a little time compared with that between the promise to Adam and Christ's coming. I will shake - Whether it be metaphorical or literal, it was verified at the time of Christ's coming into the world. After the return of the captivity, by the commotions among the Grecians, Persians, and Romans, which began soon after this time; this was metaphorically fulfilled. And it was literally fulfilled by prodigies and earthquakes, at the birth, death, and resurrection of Christ.

All nations - Which was literally fulfilled in the overthrow of the Persian monarchy by the Grecians, in the civil wars, and succeeding troubles among Alexander's successors, the growth of the Roman power by subduing their neighbours, and their dissentions and home - bred wars. The desire - Christ the most desirable, to all nations, and who was desired by all that knew their own misery, and his sufficiency to save them who was to be the light of the Gentiles, as well as the glory of his people Israel. With glory - The first temple had a glory in its magnificent structure, rich ornaments, and costly sacrifices; but this was a worldly glory; that which is here promised, is a heavenly glory from the presence of Christ in it. He that was the brightness of his father's glory, who is the glory of the church, appeared in this second temple.

The silver - The treasures of both: doubt not therefore but I will give enough to build this house.

In this place - In my house, a type of Christ. Peace - A spiritual, internal, and heavenly peace.

Concerning the law - What the law saith in this case.

Holy flesh - Part of the sacrifice, legally sanctified, or made holy by the altar on which the whole was sanctified. In the skirt - In the lap of his garment, or in any other cloth, and if this cloth touch any common thing as bread, &c., shall that become legally holy?

Said - Now the second case is proposed. These - Bread or pottage, wine or oil, or meat. Unclean - Shall that which the unclean doth touch, become unclean? Though a mediate touch of what is holy will not make holy, yet will not a mediate touch of what is polluted defile?

So - Polluted persons, touching what is clean, pollute it, so polluted Jews, polluted God's ordinances, while the outward performing of legal duties, left them as unholy in themselves, as they were before: somewhat more then is to be done. The soul is first to be purified, that they and we may offer up a pure offering. The people - The body of the Jews. Every work - Whatever they do, they pollute all by polluted hands. Offer - What they bring to the altar with impure hearts, is polluted by them.

Upward - Through past years. Before - Before you would set upon the re - building of the temple after you had intermitted it.

Since - All the while the temple lay neglected. When one came - Men are disappointed half in half. But ten - Which he expected would prove twenty measures, ephahs or bushels. It proved but half your hope, thus your corn failed, and your oil much more.

Blessing - Burning, and scorching winds. All the labours - In your plowing and sowing, in planting of olives and vines.

From the day - When you began to build on the old foundation.

Is the seed - Your seed for the next harvest is yet in your barns. Hath not brought forth - No sign yet appears what vintage you shall have, what store of wine, oil, figs, and pomegranates. Yet in the word of God I tell you, you shall be blest in them all, and have a large produce.

My servant - A type of him who was God's most beloved servant. As a signet - Which is very highly valued, and carefully kept. So shall the antitypical Zerubbabel, the Messiah, be advanced, loved, and inviolably preserved king, and supreme over his church. He is indeed the signet on God's right - hand. For all power is given to him, and derived from him. In him the great charter of the gospel is signed, and sanctified, and it is in him, that all the promises of God are yea and amen.

1 IN the seventh moneth, in the one and twentieth day of the moneth, came the word of the LORD by the prophet Haggai , saying,

Which the Hebrews called Tisri, and Ethanim, and it answers to part of our September and to part of October.

Some seven weeks after the first, mention'd in the first Chapter, and about one moneth after they began to build, or at least prepar'd for building the Temple.

Vid. chap. 1. ver. 1. let. c.d.e.

Marginal references: Heb. by th[illegible: 1 letter] hand of.

2 Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel governour of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Josedech the high-priest , and to the residue of the people, saying,

Once again acquaint them with what I now impart for their encouragement.

Vid. chap. 1. ver. 1. let. f.

Ibid. let. g.

Ibid. let. h.

Vid. chap. 1. ver. 1. let. k. l. m. See also chap. 1. ver. 12. where these persons are mentioned.

See chap. 1. ver. 12. let. e. f.

3 Who is left among you that saw this house in her first glory? and how do ye see it now ? is it not in your eyes in comparison of it, as nothing ?

There are surely some that are of that Age as to have seen the Temple which our Fathers sins, Gods just displeasure, and the Chaldean malice burnt, who are they? and where may they be found? this question implieth there were such, and by Ezra 3.12, 13. appears there were many, for the cries and sobs of them equall'd the shouts of the younger, who reioiced to see the foundations of the second house laid.

Took notice of it then, and remember it now, that were of such age and knowledge as to remember what was standing in its glory (one hundred and fifty years ago if some conjecture aright, but what is nearer to truth) who remember some fourscore years past, who are about one hundred years of Age.

The house of God, the Temple built by Solomon.

In the stately structure of it, in the rich adornings of it, in the unparallel'd skill and curiosity of its Workmanship, when 'twas the Glory of the World.

Do you see the same Glorious Structure going forward? Have you expectation of one equal to the former Temple?

You cannot but recal the former to mind, and make your judgment of this by that.

Do you not judge this second nothing comparable with the first, you are ready to say (in proverbial speech) it is nothing to it.

Marginal references: Zech. 4.10.

4 Yet now be strong , O Zerubbabel, saith the LORD, and be strong O Joshua son of Josedech the high priest; and be strong, all ye people of the land, saith the LORD, and work : for I am with you , saith the LORD of hosts.

In this juncture, though old men weep for the disproportion of the two Temples, yet now.

Be of good courage your selves O Zerubbabel, and thou O Ioshua, and encourage others by your Example, animate each other, that all the people of the Land may take heart with you.

Forthwith set about the building of the Temple.

Both to defend you from Enemies, to supply you with necessaries, to bless and accept you, vid. chap. 1. ver. 13.

Marginal references: Zech. 8.9.

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 .

Either the word of promise to give them his presence, and to carry them through all opposition, or, The word, the Son of God promised to them, and us, so it refers to Christ, in whom all the promises are Yea, and Amen.

In solemnest manner reduced to the Form and Model of a Covenant that it might be sure, and firm to you, as to your Fathers in whose time I made this Covenant, and with you in them.

When I brought you out of Egypt, the house of Bondage.

Of Strength and Courage, of Wisdom and Understanding, of Zeal and Fervency to carry you through this work

still doth dwell in you, shall be continued to you, and give direction and success.

Let no discouraging surmises settle in your mind, or weaken your hands. There were as many improbabilities lay in bar to your getting out of Egypt, yet my Word, Covenant, and Spirit overcame all; fear not therefore, I am the same, and with you, as with your Fathers.

6 For thus saith the LORD of hosts, yet once , it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens , and the earth , and the sea , and the dry land .

After many repetitions and confirmations of the New Covenant one more repetition, and but one more rests to be made.

Comparatively 'twas little, though 517 years from the second of Darius Hys[illegible: 1 letter]aspis to the incarnation of Christ, a long time to us who are short lived, and short sighted, but a little time compared with that between first promise to Adam, and Christ's coming; or take any other shorter period, as between Abraham or David, and Christ; this last period is short, a little while.

Whether it be metaphorical or literal, it was verified at the time of Christ's coming into the World. After the return of the Captivity, what with the commotions among the Graecians, Persians, and Romans, which began soon after this time; the Prophet points at this, was metaphorically fulfilled, all States were shaken either with Invasions from abroad, or Intestine Dissensions among themselves: Literally it was fulfilled by Prodigies, and Earthquakes, &c. as some have observed and recounted at the Birth, Death, and Resurrection of Christ.

Either States and Governments of the World, or Church Affairs, which in Scripture are called the Heavens, or the Material Heavens, and the Firmament,

which either figuratively, or literally taken, will agree well with the Text, and the H[illegible: 1 letter]story of times.

Sea, one part of, that is called Earth, this lower Globe

the other part of this inferiour World, and both may as former Words be literally or figuratively taken, and which better, I do not undertake to determine.

Marginal references: ver. 21. Heb. 12.26.

7 And I will shake all nations , and the desire of all nations shall come , and I will fill this house with glory , saith the LORD of hosts .

Which was literally fulfilled in the overthrow of the Persian Monarchy by the Graecians, in the Civil Wars, and succeeding troubles among Alexander his Successours, the growth of the Roman Power by the subduing their Neighbours, and their dissensions and homebred Wars, all husht by Augustus a little before Christ's birth. These convulsions began a little after this Prophecy, and continued long, in which the Iews under the Maccabe[illegible: 1 letter]s had their share.

Christ the most desirable, because the most helpful to all Nations, which some Proselytes in all ages did come to the knowledge of, and did earnestly desire, and who was desired by all that knew their own misery, and his sufficiency to save them, who was to be the light of the Gentiles as well as the Glory of his people Israel. The Messiah's coming (the Iews do own) is foretold in this Text, yet will they not see how this, yet a little while is long since past, and the true Messiah long since come,

which you now build, this second Temple. The first had a fulness of Glory in its magnificent Structure, rich Ornaments, and costly Sacrifices, but this was a worldly Glory, that which is here promised is a Heavenly Glory from the presence of Christ in it. He that was the brightness of his Fathers Glory, who is the Glory of the Church, appeareth in this second Temple.

Of my presence, preaching, healing, and comforting, saith the Messiah, the King of Glory, who entred these everlasting Doors, Psal. 24.7, 8. This was before the desolation of this Temple by the Rom[illegible: 1 letter]ns a Demonstration that the Messiah should come whilest this second Temple stood. But now the hardned Iew seeks to evade this Text.

This is a solemn sealing the certainty of the thing in this Prophet, and Zechariah, and Malachi, who stile him Lord of Hosts near an hundred times.

8 The silver is mine, and the gold is mine , saith the LORD of hosts.

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 beautifie 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.

9 The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former , saith the LORD of hosts: and in this place will I give peace, saith the LORD of hosts .

Which God intends to put upon this Temple, Solomon, and a rich people with incredible spoils taken from conquered Nations gave a Glory to the first house, but God himself will give the Glory of this House.

Which poor Captives, and feudatary Governours do build; this second Temple, the Prophet speaks of as if 'twere already a house, whereas 'twas now to be built. What God accounts a glory, must be somewhat better than Silver and Gold.

More truly glory, and in higher degrees, the least of Christ is greater Glory than all the Magnificence of Solomon.

There were no more but two houses built by God's appointment, into the latter of which the M[illegible: 1 letter]ssiah was personally to come, as Mal. 3.1. therefore he came before that latter Temple was destroyed, that is 1684 years ago, when at two Months old he was presented in the Temple, embraced and confessed by Simeon some 70 years before the Temple was burnt by the Romans.

In my house, Type of Christ, and who is glory of it.

A Spiritual, Internal, and Heavenly peace in pardoning guilt, and destroying sin, which displeaseth God, and disquieteth man himself. Christ made peace on his Cross, preached, or published it to the World, and gives it to them by the power of his Spirit.

Solemnly avowed by the Lord of Hosts, who cannot deceive, or be deceived.

10 ¶ In the four and twentieth day of the ninth month , in the second year of Darius , came the word of the LORD by Haggai the prophet, saying,

Two Months and two days after the third Sermon, ve[illegible: 1 letter]. 2.

Part of our November and December, Kisleu Heb.

which D[illegible: 2 letters]ius this was, see chap. 1. ver. 1. l[illegible: 1 letter]t. a. and ver. 15. let. f.

See chap. 1. ver. 3. let. b. c.

This tenth verse is an introduction to the fourth solemn discourse or Sermon the Prophet makes to this people, and there is nothing difficult in it but what hath been opened already.

11 Thus saith the LORD of hosts , Ask now the priests concerning the law , saying,

The Prophet comes with his double parable, or problem, but not of his own head, but in the Name of the Lord of Hosts.

Consult with, desire the solution of the following case,

whose Office bound them to study the Law, and to answer all cases of Conscience, their lips should retain knowledge, Mal. 2.7.

What the Law saith in the case, not what the Church, but what the Scripture saith.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 paragraph]

12 If one bear holy flesh in the skirt of his garment, and with his skirt do touch bread, or pottage, or wine, or oil, or any meat shall it be holy ? and the priests answered and said, no.

Any one

carry away from the Altar, or the Priests hands.

Part of the Sacrifice, legally, and ceremonially sanctified, or made holy by the Altar on which the whole was sanctified, of which a part is supposed to be carried away in the skirt of a garment.

In the lap of his Garment, or in any other Cloth or Napkin,

and this Cloth touch any common thing as bread, &c. shall

that common thing by such contact become legally, or ceremonially holy?

Who these Priests were, is not mentioned, but 'tis likely that there were some among the people, who did by the Prophets perswasion go, and propose the case, and they received the answer as here in the negative, for neither Mediate, nor yet immediate touch of holy things, could make common things, or unholy persons holy.

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 .

Now the second case is proposed for resolution, &c.

Ceremonially, or legally polluted, and unclean.

For such touch, though at unawares, did pollute, Numb. 19.13.

Bread or Pottage, Wine, or Oyl, or Meat.

Shall that which the unclean (by touch of the dead) doth touch, become unclean, or no? Though a mediate touch of what is holy will not make holy, yet will not a mediate touch of what is polluted defile whatsoever it toucheth?

It is resolved affirmatively, it shall be polluted.

14 Then answered Haggai, and said , So is the 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 .

Now is the case applyed.

As common things toucht by holy things, are not sanctified, and as polluted persons, touching what is clean, pollute it as holy things did, not by touch and bodily application make him legally holy, who was common; but a polluted person made all he toucht, and handled unclean; so unsanctified and polluted Iews, polluted God's Ordinances, while the outward performing of legal and ceremonial Duties, such as bringing, offering, eating, dragging about their legal sacrifices, left them as unholy in themselves, and as unacceptable to God as they were before; somewhat more than is to be done. The Soul is first to be purified, that they and we may offer up a pure offering.

The Body of the Iews, or the most part of them.

This ingeminateth the same thing to intimate to us how God resenteth it, and how we should be affected with it

in Gods account, or in his sight. who seeth indeed what men are, and what their actions are.

Whatever they do in Sacred or Civil matters, they make a shift to pollute all the polluted hands, by leprous touches.

What they do bring to the Altar with impure hearts, and hands, is more polluted by them, than sanctified by the Altar.

Really impure, though it seem externally clean and holy, 'tis unsutable to the purity of a holy God. In sanctified actions all is spoiled by unsanctified hearts. Thence 'tis that uncleanness is derived on their best works, and consecrated rites do not, cannot sanctifie prophane Spirits.

15 And now , I pray you, consider from this day and upward , from before a stone was laid upon a stone in the temple of the LORD .

Furthermore consider:

He affectionately intreats them to observe

this twenty fourth day of the ninth month, ver. 10.

Through past years, trace year after year, and your successes and disappointments in them

observe all years past before you would set upon the re-building of the Temple after you had intermitted it, some years past, 10, or 15, or 20, or 40 (or more say some) between your surceasing from the work, and beginning to rebuild.

The Prophet meaneth either before they began to lay one stone upon another in the Foundation laid in Cyrus his time, or before they began to lay the Foundation of the Walls of the Courts and outward Edifices.

Either strictly taken for the house of God, or more largely for the rest of the buildings about the house; this [illegible: 1 letter]aci[illegible: 1 letter]ly reproves their sloth; 'twas the Temple they neglected, which they did long for in Babylon.

So much the greater their sin, for that 'twas the Lords Temple was slighted.

16 Since those dayes were, when one came to an heap of twenty measures, there were but ten : when one came to the press fat for to draw out fifty vessels out of the press, there were but twenty.

All that while the Temple lay neglected, and you were contented with maimed, and half Worship.

Men were disappointed half in half,

which he expected would prove twenty measures, Epha[illegible: 1 letter]s, or Bushels, or what other measure you please.

It proved but half your hopes, thus your Corn failed, but your Oyl much more failed, and you found but two where you expected five; this Barrenness you cannot be ignorant of.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 word]. 1.9. [illegible: 1 word]. 8.10.

17 I smote you with blasting , and with mildew , and with hail , in all the labours of your hands, ye you turned not to me, saith the LORD .

My hand was visible in your losses, scarcity, and disappointments.

The persons put for their Labours, their Corn, Vines, and Olives.

Burning, and scorching Winds that blasted all.

Which with too much clammy moisture, that like glew cleaves to fruits, and turns to a corrupting of them,

which in these colder Countreys many times by its violence destroys Corn, Fruits, and Trees, but in those Countreys doth it of[illegible: 1 letter]er. Now here was in these somewhat more of the hand of God, and so the punishment was as more grievous, so more visible.

In your Plowing and Sowing for Harvest, in Planting of Olives and Vines for a Vintage.

You did not see my hand, though you felt it, you did not repent of your sinful neglect of me, my Worship, and Temple, nor thought of building my House.

This attested with Gods own hand [illegible: 1 word] witness hereto.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 letter]eut. 28.22. [illegible: 1 letter]ing. 8.37.; [illegible: 1 word] 4.9. [illegible: 2 letters]ap. 1.11.

18 Consider now from this day and upward , from the four and twentieth day of the ninth moneth, even from the day that the foundation of the LORDS temple was laid , consider it .

See ver. 15. l[illegible: 1 letter]t. i. k.

See ver. 15. let. m. Make your observation from the day when you began to build on the old foundation laid many years agon in the time of Cyrus.

Let that be the precise day from which you begin your reckoning, by this the Prophet excites them to believe, and wait, since he doth in the Name of the Lord so expresly promise a blessing, and tells them when it shall begin to come unto them, and would have them observe how truly he speaks.

19 Is the seed yet in the barn ? yea, as yet the vine, and the fig-tree, and the pomegranate, and the olive-tree hath not brought sorth: from this day will I bless you .

Your Seed for the next Harvest is yet in your barns, unsown, and no one can make any conjecture, yet whether next years increase shall be great, and blest; or whether it shall be blasted and little, I do not speak, saith H[illegible: 1 letter]gg[illegible: 1 letter]i, on conjecture, but in the Name of the Lord foretel, and promise you, that it shall be a plentiful Harvest to you;

nor have your Fruit-Trees yet put forth, no sign yet appears what Vintage you shall have, what store of Wine, Oyl, Figs, and Pomegranates, which are your choice and rich Fruits, but in the word of God I tell you you shall be blest in them all, and have a large produce, a joyful Vintage.

See ver. 10, let. a. b. and ver. 15. let. i.

In all your labour, as before you were blasted in all, because you neglected; so now you shall be blest in all, because you diligently build the Temple of the Lord.

20 ¶ And again the word of the LORD came unto Haggai, in the four and twentieth day of the month , saying,

See ver. 10. let. a. b. and ver. 15. let. i.

21 Speak to Zerubbabel governour of Judah , saying, I will shake the heavens , and the earth .

My Word, and in my Name, saith the Lord.

See chap 1. ver. 1. let. f. g. h. i. and chap. 1. ver. 12. let. b.

Vid. ver. 6. let. f.

ibid let. g.

ibid let. h.

22 And I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms , and I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the heathen, and I will overthrow the chariots and those that ride in them, and the horses and their riders shall come down, every one by the sword of his brother .

Now Babylonians are subjected to the Persian Power, and this standeth on the strength of many Kingdoms, and seems to be one Throne secured by all the Power of the known World, and can hardly be hoped to be hereafter better than an Enemy, and Opposer of the Iews, and their restoring of the Worship of God; for comfort in this case here is foretold God's overthrowing them, in case they oppose.

This seems an explaining of the former, and a confirming it too. Though the Gentiles, of many Kingdoms united in all their strength, set to hinder this work, this shall succeed so contrary to their expectation, that not you, but they shall find destruction as the end thereof; which was verified in the successive ruin of the Persian, Graecian, and Syrian Kingdoms, all which opprest the Church, and were destroy'd for it.

This passage foreshews that God will, by suffering Civil Wars to arise among these Nations, ruine them by themselves, as in truth they did, now whilest those Commotions and overthrows perplex and hurt the Iews, yet they were an occasion sometimes of some respite to them; Their Enemies were engaged on other designs, and could not mind mischief to the Iews.

23 In that day , saith the LORD of hosts, will I take thee , O Zerubbabel , my servant , the son of Shealtiel , saith the LORD, and will make thee as a signet : for I have chosen thee, saith the LORD of hosts.

During those dayes of Troubles, Wars, and Destruction, and particularly towards the end of them.

Advance, Honour, Defend and own.

Personally understood it respecteth the beginning of those dayes. Politically understood, it refers to all those times in which God promiseth he would, and indeed did preserve, guide, and honour such Governours of his people, who were as Zerubbabel was; somewhat of which promise and performance you may observe in the times succeeding unto, and through, the Meccabees times, Typically this refers to Christ, and the setting up of his Kingdom, shadowed out by the Government of Zerubbabel.

The Stile changed seems to point to him who was Gods most beloved Servant, Isa. 42.1. and 52.13.

Who was one of the Progenitors of the Me[illegible: 2 letters]iah, Matth. 1.12. Luk. 3.27.

Which is very highly valued, carefully kept, and used to confirm, and ratifie Gif[illegible: 1 letter]s, Edicts, and Patents, Dan. 6.17. So shall the Antitypical Zerubbabel, th[illegible: 1 letter] Messiah be Advanced, Loved, and inviolably preser[illegible: 1 letter]ed King, and Supreme over his Church,

for he is the Chosen one, the Beloved one, in whom God was well pleased, as the Chald. Paraphrast. and Matth. 3.17.

Glory of the New Temple, and the Blessings of the New Era - Haggai 2

This chapter contains three words of God, which Haggai published to the people in the seventh and ninth months of the second year of Darius, to strengthen them in their zeal for the building of the temple, and to preserve them from discouragement. The first of these words (Hag 2:1-9) refers to the relation in which the new temple would stand to the former one, and was uttered not quite four weeks after the building of the temple had been resumed.

Hag 2:1-2

Glory of the New Temple- Hag 2:1 and Hag 2:2. “In the seventh month, on the twenty-first day of the month, the word of the Lord came through Haggai,” viz., to Zerubbabel, Joshua, and the remnant of the nation, that is to say, to the whole of the congregation that had returned from exile; whereas the first appeal was only addressed to Zerubbabel and Joshua (see the introduction to Hag 1:1), although it also applied to the whole nation. Just as in the second year of the return from Babylon, when the foundation for the temple, which was about to be rebuilt, was laid in the reign of Cyrus, many old men, who had seen the temple of Solomon, burst out into loud weeping when they saw the new foundation (Ezr 3:10.); a similar feeling of mourning and despair appears to have taken possession of the people and their rulers immediately after the work had been resumed under Darius, and doubts arose whether the new building was really well-pleasing to the Lord, and ought to be carried on. The occasion for this despondency is not to be sought, as Hitzig supposes, in the fact that objections were made to the continuance of the building (Ezr 5:3), and that the opinion prevailed in consequence that the works ought to be stopped till the arrival of the king’s authority. For this view not only has no support whatever in our prophecy, but is also at variance with the account in the book of Ezra, according to which the governor and his companions, who had made inquiries concerning the command to build, did not stop the building while they sent word of the affair to the king (Ezr 5:5). Moreover, the conjecture that the people had been seized with a feeling of sadness, when the work had so far advanced that they were able to institute a comparison between the new temple and the earlier one (Hengstenberg), does not suffice to explain the rapid alteration which took place in the feelings of the people. The building could not have been so far advance din three weeks and a half as that the contrast between the new temple and the former one could be clearly seen, if it had not been noticed from the very first; a fact, however, to which Ezr 3:12 distinctly refers. But although it had been seen from the very beginning that the new building would not come up to the glory of the former temple, the people could not from the very outset give up the hope of erecting a building which, if not quite equal to the former one in glory, would at all events come somewhat near to it. Under these circumstances, their confidence in the work might begin to vanish as soon as the first enthusiasm flagged, and a time arrived which was more favourable for the quiet contemplation of the general condition of affairs. This explanation is suggested by the time at which the second word of God was delivered to the congregation through the prophet. The twenty-first day of the seventh month was the seventh day of the feast of tabernacles (cf. Lev 23:34.), the great festival of rejoicing, on which Israel was to give practical expression to its gratitude for the gracious guidance which it had received through the wilderness, as well as for the blessing of the ingathering of all the fruits of the ground, which ended with the gathering of the orchard-fruits and with the vintage, by the presentation of numerous burnt-offerings and other sacrifices (see my biblische Archäologie, i. p. 415ff.). The return of this festal celebration, especially after a harvest which had turned out very miserably, and showed no signs of the blessing of God, could not fail to call up vividly before the mind the difference between the former times, when Israel was able to assemble in the courts of the Lord’s house, and so to rejoice in the blessings of His grace in the midst of abundant sacrificial meals, and the present time, when the altar of burnt-sacrifice might indeed be restored again, and the building of the temple be resumed, but in which there was no prospect of erecting a building that would in any degree answer to the glory of the former temple; and when the prophecies of an Isaiah or an Ezekiel were remembered, according to which the new temple was to surpass the former one in glory, it would be almost sure to produce gloomy thoughts, and supply food for doubt whether the time had really come for rebuilding the temple, when after all it would be only a miserable hut. In this gloomy state of mind consolation was very necessary, if the hardly awakened zeal for the building of the house of God was not to cool down and vanish entirely away. To bring this consolation to those who were in despair was the object of the second word of God, which Haggai was to publish to the congregation. It runs as follows:

Hag 2:3-5 “Who is left among you, that saw this house in its former glory? and how do ye see it now? Is it not as nothing in your eyes? Hag 2:4. And now be comforted, Zerubbabel, is the saying of Jehovah; and be comforted, Joshua son of Jozadak, thou high priest; and be comforted all the people of the land, is the saying of Jehovah, and work: for I am with you, is the saying of Jehovah of hosts. Hag 2:5. The word that I concluded with you at your coming out of Egypt, and my Spirit, stand in the midst of you; fear ye not.” The prophet, admitting the poverty of the new building in comparison with the former one, exhorts them to continue the work in comfort, and promises them that the Lord will be with them, and fulfil His covenant promises. The question in Hag 2:3 is addressed to the old men, who had seen Solomon’s temple in all its glory. There might be many such men still living, as it was only sixty-seven or sixty-eight years since the destruction of the first temple. הנּשׁאר is the predicate to the subject מי, and has the article because it is defined by the reflex action of the relative clause which follows (compare Ewald, §277, a). The second question, וּמה אתּם וגו, et qualem videtis, In what condition do ye see it now? is appended to the last clause of the first question: the house which ye saw in its former glory. There then follows with הלוא, in the form of a lively assurance, the statement of the difference between the two buildings. כּמהוּ כּאין, which has been interpreted in very different ways, may be explained from the double use of the כ in comparisons, which is common in Hebrew, and which answers to our as - so: here, however, it is used in the same way as in Gen 18:25 and Gen 44:18; that is to say, the object to be compared is mentioned first, and the object with which the comparison is instituted is mentioned afterwards, in this sense, “so is it, as having no existence,” in which case we should either leave out the first particle of comparison, or if it were expressed, should have to reverse the order of the words: “as not existing (nothing), so is it in your eyes.” Koehler gives this correct explanation; whereas if כּמהוּ be explained according to Joe 2:2, its equal, or such an one, we get the unsuitable thought, that it is not the temple itself, but something like the temple, that is compared to nothing. Even in Gen 44:18, to which Ewald very properly refers as containing a perfectly equivalent phrase, it is not a man equal to Joseph, but Joseph himself, who is compared to Pharaoh, and described as being equal to him. Nevertheless they are not to let their courage fail, but to be comforted and to work. Châzaq, to be inwardly strong, i.e., to be comforted, 'Asâh, to work or procure, as in Rth 2:19 and Pro 31:13, in actual fact, to continue the work of building bravely, without there being any necessity to supply מלאכה from Hag 1:14. For Jehovah will be with them (cf. Hag 1:13).

In confirmation of this promise the Lord adds, that the word which He concluded with them on their coming out of Egypt, and His Spirit, will continue among them. “The word” ('eth-haddâbhâr) cannot be either the accusative of the object to the preceding verb ‛ăsū (Hag 2:4), or to any verb we may choose to supply, or the preposition 'ēth, with, or the accusative of norm or measure (Luther, Calvin, and others). To connect it with ‛ăsū yields no suitable meaning. It is not the word, which they vowed to the Lord, at the conclusion of the covenant, that they are to do now, but the work which they had begun, viz., the building of the temple, they are now to continue. It is perfectly arbitrary to supply the verb zikhrū, remember (Ewald and Hengstenberg), and to understand the prophet as reminding them of the word “fear not” (Exo 20:17-20). That word, “fear not,” with which Moses, not God, infused courage into the people, who were alarmed at the terrible phenomenon with which Jehovah came down upon Sinai, has no such central significance as that Haggai could point to it without further introduction, and say that Jehovah had concluded it with them on their coming out of Egypt. The word which the Lord concluded with Israel when He led it out of Egypt, can only be the promise which established the covenant, to the fulfilment of which God bound Himself in relation to the people, when He led them out of Egypt, namely, the word that He would make Israel into His own property out of all nations (Exo 19:5-6; Deu 7:6; cf. Jer 7:22-23, and Jer 11:4). It would quite agree with this to take 'ēth as the accusative of the norm, and also to connect it as a preposition, if this could only be shown to be in accordance with the rules of the language. But although the accusative in Hebrew is often used, in the relation of free subordination, “to express more precisely the relation of measure and size, space and time, mode and kind” (cf. Ewald, §204-206), it is impossible to find any example of such an accusative of norm as is here assumed, especially with 'ēth preceding it. But if 'ēth were a preposition instead of אתּכם, we should have עמּכם, inasmuch as the use of את־הדּבר, as a parallel to אתּכם, makes the words clumsy and awkward. The thought which Haggai evidently wishes to express requires that haddâbhâr should stand upon the same line with rūchı̄, so that 'eth-haddâbhâr is actually the subject to ‛ōmedeth, and 'ēth is simply used to connect the new declaration with the preceding one, and to place it in subjection to the one which follows, in the sense of “as regards,” quoad (Ewald, §277, d, pp. 683-4), in which case the choice of the accusative in the present instance may either be explained from a kind of attraction (as in the Latin, urbem quam statuo vestra est), as Hitzig supposes, or from the blending together of two constructions, as Koehler maintains; that is to say, Haggai intended to write את־הדּבר ורוּחי העמדתּי, but was induced to alter the proposed construction by the relative clause אשׁר כּרתּי וגו attaching itself to הדּבר. Consequently ‛ōmedeth, as predicate, not only belongs to rūchı̄, but also to haddâbhâr, in the sense of to have continuance and validity; and according to a later usage of the language, עמד is used for קוּם, to stand fast (compare Isa 40:8 with Dan 11:14). The word, that Israel is the property of Jehovah, and Jehovah the God of Israel, still stands in undiminished force; and not only so, but His Spirit also still works in the midst of Israel. Rūăch, in parallelism with the word containing the foundation of the covenant, is neither the spirit of prophecy (Chald., J. D. Mich.), nor the spirit which once filled Bezaleel and his companions (Exo 31:1., Exo 36:1.), enabling them to erect the tabernacle in a proper manner, and one well-pleasing to God (Luc., Osiander, and Koehler). Both views are too narrow; rūăch is the divine power which accompanies the word of promise and realizes it in a creative manner, i.e., not merely “the virtue with which God will establish their souls, that they may not be overcome by temptations” (Calvin), but also the power of the Spirit working in the world, which is able to remove all the external obstacles that present themselves to the realization of the divine plan of salvation. This Spirit is still working in Israel (“in the midst of you”); therefore they are not to fear, even if the existing state of things does not correspond to human expectations. The omnipotence of God can and will carry out His word, and glorify His temple. This leads to the further promise in Hag 2:6-9, which gives the reason for the exhortation, “Fear ye not.”

Hag 2:6-7 “For thus saith Jehovah of hosts, Once more, in a short time it comes to pass, I shake heaven and earth, and the sea, and the dry. Hag 2:7. And I shake all nations, and the costly of all nations will come, and I shall fill this house with glory, saith Jehovah of hosts. Hag 2:8. Mine is the silver, and mine the gold, is the saying of Jehovah of hosts. Hag 2:9. The last glory of this house will be greater than the first, saith Jehovah of hosts; and in this place shall I give peace, is the saying of Jehovah of hosts.” Different explanations have been given of the definition of the time עוד אחת מעט היא. Luther, Calvin, and others, down to Ewald and Hengstenberg, follow the Chaldee and Vulgate, and either take achath in the sense of the indefinite article or as a numeral, “adhuc unum modicum est,” or “it is yet a little thither.” But if achath belonged to מעט as a numeral adjective, either in the one sense or the other, according to the arrangement adopted without exception in Hebrew (for 'echâd is not an adjective in Dan 8:13), it could not stand before מעט, but must be placed after it. The difference of gender also precludes this combination, inasmuch as מעט is not construed as a feminine in a single passage. We must therefore take מעט היא as forming an independent clause of itself, i.e., as a more precise definition of עוד אחת. But 'achath does not mean one = one time, or a short space of time (Burk, Hitzig, Hofmann); nor does it acquire this meaning from the clause מעט היא; nor can it be sustained by arbitrarily supplying עת. 'Achath is used as a neuter in the sense of “once,” as in Exo 30:10; 2Ki 6:10; Job 40:5 (cf. Ewald, §269, b).  מעט היא , a little, i.e., a short time is it, equivalent to “soon,” in a short time will it occur (cf. Hos 8:10; Psa 37:10). The lxx have rendered it correctly ἔτι ἅπαξ, only they have left out מעט היא. The words, “once more and indeed in a short time I shake,” etc., have not the meaning which Koehl. attaches to the correct rendering, viz., “Once, and only once, will Jehovah henceforth shake heaven and earth,” in which the עוד standing at the head is both moved from its place, and taken, not in the sense of repetition or of continuance from the present to the future, but simply in the sense of an allusion to the future; in other words, it is completely deprived of its true meaning. For עוד never loses its primary sense of repetition or return any more than the German noch (still or yet), so as to denote an occurrence in the future without any allusion whatever to an event that has already happened or is in existence still, not even in 2Sa 19:36 and 2Ch 17:6, with which Koehler endeavours to support his views, without observing that in these passages עוד is used in a very different sense, signifying in 2 Sam. praeterea, and in 2 Chronicles “moreover.” In the verse before us it is used with reference to the previous shaking of the world at the descent of Jehovah upon Sinai to establish the covenant with Israel, to which the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews has quite correctly taken it as referring (Heb 12:26).

On the other hand, the objection offered by Koehler, that that shaking did not extend beyond Sinai and the Sinaitic region, either according to the historical account in Exo 19:16-18, or the poetical descriptions in Jdg 5:4-5, and Psa 68:8-9, is incorrect. For not only in the two poetical descriptions referred to, but also in Hab 3:6, the manifestation of God upon Sinai is represented as a trembling or shaking of the earth, whereby the powers of the heaven were set in motion, and the heavens dropped down water. The approaching shaking of the world will be much more violent; it will affect the heaven and the earth in all their parts, the sea and the solid ground, and also the nations. Then will the condition of the whole of the visible creation and of the whole of the world of nations be altered. The shaking of the heaven and the earth, i.e., of the universe, is closely connected with the shaking of all nations. It is not merely a figurative representation of symbol, however, of great political agitations, but is quite as real as the shaking of the nations, and not merely follows this and is caused by it, but also precedes it and goes side by side with it, and only in its completion does it form the conclusion to the whole of the shaking of the world. For earthquakes and movements of the powers of heaven are heralds and attendants of the coming of the Lord to judgment upon the whole earth, through which not only the outward form of the existing world is altered, but the present world itself will finally be reduced to ruins (Isa 24:18-20), and out of the world thus perishing there are to be created a new heaven and a new earth (Isa 65:17; Isa 66:22; 2Pe 3:10-13). But if the shaking of heaven and earth effects a violent breaking up of the existing condition of the universe, the shaking of all nations can only be one by which an end is put to the existing condition of the world of nations, by means of great political convulsions, and indeed, according to the explanation given in Hag 2:22, by the Lord’s overthrowing the throne of the kingdoms, annihilating their power, and destroying their materials of war, so that one falls by the sword of the other, that is to say, by wars and revolutions, by which the might of the heathen world is broken and annihilated. It follows from this, that the shaking of the heathen is not to be interpreted spiritually, either as denoting “the marvellous, supernatural, and violent impulse by which God impels His elect to betake themselves to the fold of Christ” (Calvin), or “the movement to be produced among the nations through the preaching of the gospel, with the co-operation of the Holy Spirit.” The impulse given by the preaching of the gospel and the operation of the Holy Spirit to such souls among the nations as desire salvation, to seek salvation from the living God, is only the fruit of the shaking of the heathen world, and is not to be identified with it; for the coming of the chemdth kol-haggōyı̄m is defined by וּבאוּ with the Vav consec. as a consequence of the shaking of the nations.

By chemdath kol-haggōyı̄m most of the earlier orthodox commentators understood the Messiah, after the example of the Vulgate, et veniet desideratus gentibus, and Luther’s “consolation of the Gentiles.” But the plural בּאוּ is hardly reconcilable with this. If, for example, chemdath were the subject of the clause, as most of the commentators assume, we should have the singular וּבא. For the rule, that in the case of two nouns connected together in the construct state, the verb may take the number of the governed noun, applies only to cases in which the governed noun contains the principal idea, so that there is a constructio ad sensum; whereas in the case before us the leading idea would be formed, not by kol-haggōyı̄m, but by chemdath, desideratus, or consolation, as a designation of the Messiah. Hence Cocc., Mark, and others, have taken chemdath as the accusative of direction: “that they (sc., the nations) may come to the desire of all nations - namely, to Christ.” It cannot be objected to this, as Koehler supposes, that to designate Christ as the desire of all nations would be either erroneous, inasmuch as in the time of Haggai only a very few heathen knew anything about Israel’s hope of a Messiah, or perfectly unintelligible to his contemporaries, especially if the meaning of the epithet were that the heathen would love Him at some future time. For the latter remark is at once proved to be untenable by the prophecy of Isaiah and Micah, to the effect that all nations will flow to the mountain of God’s house. After such prophecies, the thought that the heathen would one day love the Messiah could not be unintelligible to the contemporaries of our prophet; and there is not the smallest proof of the first assertion. In the year 520 b.c., when the ten tribes had already been scattered among the heathen for 200 years, and the Judaeans for more than seventy years, the Messianic hope of Israel could not be any longer altogether unknown to the nations. It may with much better reason be objected to the former view, that if chemdâh were the accusative of direction, we should expect the preposition 'el in order to avoid ambiguity. But what is decisive against it is the fact, that the coming of the nations to the Messiah would be a thought completely foreign to the context, since the Messiah cannot without further explanation be identified with the temple. Chemdâh signifies desire (2Ch 21:20), then the object of desire, that in which a man finds pleasure and joy, valuables. Chemdath haggōyı̄m is therefore the valuable possessions of the heathen, or according to Hag 2:8 their gold and silver, or their treasures and riches; not the best among the heathen (Theod. Mops., Capp., Hitzig). Hence chemdath cannot be the accusative of direction, since the thought that the heathen come to the treasures of all the heathen furnishes no suitable meaning; but it is the nominative or subject, and is construed as a collective word with the verb in the plural. The thought is the following: That shaking will be followed by this result, or produce this effect, that all the valuable possessions of the heathen will come to fill the temple with glory. Compare Isa 60:5, where the words, “the possessions (riches) of the heathen (chēl gōyı̄m) will come to thee,” i.e., be brought to Jerusalem, express the same thought; also Isa 60:11. With the valuable possessions of the heathen the Lord will glorify His temple, or fill it with kâbhōd. Kâbhōd without the article denotes the glory which the temple will receive through the possessions of the heathen presented there. The majority of the commentators have referred these words to the glorification of the temple through the appearance of Jesus in it, and appeal to Exo 40:34-35; 1Ki 8:10-11; 2Ch 5:13-14, according to which passages the glory of Jehovah filled the tabernacle and Solomon’s temple at their dedication, so that they identify kâbhōd (glory) with kebhōd Yehōvâh (glory of Jehovah) without reserve. But this is impracticable, although the expression kâbhōd is chosen by the prophet with a reference to those events, and the fulfilment of our prophecy did commence with the fact that Jehovah came to His temple in the person of Jesus Christ (Mal 3:1).

Hag 2:8-9

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. Hâachărōn 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 kâbhōd, 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 מעט in relation to fifteen hundred, and the proposal to go back to the protevangelium is evidently merely a loophole of perplexity. Nor can מעט היא 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).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 מעט היא, 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 πρόγνωσιη τοῦ Θεοῦ, 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 τῶν ἀλλυφύλων and of gifts ἔξωθεν ἐθνῶν, 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.).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 δόξα ὡς μονογενοῦς παρὰ πατρός, 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 (ἡ δόξα τοῦ Θεοῦ = כּבוד יהוה), 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 βασιλεία ἀσάλευτος, 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.

Hag 2:10

Return of the Blessings of Nature. - Hag 2:10. On the 24th day of the ninth month of the same year, that is to say, exactly three months after the congregation had resumed the building of the temple (cf. Hag 1:15), and about two months after the second prophecy (Hag 2:1), a new word of the Lord was uttered through Haggai to the people. It was now time, since the despondency which had laid hold of the people a few weeks after the recommencement of the building had been dispelled by the consolatory promises in vv. 6-9, and the work was vigorously pursued, to confirm the people in the fidelity which they had manifested, by bestowing upon them the blessing which had been withdrawn. To this end Haggai received the commission to make it perfectly clear to the people, that the curse which had rested upon them since the building of the temple had been neglected, had been nothing but a punishment for their indolence in not pushing forward the work of the Lord, and that from that time forth the Lord would bestow His blessing upon them again. The ninth month (Khislēv) corresponds very nearly to the period between the middle of November and the middle of December, when the sowing of the winter corps, that commenced after the feast of tabernacles, was finished, and the autumnal rain (early rain) had set in, so that in the abundant fall of this rain they might discern a trace of the divine blessing.

Hag 2:11-14

The word of God was as follows: Hag 2:11. “Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, Ask now the priests for instruction, saying, Hag 2:12. Behold, one carries holy flesh in the lappet of his garment, and touches with his lappet the bread, and that which is boiled, the wine, and the oil, and any kind of food: does it then become holy? And the priests answered and said, No. Hag 2:13. And Haggai said, If one who is unclean on account of a corpse touches all this, does it become unclean? And the priests answered and said, It does become unclean. Hag 2:14. Then Haggai answered and said, So is this people, and so this nation before my face, is the saying of Jehovah; and so is all the work of their hands, and what they offer to me there: it is unclean.” In order to impress most earnestly upon the hearts of the people the fact that it was through their sin that they brought upon themselves the failure of crops that had hitherto prevailed, viz., as a punishment from God, the prophet proposes two questions concerning holy and clean for the priests to answer, in order that he may make an application of the answer they give to the moral condition of the nation. Tōrâh in Hag 2:11, without the article, is used in its primary signification of instruction, and is governed by שׁעל, accus. rei: to ask a person anything, for to ask or solicit anything from him. The first question has reference to the communication of the holiness of holy objects to other objects brought into contact with them: whether, if a person carried holy flesh in the lappet of his garment,Luther: “in the geren of his dress.” The gehren, or gehre, middle high German gêre, old high German kêro (English goar), is a triangular piece, forming the gusset of a dress or shirt, then that portion of the dress in which it is inserted, viz., below the waist, probably derived from the Gothic gáis, and the conjectural root geisan = to thrust or strike (Weigand, Germ. Dict.). and touched any food with the lappet, it would become holy in consequence. Hēn, behold, pointing to an action as possible, has almost the force of a conditional particle, “if,” as in Isa 54:15; Jer 3:1 (cf. Ewald, §103, g). “Holy flesh” is flesh of animals slain as sacrifices, as in Jer 11:15. Nâzı̄d, that which is boiled, boiled food (Gen 25:29; 2Ki 4:38.). The priests answer the question laid before them quite correctly with “No;” for, according to Lev 6:20, the lappet of the dress itself was made holy by the holy flesh, but it could not communicate this holiness any further. The second question (Hag 2:13) has reference to the spread of legal defilement. טמא נפשׁ is not one who is unclean in his soul; but, as Lev 22:4 shows, it is synonymous with טמא לנפשׁ in Num 5:2; Num 9:10, “defiled on a soul;” and this is a contraction of טמא לנפר אדם, or טמא לנפשׁ מת, in Num 9:6-7, “defiled on (through) the soul of a dead man” (Num 6:6; Lev 21:11 : see at Lev 19:28), hence one who has been defiled through touching a dead body. This uncleanness was one of the strongest kinds; it lasted seven days, and could only be removed by his being twice purified with sprinkling water, prepared from the ashes of the red cow (see at Numbers 19). This question the priests also answered correctly. According to Num 19:22, he who was defiled by touching a dead body made everything unclean that he touched. The prophet now applies these provisions of the law to the ethical relation in which the people stood to Jehovah. “So is this people before me, saith Jehovah.” הגּוי is quite synonymous with העם, as in Zep 2:9, without any subordinate meaning of a contemptuous kind, which could at the most be contained in hazzeh (this), but in that case would apply to hâ‛âm just as well. Kēn, ita, refers to the substance of the two legal questions in Hag 2:12 and Hag 2:13. The nation, in its attitude towards the Lord, resembles, on the one hand, a man who carries holy flesh in the lappet of his garment, and on the other hand, a man who has become unclean through touching a corpse. “Israel also possesses a sanctuary in the midst of its land, - namely, the place which Jehovah has chosen for His own abode, and favoured with many glorious promises. But just as no kind of food, neither bread nor vegetables, neither wine nor oil, is sanctified by the fact that a man touches it with his sanctified garment, so will all this not be rendered holy by the fact that it is planted in the soil of the land which surrounds and encloses the sanctuary of Jehovah. For though the land itself becomes a holy land in consequence, it cannot spread this holiness any further, nor communicate it to what grows upon it. All that Israel raises on its holy land, whether corn, wine, or oil, remains unholy or common. No special blessing rests upon the fruits of this land, on account of the holiness of the land itself, so as of necessity to produce fruitfulness as its result; nor, on the other hand, does it in itself communicate any curse. But if, as experience shows, a curse is resting notwithstanding upon the productions of this land, it arises from the fact that they are unclean because Israel has planted them. For Israel it utterly unclean on account of its neglect of the house of Jehovah, like a man who has become unclean through touching a corpse. Everything that Israel takes hold of, or upon which it lays its hand, everything that it plants and cultivates, is from the very first affected with the curse of uncleanness; and consequently even the sacrifices which it offers there upon the altar of Jehovah are unclean” (Koehler). Shâm, there, i.e., upon the altar built immediately after the return from Babylon (Ezr 3:3).

Hag 2:15-17

The prophet explains these words in Hag 2:15-19 by representing the failure of the crops, and the curse that has hitherto prevailed, as a punishment from God for having been wanting in faithfulness to the Lord (Hag 2:15-17), and promises that from that time forward the blessing of God shall rest upon them again (Hag 2:18, Hag 2:19). Hag 2:15. “And now, direct your heart from this day and onward, before stone was laid to stone at the temple of Jehovah. Hag 2:16. Before this was, did one come to the heap of sheaves of twenty-(in measure), there were ten: did he come to the vat to draw fifty buckets, there were twenty. Hag 2:17. I have smitten you with blasting, and with mildew, and with hail, all the work of your hands; and not one of you (turned) to me, is the saying of Jehovah.” The object to which they are to direct their heart, i.e., to give heed, is not to be supplied from Hag 1:5, Hag 1:7, “to your ways” (Ros. and others), but is contained substantially in Hag 2:16 and Hag 2:17, and is first of all indicated in the words “from this day,” etc. They are to notice what has taken place from this day onwards. נמעלה, lit., upwards, then further on. Here it is used not in the sense of forwards into the future, but, as the explanatory clause which follows (from before, etc.) clearly shows, in that of backwards into the past. Mitterem, literally “from the not yet of the laying ... onwards,” i.e., onwards from the time when stone was laid upon stone at the temple; in other words, when the building of the temple was resumed, backwards into the past; in reality, therefore, the time before the resuming of the building of the temple: for min and mitterem cannot be taken in any other sense than in the parallel מיּום which precedes it, and מהיותם which follows in Hag 2:16. The objection which Koehler raises to this cannot be sustained. מהיותם, from their existence (backwards). Most of the modern commentators take the suffix as referring to a noun, yâmı̄m (days), to be supplied from Hag 2:15; but it appears much simpler to take it as a neuter, as Mark and others do, in the sense of “before these things were or were done, viz., this day, and this work of laying stone upon stone,” etc. The meaning is not doubtful, viz., looking backwards from the time when the building of the temple was resumed, in other words, before the point of time. בּא commences a new sentence, in which facts that they had experienced are cited, the verb בּא being used conditionally, and forming the protasis, the apodosis to which is given in והיתה. If one came to a heap of sheaves of twenty measures (se'âh is probably to be supplied: lxx σάτα), they became ten. A heap of sheaves (‛ărēmâh as in Rth 3:7), from which they promised themselves twenty measures, yielded, when threshed, no more than ten, i.e., only the half of what they expected. They experienced just the same at the pressing of the grapes. Instead of fifty buckets, which they expected, they obtained only twenty. Yeqebh was the vat into which the juice flowed when pressed out of the grapes. Châsaph, lit., to lay bare, here to draw out, as in Isa 30:14; and pūrâh, in Isa 63:3, the pressing-trough, here a measure, probably the measure which was generally obtained from one filling of the wine-press with grapes (lxx μετρητής). Hag 2:17 gives the reason why so small a result was yielded by the threshing-floor and wine-press. Jehovah smote you with blasting and mildew. These words are a reminiscence of Amo 4:9, to which passage the last words of the verse also refer. To the disease of the corn there is also added the hail which smote the vines, as in Psa 78:47. 'Eth kol-ma‛ăsēh, all the labour of the hands, i.e., all that they had cultivated with great toil, is a second accusative, “which mentions the portion smitten” (Hitzig). The perfectly unusual construction אין־אתכם אלי does not stand for אין בּכם א, non fuit in vobis qui (Vulg.), nor is אתכם used for אתּכם, “with you;” but אין־אתכם either stands for אינכם, the suffix which was taken as a verbal suffix used as an accusative being resolved into the accusative (cf. Ewald, §262, d); or it is the accusative used in the place of the subject, that is to say, את is to be taken in the sense of “as regards,” quoad (Ewald, §277, p. 683): “as far as you are concerned, there was not (one) turning himself to me.” אלי, to me, sc. turning himself or being converted; though there is no necessity to supply שׁבים, as the idea is implied in the word אל, as in Hos 3:3 and 2Ki 6:11.

Hag 2:18-19

After this appeal to lay to heart the past time during which the blessing had been withheld, Haggai called upon the people in Hag 2:18 and Hag 2:19 to fix their eyes upon the time which was commencing with that very day. Hag 2:18. “Direct your heart, then, from this day and onward, from the four and twentieth day of the ninth (month); namely, from the day when the foundation of the temple of Jehovah was laid, direct your heart. Hag 2:19. Is the seed still in the granary? and even to the vine, and pomegranate, and olive-tree, it has not borne: from this day forward will I bless.” The twenty-fourth day of the ninth month was the day on which Haggai uttered this word of God (Hag 2:10). Hence ומעלה in Hag 2:18 is to be understood as denoting the direction towards the future (Itala, Vulg., and many comm.). This is evident partly from the fact, that only in that case can the repetition of שׂימוּ לבבכם in Hag 2:18 (end), and the careful announcement of the point of time (from the twenty-fourth day, etc.), be simply and naturally explained, and partly from the fact that min hayyōm hazzeh (from this day) is not explained here, as in Hag 2:15, by a clause pointing back to the past (like mitterem sūm in Hag 2:15), but simply by a precise notice of the day referred to, and that in the last clause of Hag 2:19 this day is clearly described as the commencement of a new era. For there can be no doubt whatever that in min hayyōm hazzeh in Hag 2:19 the terminus a quo mentioned in Hag 2:18 is resumed. But the time mentioned in Hag 2:18, “from the day that the foundation of the temple was laid,” etc., and also the contents of the first two clauses of Hag 2:19, to the effect that there was no more seed in the granary, and that the vine, etc., had not borne, do not appear to harmonize with this. To remove the first of these difficulties, Ros., Maurer, Ewald, and others have taken למן־היּום אשׁר־יסּד as the terminus ad quem, and connected it with the foregoing terminus a quo: “observe the time,” which reaches back from the present day, the twenty-fourth of the ninth month, to the day when the foundation of the temple was laid in the reign of Cyrus (Ezr 3:10). They have thus taken למן in the sense of ועד. But it is now generally admitted that this is at variance with the usage of the language; even Ewald and Gesenius acknowledge this (see Ew., Lehrbuch, §218, b, and Ges. Thes. p. 807). למן is never equivalent to עד or ועד, but invariably forms the antithesis to it (compare, for example, Jdg 19:30; 2Sa 7:6, and Mic 7:12). Now, since lemin hayyōm cannot mean “to the time commencing with the laying of the foundation of the temple,” but must mean “from the day when the foundation of the temple was laid,” Hitzig and Koehler have taken למן היּום וגו as an explanatory apposition to מיּום עשׂרים וגו, and assume that through this apposition the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, is expressly designated as the day on which the foundation was laid for the temple of Jehovah. But this assumption is not only in direct contradiction to Ezr 3:10, where it is stated that the foundation of the temple was laid in the reign of Cyrus, in the second year after the return from Babylon, but also makes the prophet Haggai contradict himself in a manner which can only be poorly concealed by any quid pro quo at variance with the language, viz., (a) by identifying the words of Hag 2:15, “when stone was laid to stone at the temple of Jehovah,” which, according to their simple meaning, express the carrying on or continuance of the building, with the laying of the foundation-stone, secondly (b), by understanding the statement, “they did work at the house of Jehovah on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month” (Hag 1:14-15), not according to its natural meaning as relating to their building upon the foundation already laid, but as signifying the removal of the rubbish and the procuring of wood and stone, that is to say, as referring to the preparations for building; and lastly (c), by explaining אשׁר יסּד וגו in Hag 2:19 as signifying the laying of a fresh or second foundation. These assumptions are so forced, that if there were not a simpler and easier way of removing the difficulty raised, we would rather assume that there had been a corruption of the text.

But the thing is not so desperate as this. In the first place, we must pronounce the opinion that למן היּום וגו is an explanatory apposition to מיּום עשׂרים וגו an unfounded one. The position of the athnach in ומעלה furnishes no tenable proof of this. Nor can the assumption that lemin is synonymous with min be sustained. In support of the statement, “that lemin only differs from min in the greater emphasis with which it is spoken,” Ewald (§218, b), has merely adduced this passage, Hag 2:18, which is supposed to exhibit this with especial clearness, but in which, as we have just shown, such an assumption yields no appropriate meaning. למן followed by עד or ועד does indeed occur in several instances in such a connection, that it appears to be used instead of the simple min. But if we look more closely at the passages (e.g., Exo 11:7; Jdg 19:30; 2Sa 7:6), the ל is never superfluous; and lemin is simply used in cases where the definition so introduced is not closely connected with what goes before, but is meant to be brought out as an independent assertion or additional definition, so that in all such cases the ל “has the peculiar force of a brief allusion to something not to be overlooked, a retrospective glance at the separate parts, or a rapid summary of the whole, like our 'with regard to,' 'as regards’ (Lat. quoad);” and it only fails to correspond entirely to this, “from the fact that ל is only expressible in the softest manner, and indeed in our language can hardly be expressed in words at all, though it quite perceptibly yields this sense” (Ewald, §310). למקצת is also used in this sense in Dan 1:18 instead of מקצת (Hag 2:15), whilst in other cases (e.g., in למרחוק in 2Sa 7:19) it indicates the direction to a place or towards an object (Ewald, §218, b).Koehler’s objection to this explanation of lemērâchōq, viz., that with the verb dibber, the object concerning which a person is spoken to, is never introduced with the preposition ל, is groundless. “With verbs of speaking ל yields the same double meaning as אל, according to the context,” i.e., it can denote the person spoken to, and the person or thing to which the speaking refers, or about which a person is speaking (cf. Gen 21:7; Num 23:23; Isa 5:1; Mic 2:6; Jer 23:9; Psa 3:3; Psa 11:1; Psa 27:8; and Ewald, §217, c).

In the verse before us, the  ל  before  מן  corresponds exactly to the German anlangend, betreffend, concerning, as to, sc. the time, from the day when the foundation of the temple was laid, and is used to give prominence to this assertion, and by the prominence given to it to preclude any close connection between the definition of the time so introduced and what goes before, and to point to the fact that the following definition contains a fresh subject of discourse. The expression שׂימוּ לבבכם, which closes the sentence commencing with למן היּום, and which would be somewhat tautological and superfluous, if the day of the laying of the foundation of the temple coincided with the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, also points to this.

What space of time it is to which Haggai gives prominence in these words, as one which they are to lay to heart, is shown in Hag 2:19, “Is the seed still in the granary?” etc. That this question is not to be taken in the sense of a summons to proceed now with good heart to sow the summer crops, which were not sown till January, and therefore were still in the granary, as Hitzig supposes, has been pointed out by Koehler, who also correctly observes that the prophet first of all reminds his hearers of the mournful state of things in the past (not “in the present,” as he says), that they may thoroughly appreciate the promise for the future. For even if the question to be answered with “no,” viz., whether the corn is still in the granary, were to be referred to the present, what follows, viz., that the fruit-trees have not borne, would not suit this, since not having borne is a past thing, even if it merely related to the last year, although there is no ground for any such limitation of the words. And if in Hag 2:19 the prophet directs the attention of his hearers to the past, we must also understand the chronological datum immediately preceding as relating to the past as well, and must assume that the words from למן היּום in Hag 2:18 to לא נשׂא in Hag 2:19 contain a parenthetical thought; that is to say, we must assume that the prophet, in order to set clearly before their minds the difference between the past when the building of the temple was suspended, and the future commencing with that very day, before promising the blessing of God to be enjoyed in the future, directs another look at the past, and that from the time of the laying of the foundation of the temple in the reign of Cyrus to his own time, and reminds them once more of the want of blessing which they had experienced from that time forth even to the present time. Koehler’s objection to this view cannot be sustained. He says, “The Jews are to observe the time from that day forward, namely, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month (backwards); the time from the laying of the foundation of the temple in the reign of Cyrus (forwards).... Such a mode of expression seems utterly out of place.” But this only affects the erroneous assumption, that the definition “from the day of the laying of the foundation of the temple” is merely a more precise explanation of the previous definition, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, and falls to the ground of itself as soon as these two definitions are separated, as the expression and the matter in hand require. The second objection - namely, that the day of the laying of the foundation of the temple in the reign of Cyrus does not suit as a terminus a quo for the commencement of the withdrawal of the divine favour, or for the infliction of a curse upon the people, inasmuch as the Jews were not punished because they laid the foundation for the house of Jehovah, but simply because they neglected the house of God, that is to say, because they desisted from the building they had already begun - is one that would have some force if an interval of at least one or more years had elapsed between the laying of the foundation of the temple and the suspension of the building. But if the work of building was interrupted immediately after the foundation had been laid, as is evident from Ezr 3:10, as compared with ch. 4, Haggai might with perfect propriety describe the whole time from the laying of the foundation of the temple in the reign of Cyrus to the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month of the second year of Darius as a time without blessing, without there being any necessity for him expressly to deduct the few weeks which elapsed between the laying of the foundation-stone and the suspension of the work of building, any more than the last three months, in which the work had been resumed again. The last three months could hardly be taken into account, because they fell for the most part in the period after the last harvest; so that if this had proved to be a bad one, the cause would be still in force. The prophet could therefore very properly inquire whether the seed was still in the granary, to which they would be obliged to answer No, because the miserable produce of the harvest was already either consumed for the supply of their daily wants, or used up for the sowing which was just ended. זרע, seed, is not what is sown, but what the sowing yields, the corn, as in Lev 27:30; Isa 23:3; Job 39:12. Megūrâh = mammegūrâh in Joe 1:17, a barn or granary, from gūr, ἀγείρεσθαι, congregari. The following words, ועד־הגּפן וגו, are really appended to the thought contained implicite in the first clause: the corn has not borne, and even to the vine, etc., it has borne nothing. נשׂא is indefinite: it has not borne = has borne nothing. It shall be different in future. From this day, i.e., from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, Jehovah will bless again, i.e., grant a blessing, namely, so that fruitful seasons will come again, and fields and fruit-trees bear once more. There is no necessity to supply a definite object to אברך.

Hag 2:20-23

Renewal of the Promise of Salvation. - Hag 2:20. On the same day on which the Lord promised to the people the return of the blessings of nature, Haggai received a second revelation, which promised to the community the preservation and care of the Davidic monarchy, represented for the time by Zerubbabel, in the midst of the storms that were about to burst upon the power of the world. Hag 2:21. “Speak to Zerubbabel the governor of Judah thus: I shake the heaven and the earth. Hag 2:22. And I will overthrow the throne of the kingdoms; and destroy the might of the kingdoms of the nations; and will overthrow the war-chariots, and those who ride in them: and horses and their riders shall fall, one by the sword of the other. Hag 2:23. On that day, is the saying of Jehovah of hosts, will I take thee, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, my servant, is the saying of Jehovah, and make thee as a signet-ring: for I have chosen thee, is the saying of Jehovah of hosts.” אני מרעישׁ does not stand for הנני מרעישׁ, but the participial clause is to be taken as a circumstantial clause: If I shake heaven and earth, I overthrow (cf. Ewald, §341, c and d). The words point back to the shaking of the world predicted in Hag 2:6, Hag 2:7. When this shaking takes place, then shall the throne of the kingdoms be thrown down, and their might be destroyed. The singular כּסּא is used collectively, or rather distributively: “every throne of the kingdoms.” The throne is the symbol of the monarchy, or of the government (cf. Dan 7:27); not in this sense, however, that “the prophet regarded all the kingdoms of the earth as one combined power in contradistinction to the people of God, or as a single power, as the power of the world, which was sitting as mistress at the time upon the throne of the earth” (Koehler). The plural mamlâkhōth does not agree with this, since every kingdom had both a king and a throne. The continuance of this throne rests upon the strength (chōqez) of the heathen kingdoms, and this again upon their military power, their war-chariots, horses, and riders. These are to be overthrown and fall to the ground, and indeed by one another’s swords. One hostile kingdom will destroy another, and in the last conflict the heathen hosts will annihilate one another (compare Eze 38:21; Zec 14:13). At that time, when the dominion of the heathen had thus collapsed, Jehovah would take Zerubbabel and set or make him as a signet-ring. The verb 'eqqach (will I take) simply serves to introduce the following act as one of importance, as for example in Deu 4:20 and 2Ki 14:21. The meaning of the figurative expression, to make Zerubbabel as a signet-ring, is evident from the importance of the signet-ring in the eyes of an oriental, who is accustomed to carry his signet-ring constantly about with him, and to take care of it as a very valuable possession. It is introduced with the same idea in the Sol 8:6, “Lay me as a signet-ring upon thy breast, as a signet-ring in thine arms;” and it is in the same sense that Jehovah says of Jehoiachin in Jer 22:24, “Though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim were even a signet-ring upon my right hand, i.e., a possession from which it would be thought impossible that I should separate myself, yet would I tear thee away from thence.” Hence we obtain this thought for our present passage, namely, that on the day on which Jehovah would overthrow the kingdoms of the nations, He would make Zerubbabel like a signet-ring, which is inseparable from its possessor; that is to say, He would give him a position in which he would be and remain inseparably connected with Him (Jehovah), would therefore not cast him off, but take care of him as His valuable possession. This is the explanation given by Koehler (after Calvin, Osiander, and others); and he has also refuted the various explanations that differ from it. But in order clearly to understand the meaning of this promise, we must look at the position which Zerubbabel occupied in the community of Israel on its return from exile. For we may at the outset assume that the promise did not apply to his own particular person, but rather to the official post he held, from the fact that what is here predicted was not to take place till after the overthrow of the throne and might of all the kingdoms of the heathen, and therefore could not take place in Zerubbabel’s lifetime, inasmuch as, although the fall of this or the other kingdom might be looked for in the course of one generation, the overthrow of all kingdoms and the coming of all the heathen to fill the temple of the Lord with their possessions (Hag 2:7) certainly could not. Zerubbabel was (Persian) governor in Judah, and had no doubt been selected for this office because he was prince of Judah (Ezr 1:8), and as son of Shealtiel was a descendant of the family of David (see at Hag 1:1). Consequently the sovereignty of David in its existing condition of humiliation, under the sovereignty of the imperial power, was represented and preserved in his appointment as prince and governor of Judah, so that the fulfilment of the divine promise of the eternal perpetuation of the seed of David and his kingdom was then associated with Zerubbabel, and rested upon the preservation of his family. Hence the promise points to the fact, that at the time when Jehovah would overthrow the heathen kingdoms, He would maintain and take good care of the sovereignty of David in the person of Zerubbabel. For Jehovah had chosen Zerubbabel as His servant. With these words the Messianic promise made to David was transferred to Zerubbabel and his family among David’s descendants, and would be fulfilled in his person in just the same way as the promise given to David, that God would make him the highest among the kings of the earth (Psa 89:27). The fulfilment culminates in Jesus Christ, the son of David and descendant of Zerubbabel (Mat 1:12; Luk 3:27), in whom Zerubbabel was made the signet-ring of Jehovah. Jesus Christ has raised up the kingdom of His father David again, and of His kingdom there will be no end (Luk 1:32-33). Even though it may appear oppressed and deeply humiliated for the time by the power of the kingdoms of the heathen, it will never be crushed and destroyed, but will break in pieces all these kingdoms, and destroy them, and will itself endure for ever (Dan 2:44; Heb 12:28; 1Co 15:24).

The Glory of the Latter House. (b. c. 520.)

1 In the seventh month, in the one and twentieth day of the month, came the word of the Lord by the prophet Haggai, saying, 2 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 ye see it now? is it not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing? 4 Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, saith the Lord ; and be strong, O Joshua, son of Josedech, the high priest; and be strong, all ye people of the land, saith the Lord , and work: for I am with you, saith the Lord of hosts: 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; Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land; 7 And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of hosts. 8 The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the Lord of hosts. 9 The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the Lord of hosts: and in this place will I give peace, saith the Lord of hosts.

Here is, I. The date of this message, v. 1. It was sent on the twenty-first day of the seventh month, when the builders had been about a month at work (since the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month), and had got it in some forwardness. Note, Those that are hearty in the service of God shall receive fresh encouragements from him to proceed in it, as their case calls for them. Set the wheels a going, and God will oil them.

II. The direction of this message, v. 2. The encouragements here are sent to the same persons to whom the reproofs in the foregoing chapter are directed; for those that are wounded by the convictions of the word shall be healed and bound up by its consolations. Speak to Zerubbabel, and Joshua, and the residue of the people, the very same that obeyed the voice of the Lord (ch. i. 12) and whose spirits God stirred up to do so (ch. i. 14); to them are sent these words of comfort.

III. The message itself, in which observe,

1. The discouragements which those laboured under who were employed in this work. That which was such a damp upon them, and an alloy to their joy, when the foundation of the temple was laid, was still a clog upon them—that they could not build such a temple now as Solomon built, not so large, so stately, so sumptuous, a one as that was. This fetched tears from the eyes of many, when the dimensions of it were first laid (Ezra iii. 12), and still it made the work go on heavily—that the glory of this house, in comparison with that of the former, was as nothing, v. 3. It was now about seventy years since Solomon's temple was destroyed (for that was in the nineteenth year of the captivity, and this about the nineteenth after the captivity), so that there might be some yet alive who could remember to have seen it, and still they would be upbraiding themselves and their brethren with the great disparity between this house and that. One could remember the gold with which it was overlaid, another the precious stones with which it was garnished; one could describe the magnificence of the porch, another of the pillars—and where are these now? This weakened the hands of the builders; for, though our gracious God is pleased with us if we do in sincerity as well as we can in his service, yet our proud hearts will scarcely let us be pleased with ourselves unless we do as well as others whose abilities far exceed ours. And it is sometimes the fault of old people to discourage the services of the present age by crying up too much the performances and attainments of the former age, with which others should be provoked to emulation, but not exposed to contempt. Say not thou that the former days were better than these (Eccl. vii. 10), but thank God that there is any good in these, bad as they are.

2. The encouragement that is given them to go on in the work, notwithstanding (v. 4): Yet now, though this house is likely to be much inferior to the former, be strong, O Zerubbabel! and be strong, O Joshua! Let not these leading men give way to this suggestion, nor be disheartened by it, but do as well as they can, when they cannot do so well as they would; and let all the people of the land be strong too, and work; and, if the leaders have but a good heart on it, it is hoped that the followers will have the better heart. Note, Those that work for God ought to exert themselves with vigour, and then to encourage themselves with hope that it will end well.

3. The grounds of these encouragements. God himself says to them, Fear you not (v. 5), and he gives good reasons for it.

(1.) They have God with them, his Spirit and his special presence: Be strong, for I am with you, saith the Lord of hosts, v. 4. This he had said before (ch. i. 13), I am with you. But we need to have these assurances repeated, that we may have strong consolation. The presence of God with us, as the Lord of hosts, is enough to silence all our fears and to help us over all the discouragements we may meet with in the way of our duty. The Jews had hosts against them, but they had the Lord of hosts with them, to take their part and plead their cause. He is with them; for, [1.] He adheres to his promise. His covenant is inviolable, and he will be always theirs, and will appear and act for them, according to the word that he covenanted with them when they came out of Egypt. Though he chastens them for their transgressions with the rod, yet he will not make his faithfulness to fail. [2.] He dwells among them by his Spirit, the Spirit of prophecy. When he first formed them into a people he gave his good Spirit to instruct them (Neh. ix. 20); and still the Spirit, though often grieved and provoked to withdraw, remained among them. It was the Spirit of God that stirred up their spirits to come out of Babylon (Ezra i. 5), and now to build the temple, Hag. i. 14. Note, We have reason to be encouraged as long as we have the Spirit of God remaining among us to work upon us, for so long we have God with us to work for us.

(2.) They shall have the Messiah among them shortly—him that should come. To him bore all the prophets witness and this prophet particularly here, v. 6, 7. Here is an intimation of the time of his coming, that it should not be long ere he came: "Yet once, it is a little while, and he shall come. The Old-Testament church has but one stage more (if we may say so) to travel; five stages were now past, from Adam to Noah, thence to Abraham, thence to Moses, thence to Solomon's temple, thence to the captivity, and now yet one stage more, its sixth day's journey, and then comes the sabbatism of the Messiah's kingdom. Let the Son of man, when he comes, find faith on the earth, and let the children of promise continue still looking for him, for now it is but a little while and he will come; hold out, faith and patience, yet awhile, for he that shall come will come, and will not tarry." And, as he then said of his first appearance, so now of his second, Surely I come quickly. Now concerning his coming it is here foretold, [1.] That it shall be introduced by a general shaking (v. 6): I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land. This is applied to the setting up of Christ's kingdom in the world, to make way for which he will judge among the heathen, Ps. cx. 6. God will once again do for his church as he did when he brought them out of Egypt; he shook the heavens and earth at Mount Sinai, with thunder, and lightnings, and earthquakes; he shook the sea and the dry land when lanes were made through the sea and streams fetched out of the rock. This shall be done again, when, at the sufferings of Christ, the sun shall be darkened, the earth shake, the rocks rend—when, at the birth of Christ, Herod and all Jerusalem are troubled (Matt. ii. 3), and he is set for the fall and rising again of many. When his kingdom was set up it was with a shock to the nations; the oracles were silenced, idols were destroyed, and the powers of the kingdoms were moved and removed, Heb. xii. 27. It denotes the removing of the things that are shaken. Note, The shaking of the nations is often in order to the settling of the church and the establishing of the things that cannot be shaken. [2.] That it shall issue in a general satisfaction. He shall come as the desire of all nations—desirable to all nations, for in him shall all the families of the earth be blessed with the best of blessings—long expected and desired by the good people in all nations, that had any intelligence from the Old-Testament predictions concerning him. Balaam in the land of Moab had spoken of a star that should arise out of Jacob, and Job in the land of Uz of his living Redeemer; the concourse of devout men from all parts at Jerusalem (Acts ii. 5) was in expectation of the setting up of the Messiah's kingdom about that time. All the nations that are brought in to Christ, and discipled in his name, have called him, and will call him, all their salvation and all their desire. This glorious title of Christ seems to refer to Jacob's prophecy (Gen. xlix. 10), that to him shall the gathering of the people be.

(3.) The house they are now building shall be filled with glory to such a degree that its glory shall exceed that of Solomon's temple. The enemies of the Jews followed them with reproach, and cast contempt upon the house they were building; but they might very well endure that when God undertook to fill it with glory. It is God's prerogative to fill with glory; the glory that comes from him is satisfying, and not vain glory. Moses's tabernacle and Solomon's temple were filled with glory when God in a cloud took possession of them; but this house shall be filled with glory of another nature. [1.] Let them not be concerned because this house will not have so much silver and gold about it as Solomon's temple had, v. 8. God needs not the silver and gold to adorn his temple, for (says he), The silver is mine, and the gold is mine. All the silver and gold in the world are his; all that is hid in the bowels of the earth (for the earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof), all that is laid up in the exchequers, banks, and treasuries of the children of men, and all that circulates for the maintaining of trade and commerce; it is all the Lord's. Every penny bears his image as well as Cæsar's; and therefore when gold and silver are dedicated to his honour, and employed in his service, no addition is made to him, for it was his before. When David and his princes offered vast sums for the service of the house of God, they acknowledged, It is all thy own, and of thy own, Lord, have we given thee, 1 Chron. xxix. 14, 16. Therefore God needs not sacrifice, for every beast of the forest is his, Ps. l. 10. Note, If we have silver and gold, we must serve and honour God with them, for they are all his own, we have but the use of them, the property remains in him; but, if we have not silver and gold to honour him with, we must honour him with such as we have, and he will accept us, for he needs them not; all the silver and gold in the world are his already. The earth is full of his riches, so is the great and wide sea also. [2.] Let them be comforted with this, that, though this temple have less gold in it, it shall have more glory than Solomon's (v. 9): The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former. This was never true in respect of outward glory. This latter house was indeed in its latter times very much beautified and enriched by Herod, and we find the disciples admiring the stones and buildings of the temple, how fine they were (Mark xiii. 1); but it was nothing in comparison with Solomon's temple; and, besides, the Jews own that several of the divine glories of the first temple were wanting in this—the ark, the urim and thummim, the fire from heaven, and the Schechinah; so that we cannot conceive how the glory of this latter house should in any thing exceed that of the former, but in that which would indeed excel all the glories of the first house—the presence of the Messiah in it, the Son of God, his being presented there the glory of his people Israel, his attending there at twelve years old, and afterwards his preaching and working miracles there, and his driving the buyers and sellers out of it. It was necessary, then, that the Messiah should come while the second temple stood; but, that being long since destroyed, we must conclude that our Lord Jesus is the Christ, is he that should come, and we are to look for no other. It was also the glory of this latter house, First, That, before the coming of Christ, it was always kept free from idols and idolatries, and was never polluted with those abominable things, as the first temple often was (2 Kings xxiii. 11, 12), and in this its glory excelled all the glory of that. Note, The purity of the church, and the strict adherence to divine institutions, are much more its glory than external pomp and splendour. Secondly, That, after Christ, the gospel was preached in it by the apostles, even all the words of this life, Acts v. 20. In the temple Jesus Christ was daily preached, Acts v. 42. Now the ministration of righteousness and life by the gospel was unspeakably more glorious than the law, which was a ministration of death and condemnation, 2 Cor. iii. 9, 10. Note, That is the most valuable glory which arises from our relation to Christ and our interest in him. As, where Christ is, behold a greater than Solomon is there, so the heart in which he dwells, and makes a living temple, behold it is more glorious than Solomon's temple, and will be so to eternity.

(4.) They should see a comfortable end of their present troubles, and enjoy the pleasure of a happy settlement: In this place will I give peace, saith the Lord of hosts. Note, God's presence with his people in his ordinances secures to them all good. If God be with us, peace is with us. But the Jews under the latter temple had so much trouble that we must conclude this promise to have its accomplishment in that spiritual peace which Jesus Christ has by his blood purchased for, and by his last will and testament bequeathed to, all believers (John xiv. 27), that peace which Christ himself preached as the prophet of peace, and gives as the prince of peace. God will give peace in this place; he will give his Son to be the peace, Eph. ii. 14.

Evil More Communicable than Good; Encouragement to Build the Temple. (b. c.  520.)

10 In the four and twentieth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet, saying, 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, or pottage, or wine, or oil, or any meat, shall it be holy? And the priests answered and said, No. 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 pray you, consider from 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 to a heap of twenty measures, there were but ten: when one came to the press-fat for to draw out fifty vessels out of the press, there were but twenty. 17 I smote you with blasting and with mildew and with hail in all the labours of your hands; yet ye turned not to me, saith the Lord . 18 Consider now from this day and upward, from the four and twentieth day of the ninth month, even from the day that the foundation of the Lord 's temple was laid, consider it. 19 Is the seed yet in the barn? yea, as yet the vine, and the fig tree, and the pomegranate, and the olive tree, hath not brought forth: from this day will I bless you.

This sermon was preached two months after that in the former part of the chapter. The priests and Levites preached constantly, but the prophets preached occasionally; both were good and needful. We have need to be taught our duty in season and out of season. The people were now going on vigorously with the building of the temple, and in hopes shortly to have it ready for their use and to be employed in the services of it; and now God sends them a message by his prophet, which would be of use to them.

I. By way of conviction and caution. They were now engaged in a very good work, but they were concerned to see to it, not only that it was good for the matter of it, but that it was done in a right manner, for otherwise it would not be accepted of God. God sees there are many among them that spoil this good work, by going about it with unsanctified hearts and hands, and are likely to gain no advantage to themselves by it; these are here convicted, and all are warned thereby to purify the hands they employ in this work, for to the pure only all things are pure, and from the pure only that comes which is pure. This matter is here illustrated by the established rules of the ceremonial law, in putting a difference between the clean and the unclean, about which many of the appointments of the law were conversant. Hereby it appears that a spiritual use is to be made of the ceremonial law, and that it was intended, not only as a divine ritual to the Jews, but for instruction in righteousness to all, even to us upon whom the ends of the world have come, to discover to us both sin and Christ, both our disease and our remedy. Now observe here,

1. What the rule of the law was. The prophet is ordered to enquire of the priests concerning it (v. 11); for their lips should keep this knowledge, and the people should enquire the law at their mouth, Mal. ii. 7. Haggai himself, though a prophet, must ask the priests concerning the law. His business, as an extraordinary messenger, was to expound the providences of God, and to give directions concerning particular duties, as he had done, ch. i. 8, 9. But he would not take the priests' work out of the hands of those who were the ordinary ministers, and whose business it was to expound the ordinances of God, to teach the people the meaning of them, and to give the general rules for the observance of them. In a case of that nature, Haggai must himself consult them. Note, God has given to his ministers diversities of gifts, and calls them out to do diversities of services, so that they have need one of another, should make use one of another, and be helpful one to another. The prophet, though divinely inspired, cannot say to the priest, I have no need of thee, nor can the priest say so to the prophet. Perhaps Haggai was therefore ordered to consult the priests, that out of their own mouths he might judge both them and the people committed to their charge, and convict them of worse than ceremonial pollution. See Lev. x. 10, 11. Now the rules of the law, in the cases propounded, are, (1.) That he that has holy flesh in his clothes cannot by the touch of his clothes communicate holiness (v. 12): If one bear holy flesh in the skirt of his garment, though the garment is thereby so far made a devoted thing as that it is not to be put to common use till it has first been washed in the holy place (Lev. vi. 27), yet it shall by no means transmit a holiness to either meat or drink, so as to make it ever the better to those that use it. (2.) That he that is ceremonially unclean by the touch of a dead body does by his touch communicate that uncleanness. The law is express (Num. xix. 22), Whatsoever the unclean person touches shall be unclean; yet this Haggai will have from the priests' own mouth, for concerning those things that we find very plain in our Bibles yet it is good to have the advice of our ministers. The sum of these two rules is that pollution is more easily communicated than sanctification; that is (says Grotius), There are many ways of vice, but only one of virtue, and that a difficult one. Bonum oritur ex integris; malum ex quolibet defectu—Good implies perfection; evil commences with the slightest defect. Let not men think that living among good people will recommend them to God if they are not good themselves, but let them fear that touching the unclean thing will defile them, and therefore let them keep at a distance from it.

2. How it is here applied (v. 14): So is this people, and so is this nation, before me. He does not call them his people and his nation (they are unworthy to be owned by him), but this people, and this nation. They have been thus before God; they thought their offering sacrifices on the altar would sanctify them, and excuse their neglect to build the temple, and remove the curse which by that neglect they had brought upon their common enjoyments: "No," says God, "your holy flesh and your altar will be so far from sanctifying your meat and drink, your wine and oil, to you, that your contempt of God's temple will bring a pollution, not only on your common enjoyments, but even on your sacrifices too; so that while you continued in that neglect all was unclean to you, nay, and so is this people still; and so they will be; on these terms they will still stand with me, and on no other—that if they be profane, and sensual, and morally impure, if they have wicked hearts, and live wicked lives, though they work ever so hard at the temple while it is building, and though they offer ever so many and costly sacrifices there when it is built, yet that shall not serve to sanctify their meat and drink to them, and to give them a comfortable use of them; nay, the impurity of their hearts and lives shall make even that work of their hands, and all their offerings, unclean, and an abomination to God." And the case is the same with us. Those whose devotions are plausible, but whose conversation is wicked, will find their devotions unable to sanctify their enjoyments, but their wickedness prevailing to pollute them. Note, When we are employed in any good work we should be jealous over ourselves, lest we render it unclean by our corruptions and mismanagements.

II. By way of comfort and encouragement. If their hearts be right with God, and their eye single in his service, they shall have the benefit of their devotion. God will take away the judgment of famine wherewith they have been corrected for their remissness, and will restore them great plenty. This they are called to consider, and to observe whether God would not be to the utmost as good as his word, and by his providence remarkably countenance and recompense their reformation in this matter. To make this the more signal, let them set down the day when they began to work at the building of the temple, to raise the structure upon the foundations that had been laid some time before. On the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month they began to prepare materials (ch. i. 15), and now on the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month they began to lay a stone upon a stone in the temple of the Lord; let them take notice of this day, and observe, 1. How they had gone behind-hand in their estates before this day. Let them remember the time when there was a sensible waste and decay in all they had, v. 16. A man went to his garner, expecting to find a heap of twenty measures of corn, so much he used to have from such a piece of ground, or so much used to be left at that time of the year, or so much he took it for granted there was when he fetched the last from it, but he found it unaccountably diminished, and, when he came to measure it, there were but ten measures; it had run in and dried away in the keeping, or vermin had eaten it, or it was stolen. In like manner he went to the wine-press, expecting to draw fifty vessels of wine, for so much he used to have from such a quantity of grapes, but they did not yield as usual, for he could get but twenty. This agrees with what we had, ch. i. 9, You looked for much, and it came to little. Note, It is our folly that we are apt to raise our expectation from the creature, and to think tomorrow must needs be as this day and much more abundant, but we are commonly disappointed, and the more we expect the more grievous the disappointment is. In the stores and treasures of the new covenant we need not fear being disappointed when we come by faith to draw from them. But this was not all. God did visibly contend with them in the weather (v. 17): I smote you with blastings, winds and frosts, which made every green thing to wither, and with mildew, which choked the corn when it was knitting, and with hail, which battered it down and broke it when it had grown to some maturity; thus they were disappointed in all the labour of their hands, while they neglected to lay their hand to the work of God and to labour in that. Note, While we take no care of God's interest we cannot expect he should take care of ours. And, when he thus walks contrary to us, he expects that we should return to him and to our duty. But this people either saw not the hand of God in it (imputing it to chance) or saw not their own sin as the provoking cause of it, and therefore turned not to him. They were a long time incorrigible and unhumbled under these rebukes, so that God's hand was stretched out still, for the people turned not to him that smote them, Isa. ix. 12, 13. They might easily observe that as long as they continued in neglect of the temple work all their affairs went backward. But, 2. Let them now observe, and they should find that from this day forward God would bless them (v. 18, 19): "Consider now whether when you begin to change you way towards God you do not find God changing his way towards you; from this day, when you fall to work about the temple, consider it, I say, and you shall find a remarkable turn given for the better to all your affairs. Is the seed yet in the barn? Yes it is, and not yet thrown into the ground. The fruit-trees do not as yet bud, the vine, and the fig-tree, and the olive-tree, have not as yet brought forth, so that nothing appears to promise a good harvest or vintage next year. Nature does not promise it; but now that you begin to apply in good earnest to your duty, the God of nature promises it; he has said, From this day I will bless you. It is the best day's work you ever did in your lives, for hence you may date the return of your prosperity." He does not say what they shall be, but, in general, I will bless you; and those that know what are the fruits flowing from God's blessing know they can desire no more to make them happy. "I will bless you, and then you shall soon recover all your losses, shall thrive as fast as before you went backward; for the blessing of the Lord, that maketh rich, and those whom he blesses are blessed indeed." Note, When we begin to make conscience of our duty to God we may expect his blessing; and this tree of life is so known by its fruits that one may discern almost to a day a remarkable turn of Providence in favour of those that return in a way of duty; so that they and others may say that from this day they are blessed. See Mal. iii. 10. And whoso is wise will observe these things, and understand by them the lovingkindness of the Lord.

Encouraging Promises; A Promise to Zerubbabel. (b. c. 520.)

20 And again the word of the Lord came unto Haggai in the four and twentieth day of the month, saying, 21 Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, I will shake the heavens and the earth; 22 And I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms, and I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the heathen; and I will overthrow the chariots, and those that ride in them; and the horses and their riders shall come down, every one by the sword of his brother. 23 In that day, saith the Lord of hosts, will I take thee, O Zerubbabel, my servant, the son of Shealtiel, saith the Lord , and will make thee as a signet: for I have chosen thee, saith the Lord of hosts.

After Haggai's sermon ad populum—to the people, here follows one, the same day, ad magistratum—to the magistrates, a word directed particularly to Zerubbabel, the governor of Judah, who was a leading active man in this good work which the people now set about, and therefore he shall have some particular marks put upon him (v. 21): Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, speak to him by himself. He has thoughts in his head far above those of the common people, as wise princes are wont to have, who move in a higher and larger sphere than others. The people of the land are in care about their corn-fields and vineyards; God has assured them that they shall prosper, and we hope that will make them easy; but Zerubbabel is concerned about the community and its interests, about the neighbouring nations, and the revolutions of their governments, and what will become of the few and feeble Jews in those changes and convulsions, and how such a poor prince as he is should be able to keep his ground and serve his country. "Go to him," says God, "and tell him it shall be well with him and his remnant, and let that make him easy."

I. Let him expect to hear of great commotions in the nations of the earth, and let them not be a surprise to him; behold, he is told of them before (v. 21, 22): I will shake the heavens and the earth. This he had said before (v. 6, 7), and now says it again to Zerubbabel; let him expect shaking times, universal concussions. The world is like the sea, like the wheel, always in motion, but sometimes in a special manner turbulent. But, Blessed be God, if the earth be shaken, it is to shake the wicked out of it, Job xxxviii. 13. In the apocalyptic visions earthquakes bode no ill to the church. Here the heavens and the earth are shaken, that proud oppressors may be broken and brought down: I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms. The Chaldean monarchy, which had been the throne of kingdoms a great while, was already overthrown; and the powers that are, and are yet to come, shall in like manner be overthrown; their day will come to fall. 1. Though they be ever so powerful, yet the strength of their kingdoms shall be destroyed. They trust in chariots and horses (Ps. xx. 7), but their chariots shall be overthrown, and those that ride in them, so that they shall not be able to attack the people of God, whom they persecute, not to escape the judgments of God, which persecute them. 2. Though there appear none likely to be the instruments of their destruction, yet God will bring it about, for they shall be brought down every one by the sword of his brother. This reads the doom of all the enemies of God's church, that will not repent to give him glory; it seems likewise designed as a promise of Christ's victory over the powers of darkness, his overthrow of Satan's throne, that throne of kingdoms, the throne of the god of this world, the taking from him all the armour wherein he trusted and dividing the spoil. And all opposing rule, principality, and power, shall be put down, that the kingdom may be delivered up to God, even the Father.

II. Let him depend upon it that he shall be safe under the divine protection in the midst of all these commotions, v. 23. Zerubbabel was active to build God a house, and therefore God makes the same promise to him as he did to David on the like occasion—that he would build him a house, and establish it, even in that day when heaven and earth are shaken. This promise refers to this good man himself and to his family. He honoured God, and God would honour him. His successors likewise in the government of Judah might take encouragement from it; though their authority was very precarious as to men, yet God would confirm it, and this would contribute to the stability of the people over whom God had set them. But this promise has special reference to Christ, who lineally descended from Zerubbabel, and is the sole builder of the gospel-temple. 1. Zerubbabel is here owned as God's servant, and it is an honourable mention that is hereby made of him, as Moses and David my servants. When God destroys his enemies he will prefer his servants. Our Lord Jesus is his Father's servant in the work of redemption, but faithful as a Son, Isa. xlii. 1. 2. He is owned as God's elect: I have chosen thee to this office; and whom God makes choice of he will make use of. Our Lord Jesus is chosen of God, 1 Pet. ii. 4. And he is the head of the chosen remnant; in him they are chosen. 3. It is promised that, being chosen, God will make him as a signet. Jeconiah had been as the signet on God's right hand, but was plucked thence (Jer. xxii. 24); and now Zerubbabel is substituted in the room of him. He shall be near and dear to God, precious in his sight, and honourable, and his family shall continue till the Messiah spring out of it, who is the signet on God's right hand. This intimates, (1.) The delight the Father has in him. In him he once and again declared himself to be well pleased. He is set as a seal upon his heart, a seal upon his arm, is brought near unto him (Dan. vii. 13), is hidden in the shadow of his hand, Isa. xlix. 2. (2.) The dominion the Father has entrusted him with. Princes sign their edicts, grants, and commissions, with their signet-rings, Esth. iii. 10. Our Lord Jesus is the signet on God's right hand, for all power is given to him and derived from him. By him the great charter of the gospel is signed and ratified, and it is in him that all the promises of God are yea and amen.

CHAP. II.

Verſe 1. IN the ſeventh moneth, in the one and twentieth day of the moneth] This is the Preface to the fourth ſermon, as ſome reckon it: noting the exact time when it was delivered. See the Notes on chap. 1.1. and 15.

came the word of the Lord] This he often inculcateth, to ſet forth the truth of his calling, and validity of his commiſſion. See the Note on chap. 1. ver. 5.

by the Prophet Haggai] Heb. by the hand of the Prophet. See the Note on Mal. 1.1.

Verſe 2. Speak now to Zerubbabel, &c.] The better to hearten them on in the work, the Prophet is ſent again to them, with a like meſſage as before. Note here. 1. That there are none ſo forward for God and his work, but may ſtand in need of continuall quickening: there being more ſnares and back biaſſes upon earth, then there are ſtarres in heaven: and the good gift of God having ſo much need of righting up: For, like a dull ſea-coal-fire, if it be not now and then blown, or ſtirred up, though there be no want of fuell, yet will of it ſelf at length dye and go out. Beſides that, every inch, every artery of our bodies, if it could, would ſwell with helliſh venome to the bigneſſe of the hugeſt Giant, that it might make reſiſtance to the work of Gods ſanctifying Spirit.Heb. 10.24 Let us therefore conſider one another, and ſtudy every man his brothers caſe, to ſtirre up, or whet on to love and good works. God will not forget this our labour of love, but abundantly both regard and reward it, Mal. 3.16. See the Notes there. 2. That continuall preaching makes men continue in well-doing. Therefore it was, that Barnabas was ſent to Antioch, Acts 11.22, 23. who, when he came and had ſeen the grace of God was glad, and exhorted them all, that with purpoſe of heart they would cleave unto the Lord. And hence alſo it was, that Paul and Barnabas (chap. 14.21.) returned again to Lyſtra, and to Iconium, and Antioch, confirming the ſouls of the diſciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, &c. And ordaining Preachers every where for that very purpoſe, for the increaſe of their knowledge, for the ſtrengthening of their faith, for the help of their memories, and for the quickening of their affections. Gutta cavat lapidem, non vi ſed ſaepè cadendo. Gods tender plants need be often watered, that they may ſpring and ſprout.Plantas tenellas frequentius adaquare proderit. Primaſ.

and to the reſidue of the people] Non enim ſacris Eleaſiniis, quae in vulgus ſpargi nefas erat ſimilia ſunt oracula Dei, ſaith an interpreter here. Gods oracles are not to be hid from the common ſort, as Sibylla's were, and as the Popiſh Doctours hold, leſt men ſhould be made hereticks thereby, that is, right beleevers.Grynaus. It is hereſy, ſaith One of them to read the ſcriptures. It was the invention of the devill, ſaith Another. An husbandman reading the ſcriptures was poſſeſt, ſaith a third. It is not needfull for the common ſort to know more of Gods mind then the Articles of the Creed, ſaith Aquinas, Bellarmine &c. Iohn Barclay in his Pareneſis, excuſing the church of Rome for taking away the ſcriptures from the Vulgar, ſaith thus, Sed de his quoque providit Eccleſia concionibus, in quibus Evangelia referuntur &c. But for this, the Church hath made ſufficient proviſion by appointing Sermons to be made upon the Goſpels for the day, and by permitting books of devotion wherein much uſe is made of the holy Scriptures. And for the hiſtoricall part of the old Teſtament, ſaith he, men may read Ioſephus his Antiquities, where it is ſet down more plainely and plentifully then-in the Bible &c. But I am weary of raking in this foule channel.

Verſe 3. Who is left amongſt you that ſaw this houſe in her firſt glory?] Some ſuch there were amongſt them (as is here implyed) and theſe muſt needs be very old, ſixſcore at leaſt, ſome ſay more. Zorobabel might well be one of theſe; for he was a chiefetaine in the firſt yeere of Cyrus, Ezra 2.2. And Jehoſhuah the high-Prieſt might be another: for he came out of Babylon with Zorobabel at the ſame time Ezra 2.22. We ſee by experience, that mens lives are daily ſhortened. Naturall reaſons whereof may be theſe. 1. Untimely marriages. 2. Cloying our bodyes with variety of meates, and ſo digging our own graves with our own teeth. 3. Much eaſe and delicacy. The ſupernaturall reaſon may be, that ſo the world may ſooner come to an end. God maketh haſt to have the number of his Elect fulfilled, and therefore diſpatcheth away the generations, ſhorteneth life for his Elects ſake, fetcheth home his pilgrims, makes their dayes few though evill (Gen. 49.) takes them away from the evill to come &c.Bern. death being to them arumnarum requies (as Chaucers Motto was) yea janua vitae, porta coeli, the day-break of eternall brightneſſe.

and how do ye ſee it now?] It is a part of old mens prudence rightly to compare things long ſince paſt with things preſent, and ſo to conjecture at things to come. Thus the prudent perſon, by diſcourſe of reaſon, foreſeeth an evill and hideth himſelf, when the yong foole paſſeth on and is puniſhed.

is it not in your eyes] that is in your thoughts; for God taketh notice of the inward workings of the heart 1 Sam. 16.7. Pſal. 139.2. 1 King. 8.39. For he made the heart, and muſt therefore know all that is in it: as a watch-maker knowes all the wheels and motions of the watch. He alſo will bring every ſecret thing into judgement Ecleſ. 12.14. Therefore thought is not free (as fooliſh folk dote either from the notice of his eye (he had ſoon found out theſe Jows, when they did but deſpiſe the day of ſmall things in their hearts Zach. 4.10.) or from the cenſure of his mouth Heb. 4.12, 13. Rom. 7.14. (the law is ſpirituall and meets with involuntary motions to ſin, ver. 7.) Or laſtly, from the ſtroke of his hand which is a mighty hand 1 Pet. 5.6. and falls very heavy Deut. 29.19. even for a root of bitterneſſe, as it is there, for vaine thoughts Ier. 4.14. how much more for miſchievous, murtherous, covetous, vainglorious and adulterous thoughts &c. It were good therefore to write upon walles and windowes (yea would it were written upon the tables of our hearts) that ſhort Motto, which as ſhort as it is, yet our memories are ſhorter, Cave, Deus videt. Take heed, God looks on: for he is omnipreſent and omniſcient.

is it not in your eyes in compariſon as nothing?] A meer Non-ens or nullity? not fit to be named in the ſame day with the former Temple? For, firſt Cyrus appointed the full proportion of this ſecond Houſe, the height thereof threeſcore cubites, and the bredth thereof threeſcore cubites Ezra. 6.3. which was but one half ſo big as Solomous Temple. Herod indeed,Lib. 15. Ant. cap. 14. to curry favour with the Jews (which yet would never be) built upon Solomons foundation, and beſtowed a great deale of coſt, if we may beleeve Ioſephus. But ſo could not theſe Jews do, that returned from Babylon: for they were (ſecondly) but few, and thoſe alſo poor, and, though helped both by Cyrus and Darius, yet they were glad to build the Temple of common ſtone, and unpoliſhed, nothing like thoſe precious carved ſtones wherewith Solomon built 1 King. 6. Thirdly, God hereby would draw their minds from the legall ceremonies and ſervices; the Sun of righteouſneſſe being now ready to ariſe upon them, the day-ſpring from on high to viſit them. Howbeit, becauſe they could not have ſo glorious a Temple as the former, they ſlighted it in their thoughts, and would have neglected it: Learne hence, That men naturally account as nothing of Gods ſervice, if not accompanied with outward pompe and ſplendour. The Iſraelites in the wilderneſſe would needs have a calf, (as the Egyptians had) made of their Jewels and ear-rings. Ieroboam would have two, and thoſe of gold. Nebuchadnezzar dedicated a golden image with all manner of muſick Dan. 3. The people wept when the foundation of this Temple was laid Ezra 3.12. becauſe nothing ſo magnificent as the former. And the Papiſts explode our religion in compariſon of theirs, becauſe nothing ſo pompous and plauſible to the rude people, whom they deceive with apiſh toyes and trinkets, ſhewes and pageants. In their petition to King James they pleaded for their religion, that it was more pleaſing then ours, and more agreeable to nature. Iohn Hunt a Roman Catholike in his humble appeale to King James thus blaſphemeth:Chap. 6. the God of the Proteſtants is worſe then Pan God of the clownes, which can endure no ceremonies nor good manners at all. Many, like children, like that book beſt, that hath moſt babyes in it: neither will they eate their milk, but in a golden diſh. This proceedes from a blind underſtanding and carnall affection. The Church in its infancy was inticed with ſhewes and ſhadowes: but now God requires a reaſonable ſervice, he calls for ſpirit and truth.

Verſe 4. Yet now be ſtrong O Zerubbabel &c.] Here he exhorteth all ranks, firſt to good Affection, Be ſtrong or of a good courage: Secondly to good Action, Work, or Be doing: for affection without action is like Rachel, beautifull, but barren.Charach unde [non-Latin text not transcribed] valeo. Sept. vertunt. [non-Latin text not transcribed]. Be ſtrong ſo as to prevaile and carry on the ſervice, all diſcouragements notwithſtanding. Thoſe that will ſerve God in the maintenance of good cauſes muſt be couragious and reſolute 1 Cor. 16.13. For otherwiſe, they ſhall never be able to withſtand the oppoſition that will be made either from carnall reaſon within, or the World and Devill without, for want of this ſpirituall mettle, this ſupernaturall ſtrength, this ſpirit of power, of love, and of a ſound mind, 2 Tim. 4.7. oppoſed to the ſpirit of feare that cowardly paſſion that unmans us, and expectorateth and expoſeth us to ſundry both ſins and ſnares: when he that truſteth in the Lord ſhall be ſafe Prov. 29.25. Here then that we faulter not, budge not, betray not the cauſe of God, nor come under his heavie diſpleaſure, who equally hateth the timerous and the treacherous; let us 1. Be armed with true faith: for, Fides famem non formidat, faith quelleth and killeth diſtruſtfull feare. 2. Get the heart fraught with the true feare of God: for as one fire, ſo one feare drives out another Mat. 10.28. 1 Pet. 3.13, 14. 1. Get and keep a clearing, chearing conſcience: for that feareth no colours, as we ſee in St. Paul, Athanaſius, Luther, Latimer, and other holy Martyrs and Confeſſours. 4. Think on Gods preſence, as here, Be ſtrong, and be doing, for I am with you. Though David walk thorough the vale of the ſhadow of death, that is of death in its moſt hideous and horrid repreſentations, he will not feare: For why? thou art with me, ſaith He, Pſal. 23.3, 4. Dogs and other creatures will fight ſtoutly in their Maſters preſence. 5. Conſider your high and heavenly calling and ſay,Et Turnum fugieutem haec terra videbit? Virg. Shall ſuch a man as I fly &c? Either change thy name, or be valiant, ſaith Alexander to a ſouldier of his that was of his own name, but a coward. Laſtly look up, as St. Steven did, to the recompence of reward, ſteale a look from glory, as Moſes Heb. 11.26. help your ſelves over. the difficulty of ſuffering together with Chriſt, by conſidering the happineſſe of raigning together. Thus be of good courage, or deale couragiouſly, and God ſhall be with the good, 2 Chro. 19. vlt. as Iehoſaphat told his Judges when to go their circuit.

and work] Good affections muſt end in good actions, elſe they are ſcarce ſound, but much to be ſuſpected.Num. 23.10. Ruth. 1. Good wiſhes (and no more) may be found in hels mouth Num. 23. Orphah had good affections, but they came to nothing. God muſt be entreated to fix our quick-ſilver to ballaſt our lightneſſe, to work in us both to will and to doe, that it may be ſaid of us, as of thoſe Corinthians, that as there was in them a readineſſe to will, ſo there followed the performance alſo. 2 Cor. 8.12. Deſire and Zeal are ſet together, 2 Cor. 7.11. deſire after the ſincere milk, and grouth in grace 1 Pet. 2.2. John Baptiſts hearers ſo deſired after heaven, that they offered violence to it Mat. 11. True affections are the breathings of a broken heart, Acts 2.37. Rom. 7.23. But the deſires of the ſlothful kill him, Prov. 21.25. Virtutem exoptat contabeſcitque relictâ, Good affections are ill beſtowed upon the ſluggard, ſith they boyl not up to the full heat and height of reſolution for God, or,Perſ. at leaſt, of execution of his will. The ſailes of a ſhip are not ordained, that ſhee ſhould lie alwaies at rode, but launch out into the deep. God likes not qualmy Chriſtians, good by fits, as Saul ſeemed to be when Davids innocency triumphed in his conſcience, or as Ephraim, whoſe duties were dough-baked, and whoſe goodneſſe was as the morning-dew &c. Be ye ſtedfaſt and unmoveable, 1 Cor. 15. [illegible: 1 word]. always abounding in the work of the Lord. Stick not at any part of it: difficulty doth but whet on Heroick Spirits as a boule that runs down hill is not ſlugged, but quickened by a rub in the way. If this be to be vile, Ile be yet more vile, 1 Sam. 6.22. who art thou, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel thou ſhalt become a plain. Zach. 4.7. And hee ſaid unto me, My grace is ſufficient for thee: for my ſtrength is made perfect in weakneſſe. 2 Cor. 12.9.

For I am with you ſaith the Lord of hoſts] By a twofold preſence. 1. Of help and aſſiſtance. 2. Of love and acceptance. Of the firſt, ſee chap. 1. verſe 13. with the note there. The ſecond ſeems here intended. The Jews were poore, yet God aſſureth them they had his love. So had the Church of Smyrna Rev. 2.9. I know thy poverty, but thats nothing, thou art rich, rich in reverſion, rich in bils and bonds: yea rich in poſſeſſion, or All is theirs, they hold all in capite: they have 1. plenty. 2. propriety in things of greateſt price: for they have God All-ſufficient for their portion, for their protection, I am with you, ſaith he, and that's enough, that's able to counterpoiſe any defect whatſoever, as we ſee in David often, but eſpecially at the ſack of Ziklag; where when he had loſt all, and his life alſo was in ſuſpence, the Text ſaith, he comforted or encouraged himſelfe in the Lord his God, 1 Sam. 30.6. whereas Saul in like caſe, goes firſt to the witch, and then to the ſwords point: A godly man, if any occaſion of diſcontent befals him, retires himſelfe into his countinghouſe, and there tells over his ſpiritual treaſure: he runs to his cordials, he reviews his white ſtone, his new name (better then that of ſonnes and of daughters, Iſay 56.5.)Rev. 2.17. he hath meat to eat that the world knoweth not of, the ſtranger meddleth not with his joy. Virtus lecythos habet in malis. Tua praeſeutia, Domine, Laurentio ipſam craticulam dulcem fecit, ſaith a Father, Thy preſence O Lord made the very gridiron ſweet to the martyr Laurence. It made the fiery furnace a gallery of pleaſure to the three worthies, the lions den an houſe of defence to Daniel, the whales belly a lodging-chamber to Jonas, Egypt an harbour, a ſanctuary to the child Jeſus &c. He goes with his into the fire and water, as a tender father goeth with his child to the Surgeon. Nevertheleſſe, ſaith David, I am continually with thee, thou haſt holden me by my right hand. Thou ſhalt guide me with thy counſel: and afterwards receive me to glory. Again, I am with you; that is, I will accept your worſhips,Pſal. 73.23, 24. though in this meaner temple. If God may have the ſubſtance of worſhip, hee ſtands not much upon the circumſtance. The ſick may pray upon their beds, the perſecuted in chambers, Acts 1. yea in dens and caves of the earth, Heb. 11.38. The Church in Queen Maries dayes met and prayed oft together in a cellar in Bow-church-yard. It was one of the laws of the twelve tables in Rome, Ad divos adeunto caſtè, pietatem adhibento, Act. & Mon. opes amovento. Sacrifice and Offering thou didſt not deſire (viz. in compariſon of obedience, 1 Sam. 15.22.) but as a better thing, mine ears haſt thou opened, Pſal. 40.6. Hypocrites by cold ceremonies think to appeaſe God, they obſerve the circumſtance, neglect the ſubſtance, they ſtick in the bark of religion, gnabble on the ſhel, offer the skin, keep back the fleſh, ſerve God with ſhewes; & ſhall be ſerved accordingly.

Verſe 5. According to the Word] Or, as Tremellius hath it better, Cum VERBO quo pepigeram vobiſcum, with the WORD, in and ſor whom I covenanted with you, &c. So my Spirit remaineth among you. And ſo it is a gracious promiſe that the whole Trinity will be with them. The particle eth ſeemeth put for gnim[illegible: 1 letter] and the article He is emphatical, ſhewing that by Word is meant the ſecond perſon, often called the Word both in the Old Teſtament, 2 Sam. 7.21. with 1 Chron. 17.19. and in the New. Luke 1.2. John 1.1. 1 John 5.7. The Caldee ſeemeth to favour this interpretation, for he rendreth it, My Word ſhall be your help. Hierome, Albertus, Nyſſen, and Haymo diſſent not. Haggai, and other Prophets and Patriarches of old did well underſtand the myſtery of the Sacred Trinity. See my note on Gen. 1.1. Elihu ſpeaks of the Almighty his makers Job. 35.10. Solomon the ſame Eccleſ. 12.1. Cant. 1.11. which Jarchi interpreteth of the Trinity. Iſay hath his Triſagion, or, Holy, Holy, Holy, chap. 6.3. and chap. 42.5. Thus ſaith God the Lord, He that created the heavens, and they that ſtretched them out. So Deut. 6.4. When Moſes beginneth to rehearſe the law, and to explain it, the firſt thing he teacheth them is the Trinity in Unity and Unity in Trinity. Hear O Iſrael, the Lord our God, the Lord is One. Three words anſwering the three perſons: and the middle word, Our God deciphering fitly the ſecond, who aſſumed our nature as is well obſerved by Galatinus: Others obſerve that the laſt letters in the Original both in the word Hear, and in the word One are bigger then ordinary; as calling for utmoſt heed and attention. The old Rabbines were no ſtrangers to this tremend myſtery (as appeareth by R. Solomons note on Cant. 1.11. We will make &c.) though their poſterity deſperately deny it. The Greek Church was not ſo ſound in this fundamental point: therefore their chief City Conſtantinople was taken from them by the Turks (as Eſtius obſerveth) on Whitſunday or (as others) on Trinity Sunday; which day (ſaith our Chronicler) the Black Prince was uſed every year to celebrate with the greateſt honour that might be,Speed. 723. in due veneration of ſo divine a myſtery. Now, Chriſt is here and elſewhere called The Word either becauſe hee is ſo often promiſed in the Word. Or elſe, becauſe by him Gods will was manifeſted and revealed to men, and that either mediately in the Prophets, whence Peter Martyr thinketh that phraſe came. Then came the Word of the Lord, that is, Chriſt, Or immediately, himſelfe, Heb. 1.2. and 2.3.

That I covenanted with you] Or, in whom I covenanted and whence Chriſt is called the Angel of the Covenant, Mal. 3.1. Chriſt then was a Saviour to thoſe of the Old Teſtament alſo,Rev. 13.8. the Lamb ſlain from the foundation of the World. Chriſt undertook to pay his peoples debt in the fullneſſe of time: and hereby they were ſaved. A man may let a priſoner looſe now, upon a promiſe to pay the debt a year after. See Heb. 9.15. and take notice of the unity of the faith in both Teſtaments: they of old ſaw Chriſt afarre off in the promiſes, they ſaluted him, and were reſaluted by him, [non-Latin text not transcribed]. Heb. 11.

When ye came out of Egypt] Ye, that is, your anceſtours. Things done by the parents may be ſaid to be done by the children; becauſe of the near conjunction that is between them. Hence Levi is ſaid to pay tithes in Abraham, and Adams ſinne is imputed to us all.Heb. 7.

So my ſpirit remaineth amongst you] Not the ſubſtance, but the gifts of the Spirit; not the tree, but the fruits. Thoſe whom God receiveth into the covenant of grace, he endues them with the ſpirit of grace. See Rom. 8.9.11. How elſe ſhould they be able to perform their part of the Covenant, ſith we cannot ſo much as ſuſpirare, unleſſe he doe firſt inſpirare, breath out a ſigh for ſinne, till he breath it in to us by his Spirit? Hereby then we may know whether or no we are in Covenant with God (the Devill will be ſure to ſweep all that are not) ſc. if his ſpirit remain in us Jer. 31.35. working illumination, 1 Cor. 2.14.15. Mortification, Rom. 8.13. Motion, Rom. 8.14. Guifts, 1 Cor. 12.4, 7, 8. &c. Fruits Gal. 5.22.23. ſtrength, Eſay 11.2. Courages, as here.

Fear ye not] Cur timet hominem homo, in ſinu Dei poſitus? Aug. why ſhould ſuch fear man who have God in Chriſt by his Spirit ſtanding with them and for them? The righteous may be bold as a lyon: he hath the peace of God within him, and the power of God without him and ſo goes ever under a double guard, what need he fear? It is ſaid of Achilles that he was Styge armatus, and therefore could not bee wounded. But he that is in covenant with God is, Deo, Chriſto, Spiritu Sancto armatus, and may therefore be fearleſſe of any creature.

Verſe 6. For thus ſaith the Lord of hoſts] i. e. the three perſons in Trinity, as appeareth by the note on the former verſe. Howbeit the Author to the Hebrews chap. 12.25.26. applyeth the words to Chriſt: whence obſerve, that Chriſt is Lord of hoſts, and God Almighty: even the ſame ſecond perſon that is called haddabhar the Word in the former verſe, is very God. Compare John 1.3. with Col. 1.14.16. and Iohn 1.9. with Iohn 8.12. and Iohn 1.11. with Acts 3.13.14. &c. See thoſe cohaerencies of ſentences, Iohn 9.3.4. and 11.4. and 12.39.40. beſides the Apoſtles argument Heb. 1.4. That one Goſpel written by St. Iohn, who was therefore called the Divine by an excellency (as afterwards Nazianzen alſo was) becauſe he doth profeſſedly aſſert and vindicate the Divinity of Chriſt (ever ſtrongly impugned by the Devill and his agents, thoſe odious Apoſtates and hereticks ancient and moderne: And no wonder, for it is the Rock, Mat. 16.18.) ſetting him forth, 1. as coeſſential to the Father his onely begotten ſonne, Iohn 1.14. One with the Father in eſſence and power, Iohn 10.30.38. and 14.23. 2. As having the incommunicable names and attributes of God Iohn 8.58. and 20.28. Eternity Iohn 1.1. and 17.5. Infiniteneſſe, Iohn 3.13. Omniſcience, Iohn 2.24. and 21.27. 3. As doing the works of God, ſuch as are Creation, Iohn 1.3. Conſervation, Iohn 5.17.3. miracles &c. 4. As taking to himſelfe divine Worſhip, Iohn 9.38. and 20.28. and 14.1. This truth men muſt hold faſt, as their lives, and be rooted in it: getting ſtrong reaſons for what they beleeve. The ſecond ground wanted depth of earth; The ſeed was good, and the earth was good, but there was not enough of it; therefore the heat of the ſun ſcorcht in up. Chriſt is here called the Lord of Hoſts, and the Lord of glory, Iſay 6.1. with John 12.41. Jam. 2.1.

Yet once it is a little while &c.] Adhuc unum puſillum. This little little while, this inch of time, was the better part of five hundred years, viz. Galatin. lib. 4. cap 9, 10. till Chriſt came in the fleſh, Heb. 12.26. the Jew-Doctours ſay no leſſe. A long time to us is but a little while to God. A thouſand years is but as one day to the Ancient of dayes. His Prophets alſo, being lifted up in ſpirit to the conſideration of eternity, count and call all times (as indeed they are in compariſon) moments, and points of time, Punctum eſt quod vivimus, & puncto minus, could the Poet ſay;D. Hall Pea[illegible: 1 letter]m. What is that to the Infinite? ſaid a certain Noble-man of this Land to one, diſcourſing of an incident matter very conſiderable, but was taken off with this quick Interrogation. So ſay we to our ſelves, when under any affliction, we begin to think long of Gods coming to deliver us. What is this to Eternity of extremity, which yet we have deſerved? Tantillum, tantillum, adhuc puſillum. Yet a very little while, and hee that ſhall come, will come, and will not tarry: as in the Interim, the juſt muſt live by faith, Heb. 10.37. Gods help ſeems long, becauſe we are ſhort. We are ſhort-breathed, ſhort-ſighted, apt to antedate the promiſes, in regard of the accompliſhment. We alſo oft find it more eaſie to bear evil, then to wait till the promiſed good be enjoyed. Thoſe beleeving Hebrews found by experience, that the ſpoiling of their goods exerciſed their patience: but ſtaying Gods leyſure for the good things he had promiſed them, required more then ordinary patience, or tarriance, Heb. 10.36. Take we heed of preſcribing to the Almighty, of limiting the Holy One of Iſrael, of ſetting him a time, with thoſe Bethulians.

and I will ſhake the heavens] Not the earth onely, as at the giving of the Law, (to purchaſe reverence to the Law-giver) but the heavens alſo: viz, by the powerfull preaching of the Goſpel, whereby Satan was ſeen falling from heaven, Luke 10.18. that is, from mens hearts; and the Saints ſet together in heavenly places, or priviledges in Chriſt Jeſus, Epheſ. 2.6. For he that hath the Son, hath life, hee hath heaven aforehand. 1. In pretio. 2. In promiſſo. 3.1 Joh 5.1[illegible: 1 letter]. In primitiis. Here then the Prophet encourageth theſe builders: telling them that under this ſecond Temple, how mean ſoever it ſeemed, he would firſt ſend Chriſt, (called the Deſire of all Nations, verſ. 7. and Peace, verſ. 9. with Epheſ. 2.14.) to grace it with his preſence. Secondly, he would cauſe the Goſpel to be preached in a pompous and powerfull manner. I will ſhake, &c. Shake them, to ſettle them, not to ruine them, but to refine them, ſhake their hearts with ſenſe of ſin, and fear of wrath, that they may truly ſeek Chriſt. For the Law was given by Moſes, but grace and truth came by Jeſus Chriſt, Joh. 1.17. And the end of this univerſall ſhake, was to ſhew ſaith Chryſoſtome, Hom. 14. in Matth. that the old law was to be changed into the New, Moſes into Meſſias, the Prophets into Evangeliſts, Judaiſme, and Gentiliſme into Chriſtianiſme. When Chriſt was born, we know how Herod was troubled, and all Jeruſalem with him, Matt. 2.3. What a quire of Angels was heard in the air at Bethlehem, and what wondering there was at thoſe things which were told them by the ſhepherds, Luke 2.18. Euſebius tells of three Suns ſeen in heaven not long before his birth. Oroſius tels of many more prodigies. The Pſalmiſt foretelling our Saviours coming in the fleſh, breaks out into this joyfull exclamation; Let the heavens rejoyce, and let the earth be glad: let the ſea roar and the fulneſſe thereof. Let the field be joyfull, and all that is therein: then ſhall all the trees of the wood rejoyce before the Lord, for he cometh, for he cometh to judge the earth: he ſhall judge the world with righteouſneſſe, and the people with truth, Pſal. 96.11,Lib. 18. de C. D. cap. 48. 12, 13. and Pſal. 98.7, 8, 9. This I know is by ſome (but not ſo properly) underſtood of Chriſts ſecond coming to judgement, And both Auguſtin, and Rupertus conſtrue this text alſo the ſame way. But the whole ſtream of Interpreters, old and new, carry it againſt them: and ſome of them tell us of ſundry ſtrange, and ſtupendious commotions, that fell out even according to the letter, in heaven, earth, and ſea, about the time of Chriſts birth, death, reſurrection, and ſoon after his Aſcenſion, when he rode about the world upon his white horſe, the Apoſtles and their ſucceſſours; with a crown on his head, as King of his Church, and a bowe in his hand, the doctrine of the Goſpel, whereby the people fall under him,Pſal. 45.4. and he went forth conquering and to conquer, Rev. 6.2.

Verſ. 7. And I will ſhake all Nations] Firſt, by the civil warres between the Triumviri, not long before Chriſts Incarnation. Secondly, by the generall taxe, Luke 2.3. when all went to be taxed every one into his own city. Thirdly, by the preaching, and miracles of Chriſt and his Apoſtles, whereby the Nations were ſhaken out of their ſinfull condition, and brought to the obedience of faith by effectuall converſion. Thus a Lapide, I will ſhake all Nations with wonder at ſo great a myſtery, with joy and with newneſſe of life, ſaith Sa. The Goſpel (ſaith Forbes on Revel. 14.) hath three degrees of operation in the hearts of men. Firſt, it falleth to mens ears, as the ſound of many waters, a confuſed ſound, which commonly bringeth neither terrour nor joy: but yet a wondering and acknowledgement of a ſtrange force, and more then humane power, Mar. 1.22, 23. Luke 4.32. Job. 7.46. This may be in the reprobate, Act. 13.41. The ſecond effect is the voice of thunder, which brings not onely wonder, but fear. This may alſo be in a reprobate, as Felix. The third effect, proper to the Elect, is the ſound of harping; while the Goſpel, not onely raviſheth with admiration, and ſhaketh the conſcience with terrour, but alſo filleth it with ſweet peace and joy. Hitherto He. Certain it is, that the Goſpel maketh a ſtirre where it cometh, and brings an earthquake to mens ſouls, as it did to the Gaolers, Acts 16. and Peters converts, Act. 2. And this partly through the frowardneſſe of our affections, and partly through the malice of Satan, fearing the ruine of his kingdome. For, as for the Goſpel, this effect followes it, by accident. See Matth. 10.34, 35. with the Note there. See alſo Luke 12.49. It is by accident to the Sun, that it maketh the dunghill ſtink. It is by accident to the Sea, that it maketh the paſſenger ſick: the ill humours in his ſtomack diſeaſe him. So here: And the Deſire of all Nations ſhall come] that is, Chriſt, Valete meae deſideria. Cic. lib. 14. epiſt. 2. ad uxor. & filiam. for ſo the Apoſtle expoundeth it, Heb. 12.25. And the Church ſaith of him, Totus ipſe deſideria, Cant. 5.16. he is all-over deſireable. And again, Eſay 26.9. With my ſoul have I deſired thee in the night, yea with my ſpirit within m[illegible: 1 letter]e will I ſeek thee early. And unto Shiloh ſhall the gathering of the people bee, ſaith Iacob, Gen. 49.10. as unto the Standard-bearer, Cant. 5.10. the carcaſe, Mat. 24.28. as the doves ſcour to their columbaries, Eſay 60.8. When I am lifted up, ſaith He, I will draw all men after me, Joh. 12.32. that is, all mine Elect: theſe will follow the Lamb whitherſoever he goeth, as the hop and Heliotrope do the Sun. And becauſe the Nations had not heard of Chriſt, till he came in the fleſh: and this comming of the deſire of all Nations ſeems to follow preſently upon the preaching of the Goſpel, therefore Junius renders it Deſiderati, the Deſireable ones of all Nations, [non-Latin text not transcribed]. and interprets it of the Elect, (the Septuagint alſo ſay the ſame) who ſhould come to the ſecond Temple in a ſpirituall ſence, worſhipping the ſame God that theſe good Jews did, and ſhould come with ſtrength of affection, (as the Hebrew importeth) ſhould make hard ſhift to come, Eſay 66.20. They ſhall bring your brethren as an offering to the Lord, upon horſes, in chariots, and in litters, that is, though ſick, weakly and unfit for travell, yet rather in litters then not at all. Neither ſhall they come empty-handed, but with all their deſirable things (ſo ſome render this text) colligent omnes ſuos theſauros, ſaith Calvin, they ſhall come with ſtrong affections, with liberall contributions, as Act. 4.34. and as Tyrus who, when once converted, leaves hoarding and heaping up wealth (as formerly) and finds another manner of employment for it, namely to uphold Gods worſhip, and to ſeed and cloath his Saints Iſa. 23.18.

and I will fill this houſe with glory] This reedified Temple ſhall be honoured with Chriſts bodily preſence: and the ſpirituall Temple, which is the Church,Diodate. ſhall be honoured by my preſence in ſpirit, the abundance of my graces, the light of my word, and power of my ſpirit, who ſhall reſt upon my people as a ſpirit of glory, when the world loadeth them with greateſt ignominy. 1 Pet. 4.14. reſt upon them, by a bleſſed Shechinah.

Verſe 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 then the firſt, ſith they wanted that wealth wherewith Solomon abounded: God anſwereth in like ſort, as once he did Moſes alledging the ſlowneſſe of his ſpeech, Who hath made muns mouth &c? ſo here, whoſe is the ſilver and the gold? Exo. 4.10.11. am not I the true Proprietary, and chief Lord of all? cannot I furniſh you out of my great purſe the earth and the fulneſſe thereof Pſal. 24.1?Terra eſt marſupium Demint. 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 Pſal. 50.13? They lye furtheſt from heaven: the beſt of them are in Ophyr (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 Iob. 26.2, 3. &c. In defect of other, I my ſelf will be your gold, and you ſhall have plenty of ſilver Iob 22.25.Rev. 1.12.13. Chriſt girt about the paps (that ſeate of love) with a golden girdle ſhall walk in the middeſt of his ſeven golden candleſticks, 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 pearle, 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 fore-propheſied. But I ſhould rather incline to Calvin, who doubteth not but that the devill ſtirred up Herod to do as he did; that the Jews doting upon the ſplendour of that brave ſtructure (the diſciples did no leſſe Mat. 24.1, 2.) might ceaſe looking for Chriſt, or truſting in him. And who knowes (ſaith He) whether Herod himſelf might not have ſuch a fetch in his head. Howſoever the devil was in it, doubtleſſe, to take off their minds from the expectation of Chriſts coming, which was now at hand, by thoſe externall pompes: and to withdraw the ſpirits of the godly from the furniture and gayety of the ſpirituall Temple; We know how the diſciples (who leavened with the leaven of the Phariſees dreamt of an earthly kingdome) were taken with the beauty and bravery of Herods Temple, ſhewing 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. with 24.1. But his thoughts were not as their thoughts. The bramble reckoned it a great matter to raigne 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 Lords ſupper in veſſels firſt of wood, and afterwards of glaſſe. That ſaying alſo of Ambroſe is well known, Aurum ſacramenta non quaerunt, nec auro placent, quae auro non emuntur. It was grown to a proverbe ſoon after Conſtantines time, Once we had golden Miniſters and woodden veſſels, now we have woodden Miniſters, and golden veſſels. Religion brought forth wealth: and the mother devoured the daughter.

Verſe 9. The glory of this later houſe ſhall be greater then of the former] Becauſe Chriſt ſhall appeare and preach in it (as ver. 7.) who is the brightneſſe of his Fathers glory ac conſequenter vrbis & orbis; any relation to whom heighteneth and ennobleth both places and perſons. Bethlehem, though it be the leaſt (Micah. 3.6.) is yet not the leaſt among the princes of Judah (Mat. 2.6.) becauſe Chriſt was born there. The tribe of Nepthali is firſt reckoned of thoſe by Rachels ſide: becauſe at Capernaum, in this tribe, Chriſt inhabited Rev. 7.6. in which reſpect alſo this town is ſaid to be lifted up to beaven Mat. Gen. 42.4. 11.2, 3. Benjamin is called the beloved of the Lord, Gods darling (as their father Ben amin was old Jacobs) becauſe God dwelt between his ſhoulders, ſc. in his Temple built upon thoſe two mountaines, Moriath and Zion Deut. 33.12. The glory of that firſt Temple was, that the Majeſty of God appeared in it, covering it ſelf in a cloud. The glory of this later houſe was greater, becauſe therein the ſame divine Majeſty appeared, not covered with a cloud, but really incarnated. For, the Word was made fleſh, and dwelt amongſt us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth, Ioh. 1.14. In this fleſh of ours, and under this ſecond Temple, Chriſt not only uttered oracles, did miracles, and finiſhed the great work of our redemption, but alſo laid the foundation of the Chriſtian Church.Jam. 1. For the Law (that perfect Law of liberty the Goſpell) came out of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jeruſalem, to all the ends of the earth, Eſay 2.3. Pſal. 110.1. From hence it was that the Lord of glory, whom the blind Jewes had crucified, ſent out his Apoſtles, thoſe meſſengers of the churches, and the glory of Chriſt as they are called 2 Cor, 8.23. to gather together unto him thoſe deſirable ones his elect (verſe 7. See the Note there) whom he calleth the glory Eſa. 46.13. the houſe of his glory Eſay 60.7. a crown of glory Eſay 62.3. the throne of glory Ier. 4[illegible: 1 letter].21. the ornament of God Ezek 7.20. the beauty of his ornament ib. and that ſet in majeſty ib. a royall diadem in the hand of Jehovah Eſay 62.3.

and in this place will I give peace] Even the Prince of peace, and with him all things alſo Rom. 8.32. pacem Pectoris & Temporis, Peace of countrey and of conſcionce: this later eſpecially ſeemeth here to be meant. For the former (viz. outward Peace) was not long enjoyed by theſe Jewes; and their ſecond Temple was often ſpoyled by the enemies,Ioh. 14. and at length burnt and overturned. But the Peace of God that paſſeth all underſtanding, is that Legacy which the world can neither give nor take from Gods people. And of this inward Peace the Septuagint (according to the Roman edition) taketh the Text, and ſo doth Ambroſe. Haec eſt pax ſu[illegible: 1 letter]er pacem, ſaith He. Chriſt as he was brought from heaven, with that ſong of Peace Luk 2.14. Onearth peace, good will toward men, (which is the ſame with that ſalutation of St. Paul who learned it belike, of thoſe Angels, Grace be to you, and Peace) ſo he returned up againe with that farewell of peace Ioh. 14.27. and left to the world the doctrine of peace, the goſpell of peace Eph. 2.17. whoſe Authour is the God of peace 1 Cor. 14.33. whoſe Miniſters are miniſters of peace Rom. 10.15. whoſe followers are the children of peace Luk 10.6. whoſe unity is in the bond of peace Eph. 4.3. whoſe duty is the ſtudy of peace Rom. 12.18. and whoſe end is, to enter into peace, to reſt in their beds, their ſoules reſting in heaven, their bodyes in the grave till the joyfull reſurrection, even every one walking in his uprightneſſe Eſay 57.2. Pſal. 37.33.

Verſe 10. In the four and twentieth day of the ninth month in the ſecond yeer of Darius] This diligence of the Prophets in noting and noticing the preciſe time of Gods hand upon them,Scultet. Annal. ſhould teach us to do the like. See the Note on chap. 1. ver. 1.Melch. Adam in vit. Bugenhàg. The churches in Switzerland kept that day yearely as an holiday whereon the Reformation began amongſt them. Bugenhagius kept a feaſt every yeer on that day of the month wherein he and ſome other Divines had finiſhed the Dutch Bible, and called it The feaſt of the Tranſlation of the Bible. Philipp. Pareus in vita Dau. Parei. The Univerſity of Heidelberg kept an Evangelicall Iubilee three whole dayes together Anno Dom. 1617. in the Calends of November, in the remembrance of the renowned Reformation of religion, begun by Luther a juſt hundred yeers before. Hereby Gods name ſhall be ſanctified, our faith ſtrengthened, and our good affection both evidenced and excited. By the time here deſcribed, it appeareth, that they had now been three moneths building, and the Prophet meane-while had given them great incouragement thereunto. But foraſmuch as he found that they ſtuck in the bark, as they, ſay, reſted in the work done, thought they ſhould therefore win upon God becauſe they built him a Temple, the Prophet gives them to underſtand, that there is more required of them then a Temple. viz. that therein they worſhip the Lord purely and holily, in ſpirit and in truth: that their divine worſhips bee right both quoad fontem & quoad finem, for principle and end of intention; for elſe, they impure all that they touch, and are no whit better, but a great deal the worſe for all their performances. This the Prophet teacheth them in the two following oracles propounded by way of demand to the Prieſts. How apt are men to loſe themſelves in a wilderneſſe of duties? To dig for pearls in their own dunghils? to think to oblige God to themſelves by their good works? to ſpin a threed of their own to climbe up to heaven by? to reſt in their own righteouſneſſe? to ſave themſelves by riding on horſes, Hoſ. 14.3? The Prophets deſigne is here to beat them off from ſuch fond conceits: telling them that the perſon muſt be accepted ere the ſervice can bee regarded, as Abels. To the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbeleeving is nothing pure, but even their mind and conſcience is defiled, Tit. 1.15. ſaith the Apoſtle. Calvin upon this Text ſaith no more: and yet Cor. a Lapide is very angry with him for ſaying ſo much.Aug. de vera innocent. c. 56. There is in Peter Lumbard this golden ſentence eited out of Auguſt inc: The whole life of unbeleevers is ſinne: neither is any thing good without the cheifeſt good. This ſentence Ambroſe Rybera a Poprsh Poſtiller, cenſureth for harſh and cruell: But doth not God here ſay the ſame thing?Crudelis eſt illa ſententia. Certain it is that good actions from bad men diſpleaſe: as a man may ſpeak good words, but we cannot hear, becauſe of his ſtinking breath. The facrifice of the wicked is abomination to the Lord, Prov. 15.8. Charity is nothing, unleſſe it flow out of a pure heart, and of a good conſcience, and of faith unfained, 1 Tim. 1.5.

Verſe 11. Ask now the Prieſt concerning the Law] For who ſhould know the law better then the Prieſts? And who ſo fit to reſolve caſes of conſcience as they? It was their office, Levit. 10.10, 11. Deut. 33.10. Mal. 2.7. See the Note there. It was an evil time with Gods people, when he was put to complain, who is blind but my ſervant? or deaf as my meſſenger, that I ſent, Iſay 42.19?Viu. in Aug. de civ. Dei. l. 4. c 1. When the Prophet was a foole, the ſpiritual man was mad for the multitude of their iniquity,, and the great hatred, Hoſ. 9.7. Varro upbraided the Roman Prieſts of old with their groſſe ignorance of many things in point of their own rites and religions: and Cicero brake a jeſt upon C. Popilius an ignorant Lawyer at Rome. For when Popilius, being called for a witneſſe to ſome controverſy, anſwered Nihil ſe ſcire that hee knew nothing, Cicero anſwered by way of jear, Put as fortaſſe te de jure interrogari you mean (perhaps) that you know nothing in the law, which yet you profeſſe to have skill in. What a ſhame was it for the Phariſees who took upon them to be guides of the blind, teachers of babes &c. Rom. 2.19.20. to be found, blind leaders of the blind, Mat. [non-Latin text not transcribed] Enni[illegible: 1 letter]s 15? So is it for Divines being asked concerning the Law, or will of God in ſuch and ſuch caſes, not to be able to anſwer diſcreetly, and intelligently as he did Mark 12.34. as an egregie cordat us homo? But ſo bungler-like, and ſo farre from the purpoſe, that it my well be ſeene that deſiring to be teachers of the Low, they underſt and neither what they ſay, nor whereof they affirme. 1 Tim. 1.7. How like the motion of a puppet, the language of a Parret is the diſcourſe of ſuch unlearned or unintereſſed Caſuiſts? Every Miniſter of Gods making can truly ſay, The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I ſhould know to time a word to him that is weary: he wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned, Eſay 50.4. See 1 Cor. 12.8. Tit. 1.9. Eph. 3.4, 7.1 Cor. 2.13.

Verſe 12. If one bear holy fleſh in the skirt &c.] problemes and parables are notable helps to the bolting out of the truth, and conviction of the gainſayers. For problemes, ſee Mat. 21.25. Mat 22.42. &c. For parables, ſee Judg. 9. that of Jotham, Mat. 21. Mat. 22. Mat. 13. of Nathan, 2 Sam. 12. of the woman of Tekoah, 2 Sam. 14. of our Saviour, concerning the two brethren ſent into the Vincyard, the wedding of the Kings ſon, the ſower &c. See the Note on verſe 10.

and the Prieſts anſwered and ſaid no] Roundly and readily: without hacking and hewing, without doubling and diſſembling; as thoſe perverſe prieſts, thoſe ſelfecondemned Hierophants, Mat. 21.27. that againſt their conſciences anſwered Ieſus and ſaid, We cannot tell. The wit of graceleſſe perſons will better ſerve them to faulter and fumble, deny, or deviſe a thouſand ſhifts to evade and elude the truth, then their malice will ſuffer them to yeeld to it, or profeſſe it. This is to detain the truth in unrighteouſneſſe, Rom. 1.18. as Plato, who had the knowledge of One God, yet he dared not to communicate it to the vulgar: and as ſome of the chief champions of Popery, who held juſtification by faith alone, but refuſed to ſay ſo, leſt their Dagon ſhould down, their Diana be deſpiſed. Let every ſpiritual man (but eſpecially Miniſters) be ready as to every good work, ſo to this of comparing ſpiritual things with ſpirituall, that he may judge or diſcerne of all things, 1 Cor. 2.13.15. according to the analogy of faith, Rom. 12.6. the tenour of the Scriptures, his ſure Cynoſura: and laying up all in his heart, Luke 2.18. he may have a treaſure there of new and old, a word of wiſdom and a word of knowledge [illegible: 1 letter]00, 1 Cor. 12.8. both as a Teacher, and as a Paſtour, to bring forth for common benefit.

Verſe 13. If one that is unclean by a dead body] with a ceremonial uncleanneſſe. The Hebrew hath it thus, If one that is unclean in ſoul, that is, in his whole perſon, as every wicked man is totus totus pollutus wholly covered with corruption, a lothſome leper from head to foot, wholly ſet upon ſin as Exod. 32.22. lying down in wickedneſſe or in that wicked one, 1 John 5.19. ſick of ſuch a diſeaſe as the Phyſicians call corruptionem totius ſubſtantiae, nay dead in ſins and treſpaſſes Eph. 2.1. and can therefore doe no better then dead work at beſt, Heb. 9.14. ſuch as the living God will not be ſerved with, ibid. See the note on Mal. 3.16. doct. 4. Uſe 1. He is unclean, unclean, and impureth all that hee toucheth, according to that which followeth.

Verſe 14. So is this people, and ſo is this Nation before me] Though pure in their own eyes Prov. 30.12. and to the world-ward unrebukeable, as Paul the Phariſees Phil. 3. and thoſe ſelf-iuſtitiaries, Luke 16.14, 15. Ye are thoſe that juſtifie your ſelves (and have the worlds good word for you) but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly eſteemed amongſt men, is abomination in the ſight of God. Sordet in conſpectu judicis quodfulget in conſpectu operantis. Splendida pecca u. Am. 6.13. Wicked mens ſervices are but gliſtering ſinnes, they rejo[illegible: 1 letter]ce in a thing of naught, as Amos hath it, like as Leah rejoyced in that whereof She had cauſe to repent, and ſaid God hath given me my hire, when ſhe had more cauſe to ſay, God I fear will give me my hire, my payment, becauſe I have given my maiden to my husband, Gen. 30.18. But ſhe was in the common errour of meaſuring and judging of things by the ſucceſſe: as if God were not many times angry with men, though they outwardly proſper: or as if there were not here one event to the clean and to the unclean Eccleſ. 9.2. Uutill the day that God ſhall ſeparate the ſheep from the goates, whom for the glory of his name, and the good of his people he ſuffers for preſent to goe one among another to make his own to ſtick the faſter together, and to their principles, Shepheards ſay, that it is wholſome for a flock of ſheep to have ſome goats to feed amongſt them: their bad ſcent being good Phyſick for the ſheep, to keep them from the ſhakings. Onely let Gods ſheep take heed that they contract no corruption by converſing with goats: which is ſoon done, for ſinne is catching, and ill company is contagious. Nemoerat ſibi ipſi: ſed dementiam ſpargit in proximos, ſaith Seneca, No man erres out of the right way alone, but drawes others along, And multos ſollicitat ſo[illegible: 1 letter]iet as nefanda, ſaith Chryſoſtom, evil company ſolliciteth many to ſinke, virtue is oft overcome by vice, ſaith Nazianzen, Orat. 1. Apolog as a little wormwood ſooner imbittereth a great deal of hony, then twice ſo much honey can ſweeten a ſmall deal of wormwood: Or as one ſpoonfull of vineger will ſoon tart a great deal of ſweet milk: but a great deal of milk will not ſo ſoon allay one ſpoonfull of vineger. Remove but one ſtone, and the whole river will ruſh downward: but you can hardly ſtop the ſtream again with a ſtrong damme. Touch pitch and you ſhall preſently be defiled, but touch ſope and you ſhall not preſently be made clean, without much rubbing and rinſing. Me[illegible: 1 letter]entius the tyrant Corpora corporibus jungebat mortua vivis tyed living men to dead carcaſſes: but the dead did notrevive by the living,Virgil. the living rather putrified by reaſon of the dead. He that bore conſecrated fleſh in the skirt of his garment, and with his skirt touched bread, or pottage, or wine, or oyle, or any meat, he made it not thereby holy. But if an unclean perſon touched any of theſe, he made it unclean. The Donatiſts abuſed this Text, to prove that Baptiſme was defiled, and vacated, if adminiſtrated by an unregenerate Miniſter: But Auguſtine again againſt Fulgentius the Donatiſt vindicateth the Text from their falſe gloſſes, and aſſerteth from it the contrary truth. May not clean corn bee ſowed with foul hands, and grow nevertheleſſe?Aqua baptiſmatis haptizatos ad regnum coeleſtis mittit, & ipſa poſtea in cloacam deſcendit. Greg in Evang. hom. 17. May not a trumpet be well ſounded by an impure breath? And is not the water in Baptiſme, that clenſeth the childe, caſt afterwards into the draught? ſaith Gregory.

ſo is this people, and ſo is that nation before me, and ſo is every work of their hands, and that which they offer, &c.] Note the order of the Induction. Firſt themſelves were unclean, both people and nation; there was a generall defection and defilement ranne thorough all ſorts and ſexes, as the woof runs thorow the warp: ſo that they were all together but one continued web of wickedneſſe, as it were, ſpun out and made up by the hands of the devil, and the fleſh, an evil ſpinner,, and a worſe weaver: both root and fruit were naught, as Eſay 5.4. both head, heart, and foot was out of order, Eſay 1.5, 6. and they are barely and boldly told of it by the Prophets. Secondly, the works of their bands were unclean: for not onely the praying, but the plowing of the wicked is ſinne, Prov. 21.4. all their naturall and civil actions alſo are abominable. Whether they plow, or play, or eat, or ſleep; corruption is like copres, which will turn wine or milk into ink; or leaven, which turns a very Paſſeover into pollution; or as the Sanies of a plague ſore, which will render the richeſt robe infectious. Thirdly, that which they offer there, their ſacrifices, and all their religious performances were likewiſe unclean: not in reſpect of God, who commanded them: nor of the matter, for they offered clean beaſts; but of the manner of offering (which makes or marres the action) and of the men, who were unregenerate, and reſted in the work done, and drew neer to God with their lips, thinking to put God off with an externall worſhip onely; Ludentes cum Deo tanquam pueri cum ſuis puppis, as Calvin hath it, that is, playing with God, as children do with their babies.Calv. in loc. The Poets declaimed againſt this foppery, as Perſius: and Another, Non benè coeleſtes impia dextra colit.

Verſe 15. And now I pray you conſider] Heb. Lay it upon your heart, as chap. 1.5. See the Note there. The often repetition of this precept, ſets forth: 1. The neceſſity of the duty preſſed. 2. Their ſingular ſtupidity, that were no more affected with ſuch manifeſt marks of Gods wrath upon them: no, though hee had even ſnatched the meat out of their mouthes, and kept them hunger-ſtarved, which is the way of taming the moſt untameable creatures.

from this day and upward] To the end that when I ſhall have bleſſed you with greater plenty, as verf. 19, ye may recognize your ſinnes, the cauſe of your calamities, and remembring (as Jacob did his baculinam paupertatem, Gen. 32.10.) your former penury, you may thankfully cry out with that Noble Iphicrates; [non-Latin text not transcribed]. From how hungry to how plentifull an eſtate am I raiſed? Let a profane Demetrius attribute ſuch a change as this to blinde Fortune ſaying, [non-Latin text not transcribed]. But let all Saints ſing with holy Hannah; They that were full have hired themſelves out for bread: and they that were hungry ceaſed. The Lord maketh poor, and maketh rich; he bringeth low, and lifteth up, &c. 1 Sam. 2.5, 7.

from before a ſtone was laid upon a ſtone] i.e. before there was any hand ſet to the work of rebuilding the Temple, which was interrupted for many years, after the return from Babylon. See Ezr. 3.8. and 5.2.

Verſ. 16. Since thoſe dayes were] Or, as ſome read it, Antequam eſſent in to opere. Before they were about that work, minding Gods houſe more then their own.

When one came to an heap of twenty meaſures] that is, where you expected twenty meaſures (and experienced good-husbands can partly gueſſe at harveſt, how their corn will yeeld, when threſhed out) there were but ten. Gods hand was upon your increaſe, not in the field onely, but alſo in the floor; ſo that you were defeated, and your hopes fruſtrated: and not in the barn onely, but at the winepreſſe too, God hath cut you ſhort. This was that which was long before threatned, but little regarded, Deut. 28.20. Carnall men read the threats of Gods Law, as they do the old ſtories of forraigne warres, or as they behold the wounds and blood in a picture, or piece of Arras, which never makes them ſmart or fear. This haſteneth their judgement, and ſhews them ripe for wrath, even then when they think themſelves farre enough out of the reach of Gods rod.

Verſ. 17. I ſmote you with blaſting, and with mildew, and with hail] Pugnis pluvi, colaphis grandinavi, I have followed you cloſe with one judgement upon another:Perdidiſtis fruc[illegible: 1 letter]um calamitatis, &c. Aug. and all to bring you back into mine own boſome: that as ye had runne from me by your ſinnes, ſo ye might return to me by repentance: but behold, I have loſt my labour, and ye have loſt the fruit of your ſufferings, which indeed is a very great loſſe, were ye but ſoundly ſenſible of it. Theſe Jewes were ſenſible of their calamities and diſaſters abroad and at home, but they did not wiſely inquire into the cauſe thereof; as David did into the cauſe of the famine that fell out in his dayes, 2 Sam. 21.1. God had not hitherto give them an heart to perceive, and eyes to ſee, and ears to hear, as it is Deut. 29.4. And as Eſay 9.13. The people turneth not unto him that ſmiteth them, neither do they ſeek the Lord of hoſts. But after their hardneſſe and impenitent heart, treaſured up wrath, &c. Rom. 2.5. They could not but ſee them[illegible: 1 letter]elves grievouſly croſſed, and curſed in all the labours of their hands. Lib. 3. de nat. deor. Neither were they ſo blind as not to ſee God in that they ſuffered. They had learned that out of Pſal. 78.47, 48. Pſal. 29.3, &c. Tully indeed thought that God minds not mildew, or hail, &c. Nee ſi uredo aut grando quippiam nocuit, id Iovi animadvert endum fuit: neque enim in regnis reges omnia minima curant, &c. As kings take not notice of ſmaller buſineſſes in their kingdoms, ſaith He, ſo neither doth God of theſe ordinary occurrences. But the Jewes (for the generality) had learned better things. And the Apoſtle tells thoſe Heathens too, Acts 14. that God had not left himſelf without witneſſe amongst them, in that he did good and gave rain from b[illegible: 1 letter]aven, and fruitfull ſeaſons, &c. [illegible: 1 letter]Cicero himſelf likewiſe, another time, could ſay, Curioſus eſt & plenus negotii Deus, God taketh care of all, and is full of buſineſſe. And oh that this truth were as fruitfully improved, as it is generally acknowledged! Oh that men would turn at Gods reproof; his recall reproofs, his vocall rods, Mic. 6.9. and not put him to his old complaint; Why ſhould ye be ſmitten any more? Eſay 1.5. ye revolt more and more. This we may wiſh, but God alone can effect. For till he pleaſe to thruſt his holy hand into mens boſomes, and pull off the fore-skin of their hearts; Afflictions (thoſe hammers of his) do but beat cold iron.Salvian. See Ier. 2.30, 31. and 6.29, 30. Lev. 26.41. Plectimur à Deo, nec flectimur tamen: corripimur ſed non corrigimur. We are put to pain, but to no proſit, Jer. 12.13. as Abaz, that ſtiffe ſtigmatick, 2 Chron. 28.23. and Ahaziah, who ſent a third Captain to ſurprize the Prophet,2 King. 1. after two before conſumed with fire from heaven: as if he would deſpitefully ſpit in the face of God, and wreſtle a fall with the Almighty.

Verſe 18. Conſider now from this day and upward] And ſee how punctually the time of benediction anſwereth to the time of your converſion: ſo that you no ſooner begin to build, but I begin to bleſſe. It is ſaid of the men of Iſſachar, that they were in great account with David, becauſe they had underſtanding of the times, 1 Chron. 12.32. It is certainly a point of ſpirituall prudence to conſider the times, and to compare things paſt with preſent and future. Time is the wiſeſt of all things,Laert. lib. 1 ſaid Thales; the beſt counſellour ſaid Plutarch. Truth is the daughter of Time, In Pericles: ſaith Another Philoſopher. See the Note on verſe 15.

Verſe 19. Is the ſeed yet in the barne?] Hierom rendreth it, In germine, In the ſprouting, or ſpirting, as they call it, and ſo farre enough from the harveſt; and yet further, if yet in the barn, and not put into the ground. Nevertheſſe, for your diligence in building Gods houſe, I aſſure you in the word of truth, that you ſhall have a very great increaſe, a plentifull harveſt.

From this day will I bleſſe you] And it is the bleſſing of God that maketh rich, as is to be ſeen in the examples of the Patriarchs, Abraham, Iſaac, Iacob. Others, whoſe godlineſſe was their gain, whoſe piety was profitable to all things, as having the promiſes of both lives, 1 Tim. 4.8. Now all that are of faith, are bleſſed with faithfull Abraham, Gal. 3.9. are heirs of the world with him, Rom. 4.13. and ſo have right to all things in Chriſt, the heir of all things, 1 Cor. 3.22. Heb. 1.2. though theſe things on earth be detained from them for preſent, by thoſe men of Gods hand, Pſal. 17.14. as Canaan was from Iſrael by the curſed Amorites, till their ſinnes were full; Gen. 14. yet they ſhall ſhortly have power over the Nations, and (which is better) Chriſt will give them the morning-ſtarre, that is himſelf,Rev. 2.26, 28 and with himſelf a Cornucopia of ſpirituall bleſſings, Epheſ. 1.3. The Lord that made heaven and earth will bleſſe them out of Zion, that is, with better bleſſings then heaven or earth afforded. We read not here of any other bleſſings but increaſe of corn, wine, oil, &c. becauſe this people was wholly almoſt affixed to earthly things.1 Cor. 2. The Prophet could not ſpeak wiſdom among thoſe that were perfect. But better things were implied and aſſured to the godly, as appear[illegible: 1 letter]th by the enſuing Oracle.

Verſe 20. And again, the word of the Lord] Again the ſame day. Twice-aday-preaching is no new practiſe then. This Prophet did it: ſo did our Saviour,Acts & Mon. f[illegible: 1 letter]l. 940. Mat. 13.1. So did Chryſoſtome, as appeareth by his Note on 1 Theſ. 5.17. So did Luther: which becauſe one Nicholas White commended in him, he was accuſed of hereſie, in the raign of Hen. 8. It is not ſo long ſince it was held here practicall Puritaniſme. The late Arch-prelate being ſued unto by a Noble-man to preferre a Chaplain of his, (whom he commended for an able Divine,Socra[illegible: 1 letter]: and a twice-aday-preacher) turned away in a great heat, ſaying, The more fool he.

Verſe 21. Speak to Zerubbabel governour of Judah] Governours are ſure to meet with many difficulties, and diſcouragements (high-ſeats are never but uneaſie) and had need therefore of ſingular conſolation, that they may hold on their courſe, like the Sun in the firmament, and ſhew themſelves to be of an undaunted reſolution. We may well ſay to Governours, as that Propheticall Simeon ſpoke to the pillars which he whipped before the earth-quake: Stand faſt, for yee ſhall be ſhaken.

I will ſhake the heavens and the earth ſc. by abrogating and aboliſhing both Jewiſh Ceremonies, and Heatheniſh ſuperſtitions, Heb. 12.27. As alſo by Nationall commotions, and tranſlations of Monarchies: The Greeks ſhall break the power of the Perſians, the Romans of the Greeks, the Goths and other barbarous nations of the Romans. But eſpecially, by caſting the devil out of the heaven of mens hearts, Luke 10.18. thoſe ſtrong-holds wherein he had entrenched himſelf,Mat. 24.7. 2 Cor. 10.4, 5. that the ranſomed of the Lord may receive a kingdome, which cannot bee moved, Heb. 12.28. and partake of thoſe new heavens, and new earth wherein dwelleth righteouſneſſe, 2 Pet. 3.13. even that world to come, as theſe dayes of the Goſpel are called, Heb. 2.5. See the Note above on verſ. 6.7.

Verſe 22. And I will overthrow the throne of kingdomes] ſc. by pouring contempt upon Princes, and cauſing them to wander in the wilderneſſe, where there is no way, Pſal. 107.40. (as he dealt with Darius the laſt Perſian Monarch) by putting down the mighty from their ſeat, and exalting them of low degree, Luke 1.52. (as hee dealt with Bajazet the great Turk, and Tamerlan the Scythian ſhepherd) by changing the [illegible: 1 letter]imes and the ſeaſons, removing kings, and ſetting up others in their ſtead, Dan. 2.21. All this God will do, and all that follows in the Text, viz. deſtroy the ſtrength of kingdoms, overthrow the charets and their riders, &c. rather then. his Church ſhall be unhelped, or his kingdome of grace hindered. Our help is in the Name of the Lord who made heaven and earth, and will rather unmake all again, then we ſhall be unrelieved.Pſal. 124.8. Yet have I ſet my king upon mine holy hill of Zion, Pſal. 2.6. Yet, for all the ſorrow, for all the malicious machinations, and attempts of his enemies to the contrary: who are therehence admoniſhed to be wiſe for themſelves, and to kiſſe the ſonne, for he muſt raigne, and all his foes muſt bee his foot-ſtool. There is a Councill in heaven will daſh the mould of all contrary counſels upon earth. The ſtone cut out of the mountains without hands (which is Chriſt the Conquerour) will break in pieces the iron, the braſſe, the clay, the ſilver, and the gold. And in the dayes of thoſe kings ſhall the God of heaven ſet up a kingdome which ſhall never be deſtroyed: and the kingdom ſhall not be left to other people, but it ſhall break in pieces and conſume all theſe kingdomes, and it ſhall ſtand for ever, Dan. 2.44, 45. So Dan. 7. after that the Prophet had deſcribed the greatneſſe and glory of all the four Monarchies, at length he comes to ſpeak of a kingdome which is the greateſt and mightieſt under the whole heaven, and that is the kingdome of the Saints of the moſt High, Dan. 7.27. whoſe kingdome is an everlaſting kingdome: and all Rulers ſhall ſerve and obey him.

Verſe 23. I will take thee, O Zerubbabel] That is, O Chriſt, of whom Zerubbabel was both a father and a figure, Luke 3.27. Zach. 4.10. I will take thee, that is, I will advance and exalt thee. See this expounded, and applied by that great Apoſtle, Philip. 2.5. to the 12.

and will make thee as a ſignet] that is, I will highly eſteem thee, inviolably keep thee, and entirely love thee, Cant. 8.6. Jer. 22.24. and all my people in thee, and for thee, Eſay 49.16.

for I have choſen thee] as Eſay 42.1. Quoniam in te mihi complacui, ſaith the Chaldee. For in thee I am well pleaſed, as Mat. 3.17. See the Note there.

Saith the Lord of hoſts] This is three ſeverall times ſet down in this one verſe, for our greater aſſurance, and confirmation of our faith. I ſhall cloſe up all with that obſervation of Divines, that all the Prophets (except Jonah and Nahum) expreſſely end in ſome prophecy concerning Chriſt. He being their mark at which all of them chiefly aimed. Indeed he is both mark and matter, of both old and new Teſtament. And therefore if we will profit in teaching, hearing, reading, we muſt have the eye of our minde turned toward Chriſt, as the faces of the Cherubims were toward the Mercy ſeat. Do this, if ever you will do well.