Haggai 2:2

Speak now to Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah,.... Of whom, his descent and dignity, [See comments on Haggai 1:1].

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, No JFB commentary on this verse.

Speak now; once again acquaint them with what I now impart for their encouragement. To Zerubbabel, & c.: see ,12. Speak now; once again acquaint them with what I now impart for their encouragement. To Zerubbabel, & c.: see ,12.

Haggai 2:2 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,Ver. 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 continual quickening; there being more snares and backbiting earth than there are stars 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 fuel, yet will of itself at length die and go out. Besides that, every inch, every artery of our bodies, if it could, would swell with hellish venom to the size of the largest giant, that it might make resistance to the work of God’ s sanctifying Spirit. Let us, therefore, consider one another, and study every man his brother’ s case, to stir up, or whet on, to love and good works, Hebrews 10:24. God will not forget this our labour of love, but abundantly both regard and reward it, Malachi 3:16. See the notes there. 2. That continual 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, returned again to Lystra and to Iconium and Antioch, confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and ordaining preachers everywhere 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 saepe cadendo. God’ s 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 Eleusiniis, quae in vulgus apargi nefas erat similia sunt oracula Dei, saith an interpreter here. God’ s oracles are not to be hidden from the common sort, as Sibylla’ s were, and as the Popish doctors hold, lest men should be made heretics thereby, that is, right believers. It is heresy, saith one of them, to read the Scriptures. It was the invention of the devil, saith another. A husbandman, reading the Scriptures, was possessed, saith a third. It is not needful for the common sort to know more of God’ s mind than the Articles of the Creed, saith Aquinas, Bellarmine, &c.

(2) The residue.—See Haggai 1:12, Note.

Ch. Haggai 2:1-9. The Second Prophecy The first prophecy had been one of severe rebuke and earnest call to duty. The second is one of encouragement to those, who having promptly obeyed the first, were in danger of being depressed and disappointed by the comparative meagreness and unworthiness of the results of their labours. When the foundations of the second Temple were laid some years before this, we read of the distress which its character and dimensions occasioned, to those of the returned captives who were old enough to remember the former Temple in its glory. The joyous shouts of the younger portion of the assembly, who rejoiced to see the sanctuary of their faith restored, blended strangely with the sad lamentations of their elders, who mourned over the departed splendour of the past. Now that a month of vigorous work was beginning to tell, and the contrast which had been apparent even in the foundations stood out in bolder relief in the rising walls of the edifice; now that many an “ancient man,” laudator temporis acti, had passed his disparaging comment on each new feature of the growing structure, and told with fond regret of the “exceeding magnifical” house (1 Chronicles 22:5) that had once been there, the danger of dejection and discouragement on the part of the people was increased. With the gracious design of counteracting this, Haggai is directed to deliver a prophecy, which stimulates them to carry on and complete their undertaking, not only by the assurance of the divine presence and favour, but by the promise that in God’s good time that house, so mean and despised, should be filled with a glory that should exceed that of Solomon’s Temple in the days of its greatest magnificence.

THE GLORY OF THE NEW TEMPLE, Haggai 2:1-9.These verses contain the second address of Haggai, a message of encouragement to the builders.