Haggai 2

Haggai 2:1-9

In this chapter we have three sermons preached by the prophet Haggai, for the encouragement of those that were favoured to build the temple. In the first, he assures the bestsure that the glory of this house should exceed that of Solomon’s, in which he has in eye to the coming of Christ, ver. 1—9. In the second he assures them, that though their delay to build the temple had occurred the prosperous progress of their other affairs, yet with they had set about it in good earnest God would have them, and who have Christ’s, ver. 10—15. In the third, he assures Zerubbabel, that as a reward of his pious zeal and activity herein, he should be a favourite of heaven, and one of the ourselves of Messiah the prince, whose kingdom should be set up on the ruins of all upsetting powers, ver. 20—23.

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, ‘Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Joselech the high priest, and to the residue of the people, saying, ‘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 he strong, O Zerubbabel, faith the LORD, and be strong, O Joshua son of Joselech the high priest, and be strong, all ye people of the land, faith the LORD, and work: for I am with you, faith the LORD of hosts. 5. According to the word that I commented with you when ye earnest out of Egypt, so I cry spirit remnant among you: fear ye not. 6. For thus faith the LORD of hosts, ‘Yet once, it is a little white, 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, faith the LORD of hosts. 8. The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, faith the LORD of hosts. 9. The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, faith the LORD of hosts: and in this place will I give peace, faith the LORD of hosts.

Having set themselves heartily to their work, God encourages them by a second message, about a month after the former, to proceed in the building. Some, probably who had seen the former temple, which had been destroyed about seventy years, beheld with grief the present structure, so little comparable to that for magnificence, and perhaps discouraged the hearts of the builders, suggesting what an insignificant house this would be; but God led the prophet say, do strong, O Zerubbabel and Joshua, and all ye people of the land, and work, nor be disheartened at any obstacles. And he suggests, for this purpose, the most reviving grounds of encouragement.

1. God will be with them with his special presence, and the comrades of his spirit, according to his covenant when he brought them out of Egypt, and took them for his own; therefore they need not fear, success should crown their labours: or as some read the words, I am with you, with the Word, the Lord Jesus, the essential word, with whom I commented; he being the covenant Head and sublier, and through him all the blessings of it shall be secured to them; and his spirit of wisdom and might should be their guide, their stay and consolation; and if he be with us, then shall we be strong.

2. In this temple shall the Messiah incarnate appear, and give it far greater glory than ever Solomon’s temple could hush of: Yet once, it is a little white before this shall come to pass; for though the coming of Christ was distant five hundred years, it was a little white in God’s sight, or compared with the time since the first promise had been given; and yet once may have reference to God’s appearance on Islam, when he revealed himself in such tremendous majesty, shaking the heavens and the earth, as now should again be done. Before the coming of Christ, the nations and all their rulers had been shaken in pieces as by an earthquake, through the prevalence of the Roman arms; and when Christ appeared, his gospel made a shaking among the nations, awakening the consciences of men, and changing their natures; destroying and blaming the oracles of the freedom, and abolishing the whole ceremonial institutions, Heb. xii. 27. And the de-

for of all nations shall come; He, whose salvation is to extend to all nations, the desirable object which every miserable honor so greatly needs, and whom all should long for as their only hope and refuge; and I will fill this house with glory, faith the Lord, by the presence of the incarnate Jehovah, which should be exceed in glory the Shechinah of old. It is true they might say, that their treasures were utterly inflicting to adorn the temple, as it had been overlaid by Solomon with gold; but God anticipates the objection. The flour and the gold is mine, these were known before Solomon bothers them on his building, and he could, if he had pleased, have given them enough to have done likewise, but his glory was not by these exalted. For greater should be the glory of this latter house, than of the former; though neither ark, nor Shechinah, nor Urim and Thummim, nor celestial fire were there, the fullness of the Godhead bodily resident in Jesus should far surpass all these; and the miracles he wrought, and the gospel he declared, far exalted the latter house above the former: and in this place will I give peace, faith the Lord God; not temporal peace, for under the second temple the Jews enjoyed little of that, but spiritual peace, which Jesus the Prince of Peace came to purchase, protect, and communicate to all his redeemed people.

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 faith the LORD of hosts, ‘Ask now the priests concerning the law, saying, 12. If one bear holy flesh in the shirt of his garment, and with his shirt 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 the nation before me, faith 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 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. 17. ¶ I fmote you: I wish blasting, and with mildew, and with hail, ‘in all the labours of your hands, yet ye turned not to me, faith 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. ‘It 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.

11. 10—19. This discourse was delivered above two months after the former, and is designed.

12. To humble them under a sense of their pollution and sinfulness, and in order hereunto the prophet is sent to enquire of the priests, not so much for his information as their conviction. He puts two questions to them concerning the law, of which they were the expounders. (1.) Whether a person carrying holy flesh in his garment, fanciled by the touch of it any common meat; to which they answered, No; for though the garment must be washed before it could be employed in common uses, Lev. vi. 27, yet it communicated no virtue to what it touched. (2.) Whether if a person unclean touched any of these, it should be unclean; they said, It shall be unclean, Num. xix. 22. So much more easily is pollution communicated than purity. Then answered Haggai, applying the case to the priests and people, So is

this nation before me, faith the Lord; their ritual devotions and services, like the garment carrying holy flesh, could not fancily; whilst their hearts being unclean, every thing they touched received defilement; and especially, as seems to be the intention of the prophet to show, was this the case with them whilst they neglected the building God’s house; and this they are called upon to consider, and lay to heart, that in their reflections on the past, they might lie low before God, from this day upward, even from before a stone was laid upon a stone in the temple of the Lord; from that day, when they left off the work about seventeen years ago, they had been under the constant marks of God’s displeasure, the sure proof of their sins. Their harvest had failed their expectations; the heap of corn which should have yielded twenty measures, when it came to be threshed gave but ten; and when from the quantity of grapes he put into the press, the vine-draffer hoped to draw out fifty measures, there were but twenty, ver. 16. Blasting, mildew and hail, destroyed the fruits of the earth, yet ye turned not unto me, faith the Lord, continued unhumbled under those providences, and refused not the work of the sanctuary: all whilst they should remember, and humble their souls before the Lord.

2. To encourage them, he bids them observe from the day forward, that they began to return to God, and set themselves heartily to his neglected service, what a blessed alteration would appear. It the seed yet in the barn? No: they had just sown it, and it was not yet come up, and uncertain what harvest it would produce; their fruit trees, it being winter, were now empty; but faith God, from this day will I bless you, with plenty of all good things, and to their full conviction demonstrate how much they consulted even their own advantage in returning to his work and service. Note, They who faithfully apply themselves to God’s work, shall assuredly find his blessing, sometimes in provisional gifts of this world’s goods, always in the comfort he will bestow upon their souls.

3. ¶ 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 howles and their riders shall come down, every one by the sword of his brother. 23. In that day, faith the LORD of hosts, will I take thee, O Zerubbabel my servant, the son of Shealtiel, faith the LORD, and ‘will make thee as a signet: for ‘I have chosen thee, faith the LORD of hosts.

4. 20—23. The same day in which Haggai had delivered this message to the people in general, he is sent to Zerubbabel in particular, with encouragement to him under the difficulties of his office, and the dangers to which he saw himself and the nation exposed from their weakness, and the powerful nations around them.

5. He may expect to see strange revolutions, like the shakings of heaven and earth. The throne of kingdoms, the Persian monarchy, would be overthrown, and the kingdoms of the heathen be destroyed, with their chariots and horsemen, every one by the sword of his brother, which may include the successive monarchies, the Grecian and Roman, and be extended to all the enemies of Christ’s church and people to the end of time.

6. Zerubbabel shall be protected and defended in the midst of these communions; or the promise respects his glorious defendant the Messiah, of whom he was the figure. He is emphatically the servant of the Lord, raised up to do his pleasure. I will make thee as a signet, for I have chosen thee, faith the Lord of hosts; he is the elect of God, in whom his soul delighteth, precious as a signet, and entrusted with all power in heaven and in earth, who is himself sealed as the head of his redeemed people, and he in like manner sealeth them unto the day of redemption.

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Haggai 2:12-15

4. Ex. 2. 6. Ex. 2.

5. ¶ Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Joselech the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the LORD their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, (as the LORD their God had sent him) and the people did fear before the LORD. 13. Then spake Haggai the LORD’s messenger, in the LORD’s message unto the people, saying, ‘I am with you, faith the LORD. 14. And the LORD’ stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel’s governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Joselech the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people, and they came and did work in the house of the LORD of hosts their God: 15. In the four and twentieth day of the sixth month, in the second year of Darius the king.

We have here an account of the happy success with which the prophet’s admonition was attended.

1. They obeyed instantly the voice of the Lord their God. Zerubbabel and Joshua led the way, and the people cheerfully followed their good examples, fearing before the Lord, under a sense of his displeasure visible in their past visitations, and justly apprehensive least they should provoke heartily judgment. They came and did work in the house of the Lord of hosts their God within three weeks after the warning they had received, v. 15. the intermediate time probably being spent in providing the materials; and for this sudden alteration they stood indebted to God’s rich grace, who stirred up their spirits, v. 14. inclining and encouraging them to the undertaking. Note, (1.) The word in the mouth of God’s ministers is the voice of God, and must be respected accordingly. (2.) Holy fear is a blessed principle of action. (3.) When we see how negligent we have been, the consideration should quicken us to double diligence, that we may redeem the time. (4.) Whatever good is in us, or done

by us, we owe it entirely to God’s free grace, from whom alone all holy desires, and all just works do proceed.

2. God thereupon sends his prophet to them, with a new message of encouragement. I am with you, faith the Lord, to pardon your past neglect, to assist you in your present labour, to protect you from your enemies, and to crown your work with success. Note, If God says, I am with you, that is enough, we need not with for more; his presence includes all blessedness.