In
this chapter, after the preamble of the prophecy, we have, I. A reproof of
the people of the Jews for their dilatoriness and slothfulness in building
the temple, which had provoked God to contend with them by the judgment of
famine and scarcity, with an exhortation to them to resume that good work
and to prosecute it in good earnest, ver. 1-11. II. The good success of this
sermon, appearing in the people's return and close application to that work,
wherein the prophet, in God's name, animated and encouraged them, assuring
them that God was with them, ver. 12-15.
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The
Jews Reproved; God's Controversy with the Jews;
The Prophet's Good Advice.
B. C. 520.
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1 In the second year of Darius the king, in
the sixth month, in the first day of the month, came the word of the LORD
by Haggai the prophet unto Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of
Judah, and to Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, saying,
2 Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, This
people say, The time is not come, the time that the LORD's
house should be built. 3 Then came the word of the LORD
by Haggai the prophet, saying, 4 Is it time for you, O
ye, to dwell in your cieled houses, and this house lie waste?
5 Now therefore thus saith the LORD
of hosts; Consider your ways. 6 Ye have sown much, and bring in
little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with
drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages
earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes. 7 Thus
saith the LORD
of hosts; Consider your ways. 8 Go up to the mountain, and bring
wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be
glorified, saith the LORD.
9 Ye looked for much, and, lo, it came to little; and when ye brought
it home, I did blow upon it. Why? saith the LORD
of hosts. Because of mine house that is waste, and ye run every man
unto his own house. 10 Therefore the heaven over you is stayed
from dew, and the earth is stayed from her fruit. 11 And
I called for a drought upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the
corn, and upon the new wine, and upon the oil, and upon that which
the ground bringeth forth, and upon men, and upon cattle, and upon all the
labour of the hands.
It was the complaint of the Jews in Babylon that they saw not their
signs, and there was no more prophet (Ps. lxxiv. 9), which was a
just judgment upon them for mocking and misusing the prophets. We read of no
prophets they had in their return, as they had in their coming out of Egypt,
Hos. xii. 13. God stirred them up immediately by his Spirit to exert
themselves in that escape (Ezra i. 5); for, though God makes use of
prophets, he needs them not, he can do his work without them. But the lamp
of Old-Testament prophecy shall yet make some bright and glorious efforts
before it expire; and Haggai is the first that appears under the character
of a special messenger from heaven, when the word of the Lord had
been long precious (as when prophecy began, 1 Sam. iii. 1) and there
had been no open vision. In the reign of Darius Hystaspes, the third of
the Persian kings, in the second year of his reign, this prophet was sent;
and the word of the Lord came to him, and came by him to the leading men
among the Jews, who are here named, v. 1. The chief governor, 1. In
the state; that was Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, of the house of
David, who was commander-in-chief of the Jews, in their return out of
captivity. 2. In the church; and that was Joshua the son of Josedech,
who was now high priest. They were great men and good men, and yet
were to be stirred up to their duty when they grew remiss. What the people
also were faulty in they must be told of, that they might use their power
and interest for the mending of it. The prophets, who were extraordinary
messengers, did not go about to set aside the ordinary institutions of
magistracy and ministry, but endeavoured to render both more effectual for
the ends to which they were appointed, for both ought to be supported. Now
observe,
I. What the sin of the Jews was at this time, v. 2. As soon as they
came up out of captivity they set up an altar for sacrifice, and within a
year after laid the foundations of a temple, Ezra iii. 10. They then seemed
very forward in it, and it was likely enough that the work would be done
suddenly; but, being served with a prohibition some time after from the
Persian court, and charged not to go on with it, they not only yielded to
the force, when they were actually under it, which might be excused, but
afterwards, when the violence of the opposition had abated, they continued
very indifferent to it, had no spirit nor courage to set about it again, but
seemed glad that they had a pretence to let it stand still. Though those who
are employed for God may be driven off from their work by a storm, yet they
must return to it as soon as the storm is over. These Jews did not do so,
but continued loitering until they were afresh reminded of their duty. And
that which they suggested one to another was, The time has not come, the
time that the Lord's house should be built; that is, 1. "Our time
has not come for the doing of it, because we have not yet recovered, after
our captivity; our losses are not repaired, nor have we yet got before-hand
in the world. It is too great an undertaking for new beginners in the world,
as we are; let us first get our own houses up, before we talk of building
churches, and in the mean time let a bare altar serve us, as it did our
father Abraham." They did not say that they would not build a temple at
all, but, "Not yet; it is all in good time." Note, Many a good
work is put by by being put off, as Felix put off the prosecution of his
convictions to a more convenient season. They do not say that they will
never repent, and reform, and be religious, but, "Not yet." And so
the great business we were sent into the world to do is not done, under
pretence that it is all in good time to go about it. 2. "God's time has
not come for the doing of it; for (say they) the restraint laid upon us by
authority in a legal way is not broken off, and therefore we ought not to
proceed, though there be a present connivance of authority." Note,
There is an aptness in us to misinterpret providential discouragements in
our duty, as if they amounted to a discharge from our duty, when they are
only intended for the trial and exercise of our courage and faith. It is bad
to neglect our duty, but it is worse to vouch Providence for the patronising
of our neglects.
II. What the judgments of God were by which they were punished for this
neglect, v. 6, 9-11. They neglected the building of God's house, and
put that off, that they might have time and money for their secular affairs.
They desired to be excused from such an expensive piece of work under this
pretence, that they must provide for their families; their children must
have meat and portions too, and, until they have got before-hand in the
world, they cannot think of rebuilding the temple. Now, that the punishment
might answer to the sin, God by his providence kept them still behind-hand,
and that poverty which they thought to prevent by not building the temple
God brought upon them for not building it. They were sensible of the smart
of the judgment, and every one complained of the unseasonable weather, the
great losses they sustained in their corn and cattle, and the decay of
trade; but they were not sensible of the cause of the judgment, and the
ground of God's controversy with them. They did not, or would not, see and
own that it was for their putting off the building of the temple that they
lay under these manifest tokens of God's displeasure; and therefore God here
gives them notice that this is that for which he contended with them. Note,
We need the help of God's prophets and ministers to expound to us, not only
the judgments of God's mouth, but the judgments of his hands, that we may
understand his mind and meaning in his rod as well as in his word, to
discover to us not only wherein we have offended God, but wherein God shows
himself offended at us. Let us observe,
1. How God contended with them. He did not send them into captivity again,
nor bring a foreign enemy upon them, as they deserved, but took the
correcting of them into his own hands; for his mercies are great. (1.) He
that gives seed to the sower denied his blessing upon the seed
sown, and then it never prospered; they had nothing, or next to nothing,
from it. They sowed much (v. 6), kept a great deal of ground
in tillage, which, they might expect, would turn to a better advantage than
usual, because their land had long lain fallow and had enjoyed its
sabbaths. Having sown much, they looked for much from it, enough to
spend and enough to spare too; but they were disappointed: They bring in
little, very little (v. 6); when they have made the utmost of it,
it comes to little (v. 9); it did not yield as they expected.
Isa. v. 10, The seed of a homer shall yield an ephah, a bushel's
sowing shall yield a peck. Note, Our expectations from the creature are
often most frustrated when they are most raised; and then, when we look for
much, it comes to little, that our expectation may be from God only, in whom
it will be outdone. We are here told how they came to be disappointed (v.
10): The heaven over you is stayed from dew; he that has the key of
the clouds in his hands shut them up, and withheld the rain when the ground
called for it, the former or the latter rain, and then of course the
earth is stayed from her fruit; for, if the heaven be as brass, the
earth is as iron. The corn perhaps came up very well, and promised a very
plentiful crop, but, for want of the dews at earing-time, it never filled,
but was parched with the heat of the sun and withered away. The restored
captives, who had long been kept bare in Babylon, thought they should never
want when they had got their own land in possession again and had that at
command. But what the better are they for it, unless they had the clouds at
command too? God will make us sensible of our necessary and constant
dependence upon him, throughout all the links in the chain of second causes,
from first to last; so that we can at no time say, "Now we have no
further occasion for God and his providence." See Hos. ii. 21. But God
not only withheld the cooling rains, but he appointed the scorching heats (v.
11): I called for a drought upon the land, ordered the weather to be
extremely hot, and then the fruits of the earth were burnt up. See how every
creature is that to us which God makes it to be, either comfortable or
afflictive, serving us or incommoding us. Nothing among the inferior
creatures is so necessary and beneficial to the world as the heat of the
sun; it is that which puts life into the plants and renews the face of
the earth at spring. And yet, if that go into an extreme, it undoes all
again. Our Creator is our best friend; but, if we make him our enemy, we
make the best friends we have among the creatures our enemies too. This
drought God called for, and it came at the call; as the winds and the waves,
so the rays of the sun, obey him. It was universal, and the ill effects of
it were general; it was a drought upon the mountains, which, lying
high, were first affected with it. The mountains were their pasture-grounds,
and used to be covered over with flocks, but now there was no grass
for them. It was upon the corn, the new wine, and the oil; all failed
through the extremity of the hot weather, even all that the ground
brought forth; it all withered. Nay, it had a bad influence upon men;
the hot weather enfeebled some, and made them weary and faint, and spent
their spirits; it inflamed others, and put them into fevers. It should seem,
it brought diseases upon cattle too. In short, it spoiled all the labour
of their hands, which they hoped to eat of and maintain their families
by. Note, Meat for the belly is meat that perishes, and, if we labour for
that only, we are in danger of losing our labour; but we are sure our
labour shall not be in vain in the Lord if we labour for the meat
which endures to eternal life. For the hand of the diligent, in
the business of religion, will infallibly make rich, whereas, in the
business of this life, the most solicitous and the most industrious often
lose the labour of their hands. The race is not to the swift, nor the
battle to the strong. (2.) He that gives bread to the eater
denied his blessing upon the bread they ate, and then that did not nourish
them. The cause of the withering and failing of the corn in the field was
visible--it was for want of rain; but, besides that, there was a secret
blast and curse attending that which they brought home. [1.] When they had
it in the barn they were not sure of it: I did blow upon it, saith the
Lord of hosts (v. 9), and that withered it, as buds are sometimes
blasted in the spring by a nipping frost, which we see the effects of, but
know not the way of. I did blow it away; so the margin reads it. When
men have heaped wealth together God can scatter it with the breath of his
mouth as easily as we can blow away a feather. Note, We can never be sure of
any thing in this world; it is exposed, not only when it is in the field,
but when it is housed; for there moth and rust corrupt, Matt. vi. 19.
And, if we would have the comfort and continuance of our temporal
enjoyments, we must make God our friend; for, if he bless them to us, they
are blessings indeed, but if he blow upon them we can expect no good from
them: they make themselves wings and fly away. [2.] When they had it
upon the board it was not that to them that they expected: "You eat,
but you have not enough, either because the meat is washy, and not
satisfying, or because the stomach is greedy, and not satisfied. You eat,
but you have no good digestion, and so are not nourished by it, nor does it
answer the end, or you have not enough because you are not content, nor
think it enough. You drink, but are not cooled and refreshed by it; you
are not filled with drink; you are stinted, and have not enough to
quench your thirst. The new wine is cut off from your mouth (Joel i.
5), nay, and you drink your water too by measure and with
astonishment; you have no comfort of it, because you have no plenty of
it, but are still in fear of falling short." [3.] That which they had
upon their backs did them no good there: "You clothe yourselves, but
there is none warm; your clothes soon wear out, and wax old, and grow
thin, because God blows upon them," contrary to what Israel's did in
the wilderness when God blessed them. It is God that makes our garments
warm upon us, when he quiets the earth, Job xxxvii. 17. [4.] That
which they had in their bags, which was not laid out, but laid up, they were
not sure of: "He that earns wages by hard labour, and has it
paid him in ready current money, puts it into a bag with holes; it
drops through, and wastes away insensibly. Every thing is so scarce and dear
that they spend their money as fast as they get it." Those that lay up
their treasure on earth put it into a bag with holes; they lose it as they
go along, and those that come after them pick it up. But, if we lay up our
treasure in heaven, we provide for ourselves bags that wax not old,
Luke xii. 33.
2. Observe wherefore God thus contended with them, and stopped the current
of the favours promised them at their return (Joel ii. 24); they provoked
him to do it: It is because of my house that is waste. This is the
quarrel God has with them. The foundation of the temple is laid, but the
building does not go on. "Every man runs to his own house, to
finish that, and to make that convenient and fine, and no care is taken
about the Lord's house; and therefore it is that God crosses you thus in all
your affairs, to testify his displeasure against you for that neglect, and
to bring you to a sense of your sin and folly." Note, As those who seek
first the kingdom of God and the righteousness thereof shall not only find
them, but are most likely to have other things added to them, so those who
neglect and postpone those things will not only lose them, but will justly
have other things taken away from them. And if God cross us in our temporal
affairs, and we meet with trouble and disappointment, we shall find this is
the cause of it, the work we have to do for God and our own souls is left
undone, and we seek our own things more than the things of Jesus Christ,
Phil. ii. 21.
III. The reproof which the prophet gives them for their neglect of the
temple-work (v. 4): "Is it time for you, O you! to dwell in
your ceiled houses, to have them beautified and adorned, and your
families settled in them?" They were not content with walls and roofs
for necessity, but they must have for gaiety and fancy. "It is high
time," says one, "that my house were wainscoted." "It is
high time," says another, "that mine were painted." And God's
house, all this time, lies waste, and nothing is done at it.
"What!" says the prophet, "is it time that you should have
your humour pleased, and not time you should have your God pleased?"
How much was their disposition the reverse of David's, who could not be easy
in his house of cedar while the ark of God was in curtains
(2 Sam. vii. 2), and of Solomon's, who built the temple of God before he
built a palace for himself. Note, Those are very much strangers to their own
interest who prefer the conveniences and ornaments of the temporal life
before the absolute necessities of the spiritual life, who are full of care
to enrich their own houses, while God's temple in their hearts lies waste,
and nothing is done for it or in it.
IV. The good counsel which the prophet gives to those who thus despised God,
and whom God was therefore justly displeased with. 1. He would have them
reflect: Now therefore consider your ways, v. 5 and again v.
7. "Be sensible of the hand of God gone out against you, and enquire
into the reason; think what you have done that has provoked God thus to
break in upon your comforts; and think what you will do to testify your
repentance, that God may return in mercy to you." Note, It is the great
concern of every one of us to consider our ways, to set our hearts to our
ways (so the word is), to think on our ways (Ps. cxix. 59), to search
and try them (Lam. iii. 40), to ponder the path of our feet
(Prov. iv. 26), to apply our minds with all seriousness to the great and
necessary duty of self-examination, and communing with our own hearts
concerning our spiritual state, our sins that are past, and our duty for the
future; for sin is what we must answer for, duty is what we must do; about
these therefore we must be inquisitive, rather than about events, which we
must leave to God. Many are quick-sighted to pry into other people's ways
who are very careless of their own; whereas our concern is to prove every
one his own work, Gal. vi. 4. 2. He would have them reform (v.
8): "Go up to the mountain, to Lebanon, and bring wood,
and other materials that are wanting, and build the house with all
speed; put it off no longer, but set to it in good earnest." Note, Our
considering our ways must issue in the amending of whatever we find amiss in
them. If any duty has been long neglected, that is not a reason why it
should still be so, but why now at length it should be revived; better late
than never. For their encouragement to apply in good earnest to this work,
he assures them, (1.) That they should be accepted of him in it: Build
the house, and I will take pleasure in it; and that was encouragement
enough for them to apply to it with alacrity and resolution, and to go
through with it, whatever it cost them. Note, Whatever God will take
pleasure in, when it is done, we ought to take pleasure in the doing of, and
to reckon that inducement enough to set about it, and go on with it in good
earnest; for what greater satisfaction can we have in our own bosoms than in
contributing any thing towards that which God will take pleasure in? It
ought to be the top of our ambition to be accepted of the Lord, 2
Cor. v. 9. Though they had foolishly neglected the house of God, yet, if at
length they will resume the care of it, God will not remember against them
their former neglects, but will take pleasure in the work of their hands.
Those who have long deferred their return to God, if at length they return
with all their heart, must not despair of his favour. (2.) That he would be
honoured by them in it: I will be glorified, saith the Lord. He will
be served and worshipped in the temple when it is built, and sanctified in
those that come nigh to him. It is worth while to bestow all possible care,
and pains, and cost, upon that by which God may be glorified.
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The
People's Obedience.
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B.
C. 520.
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12 Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and
Joshua the son of Josedech, 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, saith the LORD.
14 And the LORD
stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah,
and the spirit of Joshua the son of Josedech, 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.
As an ear-ring of gold (says Solomon), and an ornament of fine
gold, so amiable, so acceptable, in the sight of God and man, is a
wise reprover upon an obedient ear, Prov. xxv. 12. The prophet here was
a wise but faithful reprover, in God's name, and he met with an obedient
ear. The foregoing sermon met with the desired success among the people, and
their obedience met with due encouragement from God. Observe,
I. How the people returned to God in a way of duty. All those to whom that
sermon was preached received the word in the love of it, and were wrought
upon by it. Zerubbabel, the chief governor, did not think himself above the
check and command of God's word. He was a man that had been eminently useful
in his day, and serviceable to the interest of the church, yet did not plead
his former merits in answer to this reproof for his present remissness, but
submitted to it. Joshua's business, as high priest, was to teach, and yet he
was willing himself to be taught, and willingly received admonition and
instruction. The remnant of the people (and the whole body of them
was but a remnant, a very few of the many thousands of Israel) also were
very pliable; they all obeyed the voice of the Lord their God, and
bowed their neck to the yoke of his commands, and it is here recorded to
their honour that they did so, v. 12. Their father said, Sons, go
work to-day in my vineyard, in my temple; and they not only said, We
go, sir, but they went immediately. 1. They looked upon the prophet to
be the Lord's messenger, and the word he delivered to be the Lord's message
to them; and there-fore received it not as the word of man, but as the
word of Almighty God; they obeyed his words, as the Lord their God
had sent him, v. 12. Note, In attending to God's ministers we
must have an eye to him that sent them, and receive them for his sake, while
they act according to their commission. 2. They did fear before the Lord.
Prophecy was a new thing with them; they had had no special messenger from
heaven for a great while, and therefore now that they had one, and but one,
they paid an extraordinary regard to him; whereas their fathers, who had
many prophets, mocked and misused them. It is sometimes so; when good
preaching is most scarce it does most good, whereas the manna that is rained
in plenty is loathed as light bread. And, because they so readily
received this prophet, God, within a month or two after, raised them up
another, Zech. i. 1. They feared before the Lord; they had a great
regard to the divine authority and a great dread of the divine wrath, and
were of those that trembled at God's word. The judgments of God which
they had been under, though very severe, had not prevailed to make them fear
before the Lord, until the word of God was sent to expound his providences,
and then they feared. Note, A holy fear of God will have a great influence
upon our obedience to him. Serve the Lord with fear; if we fear him
not, we shall not serve him. 3. The Lord stirred up their spirits, v.
14. (1.) He excited them to their duty, and put it into their hearts to go
about it. Note, Then the word of God has its success when God by his grace
stirs up our spirits to comply with it; and without that grace we should
remain stupid and utterly averse to every thing that is good. It is in the
day of a divine power that we are made willing. (2.) He encouraged them in
their duty, and with those encouragements enlarged their hearts, Ps. cxix.
32. When they heard the word they feared; but, lest they should sink under
the weight of that fear, God stirred them up, and made them cheerful and
bold to encounter the difficulties they might meet with. Note, When God has
work to do, he will either find or make men fit to do it, and stir them up
to it. 4. They applied to their work with all possible vigour: They came
and did work in the house of the Lord of hosts their God. Every one,
according as his capacity or ability was, lent a hand, some way or other, to
further that good work; and this they did with an eye to God as the Lord
of hosts, and as their God, the God of Israel. The consideration of
God's sovereign dominion in the world by his providence, and his
covenant-relation to his people by his grace, should stir up our spirits to
act for him, and for the advancement of the interest of his kingdom among
men, to the utmost of our power. 5. They did this speedily; it was but on
the first day of the sixth month that Haggai preached them this sermon, and
by the twenty-fourth of the same month, little more than three weeks after,
they were all busy working in the house of the Lord their God, v. 15.
To show that they were ashamed of their delays hitherto, now that they were
convinced and called they were resolved to delay no longer, but to strike
while the iron was hot, and to set about the work while they were under
convictions. Note, Those that have lost time have need to redeem time; and
the longer we have loitered in that which is good the more haste we should
make when we are convinced of our folly.
II. How God met them in a way of mercy. The same prophet that brought them
the reproof brought them a very comforting encouraging word (v. 13): Then
spoke Haggai, the Lord's messenger, in the Lord's message, in his name,
and as from him, saying, I am with you, saith the Lord. That is all
he has to say, and that is enough; as that word of Christ to his disciples
is (Matt. xxviii. 20), "Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of
the world. I am with you, that is, I will forgive your neglects
hitherto, and they shall not be remembered against you; I will remove the
judgments you have been under for those neglects, and will appear for you,
as I have in them appeared against you. I am with you to protect you
against your enemies that bear ill-will to your work, and to prosper you,
and to give you success in it--with you to strengthen your hands, and bless
the work of them, without which blessing those labour in vain that
build." Note, Those that work for God have God with them; and, if he be
for us, who can be against us? If he be with us, what difficulty can stand
before us?
