Haggai 1:2 Kommentar

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 (Hag 1:1-11). 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 (Hag 1:12-15).

This chapter contains the first sermon of the Prophet Haggai to the people of the Jews, directed to Zerubbabel the governor, and Joshua the high priest; the date of which is fixed, Hag 1:1. It begins with a charge against that people; saying the time to build the house of the Lord was not come, Hag 1:2 which is refuted by the prophet; arguing, that, if the time to panel their dwelling houses was come, then much more the time to build the Lord's house, Hag 1:3. They are urged to consider how unsuccessful they had been in their civil employments and labours, which was owing to their neglect of building the temple; wherefore, if they consulted their own good, and the glory of God, the best way was to set about it in all haste, and with diligence, Hag 1:5 yea, even the famine, which they had been afflicted with for some time, and which affected both man and beast, sprung from the same cause, Hag 1:10. This discourse had such an effect upon the governor, high priest, and people, that they immediately rose up, and went about the work they were exhorted to; upon which the prophet, by a special message from the Lord, promises his presence with them, Hag 1:12.

Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts,.... Of armies above and below; whom all ought to reverence, honour, and obey; who was able to support his people in building his house, and protect them from their enemies, which should have been an encouragement to them; and to punish them for their neglect of it, which might have deterred them from it. This preface is made, to show that what follow were not the words of the prophet, but of the Lord; and therefore to be the more regarded, and the truth of them not to be doubted of: saying, This people say; repeating the words of the people of the Jews to Zerubbabel and Joshua, that they might observe them, and the wickedness and ingratitude in them. "This people", lately brought out of the captivity of Babylon, and loaded with various blessings and benefits; and not a few of them, but the generality of them, the body of them, expressed themselves after this manner, when pressed to build the temple: The time is not come, the time that the Lord's house should be built; suggesting that the seventy years of Jerusalem and the temple lying in ruins, reckoning from the destruction of them in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar, were not yet fulfilled; or rather intimating that it was not the time in Providence, since they had been forbid and hindered in former reigns from going on with the work; or, since it had been a time of famine and distress with them, it was not a time fit and convenient to carry on such a service; and though they did not lay aside all thoughts of it, yet they judged it right and proper to defer it to a more convenient time, when they were better settled, and in a better capacity to engage in it.

(Ver. 2.) Thus says the Lord of hosts, saying: This people says, 'The time has not yet come, the time for the house of the Lord to be built.' Pay careful attention to the fact that it is not Zerubbabel or Joshua who says, 'The time has not yet come, the time for the house of the Lord to be built,' but the people who are still under the rule of King Darius and have not yet thrown off the yoke of servitude. And those who are still in captivity and have come out of Jerusalem delay and hesitate to build the temple of God, saying, 'The time has not yet come, the time for the house of the Lord to be built.' And when you see someone who has been handed over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that their spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord, make the effort to think and plan in order to build up the temple through purity, which was previously destroyed through lust. And yet, day after day, you say to yourself: Truly, you are a captive of the people, and you say: The time has not yet come for the house of the Lord to be built. But to those who have once decided to rebuild the temple of God, every moment is suitable for building; neither the devil as king, nor the enemies all around, nor the pretended affection of parents, in-laws, or children can hinder. As soon as you turn and call on the name of the Lord, he will say: Here I am.

The time is not come - They thought that the seventy years spoken of by Jeremiah were not yet completed, and it would be useless to attempt to rebuild until that period had arrived. But Abp. Usher has shown that from the commencement of the last siege of Jerusalem unto this time, precisely sixty-nine years had been completed.

HAGGAI CALLS THE PEOPLE TO CONSIDER THEIR WAYS IN NEGLECTING TO BUILD GOD'S HOUSE: THE EVIL OF THIS NEGLECT TO THEMSELVES: THE HONOR TO GOD OF ATTENDING TO IT: THE PEOPLE'S PENITENT OBEDIENCE UNDER ZERUBBABEL FOLLOWED BY GOD'S GRACIOUS ASSURANCE. (Hag 1:1-15) second year of Darius--Hystaspes, the king of Medo-Persia, the second of the world empires, Babylon having been overthrown by the Persian Cyrus. The Jews having no king of their own, dated by the reign of the world kings to whom they were subject. Darius was a common name of the Persian kings, as Pharaoh of those of Egypt, and CÃ&brvbrsar of those of Rome. The name in the cuneiform inscriptions at Persepolis is written Daryawus, from the root Darh, "to preserve," the Conservator [LASSEN]. HERODOTUS [6.98] explains it Coercer. Often opposite attributes are assigned to the same god; in which light the Persians viewed their king. Ezr 4:24 harmonizes with Haggai in making this year the date of the resumption of the building. sixth month--of the Hebrew year, not of Darius' reign (compare Zac 1:7; Zac 7:1, Zac 7:3; Zac 8:19). Two months later ("the eighth month," Zac 1:1) Zechariah began to prophesy, seconding Haggai. the Lord--Hebrew, JEHOVAH: God's covenant title, implying His unchangeableness, the guarantee of His faithfulness in keeping His promises to His people. by Haggai--Hebrew, "in the hand of Haggai"; God being the real speaker, His prophet but the instrument (compare Act 7:35; Gal 3:19). Zerubbabel--called also Shesh-bazzar in Ezr 1:8; Ezr 5:14, Ezr 5:16, where the same work is attributed to Shesh-bazzar that in Ezr 3:8 is attributed to Zerubbabel. Shesh-bazzar is probably his Chaldean name; as Belteshazzar was that of Daniel. Zerubbabel, his Hebrew name, means "one born in Babylon." son of Shealtiel--or Salathiel. But Ch1 3:17, Ch1 3:19 makes Pedaiah his father. Probably he was adopted by his uncle Salathiel, or Shealtiel, at the death of his father (compare Mat 1:12; Luk 3:27). governor of Judah--to which office Cyrus had appointed him. The Hebrew Pechah is akin to the original of the modern Turkish Pasha; one ruling a region of the Persian empire of less extent than that under a satrap. Joshua--called Jeshua (Ezr 2:2); so the son of Nun in Neh 8:17. Josedech--or Jehozadak (Ch1 6:15), one of those carried captive by Nebuchadnezzar. Haggai addresses the civil and the religious representatives of the people, so as to have them as his associates in giving God's commands; thus priest, prophet, and ruler jointly testify in God's name.

the Lord of hosts--Jehovah, Lord of the powers of heaven and earth, and therefore requiring implicit obedience. This people--"This" sluggish and selfish "people." He does not say, My people, since they had neglected the service of God. The time--the proper time for building the temple. Two out of the seventy predicted years of captivity (dating from the destruction of the temple, 558 B.C., Kg2 25:9) were yet unexpired; this they make their plea for delay [HENDERSON]. The seventy years of captivity were completed long ago in the first year of Cyrus, 536 B.C. (Jer 29:10); dating from 606 B.C., Jehoiakim's captivity (Ch2 36:6). The seventy years to the completion of the temple (Jer 25:12) were completed this very year, the second of Darius [VATABLUS]. Ingenious in excuses, they pretended that the interruption in the work caused by their enemies proved it was not yet the proper time; whereas their real motive was selfish dislike of the trouble, expense, and danger from enemies. "God," say they, "hath interposed many difficulties to punish our rash haste" [CALVIN]. Smerdis' interdict was no longer in force, now that Darius the rightful king was on the throne; therefore they had no real excuse for not beginning at once to build. AUBERLEN denies that by "Artaxerxes" in Ezra 4:7-22 is meant Smerdis. Whether Smerdis or Artaxerxes Longimanus be meant, the interdict referred only to the rebuilding of the city, which the Persian kings feared might, if rebuilt, cause them trouble to subdue; not to the rebuilding of the temple. But the Jews were easily turned aside from the work. Spiritually, like the Jews, men do not say they will never be religious, but, It is not time yet. So the great work of life is left undone.

The prophet begins by charging the people with their unconcern about building the house of God. Hag 1:2. "Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: This people saith, It is not time to come, the time for the house of Jehovah to be built." העם הזּה, iste populus, not my people, or Jehovah's people, but hazzeh (this) in a contemptuous sense. Of the two clauses, (a) "It is not time to come," and (b) "The time of the house of Jehovah," the latter gives the more precise definition of the former, the בּא (to come) being explained as meaning the time to build the house of Jehovah. The meaning is simply this: the time has not yet arrived to come and build the house of Jehovah; for לא in this connection signifies "not yet," as in Gen 2:5; Job 22:16. A distinction is drawn between coming to the house of Jehovah and building the house, as in Hag 1:14. There is no ground, therefore, for altering the text, as Hitzig proposes, inasmuch as the defective mode of writing the infinitive בּא is by no means rare (compare, for example, Exo 2:18; Lev 14:48; Num 32:9; Kg1 13:28; Isa 20:1); and there is no foundation whatever for the absurd rendering of the words of the text, "It is not the time of the having arrived of the time of the house," etc. (Hitzig).