Bible Commentaries
Haggai 1

Verse 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,

Son — Adoptive son to Shealtiel, being of the royal line, but by nature, son of Pedaiah.

Governor — Appointed to this by the Persian king, over the remnant returned out of Babylon.

Joshua — A type of the great deliverer; one Joshua leads them into Canaan, another restores the temple.

Verse 4

Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your cieled houses, and this house lie waste?

Ceiled — Arched and richly adorned.

Verse 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.

Have not enough — But what you eat doth not nourish or satisfy you.

Are not filled — Your water quenches not your thirst, your wine does not revive your spirit.

None warm — You have no comfort therein.

With holes — Loses all his labour.

Verse 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.

Take pleasure — I will accept your offerings, and hear your prayers.

Glorified — Shew my majesty and account myself glorified by you also.

Verse 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.

Came to little — But it answered not the expectation.

I did blow — I blasted it.

Ye run — You with eagerness carry on your own particular buildings.

Verse 10

Therefore the heaven over you is stayed from dew, and the earth is stayed from her fruit.

Is stayed — God hath forbidden them, to drop down dew.

Verse 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.

Upon men — The very blood, and constitutions of men were changed, and many diseases afflicted them.

Verse 13

Then spake Haggai the LORD’s messenger in the LORD’s message unto the people, saying, I am with you, saith the LORD.

In the Lord’s message — ln the words of his master.

The people — The whole assembly.

Verse 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,

The Lord of hosts — By which name he delights to be known among the returned captives; and it was a name best suited to their present state, compassed on all hands with enemies.