Bible Commentaries
Haggai 2

Verse 1

Hag 2:1. This chapter begins about a month later than the close of the preceding one. In that time the work on the temple has gone forward to the point of getting the foundation laid. That made it possible to see something of the appearance of the completed building when that time came.

Verse 2

Hag 2:2. The Lord then gave the prophet instructions to call the attention of the builders and the people to the work as it then appeared.

Verse 3

Hag 2:3. There were people living who had seen the temple that was destroyed by the Babylonians. They were asked to make lhe comparison, and it was suggested that they would conclude the present building to be inferior to the first one. This event of comparison is given more detailed notice in Ezr 3:12.

Verse 4

Hag 2:4. This verse begins with the word yet which indicates that God did not profess to regard the present building as actually as good as the other. However, He encourages them to be of good cheer and promises them to be with them in the world.

Verse 5

Hag 2:5. The same God who brought Israel out of Egypt and sustained them with His spirit, is the one who has led them through the trials just now going on and will continue to lead them it they will obey.

Verse 6

Hag 2:6. Following a practice we have before seen with the prophets, the Lord has Haggai to leap from a fortunate event in the history of fleshly Israel to one at spiritual Israel or the church. This and the following three verses deal with that subject and the imagery is drawn from the literal shaking of Mt. Sinal when the Mosaic system was given to the peopIe of Israel. After that shaking had subsided it left remaining the organIzed institution that was to serve the people through that dispensation. Now the Lord predicts that one more ATeat fha'·lng vill occur that will affect the heavens and the earth.

Verse 7

Hag 2:7. Desire of all nations was to he fulfilled when the Gentile as well as the Jew would be offered the same benefits. This house refers to the house of the Lord composed ot Christians (Heb 3:6).

Verse 8

Hag 2:8. These material substances used to make the literal temple all belonged to God. Likewise, the materials composing the spiritual temple all belong to him according to 1Co 6:19-20.

Verse 9

Hag 2:9. Glory of the latter house greater than the former. This was predicted of the church which is the greatest organization that God ever placed on the earth. We need not be uncertain about the above application of this noted prophecy, for Paul makes that use of it in Heb 12:26-28.

Verse 10

Hag 2:10. About two months later than the preceding verse the Lord gave another message to the prophet. Inspiration is not a condition that is settled upon a man as if it were a part or his natural faculty. When God wished to have any revelation made known He would call the spokesman into the service and inform him just what he was to say. That is why we are told that "holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost" (2Pe 1:21).

Verse 11

Hag 2:11. The priests were the men who had supervision of the altar services and hence were acquainted with the requirements ot the law, The prophet was given the present message to them for the purpose of explaining wby the Lord was making his severe complaints against the nation.

Verse 12

Hag 2:12, Holy flesh means that kind that had been selected and prepared tor tbe altar according to the demands of the law. But whIle holding that flesh in bis skirt before reaching the altar he comes in contact with these other articles that had n ot been con- secrated. The priests admitted that it would render that flesh unholy.

Verse 13

Hag 2:13, The ceremonial law re- garded a dead body as unclean and everything that touched it was so. Even the people in gene ral knew or had known that such was the stipulation in their instructions that came from the Lord through Moses.

Verse 14

Hag 2:14, Having reminded them or the provisions concerning cleanness as they pertained to individual items of the service, Haggai makes comparison to the state of the nation, The services that were being attempted might have been legal in themselves, but tbe nation had come tn contact with that which was unclean which rendered the whole procedure unholy. (See note offered at Isa 1:10, volume 3 of this Commentary.)

Verse 15

Hag 2:15. This verse asks them to take a view of the ir history going back to the time before any work had ever been done on the temple.

Verse 16

Hag 2:16. The points he wishes to have them recall are those pertaining to their temporal disappointments. This subject was treated previous to this chapter as may be noticed in the comments on some earlier verse.

Verse 17

Hag 2:17. They are reminded of the stubbornness that tbe nation manifested in spite of these chastisements from the Lord, which was the reason they had been doomed to spend a period in captivity under a foreign power,

Verse 18

Hag 2:18. The prophet brings the re- view down to the present date,

Verse 19

Hag 2:19, He reminds them that not only did the corruption of the past years cause them to be sent into captivity, but since that event their neglect of duty had brought about these shortages in their crops down to that very date. Notwithstanding all this, if they will begin NOW to serve the Lord faithfully, they will be blessed.

Verse 20

Hag 2:20, On the same date as the foregoing message the Lord gave the prophet one to deliver unto another important person in the congregation.

Verse 21

Hag 2:21. Zerubbabel was governor in the sense of being captain or leader in the work of the temple (Ezr 1:1-4 Ezr 3:8; Neh 12:1). This message was a repetition of the prediction shown in verses 6-9 concerning the "shaking" that God was going to do,

Verse 22

Hag 2:22. The comments on that passage shows the prediction to have reference to the church or kingdom of Christ, The present verse adds the specific prediction that God would overthrow the throne of the kingdom. This is the same prediction that is meant in Dan 2:44 concerning the perpetuity of the kingdom of Christ.

Verse 23

Hag 2:23. In that day, .. make thee as a signet. The last word is defined in the lexicon as, "a signature-ring." It has been rendered also by "seal" elsewhere in the A.V. The thought is that when Zerubbabel performs his full duty of completing the work of the temple, he will be accepted by the Lord and his work will have the divine approval. And as a prediction in the nature of a type, when the Lord does the "shaking" predicted. those who carry out the work of the new kingdom will have the approval of "the God of heaven" who had set up the kingdom according to Dan 2:44.