Then the prophets, Haggai the prophet, and Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophesied unto the Jews that [were] in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel, [even] unto them.
Ver. 1. Then the prophets] He that is now called a prophet was previously called a seer, 1 Samuel 9:9, because his eyes were enlightened, Numbers 24:3, and he saw visions of God, Eze 1:1 Daniel 1:17, prophets they were afterwards called, that is, interpreters of God's will by his command: Exodus 7:1, "Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet," that is, thine interpreter. By the mouth of these holy prophets God spake to his people in all ages, Luke 1:70. Yet not without some intermissions of prophecy, as the Church complaineth, Psalms 74:9, till that Cathimath Chazon (as the Jews call it), the sealing up of prophecy, which they place between the prophet Malachi and John Baptist, who was more than a prophet. The original word, Nabi, signifieth one that, from the inward counsel of God, uttereth oracles.
Haggai the prophet] Who was not an angel incarnate, as Origen and Jerome held; but a young saint (as Epiphanius describeth him), and might therefore well be an old angel, if he lived to be old: Iuvenis admodum ex Babylone profectus est Hierosolymam, &c. An exceedingly young man left from Babylon for Jerusalem. (Epiph. lib. de Proph. Vit.). See more of him, Haggai 1:1. See Trapp on " Hag 1:1 "
And Zechariah the son of Iddo] That is, of "Berechiah the son of Iddo," Zechariah 1:1, See Trapp on " Zec 1:1 " These two God sent within two months of each other, in the eighteenth year of the people's return out of Babylon; which happened to be in the second year of the reign of Darius Hystaspes, in 520 BC. according to Ussher's Chronology. Christ usually sent his prophets and apostles by couples, for mutual comfort, and greater confirmation.
Prophesied unto the Jews] Who had brought a judgment of sore famine upon themselves by their slackness and backwardness to rebuild the house of God, Haggai 1:4; Haggai 1:6; See Trapp on " Hag 1:4 " See Trapp on " Hag 1:6 " and learn, of the heathen historian, to prefer God's interest before thine own, or else to look for his curse, τα του Yεου πρεσβυτερα η τα των ανθρωπων (Herodot.). For he is a great King, and stands upon his seniority, Malachi 1:14; he will have us first to seek his kingdom, Matthew 6:33, and to give unto God the things that are God's, or we shall hear of him, to our small comfort, Matthew 22:21 .
In the name of the God of Israel] Who both authorized and enabled them. God sendeth none whom he gifteth not. The apostles also were ambassadors in the same name, 2 Corinthians 5:20, and so colleagues to the prophets, Luke 10:16, see 1 Peter 1:12; angels admiring the matter of their embassy, and their happy harmony.
Even unto them] Who yet were very little amended by their seventy years' captivity. Afflictions (God's hammers) had but beaten upon cold iron (as it were), as appears by this history, and by the prophecies of Haggai and Zechariah; whom, for his labour and love to their souls, they afterwards slew between the temple and the altar, Matthew 23:35, serving him as Hercules did his tutor Linus, whom, for a few sharp words given him, he knocked on the head, Hoc ictu ceu didactro accepto Linus mortuus est (Buchol.). Or, as their ancestors did the prophet Isaiah, whom they sawed asunder (saith Jerome out of the Rabbis), because he had called them princes of Sodom and people of Gomorrah, Isaiah 1:10. This is the world's wages to faithful ministers.