And now, I pray you, consider from this day and upward, from before a stone was laid upon a stone in the temple of the LORD:
Ver. 15. And now, I pray you, consider] Heb. Lay it upon your heart, as Haggai 1:5; See Trapp on " Hag 1:5 " The often repetition of this precept sets forth, 1. The necessity of the duty pressed. 2. Their singular stupidity, that were no more affected with such manifest marks of God's wrath upon them; no, though he had even snatched the meat out of their mouths, and kept them hunger-starved, which is the way of taming the most untameable creatures.
From this day and upward] To the end that when I shall have blessed you with greater plenty, as Haggai 2:19, ye may recognize your sins, the cause of your calamities, and, remembering (as Jacob did his baculinam paupertatem, Gen 32:10) your former penury, you may thankfully cry out with that noble Iphicrates; From how hungry to how plentiful an estate am I raised (εξ οιων εις οια)! Let a profane Demetrius attribute such a change as this to blind fortune, saying, Eυ με εφυσας συ και καταθειν δοκεις. But let all saints sing with holy Hannah, "They that were full have hired themselves out for bread; and they that were hungry ceased. The Lord maketh poor and maketh rich; he bringeth low, and lifteth up," 1 Samuel 2:5; 1 Samuel 2:7 .
From before a stone was laid upon a stone] i.e. Before there was any hand set to the work of rebuilding the temple, which was interrupted for many years, after the return from Babylon. See Ezra 3:8; Ezra 5:2 .