Haggai 1 - Clarke's commentary and critical notes on the Bible

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, In the sixth month - Called Elul by the Hebrews. It was the sixth month of the ecclesiastical year, and the last of the civil year, and answered to a part of our September.

Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel - Who was son of Jeconiah, king of Judah, and of the family of David, and exercised the post of a governor among the people, but not over them, for both he and they were under the Persian government; but they were permitted to have Zerubbabel for their own governor, and Joshua for their high priest; and these regulated all matters relative to their peculiar political and ecclesiastical government. But it appears from Ezra, Ezra 5:3, that Tatnai, the governor on this side the river, had them under his cognizance. None of their own governors was absolute. The Persians permitted them to live under their own laws and civil regulations; but they always considered them as a colony, over which they had a continual superintendence.

Joshua the son of Josedech - And son of Seraiah, who was high priest in the time of Zedekiah, and was carried into captivity by Nebuchadnezzar, 1 Chronicles 6:15. But Seraiah was slain at Riblah, by order of Nebuchadnezzar, 2 Kings 25:18-21.

Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, This people say, The time is not come, the time that the LORD'S house should be built. 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.

Then came the word of the LORD by Haggai the prophet, saying,

Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your cieled houses, and this house lie waste? Is it time for you - If the time be not come to rebuild the temple, it cannot be come for you to build yourselves comfortable houses: but ye are rebuilding your houses; why then do ye not rebuild the house of the Lord? The foundation of the temple had been laid fourteen years before, and some considerable progress made in the building; and it had been lying waste in that unfinished state to the present time.

Now therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways. Consider your ways - Is it fit that you should be building yourselves elegant houses, and neglect a place for the worship of that God who has restored you from captivity?

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. Ye have sown much - God will not bless you in any labor of your hands, unless you rebuild his temple and restore his worship. This verse contains a series of proverbs, no less than five in the compass of a few lines.

Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways.

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. Go up to the mountain, and bring wood - Go to Lebanon, and get timber. In the second year of the return from the captivity, they had procured cedar trees from Lebanon, and brought them to Joppa, and had hired masons and carpenters from the Tyrians and Sidonians; but that labor had been nearly lost by the long suspension of the building. Ezra 3:7.

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. Ye looked for much - Ye made great pretensions at first; but they are come to nothing. Ye did a little in the beginning; but so scantily and unwillingly that I could not but reject it.

Ye run every man unto his own house - To rebuild and adorn it; and God's house is neglected!

Therefore the heaven over you is stayed from dew, and the earth is stayed from her fruit. Therefore the heaven over you is stayed from dew - It appears from the following verse that God had sent a drought upon the land, which threatened them with scarcity and famine.

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.

Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the LORD their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the LORD their God had sent him, and the people did fear before the LORD. Then Zerubbabel - The threatening of Haggai had its proper effect. - The civil governor, the high priest, and the whole of the people, united together to do the work. When the authority of God is acknowledged, his words will be carefully obeyed.

Then spake Haggai the LORD'S messenger in the LORD'S message unto the people, saying, I am with you, saith the LORD. Then spake Haggai - He was the Lord's messenger, and he came with the Lord's message, and consequently he came with authority. He is called מלאך יהוה malach Yehovah, the angel of Jehovah, just as the pastors of the seven Asiatic churches are called Angels of the Churches, Revelation 1:2.

I am with you, saith the Lord - Here was high encouragement. What may not a man do when God is his helper?

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, And the Lord stirred up the spirit - It is not only necessary that the judgment should be enlightened, but the soul must be invigorated by the Spirit of God, before any good work can be effectually done.

In the four and twentieth day of the sixth month, in the second year of Darius the king. In the four and twentieth day - Haggai received his commission on the first day of this month and by the twenty-fourth day he had so completely succeeded that he had the satisfaction to see the whole people engaged heartily in the Lord's work; they left their own houses to build that of the Lord. Here was a faithful reprover, and he found obedient ears; and the Lord's work was done, for the people had a mind to work.

Commentary on the Bible, by Adam Clarke [1831].