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 - Moriah (Rosenmuller); Lebanon (Henderson). Rather, generally, the mountains around, now covered with wood, the growth of the long period of the captivity. So Nehemiah 8:15, "Go forth unto the mount" -
i.e., the neighbouring hills (Maurer).
And bring wood - Haggai specifies this as being the first necessary; not to the exclusion of other materials. Stones also were doubtless needed. That the old walls were not standing, as the Hebrew interpreters quoted by Jerome state, or the new walls partly built, appears from Haggai 2:18, where express mention is made of laying the foundation.
And build the house ... I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified - I will be propitious to suppliants in it, as Solomon prayed that I should be to suppliants praying in, or toward, the first temple (1 Kings 8:30); and so I shall receive the honour due to me which has been withheld. In neglecting the temple, which is the mirror of my presence, ye dishonour me (Calvin); in its being built, ye shall glorify me.