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Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
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Matthew Henry |
H A G G A I.
CHAP. I.
In this chapter, after the preamble of the prophecy, we have,
I. A reproof of the people of the Jews for their dilatoriness and
slothfulness in building the temple, which had provoked God to contend
with them by the judgment of famine and scarcity, with an exhortation
to them to resume that good work and to prosecute it in good earnest,
II. The good success of this sermon, appearing in the people’s return
and close application to that work, wherein the prophet, in God’s name,
animated and encouraged them, assuring them that God was with them,
| The Jews Reproved; God’s Controversy with the Jews; The Prophet’s Good Advice. | B. C. 520. |
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1 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,
2 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.
3 Then came the word of the LORD by Haggai the prophet, saying,
4 Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your cieled houses,
and this house lie waste?
5 Now therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your
ways.
6 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.
7 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways.
8 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.
9 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.
10 Therefore the heaven over you is stayed from dew, and the
earth is stayed from her fruit.
11 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.
It was the complaint of the Jews in Babylon that they saw not their
signs, and there was no more prophet
(Ps. lxxiv. 9),
which was a just judgment upon them for mocking and misusing the
prophets. We read of no prophets they had in their return, as they had
in their coming out of Egypt,
God stirred them up immediately by his Spirit to exert themselves in
that escape
(Ezra i. 5);
for, though God makes use of prophets, he needs them not, he can do his
work without them. But the lamp of Old-Testament prophecy shall yet
make some bright and glorious efforts before it expire; and Haggai is
the first that appears under the character of a special messenger from
heaven, when the word of the Lord had been long precious
(as when prophecy began,
and there had been no open vision. In the reign of Darius
Hystaspes, the third of the Persian kings, in the second year of his
reign, this prophet was sent; and the word of the Lord came to him, and
came by him to the leading men among the Jews, who are here named,
v. 1.
The chief governor,
1. In the state; that was Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, of
the house of David, who was commander-in-chief of the Jews, in their
return out of captivity.
2. In the church; and that was Joshua the son of Josedech, who
was now high priest. They were great men and good men, and yet
were to be stirred up to their duty when they grew remiss. What the
people also were faulty in they must be told of, that they might use
their power and interest for the mending of it. The prophets, who were
extraordinary messengers, did not go about to set aside the ordinary
institutions of magistracy and ministry, but endeavoured to render both
more effectual for the ends to which they were appointed, for both
ought to be supported. Now observe,
I. What the sin of the Jews was at this time,
v. 2.
As soon as they came up out of captivity they set up an altar for
sacrifice, and within a year after laid the foundations of a temple,
They then seemed very forward in it, and it was likely enough that the
work would be done suddenly; but, being served with a prohibition some
time after from the Persian court, and charged not to go on with it,
they not only yielded to the force, when they were actually under it,
which might be excused, but afterwards, when the violence of the
opposition had abated, they continued very indifferent to it, had no
spirit nor courage to set about it again, but seemed glad that they had
a pretence to let it stand still. Though those who are employed for God
may be driven off from their work by a storm, yet they must return to
it as soon as the storm is over. These Jews did not do so, but
continued loitering until they were afresh reminded of their duty. And
that which they suggested one to another was, The time has not come,
the time that the Lord’s house should be built; that is,
1. “Our time has not come for the doing of it, because we have not yet
recovered, after our captivity; our losses are not repaired, nor have
we yet got before-hand in the world. It is too great an undertaking
for new beginners in the world, as we are; let us first get our own
houses up, before we talk of building churches, and in the mean time
let a bare altar serve us, as it did our father Abraham.” They did not
say that they would not build a temple at all, but, “Not yet; it is all
in good time.” Note, Many a good work is put by by being put off, as
Felix put off the prosecution of his convictions to a more convenient
season. They do not say that they will never repent, and reform, and
be religious, but, “Not yet.” And so the great business we were sent
into the world to do is not done, under pretence that it is all in good
time to go about it.
2. “God’s time has not come for the doing of it; for (say they) the
restraint laid upon us by authority in a legal way is not broken off,
and therefore we ought not to proceed, though there be a present
connivance of authority.” Note, There is an aptness in us to
misinterpret providential discouragements in our duty, as if they
amounted to a discharge from our duty, when they are only intended for
the trial and exercise of our courage and faith. It is bad to neglect
our duty, but it is worse to vouch Providence for the patronising of
our neglects.
II. What the judgments of God were by which they were punished for this
neglect,
They neglected the building of God’s house, and put that off, that they
might have time and money for their secular affairs. They desired to be
excused from such an expensive piece of work under this pretence, that
they must provide for their families; their children must have meat and
portions too, and, until they have got before-hand in the world, they
cannot think of rebuilding the temple. Now, that the punishment might
answer to the sin, God by his providence kept them still behind-hand,
and that poverty which they thought to prevent by not building the
temple God brought upon them for not building it. They were sensible of
the smart of the judgment, and every one complained of the unseasonable
weather, the great losses they sustained in their corn and cattle, and
the decay of trade; but they were not sensible of the cause of the
judgment, and the ground of God’s controversy with them. They did not,
or would not, see and own that it was for their putting off the
building of the temple that they lay under these manifest tokens of
God’s displeasure; and therefore God here gives them notice that this
is that for which he contended with them. Note, We need the help of
God’s prophets and ministers to expound to us, not only the judgments
of God’s mouth, but the judgments of his hands, that we may understand
his mind and meaning in his rod as well as in his word, to discover to
us not only wherein we have offended God, but wherein God shows himself
offended at us. Let us observe,
1. How God contended with them. He did not send them into captivity
again, nor bring a foreign enemy upon them, as they deserved, but took
the correcting of them into his own hands; for his mercies are great.
(1.) He that gives seed to the sower denied his blessing upon
the seed sown, and then it never prospered; they had nothing, or
next to nothing, from it. They sowed much
(v. 6),
kept a great deal of ground in tillage, which, they might expect, would
turn to a better advantage than usual, because their land had long
lain fallow and had enjoyed its sabbaths. Having sown
much, they looked for much from it, enough to spend and enough to spare
too; but they were disappointed: They bring in little, very
little
(v. 6);
when they have made the utmost of it, it comes to little
(v. 9);
it did not yield as they expected.
The seed of a homer shall yield an ephah, a bushel’s sowing
shall yield a peck. Note, Our expectations from the creature are often
most frustrated when they are most raised; and then, when we look for
much, it comes to little, that our expectation may be from God only, in
whom it will be outdone. We are here told how they came to be
disappointed
(v. 10):
The heaven over you is stayed from dew; he that has the key of
the clouds in his hands shut them up, and withheld the rain when the
ground called for it, the former or the latter rain, and then of course
the earth is stayed from her fruit; for, if the heaven be as
brass, the earth is as iron. The corn perhaps came up very well, and
promised a very plentiful crop, but, for want of the dews at
earing-time, it never filled, but was parched with the heat of the sun
and withered away. The restored captives, who had long been kept bare
in Babylon, thought they should never want when they had got their own
land in possession again and had that at command. But what the better
are they for it, unless they had the clouds at command too? God will
make us sensible of our necessary and constant dependence upon him,
throughout all the links in the chain of second causes, from first to
last; so that we can at no time say, “Now we have no further occasion
for God and his providence.” See
But God not only withheld the cooling rains, but he appointed the
scorching heats
(v. 11):
I called for a drought upon the land, ordered the weather to be
extremely hot, and then the fruits of the earth were burnt up. See how
every creature is that to us which God makes it to be, either
comfortable or afflictive, serving us or incommoding us. Nothing among
the inferior creatures is so necessary and beneficial to the world as
the heat of the sun; it is that which puts life into the plants and
renews the face of the earth at spring. And yet, if that go into
an extreme, it undoes all again. Our Creator is our best friend; but,
if we make him our enemy, we make the best friends we have among the
creatures our enemies too. This drought God called for, and it came at
the call; as the winds and the waves, so the rays of the sun, obey him.
It was universal, and the ill effects of it were general; it was a
drought upon the mountains, which, lying high, were first
affected with it. The mountains were their pasture-grounds, and used to
be covered over with flocks, but now there was no grass for
them. It was upon the corn, the new wine, and the oil; all
failed through the extremity of the hot weather, even all that the
ground brought forth; it all withered. Nay, it had a bad influence
upon men; the hot weather enfeebled some, and made them weary and
faint, and spent their spirits; it inflamed others, and put them into
fevers. It should seem, it brought diseases upon cattle too. In short,
it spoiled all the labour of their hands, which they hoped to
eat of and maintain their families by. Note, Meat for the belly is meat
that perishes, and, if we labour for that only, we are in danger of
losing our labour; but we are sure our labour shall not be in vain
in the Lord if we labour for the meat which endures to eternal
life. For the hand of the diligent, in the business of
religion, will infallibly make rich, whereas, in the business of
this life, the most solicitous and the most industrious often lose the
labour of their hands. The race is not to the swift, nor the battle
to the strong.
(2.) He that gives bread to the eater denied his blessing upon
the bread they ate, and then that did not nourish them. The cause of
the withering and failing of the corn in the field was visible–it was
for want of rain; but, besides that, there was a secret blast and curse
attending that which they brought home.
[1.] When they had it in the barn they were not sure of it: I did
blow upon it, saith the Lord of hosts
(v. 9),
and that withered it, as buds are sometimes blasted in the spring by a
nipping frost, which we see the effects of, but know not the way of.
I did blow it away; so the margin reads it. When men have heaped
wealth together God can scatter it with the breath of his mouth as
easily as we can blow away a feather. Note, We can never be sure of any
thing in this world; it is exposed, not only when it is in the field,
but when it is housed; for there moth and rust corrupt,
Matt. vi. 19.
And, if we would have the comfort and continuance of our temporal
enjoyments, we must make God our friend; for, if he bless them to us,
they are blessings indeed, but if he blow upon them we can expect no
good from them: they make themselves wings and fly away.
[2.] When they had it upon the board it was not that to them that they
expected: “You eat, but you have not enough, either because the
meat is washy, and not satisfying, or because the stomach is greedy,
and not satisfied. You eat, but you have no good digestion, and so are
not nourished by it, nor does it answer the end, or you have not enough
because you are not content, nor think it enough. You drink, but
are not cooled and refreshed by it; you are not filled with
drink; you are stinted, and have not enough to quench your thirst.
The new wine is cut off from your mouth
(Joel i. 5),
nay, and you drink your water too by measure and with
astonishment; you have no comfort of it, because you have no plenty
of it, but are still in fear of falling short.”
[3.] That which they had upon their backs did them no good there:
“You clothe yourselves, but there is none warm; your clothes
soon wear out, and wax old, and grow thin, because God blows upon
them,” contrary to what Israel’s did in the wilderness when God blessed
them. It is God that makes our garments warm upon us, when he
quiets the earth,
Job xxxvii. 17.
[4.] That which they had in their bags, which was not laid out, but
laid up, they were not sure of: “He that earns wages by hard
labour, and has it paid him in ready current money, puts it into a
bag with holes; it drops through, and wastes away insensibly. Every
thing is so scarce and dear that they spend their money as fast as they
get it.” Those that lay up their treasure on earth put it into a bag
with holes; they lose it as they go along, and those that come after
them pick it up. But, if we lay up our treasure in heaven, we provide
for ourselves bags that wax not old,
Luke xii. 33.
2. Observe wherefore God thus contended with them, and stopped the
current of the favours promised them at their return
(Joel ii. 24);
they provoked him to do it: It is because of my house that is
waste. This is the quarrel God has with them. The foundation of the
temple is laid, but the building does not go on. “Every man runs to
his own house, to finish that, and to make that convenient and
fine, and no care is taken about the Lord’s house; and therefore it is
that God crosses you thus in all your affairs, to testify his
displeasure against you for that neglect, and to bring you to a sense
of your sin and folly.” Note, As those who seek first the kingdom of
God and the righteousness thereof shall not only find them, but are
most likely to have other things added to them, so those who neglect
and postpone those things will not only lose them, but will justly have
other things taken away from them. And if God cross us in our temporal
affairs, and we meet with trouble and disappointment, we shall find
this is the cause of it, the work we have to do for God and our own
souls is left undone, and we seek our own things more than the
things of Jesus Christ,
Phil. ii. 21.
III. The reproof which the prophet gives them for their neglect of the
temple-work
(v. 4):
“Is it time for you, O you! to dwell in your ceiled houses, to
have them beautified and adorned, and your families settled in them?”
They were not content with walls and roofs for necessity, but they must
have for gaiety and fancy. “It is high time,” says one, “that my house
were wainscoted.” “It is high time,” says another, “that mine were
painted.” And God’s house, all this time, lies waste, and
nothing is done at it. “What!” says the prophet, “is it time that you
should have your humour pleased, and not time you should have your God
pleased?” How much was their disposition the reverse of David’s, who
could not be easy in his house of cedar while the ark of
God was in curtains
and of Solomon’s, who built the temple of God before he built a palace
for himself. Note, Those are very much strangers to their own interest
who prefer the conveniences and ornaments of the temporal life before
the absolute necessities of the spiritual life, who are full of care to
enrich their own houses, while God’s temple in their hearts lies waste,
and nothing is done for it or in it.
IV. The good counsel which the prophet gives to those who thus despised
God, and whom God was therefore justly displeased with.
1. He would have them reflect: Now therefore consider your ways,
v. 5
and again
v. 7.
“Be sensible of the hand of God gone out against you, and enquire into
the reason; think what you have done that has provoked God thus to
break in upon your comforts; and think what you will do to testify your
repentance, that God may return in mercy to you.” Note, It is the great
concern of every one of us to consider our ways, to set our hearts
to our ways (so the word is), to think on our ways
(Ps. cxix. 59),
to search and try them
(Lam. iii. 40),
to ponder the path of our feet
(Prov. iv. 26),
to apply our minds with all seriousness to the great and necessary duty
of self-examination, and communing with our own hearts concerning our
spiritual state, our sins that are past, and our duty for the future;
for sin is what we must answer for, duty is what we must do; about
these therefore we must be inquisitive, rather than about events, which
we must leave to God. Many are quick-sighted to pry into other people’s
ways who are very careless of their own; whereas our concern is to
prove every one his own work,
Gal. vi. 4.
2. He would have them reform
(v. 8):
“Go up to the mountain, to Lebanon, and bring wood, and
other materials that are wanting, and build the house with all
speed; put it off no longer, but set to it in good earnest.” Note, Our
considering our ways must issue in the amending of whatever we find
amiss in them. If any duty has been long neglected, that is not a
reason why it should still be so, but why now at length it should be
revived; better late than never. For their encouragement to apply in
good earnest to this work, he assures them,
(1.) That they should be accepted of him in it: Build the house, and
I will take pleasure in it; and that was encouragement enough for
them to apply to it with alacrity and resolution, and to go through
with it, whatever it cost them. Note, Whatever God will take pleasure
in, when it is done, we ought to take pleasure in the doing of, and to
reckon that inducement enough to set about it, and go on with it in
good earnest; for what greater satisfaction can we have in our own
bosoms than in contributing any thing towards that which God will take
pleasure in? It ought to be the top of our ambition to be accepted
of the Lord,
2 Cor. v. 9.
Though they had foolishly neglected the house of God, yet, if at length
they will resume the care of it, God will not remember against them
their former neglects, but will take pleasure in the work of their
hands. Those who have long deferred their return to God, if at length
they return with all their heart, must not despair of his favour.
(2.) That he would be honoured by them in it: I will be glorified,
saith the Lord. He will be served and worshipped in the temple when
it is built, and sanctified in those that come nigh to him. It is
worth while to bestow all possible care, and pains, and cost, upon that
by which God may be glorified.
| The People’s Obedience. | B. C. 520. |
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12 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.
13 Then spake Haggai the LORD‘s messenger in the LORD‘s message
unto the people, saying, I am with you, saith the LORD.
14 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,
15 In the four and twentieth day of the sixth month, in the
second year of Darius the king.
As an ear-ring of gold (says Solomon), and an ornament of
fine gold, so amiable, so acceptable, in the sight of God and man,
is a wise reprover upon an obedient ear,
Prov. xxv. 12.
The prophet here was a wise but faithful reprover, in God’s name, and
he met with an obedient ear. The foregoing sermon met with the desired
success among the people, and their obedience met with due
encouragement from God. Observe,
I. How the people returned to God in a way of duty. All those to whom
that sermon was preached received the word in the love of it, and were
wrought upon by it. Zerubbabel, the chief governor, did not think
himself above the check and command of God’s word. He was a man that
had been eminently useful in his day, and serviceable to the interest
of the church, yet did not plead his former merits in answer to this
reproof for his present remissness, but submitted to it. Joshua’s
business, as high priest, was to teach, and yet he was willing himself
to be taught, and willingly received admonition and instruction. The
remnant of the people (and the whole body of them was but a
remnant, a very few of the many thousands of Israel) also were very
pliable; they all obeyed the voice of the Lord their God, and
bowed their neck to the yoke of his commands, and it is here recorded
to their honour that they did so,
Their father said, Sons, go work to-day in my vineyard, in my
temple; and they not only said, We go, sir, but they went
immediately.
1. They looked upon the prophet to be the Lord’s messenger, and the
word he delivered to be the Lord’s message to them; and there-fore
received it not as the word of man, but as the word of Almighty
God; they obeyed his words, as the Lord their God had sent him,
v. 12.
Note, In attending to God’s ministers we must have an eye to him that
sent them, and receive them for his sake, while they act according to
their commission.
2. They did fear before the Lord. Prophecy was a new thing with
them; they had had no special messenger from heaven for a great while,
and therefore now that they had one, and but one, they paid an
extraordinary regard to him; whereas their fathers, who had many
prophets, mocked and misused them. It is sometimes so; when good
preaching is most scarce it does most good, whereas the manna that is
rained in plenty is loathed as light bread. And, because they so
readily received this prophet, God, within a month or two after, raised
them up another,
They feared before the Lord; they had a great regard to the
divine authority and a great dread of the divine wrath, and were of
those that trembled at God’s word. The judgments of God which
they had been under, though very severe, had not prevailed to make them
fear before the Lord, until the word of God was sent to expound his
providences, and then they feared. Note, A holy fear of God will have
a great influence upon our obedience to him. Serve the Lord with
fear; if we fear him not, we shall not serve him.
3. The Lord stirred up their spirits,
(1.) He excited them to their duty, and put it into their hearts to go
about it. Note, Then the word of God has its success when God by his
grace stirs up our spirits to comply with it; and without that grace we
should remain stupid and utterly averse to every thing that is good. It
is in the day of a divine power that we are made willing.
(2.) He encouraged them in their duty, and with those encouragements
enlarged their hearts,
When they heard the word they feared; but, lest they should sink under
the weight of that fear, God stirred them up, and made them cheerful
and bold to encounter the difficulties they might meet with. Note, When
God has work to do, he will either find or make men fit to do it, and
stir them up to it.
4. They applied to their work with all possible vigour: They came
and did work in the house of the Lord of hosts their God. Every
one, according as his capacity or ability was, lent a hand, some way or
other, to further that good work; and this they did with an eye to God
as the Lord of hosts, and as their God, the God of Israel. The
consideration of God’s sovereign dominion in the world by his
providence, and his covenant-relation to his people by his grace,
should stir up our spirits to act for him, and for the advancement of
the interest of his kingdom among men, to the utmost of our power.
5. They did this speedily; it was but on the first day of the sixth
month that Haggai preached them this sermon, and by the twenty-fourth
of the same month, little more than three weeks after, they were all
busy working in the house of the Lord their God,
To show that they were ashamed of their delays hitherto, now that they
were convinced and called they were resolved to delay no longer, but to
strike while the iron was hot, and to set about the work while they
were under convictions. Note, Those that have lost time have need to
redeem time; and the longer we have loitered in that which is good the
more haste we should make when we are convinced of our folly.
II. How God met them in a way of mercy. The same prophet that brought
them the reproof brought them a very comforting encouraging word
(v. 13):
Then spoke Haggai, the Lord’s messenger, in the Lord’s message,
in his name, and as from him, saying, I am with you, saith the
Lord. That is all he has to say, and that is enough; as that word
of Christ to his disciples is
“Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world. I am with
you, that is, I will forgive your neglects hitherto, and they shall
not be remembered against you; I will remove the judgments you have
been under for those neglects, and will appear for you, as I have in
them appeared against you. I am with you to protect you against
your enemies that bear ill-will to your work, and to prosper you, and
to give you success in it–with you to strengthen your hands, and bless
the work of them, without which blessing those labour in vain that
build.” Note, Those that work for God have God with them; and, if he be
for us, who can be against us? If he be with us, what difficulty can
stand before us?
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