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Haggai 2

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Encouragement and Promise of Greater Glory 1–9

1
In the seventhmonth, in the one and twentiethdayof the month, came the word of Jehovah by Haggai the prophet, saying, ​
2
Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to the remnant of the people, saying, ​
3
Who is left among you that saw this house in its former glory? and how do ye see it now? is it not in your eyes as nothing? ​
4
Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, saith Jehovah; and be strong, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest; and be strong, all ye people of the land, saith Jehovah, and work: for I am with you, saith Jehovah of hosts, ​
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according to the word that I covenanted with you when ye came out of Egypt, and my Spirit abode among you: fear ye not. ​
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For thus saith Jehovah of hosts: Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land; ​
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and I will shake all nations; and the precious things of all nations shall come; and I will fill this house with glory, saith Jehovah of hosts. ​
8
The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith Jehovah of hosts.
9
The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, saith Jehovah of hosts; and in this place will I give peace, saith Jehovah of hosts. ​

The People's Uncleanness and God's Blessing 10–19

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In the four and twentiethdayof the ninthmonth, in the second year of Darius, came the word of Jehovah by Haggai the prophet, saying, ​
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Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: Ask now the priests concerning the law, saying, ​
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If one bear holy flesh in the skirt of his garment, and with his skirt do touch bread, or pottage, or wine, or oil, or any food, shall it become holy? And the priests answered and said, No. ​
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Then said Haggai, If one that is unclean by reason of a dead body touch any of these, shall it be unclean? And the priests answered and said, It shall be unclean. ​
14
Then answered Haggai and said, So is this people, and so is this nation before me, saith Jehovah; and so is every work of their hands; and that which they offer there is unclean. ​
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And now, I pray you, consider from this day and backward, before a stone was laid upon a stone in the temple of Jehovah.
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Through all that time, when one came to a heap of twenty measures, there were but ten; when one came to the winevat to draw out fifty vessels, there were but twenty. ​
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I smote you with blasting and with mildew and with hail in all the work of your hands; yet ye turned not to me, saith Jehovah.
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Consider, I pray you, from this day and backward, from the four and twentieth day of the ninth month, since the day that the foundation of Jehovah’s temple was laid, consider it. ​
19
Is the seed yet in the barn? yea, the vine, and the fig-tree, and the pomegranate, and the olive-tree have not brought forth; from this day will I bless you. ​

Zerubbabel: God's Chosen Signet 20–23

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And the word of Jehovah came the second time unto Haggai in the four and twentieth day of the month, saying,
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Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, I will shake the heavens and the earth; ​
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and I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms; and I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the nations; and I will overthrow the chariots, and those that ride in them; and the horses and their riders shall come down, every one by the sword of his brother. ​
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In that day, saith Jehovah of hosts, will I take thee, O Zerubbabel, my servant, the son of Shealtiel, saith Jehovah, and will make thee as a signet; for I have chosen thee, saith Jehovah of hosts. ​

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

Study Notes for Haggai 2

Verse 1

In the seventh month, in the one and twentieth day — The Feast of Tabernacles ran 'seven days' from the fifteenth of this month, with the people dwelling in booths (Lev 23:34, 42), so this is its seventh day. 'By the prophet' is literally 'by the hand of' Haggai. The work on the house had begun on 'the four and twentieth day of the sixth month' (1:15).

Verse 2

Zerubbabel… Joshua… the residue — Zerubbabel is 'governor of Judah' (pechah), and Joshua the high priest is 'the son of Josedech' (Ezra 5:2 spells it Jozadak). 'Residue' is sheerit, 'remnant', the word used of 'all the remnant of the people' who 'obeyed the voice of the LORD' in 1:12 and whose spirit the LORD stirred in 1:14.

Verse 3

in her first glory — 'Who is left' (shaar) is the root of 'remnant' in v.2. Those who 'had seen the first house' wept when the foundation of this one was laid (Ezra 3:12). 'First' (rishon) is the word for the 'former' house in v.9. 'As nothing' is how the house looks 'in your eyes', before the LORD's promise in vv.7–9.

Verse 4

be strong… and work — 'Be strong' (chazaq) is said three times, once to each group of v.2. It is the charge David gave Solomon for the first house, 'Be strong and of good courage, and do it' (1 Chr 28:20), and the LORD's word to Joshua in Josh 1:9. 'I am with you' is the message Haggai had already brought (1:13).

Verse 5

the word that I covenanted — 'Covenanted' is literally 'cut', the verb of covenant-making (karat). The promise 'I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will be their God' (Ex 29:45) was given soon after the Exodus, at Sinai. 'My spirit remaineth among you' recalls 'thou gavest also thy good spirit to instruct them' (Neh 9:20) in the wilderness.

Verse 6

I will shake the heavens, and the earth — At Sinai 'The earth shook, the heavens also dropped at the presence of God' (Ps 68:8). Hebrews 12:26–27 quotes this verse: 'Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven', which 'signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken… that those things which cannot be shaken may remain'.

Verse 7

the desire of all nations — Chemdah is something desired or valued, and 'shall come' is a plural verb in Hebrew, so the sense can be the treasures of the nations, which v.8 names: 'The silver is mine, and the gold is mine'. The verse is also read of Christ, who 'shall suddenly come to his temple' (Mal 3:1). The house is filled with glory as in 1 Kgs 8:11.

Verse 9

The glory of this latter house — 'Latter' (acharon) and 'former' (rishon) answer the 'first glory' of v.3. The glory promised is the LORD's own, as in 'that glory may dwell in our land' (Ps 85:9), and with it 'in this place will I give peace' (shalom), as 'he will speak peace unto his people' (Ps 85:8).

Verse 10

the four and twentieth day of the ninth month — The date is exactly three months after the work began on 'the four and twentieth day of the sixth month' (1:15). It is named again in v.18 and v.20, so two oracles come on the one day: the question to the priests (vv.11–19) and the word to Zerubbabel (vv.20–23). The second year of Darius is the year of 1:1.

Verse 11

Ask now the priests concerning the law — 'Law' is torah, instruction. It was the priests' office to give it: 'that ye may put difference between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean' (Lev 10:10–11), and 'the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth' (Mal 2:7). Haggai asks two questions of ritual law.

Verse 12

holy flesh in the skirt of his garment — The 'holy flesh' is the flesh of an offering. The law was that 'whatsoever shall touch the flesh thereof shall be holy' (Lev 6:27), but here the garment that carried it touches bread, pottage, wine, oil, meat, and the priests answer 'No'. Holiness is not handed on from a garment to what it brushes.

Verse 13

unclean by a dead body — 'Dead body' is nephesh, here a dead person. 'He that toucheth the dead body of any man shall be unclean seven days' (Num 19:11), and 'whatsoever the unclean person toucheth shall be unclean' (Num 19:22). The priests answer 'It shall be unclean'. Uncleanness passes on by touch, though holiness does not.

Verse 14

So is this people — The two rulings are applied. What the people's hands made, and what they 'offer there' on the altar (set up in Ezra 3:3), was unclean while the house lay waste (1:4, 'Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your cieled houses, and this house lie waste?'). Prov 28:9 and Titus 1:15 state the same principle.

Verse 16

twenty measures, there were but ten — The yields are given in figures: a heap of twenty measures gave ten, and fifty vessels from the press gave twenty, half and two-fifths. This is the 'Ye have sown much, and bring in little' of 1:6, which Haggai had traced to the LORD calling 'for a drought' (1:11). Zech 8:10 also looks back on 'before these days'.

Verse 18

Consider now from this day and upward — 'Consider' is literally 'set your heart', as in 1:5, 'Consider your ways', but here it looks forward. 'Laid' is yasad, to found, used of the foundation in Ezra 3:10 and of 'the day that the foundation of the house of the LORD of hosts was laid' (Zech 8:9).

Verse 19

Is the seed yet in the barn? — The 'vine, and the fig tree, and the pomegranate, and the olive tree' have not yet borne. They are among the fruits of the land promised in Deut 8:8, and their failure is the picture of Hab 3:17. The LORD's 'from this day will I bless you' answers the drought of 1:11.

Verse 21

I will shake the heavens and the earth — The word of v.6 is repeated to Zerubbabel alone, without the sea and dry land. Zechariah records another word to him from the LORD, 'Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit' (Zech 4:6), and Zech 4:10 asks 'who hath despised the day of small things?'

Verse 22

the throne of kingdoms — 'Overthrow' (haphak) is the verb of Sodom, 'he overthrew those cities' (Gen 19:25). The chariots and 'horses and their riders' recall Ex 15:1, 'the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea'. 'Every one by the sword of his brother' is the confusion of Midian (Judg 7:22) and of Gog (Ezek 38:21).

Verse 23

as a signet — Chotam, a seal-ring worn on the hand. Jeremiah had said of Zerubbabel's grandfather, 'though Coniah… were the signet upon my right hand, yet would I pluck thee thence' (Jer 22:24). Now the LORD takes his 'servant' and says 'I have chosen thee'. Zerubbabel stands in the line of Christ (Matt 1:12–13).