Haggai 1:1-11

1 In the second year of King Darius, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, saying,
2 "Thus speaks the Lord of hosts, saying: 'This people says, "The time has not come, the time that the Lord's house should be built." ' "
3 Then the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet, saying,
4 "Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, and this temple [a] to lie in ruins?"
5 Now therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: "Consider your ways!
6 "You have sown much, and bring in little; You eat, but do not have enough; You drink, but you are not filled with drink; You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; And he who earns wages, Earns wages to put into a bag with holes."
7 Thus says the Lord of hosts: "Consider your ways!
8 Go up to the mountains and bring wood and build the temple, that I may take pleasure in it and be glorified," says the Lord.
9 "You looked for much, but indeed it came to little; and when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why?" says the Lord of hosts. "Because of My house that is in ruins, while every one of you runs to his own house.
10 Therefore the heavens above you withhold the dew, and the earth withholds its fruit.
11 For I called for a drought on the land and the mountains, on the grain and the new wine and the oil, on whatever the ground brings forth, on men and livestock, and on all the labor of your hands."

Haggai 1:1-11 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO HAGGAI

This part of sacred Scripture is in some Hebrew copies called "Sepher Haggai", the Book, of Haggai; in the Vulgate Latin version, the Prophecy of Haggai; and, in the Syriac and Arabic versions, the Prophecy of the Prophet Haggai. His name comes from a word {a} which signifies to keep a feast; and, according to Jerom {b}, signifies festival or merry; according to Hillerus {c}, the feasts of the Lord; and, according to Cocceius {d}, my feasts: and the issue of his prophecy answered to his name; by which the people were encouraged to build the temple, whereby the feasts of the Lord were restored and observed; and a particular feast appointed for the dedication of the temple. The notion entertained by some, that he was not a man, but an angel, founded on Hag 1:13, deserves no regard; since the character there given of him respects not his nature, but his office. Indeed no account is given of his parentage; very probably he was born in Babylon; and, according to Pseudo-Epiphanius {e} and Isidore {f}, he came from thence a youth to Jerusalem, at the return of the Jews from their captivity. The time of his prophecy is fixed in Hag 1:1 to the second year of Darius, that is, Hystaspis; which, according to Bishop Usher, was in A. M. 3485 or 519 B.C.; and in the sixty fifth Olympiad; about 520 B.C.; and about seventeen or eighteen years after the proclamation of Cyrus for the Jews to return to their own land. Jerom says this was in the twenty seventh year of Tarquinius Superbus, the last of the Roman kings. Haggai was the first of the three prophets, that prophesied after their return; and all his prophecies were within the space of four months, and have their dates variously put to them. Of the authority of this prophecy of Haggai there is no room to question; not only because of the internal evidence of it, but from the testimony of Ezra, \Ezr 4:24 5:1,2 6:14\ and from a quotation out of Hag 2:7,8, by the author of the epistle to the Hebrews, Heb 12:26. The general design of this book is to reprove the Jews for their negligence in building the temple, after they had liberty granted them by Cyrus to do it, and to encourage them in this work; which he does by the promise of the Messiah, who should come into it, and give it a greater glory than the first temple had. The name of this prophet is wrongly prefixed, with others, to several of the psalms, especially those, called the Hallelujah psalms, in the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, Syriac, Arabic, and Ethiopic versions, as \Ps 112:1 138:1 146:1 147:1 148:1\. Where he died is not certain; very probably in Jerusalem; where, according to Pseudo-Epiphanius and Isidore {g}, he was buried, by the monuments of the priests; but, according to the Cippi Hebraici {h}, he was buried in a large cave, in the declivity of the mount of Olives.

{a} ggx "festum celebravit", Buxtorf. {b} Comment. in c. i. 1. So Stockius, p. 306. {c} Onomast. Sacr. p. 262, 779. {d} Comment. in c. i. 1. {e} De Prophet. Vita & Interitu, c. 20. {f} De Vita & Morte Sanct. c. 49. {g} Ut supra. (De Vita & Morte Sanct. c. 49.) {h} Ed. Hottinger, p. 27.

\\INTRODUCTION TO HAGGAI 1\\

This chapter contains the first sermon of the Prophet Haggai to the people of the Jews, directed to Zerubbabel the governor, and Joshua the high priest; the date of which is fixed, Hag 1:1. It begins with a charge against that people; saying the time to build the house of the Lord was not come, Hag 1:2 which is refuted by the prophet; arguing, that, if the time to panel their dwelling houses was come, then much more the time to build the Lord's house, Hag 1:3,4. They are urged to consider how unsuccessful they had been in their civil employments and labours, which was owing to their neglect of building the temple; wherefore, if they consulted their own good, and the glory of God, the best way was to set about it in all haste, and with diligence, Hag 1:5-9 yea, even the famine, which they had been afflicted with for some time, and which affected both man and beast, sprung from the same cause, Hag 1:10,11. This discourse had such an effect upon the governor, high priest, and people, that they immediately rose up, and went about the work they were exhorted to; upon which the prophet, by a special message from the Lord, promises his presence with them, Hag 1:12-15.

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. Literally house, and so in Haggai 1:8
Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.