Haggai 2:19

19 Whether now seed is in burgeoning? and yet vineyard, and fig tree, and pomegranate, and the tree of olive flowered not. From this day I shall bless. (Is the seed burgeoning now? have the vineyard, and the fig trees, and the pomegranates, and the olive trees flowered yet? No! But from this day forth, I shall bless thee.)

Haggai 2:19 Meaning and Commentary

Haggai 2:19

Is the seed yet in the barn?
&c.] The seed for sowing the land, in order for the next harvest: this is by some answered in the affirmative, it was in the barn, it was not yet sown; this being the ninth month, the month Chisleu, which answers to part of our November; rather it should be in the negative, no, it was just sown; and therefore no conjecture could be made, whether it would be a good harvest, or not; yet the prophet, in the name of the Lord, promises them a good one so long before hand: for the month Chisleu, which was the ninth month, was the last for sowing, and even the first half of that; for so say ^F18 the Jews,

``half Tisri, all Marchesvan, and half Chisleu, is seed time;''

so that this being that month, seed time must have been just over; and the sense, is there any seed in the barn? no, it is sown; and so, is there any remaining in the granary for the support of families until the next harvest? they knew there were none, or very little: and yet the Lord promises to bless them, so that they should have enough: yea, as yet the vine, and the fig tree, and the pomegranate, and
the olive tree, hath not brought forth;
their various fruits; this not being the time of their bearing fruit, for it was winter time; and it could not be said what they would bring forth in their season so long before hand; yet it is suggested by the prophet that they would be very fruitful; which were the principal fruit trees the land of Israel abounded with, ( Deuteronomy 8:8 ) and on which their comfortable subsistence depended. Kimchi observes, that it may be wondered at that the olive tree should be mentioned, because the time of its bearing fruit were the months of Marchesvan and Chisleu; but perhaps the time of its bearing fruit was delayed (as he says) because of the curse upon it: from this day will I bless you;
with plenty of all good things, in their fields and gardens, in their vineyards and olive yards; so that a difference between former and present times, and those to come, would easily be discerned, and the reasons of it.

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FOOTNOTES:

F18 T. Bab. Bava Metzia, fol. 106. 2.

Haggai 2:19 In-Context

17 I smote you with burning wind, and with mildew, and hail, (in) all the works of your hands; and there was none in you that turned again to me, saith the Lord. (I struck you with burning wind, and with mildew, and with hail, on all the works of your hands; and still there was no one among you who returned to me, saith the Lord.)

18 Put ye (this on) your hearts from this day, and into coming, from the four and twentieth day of the ninth month, from the day in which foundaments of the temple of the Lord be casted, put ye (this) on your heart. (Think ye upon this, from this day forward, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, from the day on which the foundations of the Temple of the Lord be laid, think ye upon this.)

19 Whether now seed is in burgeoning? and yet vineyard, and fig tree, and pomegranate, and the tree of olive flowered not. From this day I shall bless. (Is the seed burgeoning now? have the vineyard, and the fig trees, and the pomegranates, and the olive trees flowered yet? No! But from this day forth, I shall bless thee.)

20 And the word of the Lord was made the second time to Haggai, in the four and twentieth day of the month, and said, (And the word of the Lord was made the second time to Haggai, on the twenty-fourth day of the month, and said,)

21 Speak thou to Zerubbabel, duke of Judah, and say thou, I shall move heaven and earth together, (Speak thou to Zerubbabel, the ruler, or the governor, of Judah, and say thou, I shall altogether move, or I shall shake, heaven and earth,)