Haggai 1:1-11

The Command to Rebuild the Temple

1 1In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the LORD came by the hand of Haggai the prophet to 2Zerubbabel the son of 3Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to 4Joshua the son of 5Jehozadak, the high priest:
2 "Thus says the LORD of hosts: These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the LORD."
3 Then the word of the LORD came 6by the hand of Haggai the prophet,
4 7"Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while 8this house lies in ruins?
5 Now, therefore, thus says the LORD of hosts: 9Consider your ways.
6 10You have sown much, and harvested little. 11You eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who 12earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes.
7 "Thus says the LORD of hosts: 13Consider your ways.
8 Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house, that 14I may take pleasure in it and that 15I may be glorified, says the LORD.
9 16You looked for much, and behold, it came to little. And when you brought it home, 17I blew it away. Why? declares the LORD of hosts. Because of my house 18that lies in ruins, while each of you busies himself with his own house.
10 Therefore 19the heavens above you have withheld the dew, and the earth has withheld its produce.
11 And 20I have called for a drought on the land and the hills, on 21the grain, the new wine, the oil, on what the ground brings forth, on man and beast, and 22on all their labors."

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.

Cross References 22

  • 1. ver. 15; Haggai 2:10; Ezra 4:24; Ezra 5:1; Zechariah 1:1, 7
  • 2. See 1 Chronicles 3:19
  • 3. See 1 Chronicles 3:17
  • 4. See Ezra 3:2
  • 5. 1 Chronicles 6:15
  • 6. Ezra 5:1
  • 7. [2 Samuel 7:2]; See Psalms 132:3-5
  • 8. Nehemiah 2:3, 17; Isaiah 64:11; Jeremiah 33:10, 12
  • 9. [Haggai 2:15, 18]
  • 10. See Micah 6:15
  • 11. Hosea 4:10
  • 12. [Zechariah 8:10]
  • 13. [See ver. 5 above]
  • 14. [Psalms 132:13, 14]
  • 15. [Haggai 2:9]
  • 16. [See ver. 6 above]
  • 17. [Haggai 2:17]
  • 18. [See ver. 4 above]
  • 19. [Jeremiah 5:24, 25; Zechariah 8:12]; See 1 Kings 8:35
  • 20. 2 Kings 8:1; [Psalms 105:16]
  • 21. Hosea 2:9
  • 22. Haggai 2:17; Psalms 128:2
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.