Haggai 2:7

I will shake all nations "There was a general shaking upon earth before our Lord came. Empires rose and fell. The Persian fell before Alexander's; Alexander's world-empire was ended by his sudden death in youth; of his four successors two only continued, and they, too, fell before the Romans; then were the Roman civil wars, until under Augustus, the temple of Janus was shut." Pusey. The second and third of Daniel's four great kingdoms, the Medo-Persian and the Græco-Macedonian, and (if with some we identify it with the successors of Alexander in Syria and Egypt) the fourth kingdom also, were to pass away before our Lord appeared. Daniel 2:36-45.

the desire of all nations shall come Setting aside various other renderings of these words which have little to recommend them e.g. "I will shake all nations, and they (all nations) shall come with the desire (the desirable things) of all nations (in their hands as offerings);" or, "they shall come to the desire of all nations;" or yet again, "the choicest of nations, nobilissimi omnium populorum, shall come," and adhering to the rendering of the A. V., we have two principal interpretations to choose between. There is the view that Christ Himself is here spoken of as "the Desire of all nations" (et veniet desideratus gentibus, Vulgate), i.e. He for Whom all nations consciously or unconsciously yearn, in Whom alone all the longings of the human heart find satisfaction. Very beautiful, as well as very Christian, is the idea thus conveyed: Christ, "the longed-for of the nationsbefore He came, by that mute longing of need for that which it wants as the parched ground thirsteth for the rain." Archbishop Trench has worked it out in some particulars in a course of Hulsean lectures under the title, "Christ, the Desire of all nations, or the unconscious prophesyings of heathendom." But interesting as is this view, and strong the temptation to maintain it at any cost, there are objections to it which cannot satisfactorily be overcome. The word "desire" is in the singular number, the verb "shall come" is in the plural. It is literally "the desire of all nations they shall come." To the difficulty of understanding this of a person it does not seem a sufficient answer, to describe it as "the delicacy of the phrase, whereby manifoldness is combined in unity, the object of desire containing in itself many objects of desire;" as "a great heathen master of language said to his wife, -fare you well, my longings," i.e. she who manifoldly met the longings of his heart, and had in herself manifold gifts to content them [33] " (Pusey). Still more difficult is it to make this view harmonise with the context. The following verse is, The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the Lord of Hosts. It is forced and unnatural to make these words mean, "I have no need of gold or silver. The whole wealth of the world is mine. I could adorn this house with silver and gold if I would; but such things are worthless in my sight. I will fill it with divine and spiritual glory instead." Comp. Psalms 50:10-12.

[33] It has recently been pointed out by a writer in the Guardiannewspaper, that the words here quoted by Dr Pusey, "Valete, mea desideria, valete," do not refer to his wife Terentia alone, but to his wife, son and daughter, to all three of whom the Epistle is addressed. A glance at the Epistle (xiv. 2) will suffice to shew that this is the case, and that consequently they have no bearing upon the passage under consideration.

We are led, therefore, to adopt another view, which has been accepted by some ancient and most modern commentators. According to it the passage may be paraphrased as follows: "I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations (the object of desire, that which each nation holds most desirable, its best and chiefest treasure, -the desirable things," R. V.) shall come (the plural verb denoting the manifoldness and variety of the gifts); and I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of Hosts. The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the Lord of Hosts. However distributed, and by whomsoever possessed, the treasures of the whole world are still in my hand, and I can dispose and bestow them at my will. Doubt not, therefore, my promise that they shall be poured forth as willing offerings to beautify and adorn my house." Thus understood, the prophecy agrees substantially with many other prophecies of the Old Testament. Thus Isaiah writes, "The abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, the forces (i.e. -resources" or -wealth:" it is as here a singular noun with a plural verb) of the Gentiles shall come unto thee:" and he adds in almost verbal accordance with this prophecy of Haggai, "they shall bring gold and incense," and "I will glorify the house of my glory." Isaiah 60:5-7; Isaiah 60:11; Isaiah 60:13; Isaiah 60:17. See also Isaiah 61:6. Nor is the Messianic reference of the prophecy excluded or obscured by this interpretation. He who satisfies the desire of all nations will call forth and receive the willing offering to Himself of all they hold most desirable, in grateful acknowledgment of the satisfaction they find in Him. It was because the babe of Bethlehem was the desire of the Eastern sages that they first fell down and worshipped Him, and then opened their treasures and presented unto Him gold and frankincense and myrrh. Reaching on as we have seen to the consummation of all things, the prophecy includes all Christian gifts and offerings to the temple of God, material or spiritual, and will find its full accomplishment in that city of which it is written, "the kings and the nations of the earth shall bring their glory and honour into it." Revelation 21:24; Revelation 21:26. (See a letter on the interpretation of this passage by the late Bp. Thirlwall, Essays, Appendix, p. 467.)