THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET HAGGAI _Chronological Notes relative to this book_ -Year from the Creation, according to Archbishop Usher, 3484. -Year of the Julian Period, 4194. -Year since the flood, 1828. -Year from the vocation of Abram, 1301. -Year since the first celebration of the Olympic games... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Haggai 1:2. _THE TIME IS NOT COME_] They thought that the _seventy_ _years_ spoken of by Jeremiah were not yet completed, and it would be useless to attempt to rebuild until that period had arrived. But Abp. _Usher_ has shown that from the commencement of the last siege of Jerusalem unto this... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 4. IS IT _TIME FOR YOU_] If the _time be not come_ to rebuild the _temple_, it cannot be come for you to _build yourselves_ _comfortable houses_: but ye are rebuilding your houses; why then do ye not rebuild the house of the Lord? The foundation of the temple had been laid _fourteen_ years bef... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 5. _CONSIDER YOUR WAYS_] Is it fit that you should be building yourselves _elegant houses_, and neglect a _place_ for the _worship_ of that God who has restored you from captivity?... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 6. _YE HAVE SOWN MUCH_] God will not bless you in any labour of your hands, unless you rebuild his temple and restore his worship. This verse contains a series of _proverbs_; no less than _five_ in the compass of a few lines.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 8. _GO UP TO THE MOUNTAIN, AND BRING WOOD_] Go to Lebanon, and get timber. In the second year of the return from the captivity, they had procured cedar trees from Lebanon, and brought them to Joppa, and had hired masons and carpenters from the Tyrians and Sidonians; but that labour had been ne... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 9. _YE LOOKED FOR MUCH_] Ye made great pretensions at first; but they are come to nothing. Ye did a little in the beginning; but so scantily and unwillingly that I could not but reject it. _YE RUN EVERY MAN UNTO HIS OWN HOUSE._] To rebuild and adorn it; and God's house is neglected!... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Haggai 1:10. _THEREFORE THE HEAVEN OVER YOU IS STAYED FROM DEW_] It appears from the following verse that God had sent a drought upon the land, which threatened them with scarcity and famine.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Haggai 1:12. _THEN ZERUBBABEL_] The threatening of Haggai had its proper effect. - The civil governor, the high priest, and the whole of the people, united together to do the work. When the authority of God is acknowledged, his words will be carefully obeyed.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Haggai 1:13. _THEN SPAKE HAGGAI_] He was the _Lord's messenger_, and he came with the _Lord's message_, and consequently he came with _authority_. He is called מלאך יהוה _malach Yehovah, the angel of_ _Jehovah_, just as the _pastors_ of the seven Asiatic churches are called _ANGELS of the Chur... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Haggai 1:14. _AND THE LORD STIRRED UP THE SPIRIT_] It is not only necessary that the _judgment_ should be enlightened, but the _soul_ must be _invigorated_ by the Spirit of God, before any good work can be effectually done.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Haggai 1:15. _IN THE FOUR AND TWENTIETH DAY_] Haggai received his commission on the _first_ day of this month and by the _twenty-fourth_ day he had so completely succeeded that he had the satisfaction to see the whole people engaged heartily in the Lord's work; they left their own houses to bu... [ Continue Reading ]