V. 1. On the fourth and twentieth day of the sixth month.
There seems to be a difference here in what has been said, 3) namely in the distance of the days from each other. For in the first chapter the prophet says that he began the prophecy on the first day of the month. But with the Hebrews it is March.
3) Instead of IL ooto, which we could not make sense of, we have assumed in üioto. Hallic handwriting: 8nxrn äiotLlL.
the first month. So it was this month [our] August, and the prophet preached for three weeks, and in the meantime he also took some other people to help him in preaching. At this point I like Lyra, who wants this part of the second chapter to belong to the first chapter and to be added to the end of it, so that we now begin the second chapter after the words "of King Darius". So Haggai preached three weeks and three days before Zechariah began his prophecy.
V. 2. On the one and twentieth day of the seventh month.
Here a new chapter and a new sermon begins, and in Hebrew these verses are differentiated, but the Hebrew differentiations do not agree in all parts with the Latin chapters. At this point the prophet begins the third sermon, in which he comforts the people by describing the future kingdom of Christ, even that it was already imminent, that it would soon come to pass. For this prophet describes the kingdom of Christ in such a way that it seems to be already at the door (as one is wont to say); he proclaims it so near that there is almost no other among the prophets who has done the same, and he puts all his effort into the description of the kingdom of Christ, so that the people may believe the truth of the promises with certainty. But he starts his consolation in the way of a concession:
V. 4. 1) Who is left among you etc.
He admits to them that the words of God seem impossible, because the captivity lasted seventy years and many had been taken away into captivity as little children, like Daniel, who lived almost until the return from captivity. So also here the text indicates that there were still some left who had seen the former house built so gloriously and deliciously. Therefore, it seemed impossible to them that the temple could be restored, just as the preaching of the Gospel seemed foolish to us in the beginning. But God shows His power in this way, because when we expect nothing less, when we think that everything is going to ruin, then the Lord stands by, as we said in the preface at the beginning. For reason cannot turn its attention to the word of God, it has its eyes fixed only on the present things, as it is excellently presented to us here. But God, whose way it is to make everything out of nothing, for this reason gives a word that is completely opposed to the present work, so that we may learn to be more attentive to his word than to the
1) Here is neither a verse number nor a keyword in our template.
present things. Because the priests and the people were looking at the rebuilding of the temple, it seemed to be a quite impossible thing, therefore the hearts wavered, frightened by the greatness and difficulty of the matter. Therefore, the Lord strengthens the people with the sweetest promises:
V. 5. 6. All people, be of good cheer, for I am with you, says the Lord of hosts. 2) Do not be afraid etc.
These are quite fiery words to encourage the heart of the people. For he repeats the same words from the previous sermon (Cap. 1, 13] to indicate how glorious and exceedingly comforting a sermon it is when the Lord promises that he will be with us etc., as if to say: If you fear Satan, death, sin, the hostile nations, then I, God, who am far more powerful than all of them, am with you, and will keep the promised covenant that I made with you in Egypt. Nowadays we do not have such promises 3) as the Jews once had, whose whole nation was called God's people. Now, however, is a spiritual kingdom, and such promises only concern the godly, whether they be of the Jews or of the Gentiles. But God has preserved the Jews, both the godly and the godless, for the sake of the future kingdom of Christ. And even though today He sometimes spares a country for the sake of a few righteous people, we do not have a promise from God as the Jews once had.
My Spirit shall remain among you.
My spirit will be in your midst, that is, it will be firm in you, that is, you will have a bold and confident heart.
V. 7. There is yet a little, that I may move heaven and earth, and the sea and dry land.
2) The Weimar edition has drawn the preceding words as text to the previous section, and then highlighted RotitB tirners 6t,a. as a keyword, without verse number.
3) Instead of xromissionsin we have adopted xrouMsiones.
You see why he carries the ungodly, why he would have the covenant. He does not look at merits or debts, but only at the future kingdom of Christ. For his sake, namely because of the King Christ, he carries all of them, since Christ should be born from them. This passage clearly convicts all the Jews, so that they cannot contradict it, because it clearly shows that the first nation (that is, the Jews) will remain a carnal nation until the future of Christ. And it could not perish before the birth of Christ, for whose sake the outward people was preserved, which God, separated and chosen from all the peoples of the earth, called His people. But now the Jews are no longer such a people, because they have neither a kingdom nor a priesthood. Therefore, if this text is true, as it certainly must be, the Jews cannot deny that Christ, who was promised to the fathers, has come, since today they have neither a duke, nor priests, nor prophets, of which they never lacked before Christ's birth, even in captivity. For they had in captivity Daniel and Jeremiah as preachers of the word, who upheld and encouraged them by the word of God, so that they would not have doubts etc.
And dry.
The church teachers have here various interpretations of the birth of the Lord, of which the prophets do not say much; but it must be understood from the ministry of John, as also Christ says (Matth. 11, 13.]: "All the prophets and the law prophesied until John." The kingdom of Christ began with the baptism and preaching of Christ, not with his birth, that is, when Christ was baptized, and the voice of the Father was heard from heaven (Matth. 3, 17.]: "This is my dear Son" etc., and thus he was appointed teacher, master, duke and king. Thus, almost all passages in the prophets have their foresight on Christ's kingdom, few on the birth, like the one in Isaiah (Cap. 7, 14.]: "Behold, a virgin is with child and will bear a son" etc. Therefore, through the kingdom of Christ everything is now changed: the law
and the prophets lasted until John, we have been changed by the gospel; now the earth is changed for us, because we are no longer attached to the elements of this world; the pope is nothing, because the hearts are changed and they dislike the pope's kingdom; therefore it cannot change. So God moves everything today, because he has changed the hearts that do not care about the raging of the world and the princes etc.
V. 8. Then shall come the consolation of all the Gentiles.
[Instead of desideratus in the Vulgate] lßes desiderium (the desire or desiderabile (the desiring) of all pagans. It can be understood in a suffering or in an active way. But I take it for the figure which looks well to all the Gentiles, that is, for the treasure which was to be spread by the gospel. And so he calls it an exceedingly lovely treasure, which the Gentiles did not know; so much is lacking in it that they could have desired it. Thus he indicates that the kingdom is to be spread through the whole world among all nations, as also Christ Luc. 24, 47. says: "And cause repentance and remission of sins to be preached in his name among all nations" etc. Above we have spoken very abundantly about this matter in the other prophets. Dear, what will the Jews be able to murmur against this passage? They may tell us what this desirable thing is, which, as is said here, has been spread among the Gentiles in such a short time. Surely we have received nothing from them but the preaching of the gospel, which is the noblest treasure and the most desirable good.
And I will make this house full of glory".
He explains this sentence more broadly, so that they may know that in the new temple they will worship the Lord with the Gentiles. The glory of this later temple was that Christ adorned it with His presence and with His preaching, although it was also a great glory that the Gentiles who had been converted to the faith also came to this later temple.
V. 9. For mine is both silver and gold.
In Hebrew, the meaning is ambiguous, and it can be interpreted in two ways. The first interpretation is this, as if he wanted to say: You think that there is no amount of gold and silver as in the first temple, therefore it is impossible that this later temple will be so glorious. But I have abundance of all things, I am rich enough, mine is all that is on earth, therefore do not be troubled about the gold etc. The other view is: neither gold nor silver is required for this glory. "My hand has made all that is," says Isaiah Cap. 66, 2. And Ps. 50, 10. 12. f.: "All the beasts of the forest are mine. Where I hungered, I would not tell thee of it. I will not eat ox meat" etc. Thus it is transferred from the carnal glory to the spiritual glory, therefore I like this view. As if to say, this glory will not be in gold, silver, or any outward things, but in my Christ who will bring peace, as follows. By this he indicates that the gospel shall be preached in Jerusalem, as also Isaias says [Cap. 2, 3.], "From Zion shall go forth the law, 1) and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem, and Luc. 24, 47. "And lift up at Jerusalem." Here they may answer us again, when this shall finally come to pass, when the gospel shall be spread out of Jerusalem? etc. Here, therefore, is also an exceedingly clear passage against the Jews, and well worthy of attention, both for the sake of the Jews, to shut them up, since they deny that Christ is born, and for our sake, that our consciences may be fortified, for there is scarcely in all Scripture such a strong ground of evidence against the Jews. But since they have already become ashamed of their error, I do not know what foolish things they are inventing and dreaming up for themselves a third house. But the text clearly says about this last temple, which they saw, since Haggai already prophesied that the glory of this temple would be much greater.
1) Instead of exivit in our original we read 6xit>it according to the Vulgate.
than that of the previous one. This glory could not consist of gold or silver or any exceedingly precious things, since the first temple was built much richer and more splendidly, but it is a spiritual glory, which came into being through the preaching of the gospel. All this is fulfilled in Christ etc.
V. 1. On the fourth and twentieth day of the ninth month.
So far we have finished three sermons of Haggai, which he preached to the people at different times, now the fourth one follows here. In it, the Spirit exhorts the prophet not only to the fearful, but also to the weary. This challenge tends to be the first one, when we take care of divine things and of what is commanded by the Word of God, because Satan does not cease to attack us with all kinds of adversities. Then, when he sees that he is mistaken in this expectation, that he is unable to do anything on the left, he turns to the right in order to turn us away from the works of God through shameful idleness and sleepiness, because in this way he attacks us with certainty if we do not open our eyes sufficiently and are careful. And this is certainly not the least challenge that requires more admonition than if we are publicly wicked. Therefore, this whole sermon is directed against the safety of the people, and in this way the prophet comes to the question of the "holy flesh," as the text says, in which the prophet punishes carelessness and sleepiness, and reproaches punishments. God wants us to hasten the undertaking, to do the work with alacrity, otherwise, if we do not do with alacrity the thing that God has commanded us to do, God will dislike even that which is otherwise so good. But here he uses a different kind of exhortation than above, as we see.
V. 13. 14. If someone wore holy flesh in his garment etc.
"In the garments", that is, in the outermost part and the tails of the garment. - This question has two parts: whether the flesh sanctifies the garment, and whether an unclean person makes unclean. Because this does not happen by nature.
That is why the priests are asked, so that they pass judgment according to the law. For by nature everything is pure, because they are good creatures of God. But the law makes a distinction between clean and unclean things, and says that the unclean makes everything unclean, as is written in the third book of Moses. But how things are sanctified is also sawn there. Therefore the priests could easily answer. With this question, however, the prophet recently intended to wake up and incite the tired and sleepy people, as I said above. Therefore he used a new figure of speech to make them attentive, as good teachers are wont to thuu, that they irritate the listeners with new objects, so that they become lively and attentive to the matter etc. But he makes an application with the last question.
V. 15. 1) So are these full and these people before me.
As if he wanted to say: Everything that therefore touches this people is unclean before me. Namely, he admonishes the sluggish people, who seemed to be holy, while they were unclean, because the temple was not yet completed, as if he wanted to say: If you want to be clean, hurry up with the building of the temple, complete the temple, otherwise you will not be sanctified by the holy thing, rather, because you are unclean, you also defile the temple, which is holy in itself. In the same way, the apostle Paul, in his letter to the Corinthians, brings together strange reasons of proof, which have been very carefully and meticulously filed, in order to remove certainty and drowsiness from their hearts, just as Haggai has weighed the matter most conscientiously and precisely, and yet he even combines the purity of faith with legal purity. God had promised, therefore these promises required faith, otherwise the promises, without faith, are not promises for us etc.
And all the work of their hands, and what they offer is unclean.
That is, not only what they do outside of worship, but also what they do in worship.
1) This verse number is missing in Weimar's.
Even what they do in the service of God, which they think pleases God, does not please God, because they lack faith and want to be satisfied by legal justice, which God does not approve of. For to neglect faith and justice is something greater than to let legal things stand in the way, as Christ also says [Matt. 9:13, 12:7]: "I am well pleased with mercy, and not with sacrifice." "The hardest thing in the law is judgment, mercy, and faith. This should be done, and that should not be left undone." [Matth. 23, 23.] It is therefore the opinion of this passage: you are unclean, although you are clean according to the law. Here we see that works do not cleanse, likewise that works without faith are absolutely nothing before God, because everything that does not come from faith is sin [Rom. 14:23]. This is a harsh judgment against all saints of works who praise their own works and righteousness.
V. 16. And now look how you have fared since that day and before etc.
He repeats what he said above in the first chapter [v. 5, 7] and reminds them of the damage they had suffered and the past misfortune, so that they might believe the prophet more easily, bearing in mind the past misfortunes. And this passage is quite literal, as we generally say, "Fools must be loused with pistons." For this is the nature of the lowly great hemp, that it needs violence and blows. So also Christ says [Matth. 11, 17.]: "We whistled at you, and you would not dance" etc.
V. 17. [That when one came to the grain heap etc.] 2)
Thus the prophet speaks here as if to say: If you will not be instructed by promises, you will be instructed by plagues.
V. 18. [For I afflicted you with drought, grain of fire etc.]
And yet the wickedness and blindness of human nature is such that it is also
2) This and the next following keyword are inserted according to the Zwickau manuscript.
The more they are chastised, the more they become obdurate, which we can clearly see today in the Jews, who stubbornly hold on to their vain hope and opinion. And the stubbornness makes them invincible; they do not acknowledge their guilt, just as the papists are not moved by plagues or signs to believe the Gospel of the great God.
V.19. Look at it now, from this day and before.
He repeats the same thing that he said above [v. 16], for this is the way of the Hebrew language, that it often repeats the same thing, as we see that this happened very often in Moses. Here our commentators raise a question about the month, but I do not know if this serves any purpose. Haggai began to prophesy in the sixth month on the first day 1) as the title of the prophecy indicates, and at that time the foundation of the temple was laid. Therefore, he commands to hasten the matter, to carry out the prophesying with alacrity, it is the time for the fruits to come forth.
Of the ninth moon.
This would be in January for us because they start the year with the month of March. Also
1) In our template: mense primo without specifying a day.
September they call the beginning of the year, as it is written in the second book of Moses. And so this account comes in April or May.
V. 22. Tell Zerubbabel, the prince of Judah etc.
At the end a promise of Zerubbabel is added. The Lord proclaims this for the comfort of both the king and the people. The same change is proclaimed here, which was proclaimed above [v. 7] about the change of all things, which happens through the word of the gospel in the hearts and consciences of men.
V. 24.2) I will keep you like a pity ring, for I have chosen you.
Quasi signaculum, that is, like a signet ring. - "For I have chosen thee." This does not apply both to the person of the King and to that of Christ, who was born from his loins, "for salvation comes from the Jews," as John [Cap. 4, 22.] says. Now Christ, who was taken from the Jews, changed everything by his future, namely, by the preaching of the Gospel. For while Zerubbabel lived, this change did not take place, but after his death, since Christ, the new King, was now born. To Him be praise and glory. Amen.
2) This verse number is missing in Weimar's.