PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
The Pulpit Commentary — Haggai
William J. Deane [1853-1943] · 40,701 words · 44 reading sections
The Pulpit Commentary — Haggai — Section 1
THE PULPIT COMMENTARY, :F.DITED BY TlIJI VERY REV. H. D. M. SPENCE, D.D., l>IIAlll OJ' QLOUOEll'l'BB; AND BY TBB REV. JOSEPH S. EXELL, M.!. HAGG A I. e!xposf tion BY REV. vV. J. DEANE, M.A., ll1omflrtft1 Ilv REV. T. WHITELAW, D.D. lt,omflfrs b~ Watious ~utf)ors. REV. B. D. BILLMAN, B.A. .REV. J.>. THOMAS, …
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peopli:i into a display of energy and self-denial, and to encourage them to conti1'me their efforts till the whole work was satisfactorily completed. Steiner and others have questioned the £act that the rebuilding of the temple was begun under Cyrns. They say that no genuine passage in the Book of Ezra gives any con…
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eto.tcs as the scconiol yeo.r of Darius the king, i.e. B.C . .520. He continued hie addressee a.t intervals during four months of that year; but whether he lived to see the foll result of his labours by the completion of the building in the sixth year of Darius, is uncertain. Jewish tradition makes him to have been a …
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EXPOSITION. previous reign (see Introduction, § I. : and OHAPTER I. comp. Ezra iv. 24). The sixth month, ac- Vera. 1-15.-Pe.rt I. THE F:rnll'l' An- cording to the sacred Hebrew ca.lendar, DRESS: EXHORTATION TO BUILD THE TEMPLE, which reckoned from Nise.n to Nisan. This would be Elul, answering to parts of our AND I…
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frequent.ly in Ezra. Nc•hemiah. and Esther, thRt the Persians were ad verse to the fo denote an inferior satrap or subordinate undertaking; that the unfruitful senson governor. StrR••maier (ap. Knabenbauer) rendered them unable to engo.ge in suoh o. notes that in Assyrian the word is found greRt work; and that the v…
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"In pert11•11~ ing;;rimus dicte. dolium ; of the house of God, wb ilo yo haste with all opemm l11d1mus. diligence to your own houses for business or plea.sure, being entirely absorbed in VorR. 7-ll.-§ 2. 17~ prophet urgeB the • worldly interests, or eager only to adorn people to worlc zsalouBly at the bu,ilding; <ml…
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perhaps drr11,1C'<l ~nmc- nMv ch11.et1eement, en~<', nnd had suffered their 1ndour to be e.nrl hP.st.C'ned to ohey the prophC'l's injunc- quenched (comp. 1 Chron. ,•. 26; 2 Ohron, tion (Ezra Y. L 2). xxi. 16; Ezra i. 1, 5). They oame and did Y<'r. 13.-Then spake Haggai. God work. They went up--'to tho temple n11d h11s…
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showing of himself to Moses at the bush (Exod. iii. 2), and hie disclosure of himself to mnnkind in the Person of Christ (Gal. iv. 4). 3. Sometimes suggestive. This was so in the case unde~ consideration. _First, the year in _which Haggai appeared was suggestive of the peoples sadness; he.vmg no more e. kmg of their ow…
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when H had not (Exod. ii. 11-16; Acts vii. 25); by the Jewi.~h rulers in Chri,t's day, who failed to discern in the Galilrean Prophet the manifest tokens of Me.;sia.h (Matt. x~i. 3, 4); by the city of Jerusalem, wh~ch knew not the day of her visitation (Luke x1x. 42); and by the present-day unbeliever, who cannot se…
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Vers. 5, 7.-0onsidering one's ways. I. AN EXALTED PRIVILEGE, 'fhe faculties of introspection and reflection, which enRble man to consider his ways, constitute a lofty endowment, which places him incontestably at the apex of creation. 1. It distinguishes himfrom the wwer animals. These may be possessed of capabilities w…
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susceptible of improvement or deterioration, according as it ie exercised or neglected. It may be clarified, intensified, quickened, strengthened; or it may be dulled, darkened, weakened, deadened. Through diligent personal culture the soul may become sensitive to nicest distinctions of right and wrong e.e an aneroirl …
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Christiim Church, and the spectacle of every professing disciple of Jesus Ohrist contributing his quote. of work to the building of that spiritual edifice whioh is to,dRy being erected on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, .Jesus Christ himself being the chief Comer-st.one, for the inhabitation of God thro…
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HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Ver.1.-The introduction. The Bible student, with a view to the clear understan,\- ing of tho Old Testament Scriptures, should fix in his mind the order of the prophetica:l writings. These books of prophecy may appropriately be arranged under three heads. 1. Those which stand related to the…
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Yer. 2.-Procrasti'Tlati-011. "This people say, The tirue is not come, the time that the Lord's house should be built." 'l'here are several ways of accounting for the delay which occurred in the work of re-erecting the temple in Jerusalem. 1. In part it a.rose from the returned exiles being preoccupied in seeking to …
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to his meR~age will account for this. It did not devolve upon him to any extent, as it had done up~n ?is pred~ce_ssors, to ma_ke prophetic ~nnouncements concerning the future age; his simple m1ss1on was to stimulate and stir a lethargic people to renewed nction, to reprove them for their neglect of solemn rluty, and to…
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may snpposo the people &s gathered together on the site of the temple, tho barn foundations of which sil_ently testified against their inertness, and the prophet l\ppenring amongst them, addressing words of stem reproof to them, and then bidding them without longer delay go to the mountains and fetch the cedars, and bu…
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Vere. 12-16.-The liearty response. The human spirit is so backward in respect to the performance of the duties e.nd the fulfilment of the obligations it is under in rela- tion to the higher life, that it requires stimulus, and acts of renewed dedication to the service of God cannot fail to be epiritU!l.lly helpful. The…
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,l<'w~ to the rebuilding or the temple. This book consists of four messages, which wero delivered in three months of the yea.r B.O. 520, and all refer to the work of temple restoration. His style, being somewhat interrogatory, has much vigour and vehe- mence. The grand subject of this whole chapter is duty-duty reve…
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JewB pcrmisRion to return to their land, and cornmancleil them to rehnild th~ templo of Jehovah in Jerusalem. Hence fifty thousand captives, with their menservantR anrl. maidservants, went ~orth, led ~y Ze:ubbabel and by the high priest JoRhua, to their own lands. Forthwith on their arnval they commenced restorina t…
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They were ~elfish motives that brought secular disasters to the Jews now. 'l'he veree@ t.cech us that duty is vindicated by the Divine government, We offer two remarks here. l. THAT THE DITTNE GOVERNMENT RECOGNIZES THE SELFISH MOTIVES '.L'HAT AO'.L'IIATE JUEi':. Men are governed in everything by motive. Motive is t…
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twenty-first was tho IB8t and great day of lavished on the houso was no longer avail- the Fe11st of •r11berne.cles (Lov. xxiii. 34, able; tbe precious stones could not be hlLd. eto.), when 1t WRB the oustom to colebrato Besides these defeots, the Talmurliats the ingathering of the harvest. The joyous reckon five thi…
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which Wits shown by the, revclntinns mnde of heathon nations; e.fl. Isn. ii. 11, eto. : t.o the prophets, 11s 1-foggni 1tnd ZrchariRh, xix. 21, 22; Dau. ii. 44; l\Ticah v. 9, etc. nnd whirh exhibits itself in his providenti1tl Ver. 7.-All nations (Luke xxi. 25, ordering of events, the removal of obstacles, where our…
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of the girts. 'fhls seems scarooly ee.tiefao- conscience which ie given by him who is the tory. Mo.y it not be, o.s Knnbenbo.uer sug- Prince of Peace (Isa.. ix. 6), e.nd which in- gests, tuo.t "tho desire of o.11 nations" forms cludes e.ll ~e graces of the Christian cove. one notion, in which the words, "e.11 nations,"…
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1he Authorized Version, bnt not so intel- no good work, bnt sought only ho'I\P lo ligible. "Soul" (neph~~h) ia need to mel\n obte.in sordid gain. And ye regarded with n person. l\nd, with tbc- attribute "del\d" hatred those whl:l reproved you, who sitting undel"!ltood, e. corpse-, as Lev. xxi. I. The e.t the ga.te s…
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theeo cnlamitice upon them jnclicinlly, RC· (Septungint); et adhu~ (Vulgil.te); ns ,Judg, cording to the thre11,ta in Dent. xxviii. 22 iii. 26; Job i. 18. Others tranelflte, "ne re- (comp. Amoe iv. 9, 11,nd note there). These go.rcle." Though there wM no sign of lea! two pests 11,tfectocl the corn; the vines were or fr…
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thee most precious in my Bight (oomp. e.ngels, e.nd e.ll oree.tures " (Oorn. i-. Le.plde, Cant. viii. 6). Among Orientals the ngnet- ap. Pusey). I han choaen thee, This is ring we.a an article of gree.t importe.noe e.nd not e. persona.I e.esure.nco only to Zerubbe.bel, va.lue (see Rev. v. 1 ; ix. 4; and' Diot. of the f…
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upon the foundo.tion of the old structure of cedo.r wood o.nd gold, o.nd to glorify the old which seventy yeo.rs before had perished in the going down of their no.tion before the might of Bo.bylon, so does it seem to be o. tendency in humo.n nature to exalt the past 11.nd to depress the present, to extol the men o.nd i…
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Vere. 6, 7.-The shalciing of the heavens and the earth. I. HrsTORIOAL ILLUSTB.A.• TIONs. --~- ft Sinai, when Jehovah manifes~d himself to Israel (Exod. xix. 16-19; P~. lxnn. 1, 8). Preparatory and prophetical. 2. At the birth of Ohi-ist, when ,leh<'vah 1tppeared on-earth in the Person of his Son (Joel ii. 30, 31: Lulrn…
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mllde thie perfectly apparent no less than the elaborate rites of the cultivated a.nd dvilized nntione of nntiquity, What the savage n:ieane by putting a Rpirit int" the various forms of nature by which he is surrounded, or by makin" an iclol of wood or stone, and setting it up before him as an obJect of adoration; …
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in the room of sinful man (Rom, v. 6), and as making peace by the shedding of hie blood (Eph. ii. 14), by presenting him to view as One whose blood is able both to wipe away the guilt of sin and to break its enslaving power. And this, again, is a high certificate in favour of Christianity as the only true religion. Fo…
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L1tBSONB. l. 'l'ho pre-eminence of JcRus Christ, and of the Christian religion. 2. Grntitu<lo for God's unspenkable Gift. 3. The clnty of seeking in Christ satisfaction for the soul's true desires. Ver. 8.-The silver and the golrl: a sermon on money. I. A FORGOTTEN TRUTH RESTATED. That God is the sole Proprietor of mo…
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ii. 21). 2. The glory qf an indwelling Divinity, in contrast with that of a merely eymbolic residence therein. The ark with its mercy-seat overshadowed by tho cherubim, bet,rnen whose outstretched wings shone the visible glory or the Shechinah -this ark .,.-hich o~cupied the holy of holies in the Solomonic temple, w…
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belonged to the nation. But the nation, through its disobedience in neglecting to lruild the tomple, was defiled, since according to J ebovah "to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearkou than the fat of rams" (1 Sam. xv. 22). Hence their uncleanness rendered all about and around them unclean. In particular, it put…
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in Zerubb11.bel, the spirit of faith, which can recognize the superiority of thinii:e spiritual and religio~s to things earthly and secular, that is not ashamed to espouse tho cause of truth and righteousness on earth, however humble and obscure, because it le t.he tnit.h of God, and that is 11.lways ready, when the…
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HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Vers. 1-9.-Returning despondency and renewed stimulus. In these verses we have the third of the earnest addresses delivered by the devoted seer to these temple- builders. In the first (eh. i. 3-11) be reproved them for their neglect and stimulated thorn to the performance of their duty.…
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Vers. 6-9.-.The prophet's Messianic prophecy. In studying the Old Testament, it is deeply interesting to trace therein the ~a.dual development of the Messianic hope. Three distinct stages a.re observable. 1. From the promise made at the Fall (Gen. iii. 15) nntil the death of Moses. The indefinite promise respecting"…
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of the pnrtial fulfilment of the prophecy in its spiritual significance. "Rites and ceremonies retired more into the background; and prayer began to assume its true place in public worship. The religious knowledge of the people was kept up throu~h the regular public reading and distribution of the Scriptures, which wer…
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" Lord, now lettest," etc. ~uke ii. 29), and as you behold the other, Anna, " giving tbanke to God, and speaking of the Redeemer to all who looked for redemption in Jerusalem" (Lu~e ii. 38), do you not see the promise realized," I will fill," etc. (ver. 7)? 2. When he Rtta1_ned the age of twelve y~Rrs, we find him agai…
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such he exercises dominion over ne, and disposes of us as it seemeth him good. Thi~ sovereignty is exercised by him in strict accordance with the principles of wisdom roctltude, and goodness. 'fhls Divine right has reference, not only to ourselves, bu, extends also to all that we ~ssess. "All things come of him;" we a.…
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Vers. 10-19.-The past and the future. Two -months had now elapsed since, stimulated by the prophet's glowing words, the temple-builders he.d resumed their labours (comp. ver. 1 with ver. 10). These months were of great importance with reference to agricultural interests, being the usual season for sowing the, seed a…
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Vere, 20-23.-Tlie final message. We gather from this last recorded message of this prophet, ai;id addressed to Zerubbabel~ I. THE IMPOSSIBILITY OF JUDGING RESPE0TING THE FUTURE FRO.Ill PRESENT APPEARANCES. The seer referred to coming commotions and upbeavings in national life (vers. 21, 22); but at the time he gave…
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centre by the appearance of Christ. Revolutions in society seem to me essential to the mornl progress of the race. There must be revolutions in theories and practices in relation to governments, markets, temples, Churches. How much there is to be shaken in the heaven and earth of Obristendom before the cause of true mo…
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by merely bringing the stones and tinibers together and placing them in archtteotural order. It required further the spirit of consecration. The prophet sought to impress this upon the mind of his fellow-countrymen engaged in this work by propounding two questions referring to points in the ceremonial law. The first…
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as a cilfaen of tMs erurth. "Godliness iR profitable to all things." 2. That even lhls occasional expression of God's regard for moral conduct is sufficient to justify the belief in tho doctrine of 11. future and universal retribution. Antecedently, we shoul,i infer thnt, under the governmen~ of an all-wise, all-powerf…
1,094 wordsSource & rights
Public domain historical Pulpit Commentary. Source page identifies the volume as Public Domain; text extracted from its historical PDF.
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Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.