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 h11stem to accept their l'('pentauce anrl to begn11 to rlo the work which they h11d Ro 11ssnre them 0f his prnte<-.tion. The Lord's long noglected. messenger. liaggni alone of 1he prophets Ver. 15.-In the four and twentieth day usPs this title of himself, implying that he of the sixth month. 'fhe first n.dmonitiou •nme with 11uthority and bearing a message had been me.de on the first day of this frnm the Lord (comp. Numb. xx. 16, where month: the three intervening weeks had the word " n.ngel" is by eome applied to douhtlees been spent in planning and pre- Moses). l\'[e.Jaohi's very name expresses that paring materin.ls, and ohtaiuing workmen he was the Lord's m0esen!!'er, und he uses from the neighbouring villnges. The note the term of the priest (ii. 'i), and of John of time is introduced to show how prompt the Baptist, and of MessiRh himself (iii. 1). was their obedience, and the exe.ot time In the Lord's message (I Kings xiii. 18). In when "they camo and did work in the the specii<l message of consolation which he house of the Lord" (ver, 14). Some, on was commissioned to deliver. The Septua- insufficient grounde, consider this clause to gint re,ndering, Ev 4-y-yEAo,r Kuplov, "among be an interpolation from eh. ii. 10, 18, with a the angels of the Lord," led some to fancy that changeof"uintb." to"eixth month." In the Haggai was an angel in human form, which Latin Vulge.te, in Tischendorf's Septuagint, opinion is refuted by Jerome, in loc. I am and in many editions of the Hebrew Bible, with yon (eh. ii 4). A brief message com- the whole of this verso is wrongly annexed prised in two words, " I with you," yet full to the following chapter. St. Jerome ar- of comfort, promising God's preeenee, pro- ranges it &B in the Authorized Version. tection, aid, and blessing(eomp. Gen. xxviii. It is possible that, as St. Cyril takes it, the 15: xxxix. 2; Josh. i. 5; Jer. i. 8; Matt. words, in the seooud year of Darius the • XHiii. 20). king, ought to begin eh. ii. The king's Ver. 14.-The Lord stirred up, etc. The reign has been already notified in ver. I, Lord excited the courage, animated the zeal, and it seemB nature.I to affix the date at of the chiefs of the nation, who had tbem- the commencement of the second addrees. eelves succumbed to the prevailing indiffer-
HOMILETICS. Ver. 1.-Divine revelations. I. SELECT THEIR OWN TIMES, These are: 1. Often unexped;ed. In the present inste.nce this was probably the case. The band of exiles who, availing themselves of Cyrus's permission (Ezra i. 3), returned to Judah and Jerusalem-nearly 50,000 persons in all (Ezra ii. 64, G5), though Pusey estimates the company of immigrants at 212,000, counting free men, women, children, and slaves- had for sixteen years at least not heard a prophet's voice. The last that bad fallen on their ears had been Daniel's in Babylon (Dan. ix. 1), which had predicted the going forth of a commandment to build and restore Jerusalem, and the coming, "seven weeks and three score and two weeks" thereafter, of Messiah the prince (Dan, ix. 25). Now, in the second year of Darius tbe king (Ezra iv. 24), i.e. about n.o. 520, the interval of silence terminatetl, and the lips of a new prophet were unsealed. 'l'hat God reserves in his own hands "the times and seasons" of his special supernatural interpositions in hum.an history, while it should keep men alive to every rnovement of the Divine presence in their midst, ought to guard them against presumption both in making and in interpreting prophecy. 2. .Always approprwte. 'l'he interpositions of Heaven are never post horam. The clock of eternity al ways keeps time. When the hour comes, so does the man. Man often speaks at an inopportune moment; God, never. When Hago-ai stood forth among the Jews who had returned from Babylon, they were in ur"e~t need of such a messeno-er from heaven as be proved himself to be. Sixteen ye;rs at home in their own l~nd, for a year and a half they had been disheartened 11.bout the building of their temple, .and had even discontinued work. Some bad even begun to lose interest in the restoration of the sacred edifice (ver. 2). Hence they much wanted rousing from indolence and rebuke for unbelief, as well as comfort in sadness and succour in weakness; and all this they received from the new monitor from ,Jehol'ab that had arisen in their midst. So have God'ti revelations ever been as buitable to men's neceEsities as to time's urgencies. Notably was this the case with his OH, t.1-111.) THE BOOK OF HAGGAI.