The Pulpit Commentary — Haggai — Section 25

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 fruit on the trees, nothing by which one smitten with hail (Pa. lxxviii. 47). In could judge of the futuw produce, yet the all the labours (wor1,) of your hands, All prophet predicts an abundant crop, d"ting that you hod culti voted with toil, corn, from the people's obedience (Lev. xxvi. 3, vines, fruit of every sort. Yet ye turned etc.; Dent. xxviii. 2, etc.). From this day not to me. The clause ie elliptical, " yet will I bless yon. "This day" is the twenty- not ye to me." The LXX. and Syriac fourth de.y of the ninth month (ver. 10). trnnslnte ae the Authorized Version, sup- From now the improvement in the season plying the verb from the parnllel passage should begin and make itself evident. in Amos iv. 9. The Vulgate (not o.ccording "Bless " ie a term often used for sending to precedent), Non fuit in vobis qui revertetur frnitful see.sons (Deut. xxviii. 8; Me.I. iii. ad me. In spite of these visitations there 10). was not one among them who shook off hie idle inaction and worked for the Lord. Vere, 20-23.-Part V. THE FOURTH ADDRESS : PROMISE OF THE RESTORATION Vers. 18, 19.-§ 2. On their obedience the AND EsTAllLISHMENT OF THE HorsE OF blessings of nature shall again be theirs. DAVID, WHEN THE STORM BURBTS ON THl!I Ver. 18.-Consider now from this day and KniGDOMB OF THE WORLD. upward (see note on ver. 15.) For "up- ward" Jerome has here in futurum, though Ver. 20.-Temporal blessings had been he translated the same word supra in ver. 15. promised to the people generally; now Such a rendering' is allowable, and affords a spiritual blessings are announced to Zerub- good sense, the prophet direclingthe people's babel as the head of the nation and the attention to the happy prospect in the future representative of the house of David. And announced in ver. 19. Hut it seems best to again j and a second time ; /1< 8,uTlpou keep to the same interprete.tion in two (Septuagint). This revelation took place passages so closely allied. The prophet on the same day as the preceding one. bids the people consider the period from Ver. 21.-Zerubbabel (see note on eh. i. the present, the four and twentieth day of 1). I will shake the heavens and the earth. the _ninth month, when this prophecy was He repeats the prediction of ver. 6 in this µtk/ri:d (ver. 10), to the other limit ex- chapter (where see note). This is the planatory of the term " upward" or "back- general statement, expanded and explained ward." Even from the day that the founda- in the next verse. tion, etc.; 'rather, since the day that, etc. Ver. 22.-I will overthrow the throne of This is obviously the same period as that kingdoms. No events in Zernbhabel's time named in ver. 15, after ·the foundation was satisfied this prediction, which waits for its completed, but before "stone was laid fulfilment in the Messianic age (Luke i. 5::i). upon stone" of the superstructure ( comp. "The throne" is used distributively for Zech. viii. 9). "every throne of kingdoms ; " Septuagint, Ver. 19.-Ia the seed yet in the barn 1 "thrones of kings," Of the heathen; oj Is there any of your poor crop still left in the. nation~. Chariots, etc. Emblems of the your granaries? Is it not e.lree.dy expended? military power by which the nations had '' The seed" is here the pro<luce of tlrn seed, risen to eminence (Ps. xx. 7; Zech. x. 5 ). the grain (1 Sam. viii. 15; Job xxxix. 12). Shall come down. Be brought to the ground. Tho corn crop is meutioned first, then the perish (Isa. xxxiv. 7). By the sword of his fruit harvest. The Vulgate he.a, Numq11id brother, The heathen powers sbo.11 ,mnibi- jam semen in germine est 1 Has the seed lote one another (Ezek. =viii. 21; Zech. begun to grow? Is there any sign of abun- :xiv. 13). dance ? Yet the harvest s!Jall be prolific, Ver. 23.-In that day. When the heathen But there is no doubt that megurah means nations or the earth are overthrown, faroel " barn," not "sprout." LXX., El l1n-yvour91,- shall be safe, and be the more exalted by the uercu /,,-l r;js /ill.w, " If it shall be known Divine favour and protection. Will I take. upon the threshing-floor." Jerome must The verb simply serves to introduce the ho.ve read -y;js for -r;js, as he renders, "Si following aot as one of importance, and does ultra oognoscetur super terro.m aren." He not signify, "take under my protection " expounds it thus: So abundant sho.11 be the (comp. Deut. iv. 20; 2 Kings xiv. 21: produce tho.t the threshing-floor shnll not Keil). My serV1Lnt, An honourable title recognize its own corn, or that the threshers used especially of Do.vid (1 Kings xi. 13, she.II be forced to join floor to floor to make etc.; Jer. xxxiii. 21, etc.), and his future room for nil the grain," et arenrum separntio successors (Ezck. xxxiv. 23, etc.: xxxvii. nesciutur in torm." Yea, a.s.yet; ,cal el fr, 24). Make thee as a signet. I will wake  THE BOOK OF HAGGAI, [on. 1t. 1--28.