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65 lines
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PriorBook = 'Zephaniah';
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Title = 'The Book of Haggai';
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SubTitle3 = 'CHAPTER 2';
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<p id="Chapter2" align="center">Commentary by A. R. FAUSSET<br>CHAPTER 2
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<p id="Hag2_1"><a onclick="return mV('Hag',2,'1-9');">Hag 2:1-9</a>. SECOND PROPHECY.
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<p><i>The people, discouraged at the inferiority of this temple to Solomon's, are encouraged nevertheless to persevere, because God is with them, and this house by its connection with Messiah's kingdom shall have a glory</i> <i>far above that of gold and silver.</i>
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<p><b>1. seventh month</b>—of the Hebrew year; in the second year of Darius reign (<a onclick="return mV('Hag',1,1);">Hag 1:1</a>); not quite a month after they had begun the work (<a onclick="return mV('Hag',1,15);">Hag 1:15</a>). This prophecy was very shortly before that of Zechariah.
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<p id="Hag2_3"><b>3. Who is left...that saw...first glory</b>—Many elders present at the laying of the foundation of the second temple who had seen the first temple (<a onclick="return mV('Ezr',3,12,13);">Ezr 3:12-13</a>) in all its glory, wept at the contrast presented by the rough and unpromising appearance of the former in its beginnings. From the destruction of the first temple to the second year of Darius Hystaspes, the date of Haggai's prophecy, was a space of seventy years (<a onclick="return mV('Zec',1,12);">Zec 1:12</a>); and to the first year of Cyrus, or the end of the captivity, fifty-two years; so that the elders might easily remember the first temple. The Jews note five points of inferiority: The absence from the second temple of (1) the sacred fire; (2) the Shekinah; (3) the ark and cherubim; (4) the Urim and Thummim; (5) the spirit of prophecy. The connection of it with Messiah more than counterbalanced all these; for He is the antitype to all the five (<a onclick="return mV('Hag',2,9);">Hag 2:9</a>).
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<br><br><b>how do ye see it now?</b>—God's estimate of things is very different from man's (<a onclick="return mV('Zec',8,6);">Zec 8:6</a>; compare <a onclick="return mV('1Sa',16,7);">1Sa 16:7</a>). However low their estimate of the present temple ("it") from its outward inferiority, God holds it superior (<a onclick="return mV('Zec',4,10);">Zec 4:10</a>; <a onclick="return mV('1Cr',1,27,28);">1Cr 1:27-28</a>).
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<p id="Hag2_4"><b>4. be strong...for I am with you</b>—The greatest <i>strength</i> is to have Jehovah with us as our strength. Not in man's "might," but in that of God's Spirit (<a onclick="return mV('Zec',4,6);">Zec 4:6</a>).
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<p id="Hag2_5"><b>5. <i>According to</i> the word that</b>—literally, "(I am with you) the word (or <i>thing</i>) which I covenanted"; that is, I am with you as I covenanted with you when ye came out of Egypt (<a onclick="return mV('Exd',19,5,6);">Exd 19:5-6</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Exd',34,10,11);">34:10-11</a>). The <i>covenant</i> promise of God to the elect people at Sinai is an additional motive for their persevering. The <i>Hebrew</i> for to "covenant" is literally "to cut," alluding to the sacrificial victims <i>cut</i> in ratification of a covenant.
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<br><br><b>so</b>—or, "and."
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<br><br><b>my Spirit remaineth among you</b>—to strengthen you for the work ( <a onclick="return mV('Hag',1,14);">Hag 1:14</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Zec',4,6);">Zec 4:6</a>). The inspiration of Haggai and Zechariah at this time was a specimen of the presence of God's <i>Spirit</i> remaining still <i>with</i> His people, as He had been with Moses and Israel of old (<a onclick="return mV('Ezr',5,1);">Ezr 5:1</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Isa',63,11);">Isa 63:11</a>).
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<p id="Hag2_6"><b>6. Yet once, it <i>is</i> a little while</b>—or, "(it is) yet <i>a</i> little while." The <i>Hebrew</i> for "once" expresses the indefinite article "a" [MAURER]. Or, "it is yet <i>only</i> a little while"; literally, "one little," that is, a single brief space till a series of movements is to begin; namely, the shakings of nations soon to begin which are to end in the advent of Messiah, "the desire of all nations" [MOORE]. The <i>shaking of nations</i> implies judgments of wrath on the foes of God's people, to precede the reign of the Prince of peace (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',13,13);">Isa 13:13</a>). The kingdoms of the world are but the scaffolding for God's spiritual temple, to be thrown down when their purpose is accomplished. The transitoriness of all that is earthly should lead men to seek "peace" in Messiah's everlasting kingdom (<a onclick="return mV('Hag',2,9);">Hag 2:9</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Hbr',12,27,28);">Hbr 12:27-28</a>) [MOORE]. The Jews in Haggai's times hesitated about going forward with the work, through dread of the world power, Medo-Persia, influenced by the craft of Samaria. The prophet assures them this and all other world powers are to fall before Messiah, who is to be associated with this temple; therefore they need fear naught. So <a onclick="return mV('Hbr',12,26);">Hbr 12:26</a>, which quotes this passage; the apostle compares the heavier punishment which awaits the disobedient under the New Testament with that which met such under the Old Testament. At the establishment of the Sinaitic covenant, only the earth was shaken to introduce it, but now heaven and earth and all things are to be shaken, that is, along with prodigies in the world of nature, all kingdoms that stand in the way of Messiah's kingdom, "which cannot be shaken," are to be upturned (<a onclick="return mV('Dan',2,35,44);">Dan 2:35, 44</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Mat',21,44);">Mat 21:44</a>). <a onclick="return mV('Hbr',12,27);">Hbr 12:27</a>, "Yet <i>once more,</i>" favors <i>English Version.</i> Paul condenses together the two verses of Haggai (<a href= "#" onclick="return mV('Hag',2,6);">Hag 2:6-7</a>, and <a onclick="return mV('Hag',2,21,22);">Hag 2:21-22</a>), implying that it was one and the same shaking, of which the former verses of Haggai denote the beginning, the latter the end. The shaking began introductory to the first advent; it will be finished at the second. Concerning the former, compare <a onclick="return mV('Mat',3,17);">Mat 3:17</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Mat',27,51);">27:51</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Mat',28,2);">28:2</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Act',2,2);">Act 2:2</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Act',4,31);">4:31</a> ; concerning the latter, <a onclick="return mV('Mat',24,7);">Mat 24:7</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Rev',16,20);">Rev 16:20</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Rev',18,20);">18:20</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Rev',20,11);">20:11</a>; [BENGEL]. There is scarcely a prophecy of Messiah in the Old Testament which does not, to some extent at least, refer to His second coming [SIR ISAAC NEWTON]. <a onclick="return mV('Psa',68,8);">Psa 68:8</a> mentions the <i>heavens</i> dropping near the mountain (Sinai); but Haggai speaks of the whole created heavens: "Wait only <i>a little while,</i> though the promised event is not apparent yet; for soon will God change things for the better: do not stop short with these preludes and fix your eyes on the present state of the temple [CALVIN]. God shook the <i>heavens</i> by the lightnings at Sinai; the <i>earth,</i> that it should give forth waters; the <i>sea,</i> that it should be divided asunder. In Christ's time God <i>shook the heaven,</i> when He spake from it; the <i>earth,</i> when it quaked; the <i>sea,</i> when He commanded the winds and waves [GROTIUS]. CICERO records at the time of Christ the silencing of the heathen oracles; and DIO, the fall of the idols in the Roman capitol.
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<p id="Hag2_7"><b>7. shake</b>—not <i>convert;</i> but cause that agitation which is to precede Messiah's coming as the healer of the nations' agitations. The previous shaking shall cause the yearning "<i>desire</i>" for the Prince of peace. MOORE and others translate "the beauty," or "the desirable things (the precious gifts) of all nations shall come" (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',60,5,11);">Isa 60:5, 11</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Isa',61,6);">61:6</a>). He brings these objections to applying "the desire of all nations" to Messiah: (1) The <i>Hebrew</i> means the <i>quality,</i> not the <i>thing</i> desired, namely, its <i>desirableness</i> or beauty, But the abstract is often put for the concrete. So "a man of desires," that is, <i>one desired</i> or <i>desirable</i> (<a onclick="return mV('Dan',9,23);">Dan 9:23</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Dan',10,11);">10:11</a>, <i>Margin;</i> <a onclick="return mV('Dan',10,3);">Dan 10:3</a>, <i>Margin</i>). (2) Messiah was not desired by all nations, but "a root out of a dry ground," having "no beauty that we should <i>desire</i> Him" (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',53,2);">Isa 53:2</a>). But what is implied is not that the nations definitely desired <i>Him,</i> but that He was the only one to satisfy the yearning desires which all felt unconsciously for a Saviour, shown in their painful rites and bloody sacrifices. Moreover, while the Jews as a nation desired Him not (to which people <a onclick="return mV('Isa',53,2);">Isa 53:2</a> refers), the Gentiles, who are plainly pointed out by "all nations," accepted Him; and so to them He was peculiarly desirable. (3) The verb, "shall come," is <i>plural,</i> which requires the noun to be understood in the <i>plural,</i> whereas if Messiah be intended, the noun is <i>singular.</i> But when two nouns stand together, of which one is governed by the other, the verb agrees sometimes <i>in number</i> with the latter, though it really has the former as its nominative, that is, the <i>Hebrew</i> "come" is made <i>in number</i> to agree with "nations," though really agreeing with "the desire." Besides, Messiah may be described as realizing in Himself at His coming "<i>the desires</i> (the noun expressing collectively the <i>plural</i>) of all nations"; whence the verb is <i>plural.</i> So in <a onclick="return mV('Sgs',5,16);">Sgs 5:16</a>, "He is altogether lovely," in the <i>Hebrew</i> the same word as here, "all <i>desires,</i>" that is, altogether desirable, or the object of desires. (4) <a onclick="return mV('Hag',2,8);">Hag 2:8</a>, "The silver is mine," etc.; accords with the translation, "the choice things of all nations" shall be brought in. But <a onclick="return mV('Hag',2,8);">Hag 2:8</a> harmonizes quite as well with <i>English Version</i> of <a onclick="return mV('Hag',2,7);">Hag 2:7</a>, as the note on eighth verse will show; see on JFB for <a href="./Comm/jfb/Hag/Hag002.html#Hag2_8">Hag 2:8</a>. (5) the <i>Septuagint</i> and <i>Syriac</i> versions agree with MOORE'S translation. But <i>Vulgate</i> confirms <i>English Version.</i> So also early Jewish Rabbis before JEROME'S time. PLATO [<i>Alcibiades,</i> 2] shows the yearning of the Gentiles after a spiritual deliverer: "It is therefore necessary," says Alcibiades on the subject of acceptable worship, "to wait until One teach us how we ought to behave towards the gods and men." Alcibiades replies, "When shall that time arrive, and who shall that Teacher be? For most glad would I be to see such a man." The "good tidings of great joy" were "to all people" (<a onclick="return mV('Luk',2,10);">Luk 2:10</a>). The Jews, and those in the adjoining nations instructed by them, looked for <i>Shiloh to come unto whom the gathering of the people was to be,</i> from Jacob's prophecy (<a onclick="return mV('Gen',49,10);">Gen 49:10</a>). The early patriarchs, Job (<a onclick="return mV('Job',19,'25-27');">Job 19:25-27</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Job',33,'23-26');">33:23-26</a>) and Abraham (<a onclick="return mV('Jhn',8,56);">Jhn 8:56</a>), <i>desired Him.</i>
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<br><br><b>fill this house with glory</b>— (<a onclick="return mV('Hag',2,9);">Hag 2:9</a>). As the first temple was filled with the cloud of glory, the symbol of God (<a onclick="return mV('1Ki',8,11);">1Ki 8:11</a>; <a onclick="return mV('2Ch',5,14);">2Ch 5:14</a>), so this second temple was filled with the "glory" of God (<a onclick="return mV('Jhn',1,14);">Jhn 1:14</a>) <i>veiled</i> in the flesh (as it were in the cloud) at Christ's first coming, when He entered it and performed miracles there (<a onclick="return mV('Mat',21,'12-14');">Mat 21:12-14</a>); but that "glory" is to be <i>revealed</i> at His second coming, as this prophecy in its ulterior reference foretells (<a onclick="return mV('Mal',3,1);">Mal 3:1</a>). The Jews before the destruction of Jerusalem all expected Messiah would appear in the second temple. Since that time they invent various forced and false interpretations of such plain Messianic prophecies.
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<p id="Hag2_8"><b>8. The silver is mine</b>— (<a onclick="return mV('Job',41,11);">Job 41:11</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Psa',50,12);">Psa 50:12</a>). Ye are disappointed at the absence of these precious metals in the adorning of this temple, as compared with the first temple: If I pleased I could adorn this temple with them, but I will adorn it with a "glory" (<a onclick="return mV('Hag',2,7,9);">Hag 2:7, 9</a>) far more precious; namely, with the presence of My divine Son in His veiled glory first, and at His second coming with His revealed glory, accompanied with outward adornment of gold and silver, of which the golden covering within and without put on by Herod is the type. Then shall the nations bring offerings of those precious metals which ye now miss so much (<a href= "#" onclick="return mV('Isa',2,3);">Isa 2:3</a>; <a href= "#" onclick="return mV('Isa',60,3,6,7);">60:3, 6-7</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Eze',43,2);">Eze 43:2, 4-5</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Eze',44,44);">44:4</a>). The heavenly Jerusalem shall be similarly adorned, but shall need "no temple" (<a onclick="return mV('Rev',21,'10-22');">Rev 21:10-22</a>). Compare <a onclick="return mV('1Cr',3,12);">1Cr 3:12</a>, where <i>gold</i> and <i>silver</i> represent the most precious things (<a onclick="return mV('Zec',2,5);">Zec 2:5</a>). The inward glory of New Testament redemption far exceeds the outward glory of the Old Testament dispensation. So, in the case of the individual poor believer, God, if He pleased, could bestow gold and silver, but He bestows far better treasures, the possession of which might be endangered by that of the former (<a onclick="return mV('Jam',2,5);">Jam 2:5</a>).
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<p id="Hag2_9"><b>9. The glory of this latter house...greater than of the former</b>—namely, through the presence of Messiah, <i>in</i> (whose) <i>face is given the light of the knowledge of the glory of God</i> (<a onclick="return mV('2Cr',4,6);">2Cr 4:6</a>; compare <a onclick="return mV('Hbr',1,2);">Hbr 1:2</a>), and who said of Himself, "in this place is one greater than the temple" (<a onclick="return mV('Mat',12,6);">Mat 12:6</a>), and who "sat daily teaching in it" (<a onclick="return mV('Mat',26,55);">Mat 26:55</a>). Though Zerubbabel's temple was taken down to the foundations when Herod rebuilt the temple, the latter was considered, in a religious point of view, as not a <i>third</i> temple, but virtually the second temple.
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<br><br><b>in this place...peace</b>—namely, at Jerusalem, the metropolis of the kingdom of God, whose seat was the temple: where Messiah "made peace through the blood of His cross" (<a onclick="return mV('Col',1,20);">Col 1:20</a>). Thus the "glory" consists in this "peace." This peace begins by the removal of the difficulty in the way of the just God accepting the guilty (<a onclick="return mV('Psa',85,8,10);">Psa 85:8, 10</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Isa',9,6,7);">Isa 9:6-7</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Isa',53,5);">53:5</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Zec',6,13);">Zec 6:13</a>; <a onclick="return mV('2Cr',5,18,19);">2Cr 5:18-19</a>); then it creates peace in the sinner's own heart (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',57,19);">Isa 57:19</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Act',10,36);">Act 10:36</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Rom',5,1);">Rom 5:1</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Rom',14,17);">14:17</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Eph',2,'13-17');">Eph 2:13-17</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Phl',4,7);">Phl 4:7</a>); then peace in the whole earth (<a onclick="return mV('Mic',5,5);">Mic 5:5</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Luk',2,14);">Luk 2:14</a>). First peace between God and man, then between man and God, then between man and man (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',2,4);">Isa 2:4</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Hsa',2,18);">Hsa 2:18</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Zec',9,10);">Zec 9:10</a>). As "Shiloh" (<a onclick="return mV('Gen',49,10);">Gen 49:10</a>) means <i>peace,</i> this verse confirms the view that <a onclick="return mV('Hag',2,7);">Hag 2:7</a>, "the desire of all nations," refers to Shiloh or Messiah, foretold in <a onclick="return mV('Gen',49,10);">Gen 49:10</a>.
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<p id="Hag2_10"></a> <p> <a onclick="return mV('Hag',2,'10-19');">Hag 2:10-19</a>. THIRD PROPHECY. <i>Sacrifices without obedience (in respect to God's command to build the temple) could not sanctify. Now that they are obedient, God will bless them, though no sign is seen of fertility as yet.</i>
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<p> <b>10. four and twentieth day...ninth month</b>—three days more than two months from the second prophecy (<a onclick="return mV('Hag',2,1);">Hag 2:1</a>); in the month Chisleu, the lunar one about the time of our December. The Jews seem to have made considerable progress in the work in the interval (<a onclick="return mV('Hag',2,'15-18');">Hag 2:15-18</a>).
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<p id="Hag2_11"><b>11. Ask...the priests</b>—Propose this question to them on the law. The priests were the authorized expounders of the law (<a onclick="return mV('Lev',10,11);">Lev 10:11</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Deu',33,10);">Deu 33:10</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Eze',44,23);">Eze 44:23</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Mal',2,7);">Mal 2:7</a>).
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<p id="Hag2_12"><b>12.</b> "Holy flesh" (that is, the flesh of a sacrifice, <a onclick="return mV('Jer',11,15);">Jer 11:15</a>), indeed, makes holy the "skirt" in which it is carried; but that "skirt" cannot impart its sanctity to any thing beyond, as "bread," etc. (<a onclick="return mV('Lev',6,27);">Lev 6:27</a>). This is cited to illustrate the principle, that a sacrifice, holy, as enveloping divine things (just as the "skirt" is "holy" which envelops "holy" flesh), cannot by its inherent or <i>opus operatum</i> efficacy make holy a person whose disobedience, as that of the Jew while neglecting God's house, made him unholy.
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<p id="Hag2_13"><b>13.</b> On the other hand, a legally "unclean" person imparts his uncleanness to any thing, whereas a legally holy thing cannot confer its sanctity on an "unclean" person (<a onclick="return mV('Num',19,11,13);">Num 19:11, 13, 22</a>). Legal sanctity is not so readily communicated as legal impurity. So the paths to sin are manifold: the paths to holiness one, and that one of difficult access [GROTIUS]. One drop of filth will defile a vase of water: many drops of water will not purity a vase of filth [MOORE].
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<p id="Hag2_14"><b>14. Then answered Haggai</b>—rather, "Then Haggai answered (in rejoinder to the priests' answer) and said" [MAURER].
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<br><br><b>so is this people</b>—heretofore not in such an obedient state of mind as to deserve to be called <i>My</i> people (<a onclick="return mV('Tts',1,15);">Tts 1:15</a>). Here he applies the two cases just stated. By the first case, "this people" is not made "holy" by their offerings "there" (namely, on the altar built in the open air, under Cyrus, <a onclick="return mV('Ezr',3,3);">Ezr 3:3</a>); though the ritual sacrifice can ordinarily sanctify outwardly so far as it reaches (<a onclick="return mV('Hbr',9,13);">Hbr 9:13</a>), as the "holy flesh" sanctified the "skirt," yet it cannot make the offerers in their persons and all their works acceptable to God, because lacking the spirit of obedience (<a onclick="return mV('1Sa',15,22);">1Sa 15:22</a>) so long as they neglected to build the Lord's house. On the contrary, by the second case, they made "unclean" their very <i>offerings</i> by being unclean through "dead works" (disobedience), just as the person unclean by contact with a dead body imparted his uncleanness to all that he touched (compare <a onclick="return mV('Hbr',9,14);">Hbr 9:14</a>). This all applies to them as they had been, not as they are now that they have begun to obey; the design is to guard them against falling back again. The "there" points to the altar, probably in view of the audience which the prophet addressed.
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<p id="Hag2_15"><b>15. consider</b>—literally, "lay it to heart." Ponder earnestly, retracing the past "upward" (that is, backward), comparing what evils heretofore befell you before ye set about this work, with the present time when you have again commenced it, and when in consequence I now engage to "bless you." Hence ye may perceive the evils of disobedience and the blessing of obedience.
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<p id="Hag2_16"><b>16. Since those <i>days</i> were</b>—from the time that those days of your neglect of the temple work have been.
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<br><br><b>when <i>one</i> came to an heap of twenty <i>measures</i></b>—that is to a heap <i>which he had expected would be one</i> of twenty measures, there were but ten.
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<br><br><b>fifty <i>vessels</i> out of the press</b>—As the <i>Septuagint</i> translates "measure," and <i>Vulgate</i> "a flagon," and as we should rather expect <i>vat</i> than <i>press.</i> MAURER translates (omitting <i>vessels,</i> which is not in the original), "<i>purahs,</i>" or "wine-measures."
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<p id="Hag2_17"><b>17.</b> Appropriated from <a onclick="return mV('Amo',4,9);">Amo 4:9</a>, whose canonicity is thus sealed by Haggai's inspired authority; in the last clause, "<i>turned,</i>" however, has to be supplied, its omission marking by the elliptical abruptness ("yet ye not to Me!") God's displeasure. Compare "(<i>let him come</i>) unto Me!" Moses in excitement omitting the bracketed words ( <a onclick="return mV('Exd',32,26);">Exd 32:26</a>). "Blasting" results from excessive drought; "mildew, from excessive moisture.
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<p id="Hag2_18"><b>18.</b> Resumed from <a onclick="return mV('Hag',2,15);">Hag 2:15</a> after <a onclick="return mV('Hag',2,16,17);">Hag 2:16-17</a>, that the blessing in <a href= "#" onclick="return mV('Hag',2,19);">Hag 2:19</a> may stand in the more marked contrast with the curse in <a onclick="return mV('Hag',2,16,17);">Hag 2:16-17</a>. Affliction will harden the heart, if not referred to God as its author [MOORE].
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<br><br><b><i>even</i> from the day that the foundation of...temple was laid</b>—The first foundation beneath the earth had been long ago laid in the second year of Cyrus, 535 B.C. (<a onclick="return mV('Ezr',3,10,11);">Ezr 3:10-11</a>); the foundation now laid was the secondary one, which, above the earth, was laid on the previous work [TIRINUS]. Or, translate, "From this day on which the temple is being begun," namely, on the foundations long ago laid [GROTIUS]. MAURER translates, "Consider...from the four and twentieth day...<i>to</i> (the time which has elapsed) from the day on which the foundation...was laid." The <i>Hebrew</i> supports <i>English Version.</i>
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<p id="Hag2_19"><b>19. Is the seed yet in the barn?</b>—implying, It is <i>not.</i> It has been already sown this month, and there are no more signs of its bearing a good crop, much less of its being safely stored <i>in the barn,</i> than there were in the past season, when there was such a failure; yet I promise to you <i>from this day</i> (emphatically marking by the repetition the connection of the blessing with <i>the day</i> of their obedience) a <i>blessing</i> in an abundant harvest. So also the vine, etc., which heretofore have borne little or nothing, shall be <i>blessed</i> with productiveness. Thus it will be made evident that the blessing is due to Me, not to nature. We may trust God's promise to bless us, though we see no visible sign of its fulfilment (<a onclick="return mV('Hab',2,3);">Hab 2:3</a>).
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<p id="Hag2_20"> <a onclick="return mV('Hag',2,'20-23');">Hag 2:20-23</a>. FOURTH PROPHECY. <i>God's promise through Zerubbabel to Israel of safety in the coming commotions.</i> <p> <b>20. the month</b>—the ninth in the second year of Darius. The same date as Prophecy III (<a onclick="return mV('Hag',2,10);">Hag 2:10</a>).
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<p id="Hag2_21"><b>21. to Zerubbabel</b>—Perhaps Zerubbabel had asked as to the convulsions foretold (<a onclick="return mV('Hag',2,6,7);">Hag 2:6-7</a>). This is the reply: The Jews had been led to fear that these convulsions would destroy their national existence. <i>Zerubbabel,</i> therefore, as their civil leader and representative is addressed, not Joshua, their religious leader. Messiah is the antitypical Zerubbabel, their national Representative and King, with whom God the Father makes the covenant wherein they, as identified with Him, are assured of safety in God's electing love (compare <a onclick="return mV('Hag',2,23);">Hag 2:23</a>, "will make thee as a signet"; "I have chosen thee").
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<br><br><b>shake...heavens</b>—(see on JFB for <a href="./Comm/jfb/Hag/Hag002.html#Hag2_6">Hag 2:6</a>, <a href="./Comm/jfb/Hag/Hag002.html#Hag2_7">Hag 2:7</a>); violent political convulsions accompanied with physical prodigies (<a onclick="return mV('Mat',24,7,29);">Mat 24:7, 29</a>).
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<p id="Hag2_22"><b>22.</b> All other world kingdoms are to be overthrown to make way for Christ's universal kingdom (<a onclick="return mV('Dan',2,44);">Dan 2:44</a>). War chariots are to give place to His reign of peace (<a onclick="return mV('Mic',5,10);">Mic 5:10</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Zec',9,10);">Zec 9:10</a>).
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<p id="Hag2_23"><b>23. take thee</b>—under My protection and to promote thee and thy people to honor (<a onclick="return mV('Psa',78,70);">Psa 78:70</a>).
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<br><br><b>a signet</b>— (<a onclick="return mV('Sgs',8,6);">Sgs 8:6</a> <a onclick="return mV('Jer',22,24);">Jer 22:24</a>). A ring with a seal on it; the legal representative of the owner; generally of precious stones and gold, etc., and much valued. Being worn on the finger, it was an object of constant regard. In all which points of view the theocratic people, and their representative, Zerubbabel the type, and Messiah his descendant the Antitype, are regarded by God. The safety of Israel to the end is guaranteed in Messiah, in whom God hath chosen them as His own (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',42,1);">Isa 42:1</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Isa',43,10);">43:10</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Isa',44,1);">44:1</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Isa',49,3);">49:3</a>). So the spiritual Israel is sealed in their covenant head by His Spirit (<a onclick="return mV('2Cr',1,20,22);">2Cr 1:20, 22</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Eph',1,4,13,14);">Eph 1:4, 13-14</a>). All is ascribed, not to the merits of Zerubbabel, but to God's gratuitous <i>choice.</i> Christ is the "signet" on God's hand: always in the Father's presence, ever pleasing in his sight. The signet of an Eastern monarch was the sign of <i>delegated authority;</i> so Christ (<a onclick="return mV('Mat',28,18);">Mat 28:18</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Jhn',5,22,23);">Jhn 5:22-23</a>).
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