Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
He rebukes the Jews for interrupting the construction of the temple and saying that its time had not yet come, because the Samaritans were impeding it and Cambyses had prohibited it. For he teaches that this excuse is false and is a pretext of laziness, by which, intent on building their own houses, they were postponing and neglecting the house of God: for God wills that they immediately put their hand to the temple: for He had sufficiently declared this will of His, when on account of the neglected construction of the temple He sent upon them barrenness, famine, and want. Wherefore, believing this oracle, Zerubbabel, Joshua, and the people immediately undertake the work.
Vulgate Text: Haggai 1:1-14
1. In the second year of King Darius, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jozadak, the high priest, saying: 2. Thus says the Lord of hosts, saying: This people says: The time has not yet come for the house of the Lord to be built. 3. And the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet, saying: 4. Is it time for you to dwell in your paneled houses while this house lies desolate? 5. And now thus says the Lord of hosts: Set your hearts upon your ways. 6. You have sown much and brought in little; you have eaten but are not satisfied; you have drunk but are not filled; you have clothed yourselves but are not warm; and he who earns wages puts them into a bag with holes. 7. Thus says the Lord of hosts: Set your hearts upon your ways: 8. go up to the mountain, carry timber, and build the house; and it shall be acceptable to me, and I shall be glorified, says the Lord. 9. You looked for much, and behold it became little; and you brought it home, and I blew it away. Why? says the Lord of hosts. Because my house lies desolate, while each of you hurries to his own house. 10. Therefore because of you the heavens have withheld their dew, and the earth has withheld its produce. 11. And I called for a drought upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the wheat, and upon the wine, and upon the oil, and upon whatever the ground brings forth, and upon men, and upon cattle, and upon all the labor of hands. 12. And Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Jozadak, the high priest, and all the remnant of the people obeyed the voice of the Lord their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the Lord their God had sent him to them; and the people feared before the Lord. 13. And Haggai the messenger of the Lord spoke the Lord's message to the people, saying: I am with you, says the Lord. 14. And the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people; and they came and worked on the house of the Lord of hosts, their God.
Verse 1
1. In the second year of Darius. — You may ask, who is this Darius? First, Philo of Annius, and following him Genebrardus and Gerard Mercator in their Chronology, as well as Cyril of Jerusalem in Catechesis 12, and Tertullian in his book Against the Jews, in the section On the Passion of Christ, think this is Darius the Mede. But it is clear that this is false, both from other evidence and from the fact that Darius the Mede preceded Cyrus: for Cyrus succeeded him, as Daniel says in chapter V, 31. But Haggai prophesied after Cyrus and Cambyses, as is clear from I Ezra IV, 5 and 24, and chapter V, 1. For Cyrus permitted the construction of the temple, but Cambyses prohibited it. Hence after Cambyses, under Darius, Haggai was sent to urge it once again. Add that this Darius was not a Mede but a king of Persia; for he is so called in I Ezra IV, 24.
Second, Jansenius in his Harmony of the Gospels, chapter 19, thinks this Darius is Artaxerxes Longimanus, the sixth king of Persia. His reason is that the Jews, in John chapter II, 20, say this temple was built in 46 years: but this cannot be verified unless we say it was built under Cyrus (for under Cyrus it began) for 20 years, under Cambyses for the same number, and for 6 under Darius Longimanus. But this opinion confuses Darius with Artaxerxes: for the latter was called Longimanus, not the former, and Darius was the fourth king of Persia, while Longimanus was the sixth. For Darius was succeeded by his son Xerxes, and Xerxes by Artaxerxes. Add that Cambyses did not reign for 20 years, but at most eight. Finally, Haggai, Zerubbabel, and the others could not have lived until the time of Longimanus, about which more shortly.
Third, Severus Sulpitius in Book II of his History, and Scaliger in his Emendation of Times, think this Darius is Darius Nothus, who was the illegitimate son of Artaxerxes Longimanus, so that the Artaxerxes who in I Ezra chapter VII follows him and sent Ezra to Jerusalem would be the one surnamed Mnemon, meaning "mindful," from the excellence of his memory. For this man succeeded Darius Nothus. But this is incredible. For then Ezra would have been nearly two hundred years old, as Scaliger is forced to admit; Zerubbabel and Joshua, who under Cyrus led the people back from Babylon to Jerusalem, would have been 140 years old, whereas in III Ezra, chapter III, 4, Zerubbabel is called a young man, one of the bodyguards of Darius. Haggai would have been of the same age. Again, from this opinion it follows that none of those who had seen the first temple of Solomon — which had been destroyed by the Chaldeans 70 years before the release of captivity under Cyrus — could have seen the second temple built by Zerubbabel after the return from captivity under this Darius. Yet Haggai signifies the contrary in chapter II, 4. That this follows is clear. For add to the 70 years of captivity the three years of Cyrus, eight of Cambyses, 36 of Darius Hystaspes, twenty of Xerxes, forty of Artaxerxes — whom this Darius Nothus succeeded — and you will reckon 177 years, a span no one lived at that age.
I say therefore that this Darius was Darius Hystaspes, who succeeded Ahasuerus, or Artaxerxes, as Ezra has it — that is, Cambyses — in the kingdom of Persia, not as a son, but elected by the satraps through the neighing of a horse. So say St. Jerome, Theodoret, Albertus, Eusebius in his Chronicle, Josephus in Book XI of the Antiquities chapter IV, Clement of Alexandria in Book I of the Stromata, and others generally. Therefore in the second year of this Darius, at the urging of Haggai, the Jews began to resume the construction of the temple, and completed it in the sixth year of the same king, as Ezra says in Book I, chapter VI, 14, namely as to the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies. For the court, or the exterior part of the temple, and consequently the entire temple as to all its parts, was completed in the ninth year of the same king, as Josephus expressly attests in the cited passage.
Morally, note here that the heart of the king is in the hand of God, so that He may turn it wherever He pleases, as He turned here the heart of Darius to love for the Jews and care for the temple, because the Jews, already afflicted and contrite from their captivity of 70 years, had returned to God and, repentant and suppliant, had invoked His help; just as conversely He had formerly turned the heart of Nebuchadnezzar to hatred and punishment of them, because they, turned away from Him, were worshipping idols and living impiously. Hence we learn that we must have recourse to God when we are oppressed by tyrants; and again that we must ask Him either to appoint wise, moderate, pious, and just princes, or to make those already appointed such. For the Church depends on ecclesiastical rulers, the commonwealth on secular ones. Many think this Darius was the husband of Esther, and was therefore so benevolent toward the Jews and provided expenses for the temple, about which see the book of Esther.
Furthermore, St. Jerome in the Prologue, R. David, Vatablus, and others note that Haggai prophesied in the second year of Darius and exhorted the Jews to restore the temple, because in this second year the 70 years of the desolation of the temple were coming to an end, about which see Zechariah chapter I, 12. For in the 18th year of Nebuchadnezzar, which was the 11th of Zedekiah, the temple was burned and desolated by the Chaldeans. From then until the second year of Darius, 70 years elapsed; just as the 70 years of the captivity of the Jews in Babylon, which begin 11 years earlier — namely in the 7th year of Nebuchadnezzar, which was the 11th and last of Jehoiakim — end in the first year of the monarchy of Cyrus. Therefore the 70 years of the desolation of the temple, just as they begin 11 years after the 70 years of captivity, so also they end 11 years after the same. For add the three years of Cyrus during which he reigned as sole monarch after capturing Babylon and releasing the Jewish captives, then seven of Cambyses, then two of Darius, and you will have 11 complete years, but 12 begun. But this matter is to be discussed at Zechariah chapter I, 12.
In the sixth month. — Note: The Hebrews had a double year, and therefore counted their months in two ways. The first year was sacred, which they used for feasts and sacred matters; hence Sacred Scripture uses it. This began from the vernal equinox, so that its first month was that whose new moon was nearest to the vernal equinox. For the Hebrews used lunar months, and consequently a lunar year, which is eleven days shorter than the solar year; yet every third year they equalized it with the solar year by intercalation — that is, the addition of one month — which the Romans and other nations used, so as to conform to them. Therefore the first month of the sacred year was Nisan, which corresponded to the ancient Roman March, but now corresponds partly to our March, partly to April. For Nisan was the paschal month, in which they celebrated the Passover, in memory of the liberation and departure from Egypt, which had formerly occurred in that month; concerning which God therefore decrees in Exodus chapter XII, 2: "This month shall be for you the beginning of months; it shall be the first in the months of the year." See the comments there. The second year was profane, or civil, which they used for commerce and civil matters. This began from the autumnal equinox, so that its first month was that whose new moon was nearest to this equinox, which in Hebrew was called Ethanim, meaning strong and powerful — that is, in fruits and produce — in Chaldaic Tishri, and corresponded to the ancient Roman September; but now corresponds partly to our September, partly to October. So Josephus in Book I of the Antiquities, chapter IV, Jerome on chapter I of Ezekiel, and others.
Now Lyranus and Vatablus understand the sixth month here as being of the civil year, not the sacred, namely the month of Nisan or March: for that is most suitable for beginning constructions and continuing them through many months until winter. But I say the year here is to be taken as the sacred year, which begins from Nisan, and consequently the sixth month is Elul, which corresponds to the Roman Sextilis or August, and for Christians partly to August, partly to September. So Josephus in Book I of the Antiquities, chapter IV, Remigius, Albertus, Hugh, and others, indeed St. Jerome, who asserts that the sixth month was chosen for construction, not the seventh, because the seventh was full of solemnities. For in Tishri, that is in September, were celebrated the feasts of Trumpets, Tabernacles, Atonement, etc., during which it was not permitted to work or build. That this is so is clear from the fact that Scripture uses the sacred year; hence Zechariah, a contemporary and companion of Haggai, uses it in chapter I, 7; and chapter VII, 1: "In the fourth year," he says, "of King Darius, on the fourth of the ninth month, which is Chislev." For Chislev is November. And Ezra in chapter VI, 14, having narrated that the Jews, obeying Haggai, had built the temple and completed it in the sixth year of Darius, on the 13th day of the month Adar, that is February, immediately adds in verse 19: "And they celebrated the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month," as if to say: After the construction of the temple was completed in February, the next month they celebrated the Passover, namely in Nisan, or March, which was the first month of the sacred year, not of the civil.
Moreover, Haggai himself indicates this very thing in chapter II, 19, saying: "Set your hearts from this day onward, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, from the day that the foundation of the Lord's temple was laid, etc. Is the seed yet in the barn?" Now seed in Palestine usually germinates in November. This therefore is the ninth month from Nisan, or March, which is therefore the first month of the year, namely the sacred, not the civil. For although construction in general was a profane and servile activity, here however it pertained to a sacred thing, namely the temple; hence it is reckoned among sacred matters in the counting of months. To the argument of Lyranus it must be replied that Haggai admonished and moved the Jews to the construction of the temple in August, not in March; because in August is the time of harvest and crops, when the Jews were experiencing their scarcity: hence at that time, from the occasion itself, it was the most fitting and opportune time for Haggai to preach and assign the cause of this barrenness, namely the neglect of the temple construction, and thus to urge them to undertake it.
Let the preacher do the same: when pestilence, disease, war, or some other public disaster is inflicted by God, let him then strike the afflicted and stricken people more forcefully, and urge them to repentance and serious amendment of their ingrained vices, by setting before them the devastations and plagues which God sends on account of these things and which they keenly feel, and by showing that the only remedy for escaping them is to reconcile themselves with God and correct their ways. Moreover, God intended August for the temple construction because He intended to finish it in the fourth year, namely in the sixth year of Darius, in February, so that the following month of March they could celebrate the Passover in it, as Ezra teaches that the Jews did and celebrated in Book I, chapter VI, 15. Furthermore, winter in Judea, a warm region, is mild, just as in Rome, where spring is almost perpetual, as Virgil says in Georgics II; hence it does not delay constructions. God therefore knew that this time was precisely required and sufficient for completing the temple construction.
On the first day — that is, the first. For thus often the cardinal number is taken for the ordinal, namely "one" for "first," as I said at Genesis I, 5. Haggai therefore began to prophesy and exhort the Jews on the first day of the month of August, and thus moved the Jews so that soon, namely after 23 days, on the 24th of the same month, they would begin the construction, as is said in chapter II, 1. So St. Jerome.
Morally, observe that the year, month, and day in which Haggai received the word of God are so expressly noted by him, that we may learn how highly we ought to regard God's words, inspirations, and admonitions both internal and external, by which He Himself stirs and impels us to the more sublime construction of the spiritual temple in our soul; so much so that it is fitting to carefully note the day and hour in which they are suggested to us, as we read that many saints noted them, mindful that God will exact from us a careful account of them at the hour of death and on the day of judgment. So says a Castro.
By the hand of Haggai — that is, through Haggai, by the work and ministry of Haggai. For since the hand is the instrument of instruments, it is taken for an instrument or tool. The Prophets therefore are called the hands of God, because through them, as through hands, God transacted and accomplished His affairs, and presented Himself to the people — indeed depicted Himself — according to that passage of Hosea chapter XII, 10: "Through the Prophets I was represented in likenesses." So Theodoret and Lyranus.
Mystically, "by the hand:" because Haggai prophesied not only by tongue and speech, but also by hand — that is, by deed, by a holy life, and by example. So Gregory Nazianzen in Oration 40 on Holy Baptism; by the hand of the Prophet he understands the uprightness of his life, as if it were so great that it merited prophecy: for by righteous actions, says Nicetas in the same place, the Prophet merited to receive the word of God in trust, as a great treasure entrusted to his fidelity to be expended for the people's use, so that like a faithful and prudent steward "whom the Lord set over His household, to give them their measure of wheat at the proper time" (Luke XII, 42). So Haymo and Hugh, indeed St. Jerome: "If we wish," he says, "the word of God to be made in us, let us be Haggais, that is, celebrators of festivals, and let us not appear before God empty-handed; and sowing in the spirit, let us reap from the spirit eternal life, that we may celebrate the solemnity of firstfruits from our works." Thus Jesus first began to do with His hand, then to teach with His mouth, Acts I, 1. The Apostles and apostolic men followed Jesus, whose preaching was therefore effective, because proceeding from the heart it spoke to the heart of the hearers; and what it taught by word, it demonstrated by example. For those who do otherwise than they say are a sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal; they beat the air, they do not wound hearts. We laugh at and despise a thief disputing about justice, an adulterer about chastity, a drunkard about sobriety — and likewise anyone committing or desiring the very things he proclaims must be avoided.
St. Bernard splendidly, in Sermon 18 on the Song of Songs, requires seven steps to the pulpit. The first is contrition; the second, devotion; the third, the labor of penance; the fourth, the work of piety; the fifth, zeal for prayer; the sixth, the leisure of contemplation; the seventh, the fullness of love. St. Gregory in Book X of the Moralia says: To teach and not to practice brings not only no profit but also very much harm. For it is a great condemnation for one who composes his sermon well but is negligent in practice. The same author, in Book V on I Kings chapter XIV: "What does it mean," he says, "that Jonathan is said to appear before the Philistines with his armor-bearer, except that the teacher himself ought first to show forth the good that he strives to teach others?" The same, in Book XXI of the Moralia, chapter 8: "The offspring of the teacher," he says, "is uprooted when he who is born through the word is slain through example; because the one whom the watchful tongue begets, the negligence of life kills."
Indeed Aristotle asserts that truth is destroyed and annihilated by those who do not live as they speak. And Seneca says: I judge that no one deserves worse of all mortals than those who have learned philosophy as though it were some merchandise for sale, who live differently from how they teach one should live. For they carry about examples of useless discipline: they are teachers of humility but leaders of pride. With their mouths they praise humility, obedience, resignation, and charity as useful, easy, and pleasant, but by their deeds they impress the contrary far more powerfully. Therefore their deeds condemn their words, and their words their deeds, and they pronounce sentence against themselves; and so on the day of judgment they will be judged from their own mouth as many times as they exhorted others to humility, charity, etc.: "Therefore," says the Apostle in Romans chapter II, 1, "you are inexcusable, O man, every one of you who judges; for in what you judge another, you condemn yourself." Why, the Lord will say, have you recounted my statutes and taken my covenant (law) upon your mouth? But you have hated discipline and cast your lot with adulterers (Psalm 49). Finally, Christ the Lord in Matthew chapter V, 19: "Whoever does and teaches them," He says, "shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven."
To Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel. — You will object: Zerubbabel was the son of Pedaiah, as is clear from I Chronicles chapter III, 17; how then is he called here the son of Shealtiel? First, St. Jerome, in his Questions on Chronicles, responds that Shealtiel had two names and was also called Pedaiah. But in that passage Scripture distinguishes these two and makes them different persons; for it says in verse 17: "The sons of Jeconiah were Assir, Shealtiel, Malchiram, Pedaiah." Second, Vatablus thinks Zerubbabel's father was Pedaiah, but his grandfather Shealtiel; he is therefore called here his son, that is, grandson. Hence he translates the cited passage of Chronicles from the Hebrew thus: The sons of Jeconiah were Assir, and Shealtiel his son, and also Malchiram and Pedaiah, and explains it as saying: The sons, that is the descendants, of Jeconiah were these: Assir, whose son was Shealtiel, who was the father of Malchiram and Pedaiah. But against this stands the fact that in Chronicles the genealogy of the patriarchs of Israel is woven precisely and strictly; therefore by the word "sons," sons properly so-called and immediate are understood there, not grandsons and descendants. Third, Arias responds that Zerubbabel was the natural son of Pedaiah, but adopted by Shealtiel. But in Matthew chapter I, 12, it is expressly said: "Shealtiel begot Zerubbabel;" he was therefore his father by generation, not adoption.
I say therefore that Pedaiah was Shealtiel's brother, from their father Jeconiah, as is clear from the words of Chronicles already cited, and consequently both imposed the same name, Zerubbabel, on the son each begot, as brothers are accustomed to do, for the sake of their bond and kinship.
Our Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, is therefore different from Zerubbabel the son of Pedaiah; for the former is the latter's cousin: hence also the different sons of each are recorded. For the former begot Abiah, Matthew chapter I, 13; but the latter begot Meshullam and others, who are listed in I Chronicles chapter III, 19.
Symbolically, Zerubbabel was so named: first, as if בבל זרע zarva babel, that is, sown and begotten in Babylon, says St. Jerome. Second, as if בבל רב zu rab babel, that is, this master or prince in Babylon. So the same author. Third, as if בבל זרע zara babel, that is, one who scatters Babylon, that is, confusion; or as if בבל זור zur babel, that is, the pressing out, or treading, or winnowing, or estrangement of confusion, says Pagninus in his Interpretation of Hebrew Names. For just as Joshua led the Jews from the desert, so Zerubbabel led them from Babylon into the promised land. Hence both were types of Christ, who leads us from the confusion of sin to the Church militant and triumphant. Fourth, St. Jerome adds that Zerubbabel in Hebrew means the same as "adjacent flow," the opposite of which is Jezebel, that is, "vain flow" or "menstrual flow," which connotes uncleanness; just as Zebulun is interpreted as "flow of night." Therefore, he says, leaving behind the flow of the world — vain, sordid, and dark — let us follow the flow of Jesus, who, offered to us for drinking, presents Himself from a most abundant fountain, saying: If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. And we shall be able to drink of this when we have asked from the Father, according to what is written: Ask, and it shall be given to you. For Shealtiel is interpreted as "petition of God." Thus far St. Jerome.
Governor of Judah. — The kingdom and royal line of Judah ceased in King Jeconiah, who was the father of Shealtiel and grandfather of Zerubbabel. Hence concerning him Jeremiah heard from God, chapter XXII, 30: "Write this man as childless." He adds the reason: "For none of his offspring shall succeed in sitting on the throne of David." Moreover, Shealtiel died in Babylon before the captivity was ended. Therefore the Jews, when liberty was granted by Cyrus, returning to Judea appointed as their leader his son, namely Zerubbabel, as well as Joshua the son of Jozadak the priest, as Josephus testifies in Book XI of the Antiquities, chapter IV, and Haggai here implies. Furthermore, in the governorship — that is, in the dignity and preeminence of the governor rather than in rule and command (for the supreme and gubernatorial rule was in the hands of the priests, says Josephus, and following him St. Jerome on the cited passage of Jeremiah) — his sons and descendants succeeded him until Christ. Hence Nehemiah chapter V, 18: "The former governors," he says, "who were before me burdened the people." So St. Augustine in Book XVIII of the City of God, chapter 45, Cyril in Book VIII Against Julian, Ambrose in Book III on Luke, Justin in his Dialogue Against Trypho, Eusebius in Book III of the Demonstration, chapter II, and others.
And to Joshua, the son of Jozadak, the high priest — that is, the supreme, namely the pontiff. For Seraiah the priest, who was killed at the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, IV Kings chapter XXV, verse 18, begot Jozadak, and Jozadak begot Joshua, I Chronicles chapter VI, 14. Furthermore, Ezra was likewise a son of Seraiah the priest, and consequently a brother of Jozadak and uncle of Joshua. From Joshua descended Jeddoa, or Jaddus, II Ezra (Nehemiah) chapter XII, 10, whom Alexander the Great venerated, as Josephus attests.
This Joshua, in his pontificate by name and holiness, as well as in leading the people back, was a type of Jesus Christ. Hence by Zechariah in chapter VIII, 1 [recte III, 1], he is called "the high priest," and was seen standing with the angel of light against Satan. Thus all bishops, compared to Christ, are small, mere types and shadows, indeed nothing, says St. Jerome. Concerning both of them, Ecclesiasticus chapter XLIX, 13 writes thus: "How shall we magnify Zerubbabel? For he too was like a signet ring on the right hand, as was Joshua the son of Jozadak; who in their days built the house and raised up the holy temple to the Lord, prepared for everlasting glory." Let us justly bestow the same praise today on similar pious princes who build and endow temples and monasteries, so that God may be worshipped and honored by many in them.
Furthermore, three distinguished prelates obtained the name Jesus, and these were leaders in a threefold state. The first was Joshua, who was the leader of the people into the promised land; for Joshua means the same as Jesus, hence he is called Jesus by the Septuagint, Philo, and the Greeks. The second was Joshua the son of Jozadak, the high priest. The third was Jesus Sirach, the author of Ecclesiasticus, a doctor of the Synagogue. These three were types of Jesus Christ, and foreshadowed His threefold office: for Christ is the supreme, first, Prince; second, Pontiff; third, Prophet and Doctor of the Church. Hence He is the son of Jozadak, that is, of the justice of God. For He is the everlasting justice, as Daniel says in chapter IX, 14, who justifies the ungodly and in justice judges the poor and the meek of the earth, Isaiah chapter XI, 4. Furthermore, just as Joshua together with Zerubbabel rebuilt the temple destroyed by the Chaldeans, so Jesus Christ rebuilt in the resurrection the temple of His body that had been cut down and killed by the Jews, as He Himself foretold to them in John chapter II, 19: "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." And when the Jews, not understanding His meaning, replied: "This temple was built in forty-six years, and will You raise it up in three days?" the Evangelist responds and adds: "But He was speaking of the temple of His body," which was to be restored by Him in the resurrection. "When therefore He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken," because they now saw it fulfilled. In a similar manner Christ restored the mystical and political temple, namely the Church destroyed by unbelief and paganism. over whom you, Joshua, preside. Note: The Prophet directs his speech to the leaders, and yet he directly accuses not their sluggishness but that of the people — both to honor them before the people and to teach that their sins should not be censured publicly but privately, lest their authority be diminished and the people be incited to rebel against them; and also to show that this fault was directly the people's, whom he rebukes before their leaders, so that convicted as if by eyewitnesses they may blush, repent, and obey God, says Theodoret. But indirectly this fault touched the leaders themselves, since it was their duty to urge the people to this work of God. For rarely is a prelate free from the fault of his subjects, since he either consents to it or overlooks it and does not restrain it when he could, says our a Castro from Albertus — although the fault of Zerubbabel and Joshua here was slight or none, as will soon be clear and as St. Jerome, Theodoret, Arias, and Vatablus assert. Let preachers imitate this, so that when they accuse a public vice of the commonwealth before the magistrate, they directly accuse not the magistrate himself but the people; for from this alone the magistrate well understands that he too is indirectly being accused, and perceives what pertains to his duty and office; nor does he take offense, but praises the preacher's prudence, modesty, and reverence, since the preacher consults their honor and strengthens their courage and authority for uprooting this vice from the commonwealth.
Verse 2
2. This people — over whom you, O Zerubbabel and Joshua, preside.
The time has not yet come. — They say this, partly because they saw that Sanballat and the Samaritans had, through Cyrus and Cambyses, hitherto impeded the construction of the temple; having thus turned to sluggishness, they neglected it — so St. Jerome, Theodoret, Lyranus, and others; and partly because the 70 years appointed by God for the desolation of the temple had not yet elapsed, say St. Jerome and R. David, whom I cited at verse 1. For these 70 years ended in the second year of Darius, in which Haggai uttered these prophecies.
Where note the history of the event, which sheds great light on this passage. It is narrated in III Ezra, chapter IV, 42 and following, namely that Zerubbabel, along with two companions who were bodyguards of Darius, proposed before him the problem of what was the strongest thing in the world. The first of them answered: "Wine is strong;" the second, "The king is stronger;" the third, namely Zerubbabel, "Women are stronger, but truth is strongest of all." By speaking eloquently on this matter, he carried off the palm. Whereupon, commanded by Darius to ask whatever he wished (for he would grant it), he asked that the king fulfill the vow he had once made. This vow was that if he became king he would build a temple to God in Jerusalem. Darius kissed him and assented, and sent him with the Jews to Jerusalem with an escort of a thousand soldiers, and gave letters to the governors to assist the construction of the temple and provide the expenses. Therefore Zerubbabel returned from Babylon to Jerusalem in the second year of Darius, in the first month, namely Nisan, as is said in III Ezra chapter V, 6, and began to exhort the people to the construction of the temple. But since the people, mindful of past difficulties, did not sufficiently trust Zerubbabel's assertion that Darius favored and indeed commanded the construction of the temple, and therefore had delayed the work for six months until August, Haggai began in that same sixth month to prophesy and accuse their distrust and negligence, and to exhort them to begin the work, for God willed it; hence He would be present and would ensure that neither Darius, nor the Samaritans, nor anyone else would impede the work. The people believed the Prophet, especially when from new letters of Darius — which are quoted in I Ezra VI — they learned that Darius willed exactly the same thing. Therefore, vigorously undertaking the work, they completed it after four years and five months, namely in the month of Adar, that is February, as Ezra narrates in the same place.
Tropologically, when you see someone who has fallen thinking about repentance: "Let him build," says St. Jerome, "a temple through chastity which he had previously destroyed through lust; and yet if he drags on day after day, say to him: Truly you too are of the people of captives, and you say: The time has not yet come to build the house of the Lord. Whoever has once resolved to restore the temple of God, for him every time is suitable for building; neither can the devil-king prevent it, nor enemies round about, nor the feigned piety of parents, relatives, or children. As soon as you turn and call upon the name of the Lord, He will say: Behold, I am here." And further: "Every time in which dwelling in the valley is chosen (he alludes to the Septuagint, which translates 'paneled houses' as 'valleys') or we serve pleasures, is inopportune. Hence even the Stoics said that time is for correction. For every time in which we serve not virtues but vices perishes and is counted as nothing, as if it had not been. If therefore any one of us either dwells in the valley, or devotes his house to worldly pleasure and luxury, that man does not build a temple to God, nor has the Lord in him a place to lay His head."
Therefore every moment of time ought to be for us a measure of activity, not of rest; of business, not of leisure; of virtue, not of vice. Otherwise it is lost irrecoverably, and it perishes along with the idleness and vice themselves — indeed, it is severely punished. Thus Barlaam, in Damascene's History, when Josaphat asked him how old he was, answered 45; for although, he said, I have lived 70 years, yet only 45 have I lived for God. Hence I count only these as years of life; the rest, which I spent in vanity, I consider to have been death, and therefore I do not count them — I reckon and lament them as lost.
The pagans saw the same thing. Theophrastus always had on his lips: "There is no expenditure more precious than time. For this alone cannot be recovered, and yet commonly nothing is held cheaper than time." So Laertius in Book V. Simonides, when asked how much time he had lived, said: "A short time indeed, but many years." So Stobaeus in Discourse 96, and Plutarch in the Life of Antony: "The waste of time," he says, "is most ruinous." Marcus Varro used to say that no loss was heavier, especially for one who knows it, than the loss of time. Seneca to Lucilius: "All things, my Lucilius, are foreign to us; time alone is ours. Nature puts us in possession of this one thing, fleeting and slippery as it is."
Ovid says:
Youth must be used; with swift foot age glides away, Nor does good follow as good as the first was.
Justly therefore the Wise Man warns: "My son, preserve your time, and shun evil" (Ecclesiasticus IV, 23). And the Apostle: "See then, brethren, that you walk carefully, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time" (Ephesians V, 15). See the comments there.
Verse 3
3. And the word of the Lord came — This seems to be a new prophecy addressed to the people, since the former was to the leaders, as St. Jerome, Arias, and Vatablus think, or rather a continuation of the former. For in the first he prophesied nothing but merely recounted the saying of the people, namely that it was not yet time to build the temple. To this saying he here responds by prophesying and refutes it; and to add weight to his refutation, he repeats and reiterates that he is not inventing these things nor proclaiming them from his own brain, but from the mind and mouth of God, especially since he himself was young. For he had recently returned as a young man from Babylon, as Epiphanius says in his Life. For the same reason the Prophets in their threats and oracles frequently repeat and emphasize the phrase: "Thus says the Lord," by which they morally teach how highly we ought to regard the word of God, and how we ought to hang upon the mouth of God, so that we may constantly have it in our mouths, reverence it, ruminate upon it, pour it forth, and celebrate it, and perpetually delight in it. Prophecy, therefore, is not the word of man, but the word and oracle of God.
Verse 4
4. Is it time for you to dwell in your paneled houses while this house lies desolate? — Here begins the first prophecy of Haggai. "Paneled," that is, vaulted, arched, covered with a vault or dome: for this is what the Hebrew שפונים sephunim means. The Chaldean renders it: which are covered with cedar paneling. The Septuagint has κοιλοστάθμοις, that is, concave, or rather, as St. Jerome interprets, placed down low and sunk in the valley. Ambrose in Book III, Epistle 12, translates it as carved. For the vaults of illustrious houses and temples are customarily adorned with various paintings and carvings, as we see done in most basilicas in Rome. It is an argument from the lesser to the greater, as if to say: You have the time, the will, and the means to build for yourselves houses not only necessary but also luxurious and costly — namely, carved and paneled. Therefore all the more should you have the time, will, and means to build the house of God, which is completely destroyed. Do you want God to dwell on a pavement exposed to winds and rain, while you dwell in houses splendidly and elegantly roofed? Do you thus prefer your own comforts to God? Do you thus allow Him to live most uncomfortably, provided you live luxuriously and lavishly? "Shall my dwelling, in which were the Holy of Holies, and the Cherubim, and the table of showbread, be drenched by rain, lie desolate in neglect, and be scorched by heat?" says St. Jerome.
God here teaches that the faithful ought to make the temple and sacred worship their first care, and that when a new commonwealth or city is being established or restored, the temple must be erected first and the worship of God established. So did Solomon, who first built a house for God, then for himself (III Kings VI, 1, with VII, 1). So also David in Psalm 131, 3: "If I enter," he says, "the tabernacle of my house, if I go up into the bed of my couch, if I give sleep to my eyes and slumber to my eyelids, until I find a place for the Lord, a tabernacle for the God of Jacob." So Moses at Sinai, forming the commonwealth and Church of the Hebrews with laws received from God, before all else built the tabernacle as a mobile temple for God, with the ark, Cherubim, etc., and this at God's command, Exodus chapter XXV and following. So Constantine the Great, as soon as he began to administer as a Christian the empire that had previously been pagan and was now Christian, before all else built the most august basilicas: the Lateran of the Holy Savior, the Vatican of St. Peter, the Ostian of St. Paul, the Verano of St. Lawrence, and very many others in honor of the saints for God. His successors followed and emulated him in this piety: Gratian, Theodosius, Honorius, Marcian, Charlemagne, etc., who were accordingly endowed and enriched by God with resources, victories, and kingdoms, and prosperously, justly, and piously administered their empire, and strengthened and expanded it.
The pagans saw the same thing by the light and guidance of nature, although as idolaters they abused it for their own idols. Romulus, the founder of Rome, along with the first foundations of the city dedicated temples to Jupiter Stator and Jupiter Feretrius, as Livy testifies in Book I. Pliny writes in his Illustrious Men, chapter II, that Numa Pompilius, who succeeded Romulus, "tamed the fierce people by the institution of religion and useful laws, and so strengthened the kingdom that during his reign no one waged war against him." The Roman Senate, says Marcus Varro, held religion in such high regard that whenever it was convened by the magistrate, the very first matter proposed always pertained to religion, and no matter, however weighty or urgent, took precedence over this custom — namely out of the conviction that "religion and the fear of God alone are what preserve the bond of human society," as Lactantius says in his book On the Wrath of God, chapter XII, "and that all things prosper for those who worship God, and go badly for those who despise Him," as Livy says in Book V. Hence Cyrus, in Xenophon Book VIII, admonishes his son Cambyses to do nothing public or private without first having recourse to God (let Christian princes note and imitate this), and without first learning His will — because the world, he says, is full of errors; but God, as one who has always existed, knows and governs the present, past, and future; and when invoked, He hears the prayers of those who cultivate religion and piety, and by many signs shows them what they should do. Wherefore Cicero, in Book I of On the Nature of the Gods: "If piety toward God is taken away," he says, "it is necessary that good faith, the bond of human society, and justice, the most excellent of all virtues, be destroyed as well." And Silius in Book IV:
The first cause of crimes for suffering mortals is not to know that Nature is God.
Conversely, the destroyers of temples and sacred things likewise overthrew the commonwealth, as well as themselves and their families. Antiochus Epiphanes, the profaner of the Jewish temple, struck by God with a foul plague, belatedly recognized divine vengeance and said: "It is just to be subject to God, and a mortal should not think himself equal to God" (II Maccabees IX). Constantius the Arian emperor, who seized temples from the orthodox and transferred them to the Arians, was nearly deprived of his empire and life by Julian the Apostate, whom he had designated as his colleague in the empire since he was a kinsman, and finally, struck by a sacred fire, perished, as Pomponius Laetus narrates in his Life. Julian, who intended to make idols out of temples, fell in battle against the Persians, struck by an arrow from heaven, as Aurelius Victor narrates in his Life. Valens the Arian, a follower of Constantius in crime, routed by the Goths and hiding in a hut, was burned alive by them in the same place. Constantine Copronymus — that is, "the dung-named" — who just as he defiled the baptistery with his own excrement during his baptism, so also defiled the Church with the filth of his heresy and sacrilege, was struck by a foul plague and breathed out his putrid soul. For more, if you wish, see Thomas Bozius, Book XXII of The Signs of the Church.
In our fathers' memory, Henry VIII, King of England, the firebrand and author of the English schism, who plundered or destroyed monasteries and churches — notably that wealthy basilica of St. Thomas of Canterbury — to such an extent that a poet wrote of England in the preceding century:
A single year destroyed ten thousand temples.
Henry, I say, reduced to poverty, so swelled in body that he seemed another Bacchus, and as he was about to die, offering a cup of wine to the bystanders, said: "We have lost everything, friends." Thus in despair he breathed out his sacrilegious soul, as Nicholas Sander relates in his Schism of England, and others.
Tropologically, St. Ambrose, writing on this passage of Haggai, understands by "carved houses" underground chambers and dens of pleasure. For such are hypogaea, that is, subterranean dwellings. "For those," he says, "who dwell below the earth cannot build the temple of God, and they say: The time has not come to build the house of the Lord. At the same time, it is characteristic of the luxurious to seek underground chambers, seeking summer coolness, because, dissolved in pleasures, they cannot otherwise bear and endure the heat, and therefore they seek shady retreats; or because the lazy idle away their time underground in slothful leisure; and moreover because dark and shady places please them more, under which they think they can cover their shameful deeds, according to that passage of Ecclesiasticus XXIII: Darkness surrounds me and walls — whom shall I fear? But they hope this in vain, since God sees the depths of the abyss and hidden things. But Elijah did not dwell in underground chambers, nor did Elisha, but in upper rooms, etc. Therefore the saints ascend to the Lord, the wicked descend to vices; the saints are on the mountains, the sinful in the valleys. For God is the God of the mountains, and not the God of the valleys." And shortly after: "For how can such men build a temple, who like wild beasts take refuge in the caves and lairs of animals, and plunge themselves into pits like serpents, and burrow in with the habit of the crafty fox?"
Verse 5
5. Set your hearts upon your ways. — He calls their actions "ways," along with their outcomes and results, as if to say: With attentive mind weigh your works — namely, of sowing, laboring, eating, drinking, clothing yourselves, and trading — and consider that you have borne little fruit from them: a small harvest, small profit, small refreshment and warmth, both this year (for it was already August and harvest time) and in the preceding years from Cyrus until now. And at the same time examine the cause of this unhappy outcome — why, that is, all your affairs are unfortunate and turn out badly — and you will find it to be none other than your negligence in restoring the temple. So Lyranus, Vatablus, Arias, and others — as if to say: Consider how many evils you have suffered because of this sluggishness of yours. Therefore from now on, secondly, set your hearts upon your ways, and learn how great the difference is between care for divine matters and neglect of the same. So St. Jerome.
And thirdly, set your hearts — that is, direct your minds and apply your souls — to compensate for this neglect with greater care and zeal, so that you may be as diligent in this construction as you have hitherto been negligent. For thus he explains himself in verse 7, saying: "Set your hearts upon your ways: go up to the mountain, carry timber," etc.
Symbolically, St. Jerome, as if to say: "You have had until now your hearts serving vices without order, without a teacher, going wherever desires dragged you. But now the Lord commands you to order charity within yourselves and set your hearts upon your ways, so that you do nothing without judgment and consideration, but that the lamp of the law always precede your feet, and you say: Your law is a lamp to my feet and a light to my paths." For the heart, since it is not the seat — as some natural philosophers would have it — but the origin (for from the heart arise the animal spirits which serve the mind, reason, and contemplation) and the symbol of common sense, reason, prudence, and wisdom, as I showed at Ezekiel XXXVI, 26; hence in Scripture it is taken for these.
Tropologically, St. Gregory in Homily 10 on Ezekiel: "He sows much in his heart," he says, "but brings in little, who learns much about the heavenly commandments either by reading or even by hearing, but by negligent practice bears little fruit. He eats and is not satisfied who, hearing the words of God, covets the profits or glory of the world. And rightly is he said not to be satisfied who chews one thing and hungers for another. He drinks and is not inebriated who inclines his ear to the voice of preaching but does not change his mind. For through inebriation the senses of drinkers are usually changed." See also Haymo on this passage.
Verse 6
6. And you have brought in little. — The Lord had threatened the Jews with this and more in Leviticus XXVI, if they should neglect God and His worship. Let farmers note this and learn that they sometimes gather little fruit from an abundant sowing because they have neglected God's temple, Masses, feast days, His invocation, and worship — on which matter there are brilliant examples in the Lives of the Saints. For God punishes with famine and poverty the neglect of Himself and of sacred things, and much more so, tropologically, He punishes the neglect of the sanctification of the soul, which we ought to build and adorn with virtues as a temple of God. So St. Jerome and Theodoret.
You have eaten but are not satisfied. — The Lord had likewise threatened them with this in Leviticus XXVI, 26: You shall eat and not be satisfied. "But he who is holy," says St. Jerome, "will eat to satisfaction, and in him will be fulfilled what is written in Proverbs XIII, 25: The just man eats and fills his soul; but the belly of the wicked is insatiable."
You have drunk but are not inebriated — that is, satisfied, refreshed, gladdened. Thus the brothers of Joseph at his banquet are said to have been "inebriated" with him, that is, made full and cheerful (Genesis XLIII, 34). So also Song of Songs V, 1: "Drink and be inebriated" — that is, be satisfied — "dearest friends." Psalm 35, 9: "They shall be inebriated from the abundance of your house" — that is, they shall be so filled and gladdened that they seem to be drunk. Hence, explaining, he adds: "And with the torrent of your pleasure you shall give them drink." Now the reason why, though drinking, they were not satisfied was partly because they had gathered few grapes and little wine, partly because the grapes were withered and dried out and yielded only thin wine, not proper wine; perhaps also because God in His anger withdrew from the wine, as from the bread, the power and vigor of nourishing and satisfying, by not cooperating with them for nutrition and satisfaction, and this as a punishment for the sin of the Hebrews. The same reasons explain why they were not warmed by their clothing.
Symbolically, St. Jerome says: Sinners, deprived of the wine of God's wisdom and grace, thirst; but the just man, abounding in it, is inebriated — "he who can say to the Lord: How splendid is your cup that inebriates! (Psalm 22). And he is inebriated like Noah; and although placed in Egypt, yet at the banquet of Joseph with the patriarchs and brothers he is steeped in wine. This man, because of the greatness of his joy and daily gladness, turned with the Apostles into ecstasy, will be called full of new wine" (Acts II). And St. Gregory in Homily 10 on Ezekiel: "Through inebriation," he says, "the senses of drinkers are usually changed. Therefore he who is devout in learning the word of God but desires to obtain the things of this world drinks but is not inebriated. For if he were inebriated, without doubt he would have changed his mind, so as no longer to seek earthly things, no longer to love the vain and passing things he had loved. For of the elect it is said through the Psalmist in Psalm 35: They shall be inebriated from the abundance of Your house — because they are so filled with the love of Almighty God that, their minds having been changed, they seem to be strangers to themselves, fulfilling what is written: Whoever wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself" (Matthew XVI).
And he who earned wages put them into a bag with holes — that is, he lost them, as if he had put them in a purse with holes, through which they fall to the ground and are lost. It is a catachresis. A similar proverb is in Plautus's Pseudolus: "We pour words into a leaky barrel; we waste our effort." And that of Alciphron in Athenaeus, Book IV: "We pour amphorae into the jars of the Danaids." For the poets imagine the Danaids drawing water in pierced jars in the underworld, about which Medea says:
You too — the labor that plays upon the urns you pierce is in vain.
And that of Aristotle in Book I of the Economics, chapter VI: "You draw water with a sieve." Hence the saying we heard as boys: "He draws water with a sieve who wants to learn without a book." Similar proverbs are: You are sowing in water; you sow on rocks; you write on water; you build on sand; you waste oil and effort; you hunt winds with a net; you fish in the air; you weave spiders' webs; you do trifles; you count the waves; you measure the sand. All these are most true when we attempt anything against the will of God or when He is angry.
Morally, let workers, hired laborers, and merchants note this — namely that their labors, works, and commercial ventures, by which they exhaust themselves night and day, fall to nothing on account of their neglect of divine worship and grace. See Leviticus XXVI, 14, and Deuteronomy XXVIII, 10. Therefore if they want these things to be useful, if they desire and seek profit and riches from them, let them worship and invoke God, according to that saying of Christ in Matthew VI, 33: "Seek first the kingdom of God and His justice, and all these things will be added to you." Hence the Apostles, fishing all night, caught nothing, because they were fishing without Christ; but as soon as Peter cast the net in Christ's name, he enclosed an enormous multitude of fish (Luke V, 5); because, as the Psalmist says in Psalm 126, 1: "Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain." And as the Apostle says in I Corinthians III, 7: "Neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase."
Mystically, he puts wages into a bag with holes: First, one who after good works and merits falls into mortal sin, thereby sullies, loses, and dissipates them. So St. Jerome. Second, one who loses good works through evil actions — who, that is, considers the good works he has before his eyes but forgets the faults that creep in among them; or after good deeds returns to vain and evil ones, so that, for example, the good he gained by weeping he soon loses by excessive laughing, says St. Gregory in Homily 4 on Ezekiel, and Part III of the Pastoral Rule, admonition 22: "In a bag with holes," he says, "the money is seen when it is put in, but when it is lost it is not seen. Therefore those who observe how much they give but do not consider how much they seize put their wages into a bag with holes: for they gaze at what they heap up in the hope of their own trust, but without looking they lose it." Third, those who do works of virtue for vain glory, that is, for ostentation. So Remigius.
Finally, an ancient author aptly applies these words of Haggai to kings who impose great taxes on their subjects but are not enriched thereby, because they immediately pour them out upon their parasites. "The royal treasury," he says, "has long been perforated and retains nothing, but pours out everything, so that what Haggai says may rightly be applied to it: He who gathered wages put them into a bag with holes. We see that nothing placed in a bag with holes can be kept for long, but what is poured in on one side flows out on the other; and what it receives from the upper part, soon flows through the lower. Now what are the two holes of the bag with holes, if not two vices which at first glance seem contrary but are often found together in rulers: namely, excessive greed for acquiring what belongs to others, and immoderate prodigality in lavishing what has been acquired? The first gathers, the second scatters; the first pours in, the second pours out; the first gorges itself and is always hungry, the second, even when sated, throws away the scraps. The first seems to worry about the future; the second, improvident, neither governs the present nor foresees the future. The first is the mouth at the top of the bag, always ready to receive; the second is the hole at the bottom, which is never closed but constantly gapes open for broad scattering. It is therefore clear that money collected through such extortions profits rulers nothing, who from the time they began these practices have always been needy and destitute, oppressed by infinite debt." He then shows that these resources benefit not even the courtiers to whom they are given: "But whoever thinks that these things will benefit the courtiers who receive almost everything is deceived. For eventually, under the pressure of heaven's judgment, they are usually stripped either by the princes whom they despoiled; or by their heirs and successors, who see themselves robbed of so great an inheritance through their intrigues; or by those who, at divine instigation, undertake to restore the commonwealth that has collapsed through such men — and they are forced not only to disgorge what they swallowed, but to pay the deserved penalties for their ruinous advice that prostrated the fatherland. Therefore it is necessary that such plagues, such furies — the destroyers equally of kings and kingdoms — be more thoroughly alienated from the company of rulers, unless we want the kingdom itself to perish irreparably. For this is the capital and mortal wound of a kingdom." Wisely did Livy say in Book XXII: "Private interests have always harmed and will always harm public ones." And Tacitus in Book I of the Histories: "The worst poison of true feeling is each man's self-interest." Amos cries out in chapter IX, verse 1: "Greed is at the head of all." But what is the "head of the people" except those of whom it is said: "The nobles, the heads of the peoples"? Let rulers and their counselors therefore learn that saying of the Wise Man in Proverbs XXV, 4: "Take away the dross from the silver, and there shall come forth a most pure vessel; take away wickedness from the face of the king, and his throne shall be established in justice." Remove, that is, those voracious Harpies, infamous for embezzlement, who punch holes in the bag of the public treasury and plunder it, and there will be a just distribution of public revenues and resources, which are the foundation of the commonwealth.
Verse 8
8. Go up to the mountain — Lebanon: for from there, being nearby and abundant in cedars and other trees, Solomon had cut timber for the temple and his own houses. Zerubbabel and the Jews did the same in the restoration of the temple, as is clear from I Ezra III, 7. So St. Jerome, the Chaldean, Theodoret, and others. From Lebanon, therefore, cut down and "carry timber" for the construction of the temple. The Hebrews say, reports St. Jerome, "that only timber was needed for the roofing, since the walls of the temple were still standing after the fire." But they err: for the temple was utterly demolished by the Chaldeans. This is clear from the fact that Zerubbabel and the Jews, in rebuilding the temple, laid its very foundations, as is said in I Ezra V, 16, and chapter VI, 3. From which passages it is clear that under Cyrus the foundations of the temple were laid and the walls erected. Hence under Darius only timber was needed for the roof beams and for the roof, as is said here, and for this reason only the carrying of timber is mentioned here.
Tropologically, St. Jerome says: "Let us ascend the mountain of reason, and seeking from the testimonies of Scripture suitable timbers for each problem, let us cut them down and build the house of wisdom within ourselves. For after this has been built, the purpose of its building will be that the Lord be glorified in us." Now the foundation of this house and temple to be laid is faith; the pavement is humility; the outer wall is patience; the altar is prayer; the roof is charity; the four walls are the four cardinal virtues; the pinnacle is hope. See the comments at Ezekiel XL, at the beginning. This is what the Apostle says in I Corinthians III, 9: "You are God's building. But let each one take heed how he builds upon it," etc. And verse 16: "Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?" Ephesians II, 20: "Built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit."
And it shall be acceptable to Me. — In Hebrew וארצה בו veartse bo, that is, as the Septuagint and Pagninus render it: I will take pleasure in it. The Zurich Bible: And it will be pleasing to me. Vatablus: And it will be my good pleasure in it, and consequently I will hear those who pray in it or toward it, as I promised to Moses in Deuteronomy XII, 11, and to Solomon in III Kings VIII, 29.
And I shall be glorified — that is, in it I shall be worshipped and celebrated with hymns, psalms, vows, prayers, offerings, sacrifices, etc., and in turn I shall show you my glory and beneficence in it. Note: In the Hebrew there is a Keri and Ketib, that is, a variant of reading and writing. For it is written אכבד eccabeda, that is, "I shall be glorified," without he, but it is read with a paragogic he, which is therefore noted in the margin. Wherefore the Rabbis and Talmudists, such as R. Elias, R. Solomon, R. David, and from them Galatinus in Book IV, chapter 9, Genebrardus in his Chronicle, Arias, Ribera, and a Castro here, assign this reason for this variant: that the letter he among the Hebrews is the sign of the number five, to signify that five things were lacking in the second temple which had been in the first — which therefore God promises here He will compensate for by His presence and glory. These five are: first, the Ark of the Covenant; second, the Urim and Thummim in the breastplate of the high priest, through which the priest consulting God received answers from Him and learned future events; third, the sacred fire fallen from heaven for burning the sacrificial victims; fourth, the presence of God in the Holy of Holies above the mercy seat and the Cherubim; fifth, the Prophets and prophecy.
For that the Ark was absent from the second temple is clear from II Maccabees II, 4, where it is narrated that Jeremiah, when the destruction of Jerusalem was imminent, carried it out of the temple and hid it, and said: "that the place would be unknown until God should gather together the congregation of the people and become propitious to the Jews" — which will be at the end of the world, when He will gather them into the Church of Christ and save them. Therefore the Ark of the Covenant which is shown here in Rome in the Lateran basilica is not the Ark made by Moses, but its image and representation, which the Jews, deprived of the original Mosaic Ark (which contained the urn of manna and the tablets of the Decalogue inscribed by the finger of God), fashioned in its likeness and (as is said) placed in the temple. But that the sacred fire was absent from the second temple is false; for under Judas Maccabeus and Nehemiah, at the purification of the temple, it was restored to them from heaven, as is clear from II Maccabees I, 32. This is true, however, if we speak of the original fire that fell for the sacrifices of Aaron and Moses. For this, hidden by Jeremiah, was later sought but did not appear, as is said in the same passage.
Similarly, the oracle of the Urim and Thummim appears to have been absent from the second temple, at least for many years. For Josephus writes about it thus in Book III of the Antiquities, chapter 12: "The breastplate (in Hebrew chosen, that is the rational, in which were the Urim and Thummim) and the sardonyx therefore ceased to shine two hundred years before I wrote these things, since God was displeased at the transgression of the laws." Here note that Josephus mentioned only the splendor of the breastplate, not the oracle; therefore the oracle seems to have ceased much earlier. Hence Arias, Vatablus, and others think that by "I shall be glorified" is signified that Christ — the he lacking in eccabeda, that is, these five gifts — will supply them by His presence and glory when He frequents, teaches in, and performs miracles in the second temple, about which more in chapter II, 7. Therefore, instead of אכבד eccabeda, that is, "I shall be glorified," with different vowel points it could be read actively as אכביד echbid, that is, "I will glorify." The Chaldean seems to have read it thus, when he translates: It will please Me to place My majesty in it with glory. For although God's majesty always invisibly dwelt in the temple, yet it visibly dwelt in it when the incarnate Word — namely Christ — adorned it with His bodily presence and majesty. Perhaps it could more fittingly be said that the he implied in eccabeda, that is, "I shall be glorified," signifies that Christ would be the glory of the second temple, but a hidden glory, concealed from the Jews. For the Kabbalists teach that he signifies the middle Person in the Most Holy Trinity, namely the Son, through whom as the idea and word every thing primahaia — that is, existed and was created. Hence the name Jehovah contains within itself the Most Holy Trinity: for the initial Yod denotes the Father, who is the origin of the Most Holy Trinity; He denotes the Son; Vav denotes the Holy Spirit. Moreover, He is doubled in יהוה Jehovah, to signify the twofold nature of Christ, divine and human.
Verse 9
9. You looked for much. — You hoped you would have an exceedingly abundant harvest, and behold, you gathered a small one; and the little that you brought into the granaries, I, God, "blew away" — that is, by My breath and My nod I caused it to vanish, or reduced it to nothing, just as a burning wind is accustomed to blow away crops when it scorches and dries out the grain, and so leaves empty husks. "When the crops were already ripening," says St. Jerome, "and the time of harvest was at hand, and you thought you held the grain in your hands, you reaped empty stalks and hollow straw. The threshing floors were full, hope was in your eyes, mourning in your hands.
"But even this very little that had scarcely been selected from the abundant crop and the immense heaps, you brought into your house, and by My power it was scattered. For I blew it away and reduced it to nothing; because the grain was dead, and the empty husks, which should have been useful for food, had neither flour nor fine meal."
And he adds tropologically: "How many times have I seen very much hoped for from certain people, both in learning and in conduct, and after the time came for them to have the harvest — that is, the time for teaching and offering their life as an example to the peoples — they were cast down from on high, and less was found in them than everyone's opinion had promised. Whence it happened that as negligence gradually crept in, they lost even the little they seemed to have. But this they suffered because they had been complacent in their former dwellings and had not ascended the mountain of Scripture, cutting from it timber for the Lord's building, nor had they daily built up the house of the Lord within themselves."
For the Prophet adds this reason: "Because My house lies desolate, while each of you hurries to his own house." The Zurich Bible: Because My house is still desolate, but you run so that each may have his own house — that is, each of you is busy with your own affairs, and meanwhile you neglect divine matters. So Vatablus.
Verse 10
10. Therefore the heavens above you have been restrained. — Thus the Chaldean also translates in the past tense: Therefore because of your sins the heavens have ceased from emitting rain, and the earth has ceased from producing its fruits. These words and the following can also be translated in the future tense with the Septuagint: Therefore the heaven will withhold its dew, and the earth will withdraw its produce — because they sense the injury done to God their Creator and will avenge it.
Verse 11
11. And I called for a drought upon the land — and consequently barrenness, scarcity (as the Chaldean translates), and famine, and consequently diseases and plagues, indeed quarrels, rages, and wars, which arise from this inflammation and failure of air and crops. Hence the Septuagint, reading חרב chereb (that is, sword) instead of חרב choreb (that is, drought), translate: I will bring a sword upon the land. By "sword" understand either one properly so-called — namely the wars just mentioned — or a metaphorical one, namely drought and famine, which like a sword kills and cuts down men. So a Castro. For in Scripture, sword or fire are general names and signify any disaster. In the Hebrew there is an elegant paronomasia by which the punishment alludes to the fault: because, he says, My house is חרב chareb, that is, desolate; hence likewise I called חרב choreb, that is, drought, or חרב chereb, that is, a sword, which will similarly desolate you and make your houses deserted. Thus the Jews, because they abandoned and despised Christ, heard in turn from Him: "Behold, your house shall be left to you desolate" (Matthew XXIII, 38).
Tropologically: "All these things," says St. Jerome, "can be understood of the rulers of the Church, who building an earthly house and providing for their children and possessions, do not care either to build the temple of God within themselves or to restore the Church of the Lord, which is corrupted and ruined; whose life and inconsistent speech often scandalize many, drives them from the Church, and reduces the house of God to solitude, so that because of their vice neither do the heavens give dew nor the earth its produce," etc. For this reason God in every age has raised up distinguished pontiffs, doctors, founders of religious Orders, men illustrious in holiness and wisdom, who would restore the ruins of the Church and rebuild it by word and example. Such were St. Athanasius, Basil, Gregory Nazianzen, Chrysostom, Augustine, Jerome, Ambrose, Benedict, Bernard, Dominic, and Francis, who during his lifetime appeared in a vision to Pope Innocent III as if supporting the collapsing Lateran basilica, where the Pope has his pontifical chair. Moved by this vision, the Pope immediately approved his rule and Order.
Moreover, the same saint was called to this very task by God through a similar vision. For, as St. Bonaventure narrates in his Life, chapter 2: "When he had entered the church of San Damiano, which was threatening to collapse, for the purpose of prayer, and prostrate before the image of the crucified, gazing upon it with tearful eyes, he heard with his bodily ears a voice coming from the cross itself, saying three times: Francis, go and repair My house, which, as you see, is being completely destroyed. Trembling, Francis was carried out of himself in ecstasy. At length returning to himself, he gathered all his strength to fulfill the command concerning the repair of the material church — although the principal intention of the word was directed to the Church which Christ acquired with His blood, as the Holy Spirit taught him and he himself later revealed to the Brothers." St. Bonaventure adds that he then restored three churches — namely San Damiano, San Pietro, and Santa Maria degli Angeli — to signify what he would do in the future: "For in the likeness of the threefold structure repaired under the guidance of this holy man, according to the form, rule, and doctrine given by him, the Church of Christ was to be renewed in three ways, and a threefold army of the saved was to triumph" — namely, the threefold Order was to be established by him, which would reform all states of the Church.
These are the ones whom Isaiah, foreseeing in the spirit, joyfully celebrates in chapter LVIII, 12: "And they shall build within you the ruins of ages; you shall raise up the foundations of generation after generation, and you shall be called the repairer of the breaches, the restorer of paths to quiet." Finally, St. Chrysostom in Oration 3 Against the Jews, volume V, teaches that he who converts a soul offers God a greater and more pleasing gift than if he built Him a temple. "God," he says, "destroyed a single temple in Jerusalem and erected innumerable ones, far more venerable than that one. You, He says, are the temple of the living God." And further: "This is a greater alms than ten thousand talents, than this entire world, however vast it spreads before the eyes in every direction. For a human being is more precious than the whole world. For his sake both heaven and earth, and sea, and sun, and stars were created."
Verse 12
12. As the Lord had sent him. — For "as" the Hebrew has כאשר caasher, which signifies either cause — as if to say: Because the Lord had sent Haggai, therefore the people heard him — or manner, as if to say: In the way the people heard and obeyed Haggai, namely that God had sent him — they did not twist his words to another meaning, but plainly accepted them according to the mind of the Lord, just as Haggai had delivered and explained them, and thus they immediately fulfilled them in deed.
For true obedience consists in this: that we do not interpret the words of a precept perversely, nor explain and twist them to our own liking, but simply accept and carry them out according to the mind of the one commanding. So a Castro.
Verse 13
13. And Haggai the messenger of the Lord spoke the Lord's message. — "The Lord's message" can be taken in two ways. First, in the neuter gender, as if to say: He who was in the Lord's service of messages — that is, of embassies — as we commonly say: This person is my secretary, my counselor, my scribe. So Arias. Hence in Hebrew it is מלאכות malachut, which the Zurich Bible, Pagninus, and others translate as: And Haggai, the ambassador of the Lord, said in the embassy of the Lord — that is, he was carrying out the embassy to which the Lord had sent and dispatched him. Hence Cyrus translates: Haggai, the angel of the Lord, said in the angelic mission of the Lord — that is, the legate or messenger in the announcement of the Lord, as the Arabic version translates — who, namely, was being sent by the Lord to the people to announce God's commands to them. Secondly and more plainly, in the masculine, as if to say: Haggai spoke, who was a messenger and legate, one of the most approved messengers and legates of the Lord, to whom therefore Zerubbabel and the people deservedly gave their trust. With a similar Hebraism and doubling it is said in Genesis XIX: "The Lord rained from the Lord." Again and again Haggai emphasizes that he is sent and speaks from God, in order to win trust for his oracles and more forcefully move the sluggish people to the construction of the temple — which God commands and urges again and again, at the same time promising His help and protection for it.
From this passage Origen, as St. Jerome here reports without naming him, suspected that Haggai was not a man but an incarnate angel, as I said in the Introduction; but without foundation. For the Hebrew מלאך malach signifies "angel" not only by nature but also by office — that is, legate, messenger, as our Translator, the Septuagint, the Chaldean, and others render it. However, learn from this the dignity of Haggai. Hence the Septuagint translates: Haggai, angel of the Lord, said among the angels of the Lord — that is, an angel chosen and elected from among the angels. From the Hebrew you might translate: Haggai, the angel of the Lord, said in the Gospel of the Lord, or messenger in the announcement of the Lord. For he announces the birth and redemption of Christ festively in chapter II, 7. In a similar way the last Prophet is called Malachi, that is, the angel of the Lord. And John the Baptist, on account of his angelic life and preaching, is called an angel in Malachi III, 1: "Behold, I send My angel, and he shall prepare the way before My face." Thus Christ, in Isaiah IX, 6, is called by the Septuagint the angel — that is, the messenger — of great counsel. Let the Prophets — that is, doctors and preachers — see here their dignity, and know that they are legates and messengers of God. So St. Paul in II Corinthians V, 20: "On behalf of Christ," he says, "we serve as ambassadors, as though God were exhorting through us. We beseech you on behalf of Christ: be reconciled to God."
I am with you. — "He does not speak," says St. Jerome, "to Zerubbabel and Joshua, with whom and in whom the Lord always was; but to the people, who had feared before the Lord, as if to say: I will be your helper. Build My house which has been destroyed among you; with Me established in your midst, no one will be able to prevent your building.
Verse 14
14. And the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel, and the spirit of Joshua. — "So that kingship and priesthood might build the temple of God," says St. Jerome, "the spirit of the people is also stirred up, which had been sleeping in them before — not the body, not the soul, but the spirit, which knows better how to build the temple of God."
Tropologically, "The Holy Spirit is stirred up in us, that we may enter the house of the Lord and do the works of the Lord." Now God stirred up the spirit — that is, the mind and courage of the people — arousing them so that they would cheerfully and vigorously apply themselves to the construction.