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1–9. The second speech of the prophet Haggai speaks of the despondency of the builders of the second Jerusalem temple due to its poverty in comparison with the temple of Solomon and, in connection with this, announces the greatest glory of the future church in messianic times. 10–19. The third speech reinforces the zeal discovered by the people for the construction of the church with the promise of God's blessing to the people in everyday affairs, which they were previously deprived of for negligence in the work of God. 20–33. The fourth speech is an appeal to Zerubbabel, as a descendant of the house of David and the bearer of the promises given to this house. Agg.2:1. In the seventh month, on the twenty-first day of the month, the word of the Lord came through Haggai the prophet: According to LXX, glory. v. 2. The twenty-first day of the seventh month - Tisri was a holiday - the seventh or last day of the Feast of Tabernacles, celebrated for seven days, starting from the 15th Tisri (Exodus 23.16; Lev.23:34; Deut. 16.13). The flow of people to Jerusalem in these days was especially large, and it is possible that the prophet deliberately took advantage of this favorable opportunity to announce to the people an encouraging prophecy in their state of despondency about the glorious future of the church under construction. The quick following of this prophecy after the previous one shows that the good movement of the souls (Hagg 1.12–14) of the listeners of the first speech of the prophet (Hagg 1.1–11) attracted God’s mercy and God’s help to them. “From this,” notes the blessed one. Theodoret, - we clearly understand that, having decided on good, we soon receive God's help. For they too, inclined towards the best, took advantage of God’s permission, and Divine grace made them the most zealous” (p. 61). Ag.2:2. say now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jozedek, the great priest, and to the remnant of the people: However, the jealousy of the masses could easily weaken, and the prophet, apparently, already saw signs of some despondency in the people, which, perhaps, explains the addition (against Agg 1.1) in the address or address of speech of new words: vesel-sheerit gaam, and the rest of the people, according to the code. 155 Kennicott, also: kol (sheerit), LXX: πρὸς παντας τους καταλοἰπους τοῦ λαοῦ, glav.: “and to all other people.” Agg.2:3. who remained among you, who saw this house in its former glory, and how do you see it now? Is he not, as it were, nothing in your eyes? Hag.2:4. But be of good cheer now, O Zerubbabel, says the Lord; be of good cheer, O Jesus, son of Jozedek, great priest! Be of good cheer, all you people of the earth, says the Lord, and do your work, for I am with you, says the Lord of hosts. Next, the main circumstance is indicated that especially could and did cool the jealousy of the builders of the second Temple of Jerusalem: this is its comparative simplicity and even poverty in comparison with the splendor of Solomon’s Temple. And such a comparison for those who saw the last one was natural and necessary. That such old-timers could have been present during the reconstruction of the Jerusalem Temple and listened to the speeches of the prophet Haggai cannot be doubted: the 70-year period of Babylonian captivity could easily have been survived by children and even young men of the pre-exilic era. The first book of Ezra (1Ezra 3.12) directly confirms the presence at the foundation of the second church of persons who had seen the previous church. But that the prophet Haggai himself was one of these old-timers, as some researchers suggest, this cannot at all be deduced from this place. The prophet only notes the fact of the cowardice of his contemporaries in the beginning of the construction of the church and he himself fearlessly states the reality of the difference between the second church and the first, so that then (Hag. 2: 7, 9) the glory of the second church, far surpassing the first, will appear in special splendor. Now - Art. 4 - he first encourages the entire people and their two representatives and leaders to continue the work they have started without stopping. Encouragement this time, as before (Hag 1:5, 7), is expressed on behalf of the Lord of Hosts. The content of this encouragement is outlined in Haggai 2:5–9. Hag.2:5. My covenant, which I made with you when you came out of Egypt, and My spirit remains among you: do not be afraid! Difficult to explain precisely due to its grammatical construction, this verse (5) contains a very definite idea about those inalienable guarantees of God’s favor and salvation, which at all times in the Old Testament history of salvation for Biblical Israel were associated with the idea of ​​the Sinai Covenant (Exodus 19.5 f., Deut. 5.1ff.), a clear indication of which is in the text of the verse in question. Blessed Theodoret paraphrases this verse as follows: “Putting aside all laziness and fear, accept the strength given to you, believing that I am with you in the law, and that the grace of the All-Holy Spirit is providing for you” (p. 62). The last concept (about the grace of the All-Holy Spirit) on the Old Testament biblical basis should be understood, however, in a more general sense of the power of God, realizing the saving promises of God for the people of God and all mankind in the consciousness of the inviolability of God’s covenant relationship with them and in a living sense of the presence of the Spirit of God among them, the Jews, according to the prophet, should not be embarrassed and lose heart, even if the external circumstances of this moment did not meet their cherished desires and ardent expectations. Hag.2:6. For thus says the Lord of hosts: Once again, and it will be soon, I will shake heaven and earth, sea and dry land, Hag.2:7. And I will shake all nations, and the One desired by all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of hosts. Hag.2:8. The silver is Mine and the gold is Mine, says the Lord of hosts. Hag.2:9. The glory of this last church will be greater than the first, says the Lord of hosts; and in this place I will give peace, says the Lord of hosts. Having mentioned in the previous (5th) verse the covenant of God with his people as the main basis of the latter’s hope, the prophet now, v. 6, reproduces the very picture or setting of the Sinai legislation, points precisely to the formidable phenomena in the physical and moral world that accompanied this event, and here compares with the Sinai event the future world catastrophe, which will precede the extraordinary glorification of the church and the people. What is this shaking of heaven, earth, sea and land (v. 6b) and all nations (7a) of which the prophet now speaks? Placed in parallel with the action on nature and on the peoples of the Sinai legislation, the action of God on the peoples itself will obviously be the moral influence of the true religion of Israel on the pagan world. The nature, properties and consequences of this type of influence can only be judged in connection with an understanding of the meaning of the difficult expression of Art. 7: “bau hemdat kol gaggoim.” What is the meaning of the word hemda in this place, usually meaning desire, object of desire, and finally, jewel? The opinions of ancient translations, as well as ancient and new interpreters, are divided into three main groups here. Some give the abstract hemda a concrete meaning and see here an indication of a personal Messiah, as the object of desires of all peoples. In this sense, the mentioned Vulgate expression conveys: veniet Desideratus cunctis gentibus; Russian synod: and the One desired by all nations will come. But, no matter how natural and plausible such an interpretation is from the point of view of the history of the biblical messianic idea, neither the grammatical construction (the predicate bau is in the plural) nor the context of the speech, which actually speaks of the future glory of the erected church, allows us to see in the expression under consideration an indication of the personal Messiah. Moreover, the very attitude of the various pagan peoples of antiquity to biblical Israel and its messianic aspirations could and did indeed be very different. Blessed Theodoret understands the upheaval of the nations, which is spoken of in Art. 7a, in the sense of the victory of the power of God over the peoples hostile to Israel and God, Gog and Magog: “this foretells this about Gog and Magog, to whom, when they set out with many nations to take up arms against Jerusalem, God allowed this, and made it so that, armed against each other, they were destroyed by each other, and the Lord gave their wealth to the builders of the churches” (p. 62). – Due to the lack of indications in the text on the personality of the Messiah, translations and interpreters place the word hemda in a closer connection and dependence with the words kol-gaggoim, and again two views are distinguished: according to one view, the entire expression: hemda kol-gaggoim means: “the best, chosen from all nations” (who have to enter the Kingdom of God) on the other: “riches, precious gifts of all nations” (what riches the peoples have to bring into gift to the Jerusalem Temple). The first of these views was already carried out in the LXX: ἠξει τὰ ἐκλεκτὰ πάντων των ἐθνῶν, as well as in the Latin translation - ancient Italian: venient omnia electa gentium; glor.: “the chosen ones of all languages ​​will come.” Both understandings under consideration are equally acceptable, since both of them have analogies for themselves, for example, in the image of the Prophet Isaiah, ch. LX, the future glory of Jerusalem. According to the context of the speech, the understanding of hemda in the sense of gifts that the pagan peoples who turned to Jehovah have to bring to the Jerusalem temple is closer (cf. (Hag. 2: 3), which spoke of the poverty of the church being erected, and v. 8, where with special emphasis it speaks of silver and gold, which are in the temporary use of the pagans, but, in essence, belong to the one Jehovah); In this case, a complete parallel to the expression under consideration will be the words of Isaiah 60.5: hel goyim yaboulah, the wealth of the nations will come to you. Second half of Art. On the 7th, “I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of hosts,” speaks with greater certainty about the consequences of those world and popular upheavals that were mentioned in the first half of the verse. One of the significant consequences of the “shaking of all the nations” (v. 7a, see Hag. 2:22) will be the filling of the house of the Lord, now being built with extraordinary glory. The outward expression of this glory will be the flow of the wealth of nations into the temple of Jerusalem, which, however, is not directly discussed in Art. 8th, paraphrased by Blessed Theodoret as follows: “I do not appropriate what is alien to myself, but I will take back what is mine; out of generosity I gave them wealth, and since they did not know the Generator, I legally deprive them of their gifts” (p. 62). In reading Art. On the 9th, between the Hebrew Masoretic and Greek LXX texts, a difference in construction is noticed, namely: while in the Hebrew text the glory of one - the second church is compared with the glory of another - the first (Russian synod.: “The glory of this last church will be greater than the former”), in the LXX text a comparison is made between the first and last glory of the same church, ή δὸξα τοῦ σἰκου τούτου, ή ἐσχὰτη ὐπέρ τήν πρώτην, glory: “great will be the last glory of this church more than the first.” And this last arrangement of words, in which the church of Jehovah seems to be something always identical and different only in its manifestations, deserves preference over the first, as it most corresponds to the prophetic view of the continuity of the movement of the history of salvation. “The Prophet says,” notes Blessed Theodoret, “that this temple will be more glorious not in the size and beauty of the building, but in how the pagan peoples will be exterminated; for with the rumor spreading everywhere, the power of the God of all was revealed” (p. 62). “And in this place I will give (you) peace, says the Lord of hosts.” In what place and what kind of world? The closest is in the church, and then in general in Jerusalem (“the foundation of the world”, according to the Hebrew word meaning), which, like Zion, in prophetic contemplation is often very closely related and, as it were, identified with the church (cf. Isa 2.3; Micah 4.2). The peace promised by God to the people in the newly built holy church and in the holy city - judging by the political upheavals expected at that time - must be, first of all, the peace of external security of the people of God, a political peace, but then also a spiritual peace, a peace of souls in conscience reconciled with God. “I will not only stop human warfare, but I will also give them divine peace. who will bring salvation to souls” (Blessed Theodoret, p. 63). Although there are direct indications in the prophecy considered, Art. 6–9, does not refer to the personality of the Messiah, but the general messianic meaning of the passage is obvious from the examination of its text already presented, and, in addition, is confirmed by the reference of the Apostle Paul to the prophecy of Haggai in the Epistle to the Hebrews, Hebrews 12, to the prophecy of Haggai about the secondary (after the Sinai legislation) shaking of heaven and earth. But the question of exactly what time the fulfillment of this prophecy relates to belongs to those mysteries of the Kingdom of God, which are destined for a long time to remain, as it were, a sealed book. One can only say that the fulfillment of this prophecy should be recognized not as instantaneous, but long-lasting, embracing entire centuries, and that only the beginning of its implementation should be attributed, as can be concluded from Hagg. 2:6, 21, 22, to the time that closely followed the utterance of the prophecy, namely, to see the beginning of the upheaval of all nations predicted by the prophet in the frequent and rapid political upheavals and changes of ancient world monarchies that occurred soon after. Hag.2:10. On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came through Haggai the prophet: Hag.2:11. Thus says the Lord of hosts: ask the priests about the law and say: Hag.2:12. If someone carried consecrated meat into the lapel of his garment and touched bread, or something boiled, or wine, or oil, or any food with its skirt, would it become sacred? And the priests answered and said, No. Hag.2:13. Then Haggai said: And if anyone who has been defiled by touching a dead person touches all this, will it become unclean? And the priests answered and said, It will be unclean. Hag.2:14. Then Haggai answered and said, “Such is this people, such is this tribe before Me, says the Lord, and such is all the work of their hands!” And what they bring there is all unclean. Hag.2:15. Now set your hearts on the time from this day and back, when stone was not laid upon stone in the church of the Lord. Hag.2:16. Sometimes they came to a heap that could yield twenty measures, and only ten turned out; they came to the hole to draw fifty measures from the hole, but it turned out to be only twenty. Hag.2:17. I struck you with rust and faded bread and with hail all the labor of your hands; but you did not turn to Me, says the Lord. Hag.2:18. Set your hearts on the time from this day and back, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, from the day when the church of the Lord was founded; turn your heart: Hag.2:19. are there any seeds left in the granaries? Hitherto, neither the vine, nor the fig tree, nor the pomegranate tree, nor the olive tree had produced fruit; and from this day I will bless them. The third speech of the prophet was delivered by him to the people two months and three days after the second speech (v. 10, see art. 1). Some features of this, the third speech of the prophet in comparison with other speeches, gave rise to some interpreters of modern times (for example, Andre) to deny its authenticity - mainly on the basis that it allegedly interrupts the natural sequence of speech and the connection between the second (Hag 2.1-9) and fourth (Hag 2.20-23) speeches of the prophet. But this circumstance is quite satisfactorily explained by the consideration that the sequence of speeches and speeches of the prophet is determined not by a logical system, but by the chronological order of their utterance and the very subject of their content. From the point of view of content, the third speech of the prophet is noticeably divided into two equal halves: in the first half of the speech (v. 10–14) the prophet discusses the position and condition of the Jews of his time upon their return from captivity - from a religious-ritual point of view, precisely proving the presence of religious-ritual impurity among the people due to their lack of a church; in the second half (vv. 15–19), the life of the people, their misfortunes and their well-being, are made dependent on the zeal of the people to build the church, which was unequal at different times, which determined the unequal attitude of God’s providence towards the people: punishing or admonishing before, and merciful and blessing later, from the moment of the founding of the church. The difference in points of view in one and the other cases is obvious, but both halves of the speech equally serve the main goal of the prophet - to convince his listeners to carry out the begun construction of the church with all zeal and with full good spirits. – Only a few individual expressions of speech require special explanation, and not so much in themselves, but because of the arbitrary assumptions made about them by new interpreters of a negative-critical direction. So they assume (Andre, Marty) that under the word tora, law, LXX: νόμον, Vulg.: legem, in Art. 11, of course, not the actual written law, but an oral tradition kept by the priests, who, in necessary cases, gave answers on liturgical, ritual, etc. questions. In addition, in the very questions of Art. 12–13 of the prophet, the priests see something unusual, as if for a prophet, attention to the church and cult, which the ancient prophets, for example, Jeremiah (Jeremiah 7.1 chapter of his book) did not show them; some are even inclined to see in these ideas of holiness and impurity the influence of the religion of the magicians - Parsism or Mazdaism on the biblical-Jewish worldview and doctrine. But the first thought is based on the general view of the new biblical critical school (Wellhausen and others), the hypothetical assertion that the written Torah in its present form did not appear before Ezra: a hypothesis that currently does not have much scientific credit even in the West. Moreover, the very appeal of a prophet or someone else to the priests for one or another certificate regarding the provisions of the law cannot at all indicate the non-existence of a written law at a given time, since in the Law of Moses itself it is assumed everywhere and more than once stated that the duty of the priests was to give answers, instructions and explanations to the difficult questions of doctrine, ritual and general everyday life put to them by ordinary Israelis (see. Lev.10:10, 13.1 – 14.1; Deut. 17:8, 24:8, 33:8–10). It is equally unnecessary to attempt to draw a sharp distinction between the attitude of the more ancient prophets and the prophet Haggai to cult and ritual. Those denunciations of Jews for the unpleasing performance of religious rituals, which are contained in the more ancient prophets, for example, Amos (Amos 5), Isaiah (Isaiah 1), Jeremiah (Jeremiah 7), do not contain a denial or simply even condemnation of the cult itself, but only warn the Jews against their exaggerated hope in the power and significance of the church, cult and all generally external guarantees of their covenant with God, at the same time they indicate the very spirit Godly service, expressed in the steady fulfillment of the will of God. The Prophet Haggai, without denying this last point of view, only puts forward Art. 12-14, - according to the circumstances and state of the Jewish community after the captivity, - the significance of the church and the religious ritual associated with it. LXX to the text of verse art. 14 (15 according to vol. LXX) they add the words ὁδυνηθήσονται ἀπὸ προσώπου πόνων αὐτῶν , καὶ ἐμισεῖτε ἐν πύλαις ἐλέγχοντα. Slav.: “for their morning reception, they will suffer from the face of their wickedness, and they will hate the one who accuses in the gates.” According to the remark of Blessed Jerome, these words “are not in the Hebrew text or in other interpreters” (p. 343). Apparently, these words should be recognized as a later gloss; if they are recognized as genuine, their explanation is difficult. Their general idea is a reproach to modern Jews for greed and passion for profit. The second half of the speech under consideration represents the disclosure of the thought expressed by the prophet back in his first speech (Hag. 1:6 and Hag. 1:9), but in relation to this moment of renewed work on the restoration of the church: from this turning point, according to the promise of God given through the prophet, a new life for the Jews will begin, full of all the blessings given by the blessing of God. In verses 15 and 18, precisely in the word maala, back, found in both verses, and in the expression lemin gayom - uniquely understood, supporters of the view already known to us (see our introduction to the book of the prophet Haggai) (Shrader et al.) about the foundation of the church precisely in 520, and not at all under Cyrus, as the book of Ezra says, saw support for their glance. But an impartial analysis of these terms convinces us that this argument cannot at all be extracted from this place, which rather implies that the church was founded much earlier than the 24th day of the 9th month of the 2nd year of Darius (see more about this from Prof. V.D. Popov. The return of the Jews from Babylonian captivity and the first years of their life in Palestine before the arrival of Ezra in Jerusalem. Kyiv. 1905. p. 295–305). Hag.2:20. And the word of the Lord came to Haggai a second time on the twenty-fourth day of the month, saying: Hag.2:21. say to Zerubbabel, the ruler of Judah, I will shake the heavens and the earth; Hag.2:22. and I will overthrow the thrones of kingdoms, and destroy the power of the kingdoms of the heathen, I will overturn the chariots and those who sit on them, and the horses and their riders will be thrown down, one by the sword of the other. Hag.2:23. On that day, says the Lord of hosts, I will take you, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, my servant, says the Lord, and I will hold you as a seal, for I have chosen you, says the Lord of hosts. Regarding the fourth speech of the prophet, addressed actually to Zerubbabel alone, but in its content representing a reproduction of an essential part of the second speech (Hag 2.1–9, actually Hg 2.6–9), exegesis poses mainly two questions: 1) why and in what sense is the prophecy, constituting the revelation of the prophecy of Hg 2.6 and previously given to the whole people, now communicated to Zerubbabel alone? and 2) what is the meaning of God’s promise for Zerubbabel to keep or keep it like a ring or seal? The first question is resolved by some new biblical historians (Stade, Wellhausen) in the sense that the entire fourth speech is an expression of the political and messianic aspirations of the Jewish people, concentrated after the captivity on Zerubbabel, as a representative of the community and a scion of the royal family of David - aspirations that were revived, supposedly, thanks to the construction of the church or under the influence of revolutionary movements in the Persian empire, which aroused in the subordinates of Persia peoples hope for the speedy collapse of Persia and their liberation from its yoke. But the presence of such hopes and aspirations among the Jews of this time is not confirmed either by biblical or extra-biblical sources. The book of the prophet Haggai quite clearly demonstrates that the Jews contemporary to the prophet not only did not harbor the indicated kind of bold hopes and political tendencies, but were also deeply depressed by various kinds of failures and disasters to the point of almost complete loss of faith in themselves, in their strength, even in the immutability of their covenant with God and the promises given to the people of God by Jehovah (cf. Haggai 2.4–6); in particular, the 4th speech, with its consoling, encouraging tone, testifies to the oppressed, depressed mood of Zerubbabel, and in his person the entire people. There is an undoubted connection between the 4th speech and the second, especially with Art. Hagg 2.6–9, shows, on the contrary, that what was said earlier to the people is now repeated to Zerubbabel, obviously to clarify possible confusion, precisely as a member of the royal house of David, to whom, with his descendants, were once given high, eternal promises (2 Sam. 7:13, 15, 18; Ps 89.28, etc.). With this together we come to the solution of the question in what sense is promised to Zerubbabel, v. 23 that God will keep it as a seal ring. The analogy of other biblical places where the ring is spoken of (for example, Jer 22.24; Song 8.6; Sir 17.18) indisputably confirms that here (v. 23) it is spoken of the special, gracious protection of Zerubbabel by the Providence of God, and not so much him personally, but as a representative of God’s chosen royal family of David, from which the Messiah was to come. This typological meaning of the prophecy is also indicated by the memory of Haggai’s prophecy about Zerubbabel preserved by Jesus, the son of Sirach: “How shall we exalt Zerubbabel? And he is like a ring on his right hand!” (Sir 49.13). What is learned by Zerubbabel in Hag 2.22–23, in the true sense, belongs to the great descendant of Zerubbabel - the Divine Servant of Jehovah - Christ the Savior (cf. 1 Chr. 3.16-19; Mt. 1.12-13; Lk. 1.27). You might be interested in: