Commentary on the prophet Haggai

“Interpretation of the Prophet Haggai” (2 chapters) is part of the “Interpretation of the 12 Minor Prophets”, written by Bl. Theodoret of Cyrus in the 30-40s. V century at the request of friends. He uses a typological method of interpretation and pays sufficient attention to clarifying the chronology of the prophet's life. Blzh. Theodoret views the Book of the Prophet Haggai as an important message about the restoration of the church and the spiritual life of the people. He emphasizes that the prophet Haggai reminds the people of the need to complete the construction of the church, which symbolizes the presence of God among people. The prophet calls the Israelites to repentance and renewal of spiritual life, indicating that only through a right relationship with God can they find blessing and prosperity. Blzh. Theodoret also draws attention to the promises contained in the Book of the Prophet Haggai, including the prediction of the Incarnation. Cyrus, the first king of the Persians, as soon as he ascended the kingdom, proclaimed freedom to the captive Jews, and, if anyone wanted, allowed them to return to their fatherland and again create God's church. Having heeded this, all those who were nourished by prophetic words and knew about the predicted return, willingly went and settled in Jerusalem and began to build the church of God. But having encountered obstacles to this from foreigners living in the neighborhood, especially under Cyrus’s son Cambyses, who, at the instigation of these neighbors, issued a decree contrary to his parents’, they were forced to remain inactive. After a long time, Darius, the son of the Istaspians, reigned and, like Cyrus, gave the command to build the church of God. And the Jews in the second year of the reign of Darius began the construction, and in the sixth they brought it to completion. That is why the Pharisees said to the Lord: “In fourty and six years was this church built, and in three days did You raise it up” (John 2:20)? For the Jews, having begun to build under Cyrus, were stopped in this matter; then, after the death of Cyrus, Cambyses and the magicians who reigned after them, in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the structure reached its proper end. Under this king, the godly wise Haggai was honored with prophetic grace, and through his mouth the God of all, as he accuses the Jews of the fact that the construction of the church is being carried out slowly, so commands Zerubbabel, who was at the same time the ruler of the people, and the bishop Jesus to immediately take up the building of the church, and promises that he will gather to Jerusalem many different nations with a great abundance of money from them, and will put everyone there to death, and their wealth will provide the Jews with construction costs. This is the content of this prophecy; We will see its precise meaning upon detailed interpretation. Agg.1:1 . In the second summer, under Darius the king, in the sixth month, in the first month, the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggea the Prophet, saying: Before the captivity, the Prophets inscribed the years of the kings of Judah and Israel, but upon returning from captivity, since the Jews no longer had their own kings, the divine Haggai sets out the year of the king of Persia, and mentions not only the year, but also the month and day, wanting to show not only the speed of construction, but also the wealth of bounties with which the God of all gives His blessing to those who create. For soon after this he commands the Jews to make a comparison of what they had before the construction, and what they found after it was completed, and to find out from experience in what lack of everything necessary they were, putting off taking care of the church, and how much good they began to have for themselves, having put in the effort to build the church. What was said: “by the hand of the Prophet” we will understand: through Haggai. Agg.1:2. To this day the Lord Almighty says: These people say: The time has not come to build the church of the Lord. Agg.1:3. And the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggea the Prophet, saying: Agg.1:4. How long is it time for you to live in your hewn houses, and this church is desolate? Divine Scripture usually calls a bishop a great priest. Therefore, when Jesus was a bishop and Zerubbabel the ruler of the people, God before them, as if before some judges, accuses the people through the Prophet, and says: look how much care they take about their houses, not only build, but also decorate them, but the houses of God, for whose sake they all participate in their common salvation, do not want to build, claiming that the time is not favorable to creation. Hag.1:5. And now the Lord Almighty says again: order your hearts in your ways. Be guided by common sense, be judges of your undertakings, and find out how much difference there is between zeal for the divine and negligence. Then he says that, wasting a lot of seeds, they collected very few fruits, which is why they always suffer from hunger and thirst, and are never satisfied, but live in poverty and are in poverty, so that they do not have the necessary clothing. For the Prophet says: Hag.1:6. He clothed himself and did not warm himself in them: and they collected bribes, collecting them in the vagina of the diravo. Apart from the owners themselves, those who live by the labor of their hands, accustomed to take payment and save what they earned by labor, wasting what they collected, did not receive the slightest benefit from their many labors. Then God again commands to be guided by a chaste thought, to prefer the care of God’s church to everything else, to go to the tops of mountains overshadowed by forests, and cut down trees suitable for construction, promising to help them and make them glorious. He reminds them of their former poverty, so that they know what the reward is for negligence. Hag.1:9. I saw a lot, and it was a little, and I carried it into the church, and I breathed. Expecting to reap a lot of fruits, you were deceived in your hope; you did not collect much and did not take advantage of it; because I scattered it from the very vaginas. Agg.1:10. For this reason, the sky will be kept from dew, and the earth will be drained of its wear and tear. Hag.1:11. And I will bring the sword on the earth, and on the mountains, and on the wheat, and on the oil, and on all that the earth wears out: on man, and on cattle, and on all the labor of their hands. How you don’t care about serving Me, and take a lot of care about your homes; So I will forbid the clouds to water the earth, and I will command the earth to become barren; I will direct punitive force, like a kind of sword, not only against the fruits of the earth, but also against the people cultivating the land; with them their livestock, created for their service, will also suffer punishment. The God of all things threatens to do this for negligence about the house of God, not because he has a need for it (the Creator of all things has no need for heaven, but created everything out of one love for mankind); but caring for them themselves, providing for their salvation, he commands that a church be created, so that they, fulfilling the law in the church, will benefit from it and perform lawful worship until, according to the word of the Apostle, the Heir comes (Rom. 8:17). For, after the incarnation of our Savior, with the appearance of the new covenant, the old covenant came to an end, and the “law of the nurse” (Gal. 2:2), having shown us the wise Teacher, gave way to Him; because those who were under his nurturing no longer needed his original guidance. But let us return to the next thing in order in this prophecy. Zerubbabel, the high priest Joshua, and the people they flocked to, hearing these threats, were filled with fear and obeyed what was spoken by the Prophet. The humane-loving Lord, seeing their obedience, immediately calls out through the Prophet: Hag.1:13. I am with you, says the Lord. Do not lose courage, because I am your helper and helper. Hag.1:14. And the Lord raised up the spirit of Zerubbabel Shealtiel from the tribe of Judah, and the spirit of Jesus the great priest of Jozadek, and the spirit of the rest of all the people: and he went down and did the works in the church of the Lord Almighty his God. Agg.2:1. On the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month. From this 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, and “on the twenty-fourth day of the month” they laid the foundation for the building of the church, having heard the prophecy in the new moon. Then the Lord, in the seventh month, again commands the Prophet to convey to them the following words: Agg.2:3. Who is from you, who saw this church in its former glory; and how do you see him now as if he does not exist before you? Remembering the former glory of the church and its former splendor, how can you indifferently see it in such desolation, if only there are among you those who lived from that time to now? Hag.2:4. And now be strong unto Zerubbabel, saith the Lord, and be strong unto Jesus, the son of Jehozed, the great priest, and let all the people of the earth be strong, and do: for I am with you, saith the Lord Almighty. Hag.2:6. And My word was with you when you came out of the land of Egypt, and My Spirit will remain in your midst. 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. And since many things served as obstacles, poverty and lack of necessities, and raids from neighbors; then, not without reason, he adds: Hag.2:7–8. With one more I will shake heaven and earth, sea and land, and I will shake all languages, and the chosen ones of all languages ​​will come: and I will fill the church of this glory, says the Lord Almighty. This is foreshadowed by Gog and Magog, who, when they decided to take up arms against Jerusalem with many nations, God allowed it, 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. And calming the ears of those who listen to this, he continues: Hag.2:9. The silver is Mine and the gold is Mine, says the Lord Almighty. I do not appropriate what is someone else’s to myself, but I will again receive what is mine; out of bounty I gave them wealth; and since they did not know the Generator, I lawfully deprive them of their gifts. Hag.2:10. And the last glory of this church will be greater than the first, says the Lord Almighty. The prophet says that this temple will be more glorious, not because of the size and beauty of the building, but because the pagan peoples will be destroyed; for with the rumor spreading everywhere, the power of the God of all was revealed. Therefore, the Prophet calls this event a shock to the sky, earth and sea, since everyone is amazed, and by this miracle, not only those living on land, but also those who have chosen the islands as their place of residence, and, moreover, the invisible Forces, for whom the ether and the sky itself are passable, are prompted to chant. “And in this place I will give peace, says the Lord Almighty, and peace of soul as a supply to everyone who builds this church.” I will not only stop human warfare, but I will also give them divine peace, which will bring salvation to souls. This will be the reward for the church builders. Then, in the ninth month, the Prophet receives a command from the God of all things to ask the priests: are the clothes consecrated by the sacred sacrifice sufficient to consecrate what touches, for example, bread, or wine, or oil, or something similar? And when the priests gave a negative answer; again he was commanded to ask: is clothing defiled if it touches something unclean? And to the affirmative answer of the priests, the Prophet was commanded to say the following: Hag.2:15. This people and this tongue are before me, says the Lord, and all this is the work of their hands, and if anyone comes near there, he will be defiled. Just as consecrated clothing cannot sanctify the one who touches it, but is itself defiled by touching something that is unclean according to the law: so this people, out of wickedness, does not receive any benefit from what is holy, but offends it by attempting to touch it wickedly. Then the Prophet reveals the reasons for this. “Because of their morning reception, they will suffer from the face of their wickedness, and they will hate those who reprove in the gates.” With the dawn of the morning you did not think about anything good, but were concerned about bad profits; They were hostile to those who denounced your wickedness, who, standing at the gates, offered the words of God to those entering and going out. But now consider in all detail what position you were in when you did not take care of the building of the church, and what your lack of necessities was. Having put twenty measures of barley in storage, you barely found half, and hoping to get fifty measures of wine from the winepress, you found only twenty. I admonished you in various ways, sending crop failures, destructive winds, and hail; but you, due to the greatness of your hard-heartedness, did not feel admonition. Therefore, remembering this, notice what kind of harvest you will have after you have begun the construction of the church. For I will give you such an abundance of necessary things that you will not know the very measure of the threshing floor, with blessing I will supply you with juicy fruits, I will increase the harvest of tree fruits, and in addition I will keep the word that I prophesied to you, Zerubbabel, about Gog and Magog. Hag.2:23. And I will transform the thrones of kings, and I will consume the strength of the kings of the heathen, and I will change the chariots and horsemen, and the horses and their horsemen will rise up, each one in arms against his brother. I will bring you victory without requiring any effort. Having brought the nations to madness and mental insanity, I will arm each other, and every one of them will be destroyed, even with horses. This: Hag.2:22. with one more I will shake heaven and earth and sea and land, God not only spoke, but also recalls the benefit shown during the invasion of Sennacherib; because, having betrayed Sennacherib’s army to sudden destruction, he filled the whole earth and sea with a terrible story about this. Hag.2:24. On that day, says the Lord Almighty: I will receive you to Zerubbabel Shealtiel, my servant, says the Lord, and I will set you as a seal, because I have chosen you, says the Lord Almighty. Without mentioning Jesus here, he mentions only Zerubbabel; because we are talking about wars and military leadership, but he alone took care of military affairs. Therefore, God says: on that day, after the destruction of these nations, I will make you, Zerubbabel, whom I have chosen to be a servant and servant, glorious and famous, and using you as a kind of seal, and through you I will provide the people with all security; because the seal applied to doors and chests makes the contents safe. Thus we have brought the interpretation of the prophecy to an end. But I marvel at the madness of Apollinaris, who undertook to give something contrary to this meaning to what was so clearly predicted, and to say that the militia of Gog and Magog has not yet existed, but will happen at the end of this age. This wise man did not pay attention to the continuous connection of the prophecy, namely, that immediately after the prediction of the defeat of Gog and Magog the Prophet added: “On that day, says the Lord Almighty, I will receive thee Zerubbabel my servant, says the Lord,” and so on. Therefore, if Apollinaris in the fables he composed invents some other Zerubbabel who will exist in those times; then let its interpretation remain for us a complete fable. If, of course, it is only Zerubbabel who ruled the people upon their return from captivity, then under him the army of these pagan nations was destroyed, and after this destruction Zerubbabel became glorious and famous. Apollinaris also had to take into account the fact that the delay in the construction of the church was covered by poverty, the Lord of all promised to gather these nations and give their wealth for expenses during the construction of the church, which is why he added: “My silver and my gold, and the last glory of this church will be greater than the first.” But leaving Apollinaris with his vanity, let us adhere to the truth and beg our philanthropic Master to grant us peace and spiritual peace, so that by pleasing Him in everything and using His help, we will avoid the slander of invisible enemies, and having lived according to His divine laws, we will be worthy of the promised blessings, by the grace and love of mankind of our Lord Jesus Christ. With Him glory to the Father and with the Holy Spirit, now and always and unto ages of ages! Amen.