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Hag.1:15, 2:1–3. In the second summer, during the reign of Darius the king, in the seventh month, on the twenty-first (day) of the month, the Lord spoke by the hand of Haggai the prophet, saying: Ritz this day to Zerubbabel of Shealtiel, of the tribe of Judah, and to Jesus, the son of Josedek, the great priest, and to all the rest of the people, saying: Who is of you, who saw this house in its former glory? and how do you see him now as if he does not exist before you? They began to enter the house of the Lord and get down to business on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month, and already on the twenty-first day of the next seventh month there was (again) the word of the Lord to Haggai. What kind of word it was, let’s think about it, how it should be said and what the reason was for it. Having begun to work patiently and devoted themselves to the care of the divine church, even later setting the twenty-seventh day for this, they began to indulge in cowardice, perhaps whispering to themselves or to each other that they were working in vain, and that even if they succeeded in building the church, it would in no way be like the first (church). That one was very magnificent, built with honest efforts, beautifully adorned with gold and silver offerings, but this one will be ugly, poor in all decorations and devoid of the splendor of riches. That first church was already abundantly decorated, possessing great wealth, by the former kings of Jerusalem, and especially Solomon before others, but the order to build this one was given to those who barely agreed to it, still covered with drops of the sweat of captivity and having absolutely nothing at home. Immersed in such thoughts and bewildered, although they worked, they again began to turn out to be reluctant and slow. Therefore, God strengthens those who are weary and beneficially asks them the question of whether they have anyone who has seen the (present) church in its former glory. There were very few of them and they were of advanced age. After all, the church was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar and Israel was taken into captivity, and released after seventy years. So it was difficult to find such a one, and he had to be an old man, like one who existed before the destruction, and who lived in captivity, and who again returned to Jerusalem. Therefore, he says: “Which of you will be the person who “saw this house in its former glory,” and therefore considers the future and new (church) to be completely non-existent? In this question there is also a censure of them, as they did not think that although they were in great need of money, God could not become weak and He will again be able to do this, I say, to reveal his church to the well-known and glorious. Hag.2:4–6. And now be strong, O Zerubbabel, says the Lord, be strong, O Jesus, son of Jehozed, the great priest, and let all the people of the earth be strengthened, says the Lord [Almighty], and do, since I am with you, says the Lord Almighty: the word I have commanded... shall never come to you out of Egypt, and my Spirit will be present in your midst: be of good cheer. It does not allow them to indulge in carelessness and be exposed to fears to the point of inactivity; on the contrary, it stimulates them to work hard and causes them to have strong zeal. And at the same time he prepares them for faith and makes them firm, saying that they need to dare, and promises even more than this and the most desirable thing - to be with them. And in what way, he added, saying: “My spirit will be present in your midst, take heart.” Hardly anyone with common sense and a strong mind will doubt that God will give strength and impart boldness to those who nobly work to build the divine church, that is, the church, because He will be present through the Holy Spirit, and everything will be successfully accomplished for them, through which they will be able to show their own lives as a magnificent and glorious church. So the Lord considered it necessary to say to the holy apostles, who were to build the Church and gather those who believed into the holy church, that “behold, I am with you” (Matthew 28:20). And that He had to be with them again through the Spirit, He Himself clearly reveals this, either by saying: “I will not leave you orphans, I will come to you” (John 14:18), then by putting in mind the image of departure, when He says again: “You have no idea, if I go away; if I do not go away, the comforter will not come to you: if I go, I will send him to you” (John 16:7). So, he remains with those who build His (church), but moves away and is completely separated from those who deny Him, which may also be those who, at the inspiration of Beelzebub, “speak anathema to Jesus” (1 Cor. 12:3), which corrupt everything that is right and pour destructive poison into the souls of the simple. Hag.2:5–8. The Lord Almighty says to her: with one more time I will shake heaven and earth, sea and land, I will shake all tongues, and the chosen one of all will come, and I will fill the house of this glory, says the Lord Almighty. Silver is mine and gold is mine, says the Lord Almighty He turns his speech to the church of the pagans and to the time of the coming of our Savior. Then he promises to shake heaven and earth, also the sea, and in addition all nations, for he said that “with one more I will shake.” Here, as it seems to me, not without reason, there should be approximately the following meaning. When God thought to liberate Israel, who served idols and was brought up in the Egyptian morals and customs, and wanted to turn him to the knowledge of the truth, then He appears, as it were, to shake everything, since the waters turn into blood, the sky sends down hail, the sea is split and the waves in it stand firmly in the form of a wall, the sky exudes manna (Exodus 6, Exodus 7, Exodus 14, Exodus 16). The Psalmist also declares about this, saying: “O God, never did You go forth before your people, never did You pass by in the wilderness, the earth was shaken, for even the heavens were ruined” (Ps. 67:8–9). It was then, we think, that the earth was shaken, undergoing an extraordinary shock, when such a glorious exodus of the children of Israel took place and did not remain unknown to any of the inhabitants of the earth. The same shock, he says, will also be at the time of the coming of our Savior, since no one will remain ignorant of the glorious deeds accomplished through this coming. Yes, heaven knew this mystery, of which Paul serves as a witness, saying this: so that the manifold wisdom of God might now become known to the principalities and powers through the Church, and what follows later (Eph. 3:10). The whole earth and the sea, that is, the islands, also recognized. Who is not privy to the knowledge of this? What sea, what people, what part of heaven? The Gospel was preached to all nations, according to the word of the Savior (Matthew 24:14, 28:19). And so, “with one more,” he says, “I will shake heaven and earth,... and then the chosen one of all will come, and I will fill the house of this glory.” Very many believed and from every nation, glorious and chosen, - as magnificent offerings they were gathered into the house of God and give Him glory for this, spreading it to everyone and everywhere and themselves, in turn, being glorified by Christ. We learned to pray and say: “And let the glory of the Lord our God be upon us” (Ps. 89:17), and again: “Bless you to the Lord, who made heaven and earth” (Ps. 113:23). And that God requires for Himself not soulless substance, but spiritual decoration, this is indicated in the words: “my silver and my gold.” This is as if he said: do not consider the church dishonorable because it may not have gold and silver and the splendor of riches. I have no need for this, for all the gold and all the silver are mine. On the contrary, I am looking for true worshipers (John 4:23), and I will gild My church with the splendor of such. And just as at the time when Israel rejected the lawful sacrifices, He considered it necessary to say: “I will not accept bulls from your house, nor goats from your flocks... for all the beasts of the village are mine, the cattle of the mountains and the oxen” (Ps. 49:9-10); so here too, rejecting material adornment and demanding, on the contrary, spiritual, he says that my silver and my gold, that is, there is enough and I am full and have no need for anything like that. On the contrary, let My adornment be the one who has the right faith, is distinguished by the virtues of virtue, is adorned with love for Me, is pure in heart, poor in spirit, merciful and kind. Having gathered in the church, that is, the Church, such people show it to be well-glorified and well-known. Hag.2:9. Great will be the glory of this house, the last more than the first, says the Lord Almighty: and in this place I will give peace, says the Lord Almighty, peace of soul to supply everyone who builds this church. So, at the coming of our Savior, the incomparably most glorious church of God appeared, so much better and more excellent than the ancient one, insofar as, as everyone can judge, the subordinate service differs from Christ and the Gospel, and the truth from the vestibule. However, I must say one more thing. There was one ancient temple in Jerusalem alone, and one people constituted Israel, who performed sacrifices in it. When the Only Begotten became like us, God is the Lord and appeared to us, according to the Scriptures (Ps. 117:2), then the heavenly realm was already filled with holy houses and countless worshipers who honor the God of all with spiritual sacrifices and spiritual incense. This, I believe, was foretold by the mouth of Malachi, as if on behalf of God: “I am a great King, says the Lord, and My name is glorified among the nations... and in every place incense is offered to My name, and the sacrifice is pure” (Mal. 1:14, 11). So, there is no doubt that the glory of the last church, that is, the Church, will be greater. And that to those who took care of its creation, as if some kind of alms from the Savior and a gift from heaven, Christ, the peace of all, will be given, through whom “bringing the imams in one Spirit to the Father” (Eph. 2:18), we reveal this in the words: “I will give peace in this place, and peace of soul as a supply (gain) for everyone who builds this church.” Christ Himself said somewhere: “My peace I give to you” (John 14:27). And how beneficial this is for those who love, Paul teaches about this in his epistle: “The peace of Christ, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds” (Phil. 4:7). The wise Isaiah also begged, saying: “O Lord our God, give us peace; thoughts for the accomplishment of virtue. So, to everyone who builds, peace will be given; for whether someone builds the Church and is appointed as a leader over the house of God, or cares about the benefit of his own soul, presenting himself as a living and spiritual stone in the holy church and the dwelling of God in the spirit (1 Pet. 2:5; Eph. 2:22), he will certainly gain the opportunity to easily save his soul. Hag.2:10–15. On the twenty-fourth [day] of the ninth month, in the second summer of Darius, the word of the Lord came to Haggai the prophet, saying: Here saith the Lord Almighty: Ask the priests of the law, saying: If a man receive holy meat in the hem of his robe, and the hem of his robe touches bread, or stew, or wine, or oil, or any kind of meat, will the food be sanctified? And the priestess answered and decided: no. And Haggai said: If a defiled unclean soul touches any of these, will the food be defiled? And the priest answered and decided: he will be defiled. And Haggai answered and said, “This people and this tongue are before me,” says the Lord, “and this is all the work of their hands: and if anyone comes near there, he will be defiled.” This other revelation through the prophet to Israel was, we believe, for the following reason. When, with the onset of the second year of King Darius, in the seventh month, God began to reproach those freed from captivity and blame their inertia, I mean inertia in relation to the duty of building the church, then they finally gathered and zealously devoted themselves to hard work. Then, God praises those who have done this and promised to be with them and bless them - he also commanded them to be courageous, since the Spirit is present among them. But they again became slow and inactive: it seems that barely two months had passed, and they were already again beginning to fall into negligence and turn out to be terribly indecisive. Excessively and shamefully carried away by the affairs of trade and having an uncontrollable passion for greed, they began to fall into negligence (in relation to the church) when it became impossible for them to devote themselves to the concerns of trade as in broad leisure. Then, making sacrifices, they began to say that this would be enough for them to consecrate, although even somehow it would happen that the divine church would not exist. Therefore, the prophet receives a command to give them, through noble reproofs, to feel and teach them that if they decide to make prayers and sacrifices, but turn out to be careless in building the house of God, then it will no longer be to their advantage, but rather to their detriment, if they do not want to make sacrifices in a timely manner and approach the divine altar. In addition, he explains that in the trade affairs before them, entering into relations with evil and foreign people, and, without a doubt, even with idolaters, they become extremely defiled. The question is quite legitimate, but difficult to interpret. However, I will explain, presenting its meaning in as many words as I can. So, the prophet asks the priests, for it is written that “the mouth of the priest will preserve judgment and require the law from his mouth” (Mal. 2:7). What's the question? “If a person receives holy meat in the hem of his robe, and the hem of his robe touches bread, or stew, or wine, or oil, or any kind of meat, the food will be sanctified”? They said: “neither.” Holy refers to meat taken from an animal sacrificed to God. However, he wants to teach them this. The priests, making sacrifices according to the law, sometimes touched the rams designated for burnt offerings with their clothes. So, he says, if a sacred garment, sanctified perhaps through sacrificial meat, touches something else that was not sacrificed to God, will that also be holy? To this, according to the law, the priests gave a negative answer. Thus, as if through teaching, we will move towards something more true. So, the one who makes sacrifices, if he arouses the wrath of God in any other way, will he be sanctified by the sacrifice? No way, on the contrary - he must be condemned as one who has not yet been cleansed, but who makes a sacrifice. That this is true speech, listen to what the Lawgiver says in the book of Leviticus: “And the meat that touches any unclean thing, let it not be carried away, let it be burned in the fires: let everyone who is clean eat the meat: and the soul that eats from the meat of the saving sacrifice that is for the Lord, and its uncleanness is on it, that soul will perish from its people” (Lev. 7, 19-20). You see how useless it is, even more so - it can be the cause of anger and death to offer a sacrifice with unclean hands. Therefore, just as the vestments of the priests, although sanctified through the meat of the sacrifice, will not sanctify those who touch them, so, he says, sacrifices to God will not make holy those who decide to offend in any other way and want to remain inactive in what is pleasing to God. And that, as I said, for the sake of trade and its profits, by coming into contact with unclean people, they themselves will undoubtedly participate in their filth, this is clearly presented through another question. He said again: “If one who is defiled in soul from any of these touches the food, will the food be defiled? They decided: it will be defiled.” The Law of Moses commanded those who were sanctified not to touch a dead body and not to approach dead people: the priests, he said, should not be desecrated (by touching a corpse), except only (the corpses of) mother, father, brother and sister, and the head of the priestly ranks and the leader should not even touch these (corpses) at all (Lev. 21: 1-4, 10-11, cf. Lev. 11 and Num. 6:7). This decree was a mysterious prototype, for the law is a shadow (Heb. 10:1). A dead man can serve as an image of dead works and worldly impurity, and it is appropriate, I think, for those who strive in a sacred and pure life to try to avoid dead works and avoid worldly corruption. But if then the corpse happened to touch something else, for example a person and clothing, then according to the law it was unclean (for a certain period). Now the prophet asks: if someone who touches a dead body, and therefore remains (for a certain period of time) unclean, accidentally touches someone else, will he defile him? When they answered: he will defile, then God announces the accusation: “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.” He who touches dead works, he says, not only becomes defiled himself, but also reaches such depravity that he easily and very strongly defiles others. Therefore, we must care about good deeds and try to do what is most pleasing to the true God and thus make spiritual sacrifices. Only under this condition will He accept, and not condemn, our prayers, and we will begin to receive benefit and blessing. Let us shake off dead desires and seemingly soulless pleasures and worldly impurity. With those who are thus purified and sanctified, God will abide. Hag.2:14. For their acceptance in the morning they will suffer from the face of their labors, and they will hate in the gates of the one who accuses They say that neither the Hebrew text nor other translators read or know these words. However, they reveal a meaning corresponding to the previous words. Since, as I said, they began to fall heavily into self-interest and excess, and this turned out to be an excuse for them to be negligible, although they were ordered to build a divine church, then, of necessity, they are finally accused of this. “Morning activities” he says because in the morning they walked and put in effort for no other reason than for this one thing, that is, the desire for profit. And because of them, he says, they will suffer (get sick), since their goal will not reach the end they desire. And this is because if God does not direct us the path of our actions, then human worries about anything are of course vain and useless, as it is written: “Unless the Lord builds a house, those who build it labor in vain” (Ps. 127:1). But preferring, as it were, morning and early profits to the construction of the divine church and putting the shameful before the most worthy, they also turned out to suffer from some other terrible vice: “they hated those who reprove at the gates.” The expression: “at the gates” should be understood instead of: “obviously”. Why did they hate you? Once those who fell under the power of evil pleasures and unbridledly strived to commit inappropriate deeds, of course, those who could correct them were not pleasant, on the contrary (they were for them) difficult and hateful. And which of these vices could not be found among them? Therefore, a very terrible vice of the soul is a tendency towards evil, hatred of (people) who can be useful to us and enduring, even with the greatest pleasure, any illness (vicious) that happens to us, even if it is something very vile. On the contrary, it is worthy and wise to courageously repel the harm that is being poured into the inside of the soul and mind, and if you had to undergo some kind of illness, then quickly seek doctors and love the accusers and fall at the feet, as it were, of God Himself, to those who say: “Heal me, Lord, and I will be healed: save me, and I will be saved, for you are my praise” (Jer. 17:14). Hag.2:15–18. And now put it in your hearts from this day onwards, before you laid a stone in the church of the Lord, who was quicker when there was twenty sats in the skin of barley, and there were ten sats in the barley? And you entered into the trench and drew up fifty measures, and there were twenty. You have struck with barrenness, and with wind, and with hail, all the works of your hands, and do not turn to me, says the Lord. With irrefutable arguments he convinces them that they did the right thing by deciding to build a divine church - and that they turn out to be better than they were before, having devoted themselves to the effort of this. Ponder, he says, and remember “who was quicker,” why and how you were disposed before you laid “stone” on stone “in the church of the Lord.” After all, then, he says, you put twenty sats of barley (sata, I suppose, is a measure) of barley, barely collected from the fields and threshing floor through long labor, into the chest (of course, here is a kind of storage of fruits), and it turned out to be ten sats of barley, since the moth, through the action of the angry Deity, apparently destroyed the fruits and turned them into dust. And if someone went to the grindstone 7 with the intention of drawing fifty measures and with vessels (in the required quantity), then he was then amazed when he found an unexpected decrease in the measure. You, he says, were struck by other troubles - crop failures, destructive winds, hail - and yet you were persistent, for “do not turn to me,” says the Lord. What should we learn from here? It is clear that for those who do not want to create the house of the Lord, that is, the Church, or who are foolishly slow to make their souls the church of God, even the blessings already acquired will turn into nothing, and in addition, of course, harm will appear from unclean spirits, infertility and hail, that is, the invasion of severe temptations, plunging into all kinds of evil - and divine wrath will come upon them. Hag.2:18–19. Submit your hearts from this day, and from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, and from the day in which the church of the Lord was founded. Lay it in your hearts, if... it is known on the threshing floor, and if there are still grapes, and figs, and apple trees, and olive trees that do not bear fruit, from this day I will bless By means of skillful sayings, he taught in advance the conviction that some greatest invasion of disasters had occurred on those who decided to be inactive in relation to the divine church. Now he says: from objects that bring joy, they can make sure that by the fruit of their efforts in what is pleasing to Him they will have prosperity, and that the reward for piety towards His house will, without a doubt, be the fullness of all blessings. He promises to give them a great abundance of field fruits, so that this abundance will be almost incredible and stacks will appear on the threshing floors beyond expectation - the same will happen with the trees in the gardens: the grapes will be fruitful, the fig tree, the pomegranate apple tree and in general all the fruits will be in abundance and in a blooming state, even the olive in an unexpected abundance will give them its fruit, thanks to the blessing from God. Likewise, for those who do not have the zeal to build the Church, that is, to present themselves to Christ himself in the holy church, everything goes for the worse, they are exposed to temptations and suffer spiritual sterility. And on the contrary, to those who want to create and love the deeds of piety, God will undoubtedly give them abiding in all prosperity, abundant spiritual prosperity, the possession, as if blooming with the various virtues of virtue and as if abounding in ripe fruits, an inner garden, so that they can already boldly cry out what is written in the Song of Songs: “Let my brother come down to his garden, and let him eat the fruit of the vegetables.” their own” (Song. 5:1). After all, the fruits of virtues and the pleasantness of spiritual well-being serve as food for God. Hag.2:20–22. And the second word of the Lord came to Haggai the prophet, on the twenty-fourth [day] of the month, saying: Say to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel of the tribe of Judah, saying: I will shake heaven and earth, and sea and land: and I will change the thrones of kings, and will consume the strength of the kings of the heathen, and will change the chariots and horsemen, and the horses and their horsemen, each one armed against his brother From private and handy actions, the prophetic word almost always makes the transition to universal and most important objects. Thus, when he makes reference to the liberation of someone, he often moves on to liberation through Christ. Something similar is now revealed to us by the prophetic word, since it considers it necessary to add to what was previously said something that already serves as a subtle foreshadowing, as if in a riddle and shadow, of the mystery of Christ. The prophet is sent to Zerubbabel from the tribe of Judah to say that the heavens, the earth, the sea and the land will also be shaken, and the thrones of kings will be destroyed. And the wise Paul, having given himself up to the contemplation of the proposed prophecy, the expression “will be shaken,” says, indicates that there will be a change of what is shaken, so that what is shaken will remain steadfast (Heb. 12:26–27). And through Him all things became new (2 Cor. 5:17), apparently solid, immovable and permanent. So, notice the improvement of the prophetic word. Having announced to them amazing fruitfulness and promising to provide everything in abundance for their joy and pleasure, he immediately added an indication of the prosperous time of truth, obviously the abundant gift of spiritual blessing from God. I shook, he says, the heavenly places when I brought Israel out of the land of Egypt. But I will also shake it, that is, I will make it (Israel) glorious and famous to all the inhabitants of the earth, as if shaking everything. And having overthrown the thrones of the kings, I will destroy all their power, and, as if from some knights who travel throughout the whole of heaven, I will take away from them cruel power over everyone, I will raise up other knights and warriors who draw the sword against their family and their brothers. These words seem to indicate the evil and enemy forces, principalities and powers overthrown by the power of our Savior, over which He triumphed with His cross and, having deprived them of cruel power over everyone, helped the oppressed, it is obvious to us (1 Cor. 15:24; Col. 2:15). So the holy and immaculate Virgin, when she still had Christ in her womb, being filled with the Holy Spirit in her soul, foreshadowed, saying: “Bring down the mighty from the throne, and lift up the humble” (Luke 1:52). So, the rulers were overthrown and fell from their thrones. However, the benefits of the coming of our Savior do not end there. But a certain host of knights has also been raised, military men, experienced in war, able to lead and courageously resisting the malice of the devil. These same divine disciples were also those who mentally drew the sword of the spirit, that is, the word of the arcane, living, active and most penetrating (Heb. 4:12), - they went out against every person and against the race, and against the brothers, not striking to death, but destroying their ignorance - as if killing them for the world and forcing them to die for sins, so that they might live for God, having loved a glorious and blameless life, obviously evangelical And that because of the love for Christ, sons should resist fathers, daughters mothers, brothers brothers, can there be any doubt about this, when the Savior clearly said: “He came to separate a man from his father, and a daughter from his mother, and a bride from her mother-in-law: and strike a man against his household” (Matthew 10:35-36). Enemies - because they held other thoughts, but soon also friends - in the unanimity of faith and in the unity of the spirit of love in Christ. Hag.2:23. On that day, says the Lord Almighty, I will receive you, Zerubbabel, my servant of Shealth, says the Lord, and I will set you as a seal, because I have chosen you, says the Lord Almighty. This word did not refer to Zerubbabel in all its truth, but rather, it was to our Lord Jesus Christ, as beautifully depicted in the person of Zerubbabel; because he was both from the tribe of Judah, and a king, and a leader of those freed from captivity, and, as it were, a ruler over those who built the house of the Lord. So, having taken You, he says, My servant - that is, who appeared in the form of a slave (Phil. 2:7), but free by nature - at the time when I decide to depose the rulers from their thrones and drive out the authorities - “I will put a seal.” The seal of God and the Father is the Son, as having complete and perfect likeness with Him and reflecting in His own beauty the nature of the One who gave birth. And in Him God imprints us in His likeness: if we are transformed into Christ, then we acquire, as it were, the image of God. And so, the Son is an exact reflection of God and the Father, and He “chose” Him, that is, He made Him beloved and chosen. As such He confessed Him by the streams of the Jordan, saying: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matt. 3:17); for God and the Father was pleased to restore everything (in its original order) and bring it to its original state, just as the divine Paul writes: “to lead... what is in heaven and what is on earth” in Christ (Eph. 1:10). An oil mill or winery is a place where oil or grapes are pressed. You might be interested in: