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15 In the four and twentieth day of the sixth month, in A.C. 520. the second year of Darius the king.

HAGGAI II. VER. 1-10.

*

*

1 In the seventh month, in the one and twentieth day of the month, came the word of the LORD by the prophet Heb. by the Haggai, saying,

2 Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, and to the residue of the people, saying,

3 Who is left among you that saw this house in her first glory? and how do ye see it now? is it not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing?

4 Yet now be strong, Ŏ Zerubbabel, saith the LORD; and be strong, O Joshua, son of Josedech, the high priest; and be strong, all ye people of the land, saith the LORD, and work for I am with you, saith the LORD of hosts:

5 According to the word that I covenanted with you when ye came out of Egypt, so my spirit remaineth among you : ye not.

fear

hand of.

6 For thus saith the LORD of hosts; & Yet once, it is a 8 Heb. xii. 26. little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the dry land;

7 And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come and I will fill this house with glory, saith the LORD of hosts.

8 The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the LORD of hosts.

9 The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the LORD of hosts: and in this place will I give peace, saith the LORD of hosts 14.

14 In consequence of the exhortations of the prophet, the Jews applied themselves diligently to the rebuilding of the temple; and to encourage them to go on vigorously in their undertaking, in the four and twentieth day of the sixth month (compare Haggai i. 1, with Ezra v. 15,) another message from God assures them of his presence and blessing. And further to stimulate their exertions, Haggai a month after (chap. ii. 1.) promises them that the glory of the latter house, when built, should be greater than the glory of the former house; which was accordingly accomplished, when Christ our Lord came to this his temple, and honoured it with his presence. In all other respects this latter temple, the same prophet tells us, at its first building, was as nothing in comparison of the former.

The Jews reckon up five several marks of divine favour which distinguished the first temple, and were wanting in the second. The ark of the covenant, and the mercy-seat which was upon it; the Shechinah, or the divine presence; the Urim and Thummim; the holy fire upon the altar; and the spirit of prophecy. Now the absence of these several things was abundantly supplied by the presence VOL. II.

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A. C. 520.

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1 In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, of that divine personage, of whom each of them was in some measure typical. Christ may be called the ark, as he was the material representative of the Deity, in which was deposited the perfect law of God. Like the cedar of which the ark was composed, Christ was incorruptible; "and the golden crown of divinity and glory was upon him, as it was upon the ark. Angels attended him in his humiliation, and desired to penetrate the mystery of his incarnation as the cherubim bent over the mercy-seat. From him, as from the ark, the oracle was given to man. As God met with man between the cherubims before the mercy seat, so is Christ the meeting place between God and man. Christ was the Shechinah, for he dwelt or tabernacled among men, the true glory of the Shechinah. The Urim and Thummim were not required when the Messiah was on earth, he only has given those clear oracular answers, which shall ever instruct the world; the others were but typical of that union of light and perfection, which met in him alone. Never but in him were united perfect knowledge and perfect holiness. He is the great high priest who has spoken with the mouth of God. The holy fire was not necessary; it was but typical of that eternal flame of devotion, purity, and love, which God requires, and Christ exemplified. The spirit of prophecy was not wanted, for on him rested the spirit without measure. He was the prophet like unto Moses, in bringing in a new dispensation; though greater than Moses, for he was perfect in himself, and grace and truth are better than the law. Christ united in himself all these ornaments of the first temple, and he excelled them all, inasmuch as the substance is superior to the shadow. These things, it is true, made the first temple glorious; but the glory of the second temple was indeed greater than that of the first; when Christ, uniting all the realities of which the first temple were but typical, presented himself in the second temple to the admiring and wondering crowd, as the true Messiah, the expected Hope, and Saviour of Israel.

15 All that we know of the prophet Zechariah is, that he was one of the captives who returned to Jerusalem on the decree of Cyrus, a contemporary with Haggai, that he began to prophesy two months after him, and that he was commissioned as well as Haggai to encourage the Jews in the building of their temple. He prophesied about two years: his last revelation having been delivered in the fourth day of the ninth month of the fourth year of Darius Hystaspes, (ch. vii. 1.) Zechariah therefore probably lived to witness the completion of the temple, which was finished six years after.

Zechariah is quoted as an inspired writer, (Matt. xxi. 4, 5.) and the minute accomplishment of his own prophecies bears a signal testimony to the truth of that Divine Spirit by which he was inspired.

The prophecy of Zechariah consists of two parts, the first of which concerns the events which were then taking place, viz. the restoration of the temple, interspersing predictions relative to the advent of the Messiah. The second part comprises prophecies relative to more remote events, particularly the coming of Jesus Christ, and the war of the Romans against the Jews.

In this portion of the first chapter he exhorts the Jews to repentance, and to go on with the building of the temple.-Gray and Horne in loc.

came the word of the LORD unto Zechariah, the son of Be- A. C. 520. rechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying, 2 The LORD hath been

fathers.

* Heb. with

sore displeased with your displeasure.

3 Therefore say thou unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Turn ye unto me, saith the LORD of hosts, and I h Mal. iii. 7, will turn unto you, saith the LORD of hosts.

4 Be ye not as your fathers, unto whom the former prophets have cried, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Turn ye now from your evil ways, and from your evil do-j ings: but they did not hear, nor hearken unto me, saith the LORD.

5 Your fathers, where are they? and the prophets, do they live for ever?

Is. 6. iii. 12. &

xxxi. 6 xviii. Ezek.

xviii. 30. Hos. xiv. 1.

6 But my words and my statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, did they not + take hold of your tor, overtake. fathers? and they returned and said, * Like as the LORD of k Lam. i. 18. hosts thought to do unto us, according to our ways, and according to our doings, so hath he dealt with us.

HAGGAI II, VER. 10, TO THE END.

10 In the four and twentieth day of the ninth month 16, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the LORD by Haggai the prophet, saying,

11 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Ask now the priests concerning the law, saying,

12 If one bear holy flesh in the skirt of his garment, and with his skirt do touch bread, or pottage, or wine, or oil, or any meat, shall it be holy? And the priests answered and said, No.

And the

13 Then said Haggai, If one that is unclean by a dead body touch any of these, shall it be unclean? priests answered and said, It shall be unclean.

14 Then answered Haggai, and said, So is this people, and so is this nation before me, saith the LORD; and so is every work of their hands; and that which they offer there is unclean.

15 And now, I pray you, consider from this day and up

16 On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, the Jews, after they had been employed from the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month (Haggai i. 1–9, and 15.) in preparing materials for the temple, proceeded again with the building of it; whereupon the prophet Haggai promised them from God a deliverance from that barrenness of their land with which it had been smitten, and plentiful increase of all its fruits for the future. He also delivered unto Zerubbabel a message from God, of mercy and favour to him.-Prideaux's Connection, vol. i. p. 257.

A.C. 520. ward, from before a stone was laid upon a stone in the temple of the LORD:

1 Amos iv. 9.

16 Since those days were, when one came to an heap of twenty measures, there were but ten: when one came to the pressfat for to draw out fifty vessels out of the press, there were but twenty.

17 I smote you with blasting and with mildew and with hail in all the labours of your hands; yet ye turned not to me, saith the LORD.

18 Consider now from this day and upward, from the four and twentieth day of the ninth month, even from the day that the foundation of the LORD's temple was laid, consider it.

19 Is the seed yet in the barn? yea, as yet the vine, and the fig tree, and the pomegranate, and the olive tree, hath not brought forth: from this day will I bless you.

20 ¶ And again the word of the LORD came unto Haggai in the four and twentieth day of the month, saying,

21 Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, I will shake the heavens and the earth;

22 And I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms, and I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the heathen; and I will overthrow the chariots, and those that ride in them; and the horses and their riders shall come down, every one by the sword of his brother.

23 In that day, saith the LORD of hosts, will I take thee, O Zerubbabel, my servant, the son of Shealtiel, saith the LORD, and will make thee as a signet: for I have chosen thee, saith the LORD of hosts.

ZECHARIAH I. VER. 7, TO THE END 17.

7¶ Upon the four and twentieth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Sebat, in the second year of

17 In this prophecy of Zechariah it is predicted that Darius should permit the building of the temple, (chap. i. 7—18.) and that the Samaritans should be compelled to suspend their opposition to the building, (18-21). Further, to encourage the Jews in their work, the prophet foretells the prosperity of Jerusalem, (ii. 1—5.) and admonishes the Jews to depart from Babylon before her destruction, (6-9.) promising them the divine presence, (10-13). These promises, though partly fulfilled by the prosperity of the Jews under the Maccabees, remain to be still more fully accomplished after the restoration of the Jews, and their conversion to the Gospel.

The adversaries of the Jews having endeavoured to interrupt their work, (Ezra v.) in order to encourage them, the restoration of the temple and its service is foretold under the vision of Joshua the high priest, arrayed in new sacerdotal attire, (iii. 1-7); whence, by an easy transition, the prophet proceeds to set forth the glory of Christ as the chief corner-stone of his church, (8—10).

Darius, came the word of the LORD unto Zechariah, the son A. C. 520. of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying,

8 I saw by night, and behold a man riding upon a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle trees that were in the bottom; and behind him were there red horses, * speckled, * Or, bay. and white.

9 Then said I, O my lord, what are these? and the angel that talked with me said unto me, I will shew thee what these be.

10 And the man that stood among the myrtle trees answered and said, These are they whom the LORD hath sent to walk to and fro through the earth.

11 And they answered the angel of the LORD that stood among the myrtle trees, and said, We have walked to and fro through the earth, and, behold, all the earth sitteth still, and is at rest.

12 Then the angel of the LORD answered and said, O LORD of hosts, how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which thou hast had indignation these threescore and ten years?

13 And the LORD answered the angel that talked with me good words and comfortable words.

14 So the angel that communed with me said unto me, Cry thou, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; I am m jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy. m ch. viii. ?. 15 And I am very sore displeased with the heathen that are at ease: for I was but a little displeased, and they helped forward the affliction.

16 Therefore thus saith the LORD; I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies: my house shall be built in it, saith the LORD of hosts, and a line shall be stretched forth upon Jerusalem.

17 Cry yet, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; My cities through + prosperity shall yet be spread abroad; and + Heb. good.

Under the vision of the golden candlestick and two olive trees, is typically represented the success of Zerubbabel and Joshua in rebuilding the temple, and restoring its service.

Under the vision of a flying roll, the divine judgments are denounced against robbery and perjury, (v. 1—4); and the Jews are threatened with a second captivity, if they continue in sin, (5—11.)

Under the vision of the four chariots, drawn by several sorts of horses, are represented the successions of the Babylonian, Persian, Macedo-Greek, and Roman empires, (vi. 1—8): and by the two crowns placed upon the head of Joshua, are set forth, primarily, the re-establishment of the civil and religious polity of the Jews, under Zerubbabel and Joshua; and secondarily, the high-priesthood, and kingdom of Christ, emphatically termed here "the Branch."-Horne's Crit. Int.

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