Haggai 1:8

1:1-11 Observe the sin of the Jews, after their return from captivity in Babylon. Those employed for God may be driven from their work by a storm, yet they must go back to it. They did not say that they would not build a temple, but, Not yet. Thus men do not say they will never repent and reform, and be religious, but, Not yet. And so the great business we were sent into the world to do, is not done. There is a proneness in us to think wrongly of discouragements in our duty, as if they were a discharge from our duty, when they are only for the trial of our courage and faith. They neglected the building of God's house, that they might have more time and money for worldly affairs. That the punishment might answer to the sin, the poverty they thought to prevent by not building the temple, God brought upon them for not building it. Many good works have been intended, but not done, because men supposed the proper time was not come. Thus believers let slip opportunities of usefulness, and sinners delay the concerns of their souls, till too late. If we labour only for the meat that perishes, as the Jews here, we are in danger of losing our labour; but we are sure it shall not be in vain in the Lord, if we labour for the meat which lasts to eternal life. If we would have the comfort and continuance of temporal enjoyments, we must have God as our Friend. See also Lu 12:33.

When God crosses our temporal affairs, and we meet with trouble and disappointment, we shall find the cause is, that the work we have to do for God and our own souls is left undone, and we seek our own things more than the things of Christ. How many, who plead that they cannot afford to give to pious or charitable designs, often lavish ten times as much in needless expenses on their houses and themselves! But those are strangers to their own interests, who are full of care to adorn and enrich their own houses, while God's temple in their hearts lies waste. It is the great concern of every one, to apply to the necessary duty of self-examination and communion with our own hearts concerning our spiritual state. Sin is what we must answer for; duty is what we must do. But many are quick-sighted to pry into other people's ways, who are careless of their own. If any duty has been neglected, that is no reason why it should still be so. Whatever God will take pleasure in when done, we ought to take pleasure in doing. Let those who have put off their return to God, return with all their heart, while there is time.

Go up to the mountain,.... Or, "that mountain" (u); pointing either to Lebanon, to cut down cedars, and bring them from thence for the building of the temple; or Mount Moriah, on which the temple was to be built; and thither carry the wood they fetched from Lebanon, or were brought from thence by the Tyrians: and bring wood; or, "that ye may bring wood"; from Lebanon, or any other mountain on which wood grew, to Mount Moriah: and build the house; the temple, whose foundation was already laid, but the superstructure was neglected: now the Lord would have them go on with it immediately, out of hand, with the utmost diligence, alacrity, and vigour; and not desist till the whole building was completed: and I will take pleasure in it; as a type of Christ, for whose sake he was so desirous of having it built; into which he was to come, and there appear as the promised Saviour.

Haggai 1:8-11 . Go up to the mountain — Go to any of the forests upon the mountains: see Nehemiah 2:8 : and cut down timber to carry on the building; or go to the mountain of Moriah, which I have chosen to build my temple upon it; and I will take pleasure in it — I will accept your offerings, and hear your prayers. And I will be glorified — Will show my majesty, and account myself glorified by you also. Ye looked for much and lo, it came to little — It did not answer the expectation you had formed. When ye brought it home, I did blow upon it — I blasted it; or, blowed it away: when you brought your gains home, I caused them to be soon scattered again, or expended. The dearth with which God punished them for their neglect of rebuilding the temple, made all the necessaries of life so dear, that whatever gains they got were quickly expended. Why? saith the Lord, &c. — For what reason have ye been visited with this calamity? Because of my house that is waste — All this evil is come upon you for your ungodly neglect of my house, leaving it waste. And ye run every man to his own house — You with eagerness carry on your own particular buildings, and mind only your own private affairs, and you take no manner of care about those things which concern my worship. Therefore the heaven over you is stayed from dew — I have punished you with great drought, wherein the dew itself has ceased to fall: see 1 Kings 17:1 .

And the earth is stayed from her fruit — From bringing forth those fruits which otherwise it would have produced. And I called for a drought — I caused a dearth of every thing in the land, or a general barrenness to take place. And upon the mountains — Upon the hills, where your cattle and flocks used to feed, and to find sufficient nourishment; upon the new wine, and upon the oil — Upon your vineyards and olive-yards; and upon men, and upon cattle — I made both men and cattle unfruitful. Or the meaning is, their very constitutions were changed, and many diseases afflicted them.

Go {f} up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and {g} I will take pleasure in it, and I will {h} be glorified, saith the LORD. (f) Meaning, that they should leave their own benefits, and go forward in the building of God's temple, and in the setting forth of his religion. (g) That is, I will hear your prayers according to my promise; 1Ki 8:22,29. (h) That is, my glory will be set forth by you.

Go up, delay no longer, speed ye up to the mountain; Moriah, or Zion, better Lebanon, where best and greatest store of cedars were to be had, whence came the goodly cedars which built Solomon’s temple, 1 Kings 5:14,15 , and where they had (before the building was forbidden) furnished themselves, Ezra 3:7 . Bring wood; provide all sorts of lumber for this future edifice. Build; go on with the work, the foundation whereof hath been laid some years, but the superstructure omitted. The house of God, the holy temple. I will take pleasure in it: this a very gracious promise revived, an assurance that God will dwell in it, and afford his presence there; I will meet you there, and there I will bless you, there I will accept your offerings, hear your prayers, forgive your sins, and satisfy you with the fatness of my house: much the same promise with that, 1 Kings 8:29 9:3 . I will be glorified; show my majesty, and account myself glorified by you also. Go up, delay no longer, speed ye up to the mountain; Moriah, or Zion, better Lebanon, where best and greatest store of cedars were to be had, whence came the goodly cedars which built Solomon’s temple, 1 Kings 5:14,15 , and where they had (before the building was forbidden) furnished themselves, Ezra 3:7 . Bring wood; provide all sorts of lumber for this future edifice. Build; go on with the work, the foundation whereof hath been laid some years, but the superstructure omitted. The house of God, the holy temple.

I will take pleasure in it: this a very gracious promise revived, an assurance that God will dwell in it, and afford his presence there; I will meet you there, and there I will bless you, there I will accept your offerings, hear your prayers, forgive your sins, and satisfy you with the fatness of my house: much the same promise with that, 1 Kings 8:29 9:3 . I will be glorified; show my majesty, and account myself glorified by you also.

Verse 8. - Go up to the mountain. The hill country in the neighbourhood of Jerusalem, whence by their own personal exertions they might procure material for the building. The temple mount is certainly not meant, as if they were to bring wood from it. Nor can Lebanon be intended, as in Ezra 3:7 ; for the injunction looks to an immediate actual result, and in their depressed circumstances they were scarcely likely to interest the Sidonians and Tyrians to provide cedar for them. There was abundance of wood close at hand, and the "kings forest" ( Nehemiah 2:8 ) was in the immediate neighbourhood of Jerusalem. There is no mention of stone, probably because the foundations had long been laid, and the ruins of the old temple supplied material for the new one; and, indeed, stone was to be had in abundance everywhere; or it may be that the prophet names merely one opening for their renewed activity, as a specimen of the work required from them. Not costly offerings were desired, but a willing mind. I will be glorified; I will glorify myself by showering blessings on the house and the people, so that the Hebrews themselves and their neighbours may own that I am among them (comp. Exodus 14:4 ; Leviticus 10:3 ; Isaiah 66:5 ). Haggai 1:8

8. Go up to the mountain—Moriah [Rosenmuller]; Lebanon [Henderson]. Rather, generally, the mountains around, now covered with wood, the growth of the long period of the captivity. So Ne 8:15, "Go forth unto the mount," that is, the neighboring hills [Maurer]. wood—Haggai specifies this as being the first necessary; not to the exclusion of other materials. Stones also were doubtless needed. That the old walls were not standing, as the Hebrew interpreters quoted by Jerome state, or the new walls partly built, appears from Hag 2:18, where express mention is made of laying the foundations. I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified—I will be propitious to suppliants in it (1Ki 8:30), and shall receive the honor due to Me which has been withheld. In neglecting the temple, which is the mirror of My presence, ye dishonor Me [Calvin]; in its being built, ye shall glorify Me.

8 . Go up to the mountain ] The consideration to which they have twice been called is to lead to action and amendment. They are not only to repent, but to bring forth fruits meet for repentance. the mountain ] This is clearly not, as some have thought, the mountain on which the Temple stood, “the mountain of the Lord’s house,” but the mountain from which the timber for building was to be fetched. It might possibly mean Lebanon, from which they were to cause wood to be brought, qui facit per alium facit per se , but the words sound more like a call to immediate personal effort, and then the mountain would be the mountainous neighbourhood generally ( hill country , R. V. margin), to which they were themselves to go and bring wood. See Nehemiah 2:8 , where “the king’s forest” would seem to have been in the neighbourhood of Jerusalem; and Nehemiah 8:15 , where possibly “the mount” means the Mount of Olives. I will be glorified ] “The meaning may be either, ‘I will accept it as done for My glory’; or, ‘I will display My glory in it’ (see ch. Haggai 2:9 ).” Annotated Paragraph Bible , Rel. Tract. Soc.