Haggai 2:19

2:10-19 Many spoiled this good work, by going about it with unholy hearts and hands, and were likely to gain no advantage by it. The sum of these two rules of the law is, that sin is more easily learned from others than holiness. The impurity of their hearts and lives shall make the work of their hands, and all their offerings, unclean before God. The case is the same with us. When employed in any good work, we should watch over ourselves, lest we render it unclean by our corruptions. When we begin to make conscience of duty to God, we may expect his blessing; and whoso is wise will understand the loving-kindness of the Lord. God will curse the blessings of the wicked, and make bitter the prosperity of the careless; but he will sweeten the cup of affliction to those who diligently serve him.

Is the seed yet in the barn?.... The seed for sowing the land, in order for the next harvest: this is by some answered in the affirmative, it was in the barn, it was not yet sown; this being the ninth month, the month Chisleu, which answers to part of our November; rather it should be in the negative, no, it was just sown; and therefore no conjecture could be made, whether it would be a good harvest, or not; yet the prophet, in the name of the Lord, promises them a good one so long before hand: for the month Chisleu, which was the ninth month, was the last for sowing, and even the first half of that; for so say (r) the Jews, "half Tisri, all Marchesvan, and half Chisleu, is seed time;'' so that this being that month, seed time must have been just over; and the sense, is there any seed in the barn? no, it is sown; and so, is there any remaining in the granary for the support of families until the next harvest?

they knew there were none, or very little: and yet the Lord promises to bless them, so that they should have enough: yea, as yet the vine, and the fig tree, and the pomegranate, and the olive tree, hath not brought forth; their various fruits; this not being the time of their bearing fruit, for it was winter time; and it could not be said what they would bring forth in their season so long before hand; yet it is suggested by the prophet that they would be very fruitful; which were the principal fruit trees the land of Israel abounded with, Deuteronomy 8:8 and on which their comfortable subsistence depended. Kimchi observes, that it may be wondered at that the olive tree should be mentioned, because the time of its bearing fruit were the months of Marchesvan and Chisleu; but perhaps the time of its bearing fruit was delayed (as he says) because of the curse upon it: from this day will I bless you; with plenty of all good things, in their fields and gardens, in their vineyards and olive yards; so that a difference between former and present times, and those to come, would easily be discerned, and the reasons of it. (r) T. Bab. Bava Metzia, fol. 106. 2.

(19) Is the seed yet in the barn ?— i.e., There is no grain as yet in the barn, the harvest having been blighted in the last season. The term rendered in the Authorised Version “seed” does not imply grain for sowing, but grain for provision. The fruit harvest was as defective as that of cereals, having been cut off by the hail. (See Haggai 2:17 .) The prospect was thus one of deepest gloom. But human helplessness is God’s opportunity. He pledges His word even at this crisis by the mouth of Haggai, “From this day I will bless.”

Is the {l} 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. (l) He exhorts them to have patience, and to remain until the harvest came, and then they would see God's blessings.

Your seed for the next harvest is yet in your barns, unsown, and no one can make any conjecture yet, whether next year’s increase shall be great and blessed, or whether it shall be blasted and little; I do not speak, saith Haggai, on conjecture, but in the name of the Lord foretell and promise you, that it shall be a plentiful harvest to you. Nor have your fruit trees yet put forth, no sign yet appears what vintage you shall have, what store of wine, oil, figs, and pomegranates, which are your choice and rich fruits; but in the word of God I tell you, you shall be blessed in them all, and have a large produce, a joyful vintage. From this day: see Haggai 2:10,15 . I will bless you, in all your labour; as before you were blasted in all because you neglected, so now you shall be blessed in all because you diligently build, the temple of the Lord.

Verse 19. - Is the seed yet in the barn? Is there any of your poor crop still left in your granaries? Is it not already expended? "The seed" is here the produce of the seed, the grain ( 1 Samuel 8:15 ; Job 39:12 ). The corn crop is mentioned first, then the fruit harvest. The Vulgate has, Numquid jam semen in germine est? Has the seed begun to grow? Is there any sign of abundance? Yet the harvest shall be prolific. But there is no doubt that megurah means "barn," not "sprout." LXX., Αἰ ἐπιγνωσθήσεται ἐπὶ τῆς ἅλω , "If it shall be known upon the threshing floor." Jerome must have read γῆς for τῆς , as he renders, "Si ultra cognoscetur super terram area." He expounds it thus: So abundant shall be the produce that the threshing floor shall not recognize its own corn. or that the threshers shall be forced to join floor to floor to make room for all the grain, "et arearnm separatio nesciatur in terra" Yea, as yet; καὶ εἰ ἔτι (Septuagint); et adhuc (Vulgate); as Judges 3:26 ; Job 1:18 . Others translate, "as regards." Though there was no sign of leaf or fruit on the trees, nothing by which one could judge of the future produce, yet the prophet predicts an abundant crop, dating from the people's obedience ( Leviticus 26:3 , etc.; Deuteronomy 28:2 , etc.). From this day will I bless you. "This day" is the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month (ver. 10).

19. Is the seed yet in the barn?—implying, It is not. It has been already sown this month, and there are no more signs of its bearing a good crop, much less of its being safely stored in the barn, than there were in the past season, when there was such a failure; yet I promise to you from this day (emphatically marking by the repetition the connection of the blessing with the day of their obedience) a blessing in an abundant harvest. So also the vine, &c., which heretofore have borne little or nothing, shall be blessed with productiveness. Thus it will be made evident that the blessing is due to Me, not to nature. We may trust God's promise to bless us, though we see no visible sign of its fulfilment (Hab 2:3).

19 . Is the seed yet in the barn? ] i.e. Is it any longer in the barn? Is it not all exhausted and used up? The meagre yield of the blighted corn was soon consumed and the granary left empty. Some have thought that by “the seed” is here meant what would be required to sow the land for another year, and that the dearth and distress are heightened by the fact that there is not even corn enough left to sow. But as the word is frequently used, not of seed corn, but of produce (e.g. 1 Samuel 8:15 ; Isaiah 23:3 ; Job 39:12 ), and as the remainder of the verse refers to produce, it is better taken in that sense here. yea, as yet ] There is no reason to depart from the usual meaning of the Hebrew word here rendered “as yet,” viz. “unto,” or “as regards,” “And unto or as regards (extending our notice from the corn to) the vine, etc. it (i.e. each one of these trees) hath not brought forth (fruit).” It would then best accord with the English idiom to leave the word untranslated, as in R. V. The rendering of A. V. is however thought by some to be supported by Job 1:18 ; 1 Samuel 14:19 . from this day will I bless you ] It might be asked, why not from the day three months earlier than this (ch. Haggai 1:14-15 ), when they first resumed the building of the temple?

It has been suggested in explanation that up to this time, though they had indeed begun again to build, they had been slack and remiss in their efforts, but that from this day, instigated by this fresh appeal of Haggai, they had taken a new departure of zeal and earnestness, and that consequently from this day the blessing was to begin. But there is no proof whatever that this was so, and it is therefore better to suppose that up to this day the effects of the failure of the last harvest were still apparent, and no outward change had yet taken place in their prospects. “He would then say, that even in these last months, since they had begun the work, there were as yet no signs for the better. There was yet no seed in the barn , the harvest having been blighted, and the fruit-trees stripped by the hail before the close of the sixth month, when they resumed the work. Yet though there were as yet no signs of change, no earnest that the promise should be fulfilled, God pledges His word, from this day I will bless you .” Pusey.

From the day that the foundation of the Lord's house - Zechariah, in a passage corresponding to this, uses the same words Zechariah 8:9 , "the day that the foundation of the house of the Lord of hosts was laid, that the temple might be built," not of the first foundation, but of the work as resumed in obedience to the words by "the mouth of the prophets," Haggai and himself, which, Ezra also says, was Ezra 4:24 ; Ezra 5:1 . "in the second year of Darius." But that work was resumed, not now at the time of this prophecy, but three months before, on the 24th of the sixth month. Since then the word translated here, from, is in no case used of the present time, Haggai gives two dates, the resumption of the work, as marked in these words, and the, actual present. He would then say, that even in these last months, since they had begun the work, there were as yet no signs for the better. There was yet no "seed in the barn," the harvest having been blighted and the fruit-trees stripped by the hail before the close of the sixth month, when they resumed the work.