The human spirit is so backward in respect to the performance of the duties and the fulfilment of the obligations it is under in relation to the higher life, that it requires stimulus, and acts of renewed dedication to the service of God cannot fail to be spiritually helpful. There are moments in life when we become specially impressed as God's servants with a sense of his claims to our most devoted service, and when holy emotions rise within us, moving us to a more unreserved consecration of ourselves to his service. And we do well to make these impressions permanent by placing upon them the stamp of holy. resolution. It is wonderful how soon, if we do not take this course, these impressions and emotions vanish. We should therefore foster all holy impulses, and take advantage at once of all emotions and aspirations which would constrain us to render to the Lord our God a truer service than we have rendered in the past. Such impressions are buds we should not nip, sparks of heavenly fire we should not extinguish, the breathings of God's own Spirit, from the influence of which it is at our peril that we remove ourselves. The interest in these closing verses (12-15) lies in that they present to us a bright example of this wise course being pursued. The earnest address of the aged seer touched the hearts of his hearers; they became painfully conscious of past omission and shortcoming and neglect of duty, and were led to consecrate themselves anew to the service of him who had brought them up out of captivity and to their own land.

I. THE SPIRIT THAT WAS CHERISHED.

1. It was the spirit of obedience. "They obeyed the voice of the Lord their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet" (ver. 12).

2. It was the spirit of reverential fear. "And the people did fear before the Lord" (ver. 12). "Whom God would make strong for his service he first subdues to his fear."

3. This obedient and devout spirit was cherished by all. Zerubbabel the governor, Joshua the high priest, and all the remnant of the people alike made this full surrender of themselves to the service of their God (ver. 14).

II. THE EFFECTS THAT FOLLOWED.

1. The Divine favour was experienced. Haggai was again commissioned to speak to them in the name of the Lord, and to say to them for God, as his messenger, "I am with you, saith the Lord" (ver. 13). The abiding sense of God's presence with them had made the heroes of their nation the men they were. Moses could face the whole Israelitish tribes when they were murmuring against him and against Aaron; David could confront the mail-clad Goliath; Daniel could be steadfast in the performance of his religions duties despite the lions; Ezekiel could utter burning denunciations against ungodly nations; - because they realized in their inmost hearts the consciousness of the presence and power of God. And now this same presence was pledged to them, and in the Divine might they would be able to overcome every obstacle. The promptness with which this assurance was given is instructive. "God is waiting to be gracious, and will meet the returning wanderer even before his hand has begun the work of service."

2. The spiritual life was quickened. "The Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel," etc. (ver 14). He gave new life to them all, so that they were ready with zeal and alacrity and with holy courage to do his bidding.

3. The good work was advanced. "And they came and did work in the house of the Lord of hosts, their God" (ver. 14) - S.D.H.

I. JEHOVAH'S MESSENGER. Ministers are messengers. It is not every man that gets into a pulpit that is a messenger. God only can appoint messengers.

II. THE LORD'S MESSAGE. Their message is one of mercy, of everlasting life. It is the Gospel. Salvation as the gift of God. Not of works. All boasting is excluded.

III. THE MESSAGE IS TO THE PEOPLE. Jehovah's elect are a peculiar people, a purchased people, a special people, elect and redeemed. We cannot tell who the elect are.

IV. THE SPECIAL MESSAGE IN THE TEXT. "I am with you." Jehovah is always with His people, and has been, and will be so everlastingly.

(J. J. West, M. A.)

Darius, Haggai, Jehozadak, Josedech, Joshua, Shealtiel, ZerubbabelJerusalemAffirmation, Commission, Declares, Haggai, Lord's, Message, Messages, Messenger, Saying, Says, Spake, Speaketh, Spoke1. The time when Haggai prophesied.
2. He reproves the people for neglecting the building of the house.
7. He incites them to the building.
12. He promises them, being forward, God's assistance.

Haggai 1:13

     1235   God, the LORD
     4966   present, the
     5408   messenger
     7773   prophets, role
     7922   fellowship, with God

Haggai 1:1-15

     5508   ruins

Haggai 1:12-14

     7145   remnant

Haggai 1:12-15

     8149   revival, nature of

Vain Toil
'Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes.'--HAGGAI i. 6 A large emigration had taken place from the land of captivity to Jerusalem. The great purpose which the returning exiles had in view was the rebuilding of the Temple, as the centre-point of the restored nation. With true heroism, and much noble and unselfish …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Lost Earnings
He that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes.' (Haggai i. 6.) In our Holiness Meetings we often speak of Full Salvation as a blessing to be obtained, and also a blessing to be retained; but I want now to turn the truth the other way round, and speak about 'losing the blessing'. These words of Haggai about the man who lost his earnings through a faulty bag will serve me as a text, and are very significant. As a figure of speech, the words are well understood. From the boy …
T. H. Howard—Standards of Life and Service

The Abiding of the Spirit the Glory of the Church
By the mouth of His servant Haggai stern rebukes were uttered, and the whole people were aroused. We read in verse twelve of the first chapter, "Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the Lord their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the Lord their God had sent him, and the people did fear before the Lord." All hands were put to the work; course after course of stone began to rise; and …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 32: 1886

The Last Days of the Old Eastern World
The Median wars--The last native dynasties of Egypt--The Eastern world on the eve of the Macedonian conquest. [Drawn by Boudier, from one of the sarcophagi of Sidon, now in the Museum of St. Irene. The vignette, which is by Faucher-Gudin, represents the sitting cyno-cephalus of Nectanebo I., now in the Egyptian Museum at the Vatican.] Darius appears to have formed this project of conquest immediately after his first victories, when his initial attempts to institute satrapies had taught him not …
G. Maspero—History Of Egypt, Chaldaea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, V 9

How those are to be Admonished who Desire not the Things of Others, but Keep their Own; and those who Give of their Own, yet Seize
(Admonition 22.) Differently to be admonished are those who neither desire what belongs to others nor bestow what is their own, and those who give of what they have, and yet desist not from seizing on what belongs to others. Those who neither desire what belongs to others nor bestow what is their own are to be admonished to consider carefully that the earth out of which they are taken is common to all men, and therefore brings forth nourishment for all in common. Vainly, then, do those suppose …
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great

Appendix ii. Philo of Alexandria and Rabbinic Theology.
(Ad. vol. i. p. 42, note 4.) In comparing the allegorical Canons of Philo with those of Jewish traditionalism, we think first of all of the seven exegetical canons which are ascribed to Hillel. These bear chiefly the character of logical deductions, and as such were largely applied in the Halakhah. These seven canons were next expanded by R. Ishmael (in the first century) into thirteen, by the analysis of one of them (the 5th) into six, and the addition of this sound exegetical rule, that where two …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

Haggai
The post-exilic age sharply distinguished itself from the pre-exilic (Zech. i. 4), and nowhere is the difference more obvious than in prophecy. Post-exilic prophecy has little of the literary or moral power of earlier prophecy, but it would be very easy to do less than justice to Haggai. His prophecy is very short; into two chapters is condensed a summary, probably not even in his own words, of no less than four addresses. Meagre as they may seem to us, they produced a great effect on those who heard …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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