Haggai 2:7

Haggai 2:6-9 6. For thus saith the LORD of hosts; Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land; 6. Quia sit dicit Iehova exercituum, Adhuc unum modicum hoc, et ego commovebo coelos et terram et mare et aridam; 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. 7. Et commovebo omnes gentes, et venient, desiderium omnium gentium; et implebo domum hance gloria, dicit Iehova exercituum. 8. The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the LORD of hosts. 8. Meum argentum, et meum aurum, dicit Iehova exercituum. 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. 9. Major erit gloria domus hujus secundae (posterioris, ad verbum,) quam prioris dicit Iehova exercituum: et in loco hoc dabo pacem, dicit Iehova exercituum. Here the Prophet expresses more clearly, and confirms more fully, what I have said--that God would in time bring help to the miserable Jews, because he would not disappoint the assurance given to the fathers. This declaration, then, depends on the covenant before mentioned; and hence the causative particle is used, For thus saith Jehovah of hosts, as yet a small one it is, or, yet shortly, I will fill this house with glory. The expression a small thing, most interpreters apply to time. Yet there are those who think the subject itself is denoted. The more received opinion is, that it means a small duration, a short time, because God would soon make a change for the better. "Though then there does not as yet appear the accomplishment of the promises, by which ye have hitherto supported your faith and your hope, yet after a short time God will really prove that he has spoken nothing falsely to you." There are yet some, as I have said, who think that the matter itself is denoted by the Prophet, even that the Temple did not yet appear in splendor before the eyes of men, a small one it is, that is, Ye see not indeed a building such as that was, before the Assyrians and the Chaldeans took possession of the city; but let not your eyes remain fixed on the appearance of this Temple. Let then this small one as yet pass by; but in a short time this house will be filled with glory With regard to the main object, it was the Prophet's design to strengthen the minds of the godly, that they might not think that the power of God was inefficient, though he had not as yet performed what they had hoped. In short, they were not to judge by present appearances of what had been previously said of their redemption. We said yesterday that the minds of the godly were heavily depressed, because the Prophets had spoken in high terms of the Temple as well as of the kingdom: the kingdom was as yet nothing; and the temple was more like a shed than what might have been compared in glory with the former Temple. It was hence necessary for the Prophet to meet this objection; and this is the reason why he bids them to overlook the present appearance, and to think of the glory which was yet hidden. As yet, he says, it is a small one; that is, "There is no reason for you to despair, though the grandeur of the Temple does not as yet appear to be so great as you have conceived; but, on the contrary, let your minds pass over to that restoration which is still far distant. As yet then a small one it is; and I will move the heavens and the earth." [146] In a word, God here bids them to exercise patience, until he should put forth the ineffable power of his hand to restore fully his Church; and this is what is meant by the shaking of the heaven and the earth. But this is a remarkable passage. The Jews indeed, who are very absurd in everything connected with the kingdom of Christ, pervert what is here said by the Prophet, and even reduce it to nothing. But the Apostle in Hebrews 12:1 reminds us of what God means here. For this passage contains an implied contrast between the law and the gospel, between redemption, just mentioned here, and that which was to be expected, and was at length made known by the coming of Christ. God, then, when he redeemed his people from Egypt, as well as from Babylon, moved the earth: but the Prophet announces here something greater--that God would shake the heaven and the earth. But that the meaning of the Prophet may appear more evident, each sentence must be examined in order. He says first, this once, shortly. I am inclined to apply this to time, that I may not depart from what is commonly received. But there is no reason for us to contend on the subject, because it makes little or no difference as to the main point. For we have said that what the Prophet had in view was to show that the Jews were not to fix their eyes and their minds on the appearance of the Temple at the time: "Allow," he says, "and give place to hope, because your present state shall not long remain; for the Lord will shake the heaven and the earth; think then of God's power, how great it is; does he not by his providence rule both the earth and the heaven? And he will shake all things above and below, rather than not to restore his Church; he will rather change the appearance of the whole world, than that redemption should not be fully accomplished. Be not then unwilling to be satisfied with these preludes, but know what God's power can do: for though it may be necessary to throw the heaven and the earth into confusions, yet this shall be done, rather than that your enemies should prevent that full restoration, of which the Prophets have so often spoken." But the Apostle very justly says, that the gospel is here set in contrast with the law; for God exhibited his wonderful power, when the law was promulgated on mount Sinai; but a fuller power shone forth at the coming of Christ, for then the heaven, as well as the earth, was shaken. It is not, then, without reason that the Apostle concludes that God speaks now to us from heaven, for his majesty appears more splendid in the gospel than formerly in the law: and hence we are less excusable, if we despise him now speaking in the person of his only begotten Son, and thus speaking to show to us that the whole world is subject to him. He then adds, I will move all the nations, and they shall come. After having mentioned the heaven and the earth, he now shows that he would arrest the attention of all mortals, so as to turn them according to his will, in any way it may please him: Come, he says, shall all nations--How? because I shall shake them. Here again the Prophet teaches us that men come not to Christ except through the wonderful agency of God. He might have spoken more simply, I will lead all nations, as it is said elsewhere; but his purpose was to express something more, even that the impulse by which God moves his elect to betake themselves to the fold of Christ is supernatural. Shaking seems a forcible act. Lest men, then, should obscure the power of God, by which they are roused that they may obey Christ, and submit to his authority, it is here by the Prophet expressed by this term, in order that they might understand that the Lord does not work in an usual or common manner, when they are thus changed. But it must be also observed, that men are thus powerfully, and in an extraordinary or supernatural manner influenced, so that they follow spontaneously at the same time. The operation of God is then twofold; for it is first necessary to shake men, that they may unlearn their whole character, that is, that forgetting their former nature, they may willingly receive the yoke of Christ. We indeed know how great is our perverseness, and how unnameable we are, until God subdues us by his Spirit. There is need in such a case of a violent shaking. But we are not forced to obey Christ, as lions and wild beasts are, who indeed yield, but still retain their inward ferocity, and roar, though led in chains and subdued by scourges and beatings. We are not, then, so shaken, that our inward rebellion remains in us; but we are shaken, so that our disposition is changed, and we receive willingly the yoke of Christ. This is the reason why the Prophet says, I will shake all nations, and they shall come; that is, there will be indeed a wonderful conversion, when the nations who previously despised God, and regarded true religion and piety with the utmost hatred, shall habituate themselves to the ruling power of God: and they shall come, because they shall be so drawn by his hidden influence, that the obedience they shall render will be voluntary. We now perceive the meaning of the Prophet. He afterwards adds, The desire of all nations. This admits of two explanations. The first is, that nations shall come and bring with them everything that is precious, in order to consecrate it to the service of God; for the Hebrews call whatever is valuable a desire; so that under this term they include all riches, honors, pleasures, and everything of this kind. Hence some render the passage thus, I will shake all nations, and come shall the desire of all nations. As there is a change of number; others will have v, beth, or m, mem, to be understood, They shall come with what they desire; that is, the nations shall not come empty, but shall gather all their treasures to be a holy oblation to God. But we may understand what he says of Christ, Come shall the desire of all nations, and I will fill this house with glory. We indeed know that Christ was the expectation of the whole world, according to what is said by Isaiah. And it may be properly said, that when the desire of all nations shall come, that is, when Christ shall be manifested, in whom the wishes of all ought to center, the glory of the second Temple shall then be illustrious; but as it immediately follows, Mine is the silver, and mine is the gold, the more simple meaning is that which I first stated--that the nations would come, bringing with them all their riches, that they might offer themselves and all their possessions as a sacrifice to God. It is, then, better to read what follows as an explanation, Mine is the silver, mine is the gold, saith Jehovah; that is, "I have not through want of money deferred hitherto the complete building of the Temple; for what can hinder me from amassing gold and silver from all quarters? Should it so please me, I could in a short time build a Temple by all the wealth of the world. Is it not indeed in my power to create mountains of gold and silver, by which I might erect for myself a Temple? Ye hence see that wealth is not wanting to me to build the Temple which I have promised; but the time is not arrived. Therefore they who believe the preceding predictions, ought to wait and to look forward, until the suitable time shall come." This is the import of the passage. [147] He at length declares that the glory of the second Temple would be greater than that of the first, and that there would be peace in that place. As to the words there is nothing obscure; but we ought especially to attend to what is said. It must, indeed, be first observed, that what is said here of the future glory of the Temple is to be applied to the excellency of those spiritual blessings which appeared when Christ was revealed, and are still conspicuous to us through faith; for ungodly men are so blind that they see them not. And this we must bear in mind, lest we dream like some gross interpreters, who think that what is here said was in part fulfilled when Herod reconstructed the Temple. For though that was a sumptuous building, yet there is no doubt but that it was an attempt of the Devil to delude the Jews, that they might cease to hope for Christ. Such was also, probably, the craft of Herod. We indeed know that he was only a half-Jew. He professed himself to be one of Abraham's children; but he accommodated his habits, we know, to those of the Jews, oddly for his own advantage. That they might not look for Christ, this delusive and empty spectacle was presented to them, so as almost to astound them. Though this, however, may not have entered into the mind of Herod, it is yet certain that the Devil's design was to present to the Jews this deceptive shade, that they might not raise up their thoughts to look for the coming of Christ, as the time was then near at hand. God might, indeed, immediately at the beginning have caused a magnificent temple to be built: as he had allowed a return to the people, so he might have given them courage, and supplied them with materials, to render the latter Temple equal or even superior to the Temple of Solomon. But Cyrus prohibited by an edict the Temple to be built so high, and he also made its length somewhat smaller: Why was this done? and why also did Darius do the same, who yet liberally helped the Jews, and spared no expense in building the Temple? How was it that both these kings, though guided by the Spirit of God, did not allow the Temple to be built with the same splendor with which it had been previously erected? This did not happen without the wonderful counsel of God; for we know how gross in their notions the Jews had been, and we see that even the Apostles were entangled in the same error; for they expected that the kingdom of Christ would be no other than an earthly one. Had then this Temple been equally magnificent with the former, and had the kingdom become such as it had been, the Jews would have acquiesced in these outward pomps; so that Christ would have been despised, and God's spiritual favor would have been esteemed as nothing. Since, then, they were so bent on earthly happiness, it was necessary for them to be awakened; and the Lord had regard to their weakness, by not allowing a splendid Temple to be built. But in suffering a counterfeit Temple to be built by Herod, when the manifestation of Christ was nigh, he manifested his vengeance by punishing their ingratitude, rather than his favor; and I call it counterfeit, because its splendor was never approved by God. Though Herod spent great treasures on that building, he yet profaned rather than adorned the Temple. Foolishly, then, do some commemorate what Helena, queen of Adiabenians, had laid out, and think that thus a credit is in some measure secured to this prophecy. But it was on the contrary Satan who attempted to deceive by such impostures and crafts, that he might draw away the minds of the godly from the beauty of the spiritual Temple. But why does the prophet mention gold and silver? He did this in conformity with what was usual and common; for whenever the Prophets speak of the kingdom of Christ, they delineate or describe its splendor in figurative terms, suitable to their own age. When Isaiah foretells the restoration of the Church, he declares that the Church would be all gold and silver, and whatever glittered with precious stones; and in Isaiah 60:1 he especially sets forth the magnificence of the Temple, as though nations from all parts were to bring for sacrifice all their precious things. But Isaiah speaks figuratively, as all the other Prophets do. So then what we read of gold and of silver ought to be so explained as to be applied mystically to the kingdom of Christ; as we have already observed respecting Malachi 1:11 - They shall offer to me, saith the Lord, pure sacrifices from the rising to the setting of the sun.' What are these sacrifices? Are heifers yet to be offered, or lambs, or other animals? By no means; but we must regard the spiritual character of the priesthood; for as the gold of which the Prophet now speaks, and the silver, ought to be taken in a spiritual sense; for since Christ has appeared in the world, it is not God's will to be served with gold and silver vessels; so also there is no altar on which victims are to be sacrificed, and no candlestick; in a word, all the symbols of the law have ceased. It hence follows that the Prophet speaks of the spiritual ornaments of the Temple. And thus we perceive how the glory of the second Temple is to be greater than that of the first. It then follows, that God would give peace in this place; as though he had said that it would be well with the Jews if they only waited patiently for the complete fulfillment of redemption. But it must be observed, that this peace was not so evident to them that they could enjoy it according to the perception of the flesh; but it was that kind of peace of which Paul speaks, and which, he says, exceeds all understanding ( Philippians 4:7 .) In short, the people could not have comprehended what the Prophet teaches here respecting the future splendor of the Temple, except they leaped over all the obstacles which seemed to obstruct the progress of complete redemption; and so it was ever necessary for them to have recourse to this truth--yet a little while; as though he said that they were patiently to endure while God was exercising their faith: but that the time would come, and that shortly, when the Lord would fill that house with glory that is, when Christ would bring witch him all fullness of glory; for though they were to gather the treasures of a thousand worlds into one mass, such a glory would yet be corruptible; but when God the Father appeared in the person of his own Son, he then glorified indeed his Temple; and his majesty shone forth so much that there was nothing wanting to a complete perfection. Footnotes: [146] Our common version is no doubt the best, and is materially followed by Newcome, Henderson, and many others. Retaining the tense of the passage, I would render the clause thus, Yet once, shortly will it be, And I will shake, etc. "Shortly will it be," [mt hy'] (shortly it) may be taken as a parenthesis. Yet once more, in a short time--Newcome. Yet once, within a little,--Henderson. The shaking of the heavens, earth, sea, and dry land is explained, according to the common manner of the Prophets, in the next verse, by shaking of all nations: the material world is named in the first instance, while its inhabitants are intended. So Henderson very properly renders the [m] at the beginning of the seventh verse, "Yea."--Ed. [147] Many have been the criticisms on this clause, both as to its grammatical construction and as to the import of the word rendered "desire." The verb "come" is plural, and the word for "desire" is singular. The easiest solution, and countenanced by the Septuagint, where the word is rendered ta eklekta--"choice things," is to consider [chmdt] as a plural, the [v] being omitted. This would remove the grammatical anomaly, and the sentiment, as Calvin says, woud be more consonant with the context. And come shall the choice things of all nations. There is no ground for the objection which Bishop Chandler states, that to "come" is in this case an improper expression; for there are other similar instances. See Joshua 6:12 ; Isaiah 60:5 . It is also applied to trees, Isaiah 60:13 ; and to incense, Jeremiah 6:20 . Newcome takes the word as a plural, but applies it as deliciae in Latin to a person, and refers to Daniel 9:23 ; where Daniel is called [chmvdvt], rendered in our version "greatly beloved." The version of Henderson is the following-- And the things desired by all nations shall come. He considers that they are the blessings of the kingdom of Christ, and thinks that the Prophet refers to the general expectation which pervaded the world of some better state of things, and especially of some deliverer. But the most tenable is the view of Calvin, which has been held by Kimchi, Drusius, Vitringa, and others.--Ed. Prayer Grant, Almighty God, that since we are by nature extremely prone to superstition, we may carefully consider what is the true and right way of serving thee, such as thou dost desire and approve, even that we offer ourselves spiritually to thee, and seek no other altar but Christ, and relying on no other priest, hope to be acceptable and devoted to thee, that he may imbue us with the Spirit which has been fully poured on him, so that we may from the heart devote ourselves to thee, and thus proceed patiently in our course, that with minds raised upwards we may ever go on towards that glory which is as yet hid under hope, until it shall at length be manifested in due time, when thine only-begotten Son shall appear with the elect angels for our final redemption. Amen.

And I will shake all nations, and {d} the desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith the LORD of hosts. (d) Meaning Christ, whom all ought to look for and desire: or by desire he may signify all precious things, such as riches, and things like them.

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. And I will shake all nations — First, by the civil wars between the Triumviri, not long before Christ’s incarnation. Secondly, by the general tax, Luke 2:3 , when all went to be taxed every one into his own city. Thirdly, by the preaching and miracles of Christ and his apostles, whereby the nations were shaken out of their sinful condition, and brought to the obedience of faith by effectual conversion. Thus a Lapide. "I will shake all nations" with wonder at so great a mystery, with joy and with newness of life, saith Sa. The gospel (saith Forbes on Revelation 14:6 ) hath three degrees of operation in the hearts of men. First, it falleth to men’s ears as the sound of many waters, a confused sound, which commonly bringeth neither terror nor joy; but yet a wondering and acknowledgment of a strange force, and more than human power, Mark 1:22-23 2 John 1:7 ; 2 John 1:72 John 1:7 ; 2 John 1:7 :46 . This may be in the reprobate, Acts 13:41 . The second effect is the voice of thunder, which brings not only wonder, but fear. This may also be in a reprobate, as Felix. The third effect, proper to the elect, is the sound of harping; while the gospel not only ravisheth with admiration, and shaketh the conscience with terror, but also filleth it with sweet peace and joy. Certain it is, that the gospel maketh a stir where it cometh, and brings an earthquake to men’s souls, as it did to the jailer’s, Acts 16:26-27 , and Peter’s converts, Acts 2:37 And this partly through the frowardness of our affections, and partly through the malice of Satan, fearing the ruin of his kingdom. For, as for the gospel, this effect follows it, by accident. See Matthew 10:34-35 , See Trapp on " Matthew 10:34 " See Trapp on " Matthew 10:35 " See also Luke 12:49 . It is by accident to the sun that it maketh the dunghill stink. It is by accident to the sea that it maketh the passenger sick; the ill humours in his stomach disease him. So here. And the desire of all nations shall come — That is, Christ, for so the apostle expoundeth it, Hebrews 12:25-26 . And the Church saith of him, Totus ipse desideria, Song of Solomon 5:16 , he is all over desirable ( Valete mea desideria. Goodbye my love, Cic. xiv. 2, ad Uxorem et Filiam to wives and daughters). And again, Isaiah 26:9 "With my soul have I desired thee in the night: yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early." "And unto Shiloh shall the gathering of the people be," saith Jacob, Genesis 49:10 , as unto the standard bearer, Song of Solomon 5:10 , the carcase, Matthew 24:28 , as the doves scour to their columbaries, Isaiah 60:8 . When I am lifted up, saith he, I will draw all men after me, John 12:32 , that is, all mine elect; these will follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth, as the hop and heliotrope A name given to plants of which the flowers turn so as to follow the sun; ŒD do the sun. And because the nations had not heard of Christ till he came in the flesh, and this coming of the desire of all nations seems to follow presently upon the preaching of the gospel, therefore Junius renders it Desiderati, the desirable ones of all nations, and interprets it, of the elect (the Septuagint also say the same, of οι εκλεκτοι των εθνων ), who should come to the second temple in a spiritual sense, worshipping the same God that these good Jews did, and should come with strength of affection (as the Hebrew importeth), should make hard shift to come, Isaiah 66:20 "They shall bring your brethren as an offering to the Lord, upon horses, in chariots, and in litters," that is, though sick, weakly, and unfit for travel, yet rather in litters than not at all. Neither shall they come empty handed, but with all their desirable things (so some render this text), colligent omnes suos thesauros, saith Calvin, they shall come with strong affections, with liberal contributions, as Acts 4:34 , and as Tyrus, who, when once converted, leaves hoarding and heaping up wealth (as formerly), and finds another manner of employment for it, namely, to uphold God’s worship, and to feed and clothe his saints, Isaiah 23:18 . And I will fill this house with glory — This rebuilding temple shall be honoured with Christ’s bodily presence (Diodati); and the spiritual temple, which is the Church, shall be honoured by my presence in spirit, the abundance of my graces, the light of my word, and power of my spirit, who shall rest upon my people as a spirit of glory when the world loadeth them with greatest ignominy, 1 Peter 4:14 , rest upon them by a blessed Shechinah.

I will shake all nations; which was literally fulfilled in the overthrow of the Persian monarchy by the Grecians, in the civil wars and succeeding troubles among Alexander’s successors, the growth of the Roman power by the subduing their neighbours, and their dissensions and homebred wars, all hushed by Augustus a little before Christ’s birth. These convulsions began a little after this prophecy, and continued long, in which the Jews, under the Maccabees, had their share. The Desire of all nations shall come; Christ, the most desirable, because the most helpful to all nations, which some proselytes in all ages did come to the knowledge of, and did earnestly desire; and who was desired by all that knew their own misery. and his sufficiency to save them, who was to be the light of the Gentiles as well as the glory of his people Israel. The Messiah’s coming (the Jews do own) is foretold in this text, yet will they not see how this yet a little while is long since past, and the true Messiah long since come. I will fill this house, which you now build, this second temple. The first had a fulness of glory in its magnificent structure, rich ornaments, and costly sacrifices, but this was a worldly glory; that which is here promised is a heavenly glory from the presence of Christ in it. He that was the brightness of his Father’s glory, who is the glory of the church, appeareth in this second temple. With glory, of my presence, preaching, healing, and comforting, saith the Messiah, the King of glory, who entered these everlasting doors, Psalm 24:7 ,8 . This was before the desolation of this temple by the Romans, a demonstration that the Messiah should come whilst this second temple stood. But now the hardened Jew seeks to evade this text. Saith the Lord of hosts: this is a solemn sealing the certainty of the thing in this prophet, and Zechariah, and Malachi, who style him Lord of hosts near a hundred times. I will shake all nations; which was literally fulfilled in the overthrow of the Persian monarchy by the Grecians, in the civil wars and succeeding troubles among Alexander’s successors, the growth of the Roman power by the subduing their neighbours, and their dissensions and homebred wars, all hushed by Augustus a little before Christ’s birth. These convulsions began a little after this prophecy, and continued long, in which the Jews, under the Maccabees, had their share. The Desire of all nations shall come; Christ, the most desirable, because the most helpful to all nations, which some proselytes in all ages did come to the knowledge of, and did earnestly desire; and who was desired by all that knew their own misery. and his sufficiency to save them, who was to be the light of the Gentiles as well as the glory of his people Israel. The Messiah’s coming (the Jews do own) is foretold in this text, yet will they not see how this yet a little while is long since past, and the true Messiah long since come. I will fill this house, which you now build, this second temple. The first had a fulness of glory in its magnificent structure, rich ornaments, and costly sacrifices, but this was a worldly glory; that which is here promised is a heavenly glory from the presence of Christ in it. He that was the brightness of his Father’s glory, who is the glory of the church, appeareth in this second temple. With glory, of my presence, preaching, healing, and comforting, saith the Messiah, the King of glory, who entered these everlasting doors, Psalm 24:7 ,8 . This was before the desolation of this temple by the Romans, a demonstration that the Messiah should come whilst this second temple stood. But now the hardened Jew seeks to evade this text. Saith the Lord of hosts: this is a solemn sealing the certainty of the thing in this prophet, and Zechariah, and Malachi, who style him Lord of hosts near a hundred times.

And I will shake all nations,.... By changing their governors, and forms of government; which was done by the Romans, when subdued by them; and by bringing in wars among them, which produced those changes; and by civil wars among the Romans themselves, in the several nations that belonged to them, which were notorious a little before the coming of Christ: or else this was to be done, and was done, by the preaching of the Gospel, both in Judea, and in the Gentile world, when all the inhabitants thereof were shaken by it, in one sense or another; some had their hearts and consciences shaken by the Spirit and grace of God through it, and were brought to embrace it, and profess it; yea, were brought to Christ, to yield obedience to him, his truths and ordinances; and others were moved with envy, wrath, and indignation at it, and rose up to oppose it, and stop the progress of it: and the desire of all nations shall come; not the desirable things of all nations, or them with them, as their gold and silver; and which is the sense of Jarchi, Kimchi, and Aben Ezra; but this is contrary to the syntax of the words, to the context, Haggai 2:8 , and to facts; and, if true, would not have given this temple a greater glory than Solomon's: nor the elect of God, as others, brought in through the preaching of the Gospel; who are indeed the desire of God, he takes pleasure in them; and of Christ, whose delights have been always in them; and of the blessed Spirit, whose love to them, and esteem of them, are very manifest; and with the saints they are the excellent in the earth, in whom is all their delight: yet not they, but one far more glorious and excellent, is intended, even the Messiah, in whom all nations of the earth were to be blessed; and who, so far as he was known by good men or proselytes among the Gentiles, was desired by them, as by Job, and others; and who, when he came, brought all good things with him; and has all blessings in him, that may make him desirable to men, being what they want; and though he is not in fact desired by all, yet of right he should be, and to all sensible sinners he is; even above all persons and things in the whole world; on account of his excellencies and glories; his mediatorial qualifications; his names, offices, and relations; the blessings of grace in him; the works done by him; his truths and ordinances, people, ways, and worship: and when it is said, he "shall come", the meaning is, not only into the world by assumption of nature, to obtain redemption for his people; but into this temple now building, in that nature assumed; where he appeared at the presentation of him by his parents; and at the passover, when twelve years of age; and when he drove out the buyers and sellers from it; and when he often taught in it. The word "come" is in the plural number; and may denote his frequent coming thither, as well as in different respects; his personal coming; his spiritual coming; his coming to take vengeance on the Jews; and his last coming, of which some understand the words particularly: and I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of hosts; alluding to the glory which filled the tabernacle of Moses, and the temple of Solomon, Exodus 40:35 but that was but a shadowy glory, this a real one; here Christ appeared in person, who is the brightness of his Father's glory; here his glorious doctrines were taught, and glorious miracles wrought; and the Spirit of glory rested on the disciples, in his gifts and grace bestowed upon them in an extraordinary manner, on the day of Pentecost.

Those who are hearty in the Lord's service shall receive encouragement to proceed. But they could not build such a temple then, as Solomon built. Though our gracious God is pleased if we do as well as we can in his service, yet our proud hearts will scarcely let us be pleased, unless we do as well as others, whose abilities are far beyond ours. Encouragement is given the Jews to go on in the work notwithstanding. They have God with them, his Spirit and his special presence. Though he chastens their transgressions, his faithfulness does not fail. The Spirit still remained among them. And they shall have the Messiah among them shortly; He that should come. Convulsions and changes would take place in the Jewish church and state, but first should come great revolutions and commotions among the nations. He shall come, as the Desire of all nations; desirable to all nations, for in him shall all the earth be blessed with the best of blessings; long expected and desired by all believers. The house they were building should be filled with glory, very far beyond Solomon's temple. This house shall be filled with glory of another nature. If we have silver and gold, we must serve and honour God with it, for the property is his. If we have not silver and gold, we must honour him with such as we have, and he will accept us. Let them be comforted that the glory of this latter house shall be greater than that of the former, in what would be beyond all the glories of the first house, the presence of the Messiah, the Son of God, the Lord of glory, personally, and in human nature. Nothing but the presence of the Son of God, in human form and nature, could fulfil this. Jesus is the Christ, is He that should come, and we are to look for no other. This prophecy alone is enough to silence the Jews, and condemn their obstinate rejection of Him, concerning whom all their prophets spake. If God be with us, peace is with us. But the Jews under the latter temple had much trouble; but this promise is fulfilled in that spiritual peace which Jesus Christ has by his blood purchased for all believers. All changes shall make way for Christ to be desired and valued by all nations. And the Jews shall have their eyes opened to behold how precious He is, whom they have hitherto rejected.

7. shake—not convert; but cause that agitation which is to precede Messiah's coming as the healer of the nations' agitations. The previous shaking shall cause the yearning "desire" for the Prince of peace. Moore and others translate "the beauty," or "the desirable things (the precious gifts) of all nations shall come" (Isa 60:5, 11; 61:6). He brings these objections to applying "the desire of all nations" to Messiah: (1) The Hebrew means the quality, not the thing desired, namely, its desirableness or beauty, But the abstract is often put for the concrete. So "a man of desires," that is, one desired or desirable (Da 9:23; 10:11, Margin; Da 10:3, Margin). (2) Messiah was not desired by all nations, but "a root out of a dry ground," having "no beauty that we should desire Him" (Isa 53:2). But what is implied is not that the nations definitely desired Him, but that He was the only one to satisfy the yearning desires which all felt unconsciously for a Saviour, shown in their painful rites and bloody sacrifices. Moreover, while the Jews as a nation desired Him not (to which people Isa 53:2 refers), the Gentiles, who are plainly pointed out by "all nations," accepted Him; and so to them He was peculiarly desirable. (3) The verb, "shall come," is plural, which requires the noun to be understood in the plural, whereas if Messiah be intended, the noun is singular. But when two nouns stand together, of which one is governed by the other, the verb agrees sometimes in number with the latter, though it really has the former as its nominative, that is, the Hebrew "come" is made in number to agree with "nations," though really agreeing with "the desire." Besides, Messiah may be described as realizing in Himself at His coming "the desires (the noun expressing collectively the plural) of all nations"; whence the verb is plural. So in So 5:16, "He is altogether lovely," in the Hebrew the same word as here, "all desires," that is, altogether desirable, or the object of desires. (4) Hag 2:8, "The silver is mine," &c. accords with the translation, "the choice things of all nations" shall be brought in. But Hag 2:8 harmonizes quite as well with English Version of Hag 2:7, as the note on eighth verse will show; see on [1171]Hag 2:8. (5) the Septuagint and Syriac versions agree with Moore's translation. But Vulgate confirms English Version. So also early Jewish Rabbis before Jerome's time. Plato [Alcibiades, 2] shows the yearning of the Gentiles after a spiritual deliverer: "It is therefore necessary," says Alcibiades on the subject of acceptable worship, "to wait until One teach us how we ought to behave towards the gods and men." Alcibiades replies, "When shall that time arrive, and who shall that Teacher be? For most glad would I be to see such a man." The "good tidings of great joy" were "to all people" (Lu 2:10). The Jews, and those in the adjoining nations instructed by them, looked for Shiloh to come unto whom the gathering of the people was to be, from Jacob's prophecy (Ge 49:10). The early patriarchs, Job (Job 19:25-27; 33:23-26) and Abraham (Joh 8:56), desired Him. fill this house with glory—(Hag 2:9). As the first temple was filled with the cloud of glory, the symbol of God (1Ki 8:11; 2Ch 5:14), so this second temple was filled with the "glory" of God (Joh 1:14) veiled in the flesh (as it were in the cloud) at Christ's first coming, when He entered it and performed miracles there (Mt 21:12-14); but that "glory" is to be revealed at His second coming, as this prophecy in its ulterior reference foretells (Mal 3:1). The Jews before the destruction of Jerusalem all expected Messiah would appear in the second temple. Since that time they invent various forced and false interpretations of such plain Messianic prophecies.

And the desire of all nations shall come - The words can only mean this, the central longing of all nations He whom they longed for, either through the knowledge of Him spread by the Jews in their dispersion, or mutely by the aching craving of the human heart, longing for the restoration from its decay. "The earnest expectation of the creature" did not begin with the Coming of Christ, nor was it limited to those, who actually came to Him Romans 8:19-22 . "The whole creation," Paul saith, "groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now." It was enslaved, and the better self longed to be free; every motion of grace in the multitudinous heart of man was a longing for its Deliverer; every weariness of what it was, every fleeting vision of what was better, every sigh from out of its manifold ills, were notes of the one varied cry, "Come and help us." Man's heart, formed in the image of God, could not but ache to be reformed by and for Him, though "an unknown God," who should reform it. This longing increased as the time drew near, when Christ should come. The Roman biographer attests the existence of this expectation, not among the Jews only, but in the East ; this was quickened doubtless among the pagan by the Jewish Sibylline book, in that, amid the expectations of one sent from heaven, who should found a kingdom of righteousness, which the writer drew from the Hebrew prophets, he inserted denunciations of temporal vengeance upon the Romans, which Easterns would share. Still, although written 170 years before our Lord came , it had not apparently much effect until the time, when, from the prophecies of Daniel it was clear, that He must shortly come . Yet the attempt of the Jewish and pagan historian to wrest it to Vespasian, shows how great must have been the influence of the expectation, which they attempted to turn aside. The Jews, who rejected our Lord whom Haggai predicted, still were convinced that the prediction must be fulfilled before the destruction of the second temple. The impulse did not cease even after its destruction. R. Akiba, whom they accounted "the first oracle of his time, the first and greatest guardian of the tradition and old law," of whom they said, that "God revealed to him things unknown to Moses," was induced by this prophecy to acknowledge the impostor Bar-cochab, to the destruction of himself and of the most eminent of his time; fulfilling our Lord's words John 5:43 , "I am come in My fathers name, and ye receive Me not; if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive." Akiba, following the traditional meaning of the great prophecy which rivetted his own eyes, paraphrased the words, "Yet a little, a little of the kingdom, will I give to Israel upon the destruction of the first house, and after the kingdom, lo! I will shake heaven, and after that will come the Messiah." Since the words can only mean "the Desire of all nations," he or that which all nations long for, the construction of the words does not affect the meaning. Herod doubtless thought to advance his own claims on the Jewish people by his material adorning of the temple; yet, although mankind do covet gold and silver, few could seriously think that, while a pagan immoral but observant poet could speak of "gold undiscovered and so better placed," or our own of the "pale and common drudge 'Tween man and man," a Hebrew prophet could recognize gold and silver as "the desire of all nations." Rabbi Akiba and Jerome's Jewish teachers, after our Lord came, felt no difficulty in understanding it of a person. We cannot in English express the delicacy of the phrase, whereby manifoldness is combined in unity, the Object of desire containing in itself many objects of desire. To render "the desire of all nations" or "the desires of all nations" alike fail to do this. A great pagan master of language said to his wife, "fare you well, my longings," i. e., I suppose, if he had analyzed his feelings, he meant that she manifoldly met the longings of his heart; she had in herself manifold gifts to content them. So Paul sums up all the truths and gifts of the Gospel, all which God shadowed out in the law and had given us in Christ, under the name of "the good things to come." A pious modern writer speaks of "the unseen desirables of the spiritual world." A psalmist expresses at once the collective, "God's Word" and the "words" contained in it, by an idiom like Haggai's, joining the feminine singular as a collective with the plural verb; "How sweet are Thy word unto my taste," literally "palate." It is God's word, at once collectively and individually, which was to the Psalmist so sweet. What was true of the whole, was true, one by one, of each part; what was true of each part, was true of the whole. So here, the object of this longing was manifold, but met in one, was concentrated in One, 1 Corinthians 1:30 . "in Christ Jesus, Who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption." That which the whole world sighed and mourned for, knowingly or unknowingly, light to disperse its darkness, liberty from its spiritual slavery, restoration from its degradation, could not come to us without some one, who should impart it to us. But if Jesus was "the longed-for of the nations" before He came, by that mute longing of need for that which it wants (as the parched ground thirsteth for the rain how much more afterward! So Micah and Isaiah describe many peoples inviting one another Micah 4:2 ; Isaiah 2:3 . "Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths." And in truth He became the "desire of the nations," much more than of the Jews; as, Paul says, ( Romans 10:19-20 ; quoting Deuteronomy 32:21 . Isaiah 65:2 .) God foretold of old; "Moses saith, I will provoke you to jealousy by them that are not a people: by a foolish nation I will anger you. But Esaias is very bold and saith, I was found of them that sought Me not." So until now and in eternity, "Christ is the longing of all holy souls, who long for nothing else, than to please Him, daily to love Him more, to worship Him better. So John longed for Him; "Come, Lord Jesus Revelation 22:20 . So Isaiah Isa 26:8-9, "The desire of our soul is to Thy Name and to the remembrance of Thee: with my soul have I desired Thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me, will I seek Thee early." So Ignatius, "Let fire, cross, troops of wild beasts, dissections, rendings, scattering of bones, mincing of limbs, grindings of the whole body, ill tortures of the devil come upon me, only may I gain Jesus Christ. - I seek Him Who for us died; I long for Him Who for us rose." "Hungerest thou and desirest food? Long for Jesus! He is the bread and refreshment of Angels. He is manna, "containing in Him all sweetness and pleasurable delight." Thirstest thou? Long for Jesus! He is the well of "living water," refreshing, so that thou shouldest thirst no more. Art thou sick? Go to Jesus. He is the Saviour, the physician, nay, salvation itself. Art thou dying? Sigh for Jesus! He is "the resurrection and the life." Art thou perplexed? Come to Jesus! He is "the Angel of great counsel." Art thou ignorant and erring? Ask Jesus; He is "the way, the truth and the life." Art thou a sinner? Call on Jesus! For "He shall save His people from their sins." To this end He came into the world: "This is all His fruit, to take away sin." Art thou tempted by pride, gluttony, lust, sloth? Call on Jesus! He is humility, soberness, chastity, love, fervor: "He bare our infirmities, and carried," yea still beareth and carrieth, "our griefs." Seekest thou beauty? He is "fairer than the children of men." Seekest thou wealth? In Him are "all treasures," yea in Him "the fullness of the Godhead dwelleth." Art thou ambitious of honors? "Glory and riches are in His house." "He is the King of glory." Seekest thou a friend? He hath the greatest love for thee, who for love of thee came down from heaven, toiled, endured the Sweat of Blood, the Cross and Death; He prayed for thee by name in the garden, and poured forth tears of Blood! Seekest thou wisdom? He is the Eternal and Uncreated Wisdom of the Father! Wishest thou for consolation and joy? He is the sweetness of souls, the joy and jubilee of Angels. Wishest thou for righteousness and holiness? He is "the Holy of holies;" He "is everlasting Righteousness," justifying and sanctifying all who believe and hope in Him. Wishest thou for a blissful life? He is "life eternal," the bliss of the saints. Long then for Him, love Him, sigh for Him! In Him thou wilt find all good; out of Him, all evil, all misery. Say then with Francis, 'My Jesus, my love and my all!' O Good Jesus, burst the cataract of Thy love, that its streams, yea seas, may flow down upon us, yea, inebriate and overwhelm us." And I will fill this house with glory - The glory then was not to be anything, which came from man, but directly from God. It was the received expression of God's manifestation of Himself in the tabernacle Exodus 40:34-35 . in Soloman's temple, 1 Kings 8:11 ; 2 Chronicles 5:14 ; 2 Chronicles 7:1-12 , and of the ideal temple Ezekiel 43:5 ; Ezekiel 44:4 . which Ezekiel saw, after the likeness of that of Solomon, that "the glory of the Lord filled the house." When then of this second temple God uses the self-same words, that He will "fill it with glory," with what other glory should He fill it than His own? In the history it is said, "the glory of the Lord filled the temple;" for there man relates what God did. Here it is God Himself who speaks; so He says not, "the glory of the Lord," but, "I will fill the house with glory," glory which was His to give, which came from Himself. To interpret that glory of anything material, is to do violence to language, to force on words of Scripture an unworthy sense, which they refuse to bear. The gold upon the walls, even had the second temple been adorned like the first did not fill the temple of Solomon. However richly any building might be overlaid with gold, no one could say that it is filled with it. A building is filled with what it contains; a mint or treasure-house may be filled with gold: the temple of God was "filled," we are told, with "the glory of the Lord." His creatures bring Him such things as they can offer; they bring Isaiah 60:6 "gold and incense;" they Psalm 72:10 "bring presents" and "offer gifts;" they do it, moved by His Spirit, as acceptable to Him. God was never said to give these offerings to Himself.