John Calvin Commentary Haggai 1

The Prophet mentions here the year, the month, and the day on which he began to rouse the people from their sloth and idleness, by the command of God; for everyone pursued their own domestic interests and had no concern for building the Temple.

This happened, he says, in the second year of Darius the king. Interpreters differ regarding this time, for they do not agree on the day or year in which the Babylonian captivity began. Some date the beginning of the seventy years from the ruin that occurred under Jeconiah, before the razing of the city and the destruction of the Temple.

It is, however, probable that a considerable time had passed before Haggai began his office as a Prophet. Babylon was taken twenty years, or little more, before the death of King Cyrus; his son Cambyses, who reigned eight years, succeeded him. The third king was Darius, the son of Hystaspes, whom the Jews claim to be the son of Ahasuerus by Esther. But their imaginative ideas are not credible, for they venture any bold notion in matters unknown and assert anything that comes to their minds or lips. Thus they tell fables, for the most part without any semblance of truth.

It may be sufficient for us to understand that this Darius was the son of Hystaspes, who succeeded Cambyses (for I omit the seven months of the Magi, as they crept in by deceit and were shortly after destroyed). It is probable that Cambyses, who was the first-born son of Cyrus, had no male heir.

Therefore, after his brother was slain by the consent of the nobles, the kingdom came to Darius. He, then, as we may learn from histories, was the third king of the Persians. Daniel says, in Daniel 5, that the city of Babylon had been taken by Cyrus, but that Darius the Mede reigned there.

But between writers, there is some disagreement on this point. Though all say that Cyrus was king, Xenophon says that Cyaxares was always preeminent, so that Cyrus acted only as a regent, so to speak. But Xenophon, as all who have any judgment and are knowledgeable in history well know, did not write a history but boldly invented stories according to his own imagination, for he invents the story that Cyrus was brought up by his maternal grandfather, Astyages.

But it is quite evident that Astyages had been conquered in war by Cyrus. He also says that Cyrus married a wife a considerable time after the taking of Babylon and that she was presented to him by his uncle Cyaxares, but that he did not dare to marry her until he returned to Persia and his father Cambyses approved of the marriage.

Here Xenophon invents fables and gives free rein to his own invention, for it was not his purpose to write a history. He is a very fine writer, it is true, but the uninformed are much mistaken if they think that he has collected all the histories of the world. Xenophon is a highly esteemed philosopher but not an approved historian, for it was his intention to present fictions as real facts, whatever seemed most suitable to him.

He fables that Cyrus died in his bed, dictated a long will, and spoke like a philosopher in his retirement. But Cyrus, we know, died in the Scythian war, slain by Queen Tomyris, who avenged the death of her son; and this is well known even by children.

Xenophon, however, wishing to portray the image of a perfect prince, says that Cyrus died in his bed. We cannot, then, gather from the Cyropaedia, which Xenophon wrote, anything true. But if we compare the historians, we shall find the following things asserted almost unanimously: that Cambyses was the son of Cyrus; that when he suspected his younger brother, he gave orders to put him to death; that both died without any male issue; and that on discovering the fraud of the Magi, the son of Hystaspes became the third king of Persia.

Daniel calls Darius, who reigned in Babylon, the Mede; but this is Cyaxares. I readily admit this, for he reigned on sufferance, as Cyrus willingly declined the honor. And Cyrus, though a grandson of Astyages by his daughter Mandane, was yet born of a father who was not of noble birth. For Astyages, having dreamed that all Asia would be covered by his daughter's offspring, was easily persuaded to marry her to a foreigner.

When, therefore, he gave her to Cambyses, his design was to send her to a distant country, so that no one born to her should attain such a great empire; this was the advice of the Magi. Cyrus then acquired a name and reputation, no doubt, only by his own efforts. Nor did he venture at first to take the name of king, but allowed his uncle, who was also his father-in-law, to reign with him. And he was his colleague for only two years, as Cyaxares' life did not extend long after the taking of Babylon.

I come now to our Prophet: he says, In the second year of Darius I was commanded by the Lord to reprove the sloth of the people. We may readily conclude that more than twenty years had passed since the people began to return to their own country.

Some say thirty or forty years, and others go beyond that number, but this is not probable. Some say that the Jews returned to their country in the fifty-eighth year of their captivity, but this is not true and may be easily disproved by the words of Daniel as well as by the history of Ezra.

Daniel says in Daniel 9:1 that he was reminded by God of the return of the people when the time prescribed by Jeremiah was drawing near. And as this happened not in the first year of Darius, the son of Hystaspes, but about the end of the reign of Belshazzar before Babylon was taken, it follows that the time of the exile was then fulfilled.

We also find this at the beginning of the historical account: When seventy years were accomplished, God roused the spirit of Cyrus the king. Therefore, we see that Cyrus allowed the free return of the people only at the time predicted by Jeremiah, and according to what Isaiah had previously taught: that Cyrus, before he was born, had been chosen for this work. And then God began openly to show how truthfully He had spoken before the people were driven into exile.

But if we grant that the people returned in the fifty-eighth year, the truth of the prophecy will not be evident. Therefore, those who say that the Jews returned to their country before the seventieth year speak very thoughtlessly, for in this way, as I have said, they undermine every concept of God’s favor.

Since, then, seventy years had passed when Babylon was taken, and Cyrus by a public edict permitted the Jews to return to their country, God at that time stretched out His hand on behalf of the miserable exiles. But troubles afterwards arose for them from their neighbors. Some, under the guise of friendship, wished to join them, intending to obliterate the name of Israel and to create a kind of amalgamation of many nations.

Then others openly carried on war with them. When Cyrus was with his army in Scythia, his prefects became hostile to the Jews, and thus a delay was caused. Then followed Cambyses, a most cruel enemy to the Church of God. Consequently, the building of the Temple could not proceed until the time of this Darius, the son of Hystaspes.

But as Darius, the son of Hystaspes, favored the Jews, or at least was favorably disposed towards them, he restrained the neighboring nations from causing any more delay in the building of the Temple. He ordered his prefects to protect the people of Israel, so that they might live quietly in their country and finish the Temple, which had only been begun.

And from this we may conclude that the Temple was built in forty-six years, according to what is said in John 2:20; for the foundations were laid immediately upon the return of the people, but the work was either neglected or hindered by enemies.

But as permission to build the Temple was given to the Jews, we may gather from what our Prophet says that they were guilty of ingratitude towards God. For private benefit was almost exclusively regarded by everyone, and there was hardly any concern for the worship of God.

Therefore, the Prophet now reproves this indifference, which was allied with ungodliness. For what could be more contemptible than to enjoy the country and the inheritance which God had formerly promised to Abraham, and yet to show no regard for God, nor for that special favor He wished to confer—His dwelling among them?

A dwelling place on Mount Zion had been chosen, we know, by God, so that from there the Redeemer of the world might come forth. Since this business was neglected, and each one built his own house, the Prophet justly reproves them here with vehemence in the name and by the command of God.

So much for the time. And he says, in the second year of Darius, for a year had now passed since permission to build the Temple had been granted to them; but the Jews were negligent, because they were too focused on their own private advantages.

And he says that the word was given by his hand to Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, and to Joshua, the son of Josedech. We shall hereafter see that this communication concerned the whole community without distinction.

If a probable conjecture is considered, neither Zerubbabel nor Joshua were at fault for the Temple's neglect; indeed, we may certainly conclude from what Zechariah says that Zerubbabel was a wise prince and that Joshua faithfully discharged his office as a priest.

Since then both labored for God, why did the Prophet address them? And since the whole blame belonged to the people, why did he not speak to them? Why did he not assemble the whole multitude?

The Lord, no doubt, intended to connect Zerubbabel and Joshua with His servant as associates, so that the three of them might go forth to the people and deliver with one voice what God had entrusted to His servant Haggai. This, then, is the reason why the Prophet says that he was sent to Zerubbabel and Joshua.

Let us at the same time learn that princes and those to whom God has entrusted the care of governing His Church, no matter how faithfully they perform their office, nor how courageously and strenuously they discharge their duties, still need to be roused and, as it were, stimulated by many goads. I have already said that in other places Zerubbabel and Joshua are commended; yet the Lord reproved them and severely remonstrated with them because they neglected the building of the Temple. This was done so that they might confirm by their authority what the Prophet was about to say. But He also intimates that they were not entirely blameless while the people were so negligent in pursuing the work of building the Temple.

Zerubbabel is called the son of Shealtiel. Some think that "son" is used here to mean grandson and that his father’s name was omitted. But this seems improbable. They quote from the Chronicles a passage in which his father’s name is said to be Pedaiah, but we know that it was often the case among those people that a person had two names. I therefore consider Zerubbabel to be the son of Shealtiel. He is said to have been the governor of Judah, for it was necessary that some governing power should continue in that tribe, though the royal authority was taken away, and all sovereignty and supreme power extinguished. Yet it was God’s purpose that some traces of power should remain, according to what had been predicted by the patriarch Jacob:

Taken away shall not be the scepter from Judah, nor a leader from his thigh, until he shall come; etc. (Genesis 49:10).

The royal scepter was indeed taken away, and the crown was removed, according to what Ezekiel had said, Take away the crown, subvert, subvert, subvert it, (Ezekiel 21:26–27); for the interruption of the government had been sufficiently long. Yet, in the meantime, the Lord preserved some remnants, so that the Jews might know that that promise was not entirely forgotten. This, then, is the reason why the son of Shealtiel is said to be the governor of Judah. It now follows—

Those who think that seventy years had not passed until the reign of Darius can be easily disproved from this passage. For if the seventy years were not completed, an excuse would have been readily at hand—that they had postponed the work of building the Temple. But it was certain that the time had then elapsed, and that it was due to their indifference that the Temple was not built, as all the materials were used for private purposes.

While they were thus taking care of themselves and consulting their own interests, the building of the Temple was neglected. The fact that the Temple was not built until the reign of Darius happened, as we have said, for another reason: because the prefects of King Cyrus caused much trouble for the Jews, and Cambyses was extremely hostile to them. But when liberty was restored to them, and Darius had so graciously permitted them to build the Temple, they had no excuse for delay.

However, it is probable that they had many disputes then regarding the time. For it may have been that, seizing on any pretext to cover their laziness, they made this objection: that many difficulties had occurred because they had been too hasty, and that they had thus been punished for their haste because they had rashly begun building the Temple.

We may also suppose that they took another view of the time as not having yet come, for this objection might easily occur to them: “It is indeed true that the worship of God is rightly to be preferred to all other things; but the Lord grants us this indulgence, so that we are allowed to build our own houses, and in the meantime, we attend to the sacrifices.

Did not our fathers live for many ages without a Temple? God was then satisfied with a sanctuary. An altar is now erected, and sacrifices are offered there. The Lord then will forgive us if we postpone the building of the Temple to a suitable time. But in the meantime, everyone may build his own house, so that afterwards the Temple may be built more lavishly at leisure.”

Whatever the case, we find true what I have often stated: that the Jews were so preoccupied with their own domestic concerns, their own ease, and their own pleasures, that they valued God’s worship very little. This is the reason why the Prophet was so very displeased with them.

He declares what they said: This people say, The time is not yet come to build the house of Jehovah. He repeats here what the Jews were accustomed to allege in order to disguise their laziness, after delaying for a long time, and when they could not, except through utter shamelessness, offer anything in their own defense.

However, we see that they did not hesitate to promise themselves pardon. In this way also, men indulge themselves in their sins, as if they could make an agreement with God and appease Him with some trivial things. We see that this was the case then.

But we can also see here, as in a mirror, how great human ingratitude is. God's kindness had been especially worthy of remembrance, the glory of which should have been kept in mind to the end of time: they had been restored from exile in a way beyond anything they had ever expected.

What should they have done, but devote themselves entirely to the service of their Deliverer? But they did not even build a tent for God and sacrificed in the open air; and in this way, they deliberately trifled with God. Yet, at the same time, they lived comfortably in elegantly furnished houses.

And how is it today? We see that through a remarkable miracle of God the gospel has shone forth in our time, and we have emerged, so to speak, from the depths below. Who now raises up an altar to God of his own free will?

On the contrary, everyone considers only what is advantageous to themselves; and while they are preoccupied with their own affairs, God's worship is cast aside. There is no care, no zeal, no concern for it. Indeed, what is worse, many profit from the gospel, as if it were a lucrative business.

It is no wonder then, if the people so shamefully disregarded their deliverance and almost erased the memory of it. No less shameful is the example seen among us today.

But from this we can also see how graciously God has provided for His Church; for His purpose was that this reproof should continue to exist, that He might stimulate us today, and arouse our fear as well as our shame. For we also grow cold in this way in promoting God's worship, whenever we are led to seek only our own advantages.

We may also add that, as God’s temple is spiritual, our fault is more atrocious when we become lazy in this way; since God does not command us to collect wood, stones, or cement, but to build a heavenly temple in which He may be truly worshipped.

Therefore, when we become indifferent in this way, just as those people were so severely reproved, doubtless our laziness is much more detestable. We now see that the Prophet not only spoke to the people of his age but was also destined, through God’s wonderful purpose, to be a preacher to us, so that his doctrine resounds in our ears today and reproves our sluggishness and ungrateful indifference.

For the building of the spiritual temple is postponed whenever we become devoted to ourselves and consider only what is advantageous to us individually. We will continue with what follows tomorrow.

Prayer:

Grant, Almighty God, that as we must carry on a warfare in this world, and as it is Your will to test us with many struggles—O grant that we may never lose heart, however extreme the trials we will have to endure may be. And as You have favored us with so great an honor as to make us the framers and builders of Your spiritual temple, may every one of us present and consecrate himself wholly to You. And, since each of us has received some particular gift, may we strive to use it in building this temple, so that You may be worshipped among us perpetually. Especially, may each of us offer himself wholly as a spiritual sacrifice to You, until we are at last renewed in Your image and are received into a full participation of that glory, which has been obtained for us by the blood of Your only-begotten Son. Amen.

[Exposition continues from previous day's lecture]

When the Prophet asks whether the time had come for the Jews to live in splendid and well-furnished houses, and whether the time had not come to build the Temple, he implies that they were trifling with God in a very blatant manner; for there was exactly the same reason for building the Temple as for building the city.

How were they restored to their country, except that God performed what He had testified by the mouth of Jeremiah? Therefore, their return depended on the redemption promised to them. It was thus easy for them to conclude that the time for building the Temple had already come, for the one could not, and should not, have been separated from the other, as has been stated.

He therefore rebukes them for ingratitude, because they sought to enjoy God's kindness and at the same time disregarded the memorial of it.

And the words are very emphatic when he says, Is it time for you to dwell in houses? For a comparison is implied between God, whose Temple they did not value, and themselves, who sought not only comfortable but also lavish dwellings.

Therefore, the Prophet asks whether it was consistent that mortal men, who are no different from worms, should possess magnificent houses while God was without His Temple. And to the same purpose is what he adds, when he says that their houses were boarded; for ספונים, saphunim, means in Hebrew what we express by Cambrisees.

Since, then, they were not satisfied with what was comfortable without splendor and luxury being added, it was extremely shameful for them to rob God at the same time of His Temple, where He was to be worshipped. It now follows—

Here the Prophet relates again that the Jews were deprived of support, and that they, in a way, pined away in their distress because they robbed God of the worship due to Him. He first repeats the fact, Ye have looked for much, but behold little. It may happen that one is contented with a very slender portion because much is not expected.

Those who are satisfied with their own poverty are not anxious even if their portion of food is scanty, though they are constrained to feed on acorns. Those who have become hardened in enduring evils do not seek much; but those who desire much are more affected and troubled by their poverty. This is the reason why the Prophet says, Ye have looked for much, and, behold, there was but little. That is, “You are not like the peasants, who satisfy themselves with any sort of food and are not troubled on account of their straitened circumstances; but your desire has led you to seek abundance. Hence you seek and greedily lay hold of things on every side; but, behold, it comes to little.”

In the second place, he adds, Ye have brought it home. He further mentions another kind of evil—that when they gathered wine, corn, and money, all these things immediately vanished. Ye have brought it home, and I have blown upon it. By saying that they brought it home, he intimates that what they had acquired was laid up so that it might be preserved safely. For those who had filled their storehouses, wine-cellars, and bags thought that they had no more to do with God. Hence it was that profane men securely indulged themselves; they thought that they were beyond the reach of danger when their houses were well filled.

God, on the contrary, shows that their houses became empty when filled with treasures and provisions. But He speaks still more distinctly—that He had blown upon them, that is, that He had dissipated them by His breath. For the Prophet did not consider it enough to narrate historically what the Jews had experienced; his purpose was also to point out the cause, as it were, by the finger. He therefore teaches us that what they laid in store in their houses did not vanish away without a cause, but that this happened through the blowing of God, even because He cursed their blessing, according to what we shall later see in the Prophet Malachi.

He then adds, Why is this? saith Jehovah of hosts. God here asks, not because He had any doubts on the subject, but that He might, by this sort of goading, rouse the Jews from their lethargy: “Think of the cause, and know that My hand is not guided by a blind impulse when it strikes you. You ought, then, to consider the reason why all things thus decay and perish.” Here again, the stupidity of the people is sharply reproved because they did not pay attention to the cause of their evils, for they ought to have known this of themselves.

But God gives the answer because He saw that they remained stupefied—On account of my house, He says, because it is waste. God here assigns the cause; He shows that though no one of them considered why they were so famished, the judgment of His curse was still sufficiently manifest on account of the Temple remaining a waste.

He says, And you run, every one to his own house. Some read, “You take delight, every one in his own house,” for it is the verb רצה, retse, which we have recently noticed, and it means either to take pleasure in a thing or to run. Every one, then, runs to his house, or, every one delights in his house.

But it is more suitable to the context to give this rendering: “Every one runs to his house.” For the Prophet here reminds the Jews that they were slow and slothful in the work of building the Temple because they hastened to their private houses. He then reproves here their ardor in being intent on building their own houses, so that they had no leisure to build the Temple. This is the hastening which the Prophet blames and condemns in the Jews.

Therefore, we may learn again from this that they had long delayed building the sanctuary after the time had arrived. For, as we mentioned yesterday, those who think the Jews returned in the fifty-eighth year and had not then undergone the punishment denounced by Jeremiah are very deluded. They thus obscure the favor of God; indeed, they wholly subvert the truth of the promises, as though they had returned contrary to God’s will through the permission of Cyrus, although Isaiah says that Cyrus would be the instrument of their promised redemption (Isaiah 45:1).

Surely, then, Cyrus must have been dead before the time was fulfilled! In that case, God could not have been the redeemer of His people. Therefore, Eusebius and those who agree with him thus most absurdly confounded the order of time. It now follows—

The Prophet here declares that his message had not been without fruit, for shortly afterward the whole people prepared themselves for the work. And he names both Zerubbabel and Joshua, for it was fitting for them to lead the way and, as it were, to extend a hand to others. For, if there had been no leaders, no one of the common people would have shown the way to the others. We know what usually happens when a word is addressed indiscriminately to all the people: they wait for one another. But when Joshua and Zerubbabel attended to the commands of the Prophet, the others followed them, for they were dominant not only in power but also in authority, so that they persuaded the people to willingly do their duty. One was the governor of the people, the other was the high priest; but the honesty and faithfulness of both were well known, so that the people spontaneously followed their example.

And this passage teaches us that though God invites all to His service, yet the more anyone excels in honor or in other respects, the more promptly they should undertake what is proposed by the authority of God. Our Prophet, no doubt, meant to point out this proper order of things by saying that he was heard first by Zerubbabel and Joshua, and then by the whole people.

But as not all had returned from exile, but only a small portion compared with that great number who, we know, had not availed themselves of the kindness allowed them—this is the reason why the Prophet does not simply name the people, but the remnant of the people, שארית העם, sharit eom.

Also, since the gift of prophecy had for a long time been rarer, and few appeared among the people who had any clear evidence of their call, such as Samuel, Isaiah, David, and others possessed, the Prophet, for this reason, here more carefully commends and honors his own office: he says that the people attended to the voice of Jehovah—How?

By attending, he says, to the words of Haggai the Prophet, inasmuch as Jehovah their God had sent him. He might have said more briefly that his labor had not been without fruit, but he used this indirect way of speaking so that he might confirm his own call; and he did this intentionally, because the people had for a long time been without the opportunity of hearing God’s Prophets, for there were none among them.

But Haggai says nothing here but what is common to all teachers in the Church: for we know that men are not sent by divine authority to speak in such a way that God Himself remains silent. Since, then, the ministers of the word detract nothing from the authority of God, it follows that only the true God ought to be heard.

It is not then a unique expression, to be restricted to one man, when God is said to have spoken by the mouth of Haggai, for he thus declared that he was God’s true and authorized Prophet. We may therefore gather from these words that the Church is not to be ruled by the external preaching of the word as though God had substituted men in His own place and thus stripped Himself of His own office, but that He only speaks by their mouth.

And this is the meaning of these words, The people attended to the voice of Jehovah their God, and to the words of Haggai the Prophet. For the word of God is not distinguished from the words of the Prophet as though the Prophet had added anything of his own. Haggai then ascribed these words to himself, not because he invented anything himself, so as to corrupt the pure doctrine which had been given to him by God, but because he only distinguished between God, the author of the doctrine, and His minister, as when it is said, “The sword of God and of Gideon” (Judges 7:20), and also, “The people believed God and Moses his servant” (Exodus 14:31).

Nothing is ascribed to Moses or to Gideon apart from God; but God Himself is placed in the highest honor, and then Moses and Gideon are joined to Him. In the same sense the Apostles write, when they say that “it had pleased the Holy Spirit” and themselves (Acts 15:22).

And thus it is evident how foolish and ridiculous are the Papists, who from this conclude that it is lawful for men to add their own inventions to the word of God. For the Apostles, they say, not only alleged the authority of the Holy Spirit, but also say that it seemed good to themselves. God then, they say, does not so claim all things for Himself as not to leave some things to the decision of His Church, as if indeed the Apostles meant something different from what our Prophet means here; that is, that they truly and faithfully delivered what they had received from the Spirit of God.

It is therefore a way of speaking which should be carefully noted, when we hear that the voice of God and the words of Haggai were reverently attended to by the people.—Why? Inasmuch, he says, as God had sent him; as if he had said that God was heard when He spoke by the mouth of a man.

And this is also worth noting, because many fanatics boast that they profess respect for the word of the Lord, but are unwilling to give credit to men, as that would be even preposterous; and they pretend that in this way what belongs to the one true God is transferred to creatures.

But the Holy Spirit most easily reconciles these two things—that the voice of God is heard when the people embrace what they hear from the mouth of a Prophet. Why is this so? Because it pleases God in this way to test the obedience of our faith, when He entrusts this office to man. For if the Lord were pleased to speak Himself, then men might justly be neglected; but since He has chosen this method, whoever rejects God’s Prophets clearly shows that they despise God Himself.

There is no need to inquire here why we should obey the preached word or the external voice of men, rather than revelations; it is enough for us to know that this is God’s will. Therefore, when He sends Prophets to us, we should unquestionably receive what they bring.

And Haggai also says expressly that he was sent by the God of Israel, as if he had said that the people had demonstrated their true piety when they acknowledged God’s Prophet in his legitimate calling. For he who loudly objects and says that he does not know whether it pleases God or not to send men to announce His word, shows himself to be entirely alienated from God; for it should be sufficiently clear to us that this is one of our fundamental principles.

He afterward adds that the people feared before Jehovah. Haggai confirms here the same truth—that the people did not receive what they heard from the mouth of a mortal man differently than if the majesty of God had openly appeared. For there was no visual appearance of God, but the message of the Prophet obtained as much power as though God had descended from heaven and had given clear signs of His presence. We may therefore conclude from these words that the glory of God so shines in His word that we should be so affected by it, whenever He speaks by His servants, as though He were near to us, face to face, as the Scripture says in another place. It now follows—

The Prophet even mentions the time when they began building the temple. Twenty-three days passed between the first message and the beginning of the work. From this it appears how ignorant the one who divided the chapters was, having begun the second chapter at this verse, where the Prophet shows, as it were by his finger, how great the distance was between the day on which he began to exhort the people and the success he speaks of.

He then simply tells us here when the Temple began to be built—that is, in the second year of Darius the king, and on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month. He had previously said that a message was given to him in the second year of Darius the king, and in the sixth month, and on the first day.

Then from that day until the twenty-fourth, the people delayed; it was not that they disregarded the Prophet's command, but because it was not so easy to persuade them all to unanimously undertake the work. Although the people's promptness is commended, we must still observe that there was some mixture of weakness, for the effect of the doctrine did not appear until the twenty-fourth day. It afterwards follows—