John Calvin Commentary Haggai 2:15-19

"And now, I pray you, consider from this day and backward, before a stone was laid upon a stone in the temple of Jehovah. Through all that time, when one came to a heap of twenty [measures], there were but ten; when one came to the winevat to draw out fifty [vessels], there were but twenty. I smote you with blasting and with mildew and with hail in all the work of your hands; yet ye [turned] not to me, saith Jehovah. Consider, I pray you, from this day and backward, from the four and twentieth day of the ninth [month], since the day that the foundation of Jehovah`s temple was laid, consider it. Is the seed yet in the barn? yea, the vine, and the fig-tree, and the pomegranate, and the olive-tree have not brought forth; from this day will I bless [you]." — Haggai 2:15-19 (ASV)

I must join all these verses together, for the Prophet treats of the same thing. The meaning of the whole is this: that the Lord had then openly punished the slowness of the people, so that everyone could have easily known that they acted very inconsistently in attending only to their private concerns, neglecting the Temple. The Prophet indeed speaks here in a plain manner to earthly men, addicted to their own appetites. If they had really become wiser, or made greater progress in true religion, he might have addressed them differently, and would have no doubt followed the rule mentioned by Paul:

We speak wisdom among those who are perfect (1 Corinthians 2:6).

But as they had their thoughts fixed on meat and drink, and were intent on their private advantages, the Prophet tells them what they could comprehend: that God was angry with them, and that the proofs of His curse were evident, as the earth did not produce fruit, and they themselves were reduced to want. Thus, we perceive the object of the Prophet. But I will review the words, so that the subject may become clearer.

Lay it, he says, on your heart. Here the Prophet indirectly condemns their insensibility, as they were blind in very clear matters. He does not here direct their thoughts to heaven, nor announce deep mysteries, but only speaks of food and daily support. Since God, then, impressed clear marks of His wrath on their common sustenance, it was an intolerable stupidity in them to disregard these. And the Prophet often repeats the same thing, in order to shame the Jews; for their slowness, being so often reproved, should have made them ashamed.

Lay it on your heart, he says; that is, Consider what I am going to say. From this day and previously, he says, before a stone was laid on a stone; that is, from that day when I began to exhort you to build the Temple, consider what has happened to this very day.

Then he adds, Before you began, he says, to build the Temple, was it not that everyone who came to a heap of twenty measures found only ten? That is, was it not that when the farmers expected there would be twenty measures in the storehouse or on the floor, they were disappointed? God had dried up the ears, so they did not yield what they usually did. Farmers, by long experience, can easily estimate what they may expect when they see the gathered harvest; but this prospect had disappointed the farmers. God, then, had in this case given proofs of His curse.

Furthermore, when anyone came to the vat and expected a large vintage, had he not also been disappointed? For instead of fifty casks he found only twenty.

He then adds, I have smitten you with the east wind. For shidafun (שדפון) is to be understood as a scorching wind; and the east wind was harmful to Judea by its dryness. So also irkun (ירקון) is mildew, or a moist wind from which mildew proceeds; for we know that grain, when it has too much moisture, develops mildew when the sun shines hotly.

As to the meaning of the Prophet there is no ambiguity, for he intended to teach them that they were in various ways afflicted, so that they might clearly perceive that God was displeased with them. He then mentions the hail. For when famine happens only from the cold or from the heat, it may be ascribed to chance or to the stars; but when God employs various scourges, we are then constrained to acknowledge His wrath, as though He were determined to awaken us. This is the reason why the Prophet records here various kinds of judgments.

And he says, In every work of your hands. Some read, "And every work," etc., which is improper; for they were not struck in their own bodies, but in the produce of the earth. Then he adds, And you returned not to me. That is, “During the whole of that time I accomplished nothing, while I was so often and in such various ways chastising you. And yet what good has the stubbornness of your hearts done you? You have not returned to me.”

Lay it, he says, on your heart from this day, and previously, etc. He repeats what he had said, even from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month. We have seen before, that the Prophet was sent on that day to reprove the people for their sins. Lay it then on your heart, he says, from this day, etc.

We see how emphatic this repetition is, because in clear matters the Jews were so insensible that their want and famine could not touch them. And we know that there is no sharper goad to stimulate men than famine. Since then the Lord snatched away their food from their mouth, and they remained inattentive to such a judgment, it was a sure evidence of extreme stupidity.

It is on this account that the Prophet often declares that the Jews were extremely insensible, for they did not consider the judgments of God, which were so clear. He now adds, Is there yet seed in the barn? Jerome reads, "in the bud"; and the probable reason why he thus translated the word was that he thought the clauses would not correspond without giving the meaning of "bud" to megure (מגורה); but, as I think, he was mistaken.

The Hebrews propose what I cannot approve, for some of them read the sentence as an affirmation, "For there is seed in the barn," because they dared not commit the seed to the ground in their state of want. And others read it as a question, as though he had said that the time of harvest was far away, and that what they had remaining was so small that it was not enough to support them.

But, in my judgment, the seed refers not to what had been gathered, but to what had been sown. I therefore doubt not but that he speaks of God’s blessing on the harvest which was to come after five months, to which I will refer shortly. Some, indeed, translate the words in the past tense, as though the Prophet had said that the Jews had already experienced how great the curse of God was; but this is a forced view. The real meaning of the Prophet is this: Is there yet seed in the barn? That is, Is the seed, as yet hidden in the ground, gathered?

He then adds affirmatively, neither the vine, nor the fig tree, nor the pomegranate, nor the olive had yet produced anything; for it was the ninth month of the year, and the beginning of the year, we know, was in the month of March. Although they were then nearly in the middle of winter, they remained uncertain as to what the produce would be.

In the month of November no opinion could be formed, even by the most skilled, what produce they were to expect. As they were still in suspense, the Prophet says that God’s blessing was in readiness for them. His intention was to show that he brought a sure message from God.

For he speaks not of a vintage whose prospect had already appeared, nor of a harvest when the ears had already made their appearance. As there was still danger from the hail, from scorching winds, and also from rains and other things harmful to fruit and produce of the land, he says that the harvest would be most abundant, the vintage large; that, in a word, the produce of the olive and the fig tree would be most exuberant. The truth of the prophecy could now be surely known, when God fulfilled what He had spoken by the mouth of His servant. I now return to the subject itself.

As I have previously observed, the Prophet deals with the Jews here according to their unrefined nature; for he might in a more refined manner have taught the godly, who were not so entangled with, or devoted to, earthly concerns. It was then necessary for him to speak in a manner suitable to the comprehension of the people, as a skillful teacher who instructs children and those of more mature age in a different manner.

And he shows with evidence that the Jews were ungrateful to God, for they neglected the building of the Temple, and everyone was diligently and earnestly engaged in building his own house. He shows by proofs their conduct—How? How has it happened, he says, that at one time your fruit has been destroyed by mildew, at another by heat, and then by the hail, except that the Lord intended thus to correct your neglect?

It then follows that you are convicted of ingratitude by these judgments; for you have neglected God’s worship, and only pursued your own private advantages. This is one thing.

The latter clause contains a promise; and by it the instruction given was further confirmed, when the people saw that things suddenly and unexpectedly took a better turn. They had been for many years distressed with want of sustenance; but, when fruitfulness suddenly followed, did not this change reveal something worthy of their consideration?

Especially when it was foretold before it happened, and before any such thing could have been foreseen by human prediction? We see then, that the Prophet dwells on two things: he condemns the Jews for their neglect, and proves that they were impious and ungrateful towards God, for they disregarded the building of the Temple. And then, in order to animate them and make them more active in the work they had begun, he sets before them, as I have said, what had taken place.

God had, indeed, abundantly testified by various kinds of punishment that He was displeased with them. But when He now promises that He would deal differently with them, thus arises a new and a stronger evidence.

But someone may here raise an objection and say that these proofs are not certain or invariable; since it often happens that when people devote themselves faithfully to the service of God they are pressed down by adverse events; indeed, God very often intentionally tries their faith by withholding from them for a time His blessing.

But the answer to this can be readily given. I acknowledge that it often happens that those who sincerely and from the heart serve God are deprived of earthly blessings, because God intends to elevate their minds to the hope of eternal reward. God then intentionally withdraws His blessing often from the faithful, that they may hunger and thirst in this world, as if they lost all their labor in serving Him.

But it was not the Prophet’s design to set forth here an invariable kind of proof, as he considered it sufficient to convince the Jews by experience that nothing prevented them from acknowledging that their avarice displeased God, except their extreme stupidity. The Prophet then does here reprove their insensibility; for, while they labored hard to enrich themselves, they did not observe that their labor was in vain, because God from heaven poured His curse on them.

This then might have been easily known by them had they not hardened themselves in their vices. And what the Prophet testifies here respecting the fruitful produce of wine, and grain, and oil, and of other things, was still, as I have said, a stronger confirmation.

Now, if anyone objects again and says—that this was of no value, because a servile and mercenary service does not please God: to this I answer—that God does often by such means stimulate men, when He sees them to be extremely slow and slothful, and that He later leads them by other means to serve Him truly and from the heart.

When therefore anyone obeys God only that he may satisfy his appetite, it is as if one labored from day to day for the sake of wages, and then disregards him by whom he has been hired. It is certain that such a service is counted as nothing before God; but He desires to be generously worshipped by us; and He loves, as Paul says, a cheerful giver (2 Corinthians 9:7).

But as men, for the most part, on account of their ignorance, cannot be led at first to this generous state of mind, so as to devote themselves willingly to God, it is necessary to begin by using other means, as the Prophet does here. He promises earthly and daily sustenance to the Jews, for he saw that they could not immediately, at the first step, ascend upwards to heaven; but his purpose was not to stop short there; he intended to elevate their minds higher.

Let us then know that this was only the beginning, that they might learn to fear God and to expect whatever they needed from His blessing, and also that they might shake off their stupor, under which they had previously labored. In short, God deals in one way with the rude and ignorant, who are not yet imbued with true religion; and He deals in another way with His own disciples, who are instructed in sound doctrine.

When I say that the Prophet acted this way towards the Jews, I speak not of the whole nation; but I refer to what we observed at the beginning of this book—that the Jews then cared for nothing but building their own houses, and that there was no zeal for religion among them. As the memory of God was nearly buried among them, the Temple being neglected, and everyone’s anxiety being concentrated in building his own house, thus we learn how grossly earthly their affections were. It is therefore no wonder that the Prophet treated them in the manner stated here. Let us proceed.