Haggai 1:13
Verse
Context
The People Obey
12Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, as well as all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the LORD their God and the words of the prophet Haggai, because the LORD their God had sent him. So the people feared the LORD. 13Haggai, the messenger of the LORD, delivered the message of the LORD to the people: “I am with you,” declares the LORD.
Sermons
G. Campbell MorganSummary
Commentary
- Adam Clarke
- Keil-Delitzsch
- Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
- John Gill
- Tyndale
Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
Then spake Haggai - He was the Lord's messenger, and he came with the Lord's message, and consequently he came with authority. He is called מלאך יהוה malach Yehovah, the angel of Jehovah, just as the pastors of the seven Asiatic churches are called Angels of the Churches, Rev 1:2. I am with you, saith the Lord - Here was high encouragement. What may not a man do when God is his helper?
Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch Old Testament Commentary
This penitential state of mind on the part of the people and their rulers was met by the Lord with the promise of His assistance, in order to elevate this disposition into determination and deed. Hag 1:13. "Then spake Haggai, the messenger of Jehovah, in the message of Jehovah to the people, thus: I am with you, is the saying of Jehovah. Hag 1:14. And Jehovah stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel, and the spirit of Joshua, and the spirit of all the remnant of the nation; and they came and did work at the house of Jehovah of hosts, their God." The prophet is called מלאך in Hag 1:13, i.e., messenger (not "angel," as many in the time of the fathers misunderstood the word as meaning), as being sent by Jehovah to the people, to make known to them His will (compare Mal 2:7, where the same epithet is applied to the priest). As the messenger of Jehovah, he speaks by command of Jehovah, and not in his own name or by his own impulse. אני אתּכם, I am with you, will help you, and will remove all the obstacles that stand in the way of your building (cf. Hag 2:4). This promise Jehovah fulfilled, first of all by giving to Zerubbabel, Joshua, and the people, a willingness to carry out the work. העיר רוּח, to awaken the spirit of any man, i.e., to make him willing and glad to carry out His resolutions (compare Ch1 5:26; Ch2 21:16; Ezr 1:1, Ezr 1:5). Thus filled with joyfulness, courage, and strength, they began the work on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month, in the second year of king Darius (Hag 1:15), that is to say, twenty-three days after Haggai had first addressed his challenge to them. The interval had been spent in deliberation and counsel, and in preparations for carrying out the work. In several editions and some few mss in Kennicott, in Tischendorf's edition of the lxx, in the Itala and in the Vulgate, Hag 1:15 is joined to the next chapter. But this is proved to be incorrect by the fact that the chronological statements in Hag 1:15 and Hag 2:1 are irreconcilable with one another. Hag 1:15 is really so closely connected with Hag 1:14, that it is rather to be regarded as the last clause of that verse.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
the Lord's messenger--so the priests (Mal 2:7) are called (compare Gal 4:14; Pe2 1:21). in the Lord's message--by the Lord's authority and commission: on the Lord's embassage. I am with you-- (Mat 28:20). On the people showing the mere disposition to obey, even before they actually set to work, God passes at once from the reproving tone to that of tenderness. He hastens as it were to forget their former unfaithfulness, and to assure them, when obedient, that He both is and will be with them: Hebrew, "I with you!" God's presence is the best of blessings, for it includes all others. This is the sure guarantee of their success no matter how many their foes might be (Rom 8:31). Nothing more inspirits men and rouses them from torpor, than, when relying on the promises of divine aid, they have a sure hope of a successful issue [CALVIN].
John Gill Bible Commentary
Then spoke Haggai the Lord's messenger,.... Which some render "angel"; hence sprung that notion, imbibed by some, that he was not a man, but an angel; whereas this only respects his office, being sent of God as an ambassador in his name with a message to his people: he now observing what effect his prophecy had upon the people; they being convinced of their sin, and terrified with the judgments of God upon them, and fearing that worse still would attend them; in order to revive their spirits and comfort them, spake the words unto them which follow: and this he did in the Lord's message unto the people; not of his own head, nor out of the pity of his own heart merely; but as a prophet of the Lord, having a fresh message from him to carry a promise to them for their comfort and encouragement: saying, I am with you, saith the Lord; to pardon their sins; to accept their persons; to remove his rod from them; to assist them in the work of building the temple, they were now willing to engage in; to protect them from their enemies, and to strengthen them to go on with the work till they had finished it; a short promise, but a very full one: it was saying much in a little, and enough to remove all their fears, to scatter all their doubts, and to bear them up, and through all discouragements.
Tyndale Open Study Notes
1:13 Haggai’s unusual title as the Lord’s messenger (the same Hebrew phrase is often translated angel of the Lord) ascribes distinctive authority to Haggai as the Lord’s agent. • I am with you: This affirmed God’s covenant with the people of Judea, his personal presence, and his support in the building project (2:4-5; see Gen 26:3; Exod 3:12; Isa 41:10; 43:5; Jer 30:11).
Haggai 1:13
The People Obey
12Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, as well as all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the LORD their God and the words of the prophet Haggai, because the LORD their God had sent him. So the people feared the LORD. 13Haggai, the messenger of the LORD, delivered the message of the LORD to the people: “I am with you,” declares the LORD.
- Scripture
- Sermons
- Commentary
- Adam Clarke
- Keil-Delitzsch
- Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
- John Gill
- Tyndale
Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
Then spake Haggai - He was the Lord's messenger, and he came with the Lord's message, and consequently he came with authority. He is called מלאך יהוה malach Yehovah, the angel of Jehovah, just as the pastors of the seven Asiatic churches are called Angels of the Churches, Rev 1:2. I am with you, saith the Lord - Here was high encouragement. What may not a man do when God is his helper?
Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch Old Testament Commentary
This penitential state of mind on the part of the people and their rulers was met by the Lord with the promise of His assistance, in order to elevate this disposition into determination and deed. Hag 1:13. "Then spake Haggai, the messenger of Jehovah, in the message of Jehovah to the people, thus: I am with you, is the saying of Jehovah. Hag 1:14. And Jehovah stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel, and the spirit of Joshua, and the spirit of all the remnant of the nation; and they came and did work at the house of Jehovah of hosts, their God." The prophet is called מלאך in Hag 1:13, i.e., messenger (not "angel," as many in the time of the fathers misunderstood the word as meaning), as being sent by Jehovah to the people, to make known to them His will (compare Mal 2:7, where the same epithet is applied to the priest). As the messenger of Jehovah, he speaks by command of Jehovah, and not in his own name or by his own impulse. אני אתּכם, I am with you, will help you, and will remove all the obstacles that stand in the way of your building (cf. Hag 2:4). This promise Jehovah fulfilled, first of all by giving to Zerubbabel, Joshua, and the people, a willingness to carry out the work. העיר רוּח, to awaken the spirit of any man, i.e., to make him willing and glad to carry out His resolutions (compare Ch1 5:26; Ch2 21:16; Ezr 1:1, Ezr 1:5). Thus filled with joyfulness, courage, and strength, they began the work on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month, in the second year of king Darius (Hag 1:15), that is to say, twenty-three days after Haggai had first addressed his challenge to them. The interval had been spent in deliberation and counsel, and in preparations for carrying out the work. In several editions and some few mss in Kennicott, in Tischendorf's edition of the lxx, in the Itala and in the Vulgate, Hag 1:15 is joined to the next chapter. But this is proved to be incorrect by the fact that the chronological statements in Hag 1:15 and Hag 2:1 are irreconcilable with one another. Hag 1:15 is really so closely connected with Hag 1:14, that it is rather to be regarded as the last clause of that verse.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
the Lord's messenger--so the priests (Mal 2:7) are called (compare Gal 4:14; Pe2 1:21). in the Lord's message--by the Lord's authority and commission: on the Lord's embassage. I am with you-- (Mat 28:20). On the people showing the mere disposition to obey, even before they actually set to work, God passes at once from the reproving tone to that of tenderness. He hastens as it were to forget their former unfaithfulness, and to assure them, when obedient, that He both is and will be with them: Hebrew, "I with you!" God's presence is the best of blessings, for it includes all others. This is the sure guarantee of their success no matter how many their foes might be (Rom 8:31). Nothing more inspirits men and rouses them from torpor, than, when relying on the promises of divine aid, they have a sure hope of a successful issue [CALVIN].
John Gill Bible Commentary
Then spoke Haggai the Lord's messenger,.... Which some render "angel"; hence sprung that notion, imbibed by some, that he was not a man, but an angel; whereas this only respects his office, being sent of God as an ambassador in his name with a message to his people: he now observing what effect his prophecy had upon the people; they being convinced of their sin, and terrified with the judgments of God upon them, and fearing that worse still would attend them; in order to revive their spirits and comfort them, spake the words unto them which follow: and this he did in the Lord's message unto the people; not of his own head, nor out of the pity of his own heart merely; but as a prophet of the Lord, having a fresh message from him to carry a promise to them for their comfort and encouragement: saying, I am with you, saith the Lord; to pardon their sins; to accept their persons; to remove his rod from them; to assist them in the work of building the temple, they were now willing to engage in; to protect them from their enemies, and to strengthen them to go on with the work till they had finished it; a short promise, but a very full one: it was saying much in a little, and enough to remove all their fears, to scatter all their doubts, and to bear them up, and through all discouragements.
Tyndale Open Study Notes
1:13 Haggai’s unusual title as the Lord’s messenger (the same Hebrew phrase is often translated angel of the Lord) ascribes distinctive authority to Haggai as the Lord’s agent. • I am with you: This affirmed God’s covenant with the people of Judea, his personal presence, and his support in the building project (2:4-5; see Gen 26:3; Exod 3:12; Isa 41:10; 43:5; Jer 30:11).