Haggai 2:12-16

12, 13. Two questions are propounded to the priests: (1) Whether or not a garment made holy through contact with holy flesh (compare Leviticus 6:27) transmits this holiness to other articles which might come in contact with it.

Holy flesh Flesh of an animal slain for sacrificial purposes (Jeremiah 11:15).

Skirt Literally, wing. A corner of the large outer garment (see on Amos 2:8) could be turned in so as to form a convenient place in which to carry articles of various kinds. The articles named are common articles of food. The specific case laid before the priests is not provided for in the ceremonial law. To this question the priests give a negative answer. (2) When one who is made unclean by contact with something that is unclean touches the same articles of food, do they become unclean? In this case the answer is in the affirmative, in accordance with Numbers 19:22.

Unclean by a dead body By coming in contact with a dead body (compare Numbers 9:10; Leviticus 21:11). This was the most dreaded kind of uncleanness.

In Haggai 2:14 the prophet applies the priestly decisions to the case of the people.

So Refers to the substance of the priestly decisions, more especially to the second.

This people The people gathered about him (see on Haggai 1:2).

Before me In my estimate.

Every work of their hands Their life and conduct permeated with selfishness (Haggai 1:4).

That which they offer All their offerings and sacrifices.

There Upon the altar mentioned in Ezra 3:3; near it the prophet probably stood when he delivered the address. All the offerings offered there are an abomination to Jehovah. Why? The answer must be supplied from the context. The people offering sacrifice are like the man carrying the holy flesh; but in neglecting Jehovah and looking only after their own interests they are like the man made unclean through contact with an unclean body. Since the powers of infection of an unclean thing are greater than those of a clean thing, their unclean conduct exerts greater influence than their clean sacrifices and makes unclean their otherwise clean offerings. Haggai does not carry the application further; by implication, however, his words contain an exhortation to change their conduct; in this case, to carry on more earnestly the building operations. After Haggai 2:14, LXX. has a lengthy addition which is, however, in all probability, not an original part of the prophecy.

In Haggai 2:15-19 the prophet refers once more to the calamities present and past and urges the people to bear in mind that they are the direct result of their indifference, and that any change in their condition depends entirely upon their zeal in building the temple.

And now Perhaps better, but now. These words are really the introduction to Haggai 2:18. A change in their conduct has already begun, hence he may place by the side of the warning in Haggai 2:14 a message of commendation and promise. Before he utters the latter he refers once more to the past calamity, so as to bring out more strongly the contrast between the calamity of the past and the prosperity of the future.

Consider As in Haggai 1:5-7.

From this day and upward R.V., “backward.” The R.V. translation has no support (compare 1 Samuel 16:13); the word points to the future. The mistranslation is due to a misinterpretation of the entire verse. The meaning becomes clear if a stop is made after upward; “Consider from this day and upward!” that is, consider or bear in mind continually, from this moment on, what I am about to say: on the one hand, that your past neglectfulness brought disaster (15-17); on the other, that zeal and faithfulness will bring prosperity (18, 19).

After this summons to consider, a new beginning should be made: “Before a stone was laid upon a stone in the temple of Jehovah; since those days were, (it happened that) when one came.… “

Before a stone was laid Before building operations were commenced.

Since those days were R.V., “Through all that time.” An obscure expression. The reading of R.V. gives good enough sense, though the words seem superfluous after 15a, but the Hebrew hardly warrants the translation. LXX. reads, “who were ye,” which may represent an original “how were ye.” These might be the closing words of a question which has its beginning in Haggai 2:15, “Before a stone was laid upon a stone in the temple of Jehovah, how did ye fare?” The temporal clause is placed first, because the emphasis rests upon it.

How they did fare is stated in the rest of Haggai 2:16 and in Haggai 2:17. The thought is similar to that expressed in Haggai 1:6; Haggai 1:9-11; disappointment and disaster on every hand.

Heap of twenty That is, a heap of sheaves estimated to give twenty measures; but when it was threshed it yielded ten, only one half of what was expected.

Pressfat R.V., “winevat.” The receptacle in which wine juice is kept after the grapes are pressed out. The grapes, instead of yielding fifty measures of wine, yielded only twenty.

Out of the press Omitted in R.V. The noun occurs elsewhere in the sense of winepress (so A.V.; compare Isaiah 63:3). Some think that it is used in the more general sense of measure (so R.V.), or that it is the name of a measure, equivalent to bath (Isaiah 5:10), which is of the same size as the ephah (see on Amos 8:5). This is not likely. If the text is correct the translation of A.V. is to be preferred; otherwise the word must be omitted as an explanatory gloss to the preceding “winevat.”