Haggai 1:9

The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible

Contextual Overview

¹In the second year of the reign of Darius, on the first day of the sixth month, the word of the LORD came through Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, stating ²that this is what the LORD of Hosts says: "These people say, 'The time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the LORD.'" ³Then the word of the LORD came through Haggai the prophet, saying: ⁴"Is it a time for you yourselves to live in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins?" ⁵Now this is what the LORD of Hosts says: "Think carefully about your ways. ⁶You have planted much but harvested little. You eat but never have enough. You drink but never have your fill. You put on clothes but never get warm. You earn wages to put into a bag pierced through." ⁷This is what the LORD of Hosts says: "Think carefully about your ways. ⁸Go up into the hills, bring down lumber, and build the house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be glorified, says the LORD. ⁹You expected much, but behold, it amounted to little. And what you brought home, I blew away. Why? declares the LORD of Hosts. Because My house still lies in ruins, while each of you is busy with his own house.¹⁰Therefore, on account of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth has withheld its crops.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Ye looked: They had used all proper means in the cultivation of their lands, and had "sown much;" but when they rationally entertained the most sanguine expectations of a large increase, they were strangely disappointed; and even what they had brought home was unaccountably wasted, as if the Lord had "blown upon it," and driven it away! And the reason was, because they neglected the temple, and left it in ruins, whilst they eagerly employed themselves in building and decorating their own houses; therefore they were visited by drought and famine, and by various diseases on man and beast. Haggai 1:6, Haggai 2:16, Haggai 2:17, Isaiah 17:10, Isaiah 17:11, Malachi 3:8-11

blow upon it: or, blow it away, 2 Samuel 22:16, 2 Kings 19:7, Isaiah 40:7, Malachi 2:2

Why: Job 10:2, Psalms 77:5-10

Because: Haggai 1:4, Joshua 7:10-15, 2 Samuel 21:1, Matthew 10:37, Matthew 10:38, 1 Corinthians 11:30-32, Revelation 2:4, Revelation 3:19

Reciprocal: Leviticus 19:25 - General Leviticus 26:20 - for your land Deuteronomy 11:17 - shut up Deuteronomy 16:16 - and they shall Deuteronomy 28:16 - in the field 1 Chronicles 17:1 - I dwell Ezra 9:9 - to set up Psalms 132:15 - bless her provision Proverbs 11:24 - but Ecclesiastes 5:6 - destroy Ecclesiastes 5:14 - those Isaiah 5:10 - one Isaiah 40:24 - he shall also Ezekiel 21:31 - I will blow Daniel 1:15 - their Hosea 9:2 - floor

Cross-References

Genesis 1:1
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

Genesis 1:2
Now the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.

Genesis 1:5
God called the light "day," and the darkness He called "night." And there was evening, and there was morning-the first day.

Genesis 1:6
And God said, "Let there be an expanse between the waters, to separate the waters from the waters."

Genesis 1:8
God called the expanse "sky." And there was evening, and there was morning-the second day.

Genesis 1:9
And God said, "Let the waters under the sky be gathered into one place, so that the dry land may appear." And it was so.

Genesis 1:11
Then God said, "Let the earth bring forth vegetation: seed-bearing plants and fruit trees, each bearing fruit with seed according to its kind." And it was so.

Genesis 1:28
God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every creature that crawls upon the earth."

Genesis 1:29
Then God said, "Behold, I have given you every seed-bearing plant on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit contains seed. They will be yours for food.

Job 26:7
He stretches out the north over empty space; He hangs the earth upon nothing.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Ye looked for much, and, lo, [it came] to little,.... They looked for a large harvest, and very promising it was for a while; but in the end it came to little; it was a very small crop, very little was reaped and gathered in: or, "in looking", ye looked "to increase" x; your substance; had raised expectations of making themselves and families by their agriculture, and by their plantations of vines and olives, and by their trade and merchandise; and it dwindled away, and came to little or nothing; their riches, instead of being increased, were diminished:

and when ye brought [it] home, I did blow upon it; when they brought into their barns or houses the produce of their land, labour, and merchandise, which was but little, the Lord blew a blast upon that little, and brought rottenness and worms into it, as Jarchi; so that it was not a blessing to them, but a curse. So the Targum interprets it,

"behold, I sent a curse upon it:''

or, "I blew it away" y; as any light thing, straw or stubble, or thistle down, are blown away with a wind; so easily can the Lord, and sometimes he does, strip men of that little substance they have; riches by his orders make themselves wings, and flee away; or he, by one providence or another, blows them away like chaff before the wind:

Why? saith the Lord of hosts; what was the cause and reason of this? which question is put, not on his own account, who full well knew it; but for their sakes, to whom he speaks, that they might be made sensible of it; and in order to that to introduce what follows, which is an answer to the question:

because of mine house that [is] waste; which they suffered to lie waste, and did not concern themselves about the rebuilding of it: this the Lord resented, and for this reason blasted all their labours:

and ye run every man unto his own house; were very eager, earnest, and diligent, in building, beautifying, and adorning their own houses; taking care of their own domestic affairs; sparing no cost nor pains to promote their own secular interest; running in all haste to do any thing and everything to increase their worldly substance; but sat still, were idle and slothful, careless and negligent, about the house of God and the affairs of it.

x אל הרבה "ad rem augendam", Grotius. y נפחתי בו "exsufflo illud", Vatablus; "efflo illud", Junius Tremellius "difflo", Piscator; "difflavi", Drusius, Cocceius.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Ye looked - , literally “a looking;” as though he said, it has all been one looking, “for much,” for increase, the result of all sowing, in the way of nature: “and behold it came to little,” i. e., less than was sown; as Isaiah denounced to them of old by God’s word, Isaiah 5:10. “the seed of a homer shall yield an ephah,” i. e., one tenth of what was sown. “And ye brought it home, and I blew upon it,” so as to disperse it, as, not the wheat, but the chaff is blown before the wind. This, in whatever way it came to pass, was a further chastisement of God. The little seed which they brought in lessened through decay or waste. Why? saith the Lord of hosts. God asks by his prophet, what He asks in the awakened conscience Psalms 39:11. “God with rebukes chastens man for sin.” Conscience, when alive, confesses for “what” sin; or it asks itself, if memory does not supply the special sin. Unawakened, it complains about the excess of rain, the drought, the blight, the mildew, and asks, not itself, why, in God’s Providence, these inflictions came in these years? They felt doubtless the sterility in contrast with the exceeding prolificalness of Babylonia, as they contrasted the “light bread,” Numbers 21:5. the manna, with Numbers 11:5. the plenteousness of Egypt. They ascribed probably their meagre crops (as we mostly do) to mere natural causes, perhaps to the long neglect of the land during the captivity. God forces the question upon their consciences, in that Haggai asks it in His Name, in whose hands all powers stand, “saith the Lord of host.” They have not to talk it over among themselves, but to answer Almighty God, “why?” That “why?” strikes into the inmost depths of conscience!

Because of My house which is waste, and ye run - literally, “are running,” all the while, “each to his own house” They were absorbed in their material interests, and had no time for those of God. When the question was of God’s house, they stir not from the spot; when it is of their own concerns, they run. Our Lord says, Matthew 6:33. “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.” Man reverses this, seeks his own things first, and God withholds His blessing.

“This comes true of those who prefer their own conveniences to God’s honor, who do not thoroughly uproot self-love, whose penitence and devotion are shewn to be unstable, for on a slight temptation they are overcome. Such are they who are bold, self-pleasing, wise and great in their own eyes, who do not ground their conversation on true and solid humility.”

(Cyr.) “To those who are slow to fulfill what is for the glory of God, and the things whereby His house, the Church, is firmly stayed, neither the heavenly dew cometh, which enricheth hearts and minds, nor the fruitfulness of the earth; i. e., right action; not food nor wine nor use of oil. But they will be ever strengthless and joyless, unenriched by spiritual oil, and remain without taste or participation of the blessing through Christ.”

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 9. Ye looked for much — Ye made great pretensions at first; but they are come to nothing. Ye did a little in the beginning; but so scantily and unwillingly that I could not but reject it.

Ye run every man unto his own house. — To rebuild and adorn it; and God's house is neglected!