Literal Commentary on Haggai

Literal Commentary on Haggai — Dionysius bar Salibi A literal commentary on the prophecy of Haggai. Hosea, Joel, Amos, and Micah were composed concerning the twelve tribes. Habakkuk and Zephaniah concerning the house of Judah. Obadiah, Nahum, and Jonah were composed concerning foreign nations. Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi were composed concerning the captivity of the Assyrians and Babylonians, and also concerning the return. And Haggai was the first concerning the fact that they were negligent in their houses when they returned and abandoned the building of the temple in which they had served God from the time of Cyrus until the manifestation of the Messiah in the flesh. He also reproves concerning the house of Gog, that is, the Scythians. Chapter. Before the second year of Darius, who reigned over the crossing of the river. After Cyrus, three kings, he who turned the people. Like the four myriads with the tribe of Judah. And in Jerusalem they dwelt because Amalek had not truly ruled. Zerubbabel, like the time after the lineage of the house of Gog and after Cyrus, reigned Artaxerxes, who is Cambyses, eight kings. And the Magi, seven months. And this Darius, three kings. One hundred and twenty from the first year of Cyrus, in which the return was proclaimed, until the second year of this Darius. Forty years. This Darius is the last, with another Darius because of Alexander. Concerning Zerubbabel, son of the chief of Judah, he calls Zerubbabel. Concerning that he is of the house of David, and Jesus. With Aaron the priests. Zerubbabel, that is, seed of Babylon. He mentions that the prophet was silent, as if he heard that the people were silent.

the time had not yet come. For when the people went up by the command of Cyrus and laid the foundations of the temple, the surrounding peoples were hindering them with envy. From the house of the exile. And they hoped that the time for building the house had not yet come. And that was not the proclamation which the prophets had made to them, and for this reason they delayed from the house of the exile, saying, "You yourselves sit, and if that time for building your houses is the time for building, also the house of the Lord. Now that your own is finished and this is still in ruins, set your heart, build with your efforts, as if you are being destroyed, and do not come before them. Because of the delay of your negligence, your sowing is great. These are the works that are being destroyed, and the rest of what he says, 'that which has been left behind among you,' for it is evident that even the two hundred of Darius is the completion of seventy years of the captivity. There were men in Media who saw the first return of the house that had gone into captivity and were scattered. The Spirit stands in your house: it strengthens them concerning the house of the exile and says, 'My diligence and my idleness, which the Spirit calls, by it you are strengthened to build the temple.' Again, one time he stirred up the people. Because it was not sufficient in their hands to build, because they had been hindered by the captivity and were poor. He said that just as he had gone down to Egypt and taken their wealth, so the time could find it. And to the Assyrians in the time of Hezekiah, they left their wealth in Jerusalem. So also now, let the people leave, that the house of Gog and Magog may bring their wealth to the house of the exile in Jerusalem.

that was his own property. He sought to show that it was not by chance that he went to the house of Gog and took their wealth. He said this: "The treasures, along with their gold and their property which are mine, I have taken." And the first of his great glory called to that which sought completion. The last, however, to this which Zerubbabel sought with the multitude of the peoples who were being assisted in the destruction of the house of Gog, that is, the Scythians. And the purpose of the law is this: how, with their wealth and the offerings that are brought in it with all the peoples, it is evident that the great glory of this house is like that before the captivity. The law is established for the priests who were over the service, and in a profane manner they were approaching the altars of the priesthood. If a man took with the priests the holy flesh of the sacrifices in a stone of its kind and offered it, and that offering is the stone in which the holy flesh is placed for the bread and the cooking, for the profane foods that are eaten with all people, so that it might be sanctified. Those profane things can be sanctified by the contact of the stone in which the holy flesh is placed. The priests answered and said, "No, that stone in which the holy flesh is placed cannot sanctify the profane food." He asked twice: "If one who is impure approaches, does he defile himself? Or if one who is impure approaches one of those who are impure by the law, is that which is offered to him not returned?" The priests answered and said, "It is returned." He sought therefore by means of all these things which he says, that just as this stone in which the holy flesh is placed cannot sanctify those who approach it, so also the one who is impure, if he approaches, likewise you are for the law.

when it is offered in a fitting manner and without violence to the holy altars. It is not because of the sanctity of these things for the altar, but because of your own defilement of the sanctity of these things that they are taken away. And thus it is with this people before the Lord: the works of their hands are the service that they offer to me. And whatever they offer to me, all of it, as long as it is not taken by force from the house and the treasuries are not divided among the priests, and it is offered in a fitting and proper manner without violence to the vessels of the priesthood and to the table of the sacrifices, he who takes and defiles before me when it is offered from the entrails. Now then, set your heart on the temple of the Lord; remember that you are holding the firstfruits in your hand before you begin the building of the house. From this day onward, they spoke concerning the days that have passed, and not concerning those that are to come. He blessed, he blessed you and he multiplied your fruits. Concerning Haggai of the two times, he spoke concerning the revelation of the second and the first, concerning the house of Gog and not concerning the rest. On that same day, when the house of Gog fell, Zerubbabel took, he took with humility and offered for honor and for kingdom. Like a seal, for this is what the divine writing indicates on the wall, because with seals and stamps the sublime altars are confirmed and guarded, and he said: I will confirm you in the kingdom, and you will not be moved in anything by the prophecy of the prophet Haggai. He lived in the time of Darius. Haggai the feast is interpreted, and with the captivity, when he was young, he went and lived after the deliverance in the second year of Darius.

and the people said that the sacrifice was not acceptable because they intended to delay the sacrifice of the offering, and on account of this they were confounded, so that the rain was withheld and the land did not yield fruit. And when they sowed, they did not reap. And the rest of the plagues that came upon them. This is why the sacrifice was not acceptable in the temple: the scribes said that the sacrifice of the one who would bring the Messiah was not fitting. And the prophet was indignant and said, "You have sown, but what you have sown is not harvested, nor does it bear fruit in the fields." Others: "A spiritual covenant is in your temple, O all that is confessed, completed by the hand of Zerubbabel." Again, one sacrifice moved the heavens; it moved the kings of the house of Gog and brought wealth to the needy. "The gold is mine," he said, "that gold which they plundered from Tyre and the cities; they bring it to me because they did not believe that the temple would be built and established as before." God said, "The gold is mine, and it is not necessary to bring it like the profane; but it will be established as before. And the glory of this temple will be great, the last one, in that it will show that no other temple will be built for them, and it will also show that the work of Zerubbabel surpasses that of Solomon. The glory of the temple will be the renewal of Adam by the hand of the Lord, which surpassed its former state when it was placed in Paradise. There, only the image of God was called; but by the hand of the divine Lord, they were called in the churches. They went up to the mountain; behold, the sign of creation took its cross and stood on Golgotha and said, "The sanctuary of the living renews itself in the temple of the virtues." And the evil ones revealed every soul.

He hinted at the destruction and ruin of Gog through the chariots. Zorobabel showed that through Zorobabel Gog was destroyed. He asked the priests about the law: if a man takes flesh in a filthy cloth and touches something that is eaten or drunk, is that food sanctified by the holy? The priests answered, No. He asked again, if something is mixed with foods while in a state of impurity, does it remain in purity? They answered, No, because the contact of something edible, if it touches holy flesh, does not sanctify it. And when it is mixed with impurity, that thing is rejected; and when they touch it with a greater degree, they do not take from it. When they touch it with evil, they simply become evil. If a man takes the flesh of the Eucharist and brings it to bread and clothing, he cannot sanctify that holy flesh to them. And if something impure is brought to bread or clothing, it is immediately rejected. It remains that sanctity does not touch by means of intentions, and impurity is immediate upon touching. Thus good is firmly established and evil is easily learned. And thus that people, in everything they do and in everything they perform.