Commentariorum In Aggeum Prophetam Liber Unus

THE BOOK OF COMMENTARIES ON THE PROPHET HAGGAI BY SAINT EUSEBIUS HIERONYMUS, STRIDONIAN PRESBYTER, TO PAULA AND EUSTOCHIUM.

PROLOGUE.

In the second year of Darius, king of the Persians, son of Hystaspes, the seventieth year of the desolation of the temple was completed (which Jeremiah foretold in chapter 25); the prophet Zechariah also is a witness, who, when he had set the title of his Vision in the second year of the same king, in the eleventh month Sabath, on the twenty-fourth day, added, saying: Lord of hosts, how long will you not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, with which you are angry? This is the seventieth year (Zech. 1:7, 12). But Ezra also, when only the altar had been built and the foundations of the temple laid, reports that the work was forbidden by the letters of King Artaxerxes: Then the work of the house of God in Jerusalem was interrupted, and it was not done until the second year of the reign of Darius, king of the Persians (1 Esdras 4:24), and immediately he added: But Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Addo prophesied, prophesying to the Jews who were in Judea and Jerusalem, in the name of the Lord God of Israel. Then Zerubbabel the son of Salathiel and Jesus the son of Josedec arose, and they began to build the temple of God in Jerusalem, and with them the prophets of God helped them (1 Esdras 5:1, 2).

At that time among the Romans Tarquinius Superbus, the seventh from Romulus, was reigning, in the twenty-seventh year of his rule, who eight years later was expelled by Brutus; and thereafter, for four hundred and sixty-four years, consuls administered the state, up to Julius Caesar. We have said this, O Paula and Eustochium, so that from the very title you may recognize in what age the prophet Haggai prophesied. And meanwhile it must be known, according to the letter, that both Haggai and Zechariah were prophets of great spirit: so that against the edict of King Artaxerxes, and the Samaritans and all the nations round about who were hindering the building of the temple, they ordered the temple to be built; and that Zerubbabel also and Jesus the son of Josedec, and the people who were with them, were of no lesser faith, so that they obeyed the prophets who commanded rather than the authority of the king who forbade.

THE BOOK BEGINS.

(Chapter 1, Verse 1.) "In the second year of King Darius. In the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet.

Because the people who seemed to themselves to have returned from captivity had not yet built the temple, nor raised up the walls of the city, nor did they have the glory of the former Jerusalem, but were dwelling in hollow houses—and, as it is said more significantly in Greek, that is, set downward and sunk in a valley—for this reason the word of God is not addressed to them under King Hezekiah, or Amon, or Josiah, who had commanded the people of God as long as Jerusalem stood; but under Darius, king and prince of the Persians, of whom Daniel also speaks mystically in his book. Now Darius in our language means "generations made," or "those which were," which in Greek is called 1; nor did a people without a temple and dwelling downward deserve to have any other king except one who was subject to generations, and loved the flesh, and kept the first sentence of man as yet untaught, and of one cast out of paradise: "Increase and multiply, and fill the earth" (Gen. 1 and 9:1). Therefore, because Darius was a lover of intercourse, and a companion of the dragon whose whole strength is in the loins (Job 40), for that reason in the second year the vision is seen by the people, in an unclean number, and after the union of virginity and the nakedness of paradise, signifying tunics of skin. Finally, in Genesis, when it was said on the first day, and on the third, and on the fourth, and on the fifth, and on the sixth, after the completion of each work: "And God saw that it was good"—on the second day, according to the Hebrew, and Aquila, and Symmachus, and Theodotion, it is not found.

For the second day, which makes the number that divides from unity, could not be approved by God's judgment as good. The sixth month is also assigned, which does not have God's solemnities like the seventh month, but is next to the six days in which the world was made. In it one labors, and in the sweat of one's face bread is eaten; and the earth brings forth thorns and thistles for us, and when it has received the sowing of wheat, it is more fruitful in darnel and oats. But because the altar had already been built, and they had wished to build the temple against resisting enemies, and had not built it: on one day of the sixth month the word of the Lord came to be in the hand of Haggai the prophet, so that the people, abandoning the second year of King Darius, which divides from unity, and the sixth month which had passed, and which number is assigned to labor, might return to the unity of God, and follow the odd and singular number—which even a gentile poet knew to be pure, saying: (Vinc. Eclog. VIII). Now the word of the Lord comes to be, seeking whom it may come to and whom it may teach, in the hand of Haggai the prophet, who had good works, and in whose deeds God's speech could rest. But where hands are full of blood, and Jesus is killed, and the people dare to say: His blood be upon us, and upon our children (Matthew 27:25), there the word of God does not come to be.

To this day carnal Israel, having unclean hands, stretches them out to the Lord; but because they are full of blood, the Lord speaks to them through the prophet: If you stretch out your hands, I will turn my eyes away from you: for your hands are full of blood (Isa. 1:15). The word of the Lord is not brought to pass in their hands, because they are unclean; the word of God does not come to them, because they kill the word of God within themselves. Nor should it be thought that the word of the Lord was made in the hand of the prophet Haggai alone; but because Haggai is interpreted as "festive," everyone who can celebrate the festivals—not in the old leaven of malice and wickedness, but in the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth (1 Cor. 5:8)—can receive the word of God. Let us also have clean hands, and let us be called—that is, those who celebrate the festivals—and the word of God will be made to us. Let us set before our eyes that the law is spiritual, and the spiritual solemnities, of which it is written: Three times in the year you shall celebrate festivals to me. You shall keep the solemnity of unleavened bread: for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, in the time of the month of new things: for in that month you went out from Egypt. You shall not appear in my sight empty; and the solemnity of the harvest of the firstfruits from your works, whatever you have sown in the field: and the solemnity of the consummation at the going out of the year, in the gathering of your works from the field (Exod. 23 and following).

If we wish the word of God to be fulfilled in us, let us be Haggai, that is, celebrants of feasts, and let us not appear empty in the sight of God: sowing in the spirit, let us reap eternal life from the spirit (Gal. 6:8); so that we may celebrate the solemnity of the consummation at the year's end, that is, the gathering of our works from the field, the solemnity of the firstfruits from our works, whatever we have sown in the field which the Lord has blessed. Let us also be Haggai, and throughout our whole life until the consummation of the year, that is, until our departure from this world, let us celebrate feasts in our works, which have sprung up for us in our field. There are many things, and not of this time, that may be said concerning the solemnity, to which a diligent reader can adapt the spiritual understanding from all of Scripture.

God delights in the odd number.

To Zorobabel, son of Salathiel, leader of Judah: and to Jesus, son of Josedec, the great priest, saying. We read in 2 Paralipomenon that Jeconiah, who was led away to Babylon, had a son Salathiel, from whom was born Zorobabel (1 Paral. 3:16). Matthew too, when enumerating the generation of the Savior, says this: But after the transmigration of Babylon, Jeconiah begot Salathiel; and Salathiel begot Zorobabel; and Zorobabel begot Abiud (Matt. 1:12-13).

This Zerubbabel, from the tribe of Judah, that is, descending from the stock of David, is a type of the Savior, who truly rebuilt the destroyed temple, that is, the Church, and led the people back from captivity. And from the stones of the old temple as well as from new ones, which had previously been unpolished, he built the Church—that is, both from the remnants of the Jewish people and from the multitude of the nations, he raised up a tabernacle for God the Father. Now, according to the manifold accents of the Hebrew language, it is interpreted either as "adjacent flowing," that is, exposed, or as "rising in Babylon," or as "prince of Babylon." To the first interpretation that flow is contrary which is signified in the word Jezebel, that is, "vain flow," or "flow of a menstruous woman," which certainly plainly sounds of uncleanness. But Zebulun too is expressed as "flow of night." Leaving behind, therefore, the vain and filthy and dark flow of this world, let us follow the flow of Jesus, who is exposed for us to drink, and offers himself as a most abundant fountain, according to that which is said in the Gospel: "Jesus stood in the temple and cried out, saying: If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink" (John 7:37). And we shall then be able to drink this very thing when we have asked it of God the Father, according to what we read: "Ask, and it shall be given to you" (Matt. 7:6). For Salathiel is interpreted as "petition of God." And no one comes to Jesus unless the Father has drawn him (John 6:44).

Therefore there shall be born to us a flowing one, set forth through the entreaty of God, and he shall be from the tribe of Judah—that is, the royal tribe, and one confessing or praising God, because Judah signifies both. Moreover, that he was born in Babylon is, according to the historical sense, truly said of Zerubbabel, because he was born there. But also according to the higher understanding it signifies our Lord Jesus: because he too was born in the confusion of this world, and was near the very heavy river Chebar, and saw that great vision which under his type Ezekiel beholds at the beginning of his book (chapter 1). But what I said, that Zerubbabel is interpreted as "prince from Babylon"—not that it is truly interpreted as "prince," I said this for the following reason: indeed among the Hebrews his name is handed down as composed from three whole parts: for zo is said, "this one"; ROB, "master" or "greater"; BABEL properly signifies "Babylonian," and the name Zerubbabel is made ( ), "this master from Babylon." But for the compendium of understanding, in place of the above-mentioned minute details, I wished to interpret it as "prince from Babylon," or "in Babylon." So that, just as Joshua the son of Nun, who was himself also a type of the Savior, led the people from the wilderness into the land of promise, so also this one was for that reason born in Babylon, in order to lead back those who were in Babylon into the land of promise, from which they had been led away as captives, and to say to those who were in chains: "Come out." And to those who sat in darkness: "Be enlightened" (Isaiah 60).

But the word of the Lord, which was made in the hand of Haggai, is directed not only to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, of whom we have already spoken, but also to Jesus the son of Josedec, the great priest. As far as history is concerned, one is Zerubbabel from the royal tribe, and the other is Jesus from the priestly tribe. As far as spiritual understanding is concerned, however, our Lord and Savior is one and the same, king and great priest, whose type Zerubbabel bore according to what he was, a king; according to what he was, a pontiff, however, his namesake Jesus bore it, which is interpreted JAO salvation, that is, the salvation of the Lord ( ), and he is the son of Josedec, which itself is also translated into our language as JAO the just, that is, the just one of the Lord ( ). For God the Father is just and holy, and God the Son, and there is no iniquity in him. This is against Marcion and the other heretics, who assert that the Lord Savior is the son of another good god, I know not which one, and not of the Creator, whom they call just. And truly Jesus is the great priest, compared to whom all the priests of God are small and nothing. For if he is called the great Priest, it is certainly said in distinction from those who are lesser. But all who are outside him and after him are lesser, so that just as he is the firstborn of every creature, and the firstborn from the dead, so may he be prince and great among all priests.

(Verse 2.) "Thus says the Lord of hosts, saying: This people says, The time has not yet come for the house of the Lord to be built." Carefully attend to the fact that it is not Zerubbabel or Jesus who say, "The time has not yet come for the house of the Lord to be built," but the people who were still established under King Darius and had not yet shaken off the yoke of servitude. And always those who are held in captivity, and have gone out from Jerusalem, put off and delay building the temple of God, and say, "The time has not yet come for the house of the Lord to be built." And you, when you see someone who has gone out from the Church, who had been handed over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that the spirit might be saved, thinking and resolving to build through chastity the temple that he had previously destroyed through lust, and yet dragging it out day after day, say to him: Truly you also are one of the people of the captives, and you say, "The time has not yet come for the house of the Lord to be built." For one who has once decided to restore the temple of God—every time is suitable for him to build; neither can the king, the devil, hinder him, nor enemies round about, nor the feigned piety of parents, relatives, or children; as soon as you have turned and called upon the name of the Lord, he will say, "Behold, I am here.

(Verse 3.) "And the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet, saying: Is it time for you to dwell in paneled houses, while this house is desolate?" Or, as the Seventy translated it, that is, "in ceiled houses." On the same day as above, this vision is again seen. And as the prophet's works advance, the gifts of prophecy also grow, and after a brief silence, to what the people had said—"The time has not yet come for the house of the Lord to be built"—the Lord's response, as it were his considered reply, is brought forth, and it is said to them: Is it then time for you to dwell in houses that are low-lying and set in a valley, while my house, which is on the mountain, shall be desolate? Or, as it is found in the Hebrew: "that you dwell in paneled houses" (that is, adorned and furnished, and suited not so much for use as for luxury), while my dwelling place, in which were the Holy of Holies, and the Cherubim, and the table of the showbread, shall be soaked by rains, grow foul with solitude, and be scorched by the sun? Furthermore, according to the anagogical sense, every time in which the dwelling of the valley is chosen, or we serve pleasures, is inopportune. Whence also the Stoics, whose concern it is to define individual words, said that time is a correcting or effecting, which is expressed more significantly in Greek. For every time in which we serve not virtues but vices perishes, and is reckoned as nothing, as though it had never been.

If, then, any one of us either dwells in the valley, or in worldly pleasure and luxury panels his own house, he does not build a temple for God, nor does the Lord have in him where to lay his head; and while he builds his house with foxes, he suffers the one-time dwelling-place of God to be deserted.

(Verse 4.) "And now thus says the Lord of hosts: Set your hearts upon your ways." Let there not be one time for the speaker and another for the doer: turn my precepts at once into action; for it is the almighty Lord who commands, and the command of the almighty God is certainly no light matter. Until now you have had your hearts serving vices, without order, without a teacher, going wherever your desires dragged you. But now the Lord commands you to set love in order within yourselves, and to set your hearts upon your ways, so that you do nothing without judgment and consideration; but let the lamp of the law always go before your feet, and let you say: Your law is a lamp to my feet and a light to my paths (Psalm 118:105). Or indeed thus: Because you say, It is not the time to build the house of the Lord, and you yourselves dwell in dwellings that are sunk in the depths, while my house is desolate: consider, at the Lord's command, and bring back to memory what you have done and what you have suffered.

(Verses 5, 6.) "You have sown much, and brought in little: you have eaten, and are not satisfied: you have drunk, and are not intoxicated: you have covered yourselves, and are not warmed. And he who gathered wages sent them into a bag with holes." All your labor—you who built your own houses and neglected the house of God—had no outcome. For you sowed more, and you gathered far less than had been sown; nor can you say that famine followed because the farmer was idle in working the land. You also ate (lest perhaps one of you might say that the fasting was voluntary), and you were not satisfied, because you had gathered small fruits into your barns. You drank wine from your vineyards, but not enough that your heart might rejoice, and that it might be said of you: And wine gladdens the heart of man (Psalm 103:15). You had a cloak, but one that would not repel the cold nor preserve warmth. Whatever one of you also gathered wages, whether by trade or by hired hand, his labor was spent in vain without the reward of his labor. For all your money flowed away, as if one should throw it into a bag with holes.

But also according to the spiritual understanding, those who returned from Babylon, and have not yet built the temple of God, but put off its building day by day, said: "The time has not yet come for the house of the Lord to be built"; nor are they captives, nor yet endowed with full liberty; but placed, as it were, in a certain middle state, they have sown much and brought in little: they have eaten and are not satisfied; they have drunk and are not intoxicated; they have covered themselves and are not warmed; they have gathered wages, and as if they were putting them into a purse full of holes, they have lost them. If at any time you see someone among the many works of sinners doing some things that are just, God is not so unjust as to forget a few good things on account of many evil ones; but he will make him reap only those things which he has sown in good ground, and gather them into his barns. But he who is wholly [wicked], this man will not eat at all, but will perish by famine. Furthermore, he who sows many things and brings in few, eats little, and not unto satisfaction, according to that which the Lord threatens in the curses of Leviticus: And you shall eat and not be satisfied (Lev. 26:26). But he who is holy will eat even unto satisfaction, and that which is written will be fulfilled in him: The just man eating fills his soul (Prov. 13:25). Likewise he who does not drink at all will perish by thirst: as also in Judith (if anyone, however, wishes to receive the book of the woman): And the little ones perished with thirst (Judith 16).

But he who drinks a little does drink, yet not to the point of drunkenness. Furthermore, he who can say to the Lord, "Your cup inebriates, how glorious it is!" and is inebriated with Noah, and though stationed in Egypt, yet at the banquet of Joseph with the patriarchs and his brothers is soaked with wine—this man, by the greatness of his joy and his daily gladness, having with the apostles been turned into ecstasy, will be called full of new wine. But how it is not contrary to this exposition that the sons of Jonadab the son of Rechab did not drink wine, and are praised by the Lord, will be discussed more fittingly in Jeremiah. After these things it is said to those who were neglecting to build the temple of the Lord: "You have covered yourselves, and you are not warmed." This we understand from the hundred and third psalm, in which it is said of God: "The deep, like a garment, is his covering." For although according to the Hebrew truth it is referred to the lands that are surrounded by the Ocean, yet according to the Seventy translators, who spoke in the masculine gender and not the feminine, we are compelled to understand what was said as concerning God, in that his wisdom is unsearchable, and the Lord makes darkness his hiding place, and his sacraments are not revealed to any who are unworthy. Whence also the righteous man rejoices and says: "In my heart I have hidden your words, that I might not sin against you.

This cloak, woven from the meanings and words of manifold wisdom, does not allow those fervent in spirit to grow cool, nor the warmth of love to grow cold when the north wind blows. But the one who is in the middle, and indeed has a cloak, but one by which he is not wholly covered—just as he gathered little into his barns, and ate but not to satiety, and drank but not to drunkenness—so shall he indeed be covered by the cloak of his own thoughts and works, but he shall not be warmed. But he who, because of the excessive poverty of his soul, has no cloak—he has none for this reason, that with iniquity multiplied, love has grown cold in him (Matthew 24). Hence also concerning a man of this sort, whose cloak is possessed by another, it is commanded in the law: You shall return his garment to him before the sun sets, because he is poor and has his hope in it (Deuteronomy 24:15). But this also happened to those who dwelt in the valleys, or in houses with snares, and said, "The time has not yet come for the house of the Lord to be built," so that they gathered their wages into a perforated bag. If any one of us does good works, and works worthy of the reward which the Lord will render to us, of whom it is said: Behold the Lord, and his reward is in his hand (Isaiah 40:10; 62:11), to render to each according to his works (Matthew 16:27); and another saying of the Apostle: If anyone's work which he built upon remains, he will receive a reward (1 Corinthians

and he gathers wages that must be kept and preserved, and always joining virtues to virtues, he heaps up riches into a bag that does not wear out. But whoever after good works sins not once or twice, but frequently, and obscures and soils his past charity with the vices that follow, this man gathers money into a bag that is worn out. Now all these things happened to those who said: The time has not yet come for the house of the Lord to be built, and while they themselves were dwelling in the valleys, they allowed the house of the Lord to be deserted.

(Verses 17, 18). "Thus says the Lord of hosts: Set your hearts upon your ways, go up into the mountain, bring wood, and build the house: and it will be acceptable to me, and I will be glorified, says the Lord." The Septuagint: "Thus says the Lord almighty: Set your hearts upon your ways, go up onto the mountain, and cut down wood (the rest likewise)." Again I, the Lord, command you, who also previously ordered that you set your hearts upon your ways, and consider all that you do, and leaving behind your zeal for your own humble houses, go up into the mountain, where there is no wood to be burned, but wood that may be of use for the works of my house: and so that you may do this more attentively, know that what you do will be pleasing to me. The Hebrews say that wood was necessary only for the roofing, since the walls of the temple were still standing after the fire. So much for them.

But we are commanded not to place our hearts outside our ways, but to place again in our ways what we had placed before, and after we have done this, to go up from hollow houses to the mountain, so that when we have arrived at the height of the mountain in which are the timber necessary for the building of the temple of God—from the whole mountain of Holy Scripture, in which the various trees of the virtues and of paradise have been planted—we may cut them down and build the temple of the Lord with good works and the teachings of truth; and when it has been built, may it please the Lord and be glorified in it. Therefore these things are commanded us: that we place our hearts in our ways, that we ascend the rational mountain, and that for each individual problem, seeking the fitting timber from the testimonies of the Scriptures, we cut it down and build the house of wisdom within ourselves; for after this has been built, the end of its building will be that the Lord may be glorified in us.

(Verse 9.) "You looked for more, and behold, it became less: and you brought it into the house, and I blew it away." The Septuagint: "You looked for many things, and they became few: and you brought them into the house, and I blew them away." So that, with delay cast off and every ambiguity set aside, you may build my house more zealously, I speak also another thing that has happened to you who have put off building my house—not as above: "You sowed much," and because the earth did not return the seed, "you brought in little;" but when the crops were already ripening and the time of harvest was at hand, and you thought you held the grain in your hands, you reaped empty stalks, and gathered useless stubble without the fruit of the ears. The threshing floors were full; hope was in your eyes, mourning in your hands. But even this very thing that had scarcely been selected from the great crop and countless heaps, you brought into the house, and it was scattered by my power. For I blew it away and reduced it to nothing, because the dead grain and the empty husks, which are useful for food, had no flour or fine meal. But this that he said, "You brought it into the house, and I blew it away," can also be understood of the gifts that they were offering on the altar, and God blew them away. But because he said, "You brought it into the house," if we understand the things brought in as gifts, we surely say they were offered in the temple.

And this will not apply to us, because at that time the house of God had not yet been built—which indeed happens to many even to this day, who dwell in lowly buildings and, as far as lies in them, despise the desolate house of God, and when they could build it, they scorn it; and as if already seeing the harvests ripe, they promise themselves the fruits of their own works, and with hope deceiving them, in place of great things they find scarcely small ones. But even these small things, which they had stored in the house and granary of the mind, are blown away by the word of God, as though unworthy of his keeping and protection. How often have I seen, both in doctrine and in conduct, very many things hoped for concerning certain people: and after it came about that they had the time of harvests, that is, the time of teaching and of offering their life as an example to the peoples, they were cast down from on high, and less was found in them than the opinion of all promised for itself. Whence it happened that, as negligence crept in little by little, they lost even that very little which they seemed to have. But they suffered this for this reason, because they were secure in their former houses, and did not ascend the mountain of the Scriptures, cutting from it the wood of the Lord's building, nor did they build up in themselves daily the house of the Lord; but despising its desolation, they lost even that which they believed they had. For to the aforementioned evil persons this cause is assigned.

(Verse 10.) "Therefore, says the Lord of hosts, because my house is desolate, and you hasten each one to his own house, for this reason the heavens over you have been withheld from giving dew, and the earth has held back its produce." Not only, he says, did the heavens not give rain, by which the soil, once watered, produces crops; but not even the morning and night dew, so that the parched fields might at least be tempered by a modest moisture. The earth too has devoured, and will not give back the seed to the farmers, and what it is wont to bring forth of itself it has held in its greedy bosom. I think this is the dew of which it is said in the blessing to Jacob: "May God give you of the dew of heaven" (Gen. 27:28), and the dew of Hermon which descends upon Mount Zion (Ps. 132), and it descends, not from the air in which flutters the manifold number of eagles and hawks and vultures, but from heaven, so that if anyone's soul burns with disturbances and has been wounded by the devil's dart, it may be cooled by this dew and temper its heats. When this is withheld, the earth too does not bring forth its produce. For without the dew of Christ no soul can bring forth grain.

(Verse 11.) "And I called drought upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the grain, and upon the wine, and upon the oil, and whatever the ground brings forth, and upon men, and upon beasts of burden, and upon all the labor of hands." For "drought" the Seventy translated "sword," that is, but I have also found it written in Hebrew with three letters, HETH, RES, BETH, which if we read HAREB, it means "sword"; if OREB, which we have translated "drought," although it could better be translated "burning wind." And indeed, since the discourse concerns the land and the barrenness of fields, it seems to me that in the present passage a burning wind ought to be understood rather than a sword: although every plague that is brought upon men because of sins can also be taken for a sword. But drought, or the sword, was called upon the land, and upon the mountains, so that they may not bring forth grain, and wine, and oil, and whatever the ground produces of itself. But with famine preceding, death comes consequently upon men and upon beasts of burden. And the same sword or burning wind consumes all things that the hands of men have labored over. And so the living and effective word of God, and sharper than any two-edged sword, is called upon or brought in, so that the negligent soul (which is interpreted as the parched land, and desires to dwell in the valleys rather than to build up the house of God) may be struck by its edge, and may scatter whatever fruits it thinks it has.

The sword is also brought upon the mountains that lift themselves up against the knowledge of God, and upon the grain, the wine, and the oil—those foods, as it were, and drink and refreshment with which the conventicles of heretics flatter deceived peoples. Fittingly one might say that their bread is the bread of mourning, and that their wine is the fury of dragons and the incurable fury of asps; and the oil, too—the promise of heavenly things, with which they as it were anoint their disciples and promise them rewards for their labors—which the Prophet detests, saying: But the oil of the sinner shall not fatten my head (Psalm 140:5). But other things as well, which without the authority and testimonies of the Scriptures they invent and fabricate of their own accord as though by apostolic tradition, the sword of God strikes down. But "men" and "beasts of burden"—or "and," that is, let us understand their thoughts and senses; or certainly the rational and the irrational among them, that is, the learned and the unlearned alike—and all the labor of their hands, and their fastings, and their various observances, and their chameunias, that is, sleepings on the ground. Those who fast three forty-days over the course of a year and afflict their soul, and who grow especially from the root of Tatian, hear concerning labors of this kind: "You have suffered so many things in vain.

But all these things that I have said can be understood of the rulers of the Church, who build a carnal house and provide for their children and their possessions, but do not take care either to build up the temple of God within themselves, or to restore the Church of the Lord, which has been left uncovered and torn down; their life and speech, often inconsistent, scandalize very many and cast them out of the Church and lead the house of God to desolation. Nor do we say this in order to accuse everyone generally, but because in every office and rank there are some who build and some who destroy the temple of God; and on account of their vice neither does the heaven give its dew, nor the earth its produce: the ground is dried up, the mountains wither, the grain and the oil and all that the earth brings forth, and men themselves and the beasts of burden, and all the labor of hands, perish, with the sword cutting them down and with drought or a scorching wind.

(Verse 13.) And Zorobabel the son of Salathiel, and Jesus the son of Josedec the high priest, and all the remnant of the people heard the voice of their God (the Vulgate adds "of the Lord"), and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the Lord their God sent him to them, and the people feared before the face of the Lord.

Pay careful attention, because of the two understandings of the Savior in Zerubbabel the leader and Jesus the priest (for he himself is both king and priest), that it did not say, "Zerubbabel and Jesus feared," but, when Zerubbabel and Jesus and the people heard the words of Haggai the prophet, which words are the Lord's, only the people feared before the face of the Lord—that is, only the multitude, which had not yet come into one perfect man, nor, being joined to the spirit, deserved to be what the spirit is. But the people feared before the face of the Lord, knowing that the face of the Lord is upon those who do evil, to destroy their memory from the earth (Ps. XXVIII).

(Verse 13.) "And Haggai, the messenger of the Lord, from among the messengers of the Lord, said to the people, saying: I am with you, says the Lord." Some think that both John the Baptist and Malachi, which is interpreted as Angel of the Lord, and Haggai, whom we now have in our hands, were angels, and for the dispensation and command of God took human bodies and lived among men. Nor is it surprising that this should be believed of angels, since for our salvation even the Son of God took a human body; and for this reason they even offer testimony from the apocrypha, where it is said that Jacob, who was later called Israel (Gen. XXXII), was an angel, and for that reason supplanted his brother in his mother's womb (Gen. XXV). Also that John, at the voice of Mary the mother of the Lord, leaped in the womb of Elizabeth (Luke

Let them hold that view—that there is one nature of all rational beings, and that for this reason men who have pleased God become equal to the angels. But as for us, let us simply accept that the messenger of the Lord—that is, the angel, who in Hebrew is called MALACH—is called a prophet, from the fact that he announced the will of the Lord to the people; or because in many places our Lord and Savior is called the angel of God, as there: "The Angel of great counsel" (Isa. 9:6), we say that a type of the Savior went before in Haggai. Furthermore, what he says, "The messenger of the Lord, from among the messengers of the Lord," is as though he had said, a prophet from among prophets. What he says, "The messenger of the Lord speaking to the people: I am with you, says the Lord," he does not speak to Zerubbabel and Jesus, with whom and in whom the Lord always was (for we have once said that they are to be understood in the person of the Savior according to different understandings), but to the people who had feared before the face of the Lord. Because it was a people, and had not yet come to the love of God, which casts out fear. The people, then, receives as a reward for the fear of God that the Lord be with them, and the sense is: I will be your helper; build my house, which has been destroyed in you; with me established in your midst, no one will be able to hinder your building.

(Verse 14.) "And the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, leader of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of the rest of all the people: and they went in and did the work in the house of the Lord of hosts, their God: on the twenty-fourth day of the month, in the sixth month, in the second year of King Darius." For "leader of Judah," the Seventy translated "of the tribe of Judah," and for "work," "works"; the rest similarly. But wherever we put "Lord of hosts," they variously render it "Lord almighty," or "Lord Sabaoth," or "Lord of powers." So the spirit of Zerubbabel is stirred up, and the spirit of Joshua—for now, according to the letter—so that the kingdom and the priesthood may build the temple of God. The spirit of the people is also stirred up, which had previously been asleep in them—not the body, not the soul, but, as we said, the spirit, which knows better how to build the temple of God. And having gone in—for they had been outside—they did the works that were worthy of the inner chambers of the house of the Lord: in the same year of King Darius as above, in the same month that was also set down at the beginning; but not on the same day. For there one day of the month is given; here, however, the twenty-fourth, so that between the first day, on which the Lord speaks through Haggai, and the twenty-fourth, on which they went in and did the work in the house of the Lord, there were twenty-two days in between, as many as there are letters among the Hebrews.

For they necessarily had to be taught what were the elements of the beginning of the words of God, which kept them from saying, "The time has not yet come for the house of the Lord to be built," and from dwelling in paneled houses and, as I said above, from being sunk into the depths. But they were provoked to set their hearts upon their ways, and to remember how much they had suffered because of their negligence. And to go up to the mountain, and cut wood, and build the house of the Lord, and not to endure the things they had endured before. Finally, in these twenty-two days, the people feared before the face of the Lord, and we entered on the twenty-fourth day of the month, in the sixth month, in the second year of King Darius, and they were doing the work in the house of the Lord of hosts, their God. But it is commanded us, so that a spiritual house may be built into a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices pleasing to God, that we present ourselves such as we are, so that the Holy Spirit may be stirred up in us, and we may enter into the house of the Lord, and do the works of the Lord. For already Zerubbabel of the line of David, and Joshua the priest forever, has been raised up by the Father in power, according to the spirit of sanctification from the resurrection of the dead, so that he may preside over the work; but let us do it, with him helping and arranging. Yet we cannot do these works of God beforehand unless we fear before the face of the Lord, and believe, and enter the temple of God, and accomplish those things that are worthy of the house of God.

But since we are still in the world, and the time of our building falls under King Darius, in whose reign men serve generation, marriages, and the flesh, therefore in the sixth number, in which the world was made, and in the second year, which divides the union (for matter, in which the restoration of the world and of offspring consists, loves the double number), we enter the house of the Lord, and with both peoples gathered together, we build the temple of God. For from two twelves the sum of the twenty-fourth number consists, because both from the circumcision and from the Gentiles the Church of Christ, which had first been destroyed, has been built. But we can also say this: that the eighth number, which is holy and is taken as the type of true circumcision, tripled makes the twenty-fourth number, and we are taught figuratively to build the house of the Lord in the cutting away of the flesh and the circumcision of vices, and to believe that true purity is in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Furthermore, another has reckoned six times four, and refers four to the elements of the world, from which we subsist, and six to the condition of the world, in which those same elements are contained. And he says: because we are still in matter, and are surrounded by a heavy body, and serve generations, we are indeed to build the temple and enter into the house of God, and our spirit is to be roused as from a heavy sleep, but we are still to do this on the twenty-fourth day.

In the seventh month, on the twenty-first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet, saying: Speak to Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, leader of Judah, and to Jesus, son of Josedec, the great priest, and to the rest of the people, saying: Who among you is left who saw this house in its former glory? What do you see of it now? Is it not as though it were not in your eyes? And now be strong, Zerubbabel, says the Lord, and be strong, Jesus, son of Josedec, great priest, and be strong, all the people of the land, says the Lord of hosts, and do the work: for I am with you, says the Lord of hosts. The word which I made with you when you came out of the land of Egypt, and my spirit shall be in your midst, do not fear. For thus says the Lord of hosts: yet a little while, and I will shake heaven and earth, and the sea and the dry land, and I will move all the nations. And the desired one of all the nations shall come, and I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of hosts. Mine is the silver, and mine is the gold, says the Lord of hosts. Great shall be the glory of this last house, more than the first, says the Lord of hosts. And in this place I will give peace, says the Lord of hosts.

In that same year, but in the seventh month, in which are the solemnities of God, on the first and twenty-first day of the month—that is, when three weeks were completed and rest was perfected in the mystery of the Trinity—the word of the Lord came a third time by the hand of Haggai the prophet, who labored with unceasing toil so that the speech of God might always have access to him. For forgetting the things that are past and stretching forth to those that are before (Philippians 3), he labored daily as though he had nothing of previous works. It is said to him, therefore: Speak to Zerubbabel, and to Jesus, and to the rest of the people, who saw the ancient house of God and now are present at its restoration—is not this one that is seen, in comparison with the former, such that in a certain manner it seems not to exist? But do not despair, nor let your hands hang down weary, but both you, Zerubbabel, and you, Jesus, and all the people, be strengthened and do the work in my house; for I am with you, and my word which I pledged to you when you came out of the land of Egypt. And my spirit shall not withdraw from you: do not fear; I am he who commands, the Lord almighty, whose to have spoken is to have done.

When I first gave the old covenant and was seen on Mount Sinai, I shook heaven and earth, the Red Sea, and the desert, so that I might establish a covenant with you; but now I promise you that I will once more shake heaven and earth, the sea and the dry land, so that when these are shaken, all nations may be moved and may come—according to the Septuagint, those who are the Lord's elect from all nations; but according to the Hebrew, our Lord and Savior, the Desired of all nations, will come. Then I will fill this house with greater glory than the former, and I will always add to you, says the Lord Almighty. And lest perhaps you think the one who pledges is weak: mine is the gold, and mine is the silver, and all wealth is mine. I will give gold and silver for the adornment of the temple, so that the glory of this house may become greater than that of the former. And because what I promise seems difficult, and human unbelief always hesitates at greater promises, therefore I again say, I who promise am the Lord Almighty. Further, because I know that nothing contributes to the building of the glorious house, which is to surpass the former house, as peace does, therefore I also pledge this. For I will give peace in this place, says the Lord of hosts: so that the peace which surpasses all understanding may guard my house, and my place may be in peace. These lines of exposition I have drawn for the meantime, so that from them the prudent reader, even while I am silent, may ascend to a more sublime understanding.

So the word of God comes to those who had begun to work in the house of the Lord Almighty, now at rest, that is, in the seventh month, and in the most full sacrament of the Trinity, on the twenty-first day of the month, and to Haggai, who was celebrating the festivals of God and who had again prepared his hand for the word of the Lord, and He says to him: Speak to Zerubbabel of the tribe of Judah, and to Jesus the great priest, who for our sake deigned to become both man and priest, and to the remnant of the people; for compared with the whole world, the portion of those who first believed was small. So let us hear what He has spoken. There was once in Israel a house of God, which is now so torn down that it is believed never to have existed; from the time when she who was beloved became not beloved, and he who was not the people of God began to be the people of God. And that house was once glorious; now in the sight of Zerubbabel and Jesus and the remnant of the people it is as though it does not exist. But we ought to understand this not only of the buildings of the temple, which we see have fallen, but of all the things in which the Jews once had great glory. Nevertheless, because the former house has become as though it did not stand, Zerubbabel the leader and Jesus the priest are stirred up, so that the kingdom of Christ and the priesthood may be strengthened, and His people, who were once a people of the earth, may do work in the house of the Lord and know that God is present with them; and may also perform the word which the Lord pledged with them when they went out from the land of Egypt.

And would that we too might go forth from Egypt, so that we may fulfill the word of the testament which we have received. The Lord God also promises to those who do the works in his house and fulfill the word they have received, his own Spirit, saying: "And my Spirit shall be in the midst of you." Behold the sacrament of the Trinity: I am with you, and my Spirit, and the Word, in which I established the testament with you when you went forth from Egypt. But what he says, "in the midst of you," must be understood according to that which is written in the Gospel: "For he stands in the midst of you, whom you do not know, who shall come after me" (John 1:26). These things, then, the Lord of hosts says to you who see that the former house is as though it were not. I moved heaven, when my voice was heard from heaven. I moved the earth, when I handed down the Testament to the former people; and at my advent, darkness, storm, and gloom were seen. I moved the Red Sea, when I provided a way for the people as they crossed. I moved the dry land, or Egypt, through plagues devoid of the worship of God, or the wilderness through which I led the people about for forty years. These things I will yet once more move. We see this done at the advent of the Lord and Savior. For in the time of his passion, when the sun fled, heaven was moved and darkness came over all the earth from the sixth hour until the ninth hour (Matthew 27; Luke 18).

The earth was moved, and rocks were split, and tombs opened; the sea was moved when the dragon that was in it was slain; the dry land was moved too, the once unfruitful wilderness of the nations. But in this trembling of the universe, all the nations were moved as well, because the sound of the Lord's apostles went forth into all the earth, and their words penetrated even to the ends of the world (Ps. 18). And for this reason all the nations were moved, so that from their movement might come the chosen multitude of the nations, and whatever is distinguished anywhere for the sake of the Word—for example, the chosen of Corinth, because in it there was a great people of God. The chosen of Macedonia, because in Thessalonica a great Church of God was gathered, which had no need to be taught about love (1 Thess. 1:4). The chosen of Ephesus, so that they might come to know the hidden things of God and the sacraments never before revealed. What more? All the nations were moved, to which the Savior had sent the apostles, saying: Go, teach all nations (Matt. 28:29), and from many who were called, a few chosen built up the Church of the firstfruits. Whence also the apostle Peter says: The chosen one in Babylon greets you, and Mark my son (1 Pet. 5:13); and John says: The elder to the chosen lady; and then he mentions the children of the chosen lady.

When, therefore, the nations were moved—which we can also understand as the opposing powers, unable to endure the splendor of the Lord—the chosen of all the nations came, and the glory of the house of the Lord was filled, which is the Church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of truth. This is according to the Septuagint. But in the Hebrew it is rendered better and more significantly, as we set it down above: “And I will move all the nations, and the Desired of all the nations will come.” For truly, after he came, the glory of the house of the Lord was filled. And as far as the Lord is from the servant, so much better is the house of the Lord, over which the Lord presides, than the former house, over which the servant presided. But as for what he says: “Mine is the silver, and mine is the gold, says the Lord of hosts,” I do not think anyone should suppose that he is speaking of the silver and gold that are possessed by the rich and by kings. For in this way not only silver and gold are God’s, as of the Creator, but also the other metals—bronze, tin, lead, and iron, which subdues all things. But I consider the silver with which the house of God is adorned to be the utterances of the Scriptures, of which it is said: “The utterances of the Lord are pure utterances; silver tried by fire, tested of the earth, purified sevenfold” (Psalm 11:7); and the gold that is in the hidden sense of the saints and in the secret of the heart, and shines with the true light of God—which the Apostle also clearly understood to refer to the saints who build upon the foundation of Christ: gold, silver, precious stones (1 Cor.

III), so that in the gold there is a hidden meaning, in the silver fitting speech, in the precious stone works pleasing to God. By these metals the Church of the Savior becomes more illustrious than the synagogue once was; by these living stones the house of Christ is built, and eternal peace is granted to it. Furthermore, what follows in the Septuagint—"And peace of soul for a possession to every creature, that this temple may be raised up"—as being superfluous and scarcely coherent, since it is found neither among the Hebrews nor among any other translator, we have omitted.

(On the following verses.) "In the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to Haggai the prophet, saying: Thus says the Lord of hosts: Ask the priests for the law, saying: If a man has carried consecrated flesh in the hem of his garment, and has touched with the edge of it bread, or broth, or wine, or oil, or any food, will it be sanctified? And the priests answering said: No. And Haggai said: If one who is polluted in soul touches any of these things, will it be defiled? And the priests answered and said: It will be defiled. And Haggai answered and said: So is this people, and so is this nation before my face, says the Lord; and so is every work of their hands, and all that they have offered there, they shall be defiled.

LXX: On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, in the second year under Darius, the word of the Lord came to Haggai the prophet, saying: Thus says the Lord Almighty: Ask the priests for a ruling, saying: If a man takes holy flesh in the edge of his garment, and the edge of his garment touches bread, or cooked food, or wine, or oil, or any food, will it be sanctified? And the priests answered and said: No. And Haggai said: If one who is unclean in soul touches any of these things, will it be contaminated? And the priests answered and said: It will be contaminated. And Haggai answered and said: So is this people, and so is this nation before me, says the Lord, and so are all the works of their hands. And whoever approaches there will be contaminated, because of their morning gifts; they will grieve before the face of their wickednesses, and being made fragrant in the gates, bringing accusations. Therefore we have also set forth the edition of the Seventy interpreters, because in certain words they seemed to disagree. And this that is said: "Because of their morning gifts, they will grieve before the face of their wickednesses, and being made fragrant in the gates, bringing accusations," is found neither in the Hebrew nor in the other interpreters. It should be noted that in this place: "On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, in the second year," it is not said, as above for the third time: "The word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet," but "to Haggai the prophet.

For there (because he still had room for progress, and his works only were clean, but his heart had not yet received full wisdom; or because he was still living among those who said, "The time has not yet come for the house of the Lord to be built"), the word of the Lord was made concerning his works only. Here, however, since the foundations of the temple have already been laid, and the people with their leaders have entered the house of God, and he does the work that befits the temple of God and has heard the mystery: "I will shake all the nations, and the Desired of all nations will come," and he is full of prophecy; therefore the whole word of the Lord is made to Haggai. About the twenty-fourth day and the second year we have already spoken: the number of the ninth month, which is added here, is never read in a good sense. The people sacrifice the Passover and celebrate the other festivals; every solemnity of theirs ends on the eighth day, and does not reach the ninth. Those who prepare the lamb of the Passover begin to prepare it after the ninth day has passed. The day also of propitiation and expiation of the seventh month is celebrated after the ninth day. And in Jeremiah, as can be clear to readers, Jerusalem is attacked by the Babylonians in the ninth year. Since, therefore, the prophecy was to concern the uncleanness of the people, for that reason the ninth month is joined to the second year of Darius.

Again, because room for repentance is given after the rebuke of uncleanness, on the twenty-fourth day the word of God comes to Haggai the prophet, so that, as if in the person of the Lord, he might inquire of the priests a question arising from the law, and it is said to him: "Ask the priests concerning the law, saying." And at the same time consider that it is the office of priests to respond to one who asks about the law. If he is a priest, let him know the law of the Lord; if he is ignorant of the law, he convicts himself of not being a priest of the Lord. For it belongs to the priest to know the law and to respond to a question about the law. We read this indeed also in Deuteronomy (chapter 17), that if anywhere in the cities of Israel a question should arise between blood and blood, between judgment and judgment, between leprosy and leprosy, between contradiction and contradiction, they should go to the priests and Levites, and to the high priest who has been appointed in those days, and inquire of him the law of the Lord; and when they respond, they should do what they are commanded. But if they do not do it, let them be cut off from their people. And lest perhaps these precepts seem to be only in the Old Testament, the Apostle also speaks to Timothy, that a bishop must be not only irreproachable, and the husband of one wife, and wise, and modest, and adorned, and hospitable, but also a teacher (1 Tim. 3). And lest he seem to have said this by chance, in the case of Titus also, concerning the ordination of presbyters (whom he wishes also to be understood as bishops), the same caution is observed (Tit.

For this reason I left you in Crete, that you might correct what remained and appoint elders in every city, as I commanded you: if anyone is blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children, not accused of luxury or of insubordination. For a bishop ought to be blameless as a steward of God, not arrogant, not irascible, not violent, not a striker, not greedy for shameful gain; but hospitable, modest, kind, just, holy, continent, holding to the faithful word in doctrine, so that he may be able to console in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict. For there are many who are not subject, vain talkers and deceivers, and especially those who are of the circumcision, whom it is necessary to silence. I have set these things out at greater length so that we may know, from both the Old and the New Testament, that it is the office of priests to know the law of God and to answer what they have been asked. Nor is simplicity and abstinence in foods sufficient in a teacher, unless what he himself does he can also teach others.

Certainly, because I think they will reply that this belongs to those who prepare themselves from adolescence to teach, but often by the judgments of the Lord and by the favor of the people the simple are chosen to the priesthood: at least let them hold this, that after they have been ordained priests, they learn the law of God so that they can teach what they have learned, and increase knowledge rather than wealth, and not be ashamed to learn from laymen, who know the things that pertain to the office of priests: and let them spend nights and days rather in the treatment of the Scriptures than in reasonings and calculation. But what is it that Haggai asks the priests in the person of the Lord? "If a man has carried sanctified flesh in his mouth, or in the hem of his garment, and has touched with the hem of it bread, or stew, or wine, or oil, or any food, will it be sanctified?" Before we treat of the question, we ought meanwhile to know according to the letter what sanctified flesh is, and what one unclean in soul is. The victim that was sacrificed on the altar, its flesh was holy, and among these sanctified flesh there was great diversity. For the priests ate some in the inner shrines of the temple; others their relatives at home; others those who seemed to be of the priests but were defiled; others the Israelites who had no uncleanness. The full account of this diversity is given in Leviticus. But he was called unclean in soul who had touched the body of a dead man.

In this it must be observed that, as long as the soul is in the body, the human body is not unclean; but as soon as the life-giving spirit has withdrawn from the limbs, that which is earthly becomes unclean, as is written in the same Leviticus: And the Lord said to Moses, saying: Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and you shall say to them: They shall not be defiled for the dead among their people; but for their kinsmen who are near to them, for mother and father, for sons and daughters, for a brother and for his virgin sister who is near to him and has not been given to a man: for these he shall not be defiled, and he shall not be polluted suddenly among his people to his own defilement (Lev. 21:1–2). Consider that it is commanded to these priests not to enter in to any dead person, except to those kinsmen and relatives of whom it was said above. But the great priest, that is the pontiff, had something more than the other priests: neither piety nor affection could move him to become unclean for the names mentioned above. For Scripture says (ibid. 2–4): And he shall not enter in over any dead soul: over his father, nor over his mother, and he shall not be defiled. Knowing, therefore, what it means for flesh to be sanctified, and what it means to be unclean in soul, let us see what the prophet seeks. If any man—here it is not said of the pontiff, or of the priest, or of the Levite, but of any man: where the person is not specified, it is permitted to all without distinction to touch flesh.

If, he says, someone has carried sanctified flesh and tied it in the edge of his garment, and that same edge of the garment has touched bread, or any other cooked food, or wine, or oil, or anything besides these that a man can eat—surely bread, or wine, or oil, or any food cannot be sanctified by the touch of the garment in which the holy flesh was tied? And the priests answered and said: It cannot—that is, none of those things about which you ask will be sanctified, but each will remain as it was. Again another question is put to the priests: namely, that they answered well to the former one, and a kind of likeness of the problem is fitted to it, in which an unskilled person could easily slip. For suppose someone does not know the law, and just as he answered that bread, or relish, or wine, or oil, or any food is not sanctified by sanctified flesh, so he will answer equally in this case too and say: Things polluted in soul do not defile those things which holy flesh could not sanctify. He therefore asks and says: If one who is polluted in soul—that is, who has been made unclean by the contagion of a dead body—has touched any of all these things, namely bread, or relish, or wine, or oil, or the remaining foods, surely by contact with them will those things which he has touched be polluted? And the priests answered, whose leader was Jesus the son of Josedec, whence they also knew the law, and they said that by his contact, who is unclean, all things that have been touched by him are polluted.

And Haggai answered and said, passing over the earlier points—namely, that sanctified flesh cannot sanctify other foods—and weaving the occasion of his discourse from the second question alone: "So is this people, and so is this nation before my face, says the Lord." Whoever is unclean in soul, if he has touched a dead body, whatever he touches, and whatever he offers to me, will be unclean. What he says according to the letter is of this kind: O people, who, with only the altar built and my house in ruins, offer sacrifices to me on the altar, and think that you are sanctified by its victims and flesh: know that you are not so much sanctified by the sacrifices which, with the temple destroyed, cannot profit you, as you are defiled in all your works and in everything you do, because you neglect me and have attempted to build your own house rather than mine. Holy indeed is what is offered on the altar; but you are not so much sanctified by the sacrifices as you are polluted because you dwell in the valleys and are entangled in dead works. These things are according to the history, although we have drawn the lines of spiritual understanding in it.

But otherwise, according to the ecclesiastical man who sacrificed the immaculate and year-old lamb, and was clothed with Christ, if he has taken from its flesh and bound it in the hem of his garment, and that hem itself has touched the bread of the Scriptures, which strengthens the hearts of believers; or the cooking, the apostolic Epistles, which as it were cut up and boil down the flesh of the old law and offer them seasoned for eating; or the wine which gladdens the heart of man; or the oil in which the face of the hearer is made cheerful; or every food: the milk with which the Corinthians are fed (1 Cor. 3:2), and the vegetables on which the weak feed (Rom. 14:2), and other things similar to these: they will not straightway eat them as though sanctified, to whomever they may have been given. For they sanctify the hearers not from the fact that they are spoken, but from the fact that they are received; because many are hearers of the law and not doers. But also for this reason I think that all these things which I have said are by no means brought sanctified to those who eat, from the touch of the garment, because they are touched only at the hem of the cloak; and the sanctified flesh within knows nothing of moisture, blood, veins, and sinews. Just as therefore the hem of the Lord's garment, and a light touch, does not sanctify, except him who has eaten the flesh of the lamb and drunk its blood: so on the contrary, the man who is unclean in soul, by perverse doctrine of every kind, whatever they have touched, they necessarily make unclean.

For in their sacraments they have bread, and wine, and oil, and every kind of food; but their sacraments are like the bread of mourning—all who touch them will be defiled. They too read the Scriptures, and as it were sprinkle their bread with testimonies from the Scriptures, and bake it all night in the oven; but when it is given to be eaten, it drives those who eat it to madness. They have a dish and a cooking, attempting according to the sense of their own perversity to weave and, as it were, to cook and season mystical things from the Scriptures, and the flesh of the lamb—but that cooking is destruction. They have wine too, but not from the vineyard of Sorec, which the Lord planted in Jeremiah, chosen and wholly true (Jer. 2); but from the vineyard of the Sodomites. They have oil as well, which they violently press out from the testimonies of the Old and New Scripture, and as it were promise for the refreshment of deceived and weary minds; but the holy one detests it, and says: But let not the oil of the sinner anoint my head (Ps. 140:5). They have various foods too—that is, the manifold and diverse treatises of various matters—which, because those who wrote them are unclean and they were brought forth from an unclean mouth, everyone who touches them will become unclean and be dragged into their error.

Hence Haggai answers—he who knows the differences of solemnities, and for that reason obtained the name of the festival—: "So is this people, and so is this nation," namely of the Jews, and of the Gentiles, and of all heretics, "in my sight, says the Lord: everything they have done, whatever they have offered to me—whether vows for safety, or peace offerings, or for sin, or for trespass, or as a burnt offering, or alms, or fasts, or abstinence in food, and chastity of body—will be contaminated in my sight. For although the things offered by such people seem holy in their outward appearance, yet because they have been touched by one who is polluted in soul, all things will be polluted." (And the following verses.) "And now set your hearts from this day and above: before a stone was placed upon a stone in the temple of the Lord. When you came to a heap of twenty measures, and they became ten, and you entered the winepress to press out fifty jars, and they became twenty. I struck you with a scorching wind, and with blight, and with hail—all the works of your hands, and there was not among you one who returned to me, says the Lord." The Septuagint: "And now set it upon your hearts from this day and above, before a stone was placed upon a stone in the temple of the Lord, when you were those who sent into the bin twenty measures of barley, and they became ten measures of barley: and you went into the winepress to draw fifty amphoras, and they became twenty.

I struck you with barrenness, and with corruption of the air, and with hail, all the works of your hands: and you did not return to me, says the Lord." Although all the things you offered to me on the altar were defiled, because you had not built the temple (for without the building of the temple, every gift is polluted), nevertheless now I urge you, O people, to return in your mind to the past, and to consider what has been done—that is, from this twenty-fourth day of the ninth month in the second year of Darius, embrace in your mind whatever was done before, and for what reasons you endured such great things, so that when prosperity comes to you hereafter, you may know for what cause it has come. Therefore, before you began to build the temple and to lay stone upon stone, when you came to the heap and thought you had twenty measures, could you not barely gather half a measure? Or according to the Septuagint: When you sent twenty measures of barley into the vessel called a cypseles, and thought that, although you were sending barley, the food of beasts of burden, you were secure concerning those same twenty measures, did you not afterward, on returning to the vessel, find barely ten measures? When you also came to the winepress and saw the grapes, and your eyes promised you fifty amphoras—I do not say half a measure, but you could barely press out twenty amphoras.

And these things I did, striking you with a scorching wind, and with corruption of the air, and with crops withering, and with the empty husks of ears of grain, and with the clusters of the vineyards, so that by the weight of evils I might provoke you to the knowledge of me: and not even so was there one who would return to me. The Hebrew exposited the whole content of this passage, from what is written: "And now set your hearts from this day and above," up to the place where he says: "The vine and the fig and the pomegranate, and the olive tree has not blossomed, from this day I will bless," thus: Surely now the foundations of the temple have been laid; from this day, therefore, on which you laid the foundations (since in the past I punished you with barrenness, and famine, and hail, and drought, and there was not one among you who would return to me through these plagues), set your hearts on the future and thereafter, and see that all things flow for you with a prosperous course. But this will come to pass because you have begun to build my temple: and not having confidence in the altar alone, you despise the building of my house. According to this sense we can briefly say that some offer gifts to God in vain, and think that God can be appeased by alms and offerings, when they themselves have not built in themselves a temple for the Holy Spirit. For then alms profit, and the gifts that are offered on the altar, when a person has built himself into a temple of God, and after the building of the temple has offered gifts on the altar.

Furthermore, according to the tropological sense, it is said also to us who now believe in Jesus Christ—if indeed we believe and show the truth of faith by our works—that we should rightly return to that time when we were Gentiles, serving vices daily, and had not built up a temple to God within ourselves. But just as an architect and a skilled mason joins stone to stone, and cements the lower to the upper with lime and gypsum, so too the architect (whom the Apostle also says he is: "As a wise architect I laid the foundation" (1 Cor. 3:10); and whom the Lord threatens that he will take away from Jerusalem) knows how to join works to works, and gradually to build up the temple of God. But the foundation of this temple is laid as Jesus, upon whom each one should see what he builds: one builds gold, silver, precious stones; another wood, hay, stubble. And to the three good things, three evil things are set in opposition. These are the stones from which the Lord promises he will build up Jerusalem: "Behold, I will prepare for you your carbuncle stone, and your foundations of sapphire, and I will set your bulwarks of jasper, and your gates of crystal stone, and your wall of chosen stones" (Isa. 54:11-12).

For it must not be supposed, according to Jewish fables and foolish figments, that God will build Jerusalem of gold and gems, and not of living stones, which now roll over the earth, and according to the natures of stones are either fiery in faith, like the carbuncle; or wholly heavenly, and brought into the throne of God, like the sapphire; or bright by innocence and the simplicity of good works, like the crystal. It is said to us, therefore, that we should consider what we suffered in times past before we built the temple of God within us. “When you came,” he says, “to a heap of twenty measures, and they became ten”; or according to the Septuagint: “When you sent twenty measures of barley into the basket, and they became ten measures of barley.” For whatever virtues and good works we seemed to have before Christ was not grain, but barley; and that barley itself did not yield a hundredfold according to our hope and vows, as we read of Isaac (Gen. 26), but we could scarcely find from it half the fruit of our labor, and it was said to us: “Have you suffered so many things in vain?” (Gal. 3:4).

But also when we came to the winepress and counted fifty jars of wine (a number which, when seven weeks are completed, the unity of the Godhead encompasses), and we thought we had wine that gladdens the heart of man, the holy number thirty was withdrawn from us (in which the Lord is baptized, and Ezekiel beholds the vision at the beginning of his prophecy, and according to the Hebrew, the priests drew near to the ministry of God), and twenty were left. Esau loves this number, and hence Jacob, knowing that he delighted in this number, sends certain animals as a gift, twenty and twenty. And at the same time also in the flesh, Jacob himself, though holy (yet at that time when he was not with his father Isaac, that is, laughter; and his mother Rebecca, that is, patience; but he had the Assyrians as neighbors, and he dwelt in Mesopotamia, with rivers encircling him on this side and that), for a span of twenty years he served Laban, the most cruel and most avaricious (Gen. 32). Nor should it disturb anyone if we say that some before faith in Christ and the building of his temple can receive half of their labor, since among unbelievers there is no fruit of good works. For he does not store up twenty and find twenty; but when he has stored up twenty, he finds ten, that is, half of his labor.

The Jews, and the Gentiles, and the philosophers of this world, and the rest who boast of wisdom, receive the fruit and glory of their labor only in the present time of their life, and all their hope and reward of the future age is taken away. But this happens for this reason, that, not despairing utterly, they may despise repentance; but that at some time, converted, they may place stone upon stone and build the temple of God. But if they remain in unbelief, they will lose that very middle thing which they seemed to have. For it follows: "I struck you with a burning wind, and with blight, and with hail, all the works of your hands." But whatever is struck by blight and hail and burning wind is reduced to dust and ash, and nothing is found in it that pertains to usefulness and to eating. And all these things the Lord did, because there was not found among them one who would return to him. But if they have returned and built the temple of the Lord, from the day when they began to build, they will have what the word of the prophecy adds below. (Vers. 19, 20.) "Set your hearts from this day and for the future, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, from the day when the foundations of the temple of the Lord were laid, set it upon your heart. Is the seed already in the bud, and has the fig tree and the vine and the pomegranate and the wood of the olive not yet blossomed? From this day I will bless.

The Septuagint reads: "Set your hearts from this day and for the future: from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, and from the day on which the foundations of the temple of the Lord were laid, set it in your hearts. Will the ark be recognized any longer upon the earth, and will there still be vine and fig and pomegranate, and olive trees that bear no fruit? From this day I will bless." I have explained, he says, to you what you endured before you began to build my temple; now I will explain what prosperous things will come to you, since you have begun to build my temple. From the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, therefore, on which the foundations of the temple were laid, consider how great an abundance of things there is. The ninth month is what we call November or December. For Nisan is the first month among the Hebrews, which is called the month of new things: at that time when they celebrate the Passover, that is, at the beginning of spring, which according to the course of the moon often occupies a certain part of the month of March, and sometimes begins in April. Therefore if by Nisan we understand April, the ninth month according to the reckoning of the Hebrews will be December. Therefore it is the tenth month, at that time when the seeds lie hidden in the earth, and the future fertility cannot be conjectured. Is the seed, he says, already in the bud? Which is better said in Hebrew, in the husk, so that it signifies the sheath of grain. Have the vine, and the fig, and the pomegranate, and the olive tree given their blossom? so that from the blossom the fruit too may be understood.

Certainly not: for, as we said, in the month of December there are no signs of future crops. Therefore, so that you may not say that I am conjecturing this by clever reasoning and suspecting future fertility from the blossoms of trees and the grasses of the fields: behold, there are no signs; and yet I foretell to you that, because you have begun to build my temple, there will be, for my blessing, a fertility of all crops. This is what we have said according to the Hebrew. But according to the Septuagint the sense is far different, and this too we must first expound according to the letter, so that afterwards the order of tropology, once begun, may be treated. Set your hearts from this day, on which the temple was founded, for the future, and you will see that the crops will be so great, and that so much grain will be carried from all the fields, that the threshing floor will not know its own produce, or rather that there will not be threshing floors belonging to individuals, but from the multitude threshing floor will be joined to threshing floor, and the separation of threshing floors will not be known in the land. The vineyard too, and the fig tree, and the pomegranate, and the olive tree, which before, by your fault, brought forth no fruits, because you had not yet begun to build my temple, will be bowed down with such abundance of grapes and fruits that manifest fertility will indicate manifest blessing. But that the ninth month is not to be taken in a good sense, both the fourth book of Kings and the history of Jeremiah narrates, in which Jerusalem is said to have been besieged (IV Kings XXV; Jer. XXX and XXXII).

Nevertheless, since the foundations of the temple are laid at the end of the ninth month, we can understand by this that the temple of the Lord is not begun to be built unless evil works are first finished. Hence also on the twenty-fourth day of the same month the foundation of the temple is laid, in which number there are both two and three and four, concerning which it has already been discussed more fully above. Whoever, therefore, has dedicated himself to the worship of God and has despised—that is, treated as negligent—the patron (who in the book of Ezra, according to the Septuagint translators (1 Esdras 4), forbids the temple of God to be built), such a one does not know the measure of his crops and of his reward. Or certainly, on account of what is said: If we still sow on the earth the threshing floor, he who sows in the spirit and reaps from the spirit will reap eternal life (Galatians 6), he will by no means store up treasure for himself on earth, but all his works and the rewards of his works will be gathered in heavenly places. The vineyard also—that is, the word of God, whose farmer in each person is the Father—and the fig tree, the sweetest gifts of the Holy Spirit; and the pomegranate, the doctrines of the Church and the knowledge of the Scriptures, which is compared to the cheeks of the bride in the Song of Songs (Song 8), and the branches of the olive will give refreshment and illumination of heart to him who has begun to build the temple of God. But that the vineyard, the fig tree, and the olive (for I defer the pomegranate for a little while) are referred to the person of the Savior, and of God the Father, and of the Holy Spirit, in the book of Judges (chapter

IX) it is read more fully, where the unfruitful trees go, so that they may appoint a king over themselves, and they speak in order—the vine, the fig tree, and the olive—that they may reign over them; and both the vine and the fig tree and the olive refuse such rule, nor do they deign to reign over the unfruitful trees. Then those come to the tree of their own barrenness as king, that is, to the thorny buckthorn, a prickly shrub, a little tree woven together with briars and hooks, which holds fast whatever it has touched, and wounds what it has held, and delights in the blood of the wounded; moreover, it sends forth fire from itself and consumes the trees that have been ruled. But we refer the buckthorn to the devil, and according to the nature of the shrub we shall interpret his nature. Further, the vine, the fig tree, and the olive will be there where the pomegranate has been, which tree, on account of the very great multitude of its seeds and the little membranes interwoven among them—a kind of geometric composition, and indeed various little chambers, but all enclosed by one rind—is always in the Scriptures applied to the person of the Church.

(And the following verses.) «And the word of the Lord came a second time to Haggai on the twenty-fourth day of the month, saying: Speak to Zerubbabel the leader of Judah, saying: I will shake heaven and earth alike, and I will overturn the throne of kingdoms, and I will break the strength of the kingdom of the nations; and I will overturn the chariot and its rider; and the horses and their riders shall fall, a man by the sword of his brother. In that day, says the Lord of hosts: I will take you, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, my servant, says the Lord, and I will make you like a signet: because I have chosen you, says the Lord of hosts.» In the Septuagint are added, the sea and the dry land; and it has less, I will break the strength of the kingdom of the nations, which is known more fully from their own reading. But it must be noted that on the same day, that is, on the twenty-fourth of the ninth month, with the number of the month left unstated, because they were prophesying of the coming of Christ and of his kingdom, the word of our Lord comes a second time to Haggai, not in his hand as before, nor to Haggai the prophet, as in the fourth vision, but only to Haggai, that is, to one celebrating the Lord's festivals; because he was announcing and beholding him not as one who would come, but as one coming. And just as Abraham saw the day of Christ and rejoiced, and John pointed out with his finger the Lamb of God, so he too, seeing the kingdom of the Son of God, would have within himself all the solemnities.

On this point most people hold differing opinions: some suspect that it is said of his first coming, others of the second, when he is to come in his majesty. We accept both, because he both reigned when he came and will reign afterward. Yet if we wish to understand it of the end of the world, we shall say what the Apostle speaks to the Corinthians: that every principality and every power and might must be destroyed, so that God may be all in all (1 Cor 15). And because what is said is mystical and pertains to the end of things, therefore the prophet is commanded to speak to Zerubbabel alone, whom we have shown to have come forth as a type of Christ, on account of the assumption of a body from the seed of David. To him, then, are said the things that are to come at the end: that the figure of this world pass away, and a new heaven and a new earth be made, and the Lord shake heaven and earth alike, and destroy every principality and power and might, and scatter the kings of kings—or, as it is in the Hebrew, of kingdoms—and slay every opposing strength, so that even those who had reigned before and held the nations under their dominion may profit from the destruction of their kingdom; and when every zeal for battle has been scattered, peace may follow. For this is what he says: «And I will overturn the chariot, or the chariots, and their riders, and the horses and their riders shall come down.»

And so that you may know that in the overthrow of chariots and of falling horsemen this is what we meant is signified: See how it is said of Christ in Zechariah, that he comes as a gentle king, and riding upon a donkey and a new colt of a she-ass, and that he destroys the chariots from Ephraim (Zech. 9), and the horse from Jerusalem, so that there may be one flock and one shepherd, and that both companies, alike of the Gentiles and of the Jews, may be held under the peaceful shepherd. But in order that these things which are perverse may be destroyed, each one shall rise up against his brother with the sword (which I take to be the word of teaching, most sharp and cutting away all perverse things), cutting off everything contrary. But the end of all these things is the best. For after the destruction of thrones, and of the strongholds of those who reign, and of chariots, and of horses, and of horsemen, in that day, says the Lord Almighty: "I will take you, Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, my servant." But he is called servant because of the human body, since then even the Son himself will be subjected to him who subjected all things to himself, and in all things subjected he himself will be seen to be subject. But when this has been fulfilled, God will place him as a seal upon his hand: for God the Father has sealed him (John 6:27); and this is the image of the invisible God, and the form of his substance, so that whoever believes in God may be sealed with him, as it were, with a ring.

I beg you, reader, to pardon me for dictating in hasty speech, and not to demand elegance of style, which I lost through long years of study of the Hebrew language—although Alecto always claims that I have been an infant and mute. To whom I shall say: The Lord will give the word to him who evangelizes, with great power (Ps. 67:12).