defiles a vessel of water; but many drops of pure water cannot purify a vessel of filth”—(Moore). Legal sanctity is not so readily communicated as legal impurity.

So is this people," v. 14.-This people, not my people -See ch. i. 2. He applies here the two cases proposed in the question to the priests. According to the first (v. 12), as holy flesh does not make the bearer of it holy, so the holy offerings presented by "this people" do not make themselves holy. According to the second, as an unclean person defiles whatever he touches, so do this people," unclean through dead works, defile all they touch, imparting their uncleanness to others. The Prophet's object in proposing these questions is to show that while the people were disobedient to God's command to rebuild His temple-that is, practically unclean through dead worksno offerings made by them could be regarded as clean, i.e., accepted.

Before me," v. 14.—In my sight. See Jer. vii. 10; and

XV. 1.

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Every work of their hands," v. 14.-As long as they were disobedient, their offerings were not accepted. They had now begun to build the Lord's house, i.e., they had become obedient. The Prophet is guarding them against falling back into their former disobedience.

"Offer there," v. 14.-That is, on the altar. He may have been addressing the people in view of the altar.

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Consider," v. 15.-Lay it to heart; ponder it carefully, viz., the miseries resulting from the famine, &c. See on v. 16, 17.

"From this day and upward," v. 15.-That is, towards the past. Consider the past "from before a stone was laid upon a stone in the temple of the Lord." Haggai gives here two dates, the resumption of the work as marked in these words, and the actual present. "He would say then that even in these last months, since they had begun the work, there were as yet no signs for the better." "Yet though there were no signs of change, no earnest that the promise should be fulfilled, God pledges his word, 'from this day will I bless you."-Pusey on Minor Prophets.

"An heap of twenty measures," v. 16.-Which usually would yield 20_measures. The precise measure is not mentioned, the Prophet's object being to define the proportion, here only one-half,

Fifty vessels," v. 16.-Vessels or poorahs. This was the quantity ordinarily drawn out at one time from the press. From the original meaning, winepress" (Isai. Ixiii. 3), the word poorah came to mean the measure in which the wine was drawn out of the press. - Brown and Fausset. Here the proportion is not so large as in the former case, only two-fifths of the wine being recovered, so little did the grapes yield.

"I smote you with blasting," v. 17.-Two diseases of corn which Moses had foretold as chastisements on disobedience; Deut. xxviii. 27. Haggai quotes the very words of AMOS, ch. iv. 9, and thus seals that prophet's canonicity and inspiration. See ch. i. 3, 7, 13; ch. ii. 1, 4, 9, 10.

"Blasting and mildew," v. 17.-"Blasting" results from excessive drought, "mildew" from excessive moisture. "And with hail," v. 17.- Haggai adds to the words of Amos "and with hail," as destructive of the vines Psa. lxxviii. 47.

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From this day and upward," v. 18.-The expression here used is precisely the same as that in v. 15. It must still be explained to mean, Consider the past; but not now, as in v. 15, for the mere purpose of dwelling on the miseries which they had endured because of disobedience, but rather that they might contrast the past with a brighter future, in consequence of their present obedience, and the Lord's blessing on it.

From the four and twentieth day," v. 18.-In this verse the 24th day of the ninth month was that on which "the foundation of the Lord's temple was laid;" whereas in ch. i. 15, it seems to be the 24th day of the 6th month. The first foundation of the temple had been laid long before, after the altar had been set up (Ezra iii. 1-8), in the second year of Cyrus, B.C. 535, the year after their return from Babylon. The work was then interrupted for 18 years. It was again resumed on the 24th day of the sixth month (September)-see ch. i. 15; the work at that time consisting chiefly in collecting wood and other materials for the building. On the 24th day of the ninth month, in the same year, viz., the second year of Darius, B.C. 520, the building was actually begun.

Is the seed yet in the barn?" v. 19.-" Seed" here means what the sowing_yields-the crop of corn--Lev. xxvii. 30; Isai. xxiii. 3; Job xxxix. 12. The Prophet here

reminds them that as yet there is no appearance of a change. They have not as yet the evidence which a good harvest gathered into the barn-or the blossoming and budding of the trees-would afford; and yet, although there are not as yet any symptom of the coming change, God pledges himself to bless them, even "from this day.

"From this day will I bless you," v. 19.—There is here a promise, and a prophecy. The prophecy, if fulfilled, as it certainly was, affords a powerful proof of the inspiration of Haggai; for, if not fulfilled, should not the Jews have noticed the failure? and if from this day the Lord had not blessed them, should not Haggai have been denounced as a false prophet?-Deut. xviii. 22. But he was not so denounced by the Jews, therefore the prediction here given was fulfilled.

FOURTH PROPHECY.

"In the four and twentieth day," v. 20.-The same day as that on which the former (third) prediction was given

see v. 10. It may have been given in reply to a question asked by the Prophet respecting the safety of the Jewish people amid the convulsions foretold-v. 7. “I will shake all nations."

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To Zerubbabel," v. 21.-He was the civil leader. Hence the reply to the Prophet's enquiry was addressed to him, rather than to Joshua the High Priest, as it respected the safety of the nation. In this case he must be regarded as a type of the MESSIAH the true Prophet, Priest, and King.

I will shake the heavens," v. 21.-The Prophet resumes here the former prediction given to Zerubbabel and Joshua (v. 6-9), which ended with the coming of Christ. It would follow, therefore, that this prediction also was given, not to Zerubbabel personally, but as a type of the Messiah, and for the Church. There was in the time of Zerubbabel no shaking of nations (the earth was then at rest)-see Zech. i. 11. The first fulfilment seems to be referred to-Matt. xxiv. 7, 29.

"The throne of kingdoms," v. 22.-Of the world-kingdoms referred to in Dan. ii. 44, all were to be broken by the stone cut out without hand-i.e., by the kingdom of Christ. Dr. Pusey gives as parallel predictions: Ezek. Xxxviii. 21; Zech. xiv. 17.

"The chariots," v. 22.-The war chariots. In Messiah's days war is to give place to peace-Mic. v. 10; Zech. ix. 10. "Will I take thee," v. 23.--Zerubbabel was descended from Jehoiachin. Dr. Pusey says, We have here a reversal of the sentence against him-Jer. xxii. 24.

"As a signet," v. 23.-The signet was a ring with a seal on it. It might be regarded as the legal representative of its owner "-Brown and Fausset. The signet, made generally of precious stones and gold, was much valued, and being worn on the hand, was always under its owner's eyes. Hence the words of Cant. viii. 6: Set me as a seal upon thy heart, as a seal upon thy arm." See also Gen. xli. 42; Esther iii. 10; viii. 2. And regarding Zerubbabel as a type of Christ, compare John i. 18; vi. 27; Heb. i. 3.

"The Lord of hosts," v. 23.-Lit., Jehovah Tzebaoth. This title is used by the Prophet in these two chapters not less than fourteen times. It occurs also very frequently in Zechariah's and Malachi's predictions. It is found first in the Prayer of Hannah (1 Sam. i. 3), consequently does not occur in any of the earlier books. By hosts, some understand the heavenly bodies; others, angels. It most probably includes both; although in some passages, as Josh. v. 14, and Gen. xxxii., angels seem to be intended.

APPENDIX (A).

THE PERSONAL HISTORY OF HAGGAI.

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The name HAGGAI is by some derived from hag, a feast. The name would thus mean my feast," and was supposed to have been given in anticipation of a joyous return from exile in Babylon. Others take it to be an abbreviated form of Haggiah (=festival of Jehovah). The former view is sustained by such forms as Haggi the son of God-Gen. xlvi. 16; Numb xxvi. 15-the latter by the name Haggiah-1 Chron. vi. 30. Sp. Com.

Some suppose that Haggai was one of the exiles who returned under Zerubbabel and Jeshua, B.C. 536, when Cyrus, influenced apparently by the striking prophecies referring to himself (Isai. xliv. 28; xlv. 1), gave permission to the Jews to return to Jerusalem, and also facilities to rebuild their Temple. If he was one of those, as some writers think, who had seen the first Temple before its desecration by Nebuzaradan, B.O. 588, he must have been an old man when the Spirit of God stirred him up to prophesy to the Jews, and awake them to their neglect of the house of the Lord.

Others, however, say that he was born in Babylon, was a young man when he came to Jerusalem, and was buried with honour near the sepulchre of the priests.-Smith's Dictionary of the Bible.

Of his birth and parentage nothing is known, nor is it stated when or where he died.

Haggai is said to have written not only the Book (containing four predictions) which bears his name. but also some portions of the book of Ezra and some of the Psalms.

In the Greek translation of the Old Testament known as the lxx., made in Egypt in the reign of Ptolemy Philadelphus. B.C. 284, Psalms cxxxviii. and cxlvi. to cxlviii. are attributed to Haggai and Zechariah. In the Latin translation made by Jerome in the fourth century after Christ, known as the Vulgate, Psalms cxi. and cxv. are also ascribed to them; while the Syriac version (the Peshito) adds to the foregoing Psalms CXXV. and cxxvi.

The style of Haggai "is consonant with his messages. He is pathetic in exhortation, vehement in reproof. and elevated in contemplating a glorious future. The repetition of the same phrases (Saith the Lord, the Lord of hosts,' ch. i. 2, 5, 7; and