Haggai 1:4

“[Is it] time for you, O ye, to dwell in your panelled houses, etc.] They could not only find time, leisure, and convenience to build houses to dwell in; but to wainscot them, and line them with boards of cedar, as the Targum; as bad as the times were complained of; and could sit in them, indulging themselves in luxury, ease, and sloth; and why then was it not a fit and convenient time as well to build the house of the Lord in? and this house [lie] waste? or, “and shall this house lie waste?” or, “when this house lies waste?”f14 not indeed in its rubbish and ruins, as it was demolished by the Chaldeans, and left; but with a bare foundation, laid some years ago; and ever since neglected; the…”

“Is it time--It is not time (Hag 1:2), ye say, to build Jehovah's house; yet how is it that ye make it a fit time not only to build, but to "dwell" at ease in your own houses? you, O ye--rather, for "you, you"; the repetition marking the shameful contrast between their concern for themselves, and their unconcern for God [MAURER]. Compare a similar repetition in Sa1 25:24; Zac 7:5. ceiled--rather, "wainscoted," or "paneled," referring to the walls as well as the ceilings; furnished not only with comfort but luxury, in sad contrast to God's house not merely unadorned, but the very walls not raised above the foundations. How different David's feelings (Sa2 7:2)!”

“Is it time for you - You, being what you are, the creatures of God, “to dwell in your ceiled houses,” more emphatically, in your houses, and those “ceiled,” probably with costly woods, such as cedar . But where then was the excuse of want of means? They imitated, in their alleged poverty, what is spoken of as magnificent in their old kings, Solomon and Shallum, but not having, as Solomon first did (1 Kings 6:9, ויספן), “covered the house of God with beams and rows of cedar” . “Will ye dwell in houses artificially adorned, not so much for use as for delight, and shall My dwelling-place, wherein was the Holy of holies, and the cherubim, and the table of showbread, be bestreamed with rains,…”

“Ceiled - Arched and richly adorned. Haggai 1:6”

“1:4 Why are you? Rhetorical questions in prophetic literature call for agreement rather than a reply (see 2:3). The purpose of this question is to remove the listeners’ opportunity to offer excuses in response to the message. • The luxurious (or covered, paneled) houses of the people contrasted with God’s Temple, which was in ruins (or desolate) and thus unusable.”

“to: Sa2 7:2; Psa 132:3-5; Mat 6:33; Phi 2:21 and: Psa 74:7, Psa 102:14; Jer 26:6, Jer 26:18, Jer 52:13; Lam 2:7, Lam 4:1; Eze 24:21; Dan 9:17, Dan 9:18, Dan 9:26, Dan 9:27; Mic 3:12; Mat 24:1, Mat 24:2 Haggai 1:5”