Haggai 2:1

“In the seventh [month], etc.] The month Tisri, which answers to part of September and part of October: in the one and twentieth [day] of the month; being a month, wanting three days, from the time the Jews came and worked in the house of the Lord, (<370114>Haggai 1:14,15) it was toward the close of the feast of tabernacles: (see <032334>Leviticus 23:34): came the word of the Lord by the Prophet Haggai; the word of prophecy, as the Targum: this was from the Lord, not from the prophet himself; he was only the messenger sent with it to deliver it: saying; to him the prophet, giving him orders as follow:”

“SECOND PROPHECY. The people, discouraged at the inferiority of this temple to Solomon's, are encouraged nevertheless to persevere, because God is with them, and this house by its connection with Messiah's kingdom shall have a glory far above that of gold and silver. (Hag 2:1-9) seventh month--of the Hebrew year; in the second year of Darius reign (Hag 1:1); not quite a month after they had begun the work (Hag 1:15). This prophecy was very shortly before that of Zechariah.”

“In the seventh month, in the one and twentieth day of the month - This was the seventh day of the feast of tabernacles, Leviticus 23:34, Leviticus 23:36, Leviticus 23:40-42. and its close. The eighth day was to be a sabbath, with its “holy convocation,” but the commemorative feast, the dwelling in booths, in memory of God’s bringing them out of Egypt, was to last seven days. The close then of this feast could not but revive their sadness at the glories of their first deliverance by God’s “mighly hand and outstretched arm,” and their present fewness and poverty. This depression could not but bring with it heavy thoughts about the work, in which they were, in obedience to God, engaged; and…”

“2:1-9 Haggai’s second message assures the community that God has not forgotten his promises, made by earlier prophets, to bless and restore them (e.g., Isa 35; 40:1-11; 52:1-12; Jer 32:36-44; 33:6-26). 2:1 on October 17 of that same year: This was the last day of the Festival of Tabernacles, the celebration of the summer harvest (see Lev 23:34-43). Hundreds of years earlier, Solomon’s Temple had been dedicated during this festival (1 Kgs 8:2). Haggai’s message was timed to offer the people hope and encouragement in their present distress and discouragement.”

“the seventh: Hag 2:10, Hag 2:20, Hag 1:15 the prophet: Heb. the hand of the prophet, etc. Hag 1:1; Pe2 1:21 Haggai 2:2”

“Glory of the New Temple- Hag 2:1 and Hag 2:2. "In the seventh month, on the twenty-first day of the month, the word of the Lord came through Haggai," viz., to Zerubbabel, Joshua, and the remnant of the nation, that is to say, to the whole of the congregation that had returned from exile; whereas the first appeal was only addressed to Zerubbabel and Joshua (see the introduction to Hag 1:1), although it also applied to the whole nation. Just as in the second year of the return from Babylon, when the foundation for the temple, which was about to be rebuilt, was laid in the reign of Cyrus, many old men, who had seen the temple of Solomon, burst out into loud weeping when they saw the new…”