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TRHCK THROUGH THE BIBLE
By G. CAMPBELL MORGAN, Westminster Chapel, London, England.
Appearing Ebery Week During 1907. (Copyright American Serial Hights Supplied Tor by Utt Golden Sige Publishing Co. AU Hights Heserbed.l
HAGGAI THE DUTY OF COURAGE.
A. First Prophecy. 1. 1-11 B. Second Prophecy, li. 1-9 C. Third Prophecy, ii. 10-19 D ’ Pourtll Prophecy.
ii. 20-23
Introductory. 1 Introductory. li. 1, 2 Introductory. 10 Introductory. 20, 21a
I. The Reason. 2 I. The Reason. 3 I. The Message. 11-19 |. The Reason.
Neglect of the Lord s The Old Men. 1. Appeal to Priests and Ratification of Promise.
House. Disappointment. principles deduced. “I will bless ”
The Time not come. 11-13
I
11. The Message. 3-11 11. The Message. 4-9 11. Application of Prin- n. The Message. 21b-23
i. Their own Houses. T. The Call. 4a cipies. 14-19 i. The Shaking of false
3,4 ii. The Immediate Prom-11. The Reason. 19a Authority. 21b 22
li. “Consider your ise. 4b, 5 The Delay of Blessing, h. The Establishment of
ways.” 5-7 iii. The Larger Promise. Disappointment. true Authority. 23
ill. The Reason of Fail- 6-9
ure. 8-11
Historic Interlude. 12-15 See Zechariah. 1. 1-6 111. The Promise. 19b
i. Obedience. 12
ii. Encouragement 13
iii. Enthusiasm. 14, 15
• *
THE PROPHECY OF HAGGAI.
O
F Haggai’s personal history nothing is
known, but the dating of his prophecy
is very exact. It is noticeable that for
the first time a Gentile date is given.
Darius reigned during the vear 521-
486 8.C., so that Haggai’s four mes
sages fell within four months in the
years 520-519 B.C. For the under
standing of the con<b' L '~ in which he
exercised his prophetic ministry,' Jie' book of Ezra
must bo studied; a tabulation of the leading events
in connection with the return from Babylon will
help ns thus to place his prophecy:
B.C. 536. —Return from Babylon under Zerubbabel
(Ezra iii. 1-4). Altar built. Sacrifices of
fered. Fast of Tabernacles.
B.C. 535.—Foundations of the temple laid. Op
position of Samaritans, and cessation of
building.
B.C. 520-519.—Prophesying of Haggai and Zech
ariah. The people recommenced building.
B.C. 515. —The Temple completed.
Thus it will be seen th‘at the work of rebuilding
the temple had ceased, and, in order to stir up the
leaders and people to their duty in this matter, these
messages were uttered.
The book is naturally divided by the four mes
sages the prophet delivered. The First Prophecy,
i. 1-11; the Second Prophecy, ii. 1-9; the Third
Prophecy, ii. 10-19; the Fourth Prophecy, ii. 20-23.
A. THE FIRST PROPHECY.
The prophet Haggai delivered his first message
on the first day of the sixth month of the second
year in the reign of Darius, and it was especially
addressed to those in authority. The people were
excusing themselves from building by declaring that
the time had not come. To this the prophet replied
by reminding them that they were dwelling in their
own ceiled houses while the House of God was ly
ing waste. He called them to consider their ways,
reminding them of the long continued material fail
ure in the midst of which they had lived. He then
urged them to build the House of God, declaring
that all the failure to which he had already referred
was of the nature of Divine punishment for their
neglect of His House. There was an immediate re
sponse to the appeal of Haggai—first on the part of
the governor and priest, and then by the people.
This response was followed first by a word of en
couragement, in which the prophet declared that
Jehovah was with them, and, secondly, by new en
thusiasm on the part of the people.
B. SECOND PROPHECY.
About seven weeks later, on the twenty-first day
of the seventh month of the same year of the reign
of Darius, Haggai delivered his second message.
This was addressed to Zerubbabel, the governor;
Joshua, the priest, and all the people. A compari
son of Ezra iii. 13 with this message will show how
The Golden. Age for October 31, 1907.
certain of the old men who remembered the former
house lamented the comparative inferiority of this.
Such memory tended to dishearten the people, and
the prophet appealed to them to be strong and
to work, promising in -the name of Jehovah, his im
mediate presence and help. Upon the basis of this
promise he then rose to the height of a more gra
cious one. The central phrase of this larger prom
ise is difficult of interpretation, 1 ‘the desire (sing
ular) . . . shall come (plural).” Perhaps the
simplest explanation is to be found in the use made
of the connected words in the letter to the Hebrews
(xii. 25-29). It is evident that in this promise there
is a revelation of an older of Divine procedure
which is manifested in the method of both the first
and second advents of the Messiah. That order
may thus be briefly summarized: “I will shake”;
“the desire shall come”: “peace.” Thus the dis
heartened, on account of lesser material glory, were
called to look for the spiritual glory which would
be the crowning splendor of the new.
(After this prophecy, Zechariah delivered a mes
sage. i. 1-6.)
C. THIRD PROPHECY. . *
About two months later, on the twenty-fourth day
of the ninth month of the same year, in the reign
of Darius, Haggai delivered his third message. In
this the people are addressed through a colloquy with
the priests. The content of this prophecy shows
that after three months of hard building there were
still no signs of material rewards, and the people
were again disheartened in consequence thereof. As
a result of his questioning of the priests and their
answers, Haggai taught the people that their pres
ent obedience could not immediately result in ma
terial prosperity because of their past sin. Yet
the final word of this third message is a promise
of blessing: “From this day will I bless you.”
D. FOURTH PROPHECY.
The last message of Haggai was delivered on the
same day as the third, and was an enforcement and
explanation of the final promise: “I will bless you.”
It consisted, first, of a repetition of the declaration
of Jehovah’s determination to shake, carried out in
greater detail in order to reveal the fact that he
would destroy all false authority and power, and,
finally, in the promise of the establishment of true
authority.
A news item from New York brings information
that) Mark Klaw is ridiculing the present Sunday
law putting restrictions on theaters. It seems that
the law does not require the theaters to close up on
Sunday, but forbids costumes, scenery and other
spectacular adjuncts. Mr. Klaw is right. A police
regulation that is designed to compel people to
rest from regular labor one day in seven deserves
to be laughed at when it openly provides for the
very thing that it ought to prevent, namely, work
ing.
The Moneyless Man.
By Henry T. Stanton.
Is there no secret place on the face of the earth
Where charity dwelleth, where virtue has birth?
Where bosoms in mercy and kindness will heave,
Where the poor and the wretched shall ask and re
ceive ?
Is there no place at) all, where a knock from the
poor,
Will bring a kind angel to open the door?
Ah, search the wide world wherever you can,
There is no open door for the Moneyless Man!
Go, look in yon hall where the chandelier’s light
Drives off with its splendor the darkness of night,
Where the rich-hanging velvet in shadowy fold
Sweeps gracefully down with its trimmings of gold,
And the mirrors of silver take up, and renew,
In long lighted vistas, the ’wildering view;
Go there; at the banquet, and find, if you can,
A welcoming smile for a Moneyless Man!
Go, look in yon church of the cloud-reaching spire
Which gives to the sun his same look of red Are,
Where the arches and columns are gorgeous within,
And the walls seem as pure as a soul without sin;
Walk down the long aisles, see the rich and the great
In the pomp and the pride of their worldly estate;
Walk down in your patches, and find, if you can,
Who opens the pew to a Moneyless Man!
Go, look in the banks, w’here Mammon has told
His hundreds and thousands of silver and gold;
Where, safe from the hands of the starving and
poor,
Lies pile upon pile of the glittering ore!
Walk up to their counters —ah, there you may stay,
’Til your limbs grow old, ’til your hairs grow gray,
And you’ll find at the banks not one of the clan
With money to lend to a Moneyless Man!
Go, look to yon judge, in his dark-flowing gown,
With the scales wherein law weigheth equity down.
Where he frowns on the weak and smiles on the
strong,
And punishes right whilst he justifies wrong;
Where juries their lips to the Bible have laid,
To render a verdict—they’ve already made;
Go, there, in the court-room, and find, if you can,
Any law for the cause of a Moneyless Man!
Then go to your hovel—no raven has fed
The wife who has suffered too long for her bread,
Kneel down by her pallet, and kiss the death-frost
From the lips of the angel your poverty lost;
Then turn in your agony upward to God
And bless, while it smites you, the chastening rod,
And you’ll find, at the end of your life’s little span,
There’s a welcome above for a Moneyless Man.
Easy on Them.
A Chicago lawyer tells about a case that was tried
in a backwoods court. One of the lawyers retained
was an Eastern man, new to the country.
“Does your Honor wish to charge the jury?”
asked the legal light, when all evidence was in.
“No, I guess not,” replied the judge. “I never
charge ’em anything. These fellows don’t know
much, anyway, an’ I let ’em have all they can
make. ’ ’ —Harper’s Weekly.
n *
A Dark Outlook for Miss Simpkins.
At an evening prayer-meeting in a Maine village
the senior deacon, Dominicus Jordan, arose to make
appropriate scriptural remarks about the death of
the late Miss Simpkins. Tn conclusion the deacon
said: “I respected Miss Simpkins, the members of
this church respected Miss Simpkins, the citizens
of this town respected Miss Simpkins; but now she’s
dead and gone to the Loid, and the Scripture saith,
‘The Lord is no respecter of persons.’ ’’—The
Circle,