Who among you remains from the time of the exile and the destruction—who saw the First Temple—and now sees that the glory of this House is as nothing compared with that of the first?

(4–5) And now, be strong, Zerubbabel—From this you should understand that you must strengthen yourselves in the service of Hashem. The structure of the verse is: Be strong, and fulfill the word of the covenant that I made with you when you departed from Egypt. The words “for I am with you” form a parenthetical statement. That is, strengthen yourselves and fulfill the words of the Torah and its commandments, concerning which He made a covenant with them when they departed from Egypt, as it is written, “He took the Book of the Covenant and read it in the hearing of the people.” Then the glory of this House would become greater than that of the First Temple. He explained this by saying, For I am with you, and My Spirit remains in your midst. Even now, I am with you just as I was with you at the time of the Exodus from Egypt—on condition that you observe the words of the Torah as you did then. My Spirit remains in your midst even now. Although the Spirit has not been awakened to perform miracles and wonders openly, and the Spirit does not move actively among you, it nevertheless remains present potentially, ready to act.

For thus says Hashem of Hosts: Yet once more, it is a little while—The proper arrangement of the verse is: It is little; yet once more. My Spirit, which remains in your midst, is presently “little” and lacks the power to accomplish great deeds or produce a mighty upheaval. Therefore, there must be yet once more—that is, one additional spirit, an increase of the Spirit, brought about when the people clothe themselves with a spirit of wisdom and understanding, a spirit of knowledge and fear of Hashem. Through this, the Spirit will be increased and will become a great spirit and a mighty upheaval, with which He will shake the heavens and the earth. The meaning of this metaphor is that “My Spirit, which remains in your midst” is the spirit of prophecy that had now returned to the nation, so that the final prophets arose from among them and prophesied through the Spirit of Hashem. Yet it was only “little,” because the generation was not sufficiently worthy for prophecy and Divine inspiration to endure. It therefore required one additional spirit—the spirit arising from good deeds—to accompany it. He would then shake the heavens, meaning all the orders of nature, by producing signs and wonders in heaven and on earth, in the sea and on dry land.

And I will shake all the nations—Then the signs that must precede the true redemption will come: all the nations will be shaken and will gather for the war of Gog and Magog. Afterward, the treasures of all the nations will come as an offering to Hashem, and I will fill this House with glory. For it will then become the long-awaited final Temple, established at the summit of the mountains, toward which all the nations will stream.

The silver is Mine—At that time, everyone will recognize that the silver belongs to Me and that everything is Mine, and they will bring it to Jerusalem, to its Owner, Hashem of all. Then—

The glory of this latter House will be greater than that of the first—For it will be the final Temple, which will never again be destroyed, and in this place I will grant peace. There will be no baseless hatred among you, which was, in truth, the cause of the destruction of the Second Temple. Accordingly, this entire declaration is conditional: if one additional spirit comes—that is, if they fulfill the covenant that He made with them when they departed from Egypt—then this will become the final Temple, after which there will be no other, and its glory will be greater than that of the First Temple. But because the condition was not fulfilled—for they did not keep the covenant, and there was no peace in that place, as lawless men, rival factions, and baseless hatred multiplied—the promise was not fulfilled at that time. It remains deferred until the final Temple is built at the ultimate End, when these promises will be fulfilled. See also the explanation of the words.

Ask the priests concerning the law—He commanded that a question of Torah law be posed to them, through which He would demonstrate that they had not yet purified and sanctified themselves sufficiently for the great, anticipated Divine manifestation to rest upon them—the manifestation destined to rest upon the Temple and the nation at the End of Days.

If a man carries consecrated meat in the fold of his garment—This means actual sacred meat that had been consecrated to God: the flesh of the offerings. And with the meat contained in the fold he touches bread or stew, and so forth, will it become sacred? That is, does the object that touched the sacred meat acquire sanctity and become sacred like it? And the priests answered and said, “No.” For the verse, “Whatever touches its flesh shall become sacred,” means that whatever absorbs some of the flesh of the sin offering becomes sacred because the meat imparts its flavor to it, and flavor is regarded as the substance itself, as our Sages explained. It does not refer to something that merely touches the outside of the meat.

And Haggai said, “If one who is impure through contact with a dead body touches it”—This refers to a person rendered impure through contact with the dead.

Any of these—He asked whether it would contract impurity. To this they answered correctly, in accordance with the law, that it would become impure.

Then Haggai answered and said—On the basis of this question and answer, he delivered a threefold moral rebuke: First, so is this people—referring to the priests—and so is this nation—referring to the nation as a whole. They resemble the principle illustrated by the answer to the question: if they approach and touch something sacred, its sanctity will not attach itself to them; but as soon as they approach impurity, it will attach itself to them immediately, and they will become impure like the impurity they approached and with which they associated. Second, and so is every work of their hands. In the example, if something ordinary touches sacred meat, it does not thereby become sacred like it; it becomes sacred only if it absorbs some of the meat, so that the sacred substance enters within it, not if it merely touches it externally. Similarly, sanctity does not attach itself to a person unless it is absorbed into him and enters his inner being—that is, unless he embraces it within his heart and innermost soul. Mere external contact is insufficient, for the external body has no affinity with sanctity, which is a spiritual quality. Impurity, however, can attach itself through mere external contact with the body, because impurity has an affinity with the physical body. And so is every work of their hands: because they act only with their external hands, and their deeds do not proceed from their hearts and souls, their work is therefore impure. They attach themselves to impurity, not to sanctity. Third, and whatever they offer there is impure. Since they do not offer before Hashem in sanctity, as an offering of the soul accompanied by the proper intention, but merely offer there—the word “there” indicating a distant, physical place, where they offer an animal sacrifice upon stones—the offering is consequently impure. The impurity of their bodies and their earthliness attaches itself to their sacrifice. Through this, he showed them that they had not yet sanctified themselves sufficiently to attach themselves to holiness and to build a spiritual Temple and altar within their hearts and souls, upon which they might offer their own souls as a burnt offering to Hashem.

And now, please take it to heart—Besides asking them to set their hearts upon and contemplate how Hashem would deal with them from that day forward—now that they had begun building the Temple, His conduct toward them would change to blessing and goodness—he also alluded to the need for them to place their hearts within the Temple of Hashem. They were to strive to ensure that their hearts were present within the Temple; that is, the construction and the Temple service were not to be merely bodily actions, but deeds of the heart and soul. Before you place one stone upon another to establish the building, place your hearts within the Temple of Hashem, for a structure of stones without the heart will possess no sanctity. Sanctity does not attach itself to external actions, which resemble something merely touching a sacred object from the outside, as explained above.

From the time when—He brings evidence from what they had witnessed until then: when someone came to a heap expecting to find twenty measures, he found only ten, because a curse rested upon it. Likewise—

I struck you with blight, mildew, and hail—Why did this happen? He explains: I struck every work of your hands, yet you were not with Me. Only the work of your hands was directed toward Me, while you yourselves were not present within the deed. That is, your actions were merely external—works of the hands—while you yourselves were not with Me. You performed deeds without intention: a body without a soul, a Temple of stones without hearts. Therefore, I struck you and sent a curse upon the work of your hands.

Please take it to heart from this day onward; take it to heart—That is, pay attention and carefully consider what will occur from this day forward. From the day on which the Temple was founded, your deeds must no longer consist solely of outward actions; rather, place your hearts within them, so that the building will be undertaken with the intention of the heart. Then you will see—

Is it still so?—That is, will matters continue as they have until now, when the seed—which is presently in the storehouse, ready for sowing—did not bear its fruit, just as it had previously failed to bear fruit? This applied not only to the seed of the ground, but extended from the earth’s produce to the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree, for even the trees did not bear their fruit. Now observe whether this condition will continue. From now on, it will not, for from this day I will bless you, and they will all bear their fruit.

And the word of Hashem came a second time—On the twenty-fourth day of the month, prophecy came to him twice in a single day.

Speak to Zerubbabel—The sprouting of the Branch of the house of David depends upon the arrival of the true redemption, which must be preceded by the war of Gog and Magog. During the period of the Second Temple, no king from the house of Judah reigned, and Zerubbabel was called the governor of Judah, not its king. The prophet perceived that the time of restoration had not yet arrived, because that generation had not merited it through its deeds. He therefore informed Zerubbabel that, nevertheless, the word of Hashem would not return unfulfilled, but would surely come to pass at some future time: if they merit it, God will hasten it; if they do not merit it, it will come at its appointed time. Then, I will shake the heavens and the earth, as stated above (verse 6): “Yet once more, in a little while, and I will shake them.” He then explained to him what this shaking would be—namely—

And I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms—Through this, I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the nations—meaning their fortified cities and their armies. He explains that this will occur through each man’s sword being turned against his brother during the war of Gog and Magog, as it is written, (Ezekiel 38:21) “Every man’s sword will be against his brother.”

On that day—Then the Branch of the house of David will sprout, and I will take you—meaning either the descendant who will arise from Zerubbabel, or Zerubbabel himself, who will rise at the resurrection—and I will make you like a signet ring. He will represent the ultimate purpose and consummation of creation, and, like the signet of the Holy One, blessed be He, he will be true and endure forever. For I have chosen you—by virtue of the Divine choice of David His servant and of his descendants.