I struck you with blight, mildew, and hail in all the work of your hands; yet you didn’t turn to me,’ says Yahweh.
Parallel Translations
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I struck you with blight, mildew, and hail in all the work of your hands; yet you didn’t turn to me,’ says Yahweh.
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I smote you with blasting and with mildew and with hail in all the labours of your hands; yet ye turned not to me, saith the LORD.
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I smote you with blasting and with mildew and with hail in all the work of your hands; yet ye turned not to Me, saith the LORD —
Cross-references (28)
Passages linked to Haggai 2:17 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Deuteronomy 28:22 Yahweh will strike you with consumption, with fever, with inflammation, with fiery heat, with the sword, with blight, and with mildew. They will pursue you until you perish.
- Haggai 1:9 “You looked for much, and, behold, it came to little; and when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why?” says Yahweh of Armies, “Because of my house that lies waste, while each of you is busy with his own house.
- Haggai 1:11 I called for a drought on the land, on the mountains, on the grain, on the new wine, on the oil, on that which the ground produces, on men, on livestock, and on all the labor of the hands.”
- 1 Kings 8:37 “If there is famine in the land, if there is pestilence, if there is blight, mildew, locust or caterpillar; if their enemy besieges them in the land of their cities; whatever plague, whatever sickness there is;
- Amos 4:8-11 So two or three cities staggered to one city to drink water, and were not satisfied: yet you haven’t returned to me,” says Yahweh. “I struck you with blight and mildew many times in your gardens and your vineyards; and the swarming locusts have devoured your fig trees and your olive trees; yet you haven’t returned to me,” says Yahweh. “I sent plagues among you like I did Egypt. I have slain your young men with the sword, and have carried away your horses; and I filled your nostrils with the stench of your camp, yet you haven’t returned to me,” says Yahweh. “I have overthrown some of you, as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were like a burning stick plucked out of the fire; yet you haven’t returned to me,” says Yahweh.
- Jeremiah 5:3 O Yahweh, don’t your eyes look on truth? You have stricken them, but they were not grieved. You have consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction. They have made their faces harder than a rock. They have refused to return.
- Genesis 42:6 Joseph was the governor over the land. It was he who sold to all the people of the land. Joseph’s brothers came, and bowed themselves down to him with their faces to the earth.
- Genesis 42:23 They didn’t know that Joseph understood them; for there was an interpreter between them.
- Genesis 42:27 As one of them opened his sack to give his donkey food in the lodging place, he saw his money. Behold, it was in the mouth of his sack.
- Exodus 9:18-29 Behold, tomorrow about this time I will cause it to rain a very grievous hail, such as has not been in Egypt since the day it was founded even until now. Now therefore command that all of your livestock and all that you have in the field be brought into shelter. The hail will come down on every man and animal that is found in the field, and isn’t brought home, and they will die.” ’ ” Those who feared Yahweh’s word among the servants of Pharaoh made their servants and their livestock flee into the houses. Whoever didn’t respect Yahweh’s word left his servants and his livestock in the field. Yahweh said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward the sky, that there may be hail in all the land of Egypt, on man, and on animal, and on every herb of the field, throughout the land of Egypt.” Moses stretched out his rod toward the heavens, and Yahweh sent thunder and hail; and lightning flashed down to the earth. Yahweh rained hail on the land of Egypt. So there was very severe hail, and lightning mixed with the hail, such as had not been in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation. The hail struck throughout all the land of Egypt all that was in the field, both man and animal; and the hail struck every herb of the field, and broke every tree of the field. Only in the land of Goshen, where the children of Israel were, there was no hail. Pharaoh sent and called for Moses and Aaron, and said to them, “I have sinned this time. Yahweh is righteous, and I and my people are wicked. Pray to Yahweh; for there has been enough of mighty thunderings and hail. I will let you go, and you shall stay no longer.” Moses said to him, “As soon as I have gone out of the city, I will spread out my hands to Yahweh. The thunders shall cease, and there will not be any more hail; that you may know that the earth is Yahweh’s.
- 2 Chronicles 6:28 “If there is famine in the land, if there is pestilence, if there is blight or mildew, locust or caterpillar; if their enemies besiege them in the land of their cities; whatever plague or whatever sickness there is;
- 2 Chronicles 28:22 In the time of his distress, he trespassed yet more against Yahweh, this same king Ahaz.
- Job 36:13 “But those who are godless in heart lay up anger. They don’t cry for help when he binds them.
- Psalms 78:46 He gave also their increase to the caterpillar, and their labor to the locust.
- Isaiah 9:13 Yet the people have not turned to him who struck them, neither have they sought Yahweh of Armies.
- Isaiah 37:27 Therefore their inhabitants had little power. They were dismayed and confounded. They were like the grass of the field, and like the green herb, like the grass on the housetops, and like a field before its crop has grown.
- Isaiah 42:25 Therefore he poured the fierceness of his anger on him, and the strength of battle. It set him on fire all around, but he didn’t know. It burned him, but he didn’t take it to heart.”
- Isaiah 62:8 Yahweh has sworn by his right hand, and by the arm of his strength, “Surely I will no more give your grain to be food for your enemies, and foreigners will not drink your new wine, for which you have labored,
- Jeremiah 3:24 But the shameful thing has devoured the labor of our fathers from our youth, their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.
- Jeremiah 6:16-17 Yahweh says, “Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, ‘Where is the good way?’ and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’ I set watchmen over you, saying, ‘Listen to the sound of the trumpet!’ But they said, ‘We will not listen!’
- Jeremiah 8:4-7 “Moreover you shall tell them, ‘Yahweh says: “ ‘Do men fall, and not rise up again? Does one turn away, and not return? Why then have the people of Jerusalem fallen back by a perpetual backsliding? They cling to deceit. They refuse to return. I listened and heard, but they didn’t say what is right. No one repents of his wickedness, saying, “What have I done?” Everyone turns to his course, as a horse that rushes headlong in the battle. Yes, the stork in the sky knows her appointed times. The turtledove, the swallow, and the crane observe the time of their coming; but my people don’t know Yahweh’s law.
- Hosea 7:9-10 Strangers have devoured his strength, and he doesn’t realize it. Indeed, gray hairs are here and there on him, and he doesn’t realize it. The pride of Israel testifies to his face; yet they haven’t returned to Yahweh their God, nor sought him, for all this.
- Amos 4:6 “I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and lack of bread in every town; yet you haven’t returned to me,” says Yahweh.
- Zechariah 1:2-4 “Yahweh was very displeased with your fathers. Therefore tell them: Yahweh of Armies says: ‘Return to me,’ says Yahweh of Armies, ‘and I will return to you,’ says Yahweh of Armies. Don’t you be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets proclaimed, saying: Yahweh of Armies says, ‘Return now from your evil ways, and from your evil doings;’ but they didn’t hear, nor listen to me, says Yahweh.
- Zechariah 7:9-13 “Thus has Yahweh of Armies spoken, saying, ‘Execute true judgment, and show kindness and compassion every man to his brother. Don’t oppress the widow, nor the fatherless, the foreigner, nor the poor; and let none of you devise evil against his brother in your heart.’ But they refused to listen, and turned their backs, and stopped their ears, that they might not hear. Yes, they made their hearts as hard as flint, lest they might hear the law, and the words which Yahweh of Armies had sent by his Spirit by the former prophets. Therefore great wrath came from Yahweh of Armies. It has come to pass that, as he called, and they refused to listen, so they will call, and I will not listen,” said Yahweh of Armies;
- Revelation 2:21 I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality.
- Revelation 9:20-21 The rest of mankind, who were not killed with these plagues, didn’t repent of the works of their hands, that they wouldn’t worship demons, and the idols of gold, and of silver, and of brass, and of stone, and of wood; which can’t see, hear, or walk. They didn’t repent of their murders, their sorceries, their sexual immorality, or their thefts.
- Isaiah 28:2 Behold, the Lord has a mighty and strong one. Like a storm of hail, a destroying storm, and like a storm of mighty waters overflowing, he will cast them down to the earth with his hand.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (14 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain That is, before the building was begun.
That is, before the building was begun.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Hag 2:17 I smote you with blasting and with…
Hag 2:17 I smote you with blasting and with mildew and with hail in all the labours of your hands; yet ye [turned] not to me, saith the LORD.
Ver. 17. I smote you with blasting and with mildew and with hail] Pugnis pluvi, colaphis grandinavi, I have followed you close with one judgment upon another; and all to bring you back into mine own bosom; that as ye had run from me by your sins, so ye might return to me by repentance; but, behold, I have lost my labour, and ye have lost the fruit of your sufferings, which indeed is a very great loss, were ye but soundly sensible of it, Perdidistis fructum calamitatis (Aug.). These Jews were sensible of their calamities and disasters abroad and at home, but they did not wisely inquire into the cause thereof; as David did into the cause of the famine that fell out in his days, 2Sa 21:1. God had not hitherto "given them a heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear," as it is Deu 29:4. And as Isa 9:13 "The people turneth not unto him that smiteth them, neither do they seek the Lord of hosts." But after their hardness and impenitent heart treasured up wrath, &c., Rom 2:5. They could not but see themselves grievously crossed, and cursed in all the labours of their hands. Neither were they so blind as not to see God in that they suffered. They had learned that out of Psa 78:47-48; Psa 29:3, &c. Cicero indeed thought that God minds not mildew, or hail, &c. Nec si uredo aut grando quippiam nocuit, id Iovi animadvertendum fuit: neque enim in regni reges omnia minima curant, &c. As kings take not notice of smaller businesses in their kingdoms, saith he, so neither doth God of these ordinary occurrences. But the Jews (for the generality) had learned better things. And the apostle tells those heathens too, Act 14:15-17, that God had not left himself without witness among them, in that he did good and gave rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, &c. Cicero himself likewise, another time, could say, Curiosus est et plenus negotii Deus, God taketh care of all, and is full of business. And oh that this truth were as fruitfully improved as it is generally acknowledged! Oh that men would turn at God’s reproof; his real reproofs, his vocal rods, Mic 6:9; and not put him to his old complaint, "Why should ye be smitten any more? Ye revolt more and more," Isa 1:5. This we may wish, but God alone can effect. For till he please to thrust his holy hand into men’s bosoms, and pull off the foreskin of their hearts; afflictions (those hammers of his) do but beat cold iron. See Jer 2:30-31; Jer 6:29-30; Lev 26:41. Plectimur a Deo, nec flectimur tamen: corripimur sed non corrigimur (Salvian.). We are put to pain, but to no profit, Jer 12:13, as Ahaz, that stiff stigmatic, 2Ch 28:23, and Ahaziah, who sent a third captain to surprise the prophet, after two before consumed with fire from heaven, 2Ki 1:13; as if he would despitefully spit in the face of God, and wrestle a fall with the Almighty.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain I smote; my hand was visible in your losses,…
I smote; my hand was visible in your losses, scarcity, and disappointments.
You; the persons put for their labours, their corn, vines, and olives.
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With blasting; burning and scorching winds, that blasted all.
With mildew; with too much clammy moisture, that like glue cleaves to fruits, and turns to a corrupting of them.
With hail; which in these colder countries many times by its violence destroys corn, fruits, and trees, but in those countries doth it oftener. Now here was in these somewhat more of the hand of God, and so the punishment was, as more grievous, so more visible.
All the labours; in your ploughing and sowing for harvest, in planting of olives and vines for a vintage.
You turned not to me; you did not see my hand, though you felt it, you did not repent of your sinful neglect of me, my worship, and temple, nor thought of building my house.
Saith the Lord; this attested with God’s own hand for witness hereto.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Consider now from this day and upward,.... Or forward;…
Consider now from this day and upward,.... Or forward; for time to come, as the Vulgate Latin version:
from the four and twentieth day of the ninth month; before observed, Hag 2:10,
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even from the day that the foundation of the Lord's temple was laid, consider it; not from the time it was first laid after their return upon the proclamation of Cyrus, but from the time they began to clear that foundation, and to build upon it; and which having lain so long neglected, the renewal of it is represented as a fresh laying of it: now the prophet, as he had directed them to consider what adversity and calamities had attended them from the time of their neglect unto this time; so he would have them particularly observe what blessings they would enjoy from henceforward; by which it would appear how pleasing it was to the Lord that they had begun and were going on with the building.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Blessing - Burning, and scorching winds. All the labours…
Blessing - Burning, and scorching winds. All the labours - In your plowing and sowing, in planting of olives and vines.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain I smote you with blasting and mildew, - two…
I smote you with blasting and mildew, - two diseases of grain, which Moses had foretold Deu 28:27. as chastisements on disobedience and God’s infliction, of which Amos had spoken in these self-same words. Amo 4:9. Haggai adds the hail, as destructive of the vines. Psa 78:47. Yet (And) ye turned you not to Me literally “there were none” - your, (accusative i. e., who turned you unto Me. The words are elliptical, but express the entire absence of conversion, of any who turned to God.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Bushels. Hebrew specifies nothing. Septuagint, "when you put a…
Bushels. Hebrew specifies nothing. Septuagint, "when you put a basket (or vase) twenty sata of barley." He speaks of such as was not yet winnowed.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain Appropriated from Amo 4:9, whose canonicity is thus sealed…
Appropriated from Amo 4:9, whose canonicity is thus sealed by Haggai's inspired authority; in the last clause, "turned," however, has to be supplied, its omission marking by the elliptical abruptness ("yet ye not to Me!") God's displeasure. Compare "(let him come) unto Me!" Moses in excitement omitting the bracketed words (Exo 32:26). "Blasting" results from excessive drought; "mildew, from excessive moisture.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain Hag_2:17 explains why the threshing floor and the winepress…
Hag_2:17 explains why the threshing floor and the winepress proved sore disappointments. Jehovah smote the fields with “blasting and mildew” (see on Amo_4:9).
Hail — Concerning the frequency with which hail falls in Palestine G.A. Smith says (Historical Geography, p. 64), “During most winters both hail and snow fall on the hills; hail is common.” It is frequently mentioned in the Old Testament; always as an instrument of divine judgment.
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The labors of your hands — Everything they had cultivated with great effort and toil. The purpose of the judgment was to bring the people to their senses, but it failed (see on Hag_1:5, and references there).
Yet ye turned not to me — This is undoubtedly the thought, but it is difficult to get it from the present Hebrew text, which Keil calls “a perfectly unusual construction.” Originally the words here may have been identical with the refrain in Amo_4:6-11. It is worthy of note that the causes of calamity mentioned here are not the same as those named earlier in the book, though the calamity itself is the same. Here they are blasting, mildew, hail; in Hag_1:10-11, drought. This with some linguistic peculiarities has led Andre to conclude that this discourse does not come from Haggai; but the linguistic peculiarities are by no means conclusive, and surely there may have been several different causes that brought about barrenness or the failure of the crops. Others consider only Hag_2:17 a later addition, originally a marginal note, based upon Amo_4:9. In support of this claim it is pointed out that LXX. contains an addition to Hag_2:14, which, in part at least, is based upon Amo_5:10.
With the calamities of the past fresh in their minds, they are to observe the change in fortune which is about to occur. If they bring this change into connection with their former indifference and their present zeal, they can no longer doubt that there exists a relation of cause and effect between indifference and calamity and between zeal and prosperity; and this recognition should greatly increase their interest in the cause of Jehovah.
18a is to be interpreted as in Hag_2:15 (see there); upward again points to the future. This day is defined in the succeeding clause, “from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month,” and this in turn is called “the day that the foundation of the Lord’s temple was laid.” Both explanatory clauses are considered later additions by some, because (1) they are superfluous; (2) Hag_1:15, states that the work was begun three months earlier; (3) Ezr_3:10, says that the foundation was laid about fifteen years before. To these arguments reply may be made: (1) Even granting the historicity of Ezr_3:10 (see pp. 548ff.), the two passages are not necessarily contradictory, for it is not impossible that after an interval of fifteen years the foundations were found to be in a sufficiently unsatisfactory condition to demand a relaying. (2) Three months may have been spent in doing the preliminary work; rubbish had to be cleared away, building material had to be hauled, etc. (3) That the words might have been omitted is true, but, since the change in fortune was closely connected with the rebuilding of the temple, is it not perfectly natural that the pivotal point of time should receive special emphasis? From this very moment the prophet desires them to have their eyes open to see what the future will have in store. At the time of the laying of the foundation a religious gathering may have been held, and that would be a suitable occasion on which to utter these words of encouragement. It cannot be objected that the manifestations of enthusiasm three months earlier should have been the turning point in their fortune. How could they tell what would become of the next spring’s crops? The critical time of the year comes after the date mentioned here (compare Amo_4:7). Besides, Hag_2:19 makes it clear that a partial change could be seen, the drought had ceased. The careful definition of the date is in perfect accord with the repetition of the exhortation “consider it.”
Hag_2:19 states what they are to consider, but it is not parallel with Hag_2:16-17, as if it called attention once more to the calamity of the past; it points rather to the restoration of the divine favor present and future.
Seed — The seed corn. Haggai inquires whether it is still in the barn; he evidently expects a negative answer. But if the seed is sown, this in itself is an evidence that the divine favor is returning. In former years it had to be left in the barns because the absence of rain made plowing and sowing impossible. Now the prophet points to the fact that rain has come and that the seed has been sown. The succeeding clauses also should be translated as a question, “Hath not as yet the vine, the fig tree, and the pomegranate, and the olive borne fruit?” This question presupposes an affirmative answer, as the presence of not clearly shows. These trees have given evidence of a change, for they have borne fruit. The ingathering of these fruits begins at the time of the year when the first steps were taken (Hag_1:15), and continues several months. If for a year or two the crops were poor, the people could be persuaded very readily that the better results were due to their renewed activity. But the blessings already experienced are only the beginning; in the closing words the prophet promises a continuation of the divine favor.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 17. I smote you with blasting and with mildew]…
17. I smote you with blasting and with mildew] “Two diseases of the corn which Moses had foretold (Deu_28:22) as chastisements on disobedience, and God’s infliction of which Amos had spoken of in these selfsame words (Amo_4:9). Haggai adds the hail as destructive of the vines (Psa_78:47).” Pusey.
labours] Rather, work. R. V.
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yet ye turned not to me] Lit. yet not (no-such-thing-as) yourselves to me. The word “turning,” or a similar word, may be supplied from the parallel passage in Amo_4:9 : “yet there was no turning of yourselves to me.” The negation is a strong one, and denies any single instance of such turning.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (17) I smote you with blasting and with mildew…
(17) I smote you with blasting and with mildew . . .—This is a reminiscence of Amo_4:9, “I have smitten you with blasting and mildew . . . yet have not ye returned unto me, saith the Lord.” “Blasting” and “mildew” are two diseases on corn enumerated by Moses (Deu_28:22) among the curses on disobedience. The “hail” is added by Haggai, perhaps as particularly destructive to the vines. On the peculiar phrase, êyn ethcem êlay, which here takes the place of the lô shabtem âday of Amos, see Ewald, Grammar, § 262 b.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain I smote you with blasting and with mildew. It…
I smote you with blasting and with mildew. It was God who inflicted these calamities upon them judicially, according to the threats in Deu_28:22. (comp. Amo_4:9, and note there) These two pests affected the corn; the vines were smitten with hail. (Psa_78:47) In all the labours (work) of your hands. All that you had cultivated with toil, corn, vines, fruit of every sort. Yet ye turned not to me. The clause is elliptical, "yet not ye to me." The LXX and Syriac translate as the Authorized Version, supplying the verb from the parallel passage in Amo_4:9. The Vulgate (not according to precedent) Non fuit in vobis qui revertetur ad me . In spite of these visitations there was not one among them who shook off his idle inaction and worked for the Lord.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain I smote you with blasting, and with mildew, and…
Hag_2:17
I smote you with blasting, and with mildew, and with hail, in all the labours of your hands.
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Blasting and mildew
Very useful and important are the fungi in the worlds busy household. They are working at chemical problems which have puzzled a Liebig and a Lavoisier, converting the noxious products of corruption into comely forms and nutritious substances, absorbing into living tissues effete matters which are fast hastening downwards to join the dark night of chaos and death. Parasites, most of them, upon dead plants, they economise the gases which would otherwise escape into the atmosphere and pollute it; and conserve, for the use of nobler forms, the subtle forces of life which would otherwise pass unprofitable into the mineral kingdom. It is one of the strangest things in the world, when we seriously think of it, to see a vigorous life-full cluster of fungi springing, phoenix-like, from a dead tree, exhausted of all its juices, bleached by the sun and rain of many summers, and ready to crumble into dust at the slightest touch. Death is here a new birth, and the grave a cradle. It is one of natures many analogies of the human resurrection. But the resemblance is superficial and incomplete. Wisely have the fungi been provided, in the rapidity of their growth, the simplicity of their structure, the variety of their forms, and their amazing numbers, for their appointed task in the economy of nature. Not a leaf that falls from the bough, not a blade that withers on the lea, but is seized by the tiny fangs of some special fungus ordained to prey upon it; not a spot of earth can we examine, where vegetable life is capable of growing, but we shall find a vegetable as well as an insect parasite, keeping its growth in check, hastening its decay, and preserving its remains from being wasted. And out of the eater, too, cometh forth meat. In carrying out the wise and gracious purposes for which they have been designed, the fungi not unfrequently overstep the limits of usefulness, and commit wholesale destruction. They purify mans atmosphere, but they also destroy mans food. If their ravages could be confined to useless plants; if they were employed solely in reducing weeds to decay, they would be welcomed by man as among his greatest helps and blessings. But nature knows no straight, arbitrary line of demarcation, such as we draw, between what is useless and what is useful. To every natural good there is a recoil of evil. The fungi are indiscriminate in their attacks. They seize upon the corn which strengthens mans heart, as readily as upon the thorns and briars which cause him to eat his bread in the sweat of his brow. In this our fallen condition, we must always count upon the blasting and the mildew; upon the years to be eaten by the locust, the canker-worm, the caterpillar, and the palmer-worm, as surely as upon the covenant faithfulness of Him who promised that seed-time and harvest would never cease. Nature with reference to nature completely accomplishes her purposes; but nature with reference to man is not a perfect means to an end. Blasting and mildew were very frequent in Bible times and lands. So terrible were the ravages committed by these scourges, so sudden their appearance, so rapid their progress, so mysterious their origin and cause, that they were universally regarded not merely as a visitation of God, but as a special product of Gods creative power. The cause and the effect were confounded. Fear prevented the Israelites from investigating the nature of the phenomenon. Modern science has given the true interpretation of the riddle. Blasting and mildew are conclusively ascertained to be produced by plants,--to be the diseases occasioned by the growth of minute fungi. Ever since plants have existed, these vegetable parasites have preyed upon them. They appear in greater or less abundance every year. They are fostered into excessive growth by certain favourable conditions of soft and climate, and checked in their development by certain unfavourable conditions. They are the common place everyday product of natures laws. They are not special creations of God, but the ordinary growths of the vegetable kingdom. The miraculous element, in connection with Gods judgments, was their extraordinary development and sudden appearance in immediate connection with Divine threatenings. As science advances superstition retires, and the phenomena attributed to supernatural causes are found to have been produced by the operation of physical law. But the miracles of the Bible are untouched by this principle. Science may teach us the economy of miracles, but it cannot persuade us of their unreality and impossibility. A brief glance at the nature of the fungi concerned in the production of blasting and mildew may be interesting and instructive. It will teach us that nothing is so weak and small that the strength and wisdom of God cannot accomplish great ends by its instrumentality. There are four diseases in corn produced by fungi--smut, bunt, rust, and mildew. The black heads, covered with a soot-like dust, noticeable in the cornfields, are caused by a parasitic plant--a true fungus, capable of reproducing and extending itself indefinitely. The seed-vessels of this plant are exceedingly minute. One square inch of surface contains no less than eight millions; and if the seed-vessels be so small, what must the seeds themselves be? Bunt is even more destructive. It has an intolerable odour, like that of putrid fish. It is one of the common diseases to which wheat is subject. It confines its ravages entirely to the grain. It is rare to find any wheat-field altogether free from rust, or Red Robin. It is sometimes so abundant that a person passing among the stalks is completely painted with its rusty powder. It is found upon the wheat-plant at all stages of growth. The term mildew is vague and unsatisfactory. Properly it should be applied to a disease produced by a fungus known to botanists as Puccinia gaminis. It is derived from the Saxon words, Mehlthan, meaning meal-dew. it makes its first appearance in the cornfields in May or June, and first takes possession of the lower green leaves, which become sickly. When the corn is nearly or fully ripe, the straw and the culm are profusely streaked with blackish spots, ranging in length from a minute dot to an inch. These evils are found all over the world, wherever corn is grown. All these blights and mildews on the corn crops and the green crops may well be called by God, My great army. Individually minute and insignificant, by the sheer force of untold numbers they are mightier for harm than storms and earthquakes. It is indeed a fortunate circumstance that they refuse to grow generally except in stagnant ill-drained places, and under peculiar conditions of warmth and moisture; for, otherwise if, quick with life as they are, they were to germinate wherever they alighted, the fig-tree would not blossom, and there would be no fruit in the vines, the labour of the olives would fail, and the fields would yield no meat. (Hugh Macmillan, D. D.)
Insensibility under material evil
This insensibility, which prevents people from turning to the Lord, is a moral evil, and ought to be charged on the guilty.
1. Instances and examples of this insensibility (Isa_5:24-25; Isa_9:17; Isa_9:20-21; Amo_4:6-11; Jer_5:3; Rev_9:20-21). Human nature continues always the same. Some vices have a local and temporary prevalence. Insensibility is the palsy of the soul; a stupor that with respect to spiritual things seizeth all its faculties. Hence in its nature it is both immoral and penal; penal, as a judicial stroke on the minds and consciences of men from a righteous and provoked God; immoral, as a course of opposition to His Word and providence, comprehending what Scripture means by stopping the ear, shutting the eyes, hardening the neck, pulling away the shoulder, walking contrary to the Lord, and in the way of our own heart. This insensibility is a reigning principle in natural men. Redemption by Christ from the curse of the law secures His people against its dominion, and yet it frequently prevails and hurts the spiritual life.
2. Investigate its cause. That is atheism, which may be either gross or refined. Though seldom avowed, gross atheism has a secretly malignant influence on manners in the middle and lower ranks of society. There is a refined atheism among persons who profess to know God, and in works deny Him. The truths they hold are not operative and holy principles.
3. Charge this insensibility upon the guilty as a moral evil, which prevents them from turning to the Lord when He smites them with material evil.
(1) Those charged with it are the Lords people.
(2) The charge is made by a man invested with the authority of a prophet.
(3) The charge is made in the name of the Lord.
(4) He in whose name the charge is made knew it to be just.
(5) The charge was delivered publicly, in the hearing and presence of the guilty.
(6) The charge was designed to bring former misconduct to remembrance, and to encourage them to present duty.
Application--
1. Sinners are destroyers of their own comfort.
2. The course of nature fulfilleth the purpose and performeth the Word of the Lord.
3. The Lord hath kind intentions in smiting His people.
4. Sensible and material things are uncertain property. (A. Shanks.)
Material evil the scourge of moral evil
There are no dispensations prosperous or adverse, with which we are favoured or chastised, but in the Word of God everything may be found that is necessary to assist our exercise and regulate our behaviour under them. When people refuse to hear, they are sometimes smitten on a tender part, and constrained to feel.
1. Deal with material evil: such as blasting, mildew, and hail.
2. Deal with moral evil. This must be sin. Such as--
(1) Love to the world.
(2) Neglect of temple-building.
(3) A notion that material powers act of themselves, independent of God. This is a branch of atheism, and a virtual denial of the Divine overruling providence.
3. Show the efficiency of God in scourging with the one for the other.
(1) The Lord hath determined to smite and afflict with these evils.
(2) The Lord createth this evil, and giveth its commission. Till He have occasion for its service, it doth not exist.
(3) The Lord hath appointed and always observeth the seasons of smiting. The scourge is neither taken up nor laid down at random.
(4) Places where the evil is collected and inflicted are marked out by the justice of God.
(5) A portion of evil is measured out and allotted for each body of the executioners.
Consider--
1. Moral evils among us have a striking resemblance to those which prevailed among the Israelites in the days of Haggai.
2. The Lord would be just were He to smite us, as He smote them. We have given Him provocation. Our light is clearer, our privileges are richer, and our iniquities exceed theirs in number and aggravation. Material evil is still at the Lords call, and ready to fulfil His Word. (A. Shanks.)
Temporal chastisements
The scope of the second part of this sermon is to show that however God will put difference betwixt workers, and knoweth who are sincere and who are not, yet to encourage them to be diligent in it, as being a work which He approves in itself, and which He will reward with temporal blessing, and a change of His former dispensations.
1. Though the Lords dispensations be visible and felt by all, yet the right considering and understanding of them is a work of much difficulty, and to which men need serious stirring up, especially to take up the right cause of them.
2. Famine and scarcity is one of the public scourges whereby the Lord chastises the sinful contempt and negligence of His people in His work and service; and He will be conspicuous in inflicting of it.
3. As it is the usual plague accompanying common judgments that they do not work upon the hearts of men, to draw them nearer God, but rather harden them; so such an impenitent disposition when God strikes, is a ground of further controversy; therefore He marks by the way their stupidity. Yet ye turned not to Me, saith the Lord.
4. However temporal things are not to be looked on as the chief reward of serving God, nor as absolutely promised, nor yet are they to be so much looked to under the Gospel, as the Church of the Jews might under their pedagogy; yet in this the promise, even concerning these things, holds good, that following God, hath the promise of this life, in so far as it is for the followers good; that Gods changing adversity into prosperity when a people set about His work, should be a confirmation to their faith, and strengthen their hands; that whatever adversity come on the Church, it is not to be fathered on Gods work, as if it had been the cause of her woe; that as neglecters of Gods work are real losers in their own affairs, and will prove so in the end, so followers of His work have a real advantage in it; and, in a word, that Gods work is never followed without a blessing evidenced some way or other to the godlys satisfaction.
5. It is a profitable study to remark the advantages of following God, and to study encouragement in that duty. So much are we taught by the Lords exciting them to consider the change of His dealing, as trysting with the very day of their amending their fault.
6. God is so sovereign and absolute a Lord of all things, and hath times and seasons, blessings and cursings so in His hands, as He may undertake to do things, whereof there is no visible probability or certainty in the second causes, and can certainly perform them: therefore doth He undertake to bless them, when second causes and the season could speak no such thing.
7. It is the prerogative of God only to know future contingent events, which depend on times and seasons, and uncertain second causes, and their influences, but only by immediate revelation; this is held forth as Gods prerogative, by His extraordinary prophet, to foretell in the midst of winter, what the succeeding harvest should produce. (George Hutcheson.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 2:17 Return often signifies repentance. • you refused: The…
2:17 Return often signifies repentance. • you refused: The Hebrew people were stubborn and rebellious from the time of Moses (Deut 31:27) to the time of Jesus (Matt 17:17). • blight and mildew: What happened was the result of disobedience to God’s covenant (see Deut 28:22).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.