Haggai — Chapter 2

Quis in vobis est derelictus

'Who is left among you that saw this house in its first glory? And how do you see it now?' The elders who remembered Solomon's Temple wept at the diminished glory of Zerubbabel's rebuilding. À Lapide uses this as a figure of the soul's nostalgia for its original grace lost in sin, and of the Church's longing for the eschatological fullness not yet fully manifest. The consolation is in what is coming, not in what was.

Adhuc semel ego movebo caelum et terram

'Yet one little while and I will move the heaven and the earth.' À Lapide cites Hebrews 12:26-27 which quotes this verse to contrast the Sinai theophany (which shook the earth) with the definitive shaking of the New Covenant. The 'one little while' (adhuc unum modicum) is interpreted as the brief interval before the Incarnation—brief from the perspective of eternity. The shaking of all nations brings forth their Desire.

Et veniet Desideratus cunctis gentibus

'And the Desired of all nations shall come; and I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of hosts.' À Lapide's commentary on Haggai 2:7 is the longest in the book and one of the most celebrated in his entire corpus. He defends the Christological interpretation against Jewish interpreters who read 'desideratus' as a collective noun (the treasures of nations). He surveys Jerome, Augustine, Chrysostom, and scholastic authorities. The desire for the Messiah embedded in the hearts of all nations—even Gentiles—is a theological argument for universal salvific grace. The glory filling the second Temple is the presence of Christ who taught there.

Maior erit gloria domus istius novissimae

'Great shall be the glory of this last house more than the first, saith the Lord of hosts.' À Lapide resolves the apparent problem: Herod's Temple (the second, renovated magnificently) was materially inferior to Solomon's yet spiritually incomparably greater because Christ the Lord walked in it. The glory is not architectural but incarnational. He notes that Christ's own words ('something greater than the Temple is here,' Matt. 12:6) confirm this interpretation.

Loquere ad Zorobabel ducem Iuda

God's final oracle to Zerubbabel promises: 'I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms and will destroy the strength of the kingdom of the Gentiles.' À Lapide reads Zerubbabel as a type of Christ of the line of David—the signet ring (v.23) is the seal of divine authority. The overthrowing of Gentile kingdoms figures the Ascension and the ultimate triumph of the Kingdom of God over all earthly powers, citing Rev. 11:15.