Some have maintained that the invasion of Judah to which Zephaniah refers was that of the Scythians described by Herodotus, 1. 105; but this is very improbable.  From the fact that “the king’s children” are included in the threatened visitation—­in the Hebrew, “I will visit upon the princes and the king’s children” (1:8)—­some have inferred that they must have been already grown and addicted to idolatrous practices; consequently that Zephaniah wrote later than the eighteenth year of Josiah.  But, as Keil and others have remarked, the mention of the king’s children may have been added simply to indicate the universality of the approaching visitation; not to say that the prophetic vision of Zephaniah may have anticipated the sin and punishment of these king’s children—­Jehoahaz and Jehoiakim.

X. HAGGAI.

18.  Haggai is the first of the three prophets after the captivity, who are commonly called Prophets of the Restoration.  His four short messages to the people were all delivered in the space of three months, and they all had reference to the rebuilding of the temple.  By the slanderous representations of the Jews’ enemies this work had been interrupted, as we learn from the fourth chapter of Ezra.  Meanwhile the Jews, having yielded to the spirit of unbelief, had lost their zeal for God’s cause and grown cold and indifferent.  For this the prophets Haggai and Zechariah were sent to reprove them, while at the same time they encouraged them to resume the work, a mission which they successfully accomplished.  Ezra 5:1, 2.

19.  The first message is dated “in the second year of Darius the king”—­Darius Hystaspes, who ascended the throne of Persia B.C. 521—­“in the sixth month, in the first day of the month.”  Chap. 1:1.  In this message the prophet sharply reproves the people for their indifference to the cause of God’s house and their selfish devotion to their own private interests, which have brought upon them the divine rebuke.  Chap. 1:2-11.  The effect of his words in exciting both rulers and people to renew the work upon the temple is added.  Chap. 1:12-15.  The second message “in the one and twentieth day” of the same month is throughout of an encouraging character.  The elders who had seen the first house in its glory, were despondent in view of the comparative meanness of the new edifice.  Jehovah promises them that “the Desire of all nations” shall come, that he will fill this house with glory, so that “the glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former” (2:1-9).  This promise was fulfilled in a material way in the second temple as renewed by Herod the Great.  But the real reference is to its spiritual glory.  It was honored by the presence of the Son of God, who is the brightness of the Father’s glory.  In the third message, “in the four and twentieth day of the ninth month,” the prophet in a sort of parable, rebukes the people for their heartless formality, which, like the touch of a dead body, defiles all their offerings and services, yet promises them God’s blessing upon their repentance.  Chap. 2:10-19.  The last message, which was delivered on the same day, is wholly occupied with the future.  Amid commotions and overturnings God will destroy the power of the heathen nations, and make Zerubbabel as a signet.