“Then Haggai said.
‘So is it with this people,
With this nation before me.
Says Yahweh.
So is it
With every work
Of their hands.
What they offer there
Is unclean.’”
Haggai explained the situation about the people of Israel, the nation before him. He said that Yahweh felt the same way about all the work of their hands because of their uncleanness. Whatever they offered up would be unclean also.
“At that time,
Gifts will be brought
To Yahweh of hosts
From a tall people,
From a smooth people,
From a people
Feared near and far,
From a mighty nation,
From a conquering nation.
The river divides its land.
They will bring it
To Mount Zion,
The place of the name
Of Yahweh of hosts.”
Next Isaiah talks about gifts being brought to Yahweh. Strangely enough, they are from a tall, smooth, and feared people. They were from the nation that was mighty and conquering, where the rivers divide it. This is exactly the same description of Egypt as at the beginning of this chapter. This mighty nation was going to bring its gifts to Mount Zion, the place for the name of Yahweh. Perhaps this was done because the people of Judah were in alliance with Egypt against the Assyrians at this time, as indicated in 2 Kings, chapter 18-19.
Eugene Finnegan Bible Project 