Haggai 2:19
Is the seed yet in the barn? yea, as yet the vine, and the fig tree, and the pomegranate, and the olive tree, hath not brought forth: from this day will I bless you. Is the seed yet in the barn? yea, as yet the vine, and the fig tree, and the pomegranate, and the olive tree, hath not brought forth: from this day will I bless you.
The “this day” from which blessing is promised is the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, the day the foundation of the Lord’s temple was laid. The declaration belongs to the message urging God’s people to build a house for Him after they had neglected it, linking their resuming and returning to the work of rebuilding with His promise to bless them.
At that time the seed was still in the barn and the vine, fig tree, pomegranate, and olive tree had not yet brought forth, with wasted fields and dwindling provisions, little result from labor during drought, and no new harvest yet seen. The promise came after the people’s repentance and return to God, their humble turning with confession of sin and choice to obey amid drought and suffering, and their moving forward by faith to work on rebuilding. The verse searches the heart by showing that the Lord takes cognizance of all human works, having power to diminish with short harvests, blasting, mildew and hail, and power also to increase and bless. Despite the visible lack, God promised from that day onward to bless Israel with temporal prosperity, marking a change after they turned to His work. He accepted them not because of their zeal or good works, but because of their faith in the coming Saviour’s power to cleanse them from sin.