Haggai 1:14

the Lord stirred up, &c. It would seem that the prevailing indifference and neglect by which they were surrounded had, in some measure at least, damped the ardour and quenched the spirit even of Zerubbabel and Joshua. It needed the same breath of heaven which had first kindled the fire of divine zeal in their hearts, to rouse the now smouldering embers into living flame again (ἀναζωπυρεῖν τὸ χάρισμα, 2 Timothy 1:6).

came and did work The word "came," may here be little more than pleonastic, but perhaps it refers to the coming of the people from the neighbouring towns and country to Jerusalem, as we know they did when the altar was first set up (Ezra 3:1). They "did," or executed work (the word work is here a noun, not a verb) in the rebuilding of the Temple. Comp. Ezra 5:1-2.