All nations (Luke 21:25, where our Lord refers to the end of this world). But before Christ's first advent there was a general shaking of empires. Persia fell; Alexander's dominion was divided and gradually shattered before the might of Rome; Rome herself was torn with civil wars.
The faith in the power of national gods was everywhere weakened, and men were prepared to receive the new revelation of one Supreme Deity, who came on earth to teach and save. Now is mentioned the object or consequence of this shaking of nations.
The desire of all nations shall come. This is the rendering of the ancient Jewish expositors, the Chaldee Targum, and the Vulgate, which gives, Veniet desideratus cunctis gentibus. Tile words in this case point to a person, and this person can be no one else than the Messiaih for whom "all nations consciously or unconsciously yearn, in whom alone all the longings of the human heart find satisfaction" (Perowne).
But there is difficulty in accepting this view. The word rendered "the desire" (chemdath) is singular, the verb "shall come" (bau) is plural, as if it was said in Latin, Venient desiderium omnium gentium.
The LXX. translates, ηξει τὰ ἐκλεκτὰ πάντων τῶν ἐθνῶν, "The choice things [or, 'portions'] of all the nations shall come." The plural verb seems fatal to the idea of a person being spoken of; nor is this objection answered by Dr.
Pusey's allegation that the object of desire contains in itself many objects of desire, or Bishop Wordsworth's refinement, that Messiah is regarded as a collective Being, containing in his own Person the natures of God and man, and combining the three offices of Prophet, Priest, and King.
Every one must see that both these explanations are forced and unnatural, and are conformed rather to theological considerations than to grammatical accuracy. Chemdah is used for "the object of desire," as 2 Chronicles 32:27, where it refers to Hezekiah's treasures, and 2 Chronicles 36:10, "the goodly vessels" of the temple (comp.
Jeremiah 25:34; Nahum 2:9). Nowhere is any intimation given that it is a name applied to the Messiah; nowhere is any such explanation offered of the term so applied. The word is a common one; its meaning is well ascertained; and it could hardly have been understood in any but its usual acceptation without some preparation or further definition.
This acceptation is confirmed by the mention of "the gold and silver" in 2 Chronicles 36:8. The Revised Version cuts the knot by rendering, "the desirable things;" Perowne affirms that the plural verb denotes the manifoldness and variety of the gifts.
This seems scarcely satisfactory. May it not be, as Knabenbauer suggests, that "the desire of all nations" forms one notion, in which the words, "all nations," have a predominating influence, and so the plural ensues by constructio ad sensum?
The meaning, then, is that all nations with their wealth come, that the Gentiles shall devote their treasures, their powers, whatever they most highly prize, to the service of God. This is what is predicted elsewhere (e.
g. Isaiah 55:5-7, Isaiah 55:11, Isaiah 55:13, 17), and it is called, metaphorically, coming with treasures to the temple. To hear of such a glorious future might well be a topic of consolation to the depressed Israelites.
(For a further development of the same idea, see Revelation 21:24, Revelation 21:26.) I will fill this house with glory. There is a verbal allusion to the glory which filled Solomon's temple at the dedication (2 Chronicles 7:1), but the especial mode in which it is to be manifested in this case is not here mentioned.
The previous clause would make the reference rather to the material offerings of the Gentiles, but a further and a deeper signification is connected with the advent of Messiah (as Malachi 3:1), with which the complete fulfilment commenced.