חגי, פרק ב׳, פסוק י״ז

A series of agricultural and economic hardships was brought upon the people to awaken them to repentance, yet these harsh lessons failed to achieve their spiritual goal. God struck the crops with three severe blows. First came a blight that damaged the seeds before they could ripen [מצודת ציון], draining the standing grain of its volume and weight [אבן עזרא, ביאור שטיינזלץ, אברבנאל]. This was followed by a disease affecting the grain [ביאור שטיינזלץ], which emptied the crops of their seeds [אברבנאל] and turned the plants a sickly, lifeless green [אבן עזרא, מצודת ציון]. Finally, heavy hail fell to complete the total destruction of the fields.

This devastation ruined all the hard work and the crops the people had planted [רד״ק, מצודת דוד, אברבנאל]. Such sweeping destruction stands as the exact opposite of the familiar promise in the Torah, where God assures that He will bless all the work of a person's hands [אבן עזרא].

Despite enduring these intense hardships, the people remained unresponsive. The primary approach among commentators is that God expresses deep disappointment because the people did not return to Him in repentance, nor did they even cry out to Him to save them from their distress. He emphasizes that the people themselves remained completely distant [רד״ק, מלבי״ם, ביאור שטיינזלץ]. A deeper perspective draws a direct link between the nature of the punishment and the people's behavior. The destruction specifically targeted the physical work of their hands because their service to God had become entirely superficial. They performed mere physical actions without any inner intention or heart. They engaged in building the Temple like a body without a soul. Consequently, God declares that their true inner essence is not directed toward Him at all [מלבי״ם].