Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Habakkuk 1:6
For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, [that] bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land, to possess the dwelling places [that are] not theirs.
6. raise up the Chaldeans ] The reference in “raise up” can hardly be to the first entrance of the Chaldeans upon the stage of history; it is rather to their advance against Israel. Some MSS. of Sept. add “against you.” On Chaldeans see after Hab 1:11.
bitter and hasty nation ] Spoken of temper or disposition “bitter” is vehement and passionate, Jdg 18:25; 2Sa 17:8; and “hasty” is sudden in action, driven headlong by violent impulse.
shall march the land ] which marcheth through the breadth of the earth. His operations extend over the world, and his object is conquest, to seize for a possession the dwelling-places of other peoples. Job 18:21; Jer 9:19; Jer 30:18; Isa 32:18. The phrase “that are not his” again ch. Hab 2:6; cf. Deu 6:10-11.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
For lo – So God announces a future, in which His Hand shall be greatly visible, whether more or less distant. In His sight it is present.
I raise up – God uses the free will and evil passions of people or devils to His own ends; and so He is said to raise up those whom He allows to be stirred up against His people, since the events which His Providence permits, favor their designs, and it rests with Him to withhold them. They lift themselves up for some end of covetousness or pride. But there is a higher order of things, in which God orders their actions to fulfill His righteousness by their iniquities.
The Chaldaeans, that bitter – . In Jdg 18:25; 2Sa 17:8, the less concise .
And hasty nation – as Isa 32:4. Jerome: To its might and warlike boldness almost all the Greeks who have written histories of the barbarians, witness.
Which shall march through the breadth of the land – rather, the earth, literally to the breadths of the earth, reaching to its whole length and breadth, all its dimensions as in the description of Gog and Magog Rev 20:8-9, the number of whom is as the sand of the sea; and they went up on the breadth of the earth; unhindered, not pent up, but spreading abroad, where they will, over the whole earth. All before it, is one wide even plain which it overspreads and covers, like a flood, and yet is not spent nor exhausted.
To possess the dwelling-places that are not theirs – As Gods people had done, so should it be done to them. Spoiling and violence within Hab 1:2-4 attract oppression from without. The overcharged atmosphere casts down the lightning upon them. They had expelled the weak from their dwelling Mic 2:9; others shall possess theirs. Yet this scourge too shall pass by, since, although the Chaldaean did Gods Will, He willed it not, but His own (See Isa 10:6-7). The words, not theirs, literally, not to him stand with a mysterious fullness of meaning. The dwelling places not being his by right, shall not remain his, although given to him, while God wills.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 6. That bitter and hasty nation] Cruel and oppressive in their disposition; and prompt and speedy in their assaults and conquests.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
For lo: now the prophet declares particularly what it is that the Lord will work.
I raise up; awaken to action, animate them in it, and strengthen them to accomplish their design.
The Chaldeans, who had subdued other nations, and had already ruined the Assyrian monarchy.
Bitter; cruel, and without mercy, Jer 6:23; 21:7.
Hasty; speedy and quick in executing their merciless purposes, as Isa 5:26,27.
Which shall march, Heb.
walk without fear, and in order, as a conqueror doth in his conquests.
Through the breadth of the land; through all parts of the land, no corner shall escape his search or cruelty.
To possess; not to spoil and be gone, but to take and keep possession, as lord and proprietor in the right of conquest.
The dwelling-places; houses, towns, cities, Jerusalem itself, which they had no right to, till Jewish sins gave occasion for the dispossessing of the Jews, and the introducing of the Chaldeans.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
6. I raise upnot referring toGod’s having brought the Chaldeans from their original seats toBabylonia (see on Isa 23:13), forthey had already been upwards of twenty years (since Nabopolassar’sera) in political power there; but to His being about now to raisethem up as the instruments of God’s “work” of judgment onthe Jews (2Ch 36:6). The Hebrewis future, “I will raise up.”
bitterthat is, cruel(Jer 50:42; compare Jud18:25, Margin; 2Sa17:8).
hastynot passionate,but “impetuous.”
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans,…. A people still of late mean and low, famous only for their soothsaying, divination, and judicial astrology; but now become a powerful and warlike people, rising up under the permission of Providence to universal monarchy, and who would quickly add Judea to the rest of their dominions:
[that] bitter and hasty nation; a cruel and merciless people in their temper and disposition: “bitter” against the people of God and true religion, and causing bitterness, calamities, and distress, wherever they came: “hasty” and precipitate in their determinations; swift and nimble in their motions; active and vigorous in the prosecution of their designs:
which shall march through the breadth of the land; or “breadths of the land” t; through the whole world, as they were attempting to do, having subdued Syria, all Asia, and great part of Africa, through which they boldly marched, bearing down all opposition that was in their way; or through the breadth of the land of Judea, taking all the fenced cities as they went along, and Jerusalem the metropolis of it; see Isa 8:7:
to possess the dwellingplaces [that are] not theirs; the cities of Judea, and houses in them, as well as the palaces and dwellingplaces in Jerusalem, which they had no right unto, but what they got by the sword; what were the legal possessions and inheritances of others from father to son for ages past, these the Chaldeans would dispossess them of; and not only take them, and the spoil and plunder of them, for the present, but retain them in their possession, as an inheritance to be transmitted to their posterity. This may have some respect to the length of the captivity of the Jews, and their land being in the hands of their enemies for the space of seventy years.
t “latitudines terrae”, Montanus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Announcement of this work. – Hab 1:6. “For, behold, I cause the Chaldaeans to rise up, the fierce and vehement nation, which marches along the breadths of the earth, to take possession of dwelling-places that are not its own. Hab 1:7. It is alarming and fearful: its right and its eminence go forth from it. Hab 1:8. And its horses are swifter than leopards, and more sudden than evening wolves: and its horsemen spring along; and its horsemen, they come from afar; they fly hither, hastening like an eagle to devour. Hab 1:9. It comes all at once for wickedness; the endeavour of their faces is directed forwards, and it gathers prisoners together like sand. Hab 1:10. And it, kings it scoffs at, and princes are laughter to it; it laughs at every stronghold, and heaps up sand, and takes it. Hab 1:11. Then it passes along, a wind, and comes hither and offends: this its strength is its god.” , ecce suscitaturus sum . before the participle always refers to the future. , to cause to stand up or appear, does not apply to the elevation of the Chaldaeans into a nation or a conquering people, – for the picture which follows and is defined by the article presupposes that it already exists as a conquering people, – but to its being raised up against Judah, so that it is equivalent to in Amo 6:14 (cf. Mic 5:4; 2Sa 12:11, etc.). Hakkasdm , the Chaldaeans, sprang, according to Gen 22:22, from Kesed the son of Nahor, the brother of Abraham; so that they were a Semitic race. They dwelt from time immemorial in Babylonia or Mesopotamia, and are called a primeval people, goI meolam , in Jer 5:15. Abram migrated to Canaan from Ur of the Chaldees, from the other side of the river (Euphrates: Gen 11:28, Gen 11:31, compared with Jos 24:2); and the Kasdm in Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel are inhabitants of Babel or Babylonia (Isa 43:14; Isa 47:1; Isa 48:14, Isa 48:20; Jer 21:9; Jer 32:4, Jer 32:24, etc.; Eze 23:23). Babylonia is called ‘erets Kasdm (Jer 24:5; Jer 25:12; Eze 12:13), or simply Kasdm (Jer 50:10; Jer 51:24, Jer 51:35; Ezekiel 26:29; Eze 23:16). The modern hypothesis, that the Chaldaeans were first of all transplanted by the Assyrians from the northern border mountains of Armenia, Media, and Assyria to Babylonia, and that having settled there, they afterwards grew into a cultivated people, and as a conquering nation exerted great influence in the history of the world, simply rests upon a most precarious interpretation of an obscure passage in Isaiah (Isa 23:18), and has no higher value than the opinion of the latest Assyriologists that the Chaldaeans are a people of Tatar origin, who mingled with the Shemites of the countries bordering upon the Euphrates and Tigris (see Delitzsch on Isa 23:13). Habakkuk describes this people as mar , bitter, or rough, and, when used to denote a disposition, fierce ( mar nephesh , Jdg 18:25; 2Sa 17:8); and nimhar , heedless or rash (Isa 32:4), here violent, and as moving along the breadths of the earth ( , lxx: cf. Rev 20:9), i.e., marching through the whole extent of the earth (Isa 8:8): terram quam late patet (Ros.). is not used here to denote the direction or the goal, but the space, as in Gen 13:17 (Hitzig, Delitzsch). To take possession of dwelling-laces that are not his own ( = ), i.e., to take possession of foreign lands that do not belong to him. In Hab 1:7 the fierce disposition of this people is still further depicted, and in Hab 1:8 the violence with which it advances. , formidabilis , exciting terror; , metuendus , creating alarm. , from it, not from God (cf. Psa 17:2), does its right proceed, i.e., it determines right, and the rule of its conduct, according to its own standard; and , its eminence (Gen 49:3; Hos 13:1), “its (1Co 11:7) above all other nations” (Hitzig), making itself lord through the might of its arms. Its horses are lighter, i.e., swifter of foot, than panthers, which spring with the greatest rapidity upon their prey (for proofs of the swiftness of the panther, see Bochart, Hieroz. ii. p. 104, ed. Ros.), and , lit., sharper, i.e., shooting sharply upon it. As qalal represents swiftness as a light rapid movement, which hardly touches the ground, so chada , , describes it as a hasty precipitate dash upon a certain object (Delitzsch). The first clause of this verse has been repeated by Jeremiah (Jer 4:13), with the alteration of one letter (viz., for ). Wolves of the evening (cf. Zep 3:3) are wolves which go out in the evening in search of prey, after having fasted through the day, not “wolves of Arabia ( = , lxx) or of the desert” ( Kimchi).
Pashu from push , after the Arabic fas, med . Ye , to strut proudly; when used of a horse and its rider, to spring along, to gallop; or of a calf, to hop or jump (Jer 50:11; Mal 4:2). The connection between this and push (Nah 3:18), niphal to disperse or scatter one’s self, is questionable. Delitzsch (on Job 35:15) derives push in this verse and the passage cited from Arab. fas, med . Vav, in the sense of swimming upon the top, and apparently traces push in Nahum 3, as well as pash in Job 35:15, to Arab. fss (when used of water: to overflow its dam); whilst Freytag (in the Lexicon) gives, as the meaning of Arab. fss II, dissolvit, dissipavit . Parashm are horsemen, not riding-horses. The repetition of does not warrant our erasing the words as a gloss, as Hitzig proposes. It can be explained very simply from the fact, that in the second hemistich Habakkuk passes from the general description of the Chaldaeans to a picture of their invasion of Judah. , from afar, i.e., from Babylonia (cf. Isa 39:3). Their coming from afar, and the comparison of the rushing along of the Chaldaean horsemen to the flight of an eagle, points to the threat in Deu 28:49, “Jehovah shall bring against thee a nation from far, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flieth,” which is now about to be fulfilled. Jeremiah frequently uses the same comparison when speaking of the Chaldaeans, viz., in Jer 4:13; Jer 48:40; Jer 49:22, and Lam 4:19 (cf. 2Sa 1:23). The . . may mean a horde or crowd, after the Hebrew werbeH , and the Arabic jammah , or snorting, endeavouring, striving, after Arab. jmm and jam , appetivit , in which case would be connected with , to swallow. But the first meaning does not suit , whereas the second does. , not eastwards, but according to the primary meaning of , to the front, forwards. Ewald renders it incorrectly: “the striving of their face is to storm, i.e., to mischief;” for qadm , the east wind, when used in the sense of storm, is a figurative expression for that which is vain and worthless (Hos 12:2; cf. Job 15:2), but not for mischief. For , compare Gen 41:49 and Zec 9:3; and for , like sand of the sea, Hos 2:1. In Hab 1:10 and are introduced, that the words and , upon which the emphasis lies, may be placed first. It, the Chaldaean nation, scoffs at kings and princes, and every stronghold, i.e., it ridicules all the resistance that kings and princes offer to its advance, by putting forth their strength, as a perfectly fruitless attempt. Mischaq , the object of laughter. The words, it heaps up dust and takes it (the fortress), express the facility with which every fortress is conquered by it. To heap up dust: denoting the casting up an embankment for attack (2Sa 20:15, etc.). The feminine suffix attached to refers ad sensum to the idea of a city ( ), implied in , the latter being equivalent to in 1Sa 6:18; 2Ki 3:19, etc. Thus will the Chaldaean continue incessantly to overthrow kings and conquer kingdoms with tempestuous rapidity, till he offends, by deifying his own power. With this gentle hint at the termination of his tyranny, the announcement of the judgment closes in Hab 1:11. , there, i.e., in this appearance of his, as depicted in Hab 1:6-10: not “then,” in which case Hab 1:11 would affirm to what further enterprises the Chaldaeans would proceed after their rapidly and easily effected conquests. The perfects and are used prophetically, representing the future as occurring already. and are used synonymously: to pass along and go further, used of the wind or tempest, as in Isa 21:1; here, as in Isa 8:8, of the hostile army overflowing the land; with this difference, however, that in Isaiah it is thought of as a stream of water, whereas here it is thought of as a tempest sweeping over the land. The subject to chalaph is not ruach , but the Chaldaean ( , Hab 1:10); and ruach is used appositionally, to denote the manner in which it passes along, viz., “like a tempestuous wind” ( ruach as in Job 30:15; Isa 7:2). is not a participle, but a perfect with Vav rel., expressing the consequence, “and so he offends.” In what way is stated in the last clause, in which does not answer to the relative , in the sense of “he whose power,” but is placed demonstratively before the noun , like in Exo 32:1; Jos 9:12-13, and Isa 23:13 (cf. Ewald, 293, b), pointing back to the strength of the Chaldaean, which has been previously depicted in its intensive and extensive greatness (Delitzsch). This its power is god to it, i.e., it makes it into its god (for the thought, compare Job 12:6, and the words of the Assyrian in Isa 10:13). The ordinary explanation of the first hemistich is, on the other hand, untenable (then its courage becomes young again, or grows), since cannot stand for , and without an object given in the context cannot mean to overstep, i.e., to go beyond the proper measure.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
This verse is added by the Prophet as an explanation; for it was not enough to speak generally of God’s work, without reminding them that their destruction by the Chaldeans was nigh at hand. He does not indeed in this verse explain what would be the character of that judgement which he had mentioned in the last verse Hab 1:5; but he will do this in what follows. Now the Prophets differ from Moses in this respect, for they show, as it were by the finger, what he threatened generally, and they declare the special judgements of God; as it is indeed evident from the demonstrative adverb, “Behold.” How necessary this was, we may gather from the perverseness of that people; for how distinctly soever the Prophets showed to them God’s judgements, so that they saw them with their eyes, yet so great was their insensibility, that they despised denunciations so apparent. What, then, would have been done, if the Prophets had only said in general, ‘God will not spare you!’ This, then, is the reason why the Prophet, having spoken of God’s terrible vengeance, now declares in express terms, that the Chaldeans were already armed by Him to execute His judgement. The rest we leave for tomorrow.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(6) I raise up the Chaldeansi.e., I am bringing up the Chaldan or Babylonian armies into Juda. The phrase implies that the Chaldans were not yet in Juda, but there is no occasion to find an allusion to the recent rise of the Chaldan nation. We notice this point because an ethnological theory (now generally abandoned) has regarded the Chaldans of the prophetic period as raised to national existence only a little time before the date of Habakkuk. It was supposed that they were a race distinct from the Chaldans of earlier Scripture; being, in fact, an association of northern hordes who had but recently penetrated the lower Mesopotamian valley. Hab. 1:6 and Isa. 23:13 were therefore interpreted as illustrating the fact that these new nationalities were on a sudden raised up, elevated from their low estate of Assyrian colonists, to be the conquering people which they became under Nebuchadnezzar. The confutation of this theory may be found in Rawlinsons Ancient Monarchies, i. 57, 59. It appears that Babylon was peopled at this time, not, as was formerly supposed, with hordes of Armenians, Arabs, Kurds, and Sclaves, but with a mixed population, in which the old Chaldan and Assyrian elements preponderated. The Chaldans of the seventh century B.C. were, in fact, as legitimate descendants of the people of Nimrods empire as we are of the Saxons. Certainly, the rapidity with which Babylon rose from the position of an Assyrian colony to that of ruler of Asia was marvellous. But the work which is to make the Jews wonder is not Gods choice of an agent, but that agents proceeding; not the elevation of one Gentile power in the place of another, but the attack which that new power is to make upon the sacred city.
Bitter and hasty.Better, fierce and impetuous. The association of these two epithets, mar and nimhr, is the more forcible, because of their similarity in sound. With respect to the whole passage Hab. 1:6-11, Kleinert well remarks, The present passage is the locus classicus for the characteristics of this warlike people, just as Isa. 5:26 seq. is for the characteristics of the Assyrians.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Hab 1:6. That bitter and hasty nation That swift nation, which shall hasten its pace, and shall march, &c. Houbigant.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
After the observation I ventured to make on the preceding verse, it will be expected from me, that I should say in what sense I consider what is here said of the Chaldeans coming up upon the land. To which I readily answer, that no doubt the Lord by the Prophet was here predicting the sad events which were to come upon the Church by the Babylonish captivity. But, when we consider yet further, that those events, calamitous as they were in themselves, were all ministering to the one great object, to which the whole of the law, and the Prophets ministered, even to the person, work, and glory of the Lord Jesus Christ; it is blessed to perceive how God the Holy Ghost, by the ministry of his Servants, is holding forth comforts to the Church, while correcting the people for their sins. See Zep 3:20 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Hab 1:6 For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, [that] bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land, to possess the dwellingplaces [that are] not theirs.
Ver. 6. For lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation ] The Chaldeans were anciently the philosophers of the Babylonians: Babylon was a province of the Assyrian empire; but not the same with Nineveh (only walled about by Semiramis, and by her called Babylon), as Suidas noteth. Nineveh was the metropolis, Babylon ruled by prefects. One of whom, viz. Merodach-Baladan, rebelling against Esarhaddon, King of Nineveh, translated the whole kingdom to the Babylonians, using the help and counsel of the Chaldeans, famous for their wisdom and authority; which yet was not done without the Lord, who then stirred them up, and now sent them against the Jews, to avenge the quarrel of his covenant. In like manner God hath in these last times raised up the Turks, “that bitter and hasty nation,” bitter and bloody, hasty and headlong, , pursuing their victories and subduing in a short time many nations and kingdoms to their empire. Hence the Jews are in the former verse called upon to view among the heathen what havoc the Chaldeans had made; that is, should shortly make by overrunning Syria, the greater part of all Asia, and some part also of Africa. In the greatness of the Turkish empire is swallowed up at this day both the name and empire of the Saracens, the most glorious empire of the Greeks, the renowned kingdoms of Macedonia, Peloponnesus, Epirus, Bulgaria, Servia, Bosnia, Armenia, Cyprus, Syria, Egypt, Judaea, Tunis, Algiers, Media, Chaldea, with a great part of Hungary; as also of the Persian kingdom, and all the Churches and places so much spoken of in Scripture (the Roman only excepted, which yet he daily threateneth), and, in brief, so much in Christendom, as far exceedeth that which is thereof at this day left. In fine, no part of the world is left untouched by the Ottoman monarchy but America only; not more happy in her rich mines than in that she is so far from so great and dangerous an enemy. The King of Spain, of all other princes, Mahometan or Christian, that border upon the Turk, is best able to wage war with him. How far and with what bitterness and haste he hath carried on his Catholic monarchy is better known than that it need here to be related. Queen Elizabeth put a stop to him. Captain Drake and his soldiers, when they took Saint Domingo, A.D. 1585 (where his arms were to be seen in the townhall with this inscription, Non sufficit orbis The world is not enough), derided his avarice and ambition; but the poor Indies groan heavily under his cruelty: and Grynaeus commenting upon these words, “that bitter and hasty nation,” Tribuuntur illis duo, saith he, Two things are here attributed to the Chaldees’ bitterness and swiftness in undertaking and despatching conquests: quibus dotibus Iberos nostra aetate praeditos, proh dolor, experimur, this by woeful experience we find today too much verified of the Spaniards.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
I raise up, &c. Reference to Pentateuch (Deu 28:49, Deu 28:5). App-92.
theirs. Hebrew his; and so throughout this chapter.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
I raise: Deu 28:49-52, 2Ki 24:2, 2Ch 36:6, 2Ch 36:17, Isa 23:13, Isa 39:6, Isa 39:7, Jer 1:15, Jer 1:16, Jer 4:6, Jer 4:8, Jer 5:15, Jer 6:22, Jer 6:23, Jer 21:4, Jer 25:9
breadth: Heb. breadths
Reciprocal: Gen 43:34 – were merry 2Ki 9:20 – driving Job 1:17 – The Chaldeans Isa 29:20 – the terrible Jer 5:12 – have belied Jer 10:22 – the noise Jer 13:20 – and Jer 21:7 – he shall Jer 50:42 – they are cruel Eze 7:24 – I will bring Eze 16:40 – shall also Eze 21:31 – and skilful Eze 23:22 – I will raise Eze 28:7 – the terrible Eze 30:11 – the terrible Eze 31:12 – strangers Eze 32:12 – the terrible Dan 7:4 – like Mic 5:1 – gather Hab 1:9 – for Hab 3:16 – he will Zep 1:16 – day Heb 2:1 – let them slip Rev 20:9 – went
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Hab 1:6. The Chaldeans were a special race of people who got in the lead in the land or Babylon, hence the terms Chaldeans and Babylonians are used in the same sense. From Hab 1:6-11 is a prediction of the great captivity that God was going to bring upon Judah. Hasty is from a word that is defined “prompt” in the lexicon. The Chaldeans were prompt in their movemenls, especially when they were induced thereto by bitterness as they were against Judah. They were to come through the land of God’s people and take possession of the whole country.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Hab 1:6. For lo, I raise up the Chaldeans This is spoken of as a matter of great wonder and astonishment, because the Chaldeans, in the times of Hezekiah, Manasseh, and Josiah, were allies of the Jewish nation, and seemed linked to them in the greatest friendship; so that they had no fear on that side, but all their fear was from the Egyptians. Therefore the coming of the Chaldeans into the country is spoken of here as a thing entirely new, and as if that people had been called into existence for the very purpose of punishing the Jewish nation. There is a prophecy similar to this in Isaiah, with regard to the Assyrians, in whom the Jewish nation then placed their chief confidence, and thought of nothing less than of the evils which Isaiah threatened should be brought upon them by that nation: so weak and short-sighted often is human policy! see Isaiah 7. That bitter and hasty nation That people cruel, in their disposition, quick in executing their purposes, and hasty in their marches, Isa 5:26-27; Jer 5:16-17. Which shall march through the breadth of the land, to possess, &c. This is spoken of the Chaldeans extending their conquests to a vast distance from the original seat of their empire.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The Lord urged the prophet and his people to see that He was in the process of raising up the Chaldeans as a force and power in their world. The name "Chaldeans" derives from the ruling class that lived in southern Mesopotamia and took leadership in the Neo-Babylonian Empire. The last and greatest dynasty to rule Babylon was of Chaldean origin. Thus "Chaldean" was almost a synonym for "Babylonian." The Chaldeans were Semites, descendants of Kesed, the son of Nahor, Abraham’s brother (Gen 22:22). Some modern Iraqis, especially those from southern Iraq, still identify themselves as Chaldeans. The Neo-Babylonian Empire began its rise to world domination with the accession of Nabopolassar to the throne of Babylon in 626 B.C. This aggressive king stimulated the Babylonians to become a ruthless and impetuous nation that had already marched through the ancient Near East and conquered several neighboring nations (cf. Eze 28:7; Eze 30:11; Eze 31:12; Eze 32:12). Thus Babylonia would be the rod of God’s punishment of Judah as Assyria had been His instrument of judgment of Israel.
"The seventh-century prophets depicted the Lord as the sovereign ruler over the nations." [Note: Robert B. Chisholm Jr., "A Theology of the Minor Prophets," in A Biblical Theology of the Old Testament, p. 415.]