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Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Habakkuk 1:12

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[Art] thou not from everlasting, O LORD my God, mine Holy One? we shall not die. O LORD, thou hast ordained them for judgment; and, O mighty God, thou hast established them for correction.

12 17. Remonstrance of the Prophet with God, the righteous Ruler of the world, over the cruelties and inhumanity of the Chaldeans

12. The words down to “die” must form two lines and cannot be divided at “Holy One.” Most naturally thus:

Art not thou from everlasting, O Jehovah!

My God, mine Holy One, we shall not die!

Others make the division at “my God.” The word “everlasting” again Deu 33:27. The eternity of their God is often a ground of confidence to Israel; Isa 40:28, “an everlasting God is Jehovah, he fainteth not neither is weary.” Cf. Psa 90:2, “from everlasting to everlasting thou art God.”

we shall not die ] This is said half in supplication, half in assurance; Psa 118:17; cf. 1Sa 20:14. Comp. the assurance “shall live” ch. Hab 2:4. The accumulation of divine names shews the earnestness and importunity of the prophet. According to Jewish tradition “we shall not die” is a tiun (emendation) of the “scribes” for thou shall not die (diest not). Opinions differ as to who the “scribes” are. Some consider that the original authors are meant, in which case the tiun would be a second thought of the writer. What occurred to him to say first was “thou diest not,” but reverence restrained him from bringing the ideas of death and God together, and he said “we shall not die.” We are not informed how this interesting process in the prophet’s mind became known to after-times. Obviously this is not the real account of the matter, which is not easy to give. No doubt, however, these so-called emendations there are eighteen of them were either (1) real corrections by the scribes, i.e. copyists or editors of the sacred books; or (2) they are no emendations at all, but the original text; the supposed readings which they are said to have supplanted being mere fancies of Jewish scholars as to what might have been written. Possibly they are partly of the one class and partly of the other. In the present passage Sept. agrees with Heb., but in another, Job 7:20, it exhibits the supposed original reading: “I am become a burden unto Thee ” (Heb. unto myself).

ordained them for judgment ] lit. him, i.e. the Chaldean. The prophet proceeds in the same tone of half prayer, half confidence, struck in “we shall not die,” explaining to himself and venturing to suggest before God what must be the meaning of the Chaldean’s supremacy and oppression he is not meant to cause Israel to perish, only to execute God’s temporary judgment upon it. Ewald takes the other possible view, viz. that it is the Chaldean himself who is appointed to be judged and receive punishment. This view is less natural in the connexion.

O mighty God correction ] and O Rock thou hast appointed him for correction to be the instrument of chastising Israel. The term Rock is used of God, Deu 32:4; Deu 32:18; Deu 32:30-31 ; 1Sa 2:2, 2Sa 22:32; 2Sa 23:3; cf. Gen 49:24.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

The prophet, having summed up the deeds of the enemy of God in this his end, sets forth his questions anew. He had appealed against the evil of the wicked of his people; he had been told of the vengeance by the Chaldaeans (Heading of Hab. 1). But the vengeance is executed by them who are far worse. How then? The answer is: Wait to the end, and thou shalt see. What remains are the triumphs of faith; the second chapter closes with the entire prostration of the whole world before God, and the whole prophecy with joyous trust in God amid the entire failure of all outward signs of hope. Here, like the Psalmists (Asaph, Ps. 73 Ethan Psa 76:1-12) and Jeremiah Jer 12:1, he sets down at the very beginning his entire trust in God, and so, in the name of all who at any time shall be perplexed about the order of Gods judgments, asks how it shall be, teaching us that the only safe way of enquiring into Gods ways is by setting out with a living conviction that they, Psa 25:10, are mercy and truth. And so the address to God is full of awe and confidence and inward love. For God placeth the oil of mercy in the vessel of trustfulness.

Art Thou not – (the word has always an emphasis) Thou and not whatsoever or whosoever it be that is opposed to Thee (be it Nebuchadnezzar or Satan).

From everlasting – literally, from before? See the note at Mic 5:2. Go back as far as man can in thought – God was still before; and so, much more before any of His creatures, such as those who rebel against Him.

O Lord – it is the proper name of God, Rev 1:8, Which is and Which was and Which is to come – I am, the Unchangeable; my God, i. e., whereas his own might is (he had just said) the pagans god, the Lord is his;

Mine Holy One – one word, denoting that God is his God, sufficeth him not, but he adds (what does not elsewhere occur) mine Holy One in every way, as hallowing him and hallowed by him. Dion.: Who hallowest my soul, Holy in Thine Essence, and whom as incomparably Holy I worship in holiness. All-Holy in Himself, He becometh the Holy One of him to whom He imparteth Himself, and so, by His own gift, belongeth, as it were, to him. The one word in Hebrew wonderfully fits in with the truth, that God becomes one with man by taking him to Himself. It is fall of inward trust too, that he saith, my God, my Holy One, as Paul saith, Gal 2:9, Who loved me, and gave Himself for me, i. e., as Augustine explains it , O Thou God Omnipotent, who so carest for every one of us, as if Thou caredst for him only; and so for all, as if tbey were but one. The title, my Holy One, includes his people with himself; for God was his God, primarily because he was one of the people of God; and his office was for and in behalf of his people.

It involves then that other title which had been the great support of Isaiah , by which he at once comforted his people, and impressed upon them the holiness of their God, the holiness which their relation to their God required, the Holy One of Israel. Thence, since Habakkuk lived, for his people with himself, on this relation to God, as my God, my Holy One, and that God, the Unchangeable; it follows, We shall not die. There is no need of any mark of inference, therefore we shall not die. It is an inference, but it so lay in those titles of God, He Is, My God, My Holy One, that it was a more loving confidence to say directly, we shall not die. The one thought involved the other. God, the Unchangeable, had made Himself their God. It was impossible, then, that lie should cast them off or that they should perish.

We shall not die, is the lightning thought of faith, which flashes on the soul like all inspirations of God, founded on His truth and word, but borne in, as it were, instinctively without inference on the soul, with the same confidence as the Psalmist says Psa 118:18, The Lord hath chastened me sore; but He hath not given me over unto death; and Malachi Mal 3:6, I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. Jerome: Thou createdst us from the beginning; by Thy mercy we are in being hitherto. Thy gifts and calling are without repentance. Rom 11:29 did we look to his might; none of us could withstand him. Look we to Thy mercy, Thine alone is it that we live, are not slain by him, nor led to deeds of death. O Lord, again he repeats the Name of God, whereby He had revealed Himself as their God, the Unchangeable; Thou, whose mercies fail not, hast ordained them for judgment, not for vengeance or to make a full end, or for his own ends and pleasure, but to correct Thine own Jer 10:24; Jer 30:11 in measure, which he, exceeding, sinned (See Isa 10:5; Isa 47:6; Zec 1:15).

And O mighty God – literally, Rock. It is a bold title. My rock is a title much used by David , perhaps suggested by the fastnesses amid which he passed his hunted life, to express that not in them but in His God was his safety. Habakkuk purposely widens it. He appeals to God, not only as Israels might and upholder, but as the sole Source of all strength, the Supporter of all which is upheld , and so, for the time, of the Chaldaean too. Hence, he continues the simple image: Thou hast founded him . Thou hast made him to stand firm as the foundation of a building; to reprove or set before those who have sinned against Thee, what they had done. Since then God was the Rock, who had founded them, from Him Alone had they strength; when He should withdraw it, they must fall. How then did they yet abide, who abused the power given them and counted it their own? And this the more, since …

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Hab 1:12

Art Thou not from everlasting, O Lord my God, mine Holy One?

we shall not die.

The Christian conception of immortality

We know that this prophet was inspired, from the profound moral insight and far-reaching spiritual vision revealed in his utterance. His words are his only credentials, but they are amply sufficient. The prophecy dates near the close of the seventh or the beginning of the sixth century, b.c. The circumstances of Habakkuks time largely determined the contents as well as the form of his prophecy. What were these circumstances? On the one hand grave disappointment in the development of his own nation. The hope centring in Josiah was dispelled by his death in ill-advised battle. Simultaneously the power of Assyria waned, and the power of Babylon grew. The politicians despair is the prophets opportunity, and grandly does Habakkuk rise to the occasion. The prophet saw that though Babylon was a hindrance to Judahs political emancipation, yet it was one of the necessary agents of its moral deliverance. Chaldea is to this extent Gods agent, that it will compel Judah to fall back upon its religion and its God. Because the Eternal God is holy, Judah cannot die. The argument deals, strictly speaking, only with the persistence and decay of earthly societies and kingdoms. The life which is inferred from ethical kinship with God is victorious national life. The individual counterpart of the prophets argument is given by our Saviour in His inspiring words, Because I live, ye shall live also. The relation of the principle to the individual, and individual immortality is, no doubt, more subtle and complicated, especially with regard to the negative results of the principle; but there is a wide field of positive conclusions, where the argument is quite as strong and clear and inspiring in the case of the individual as of the nation, and this profounder and richer application has been fully made in the New Testament. Indeed the whole progress of revelation has been the unfolding of old principles into ampler significance rather than the addition of new ones. In the New Testament the individual is emphasised, and all ethical and religions considerations are first of all studied in reference to the individual. There is a little danger nowadays of losing sight of the individual again, of going back to the old world immature conceptions of society, in which the individual lay latent in the mass. This is a mistake. We shall not create an ideal society by accomplishing superficial reformations in the mass; we must be ever searching through the mass for the individual. The religion of Christ is primarily for the individual. Primarily, therefore, in the application of the Divine message, we have to deal with the spirit of man in its individual relation to God.

I. The spiritual mans conviction of immortality. The Scriptures nowhere assert the general principle of human immortality. There is certainly no clear indication of conditional immortality. The biblical revelation of immortality is in part bright and clear as the noonday, in part obscure and shadowy. We must not confound the method of Plato and Butler with the biblical method. One thing is clear. As man is, like God, an essentially ethical being, he cannot be destroyed by a merely physical change like death. The sense of spiritual kinship with God gradually compelled the personal conviction of immortality. The revelation has always come in the intense individual conviction, I live in God, and so live for ever. The manifest aim of revelation has been to develop the Christian consciousness, not to satisfy all our curiosity about the eternal future. It is sometimes said that the only certain proof of immortality is the resurrection of Jesus Christ. This is correct, if it is carefully stated. It is correct, when the resurrection of Christ completes the Christian consciousness, and is vitally related to it. Paid argues thus, If the resurrection of Christ be not a historic fact, then the deepest and noblest spiritual consciousness of men is a vanity and a falsehood, for that depends upon and demands a risen Christ. The Christ within me is the final assurance of life and immortality.

II. The christian contents of this conviction. It is a conviction, not of mere continued existence, but of eternal life, rich and varied in its content, a life filled to overflowing with the fulness of the Eternal.

1. The Christian conviction of immortality involves the assurance of a great increase and expansion of life after death. This assurance of expansion of life does not imply a breach of continuity between this life and the next.

2. The contents of this conviction include the resurrection of the body. Scepticism on this subject has arisen from supposed intellectual difficulties which have been allowed to obscure the utterance of the living voice of the Christ-spirit within. The denial of the resurrection of the body is virtually a denial of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Are there then no difficulties? None at all, except those created by superficial theories of the resurrection. The continuity and redemption of our wonderful complex life will be complete. (John Thomas, M. A.)

The eternity, providence, and holiness of Jehovah

I. The prophet regards the eternity of Jehovah as an argument for their preservation. Art Thou not from everlasting? The interrogatory does not imply doubt on his part. The true God is essentially eternal, He inhabiteth eternity. From His eternity the prophet argues that His people will not perish,–we shall not die. There is force in this argument. His people live in Him. Christ said to His disciples, Because I live, ye shall live also. Mans immortality is not in himself, but in God.

II. He regards His providence as a source of comfort. O Lord, Thou hast ordained them for judgment; and, O Mighty God, Thou hast established them for correction. Jehovah, for judgment Thou hast appointed it, and, O Rock, Thou hast founded it for chastisement (Delitzsch). Whatever evil of any kind, from any quarter, comes upon the loyal servants of God, comes not by accident: it is under the direction of the All-wise and the All-beneficent. These Chaldeans could not move without Him, nor could they strike one blow without His permission; they were but the rod in His hand. All the most furious fiends in the universe are under His direction. Whatever mischief men design to inflict upon His people, He purposes to bring good out of it; and His counsel shall stand.

II. He regards His holiness as an occasion for perplexity. Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity: wherefore lookest Thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest Thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he? Jehovah is the Holy One. As if he had said, Since Thou art holy, why allow such abominations to take place? why permit wicked men to work such iniquities, and to inflict such suffering upon the righteous? This has always been a source of perplexity to good men. (Homilist.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 12. Art thou not frown everlasting] The idols change, and their worshippers change and fail: but thou, Jehovah, art eternal; thou canst not change, and they who trust in thee are safe. Thou art infinite in thy mercy; therefore, “we shall not die,” shall not be totally exterminated.

Thou hast ordained them for judgment] Thou hast raised up the Chaldeans to correct and punish us; but thou hast not given them a commission to destroy us totally.

Instead of lo namuth, “we shall not die,” Houbigant and other critics, with a little transposition of letters, read El emeth, “God of truth;” and then the verse will stand thus: “Art thou not from everlasting, O Jehovah, my God, my Holy One? O Jehovah, GOD OF TRUTH, thou hast appointed them for judgment.” But this emendation, however elegant, is not supported by any MS.; nor, indeed, by any of the ancient versions, though the Chaldee has something like it. The common reading makes a very good sense.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

Art thou not from everlasting? in being, thou art that God who art not like the gods of the nations, upstart and novel, but before the mountains were brought forth thou wast God; thou hast permitted, borne with, restrained, overthrown, and punished such proud, bloody, and sacrilegious wretches. In thy works of old, before this proud Chaldean monarch was thought of, thou wert as now, wonderful, just, and good, and thy saints found support in the remembrance thereof, Psa 74:12; 77:5,11; 143:5; Isa 45:21. In covenant with thine Israel, which covenant is not of late years, it is an ancient covenant, and as it hath, it still shall be kept for our good.

O Lord; the Sovereign Lord and Ruler of the world, who only art Jehovah.

My God; Judge and Vindex by office; as Judge, engaged to defend, rescue, and avenge the oppressed; and my God or Judge. Whether the prophet speaks only in his own, or in his peoples name, he hath a respect to that peculiar relation he or they had to God, much like that Isa 63:19. He refers to the ancient covenant relation which God had taken them into, and implies his hope and expectation of help from God, their Judge and Vindex.

Mine Holy One; holy in thy nature, law, and government, in thy mercies, and in judgments, who dost intend to make thy holiness appear in due time by saving us; though thou seem to forget, or at least to delay the work, yet thou art the Holy One in the midst of us, Isa 12:6, and we wait for thee.

We, who are thine, and oppressed, threatened, and exposed to the avarice and cruelty of the Chaldean,

shall not die; be utterly cut off and destroyed, for the death of a nation is the destruction or desolation of it. Thou who hast made us thine by an everlasting covenant of mercy, wilt show us such mercy that we shall outlive the rage of our enemies.

O Lord: with humble veneration he doth look towards God, and discerneth what quieteth his spirit, and confirms his faith and patience.

Thou hast ordained, set up, maintained, and designed, them, the Chaldean kingdom, as Hab 1:6.

for judgment; to execute this judgment, which is ever attempered with mercy, which ever betters, never destroys thy people: see Isa 10:5, &c. Babylon, as Assyria, was the rod of Gods indignation, &c.

O mighty God: this he repeats for confirmation and illustration, and intimateth God to be his peoples rock and refuge.

Thou hast established, strengthened and fortified, them for correction; to chastise and discipline, not to destroy.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

12. In opposition to the impiousdeifying of the Chaldeans power as their god (MAURER,or, as the English Version, their attributing of theirsuccesses to their idols), the prophet, in an impassioned address toJehovah, vindicates His being “from everlasting,” ascontrasted with the Chaldean so-called “god.”

my God, mine HolyOneHabakkuk speaks in the name of his people. God was “theHoly One of Israel,” against whom the Chaldean wassetting up himself (Isa 37:23).

we shall not dieThou,as being our God, wilt not permit the Chaldeans utterly todestroy us. This reading is one of the eighteen called by the Hebrews”the appointment of the scribes”; the Rabbis think thatEzra and his colleagues corrected the old reading, “Thoushalt not die.”

thou hast ordained them forjudgmentthat is, to execute Thy judgments.

for correctiontochastise transgressors (Isa10:5-7). But not that they may deify their own power (Hab1:11, for their power is from Thee, and but for a time); nor thatthey may destroy utterly Thy people. The Hebrew for “mightyGod” is Rock (De 32:4).However the world is shaken, or man’s faith wavers, God remainsunshaken as the Rock of Ages (Isa26:4, Margin).

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

[Art] thou not from everlasting, O Lord my God, mine holy One? …. The prophet, foreseeing these calamities coming upon his nation and people, observes some things for their comfort in this verse; and expostulates with God in the following verses Hab 1:13 about his providential dealings, in order to obtain an answer from him, which might remove the objections of his own mind, and those of other good men he personates, raised against them; being stumbled at this, that wicked men should be suffered to succeed and prosper, and the righteous should be afflicted and distressed by them: but for his own present consolation, and that of others, in a view of the worst that should befall them, he strongly asserts,

we shall not die; meaning not a corporeal death, for that all men die, good and bad; and this the Jews did die, and no doubt good men among them too, at the siege and taking of Jerusalem by the Chaldean army, either by famine, or pestilence, or sword: nor a death of affliction, which the people of God are subject to, as well as others; is often their case, and is for their good, and in love, and not wrath: but a spiritual death, which none that are quickened by the Spirit and grace of God ever die; though grace may be low, it is never lost; though saints may be in dead and lifeless frames, and need quickening afresh, yet they are not without the principle of spiritual life; grace in them is a well of living water, springing up to everlasting life; their spiritual life can never fail them, since it is secured in Christ: and much less shall they die the second, or an eternal death; they are ordained to eternal life; Christ is come, and given his flesh for it, that they might have it; it is in his hands for them; they are united to him, and have both the promise and pledge of it: and this may be argued, as by the prophet here, from the eternity of God, art “thou not from everlasting?” he is from everlasting to everlasting, the Ancient of days, that inhabits eternity, is, was, and is to come: therefore “we shall not die”; none of his people shall perish, because he loves them with an everlasting love; has made an everlasting choice of them; has set up Christ from everlasting as their surety and Saviour; entered into an everlasting covenant with them in Christ; is their everlasting Father, and will be their everlasting portion; is the unchangeable Jehovah, and therefore they shall not be consumed: this may be concluded from their covenant interest in God, “O Lord my God”; they are his peculiar people, given to Christ to be preserved by him, and covenant interest always continues; he that is their God is their God and guide unto death: and also from the holiness of God, “mine holy One”; who has sworn by his holiness to them, and is faithful to his covenant and promise; and is the sanctifier of them, that has sanctified or set them apart for himself; made Christ sanctification to them, and makes them holy by his Spirit and grace, and enables them to persevere in grace and holiness: moreover, this may be understood of the people of the Jews, as a church and nation; who, though they would be carried captive into Babylon, yet would still continue as such, and be returned again as such, and not die, sink, and perish; since the Messiah was to spring from them; and they might be assured of their preservation for that purpose, from the perfections of God, his covenant with them, and their relation to him: nor shall the church of Christ in any age die and perish, though in ever so low a state; a particular church may, but the interest and church of Christ in general, or his spiritual seed, never shall. This is one of the eighteen passages, as Jarchi, Kimchi, and Ben Melech observe, called “Tikkun-Sopherim”, the correction of the scribes, of Ezra, and his company; it having been written, in some copies, “thou shall not die” a; asserting the immortality of God, or his eternity to come; and that, as he was from everlasting, so he should continue to everlasting; and to this sense the Targum paraphrases the words,

“thy Word remaineth for ever;”

and so the Syriac version follows the same reading:

O Lord, thou hast ordained them for judgment: that is, the Chaldeans; either to be judged and punished themselves for their sins, as all wicked Christless sinners are, even righteously foreordained to condemnation for their sins; or rather to be the instruments of punishing the wicked among the Jews; for this purpose were these people ordained in the counsels of God, and raised up in his providence, and constituted a kingdom, and made a powerful nation:

O mighty God; or “rock” b; the rock and refuge of his people:

thou hast established them for correction; or “founded” c them, and settled them as a monarchy, strong and mighty for this end, that they might be a rod in the hand of the Lord, not for destruction, but for correction and chastisement; and from hence it might be also comfortably concluded that they should not die and utterly perish.

a “non morieris”, Vatablus, Drusius, Grotius. b “O rupes”, Junius Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius, Van Till “O petra”, Drusius. c “fundasti eum”, Pagninus, Montanus, Piscator, Cocceius, Van Till; “constituisti”, Vatablus.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

On this threatening announcement of the judgment by God, the prophet turns to the Lord in the name of believing Israel, and expresses the confident hope that He as the Holy One will not suffer His people to perish. Hab 1:12. “Art Thou not from olden time, O Jehovah, my God, my Holy One? We shall not die. Jehovah, for judgment hast Thou appointed it; and, O Rock, founded it for chastisement.” However terrible and prostrating the divine threatening may sound, the prophet draws consolation and hope from the holiness of the faithful covenant God, that Israel will not perish, but that the judgment will be only a severe chastisement.

(Note: “Therefore,” says Calvin, “whoever desires to fight bravely with the ungodly, let him first settle the matter with God Himself, and, as it were, confirm and ratify that treaty which God has set before us, namely, that we are His people, and He will be a God to us in return. And because God makes a covenant with us in this manner, it is necessary that our faith should be well established, that we may go forth to the conflict with all the ungodly.”)

The supplicatory question with which he soars to this hope of faith is closely connected with the divine and threatening prophecy in Hab 1:11. The Chaldaean’s god is his own strength; but Israel’s God is Jehovah, the Holy One. On the interrogative form of the words (“art Thou not?”), which requires an affirmative reply, Luther has aptly observed that “he speaks to God interrogatively, asking whether He will do this and only punish; not that he has any doubt on the subject, but that he shows how faith is sustained in the midst of conflicts, – namely, that it appears as weak as if it did not believe, and would sink at once, and fall into despair on account of the great calamity which crushes it. For although faith stands firm, yet it cracks, and speaks in a very different tone when in the midst of the conflict from what it does when the victory is gained.” But as the question is sure to receive an affirmative reply, the prophet draws this inference from it: “we shall not die,” we Thy people shall not perish. This hope rests upon two foundations: viz., (1) from time immemorial Jehovah is Israel’s God; and (2) He is the Holy One of Israel, who cannot leave wickedness unpunished either in Israel or in the foe. This leads to the further conclusion, that Jehovah has simply appointed the Chaldaean nation to execute the judgment, to chastise Israel, and not to destroy His people. The three predicates applied to God have equal weight in the question. The God to whom the prophet prays is Jehovah, the absolutely constant One, who is always the same in word and work (see at Gen 2:4); He is also Elohai, my, i.e., Israel’s, God, who from time immemorial has proved to the people whom He had chosen as His possession that He is their God; and , the Holy One of Israel, the absolutely Pure One, who cannot look upon evil, and therefore cannot endure that the wicked should devour the righteous (Hab 1:13). is not a supplicatory wish: Let us not die therefore; but a confident assertion: “We shall not die.”

(Note: According to the Masora, stands as , i.e., correctio scribarum for , thou wilt not die. These tikkune sophrim , however, of which the Masora reckons eighteen, are not alterations of original readings proposed by the sophrim , but simply traditional definitions of what the sacred writers originally intended to write, though they afterwards avoided it or gave a different turn. Thus the prophet intended to write here: “Thou (God) wilt not die;” but in the consciousness that this was at variance with the divine decorum, he gave it this turn, “We shall not die.” But this rabbinical conjecture rests upon the erroneous assumption that is a predicate, and the thought of the question is this: “Thou art from of old, Thou Jehovah my God, my Holy One,” according to which would be an exegesis of , which is evidently false. For further remarks on the tikkune sophrim , see Delitzsch’s Commentary on Hab. l.c., and the Appendix. p. 206ff.)

In the second half of the verse, Y e hovah and tsur (rock) are vocatives. Tsur , as an epithet applied to God, is taken from Deu 32:4, Deu 32:15, Deu 32:18, and Deu 32:37, where God is first called the Rock of Israel, as the unchangeable refuge of His people’s trust. Lammishpat , i.e., to accomplish the judgment: comp. Isa 10:5-6, where Asshur is called the rod of Jehovah’s wrath. In the parallel clause we have instead: “to chastise,” namely Israel, not the Chaldaeans, as Ewald supposes.

Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament

The Prophet’s Plea; The Prophet’s Complaint.

B. C. 600.

12 Art thou not from everlasting, O LORD my God, mine Holy One? we shall not die. O LORD, thou hast ordained them for judgment; and, O mighty God, thou hast established them for correction. 13 Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity: wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he? 14 And makest men as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping things, that have no ruler over them? 15 They take up all of them with the angle, they catch them in their net, and gather them in their drag: therefore they rejoice and are glad. 16 Therefore they sacrifice unto their net, and burn incense unto their drag; because by them their portion is fat, and their meat plenteous. 17 Shall they therefore empty their net, and not spare continually to slay the nations?

The prophet, having received of the Lord that which he was to deliver to the people, now turns to God, and again addresses himself to him for the ease of his own mind under the burden which he saw. And still he is full of complaints. If he look about him, he sees nothing but violence done by Israel; if he look before him, he sees nothing but violence done against Israel; and it is hard to say which is the more melancholy sight. His thoughts of both he pours out before the Lord. It is our duty to be affected both with the iniquities and with the calamities of the church of God and of the times and places wherein we live; but we must take heed lest we grow peevish in our resentments, and carry them too far, so as to entertain any hard thoughts of God, or lose the comfort of our communion with him. The world is bad, and always was so, and will be so; it is out of our power to mend it; but we are sure that God governs the world, and will bring glory to himself out of all, and therefore we must resolve to make the best of it, must be ourselves better, and long for the better world. The prospect of the prevalence of the Chaldeans drives the prophet to his knees, and he takes the liberty to plead with God concerning it. In his plea we may observe,

I. The truths which he lays down, which he resolves to abide by, and with which he endeavours to comfort himself and his friends, under the growing threatening power of the Chaldeans; and they will furnish us with pleasing considerations for our support in the like case.

1. However it be, yet God is the Lord our God, and our Holy One. The victorious Chaldeans impute their power to their idols, but we are taught to tell them that the God of Israel is the true God, the living God,Jer 10:10; Jer 10:11. (1.) He is Jehovah, the fountain of all being, power, and perfection. Our rock is not as theirs. (2.) “He is my God.” He speaks in the people’s name; every Israelite may say, “He is mine. Though we are thus sore broken, and all this has come upon us, yet have we not forgotten the name of our God, nor quitted our relation to him, yet have we not disowned him, nor hath he disowned us, Ps. xliv. 17. We are an offending people; he is an offended God; yet he is ours, and we will not entertain any hard thoughts of him, nor of his service, for all this.” (3.) “He is my Holy One.” This intimates that the prophet loved God as a holy God, loved him for the sake of his holiness. “He is mine because he is a Holy One; and therefore he will be my sanctifier and my Saviour, because he is my Holy One. Men are unholy, but my God is holy.“

2. Our God is from everlasting. This he pleads with him: Art thou not from everlasting, O Lord my God? It is matter of great and continual comfort to God’s people, under the troubles of this present life, that their God is from everlasting. This intimates, (1.) The eternity of his nature; if he is from everlasting, he will be to everlasting, and we must have recourse to this first principle, when things seen, which are temporal, are discouraging, that we have hope and help sufficient in a god that is not seen, that is eternal. “Art thou not from everlasting, and then wilt thou not make bare thy everlasting arm, in pursuance of thy everlasting counsels, to make unto thyself an everlasting name?” (2.) The antiquity of his covenant: “Art thou not from of old, a God in covenant with thy people” (so some understand it), “and hast thou not done great things for them in the days of old, which we have heard with our ears, and which our fathers have told us of; and art thou not the same God still that thou ever wast? Thou art God, and changest not.“

3. While the world stands God will have a church in it. Thou art from everlasting, and then we shall not die. The Israel of God shall not be extirpated, nor the name of Israel blotted out, though it may sometimes seem to be very near it; like the apostles (2 Cor. vi. 9), chastened, and not killed; chastened sorely, but not delivered over to death, Ps. cxviii. 18. See how the prophet infers the perpetuity of the church from the eternity of God; for Christ has said, Because I live, and therefore as long as I live, you shall live also, John xiv. 19. He is the rock on which the church is so firmly built that the gates of hell shall not, cannot, prevail against it. We shall not die.

4. Whatever the enemies of the church may do against her, it is according to the counsel of God, and is designed and directed for wise and holy ends: Thou hast ordained them; thou hast established them. It was God that gave the Chaldeans their power, made them a formidable people, and in his counsel determined what they should do, nor had they any power against his Israel but what was given them from above. He gave them their commission to take the spoil and to take the prey, Isa. x. 6. Herein God appears a mighty God, that the power of mighty men is derived from him, depends upon him, and is under his check; he says concerning it, Hitherto shall it come, and no further. Those whom God ordains shall do no more than what God has ordained, which is a great comfort to God’s suffering people. Men are God’s hand, the rod in his hand, Ps. xvii. 14. And he has ordained them for judgment, and for correction. God’s people need correction, and deserve it; they must expect it; they shall have it; when wicked men are let loose against them, it is not for their destruction, that they may be ruined, but for their correction, that they may be reformed; they are not intended for a sword, to cut them off, but for a rod, to drive out the foolishness that is found in their hearts, though they mean not so, neither does their heart think so, Isa. x. 7. Note, It is matter of great comfort to us, in reference to the troubles and afflictions of the church, that, whatever mischief men design to them, God designs to bring good out of them, and we are sure that his counsel shall stand.

5. Though the wickedness of the wicked may prosper for a while, yet God is a holy God, and does not approve of that wickedness (v. 13): Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil. The prophet, observing how very vicious and impious the Chaldeans were, and yet what great success they had against God’s Israel, found a temptation arising from it to say that it was vain to serve God, and that it was indifferent to him what men were. But he soon suppresses the thought, by having recourse to his first principle, That God is not, that he cannot be, the author or patron of sin; as he cannot do iniquity himself, so he is of purer eyes than to behold it with any allowance or approbation; no, it is that abominable thing which the Lord hates. He sees all the sin that is committed in the world, and it is an offence to him, it is odious in his eyes, and those that commit it are thereby made obnoxious to his justice. There is in the nature of God an antipathy to those dispositions and practices that are contrary to his holy law; and, though an expedient is happily found out for his being reconciled to sinners, yet he never will, nor can, be reconciled to sin. And this principle we must resolve to abide by, though the dispensations of his providence may for a time, and in some instances, seem to be inconsistent with it. Note, God’s connivance at sin must never be interpreted into a giving countenance to it; for he is not a God that has pleasure in wickedness,Psa 5:4; Psa 5:5. The iniquity which, it is here said, God does not look upon, may be meant especially of the mischief done to God’s people by their persecutors; though God sees cause to permit it, yet he does not approve of it; so it agrees with that of Balaam (Num. xxiii. 21), He has not be held iniquity against Jacob, nor seen, with allowance, perverseness against Israel, which is very comfortable to the people of God, in their afflictions by the rage of men, that they cannot infer God’s anger from it; though the instruments of their trouble hate them, it does not therefore follow that God does; nay, he loves them, and it is in love that he corrects them.

II. The grievances he complains of, and finds hard to reconcile with these truths: “Since we are sure that thou art a holy God, why have atheists temptation given them to question whether thou art so or no? Wherefore lookest thou upon the Chaldeans that deal treacherously with thy people, and givest them success in their attempts upon us? Why dost thou suffer thy sworn enemies, who blaspheme thy name, to deal thus cruelly, thus perfidiously, with thy sworn subjects, who desire to fear thy name? What shall we say to this?” This was a temptation to Job (Job 21:7; Job 24:1), to David (Psa 73:2; Psa 73:3), to Jeremiah, Jer 12:1; Jer 12:2. 1. That God permitted sin, and was patient with the sinners. He looked upon them; he saw all their wicked doings and designs, and did not restrain nor punish them, but suffered them to speed in their purposes, to go on and prosper, and to carry all before them. Nay, his looking upon them intimates that he not only gave them no check or rebuke, but that he gave them encouragement and assistance, as if he smiled upon them and favoured them. He held his tongue when they went on in their wicked courses, said nothing against them, gave no orders to stop them. These things thou hast done, and I kept silence. 2. That his patience was abused, and, because sentence against these evil works and workers was not executed speedily, therefore their hearts were the more fully set in them to do evil. (1.) They were false and deceitful, and there was no credit to be given them, nor any confidence to be put in them. They deal treacherously; under colour of peace and friendship, they prosecute and execute the most mischievous designs, and make no conscience of their word in any thing. (2.) They hated and persecuted men because they were better than themselves, as Cain hated Abel because his own works were evil and his brother’s righteous. The wicked devours the man that is more righteous than he, for that very reason, because he shames him; they have an ill will to the image of God, and therefore devour good men, because they bear that image. Though many of the Jews were as bad as the Chaldeans themselves, and worse, yet there were those among them that were much more righteous, and yet were devoured by them. (3.) They made no more of killing men that of catching fish. The prophet complains that, Providence having delivered up the weaker to be prey to the stronger, they were, in effect, made as the fishes of the sea, v. 14. So they had been among themselves, preying upon one another as the greater fishes do upon the less (v. 3), and they were made so to the common enemy. They were as the creeping things, or swimming things (for the word is used for fish, Gen. i. 20), that have no ruler over them, either to restrain them from devouring one another or to protect them from being devoured by their enemies. They are given up to the Chaldeans as fish to the fishermen. Those proud oppressors make no conscience of killing them, any more than men do of pulling fish out of the water, so small account do they make of human lives. They make no difficulty of killing them, but do it with as much ease as men catch fish, that make no resistance, but are unguarded and unarmed, and it is rather a pastime than any pains to take them. They make no distinction among them, but all is fish that comes to their net; and they reckon every thing their own that they can lay their hands on. They have various ways of spoiling and destroying, as men have of taking fish. Some they take up with the angle (v. 15), one by one; others they catch in shoals, and by wholesale, in their net, and gather them in their drag, their enclosing net. Such variety of methods have they to destroy those by whom they hope to enrich themselves. (4.) They gloried in what they got, and pleased themselves with it, though it was got dishonestly: Their portion is fat, and their meat plenteous; they prosper in their oppression and fraud; they have a great deal, and it is of the best; their land is good, and they have abundance of it. And therefore, [1.] They have great complacency in themselves, and are very pleasant; they live merrily (v. 15): Therefore they rejoice and are glad, because their wealth is great, and their projects succeed for the increase of it, Job xxxi. 25. Soul, take thy ease, Luke xii. 19. [2.] They have a great conceit of themselves, and are great admirers of their own ingenuity and management: They sacrifice to their own net, and burn incense to their own drag; they applaud themselves for having got so much money, though ever so dishonestly. Note, There is a proneness in us to take the glory of our outward prosperity to ourselves, and to say, My might, and the power of my hands, have gotten me this wealth, Deut. viii. 17. This is idolizing ourselves, sacrificing to the dragnet, because it is our own, which is as absurd a piece of idolatry as sacrificing to Neptune or Dagon. That which makes them adore their net thus is because by it their portion is fat. Those that make a god of their money will make a god of their drag-net, if they can but get money by it.

III. The prophet, in the close, humbly expresses his hope that God will not suffer these destroyers of mankind always to go on and prosper thus, and expostulates with God concerning it (v. 17): “Shall they therefore empty their net? Shall they enrich themselves, and fill their own vessels, with that which they have by violence and oppression taken away from their neighbours? Shall they empty their net of what they have caught, that they may cast it into the sea again, to catch more? And wilt thou suffer them to proceed in this wicked course? Shall they not spare continually to slay the nations? Must the numbers and wealth of nations be sacrificed to their net? As if it were a small thing to rob men of their estates, shall they rob God of his glory? Is not God the king of nations, and will he not assert their injured rights? Is he not jealous for his own honour, and will he not maintain that?” The prophet lodges the matter in God’s hand, and leaves it with him, as the psalmist does. Ps. lxxiv. 22, Arise, O God! Plead thy own cause.

Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary

Habakkuk’s Response To The Revelation From God, His Second Complaint

Verses 12-17:

Verse 12 begins Habakkuk’s rhetoric inquiry of the Lord regarding what he has heard from Him. You are from everlasting, O my God, my Holy One, aren’t you? He inquired, suggesting an affirmed conclusion. You have ordained or set in order, fixed judgment for our enemies, haven’t you? He continued in direct address to the Lord, His Lord, Isa 37:23. As a mighty God, Habakkuk asserted that he believed God had surely set Israel’s heathen enemies to receive correction, as they corrected Israel, Deu 32:4.

Verse 13 renews Habakkuk and Israel’s complaint and lament against God for looking upon, holding His tongue, beholding the evil the Chaldeans are inflicting, and about to inflict, upon His chosen people Israel, without stopping them. Habakkuk insists that Israel, though backslidden and disobedient, is not as bad as the Chaldeans. Two bad apples need not argue over which is the worst. Two infections, contagiously diseased, quarantined people need find no relief or release in contending which is the worst, see? Two wrongs never equal one right. The Chaldeans, once allies of Israel, are now her bitter enemies, Isa 21:2; Isa 24:16; See also Psa 73:11-17; Eze 16:51-52.

Verse 14 complains or confesses that God has left His chosen people, to the consequence of their own sins, to reap what they have sown, as defenseless against their enemies, as fish in the open sea, with no defender, and as creeping things upon the earth, without any limbs for quick movement from predators. Their caretaking God had now forsaken them, abandoned them to punishment, but not without justifiable warning, Deu 28:15-41. These things were written for our admonition, and blessed are those who are admonished by them, 1Co 10:11.

Verse 15 describes the cruel judgment of the Chaldeans against Israel, as similar to that of a fisherman that seizes his fish by throw nets and drag nets in the open places and the shoals, exulting in his catch. They shall seize the people of Israel and their property as prey and booty, without mercy or moderation, as described v. 11.

Verse 16 asserts that these Assyrians will make their armored equipment objects of sacrificial worship and incense burning, as Gentile heathen fishermen did their nets of all kinds. For by them they were fed, or made fat, with a bounty of meat. They idolized themselves for their military arms, power, and skills, to which they attributed their victories, not to the true God, Deu 18:17; Isa 10:13.

Verse 17 asks whether or not God will continue to permit the Chaldeans to spread their net, prey upon Israel any further, without interrupting their violence and cruelty. Since they attribute their success in battle to their own genius, the prophet expressed bewilderment at God’s delay in cutting off these Chaldean armed bands. God’s answer is given, ch. 2; Ecc 8:11; Psa 74:22.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

The Prophet now exulting, according to what all the faithful feel, shows the effect of what he has just mentioned; for as ungodly men wantonly rise up against God, and, while Satan renders them insane, throw out swelling words of vanity, as though they could by speaking confound earth and heaven; so also the faithful derive a holy confidence from God’s word, and set themselves against them, and overcome their ferocity by the magnanimity and firmness of their own minds, so that they can intrepidly boast that they are happy and blessed even in the greatest miseries.

This then is what the prophet means when he adds— Art not thou our God? The question is much more emphatical than if he had simply declared that the true God was worshipped in Judea, and would therefore be the protector of that nation; for when the Prophet puts a question, he means, according to what is commonly understood in Hebrew, that the thing admits of no doubt. “What! art not thou our God?” We hence see that there is a contrast between the wicked and impious boastings in which the profane indulge, and the holy confidence which the faithful have, who exult in their God. But that the discourse is addressed to God rather than to the ungodly is not done without reason, for it would have been useless to contend with the wicked. This is indeed sometimes necessary, for when the reprobate openly reproach God we cannot restrain ourselves; nor is it right that we refrain from testifying that we regard all their slanders as of no account; but we cannot so courageously oppose their audacity as when we have the matter first settled between us and God, and be able to say with the Prophets—“Thou art our God.” Whosoever then would boldly contend with the ungodly must first have to do with God, and confirm and ratify as it were that compact which God has proposed to us, even that we are his people, and that he in his turn will be always our God. As then God thus covenants with us, our faith must be really made firm, and then let us go forth and contend against all the ungodly. This is the order which the Prophet observes here, and what is to be observed by us—Art not thou our God?

He also adds— long since, מקדם, mekodam, by which word the Prophet invites the attention of the faithful to the covenant which God had made, not yesterday nor the day before that, with his people, but many ages before, even 400 years before he redeemed their fathers from Egypt. Since then the favor of God to the Jews had been confirmed for so long a time, it is not without reason that the Prophet says here— Thou art our God from the beginning; that is, “the religion which we embrace has been delivered to us by thy hands, and we know that thou art its author; for our faith recumbs not on the opinion of men, but is sustained by thy word. Since, then, we have found so often and in so many ways, and for so many years, that thou art our God, there is now no room for doubt.” (17)

He then subjoins— we shall not die. What the Jews say of this place, that it had been corrected by the scribes, seems not to me probable; for the reason they give is very frivolous. They suppose that it was written lo tamut, Thou diest not, and that the letter nun had been introduced, “we shall not die,” because the expression offended those scribes, as though the Prophet compared God to men, and ascribed to him a precarious immortality; but they would have been very foolish critics. I therefore think that the word was written by the Prophet as we now read it, Thou art our God, we shall not die. Some explain this as a prayer—“let us not die;” and the future is often taken in this sense in Hebrew; but this exposition is not suitable to the present passage; for the Prophet, as I have already said, rises up here as a conqueror, and disperses as mists all those foolish boastings of which he had been speaking, as though he said—“we shall not die, for we are under the protection of God.”

I have already explained why he turns his discourse to God: but this is yet the conclusion of the argument,—that as God had adopted that people, and received them into favor, and testified that he would be their defender, the Prophet confidently draws this inference,—that this people cannot perish, for they are preserved by God. No power of the world, nor any of its defences, can indeed afford us this security; for whatever forces may all mortals bring either to protect or help us, they shall all perish together with us. Hence, the protection of God alone is that which can deliver us from the danger of death. We now perceive why the Prophet joins together these two things, “Thou art our God,” and “We shall not die;” nor can indeed the one be separated from the other; for when we are under the protection of God, we must necessarily continue safe and safe for ever; not that we shall be free from evils, but that the Lord will deliver us from thousand deaths, and ever preserve our life in safety. When only he affords us a taste of eternal salvation, some spark of life will ever continue in our hearts, until he shows to us, when at length redeemed, as I have already said, from thousand deaths, the perfection of that blessed life, which is now promised to us, but as yet is looked for, and therefore hid under the custody of hope.

(17) Most commentators agree with our version in connecting “from the beginning,” or “from eternity,” with Jehovah, and not as Calvin seems to do, with “God.” His view is evidently the most consonant with the design of the passage, and countenanced by the Septuagint, for Jehovah is rendered κυριε, in the vocative case. To assert the eternity of God seems not to be necessary here; but to say that he had been from old times the God of Israel is what is suitable to the context. The Prophet in saying “my God,” identifies himself with the people; for he says afterwards, “we shall not die.” Viewed in this light the former part of the verse may be thus rendered,—

Art not thou from of old, O Jehovah, my God! My holy one, we shall not die.

The reason for which he calls him “holy” will appear from what the next verse contains. The Prophet seems to sustain himself by two considerations—that Jehovah was the God of Israel, and that he was a holy God. When he says “we shall not die,” he means, no doubt, as Marckius observes, that the people as a nation would not be destroyed, for he had prophesied of their subjugation and captivity by the Chaldeans. What he had in view was the Church of God, respecting which promises had been made.— Ed.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

CHAPTER XVII

THE SECOND QUESTION

Hab. 1:12-17

RV . . . Art thou not from everlasting, O Jehovah my God, my Holy One? we shall not die. O Jehovah, thou hast ordained him for judgement; and thou, O Rock, has established him for correction. Thou that art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and that canst not look on perverseness, wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy peace when the wicked swalloweth up the man that is more righteous than he; and makest men as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping things, that have no ruler over them? He taketh up all of them with the angle, he catcheth them in his net, and gathereth them in his drag: therefore he rejoiceth and is glad. Therefore he sacrificeth unto his net, and burneth incense unto his drag; because by them his portion is fat, and his food plenteous. Shall he therefore empty his net, and spare not to slay the nations continually?
LXX . . . Art thou not from the beginning, O Lord God, my Holy One? and surely we shall not die. O Lord, thou hast established it for judgement, and he has formed me to chasten with his correction. His eye is too pure to behold evil doings, and to look upon grievous afflictions: wherefore dost thou look upon despisers? wilt thou be silent when the ungodly swallows up the just? And wilt thou make men as the fishes of the sea, and as the reptiles which have no guide? He has brought up destruction with a hook, and drawn one with a casting net, and caught another in his drags: therefore shall his heart rejoice and be glad. Therefore will he sacrifice to his drag, and burn incense to his casting-net, because by them he has made his portion fat, and his meats choice. Therefore will he cast his net, and will not spare to slay the nations continually.

COMMENTS

O JEHOVAH, MY GOD, MY HOLY ONE . . . Hab. 1:12(a)

God had warned Habakkuk he would not believe the answer to his question. (Hab. 1:5) The prophet, upon hearing Jehovahs description of the Chaldeans whom He is raising up to punish the sins of Judah, recoils in shocked horror and incredulity.

The first half of verse twelve is, to the prophet, a rhetorical question. It answers itself in the asking of it. Jehovah is from everlasting! He is the God of Israels prophets! He is Holy! Therefore, His people shall not die.

Here is the most succinct statement in all the Bible of the gross misconception the Jews had of their relationship to God. Their major premise, i.e. the everlasting holy nature of God is correct, but their false conclusion, i.e. that they, as a people, could not, therefore, die was based on a minor premise of their own devising!

Dr. Harris here places his finger on the problems of both the nation of Judah and the prophet Habakkuk. The first question asked by the prophet grew out of circumstances fostered by the failure of the people to understand that . . . God is wholly spirit and without material form, that He is the sole Ruler of the universe . . . This failure allowed the Jews again and again to fall into the worship of Baal. (See the discussion of Micah.)

The second question posed by the prophet (Hab. 1:12) resulted from their failure to understand that God . . . is absolutely righteous and just in dealing with His childrennot favoring Israel more than other people . . .

Nahums question to Nineveh on the eve of her doom was Art thou better than No-Amon . . . ? (Nah. 3:8) As we saw in our study of Nahum, No-Amon, the capital of Egypt, had been devastated by the Assyrians. Nahum would have the Ninevites know they are no better and hence no more assured of national survival than No-Amon. Had someone asked this same question of Judah on the eve of the Babylonian captivity, or of Habakkuk when he entered into his debate with God concerning Gods use of the Chaldeans to punish Judah, both the nation and the prophet would have answered a resounding, Yes! They believed they were better.

The fundamental Jewish error is a misunderstanding, not only of the nature of God, but as well a misunderstanding of a doctrine which runs through both the Old and New Testaments. It is often called the doctrine of Election. (We suggest just here that the reader review the chapters on the covenant in the introductory section and also my book, Thus It Is Written, College Press.)

This doctrine, that God is calling out of every kindred and race of man a people for His own possession, is inherent in the unfolding inspired interpretation of the work of God in history and makes up the bulk of the Old Testament Scripture. It is the entire burden of the Luke-Acts narrative and comes in for a detailed analysis in the writings of Paul, especially Ephesians, Romans, and Galatians. The Jews were made a heritage of God, having been foreordained according to the plan of Him who effects all things according to the council of His will. (Eph. 1:11) This plan of God, which is the mystery hidden in times past to be revealed in Christ through the church, (Eph. 3:1-16), never included the Jews or the nation of Israel simply for their own sakes or as an end in themselves.

God chooses whom He will e.g. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David, et al. His choice is made not primarily from the standpoint of its advantage to the chosen.

Nor is His choice, even in the Old Testament, limited only to the physical descendants of Abraham. Paul illustrates this truth in Rom. 9:14 by referring to Exo. 9:16. There God says to the Egyptian Pharaoh (who was anything but a Jew), For this very purpose did I raise thee up, that I might show in thee my power, and that my name might be published abroad in the earth. In a similar vein, Jehovah might well have made a similar statement to the Chaldeans. (Hab. 1:6)

The point is, of course, that the elect or more accurately the called of God, whether individuals or nations, are never chosen for their own sakes merely, but that they are rather called to participate in Gods eternal plan to offer the blessings of Abraham to all mankind.

O JEHOVAH . . . O ROCK . . . Hab. 1:12(B)

Habakkuk does not doubt God for a moment. Difficult as it is for him to accept the idea that God should raise up such as the Chaldeans to judge His people, the prophet immediately concedes: Thou hast ordained him (the Chaldeans, particularly Nebuchadnezzar) and thou . . . hast established him for correction.
We must also not fail to recognize Habakkuks conviction that Gods people could not be wiped out is related to his understanding, quite correctly, that God is Himself eternal. His error was in identifying that people with a race and a nation, and in objecting to Gods use of another nation and race to bring about His purposes.

The term O Rock applied to Jehovah is reminiscent of Deu. 32:4 His use of it reflects Habakkuks conviction that Gods work is perfect . . . His ways are just, even though they are beyond the prophets own understanding.

Indeed, it is precisely because of what he knows about God, coupled with his Jewish nationalism that has caused him to so question Jehovah.

THOU THAT ART OF PURER EYES . . . Hab. 1:13

Habakkuk knows God to be a pure God who cannot tolerate the presence of evil in His sight. Whatever else the Word teaches about God, it certainly affirms this truth, from Eden to Calvary.
How, then, the prophet asks, can such a God look on such perversiveness as is present among the Chaldeans? Why will He look on Babylons destruction of Judah and hold His peace? His bias shows through when he asserts that the Jews of his day are more righteous than the Babylonians.

Two fallacies should be recognized at this point. First, Jehovah, in revealing His intention to raise up the Chaldeans against Judah, did not say He would overlook Babylons evil. Divinely recorded history proves He did, in fact, no such thing.
Secondly, the insistence that Judah is more righteous than the Babylonians raises a moot question. They had adopted the Baal worship which originated in the Chaldeas. They had been unfaithful to Jehovah when they were the only people on earth who had His written word. Their behavior had consequently become so corrupt that it was the very reason God chose to raise up a pagan people to smite them.

. . . HE MAKEST MEN AS FISHES . . . Hab. 1:14-17

In verse sixteen, Habakkuk adds that the success of the Chaldeans is the force of their own skill and power (rather than dependence upon God). They idolize themselves because of this (Cf. Deu. 6:17, cp. Isa. 10:13; Isa. 37:24-25). To Habakkuk this is further evidence that Jehovah cannot use such a nation against his own people.

(Hab. 1:17) Furthermore, asks the prophet, will there ever be an end to it, if God allows such a people as the Chaleans to succeed against His chosen ones? This argument sounds extremely familiar to us today as we are asked to believe that God cannot control the evil forces of communism if these forces are allowed to prevail against us. Perhaps we, as Habakkuk, need to give serious attention to Gods answer.

Chapter XVIIQuestions

The Second Question

Show how Gods answer to Habakkuks first question gave rise to the second question.

State the prophets second question in your own words.

Show how the Jews misconception of themselves as Gods people is reflected in Habakkuks second question.

What two concepts did the Jews find hard to grasp? (As stated by Dr. Maurice Harris)

Show how Nahums question to Nineveh (Nah. 3:8) could be asked here of Judah.

What do you understand is the Biblical doctrine of election?

How does dispensationalism pervert the doctrine of election?

What word more accurately states the idea of election?

What is implied by Habakkuks use of the term O Rock in reference to Jehovah?

10.

What two fallacies combine to confuse Habakkuk in reference to Gods purity and Babylons impurity?

11.

Describe the activity of the Babylonians toward neighboring nations.

12.

In a sentence, what is Jehovahs answer to Habakkuks second question?

13.

List the five woes with which God gives His answer.

14.

Show how these woes describe eternal principles in Gods dealing with nations in history.

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

(12) We shall not diei.e., Gods people may suffer, but shall not be obliterated, shall not be given over unto death. The rest of the verse runs literally, Jehovah, for judgment hast Thou appointed him, and O Rock, for chastisement hast Thou founded him. Him, means, of course, the Chaldan invader, whom Habakkuk regards as raised up only to be Gods instrument of correction. The term Rock has been paraphrased in the Authorised Version. Used absolutely, it occurs as a Divine title in Deu. 32:4. Generally it is qualified in some way, as my rock, our rock, rock of salvation &c.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

(12-17) Though sore perplexed, Habakkuk feels sure that the God whom this swaggering conqueror has insulted will at last vindicate Himself.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

THE GREATER PERPLEXITY, Hab 1:12-17.

In the beginning the prophet was troubled because Jehovah seemed to look with indifference upon corruption; Jehovah replied that judgment was about to fall, that the Chaldeans were about to include Judah in their conquests. This announcement was accompanied by a recognition of the fierce and brutal character of the Chaldeans and their warfare; hence, far from calming the prophet’s doubts, it only intensified them. Can a holy God, he asks, look in silence upon the wrongs and cruelties perpetrated by the Chaldeans? Judah does, indeed, deserve judgment, but how can Jehovah send the godless Chaldeans to execute it? Is Judah to be annihilated by this monster? Is the triumph of the cruel world conqueror to continue forever? These and similar questions perplex the prophet, and in Hab 1:12-17, we have a description of his struggle with the new problem, which taxes his faith to the uttermost.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

12. The prophet begins with an expression of confidence in his God. A better arrangement of the words would be:

Art not thou from everlasting, O Jehovah?

My God, my Holy One, not shall we die!

The first line is not an expression of despondency or doubt, but a rhetorical question to pave the way for the expression of confidence in the second line.

From everlasting Literally, from aforetime. The Hebrew word denotes an ancient period rather than eternity in the modern sense of that term; it is used often of the Mosaic age or other periods in Israel’s past (compare Mic 7:20; Psa 44:1); even of a former period in a single lifetime (Job 29:2). The exact meaning in a given passage must be determined from the context. Allusion is frequently made to the eternity of Jehovah as a ground of confidence in him (Deu 33:27; Isa 40:28; Psa 90:2). The English versions arrange the words differently; and some commentators understand them as equivalent to “Art not thou from everlasting my Holy One, O Jehovah, my God?” This arrangement gives to the words a meaning different from that which is indicated above. According to it the prophet is the spokesman of the people, expressing their confidence based not upon Jehovah’s eternity but upon the fact that he has been from everlasting the Holy One of Israel (see on Hos 11:9), a title of Jehovah very common in Isaiah. As the holy one he is bound to sweep away the wicked Chaldeans.

We shall not die We shall not be utterly annihilated by the foe which is to be raised up (Hab 1:6). The everlasting God will somehow preserve his people.

According to Jewish tradition “we shall not die” is an emendation of the scribes for “thou (Jehovah) shalt not die.” To speak of Jehovah in connection with death, even to deny his dying, was considered blasphemy by the scribes, therefore they changed the original into the present reading. If the second person is original the second line becomes simply a reiteration of the thought of the first line. The eighteen emendations of the scribes mentioned in Jewish tradition still present difficulties; in the present passage the Masoretic text is preferable. 12b passes to the complaint. Jehovah being the Holy One, his appointment of the godless Chaldeans as instruments of judgment creates a moral difficulty.

For judgment for correction Either to execute judgment upon him and to administer correction to him, or, perhaps better, that he may execute punishment upon Judah and the other nations.

The perplexity caused by the appointment alluded to in 12b is further described in Hab 1:13. Can the exaltation of a wicked and violent nation be harmonized with the belief in a holy and pure God? The present attitude seems to contradict the prophet’s conception of the divine character. He has always thought of God as too pure to look upon moral evil and perverseness; since he now selects the most wicked nation as his executioner, the prophet feels justified in challenging Jehovah to defend himself.

Deal treacherously The Chaldeans are unscrupulous, treacherous, and tyrannical. Is it right for Jehovah to look upon them with favor? Is it right that he should remain silent while they practice wickedness?

The man more righteous than he With all their wickedness the people of Jehovah are better than the Chaldeans. How, then, can Jehovah justify himself for making the present choice? The same perplexed questioning is continued in Hab 1:14. Wherefore does Jehovah permit the outrages of the Chaldeans?

Makest men as the fishes of the sea Defenseless, without rights, readily taken by the skillful fisherman.

As the creeping things Despised, and without a protector to take an interest in their well-being.

That have no ruler over them The relative is to be taken with “fishes” and with “creeping things.” They scatter in every direction when danger approaches; no ruler or commander directs their movements. So the nations are reduced to a state of confusion when they learn of the approach of the Chaldeans (compare Isa 10:13-14). Jehovah controls the movements of the Chaldeans, and is in a sense responsible for their conduct; but if they have gone beyond the divine commission (Isa 47:6-7; compare Isa 10:7) why does he not interfere?

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Habbakuk Is Even More Put Out. How Can God Use Such Instruments to Chasten His People? ( Hab 1:12-17 ).

Hab 1:12

‘Are you not from everlasting, O YHWH?

My God, my Holy One, We will not die.

O YHWH, you have ordained him for judgment,

And you, O Rock, have established him for correction.’

Habakkuk acknowledges that he recognises that they are coming as instruments of chastening, and that God is over all and that therefore there was no need for despair. God will not finally allow His people to cease to be (die). But he is still baffled. Why such instruments?

An alternative reading to ‘you will not die’ in very ancient manuscripts, which were said to have been corrected by Ezra and the Scribes (there were eighteen such corrections), is ‘You shall not die’. This would be contrasting the eternal God to the gods who could die and then live again, and further strongly asserting His everlastingness. It may well be correct, the emendation being made at the horrific suggestion that death could be associated with YHWH, even theoretically.

His first confidence is in the everlastingness of God. Empires come and go, but YHWH is from everlasting and goes on for ever (Gen 21:33; Psa 41:13; Psa 90:2; Psa 93:2; Isa 40:28; Jer 10:10). He has everlasting power. That is why He can show everlasting mercy (Psa 100:5; Isa 54:8; Jer 31:3), He can make an everlasting covenant (Gen 9:16; Gen 17:7; Gen 17:19; Psa 105:10; Isa 55:3; Jer 32:40; Eze 37:26), He can establish an everlasting kingdom (Psa 145:13; Dan 4:3; Dan 4:34; Dan 7:14; Dan 7:27), He can deliver with an everlasting deliverance (Isa 45:17), holds His true people in His everlasting arms (Deu 33:27), and will finally give them everlasting life (Dan 12:2). All these privileges His true people will enjoy. This was certainly not true of the king of Babylon.

His second confidence was in the fact that God was his own God, as ‘the Holy One’, the One Who was ‘set apart’ as different, the One Who was unique (Exo 15:11; 2Sa 7:22; 1Ki 8:23), the One Who was ‘wholly other’, totally distinctive from the world which He had created. And that holiness included a moral purity as revealed in His Law, and in His final dealings with man, which is why He will call all men to account (Gen 18:25; Exo 34:7; Nah 1:3), so that when men experienced His presence they felt as though they were dust and ashes, they felt totally unclean, they were filled with awe and reverent fear (Job 41:5-6; Isa 6:5; Isa 33:14; Gen 15:12; Gen 17:3; Eze 1:28; Eze 3:23).

So because God offered everlasting mercy and everlasting deliverance, and was faithful to His everlasting covenant, Habakkuk knew that His true people could not ‘die’, they could not cease to be.

‘You have ordained him for judgment, and you, O Rock, have established him for correction.’ He accepted that God had ordained the king of Babylon as His means of chastisement and correction for His people. But he will now argue that he does not think that they are fit instruments. What he did not realise, however, as God did, was how deep was the sin of his own people, how greatly it had offended Him, and how difficult it would be to root out. Most of us fail to recognise the difficulty that God has in rooting out sin in inveterate sinners like us. That is why we too often have to suffer. Note the fact that in the final analysis the king of Babylon was ordained and established by God. Nabopolassar and Nebuchadnezzar were his instruments.

These ideas must be held in tension. These kings were free men, with freedom to choose and act as within their limits they wished. Nor did God force them into their behaviour. But nevertheless He was sovereign over them in a way they could never have dreamed of, and they therefore unknowingly fulfilled His will. (But that does not mean that all that they did was His will).

‘O Rock.’ This is in contrast with these kings who are but as sand. He is the Rock, unshakeable, unchanging, permanent, a tower of strength (Deu 32:4; Deu 32:18; Deu 32:30-31; 1Sa 2:2; 2Sa 22:2 ; 2Sa 22:32; 2Sa 23:3; Psa 31:3 and often; Isa 17:10). Habakkuk is declaring His confidence that although he cannot fully understand what is happening, He is confident that in the end God is their Rock.

Hab 1:13

‘You are of purer eyes than to behold evil,

And you cannot look on what causes wretchedness.

Why do you look on those who deal treacherously,

And hold your peace when the wicked swallow up the man who is more righteous than he?’

Habakkuk cannot understand why the Rock, the Everlasting One, the Holy One, will allow this situation to happen. He knows that God is pure, and so pure that He cannot look with equanimity on evil and wrongdoing (see for example Psa 5:4-6; Psa 34:16; Psa 34:21). He knows that He cannot bear what causes wretchedness. (The root ‘ml refers to what causes wretchedness, such as labour and toil, distress and trouble, disaster and evil, and so on). So why does He stand by and allow this, yes, even bring it about? Israel may be wicked, but not as wicked as Babylon which was proverbial for wickedness. Why then allow Israel to be ‘swallowed up’ by them, with the result that they become leaderless and helpless? (As with the Assyrians it was Babylonian policy to remove the leadership of rebel nations so as to tame them).

Hab 1:14-17

‘And make men as the fish of the sea,

As the creeping things that have no ruler over them?

He takes all of them up with his hook,

He catches them in his net,

And he gathers them in his dragnet.

Therefore he rejoices and is glad.

Therefore he sacrifices to his net and burns incense to his dragnet,

Because by them his portion is fat,

And his food plenteous.

Shall he therefore empty his net,

And not spare to slay the nations continually?’

The smaller nations, including Israel and Judah, are likened to fish and creeping things, who have no ruler (while not true of all fish and creeping things this is certainly true of many, and in those days it appeared even more so). The nations have no proper ruler because their rulers have been removed into captivity. And Babylon is likened to fishermen using every possible means, hook, net and dragnet, in order to catch the fish.

And because he catches so many fish, giving him a fat reward and plenty of food, he sacrifices to his net and burns incense to his dragnet. He worships what he sees as the means of his provision. The net and dragnet are metaphorical. They did not really exist. So the prophet cannot mean that he literally worships them. Rather he sees behind them the gods who grant them to him. He sees the gods themselves as making provision for him through his activities and conquests. Thus it is the gods behind his net and dragnet that he is worshipping. So as it makes him rich with plenty can anyone therefore imagine him ceasing to use the net, leaving it empty, and ceasing to spoil the nations?

We do not need to particularise the details, it is the impression that counts. His net includes the gathering of regular tribute, the looting of cities, the obtaining of wealth by violent means, the seizing cattle and sheep, exactions by crooked officials, the robbing of temples and so on. In fact any means by which the Babylonians could enrich themselves. And Habakkuk’s problem is that in the face of this YHWH does nothing. What is the explanation?

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

The Prophet’s Prayer

v. 12. Art Thou not from everlasting, O Lord, my God, mine Holy One? To this certainty the prophet clings; from it he derives consoling confidence. We shall not die, the people of the Lord would not be wholly exterminated. O Lord, Thou hast ordained them, the children of Israel, the Lord’s people, for judgment, to carry out His judgment of punishment upon them; and, O mighty God, literally, “Thou Rock,”. Thou hast established them for correction, to be chastised and thus brought to the realization of their sins.

v. 13. Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, too pure to endure to behold it, and canst not look on iniquity, the wickedness and distress which men inflict upon others; wherefore lookest Thou upon them that deal treacherously, the violent Babylonian conquerors, and holdest Thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he, for the children of God in the midst of Israel gave them a higher moral standing than that which the Chaldeans possessed,

v. 14. and makest men as the fishes of the sea, helpless in the face of the fisherman’s net, as the creeping things that have no ruler over them, one who might act as their protector and defender in times of peril?

v. 15. They take up all of them with the angle, they catch them in their net, and gather them in their drag, in the largest kind of fishnet; therefore they rejoice and are glad, the enemies being pleased with the ease with which they overcame the Lord’s people.

v. 16. Therefore they sacrifice unto their net and burn incense unto their drag, a custom which was actually found among some heathen nations; because by them their portion is fat and their meat plenteous, present in rich and great quantities.

v. 17. Shall they therefore empty their net, namely, with the intention of casting it out again for a new draught, and not spare continually to slay the nations? or, “and always strangle nations without sparing?” The enemies angles, or hooks, nets, and drags are clearly his great and powerful armies, with which he has conquered nations and brought the treasures of the world to Babylon. Mark: He who puts his trust in anything on earth and glories in it to the exclusion of God makes this creature his idol.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

Hab 1:12. Art thou not from everlasting, O Lord For thou, O Lord, my God, the holy God, the God of truth, thou hast of old ordained him to judgment: thou hast made him a strong enemy, that thou mightest correct him. Houbigant.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

CHAPTER Hab 1:12 to Hab 2:20

[The Prophet expostulates with God on Account of the Judgment, which threatens the Annihilation of the Jewish People (chap. 1. Hab 1:12-17). The waiting Posture of the Prophet (chap. 2. Hab 1:1). The Command to commit to Writing the Revelation which was about to be made to Him (Hab 1:2). Assurance that the Prophecy, though not fulfilled immediately, will certainly be accomplished (Hab 1:3). The proud and unbelieving will abuse it; but the believing will be blessed by it. The Prophet then depicts the Sins of the Chaldans, and shows that both general Justice and the special Agencies of Gods Providence will surely overtake them with fearful Retribution.C. E.]

12 Art thou not from eternity,

Jehovah, my God, my Holy One?
We shall not die.
Jehovah! for judgment thou hast appointed it;
And O Rock! Thou hast founded it for chastisement.

13 Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil;

Thou canst not look upon injustice.
Why lookest thou upon the treacherous?
Why art thou silent when the wicked destroys
Him that is more righteous than he?

14 And thou makest men like fishes of the sea,

Like reptiles that have no ruler.

15 All10 of them it lifts up with the hook;

It gathers them into its net,
And collects them into its fish-net;
Therefore it rejoices and is glad.

16 Therefore it sacrifices to its net,

And burns incense to its fish-net;
Because by them its portion is rich,
And its food fat

17 Shall he, therefore, empty his net,

And spare not to slay the nations continually?

Hab 2:1 I will stand upon my watch11-post,

And station myself upon the fortress;
And I will wait12 to see what He will say to [in] me,

And what I shall answer to my complaint.13

2 And Jehovah answered me and said:

Write the vision14 and grave15 it on tablets,

That he may run, who reads it.

3 For still the vision is for the appointed time;16

And it hastens to the end [fulfillment],
And does not deceive;
Though it delay, wait for it;
For it will surely come, and will not fail.

4 Behold the proud:

His soul is not right within him;
But the just by his faith shall live.

5 And moreover, wine is treacherous:

A haughty man, he rests not:
He who opens wide his soul like Sheol,
And is like death, and is not satisfied,
And gathers all nations to himself,
And collects all peoples to himself:

6 Will not all these take up a song17 aganst him?

And a song of derision,18 a riddle19 upon him;

And they will say:
Woe to him who increases what is not his own!
How long?
And who loads himself with pledges.20

7 Will not thy biters21 rise up suddenly,

And those awake that shall shake thee violently?
And thou wilt become a prey to them.

8 Because thou hast plundered many nations,

All the remainder of the peoples shall plunder thee;
Because of the blood of men and the violence done to the earth;
To the city and all that dwell in it.

9 Woe to him, that procureth wicked gain for his house!

To set his nest on high,
To preserve himself from the hand of calamity.

10 Thou hast devised shame for thy house;

Cutting off many peoples, and sinning against thyself.

11 For the stone cries out from the wall.

And the spar out of the wood-work answers it.

12 Woe to him, who builds a city with blood,

And founds a town in wickedness.

13 Behold, is it not from Jehovah of hosts,

That the peoples toil for the fire,
And the nations weary themselves for vanity?

14 For the earth shall be filled

With the knowledge of the glory of Jehovah,
As the waters cover the sea.

15 Woe to him that gives his neighbor to drink,

Pouring out thy wrath,22 and also making drunk,

In order to look upon their nakedness.

16 Thou art sated with shame instead of glory;

Drink thou also, and show thyself uncircumcised:
The cup of Jehovahs right hand shall come round to thee,
And ignominy23 shall be upon thy glory.

17 For the violence done to Lebanon shall cover thee,

And the destruction of wild beasts which terrifies24 them:

Because of the blood of men, and the violence done to the earth,
To the city and all that dwell in it

18 What profits the graven image, that its maker has carved it?

The molten image and the teacher of falsehood,
That the maker of his image trusts in him to make dumb25 idols?

19 Woe to him that says to the wood, awake!

To the dumb stone, arise!
It teach! Behold it is overlaid with gold and silver;
And there is no breath in its inside.

20 But Jehovah is in his holy temple,

Let all the earth be silent before Him.

EXEGETICAL

The first glance shows that this [second] dialogue also is divided into distinct members.
These are:
(1) The Question of the prophet in the name of Israel. Is then the destroyer predicted (Hab 1:5-11), to have continual security? Hab 1:12 to Hab 2:1.

(2). The Answer of God by the prophet (Hab 2:2-20). Every one who is guilty and does not trust in the living God must be destroyed, consequently also the destroyer.

I. Hab 1:12 to Hab 2:1. The Question. As if the prophet had fallen into terror by the distressing answer and the terrifying description, which the Spirit of God drew by him of the destroyer, and had in the mean time failed to hear of the glorious prospect, which was already opening up in Hab 1:11, he turns, praying and expostulating, to God: Art thou not from eternity, Jehovah, my God, my Holy One? in order to receive himself the consoling confidence from the experimental faith, which puts this address in his mouth: we shall not die. Jehovah, my God is the vocative, and my Holy One is the predicate. The suffixes of the first person refer not to the prophet as an individual, but to the people whom he represents; for according to the usage of Scripture language Jehovah is not the Kadsch [Holy One] of the prophet, but the Kadsch of Israel; hence in the verb the change to the plural. Jehovah is implored as the Holy One, i. e., as He, who in a special manner, by special avowal of property [in them] and special revelation (Exo 19:4), adopted Israel from among all nations; and hence as He requires special purity from Israel, so also He will exercise special mercy toward him (Hos 11:9); and [He is implored] as He, who has life in Himself, so that whoever abides in Him, cannot be abandoned to death. (Hence ). Compare the Johrb. f. deutsche Theologie [Journal of German Theology], 12. (1867), 1, p. 42 f. As such, God had shown himself from times of old (comp. Isa 58:14), and He is one Jehovah, one continuing always the same (Exo 3:14; Deu 32:40), hence also now He will not show himself otherwise. But at the same time there lies also in the designation Kadsch the ethical reason that the Holy One of Israel cannot leave unpunished (Nah 2:3) him, who has done injury to his sanctuary Psa 114:2); and then the concluding thought is introduced by virtue of Hab 1:11, which is afterward further carried out in Hab 1:13. Rather, if Jehovah permits the destroyer at all to exercise violence upon Israel, the ground of it is a plan of Divine Wisdom and of a holy government of the world: Jehovah, for judgment hast thou appointed it, and thou Rock hast founded it for chastisement. The noun signifies figuratively the same thing as Jehovah in reality; the unchangeable God, who among all the perverse ways of men remains always the same (Deu 32:37; Psa 18:32, and above). The chastisement does not tend to the destruction, but to the salvation of those who are chastised (Psa 118:18). The vocatives Jehovah and Rock are continued by the vocative address Hab 1:13 : Thou art too pure in thine eyes to be able to look upon evil (for the constr. comp. Jdg 7:2; Deu 14:24) and thou canst not look, inactively, upon mischief (comp. on Hab 1:3); thou, who on account of ungodliness among us, bringest up the destroyer, why wilt thou look upon the plunderer? Thou wilt also not leave the sin unpunished, with which thou punishest sin. Boged is in prophecy a standing term for designating the violent Babylonian conqueror (Isa 21:2; Isa 24:16). The why is rhetorical: Thou canst certainly not do it. Why art thou silentepexegetical to the apathetic looking on in c, for the purpose of designating it as an inactive, tranquil letting-alone (comp. Psa 50:21);when the wickedwho does not even know thee, but has always been at a distance from thee (comp. Mic 2:4)devours him, who is more righteous than he? Although there is much wickedness in Israel, yet, because the Holy One (Hab 1:12) dwells in the midst of them, they are still much more righteous (comp. the N. T. idea of the and ), than he, who purposes to extirpate the worship of Jehovah along with his people; comp. Isa 36:15 ff. Grotius: Judi magnis criminibus involuti erant, sed tamen in ea re multum a Chaldis superabantur.

The is to be supplied in Hab 1:14 also from Hab 1:13 : and why makest thou, wilt thou make men like fishes of the sea. [So Henderson; but Keil does not supply .C. E.] These are not considered as elsewhere with reference to their great number, but to their defenselessness against the fishers net, to which the Chaldan is compared. Hence the parallel clause: like the reptilehere the creeping things of the sea (as in Psa 104:25)which has no ruler, no one who appears to care for, protect and defend them, who goes before collecting means for defense. Where there is no ruler there are helplessness and destruction (Mic 4:9). Instead of , indicating possession, stands in the short relative clause, because is construed with this preposition; literally, no one rules over them.

Hab 1:15. All of them (comp. Hab 1:9) [suf. referring to the collective , Hab 1:14C. E.] he, the fisher, lifts up with his hook, from the deep in which they thought themselves safe. [Because the short vowel seghol is lengthened in the first syllable of into tsere, the corresponding hhateph-seghol must pass over into hhateph-pattach, which occurs after all vowels except seghol and kamets. Ges., sec. 63. Rem. 4.]. And he draws () them into his net, and collects them in his fish-net. Thereforeto his net (Hab 1:16). That is to say, he sacrifices to his martial power, by which he brings the nations under his sway, and which is forsooth his god (Hab 1:11). The Sarmatians were accustomed to offer annually a sacrifice to a sabre set up as an insignia of Mars (Her., 4:59, 62; Clem. Al., Protrept. 64). Whether a similar custom existed among the Babylonians is not known; this passage is clear without the supposition of such a custom. For by them, net and fish-net, his portion is rich, his possessions and gain (Ecc 2:10), and his food is fat. It is the manner of men to render divine honor to that, by which they procure the means of living luxuriously; and idolatry is a perversion of the necessity of gratitude, which searches after the giver (Hos 2:10).

Hab 1:17. But, therefore, shall he empty his net, i. e., for the purpose of casting it out again for a new draught and always strangle nations without sparing? That, Thou, the only One, certainly canst not suffer, comp. Hab 1:13. In the last member the figurative language changes to literal; the infinitive with is not dependent upon , but it stands instead of the finite verb. Compare on Mic 5:1, , unsparingly, a frequent periphrase of the adverb by means of an adverbial clause (Isa 30:14; Job 6:10).

Like Mic 7:7 and Asaph, Psa 73:28, the prophet (Hab 2:1) flees from the picture of destruction, which involuntarily unrolls itself again before his eye, to the solitary height of observation where he hopes to learn the ways and direction of God. I will stand upon my watch-tower and station myself upon the fortress. The language is not literal, like that of Deu 22:3; but figurative (comp. Isa 21:8); since the prophet does not pretend, like the heathen Seer, to discover the Word of God from any celestial sign observed in solitude; but he receives it in the heart (Deu 30:14; Num 12:6). [Keil: Standing upon the watch, and stationing himself upon the fortification, are not to be understood as something external, as Hitzig supposes, implying that the prophet went up to a lofty and steep place, or to an actual tower, that he might be far from the noise and bustle of men, and there turn his eyes toward heaven, and direct his collected mind towards God, to look out for a revelation. For nothing is known of any such custom as this, since the cases mentioned in Exo 33:21 and 1Ki 19:11, as extraordinary preparations for God to reveal Himself, are of a totally different kind from this; and the fact that Balaam the soothsayer went up to the top of a bare height to look out for a revelation from God (Num 23:3), furnishes no proof that the true prophets of Jehovah did the same, but is rather a heathenish feature, which shows that it was because Balaam did not rejoice in the possession of a firm prophetic word, that he looked out for revelations from God in significant phenomena of nature (see at Num 23:3-4). The words of our verse are to be taken figuratively, or internally, like the appointment of the watchman in Isa 21:6. The figure is taken from the custom of ascending high places for the purpose of looking into the distance (2Ki 9:17; 2Sa 18:24), and simply expresses the spiritual preparation of the prophets soul for hearing the Word of God, i. e., the collecting of his mind by quietly entering into himself, and meditating upon the word and testimonies of God.C. E.] Hence he continues: and I will await, literally look out for, what He will speak in me, accurate observare, qu nunc in spiritu mentis contingant, Burck. Compare Hos 1:2. Oehler in Herzog, r.e., 17:637. And what answer I shall bring to my complaint. as in 2Sa 24:13. In direct words the prophet occupies the position of a mediator founded on Mic 7:1 : he complains and answers himself; by virtue of his subjectivity, which connects him to the people, he represents them; and by virtue of the Spirit which comes upon him, and to which his Ego listens eagerly as something objective, he represents God. He calls his address, which has just been concluded, , a rejoinder, properly a speech for the purpose of conviction, or vindication, in a law suit (Job 13:6); with reference to the fact, that, against the threatening, which was in the first answer of God, it took the character of an objection, a deprecatio, an appeal to the mercy, holiness, and justice of God.

The answer follows immediately in the Reply of Jehovah, Hab 2:2-20. It is introduced by a parenthesis, giving directions and information to the prophet, like the reply of Micah to the false predictions of the false prophets (Hab 3:1): and Jehovah answered me and said. After an Introitus, which has the purpose of indicating the importance and immutability of the decrees announced, and after a Divine acknowledgment that the destroyer is worthy of punishment, the reply runs into a five-fold woe, which announces judgment upon all ungodly, rapacious, idolatrous conduct, consequently a general judgment of the world, which involves also the destruction of the conqueror.

Hab 2:2 b, 3. Introitus. Write down the vision (comp. on Hab 1:1; Oba 1:1). is not merely that which is seen, but also that which is inwardly perceived: relates to the eye of the soul. And make it plain ( as in Deu 27:8) on tables, that he may make haste, who reads it, i. e., write it so plainly that every one passing by may be able to read it quickly and easily; to read, with as in Jer 36:13. From the fact that the tables are designated by the article as known, Calvin has already, in the Introduction to his commentary on Isaiah, drawn the conclusion that tables were put up in the temple (Luther, Ewald: in the market-place), on which the prophets noted down a summary of their prophecies, in order to make them known to the whole people. In this way he thinks the possibility of preserving so many prophecies from being falsified may be understood: the tablets, on which they were written, were taken down and piled up. Indeed this latter supposition has nothing incredible; this method of preservation, as the most recent excavations prove, was well known in the ancient East. In an excavation at Kouyunjik (Introd. to Nahum, p. 9) the workmen came upon a chamber full of tablets of terra cotta, with inscriptions in perfect preservation, piled in heaps from the floor to the ceiling. (Compare Zeitschrift der Deutsch-morgenlndischen Gesellschaft [the Journal of the German Oriental Society] 5 p. 446; 10 pp. 728, 731; and on the contents of the tablets Brandis, art. Assyria, in Paulys Encyclopedia, 1 p. 1890). The tablet, of course, of which Isaiah speaks, Isa 8:1, is not a public one, but one disposable for the private use of the prophets (comp. Isa 5:16), and on that account it might appear doubtful whether such tablets were constantly fixed up; but at all events it follows in this passage that it was incumbent upon the prophet to fix them up. The article then points to the fact that the prophet had already laid them up for writing down the vision; since indeed he was not surprised by it, but he had looked out for it (Hab 2:1). The reason that several tablets are mentioned here, and not one, as in Isaiah, is found in the rich and various contents of the five-fold woe. But at all events the design of the command, as the connection with what follows shows, is twofold: first, that the word may be made known to all (comp. Isa 8:1); secondly, that it shall not be obliterated and changed, but fulfilled in strict accordance with the wording. (Comp. Job 19:24; Isa 30:8.)

The latter reason appears with special force in Hab 2:3 : for the vision is yet for the appointed time, still waits for a time of fulfillment, lying perhaps in a far distant future, but nevertheless a fixed (this is indicated by the article) time (comp. Dan 10:14); what this set time is, that which follows declares: and it strives to [reach] the end: the final time, withheld from human knowledge (Act 1:7), which God has appointed for the fulfillment of his promises and threatenings (comp. on Mic 4:1; Dan 8:19; Dan 8:17). The verb , it puffs, pants to the end, is chosen with special emphasis: true prophecy is animated, as it were, by an impulse to fulfill itself. Hitzig. [The third imp. (Hiph.) is formed with tsere, like , Eze 18:14]. And it does not lie, like those predictions of the false prophets, which fixed the time of prosperity as near at hand (Mic 2:11). Therefore, if it tarry, wait for it (comp. Eze 8:17); for it will come (comp. of the fulfillment of prophecy, 1Sa 9:6), and not fail ( as in Jdg 5:28 : 2Sa 20:5). The use of this passage, Heb 10:37, where it seems to be combined with Isa 26:20, is grounded on the translation of the LXX., who point the preceding inf. abs. as the part. , and understand by the , who will certainly come, the Messiah, the judge of the world. There is no objection to this Messianic reference, so far as the meaning is concerned, since all prophecy has its goal in Christ; but, if we accept that punctuation, the reference cannot lie in the words, since in case the definite individual, Messiah, is referred to, we must at least read .

Hab 2:4-6 a. The starting-point of the following announcement of the judgment is exhibited as an ethical one with special reference to the conqueror. Behold puffed up, his soul is not upright in him, consequently he must perish, which furnishes the antithesis to live in the second half of the verse. In harmony with Hab 1:7-11, the insolent defiance, exhibited in his pride, putting itself in the place of God, is pointed out as the pith of the sin of the foreigner.

[, 3 fem. Pual, denominative from the subst. , mound, tumor, from which also a Hiphil, Num 14:44, is formed.] The uprightness, 4 b, forms a contrast to it which consequently is not here, as at other times, opposed to it like simplicity to cunning sophistry (Ecc 7:29), but like humble rectitude to lying ostentation.

All pride against God rests on self-deception; and the judgment has no other object with reference to this self-deception than to lay it open, whereby it is proved to be nothing, consequently its possessor falls to destruction. But the just will live, not by his pride, not at all by anything that is his own, but by the constancy of his faith resting upon God and his word. The use, which the Apostle Paul makes of these words (Rom 1:17; comp. Gal 3:11), is authorized, since there as here the antithesis, by which the idea broad in itself is distinctly sketched, is the haughty boast of his own power entangled in sin. [On the contrary the application of the first half of the verse Heb 10:38, is obscured by the use of the incorrect translation of the LXX., as it is not characterized as an argumentative citation by the free transposition of both halves of the verse, but as a free reproduction. Compare Bengel on the passage.] Isa 7:9 is also parallel to this passage in sense. The idea of faith, which, in this passage and generally in the O. T. lies at the foundation of the words resp. , is not yet the specific N. T. idea of the appropriation of the pardoning grace of God, which brings salvation, but the broader one, which we find in Hebrews 2 : laying firm hold upon (), and standing firmly upon () the word and promise of God, the firm reliance of the soul upon the invisible, which cannot be depressed and misled by the antagonism of that which is seen: constantia, fiducia. [For the word , Heb 11:1 (Oetinger: substructure), is certainly not chosen without reference to the stem . Compare the verb , Hab 2:3. Hitzig is certainly right in claiming for the substantive the signification of faithful disposition=; in passages like Pro 12:17 and Eze 18:22, comp. 1Sa 26:23, it cannot be doubled. But this meaning, however, is to be explained from the etymon, and is not in itself the only authorized one; and one needs not go back to the Hiphil (as H. seems to think), in order to discover as the primary meaning, of the word , that of standing firm. As is the adherence of God to his word and covenant and the adherence of man to the word and covenant of God, so (compare the prevailing usage of the Psalms, especially Psa 89:25, comp. 29) is the standing fast on the part of God to his word (Hab 2:1; Hab 2:12), and the standing fast on the part of man to the word of God: any other constancy than that of a mind established on the word of God the N. T. does not know, at least not as a virtue. Comp. below Luther on the passage.

The general point of view, Hab 2:4, from which it is plain, what he says of the Babylonians, is particularized and enlarged in Hab 2:5, whilst the crimes of the Babylonian are placed under the light of experience, as it is expressed in a proverb. And moreover (the combination stands here in its natural signification, indicated by both words themselves, not in the modified meaning, as in 1Ki 8:27; Gen 3:1), wine is treacherous. The Babylonians were notorious for their inclination to drink: compare Curtius, Hab 2:1 : Babylonii maxime in vinum et qu ebrietatem sequuntur effusi sunt; and in general concerning their luxury, the characteristic fragment of Nicolaus Damascenus (Fragm. Hist. Gro., ed. C. Mller, vol. 2 Paris, 1848. Fragm. 810, p. 357 ff.). [Rawlinsons Ancient Monarchies, vol. 2 pp. 504, 507.C. E.]. The brief formula has the stamp of the proverb, and is not used in the sense of violent plundering, as in Hab 1:13, but in that of perfidious treachery, as in Lam 1:2; Job 6:15 (here also intrans.). In drunkenness men arrogate to themselves high things, and afterward have not strength for them. Comp. also Pro 23:31 f. The other proverb reads: A boastful man, great-mouth, continues not. , only here and Pro 21:24, signifies, in the latter passage by virtue of the parallelism () and according to the versions, tumidus, arrogans. The predicate is attracted by , in order to give emphasis to the subject, as in Gen 22:24; Ew., see. 344 b. (Hupfeld on Psa 1:1 takes as predicate to ; this, however, is too artificial.

That which follows forms together with Hab 2:6 a subjoined relative sentence, whilst the relative introduced before [its antecedent] is defined by the in the following verse; and the contents of this subjoined sentence is the direct application of Hab 2:4-5 a to the Chaldan: He, who widens his desire like the insatiable (Pro 27:20) jaws of hell. , as in Psa 17:9; compare for the figure Isa 5:14. Yea, he, who like death is not satisfied (construction as in the first member), but gathers together all peoples to himself (comp. Hab 1:15) and collects together all nations to himself; will not all these (comp. Nah 3:19) take up a proverb concerning him, yea a satirical speech, a riddle upon him? On compare Commentary on Nah 1:1. , usually a figurative discourse, then a brief epigram, a proverb (Pro 1:1); here as in Isa 14:4, according to the connection, a scoffing, mocking song, in view of the certainty of the fate prepared for him. The same sense is given by the context to the word , to which it [the sense] seems more nearly related by the root , to mock, and the derivatives and . Yet this is in fact no more than semblance, as the passage, Pro 1:6, proves, from which Habakkuk borrows the phraseology of this verse, and in which nothing of derision is to be found. We must rather go back to the Hiphil of the stem, which signifies interpretari: is an interpreter. (Delitzsch denies this signification of [Hiph. pret.], however without proof; his explanation, brilliant oration, is entirely imaginary.) Therefore is not an explanatory saying, i. e., it is not an illustrative, luminous one (Keil), the contrary of which the passage Pro 1:6, and likewise the character of the proverb following, prove, but it is a saying which needs interpretation (as our riddle does not guess, but is intended to be guessed), an apothegm (so the LXX. on Pro 1:6 : : in this passage they construe with what follows), accordingly it is synonymous with the following word , , enigmaan extremely popular form of poetry in the East, and which is also among us a favorite form of popular political ridicule. Certainly to the mind of the prophet it is something different, a prophetic speech.

(Keil: Mshl is a sententious poem, as in Mic 2:4 and Isa 14:4, not a derisive song, for this subordinate meaning could only be derived front the context, as in Isa 14:4 for example; and there is nothing to suggest it here. So, again Meltsh neither signifies a satirical song, nor an obscure enigmatical discourse, but, as Delitzsch has shown, from the first of the two primary meanings combined in the verb , lucere and lascivire, a brilliant oration, oratio splendida, from which is used to denote interpreter, so called, not from the obscurity of the speaking, but from his making the speech clear or intelligible. is in apposition to and , adding the more precise definition, that the sayings contain enigmas relating to him (the Chaldan).

Lucere does not seem to be one of the primary meanings of . Frst gives umherspringen,hpfen (aus Muthwillen), dah. muthwillig, ausgelassen, unruhigen Geistes sein; bertr. verhhnen,spotten, achten unbestndig sein. Gesenius: balbutire, (1) barbare loqui; (2) illudere, irridere alicui. Thesaurus. See Special Introduction to the Proverbs of Solomon, sect. 11, note 2, in this Commentary.C. E.]

Hab 2:6 b20. The Fivefold Woe. Two views are possible concerning the contents of this discourse. One may view it either wholly as the song of the nations indicated Hab 2:6 a, consequently as entirely and specially directed against Babylon; or that only the first woe constitutes this song, but in the others the prophet retains the form once begun, in order to connect with them general thoughts of the judgment. If in favor of this latter view no farther argument can be urged than the one, that in the time of Habakkuk, Nebuchadnezzar had not yet committed all the sins, which are here laid to his charge, a consideration on which Hitzig certainly lays stress, one might perhaps be authorized in calling it, with Maurer and Keil, the most infelicitous of all. But not only the general contents of the following threatenings, which as much concern the sins of Judah, as those of the Chaldans, are in favor of it; but also the circumstance that it appears worthy of God, after the impressive introduction, Hab 2:2-3, and the profound conclusion Hab 2:4 to command the prediction not of a mere amplified derisory song of the nations, but of a universal threatening against sin, in which of course and before all the sin of the Chaldans is also to be included. Further, in favor of this view is the fact that precisely the first woe, Hab 2:6-8, has both the form of the brief; aphoristic, enigmatical song and a direct reference to Babylon, while in the second and third both are entirely wanting; and further that the immediate transition from such a poetical form in the beginning to a more extended prophetical address frequently occurs in other places in the prophets (Mic 2:4 ff.; Isa 23:16 ff; Isa 14:4 ff.).

Also the plural of Hab 2:2, points rather to a plurality of objects of the prophecy than to a single one; and so also the concluding formula Hab 2:20 (all the world), points to the universality of the predicted judgment. Finally, we had in chap. 1 the same double reference of the prophecy; both to the intolerableness of the present sinful state of things (Hab 2:2 ff.), and to that of the future state of calamity; both are characterized by entirely parallel formul, comp. namely, Hab 2:3; Hab 2:13 : the five woes correspond to both complaints.

Hab 2:6-8. First Woe. It is immediately connected by the to the in Hab 2:6 a, and thereby expressly pointed out as the song raised by the oppressed over the fall of the conqueror. is used here, as in 2Ki 9:17; Isa 58:9; Ps. 58:12, in distinction from the aorist , as an annexed jussive form in a future sense and impersonal (comp. Mic 2:4); they shall say: Woe (comp. on Nah 3:1) to him who accumulates what is not his own. as in Hab 1:6. By this accord of sounds the solution of the enigma, which lies in this designation of the Babylonian, is undoubtedly and fully suggested. However, there is in the accord itself, as Delitzsch remarks, a new enigma, to wit, the ambiguity: he accumulates not for himself (Ecc 2:25). In the following expression: For how long, the exclamation, how long already! as Hitzig thinks, is not intended; but the exclamation, how long still! The entire contents of the verse show that he does not suppose the catastrophe as having already taken place, but he predicts it in the midst of the oppression. Generally the formula is employed only in the sense of complaint concerning a present evil. And who loads himself with a burden of pledges gained by usury (comp. Hab 1:11). is also ambiguous: derived from the root , it can signify either a mass of pledges (comp. , shower of rain, , thick darkness): to wit, the laboriously acquired property of the nations, which he collects together, just as the unmerciful usurer heaps up pledges contrary to the law of Moses (Deu 24:10); and which he must for that reason deliver up; or it may be considered as a composite of (thickness, comp. Hupf. on Psa 18:12) and , thick mud. Compare Nah 3:6.

Hab 2:7. Will not those who bite thee rise up suddenly (a play upon words between , bite of a snake, and , interest: who recover usury from thee); and those who shake thee violently [allusion to the violent seizure of a debtor by his creditorC. E.] wake up (from )? And thou wilt become a booty to them, , plur. rhet. Comp. on Mic 5:1.

Hab 2:8. For thou hast plundered a multitude of nations (comp. Mic 4:2), so all the remnant (Mic 5:2) of the nations will plunder thee: the remnant of the subdued, i. e. the not subdued, those lately come into existence, as e. g. the Persians (Isaiah 45). [Keil, after a labored exposition, concludes: From all this we may see that there is no necessity to explain all the remnant of the nations, as relating to the remainder of the nations that had not been subjugated, but that we may understand it as signifying the remnant of the nations plundered and subjugated by the Chaldans (as is done by the LXX., Theodoret, Delitzsch, and others), which is the only explanation in harmony with the usage of the language. For in Jos 23:12, yether haggym denotes the Canaanitish nations left after the war of extermination; and in Zec 14:2, yether hm signifies the remnant of the nation left after the previous conquest of the city, and the carrying away of half its inhabitants.C. E.] For the blood of men ( as in Oba 1:10) and violence in the earth, the city, and all that dwell in it. The same enumeration of everything destructible, as Hab 1:11 ff. 14; hence not to be restricted to Jerusalem and Israel, though specially intended, but to be understood generally, like Jer. 56:8 [Rawlinsons Ancient Monarchies, vol. 2, p. 506.C. E.]

Hab 2:9-11. Second Woe. If the Chaldan (Hab 2:6-8), according to the connection, was the only possible object, this threatening of judgment certainly reaches farther: Woe to him, who accumulates wicked gain for his house, who sets his nest on high (the inf. with continues the construction of the imperfect, as is frequently the case), [the infin. with is used to explain more precisely the idea expressed by the finite verb. Nordheimers Heb. Gram., sec 1026, 2.C. E.] to save himself from the hand of evil. The judgment of God, proceeding from his holiness, has its source in a necessity universally moral, and, on this account, falls upon all sinners; and the description of those characterized here does not fit so well, according to the language of prophecy, the Chaldans, who inhabited a low country,the parallel (Isa 14:12 ff.) produced by Delitzsch, conveys the idea of heaven-defying pride, whilst here the prophet speaks of concealing treasures,as it does the Edomites, who stored up their plunder in the clefts of the rocks (Oba 1:3; Jer 49:7 f.). And it applies just as well to the rich in Jerusalem (comp. Isa 22:16 ff.), and especially to King Jehoiakim, whose conduct is described in language (Jer 22:13 ff) uttered nearly at the same time with that of our prophet, and in exactly similar modes of expression. [Rawlinsons Ancient Monarchies, vol. 2 p. 504.C. E.]

Hab 2:10 also applies to the same person: Thou hast consulted shame, instead of riches, for thy house, the house of David, which was called to a position of honor before God. And what is the shame? The ends of many nations, i. e., the collective multitude of peoples (comp. 1Ki 12:31) which shall come up like a storm to take vengeance upon the sins of Israel, just as the remnant of the nations are at a future time, to take vengeance upon the sins of the Babylonian. And thou involvest thy soul in guilt (Pro 20:2).

[The ends of many nations, by which Kleinert renders , gives no intelligible meaning. is not the plural of , but the infinitive of , to cut off, destroy. The proper rendering, therefore, is cutting off many nations.C. E.]

Hab 2:11. For the stone cries out of the wall, built in sin, to accuse thee (Gen 4:10), and the spar out of the wood-work answers it,agrees with it in its charge against thee: when the judgment draws near they are the accusing witnesses. Immediately joined to this is

The Third Woe, Hab 2:12-13. Woe to him who builds the fortress in blood, and founds the city in wickedness. Since the prophet has not denounced punishment upon Nebuchadnezzar for building, but for destroying cities (Hab 1:11 f), we must here also, especially on comparing Mic 3:10 and Jer 22:13, understand the reference to be to the buildings of Jehoiakim. Behold, does it not come to pass (2Ch 25:26) from Jehovah of hosts, that the tribes weary themselves,either come up on compulsory service for the king, or driven to Jerusalem by the calamity of war to work upon the fortifications (2Ch 32:4 f.; compare also Mic 1:2)for the fire, and the nations exhaust themselves for vanity? All human wisdom and toil have no success, where Jehovah does not assist in building (Psa 127:1); this applies to Israel (Isa 57:10; Isa 49:4; comp. Isa 40:28; Isa 40:30; Isa 65:23), as it does to Babylon (Jer 51:58). And this vanity must be made manifest: the works of men must crumble into the dust from which they arose (comp. Mic 5:10; Mic 7:13).

For (Hab 2:14) the earth shall be full, but of the knowledge of the glory of Jehovah, as the waters cover the bed of the sea. So God himself has promised by Isaiah (Isa 11:9; comp. Hab 2:3). This glory is the resplendent majesty of the Ruler of the world coming to judgment against all ungodliness, and for the accomplishment of salvation (Num 14:21; Psalms 97.; Zec 2:12). This knowledge comprehends, at the same time, the acknowledgment of Jehovah and the confession of sin. is not construed as usual with the acc. of the subst., but with and the infinitive. To analyze the last clause into a noun with a following relative clause is unnecessary: can also be used (which Ewald and Keil deny) as a particle of comparison before whole sentences (Hupfeld, Psalms , 2 p. 327 A. 99). does not mean here the sea itself, but the bed, or bottom of the sea, as in 1Ki 7:26. With the general thought which Hab 2:13 f. adds to the special turns [of thought] there is a return to the punishment of heathen wrong-doers. Upon them falls exclusively

The, Fourth Woe, Hab 2:15-18, which also directly introduces again some enigmatical sounds of the first. Woe to thee [so Kleinert and Luther: the LXX., Vulgate, A. V., Keil, and Henderson, use the third person, woe to himC. E.) that givest thy neighbor to drinkwhilst thou pourest out (, as in Job 14:19; synonymous with , Jer 10:25,) thy wrath [or thy leathern bottle, Aben Ezra, Kimchi, Hitzig (Gen 21:14); perhaps as the whole address directs us back to Hab 2:6 ff., there is again here also an intentional ambiguity] and also makest him (thy neighbor) drunk (inf. abs. Proverbs 5 fin., Ges., sec. 131, 4 a.) in order to see their shame; to make it wholly subservient to his voluptuous desire (Nah 3:5). [In place of the third person in the first member, the address changes, in the second member, to the second person; in the fourth member the singular is changed into the plural. Both the middle clauses are adverbial to the of the first member]. The figure is taken from common life, and is clear of itself; it is the more appropriate, as the Chaldan is described (Hab 2:5) as a drunkard. The leathern bottle, from which the Chaldan pours out his compacts (comp. Isaiah 39), is, as it turns out in the end, a bottle of wrath; and the disposition in which it is passed is that of wild desire and barbarous lust of power. Therefore the same comes upon him.

Hab 2:16, So thou shalt be satisfied, as thou desirest, but with shame instead of glory. Drink thou also (comp. Nah 3:11) and uncover thyself [Heb.: show thyself uncircumcisedC. E.]: from Jehovahs right hand the cup, also a cup of wrath (comp. Oba 1:16) will come in its turn to thee, and shameful vomit upon thy glory. [Rawlinsons Ancient Monarchies, vol. 2. p. 504.C. E.] , according to the Pilpel derivation from instead of , signifies the most extreme contempt; but it can, at the same time, be considered as a composite word from , vomit of shame, or shameful vomit (comp. Isa 28:8) referring to the figurative description of the drinking revel.

Hab 2:17. For the outrage at Lebanon, whose cedar forests the conquerors wickedly spoiled, in order to adorn with them their magnificent edifices in Babylon (Isa 14:7 ff.; comp. Ausland, 1866, p. 944), shall cover thee, shall weigh upon thee like a crushing roof, and the dispersion of the animals, which it, the outrage, frightened away! The wild beasts of Lebanon, which fled before the destroyer. (, instead of compensation for the sharpening by lengthening the vowel, Ges., 20, 3 c. Rem., and pausal change of the into , Ges., sec. 29, 4, c. Rem.). [See Greens Heb. Gram., sec. 112, 5 c.; 141, 3.C. E.] And as Lebanon with its cedars (Jer 22:6; Jer 22:23), appears to be a representative of the Holy Land and its glory, so here also a general meaning is given to the outrage upon inanimate nature by the repetition of the refrain from the first woe, Hab 2:8 : On account of the blood of men, the outrage upon the land, the city and all its inhabitants. However, the obvious reference to Israel and Jerusalem, in this passage, is made, by the connection, more distinctly prominent than in Hab 2:8, above.

Hab 2:18, according to the thought, is preliminary to the following woe; just as we saw above that Hab 2:11 was preliminary to the third woe, and Hab 2:13 to the fourth. What profiteth the graven image, that its maker carves it? is used sensu negativo, as in Ecc 1:3; and since it requires a negative answer, the secondary clause introduced into the rhetorical question by is also answered thereby in the negative: quid, cur? It profits nothing (Jer 2:11), consequently it is folly to carve it. Parallel to this is the following clause: what profiteth the molten image and the teacher of lies, i.e., either the false prophet, who enjoins men to trust in idols, and encourages the manufacture of them (Isa 9:14 [sa 9:15?]), or rather, according to the in the following verse, the idol itself, which points out false ways in opposition to God, the true teacher (Job 36:22; Ps. 15:12; Delitzsch, Hitzig), That the carver of his image trusts in him to make dumb idols? (Psa 135:16 f.; 1Co 12:2.) The negative answer to this rhetorical question is given by

The Fifth Woe, which is immediately subjoined, Hab 2:19-20 : Woe to him, who says to the block, wake up! as the pious man can pray to the true God (Psa 35:12 [Psa 35:23]); arise ! to the dumb stone. Can it teach? To teach is used here, as in the former verse and generally, to signify that active guidance and advice, which belong to the Deity in contradistinction to men, and which form the basis of practical piety. Concerning the form of the indignant question, compare [Com.] on Mic 2:6. Behold it is enchased with gold and silver (Acc.) and there is nothing of soul, neither breath, nor feeling, nor understanding, in it. (Com. Psa 135:17). However fine it is, it does not even have life (comp. Jer 10:14): how can it teach! Compare the amplification of the same thought, Isa 44:9 ff.

The whole threatening address concludes with the prophetical formula: Jehovah is in the temple of his holiness, i.e. according to Psa 11:4, compare Psa 20:7 [Psa 20:6], heaven, from which, as the situation now stands and as the woes about to pass over the earth are anticipated, we are to expect his judgment, i.e. the confirmation that He will give to show that He is the Holy One (comp. Psa 18:7 ff.; Isa 5:16). Therefore,compare the entirely similar connection of thought Zep 1:7; Zec 2:13 [Heb. Bib. Hab 2:17]:Let all the world be silent before Him.

[Keil: Hab 2:18-20. Fifth and last strophe. This concluding strophe does not commence, like the preceding ones, with hi, but with the thought which prepares the way for the woe, and is attached to what goes before to strengthen the threat, all hope of help being cut off from the Chaldan. Like all the rest of the heathen, the Chaldan also trusted in the power of his gods. This confidence the prophet overthrows in Hab 2:18 : What use is it? equivalent to The idol is of no use (cf. Jer 2:11; Isa 44:9-10). The force of this question still continues in masskhah: Of what use is the molten image? Pesel is an image carved out of wood or stone; masskh an image cast in metal.C. E.]

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

The sphere of thought of this chapter rests upon the two intersecting ground-lines, sin and death, faith and life. (Compare on the idea of faith the Exegetical Exposition of Hab 2:4.)

Sin and death belong together; sin is the ethical, death the physical expression of separation from God. Therefore the people of God cannot die, because He is their Holy One; because by virtue of their belonging to the Holy One they drink from the fountain of life. Therefore to Israel Gods judgments are a means of purification, while they are destruction to others. And if God, who is a Rock, has such a hatred against sin, that he does not suffer it in his people [heiligen Eigenthum, sacred property] chosen of old (comp. Com. on Micah, p. 00), and brings upon it the scourge of his judgment, how much less will He suffer it in him who is a stranger to his heart, and whom He employs only as an instrument of his judgment. From the consideration that God judges Israel follows the certainty that He will judge the heathen also, consequently the certainty that Israel will be saved.

The sin of the world-power is two-fold; first, it deals with the property of God as if it were its own; secondly, it does not honor God for the success granted to it, but its own power. This must cease.

The countenance of faith is directed forward into the future. Thence it derives its answer for consolation and hope. (Of course it would not have this direction if it had not the promise of God behind it (Gen 49:18); God is, however, always the author: He is of old the Holy One of his people.). When Israel forgat the promise, they began to look back to the flesh pots of Egypt. The whole religion of the O. T. is a religion of the future. Heathendom exercised its intellectual energy upon the origins of things for the purpose of forming and developing their theogonies: the Holy Spirit directs the mind of Israel to prophecy: no ancient people has so little about the primitive time as we find in the O. T.; even modern heathendom knows [professes to know| much more about it. The exact time is not specified in prophecy, at least in regard to the intermediate steps (Hab 1:5); but the certainty is specified, and the exact time is fixed in the purpose of God. God can no more lie than He can look upon iniquity. The certainty of prophecy, and consequently of our confidence, rests upon the holiness of God. How different is the resignation of the O. T. from fatalism. The former comes from life, the latter from death. Resignation places the holiness of God in the centre: fatalism destroys it.

Gods way is the right way. He hates all crooked lines,the side-lines of sophistry, the curve-lines of boasting, the downward sunk lines of dark, concealment. Sin is deviation from the straight way. The straight way is the way of life.

The piety of the Old Testament begins with faith (Gen 15:4 [6]). The stage of the law enters, which gives the uppermost place to faith in action, the obedience of faith, and which, with the apparent extension of the principle of faith, involves in fact a narrowing of it. In prophecy the original principle, in its universality, enters again gradually into its right position. The book of Job may be mentioned as a proof of this. The obedience of the law has for its correlative the doctrine of retribution. On this Job is put to shame. Against it he has no sufficient answer. But because his heart, in every trial, maintained its faith in God, he is nevertheless justified. The book of Job is the exposition of Hab 2:4. Faith is the direct way to the heart of God. He who interposes himself (his own works, his own merits, his own law, his own thoughts) perverts the way. Apostasy from faith is the beginning of sin. Iu the heart of God is imperishable life, because there is imperishable holiness. Therefore the faith of Israel is the correlative of the Holy One of Israel; and faith is the way to life, as sin is the way to death.

The characteristic mark of the kingdom of God is free-will. The world-power raffs men together; they are invited into the kingdom of God; they rise and say: Come, let us go. The coge intrare is contrary to the Scripture. (The prohibe of the enemies of missions is just as truly so. Isa 49:6.) He who thus gathers [men] together, brings upon himself scorn at last. All nations, which Rome has converted by force, have fallen away from her, and they sing over her a song of derision.

Property is sanctified by God; but over-grasping gain is cursed by Him. His omniscience is present in his judgment. Hidden crime is laid open and punished, as if blood, spar, and stones had speech to inform against what is concealed behind them, the guilt that is built up in them. We see in the manner in which no concealed wickedness remains unpunished, but is banished out of sight, the hand of God and the manifestation of his glory on every side, without seeing himself. The pillar of smoke and of fire over the burned city of sin is the veil of his glory. The design of the creation, according to the O. T., is the glory of God. For this the earth was made, just as the basin of the sea was made for the water.

The sinner does not find the right way: he is like a drunken man. To the upright man the ways of sinners are a reeling [an intoxication]. He who leads astray makes drunk; but he enters of himself upon the most crooked way, and hence comes to destruction. The intoxication of sin culminates in the insanity of idolatry. The idol is lifeless. Its worshipper seeks by idolatry, as the righteous man does by faith, the way of life; but he comes to the silence of death. The tranquillity of life is quite another thing. (Isa 30:15.)

Oetinger: Rectitude of heart is the substance and ground of truth. He who has a right heart, sees rightly and hears rightly; he who has a perverse heart heaps up falsehood, without knowing it. Nature produces all the elements at once: the upright soul attracts to it what is true and honest. Intensiveness precedes extensiveness: the moral precedes the physical; the physical, the metaphysical.

R. Joseph Albo (in Starke and Delitzsch): in the book of Chronicles if is said: believe in the prophets, and ye shall be prosperous (2Ch 20:20). This proves that faith is the cause of prosperity, is well as the cause of eternal life, according to the saying of Habakkuk: the just shall live by his faith; by which he cannot mean the bodily life, since in respect to this the righteous man has no advantage over the wicked, but rather the eternal life, the life of the soul, which the righteous enjoy, and for the attainment of which they trust in God, as it is said: The righteous has still confidence in death [A. V.: The righteous hath hope in his death]. (Pro 14:32.)

W. Hoffmann: Abraham had a view [ausschau, outlook] through the promise, in which, at last, every streak of shadow vanished, and in the distant horizon all was light and glory. He looked beyond this world to the blessed rest of the people of God; and he could not do otherwise than this, since he acknowledged God as the restorer of the life of men, of his own life, and of the life of all his descendants and tribes,a life perverted to sin, fallen, and burdened with the curse. It is very likely that the thoughts of the father of the faithful were dark and obscure in regard to this, for it required yet great advancement before clear language could be employed concerning this holy change; but the hearts experience, which he enjoyed of it, was full and steadfast. Restoration of the lost, removal of sin, deliverance from spiritual deaththat is the key-note of Abrahams faith. And it was deliverance only by the manifestation of God. It was this manifestation to which all the revelations of God at that time related. Gods nearness, His dwelling with the children of men; this was the goal; hope could fasten upon no other. What else, therefore, was his faith thanalthough not consciously clear and grasped by the understandinga laying hold upon the future Saviour with outstretched arms?

Delitzsch: Troublous times are at hand. What then is more consoling than the fact, that life, deliverance from destruction, is awarded to that faith, which truly rests on God, keeps fast hold of the word of promise, and in the midst of tribulation confidently waits for its fulfillment? Not the veracity, the trustworthiness, the honesty of the righteous man, considered in themselves as virtues, are, in such calamities, in danger of being shaken and of failing, but, as is shown in the prophet himself, his faith. Therefore, the great promise, expressed in the one word. Life, is connected with it.

Schmieder: All Bible prophecy looks forward to a distant time determined by God, but which we do not know. It points to the end, when the Lord by judgment and redemption shall establish his perfect kingdom. This prophecy will not lie. but will certainly be fulfilled, though its fulfillment is always longer and longer deferred.

HOMILETICAL

Hab 1:12. Of the great joy, which we have reason to ground upon the fact, that God is the Holy One of his people.

1. It is a joy of gratitude that He has always been with his own. Hab 1:12 a, b.

2. A joy of continual confidence, that we cannot perish. Hab 1:12 c.

3. A joy in chastisement, that it is only for the confirmation of his holiness, and for our purification. Hab 1:12 d, e.

Hab 1:13-17 : There is a limit set to the power of the wicked upon earth. For

1. God is holy. Hab 1:13 a, b.

2. But the work of the wicked is unholy. For

(a) It is a work of hatred against the righteous. Hab 1:13 c, d.

(b) It is an abuse of the powers bestowed by God. Hab 1:14.

(d) It does not give God honor, but it makes itself an idol. Hab 1:16.

3. Therefore it must have an end. Hab 1:17.

Hab 2:1-4. The way of patience (compare H. Mller, Erquickstunden, Nr. 97).

1. I must suffer, for Gods judgments and purifications are necessary. Hab 2:1 in connection with chap. 1.

2. I can suffer; for Gods Word sustains me. Hab 2:2-3.

3. I will suffer, for I believe. Hab 2:4.

Or: Persevere, for the redemption draws nigh. (Advent-sermon).

1. The manner of perseverance: confidence. Hab 2:1.

2. The ground of perseverance: the promise. Hab 2:2-3.

3. The power [Kraft, active power, or cause] of perseverance: faith. Hab 2:4.

Hab 1:12 to Hab 2:4. Israels life of promise.

1. A believing retrospect into the past.
2. A believing look into the future.

Hab 2:5-20. Of shameful and hurtful avarice.

1. Avarice is contrary to the order prescribed by God; therefore God must bring it back to order by chastisement. Hab 2:1; Hab 2:6 b, 7.

2. It is contrary to love, therefore, it produces a harvest of hatred. Hab 2:6 a.

3. It confounds the ideas of right, therefore wrong must befall it. Hab 2:8 a.

4. It makes the mind timid; but where fear is there is no stability. Hab 2:9.

5. It accumulates [riches] with sin, therefore for nothing. Hab 2:12; Hab 2:11; Hab 2:13; Hab 2:17.

6. It seeks false honor, therefore it acquires shame. Hab 2:15-16.

7. It sets its heart upon gold and silver and lifeless things, therefore it must perish with its lifeless gods. Hab 2:18-19.

8. On the whole, it provokes the judgment of God. Hab 2:8 b, 14, 20.

On Hab 1:12. Jehovah, the God of Shem, the God of Abraham, of Israel and of Jacob, is not a God of the dead, but of the living. He is a rock: he who stands upon Him stands firm; he who falls upon Him is crushed. Everything that God does takes place for the instruction of him, who consecrates himself to Him. The best way through the afflictive dispensations of God, is not to ask: How shall I adjust them to my mind? But how shall I make them productive of my improvement ?

Hab 1:13. There is an inability, which is no want of freedom, but which is the highest freedom; and there is an ability, which is not freedom, but the deepest bondage. Mat 4:9. There is not one absolutely righteous man, but there are relatively more righteous men; the judgment of God has respect to this fact.

Hab 1:14 f. Man was made lord over the beasts. God indeed permits men to be treated sometimes like beasts, but he who does it commits sin by it; and his insolence will be changed to lamentation.

Hab 1:16. The sinner perverts and vitiates the holiest thing in man, the necessity of worship. Everything is a snare to him, who forsakes God.

Hab 1:17. Everything continues its time. Ecclesiastes 3.

Hab 2:1. Although we have the Holy Spirit as a permanent possession of the Church, and are no longer referred, like the prophets, to separate acts of enlightenment, nevertheless the answers of the Holy Spirit do not come to us without prayer, and patience and quiet waiting.

Hab 2:2. Everything that is necessary to know in order to salvation, is so plainly written in the Scriptures, that even one who only looks at it hastily, in passing, cannot say that he may not have understood it.

Hab 2:3. It is a great consolation to know that there is One who cannot lie. Psa 116:11. Gods time is the very best time. We should not measure Gods ways by our thoughts, nor the periods of eternity by our hours; but we should measure our ways by Gods Word.

Hab 2:4. Take heed that thou think not of thyself more than it is proper for thee to think. In humility there is power. Mat 15:28. Where there is no faith there is no righteousness. The prophet considers faith to be a self-evident possession of the righteous man. Life is the richest idea in the Scriptures. It is a great consolation to be able to say to the enemy, rage on; thou canst not do more to me than God has bidden thee, nor more than what is useful to me; and thy time is already measured.

Hab 2:5. The intemperate are generally also vain-glorious. Both lead to destruction. Only a clear and sober eye finds the right way. There are many things which intoxicate. One can be intoxicated with honor, and another with hatred against honor. One can be intoxicated with science, and another with hatred against science. All partisan disposition is an intoxicating wine. Desire is insatiable: therein lies its destruction: it devours that, which produces its death.

Hab 2:6. It is a miserable feeling for fallen greatness to be derided by those hitherto despised. He who gathers what is not his own does not gather it for himself. This also cannot continue long. Dignities are burdens [Wrden sind Brden, Prov. = the more worship, the more costC. E.] dignities fraudulently obtained are burdens.

Hab 2:7. It is by [divine] ordination, when he, whom God intends to judge, nurses in his own bosom the serpent, which is to sting him. So it was with Nineveh. Thereby too [i. e., by the same appointment: darin refers to Verhngniss; see Act 2:23C. E.] Christ took upon himself the heaviest judgment of sin.

Hab 2:8. The whole world becomes silent only before God. For all others there is a remnant of those, who have not been subdued, by whom they come to ruin. For those, who are not able to stay their hearts by faith in God, the doctrine of retribution taught in the law remains in full power. They have no desire to choose the grace, therefore wrath abides upon them. God takes care of each individual, and will require each and every abused and ruined soul from the destroyer.

Hab 2:9. Flee as high as you may, God is always still higher. What profit is there in all the prudence and in all the gain of the world, if the soul is a loser by them?

Hab 2:11. God has his witnesses everywhere. If these are silent, the stones will cry out. The blood of Abel cries from the earth, and the thorns and thistles in the field speak of Genesis 3.

Hab 2:12. There is a building which destroys; and a destroying which builds.

Hab 2:13. The blessing, or the curse, upon any work, comes after all, finally, only from above. Nothing can hinder the purposes of God concerning the world.

Hab 2:15 f. The career of a great conqueror has something intoxicating. Before Napoleon not only degraded men became idolaters. There is a witchcraft in it. (Comp. Hab 1:12 with the Introduction to the book of Job.) This comes finally to light, when God judges it, and bitter sobering follows the intoxication: men then have a horror of the human greatness before which they bowed.

Hab 2:18. There is also in idolatry a kind of intoxication. The sober questions: What profiteth the image? How can it govern? guide? teach? do not occur to the minds of the worshippers of idols. A god that cannot speak is nothing. Without the Word of God there is no religion. Him, who is not silent before Jehovah from submission and faith, Gods judgments must make silent.

Luther: Hab 1:12. The prophet calls God the Holy One of Israel, because they were holy through their God and by nothing else. And truly from all eternity God is a Holy One. For it gives great courage, when we know and firmly believe that we have a God; that He is our God, our Holy One, and that He is on our side.

Hab 1:13. With these words Habakkuk shows what thoughts occur to wrestling faith, which holds that God is just; but He delays so long, and looks on the wicked, that one might almost think that He may not be just, but may have pleasure in evil men. It is a source of excessive grief that the unrighteous should be successful so long and acquire such great prosperity, though with calamity. But their success is permitted, in order that our faith, having been well tried, may become strong and abundant in God. And yet this is not grievous beyond measure, when a prophet stands by himself in such a conflict of faith; but when he stands in his official capacity and is to console and preserve an entire nation with him, then it is trouble, misery, and distress. Then the people kick, and there are scarcely two or three in the whole mass, who believe and struggle with him.Chap. 2. Hab 1:1. Such words as the following will become the common cry: Pray, where are now the prophets, who promised us salvation? What fine fools they have made of us. Believe, whoever will, that it will come to pass. Thus does reason behave, when God fulfills his Word in another way than it has imagined. It is also the case then that one will not believe God at any time. Does He threaten? Then the present prosperity hinders us [from believing]. Does He promise grace? Then the present calamity hinders us. Then the prophets first of all endeavor to labor with the unbelieving, faint-hearted people. Therefore I stand, says the prophet, as one upon a tower, and contend strongly and firmly for the weak in faith against the unbelieving.

Hab 1:4. Some take up the Jewish objection, pretend to be wise, and pass judgment upon Paul, as if he had dragged in Habakkuk unfairly and forcibly by the hair, since Habakkuk speaks of his table, and not of the Gospel. Though this table also speaks of the Gospel, yet it speaks of it as future, while Paul speaks of the present Gospel. It is, however, the same Gospel, which was then future and which has come, just as Christ is the same yesterday, to-day, and forever (Heb 13:8), although He is announced in a different way before and after his coming. But that is a matter of no importance; it is nevertheless the same faith and spirit. The truth, which one has in his heart, is called Emunah [firmness, stability, faithfulness, fidelity], and by that he clings to the truth and fidelity of another. Now I let it pass, whoever may be disposed to quarrel about it, that he who has the feeling in his heart which cleaves to another as faithful and true, and depends upon him, may call it truth, or what he will; but Paul and we do not know any other name for such a disposition than faith.

Hab 1:11. Not only his edifice, but also the wide world, becomes too narrow for him who has a timid, desponding heart, and when a pillar or a beam cracks in his house he is terrified. Therefore princes and nobles, if they would build durably, should see to it that they lay a right good foundation, that is, they should first pray to God for heart and courage, which in the time of trouble may be able to preserve the building. But if no care is bestowed to acquire this Courage [den Muth, by which Luther means faith, or the courage inspired by itC. E.], but only wood and stone are reared up, it [the building] must finally, when the time comes, perish, as is here recorded.

Starke: Hab 1:12. One can certainly pray to God for a mitigation, but not for an entire averting of all punishment.

Hab 1:17. Plus ultra, always onward, is the maxim of heroes; how much more should it be the maxim of Christians, in regard to their constant growth and increase in spiritual life.Chap. 2. Hab 1:1. Although all Christians, by virtue of the covenant of baptism, have been appointed watchmen by God (Psa 18:32 ff; Psa 139:21), yet teachers particularly are called watchmen.

Hab 1:2. The prophets had not only a commission to preach, but also to write. They act very wickedly who prevent plain people from reading the Holy Scriptures. Gods Word must be plainly presented, so that even the most simple may learn to understand it.

Hab 1:3. Waiting comprises in it (1) faith; (2) hope; (3) patience, or waiting to the end for the time which the Lord has appointed, but which He intends us to wait for.

Hab 1:5. Pride, avarice, bloodthirstiness, and debauchery God does not leave unpunished in any one.

Hab 1:8. We see here that not everything which is done in accordance with international law is right before God also, and allowed by Him.

Hab 1:9. Prosperity inspires courage; courage pride; and pride never does one any good.

Hab 1:10. Bad counsel affects him most who gives it. When tyrants are to execute the command and sentence of God, they generally observe no moderation in doing it.

Hab 1:15. One should never invite any one as a guest, against whom he cherishes a malignant heart.

Hab 1:16. Those who rejoice in distressing others, will in their turn be brought to distress by God and made objects of derision.

Pfaff: Hab 1:12. In times of public danger the safest and the best [means] is to have recourse to prayer. By it one can best vanquish the enemy and arrest his career.

Hab 2:1. The ministers of the Gospel are spiritual watchmen, partly in relation to the souls of men, over which they are to watch, and partly in relation to the Lord to whose Word they are to give heed and which they are to preach.

Hab 2:3. Ye despisers of the Word of God, do not imagine that the Word of the Lord against you will not be fulfilled.

Hab 2:7 ff. To God belongs the right of retaliation. With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.

Hab 2:20. If the divine judgments fall also upon us, we must adore with the deepest humility of heart, and lay our finger upon our mouth.

Rieger: Hab 2:1. Even those who are in true communion with God are not always in the same state of mind. They are at one time, although in a godly frame [of mind], occupied with external things; at another time they are entirely abstracted from earthly things, and placed in a condition which approaches to waiting before the throne of God. This is sometimes effected by the grace of God through the medium of an unexpected impulse; but there are also sometimes on the part of the believer a preparation and composing of the mind for it. This state of mind is indicated in the New Testament by the expression, I was in the Spirit; and the prophet calls it his tower.

Hab 2:3 f. What, according to our reckoning, seems to be delayed, will be admitted not to have been delayed; but to have taken place at the appointed day and at its proper time. The promises cannot be forced [into fulfillment] by a headstrong disposition; but on the contrary one falls sooner from such busy activity back again to a state of indifference, and thereby neglects the promise.

Hab 2:5 ff. Upon what must a man, who has in his heart no peace arising from faith, lean for the purpose of finding peace therein? And how is it with him who misses the path that leads to God? There is nothing else adequate to fill the abyss of his soul, even though he were able to swallow the whole world. What filth upon his soul has he in his conquests, in his forced acquisitions and possessions!

Hab 2:20. The prophet had obtained this whole disclosure by quiet and persevering waiting upon the Lord, and now for the sake of its realization, also, he directs the whole world to be still before the Lord, who from his holy temple will certainly hasten the fulfillment of these his words, but who also will be honored by the respect and by the measure of the regard of his own people to his judgments. When the heart is free from its thousand cares, projects, passions, partial inclinations, then, and not till then, can it receive many a ray of divine knowledge. Faith is no sleep, but a vigilant knowledge; it is moreover no hasty and precipitate attempt to help ones self, but a waiting upon the Lord.

Schmieder: Hab 1:13. It would be in conformity to the simple arrangement of God that the pious should punish the impious, the more righteous the unrighteous, not the reverse. But the ways of God in the present government of the world are so complicated and intricate, that the reverse often actually takes place; and this is to the pious, who are not yet properly enlightened, a great trial.

Hab 1:14. Then it seems as if things were directed by chance and at will. He who knows God does not trust to false appearances; but the appearance nevertheless pains him, and he would wish that even the appearance did not exist.

Hab 2:2 f. The end, the very last time and the establishment of the perfected kingdom of God, is of all future things the most certain and the most important, and every intermediate prophecy of judgment and redemption has a real value only in the fact that it delineates this last end and assures us of it.

Hab 2:4. Here the character of Abraham, the father of the faithful, is depicted in contrast with that of the insolent princes of the world. This character is righteousness, the source of righteousness is faith, the fruit is life in the full Biblical sense of the word. Faith has no merit on the part of man, because man cannot produce, but only receive it; for faith, as the consciousness of God, is the work of the Creator in man. It is also faith alone, which receives Christ and all the grace of God in him; but the same faith is also the essential principle of all good works. We must beware of considering the faith, which lays hold of grace and justifies the sinner, as a peculiar, separate kind of faith: faith cannot be so divided in reality; but it is an indivisible unity: so the Bible understands it. The dividing and isolation of faith into separate kinds, belongs only to the dogmatic systems of human science.

Hab 2:5. Comp. Daniel 5.

Hab 2:6. There are times, when nations, that are so often devoid of understanding, become prophets, and the voice of God becomes the voice of the people.

Hab 2:18. The teacher, who makes an idol, tries to animate stone and wood. But the animation by means of human idea and art ever remains only a false animation, which, if it is considered real, is deceptive, and only nourishes superstition.

W. Hoffman: On Hab 1:12 (comp. Schmieder on chap. 2. Hab 2:1): Among us of the evangelical church faith is not even yet the possession of every one. There is certainly need, in the Church, of the venerable form of father Abraham to cast us down; of the man who never lost sight of what had been revealed in grace and truth, who continually comforted himself with the fact, that the eternal God, who made heaven and earth, and who held with the first man a fellowship of peace, still lived, because he had continued to reveal himself during two thousand years previous.

Burck: It is something to know the final purposes of the words of God, and to be able properly to apply this knowledge in public and private affairs.

Hierom.: Hab 1:13. He says this in the anguish of his heart, as if he did not know that gold is purified in the fire, and that the three men came out of the fiery furnace purer than they were when they were thrown in; as if he did not know that God, in the riches of his wisdom, sees otherwise than we do.

Burck: Hab 1:14. That God watches over the smallest animals, he neither denies nor declares; but he says only that God has a particular care for men, especially for his own people.

Hengstenb. makes an effective application of Hab 1:13 ff. to gambling hells (Vorw. z. Ev. K. Z. [Preface to the Evangelical Church Gazette] 1867).

Capito: Hab 2:1 : While the righteous man wrestles with God by faith, he conquers at last by his indefatigable perseverance. The prophet is perplexed to the highest degree, while he considers the success of the Chaldan and the misery of his own people, but he stands not the less constantly upon his guard, i. e., upon the Word of God, which promises reward and punishment, and he leans upon God, as upon a rock, in order that his feet may not slip upon the slippery soil of temptation. Whom does God answer? One who is almost broken under daily struggles with bitter anguish of soul, to whom nothing remains, after every protection is lost, but to stand fast upon his watch, i. e., upon the Word of God. Trial teaches such perseverance. Only the answer of God, if it is heard with the ear of the heart, leads to an unwavering hope, for it comes when man despairs of everything else.

Hab 2:3. Philo: Every word of God is an oath.

Burck: O those deplorable ones, who, under whatever pretext, or self-delusion, shun trial. O the happiness of those who obtain the end of faith, and who are to be gathered to Him to be with Him. He will come, yea, certainly He will come. Yea, come, Lord Jesus! Amen!

Hab 2:4. Cocceius: The soul stands right upon that which is promised, i. e., Jesus Christ, if it loves Him. If it does not love Him, it is perverse.

Burck: On every point, article, accent, on every turn and even collocation of words, which may seem to be entirely accidental, the Word of God has laid its especial emphasis. We acknowledge with humility that it is a word from God.

Talmud: In this one sentence, The just shall live by his emunah [faith], the six hundred and thirteen precepts, which God once delivered from Sinai, are collected into a compendium.

Hab 2:5. Schlier: The Babylonians were a voluptuous people, notorious for their drunkenness; but this voluptuous propensity is usually with the prophet an image of the insatiable desire, by which their pride they destroyed one nation after another. And yet it is just so with wine, which is sweet to the taste and seems delicious, and nevertheless it robs the most powerful of his senses, makes him helpless and an object of universal derision. So shall it happen also to the Chaldans with their insatiable greed: it will only plunge them [by their own agency] into destruction and make them objects of general contempt.

H. Mller: Many treasures, many nets. Whom does not the miser injure? He defrauds his neighbor of his property: he is like a thorn-bush; he grabs and holds on to whatever comes too near to him; he seeks everywhere his advantage to the disadvantage of others; he deprives himself of Gods favor and blessing, suffers shipwreck of his conscience and good name, loses the favor and love of men. Lightly won, lightly gone.

Stumpf: Hab 2:11. So in Euripides, Phdra, the wife of Theseus, breaks out vehemently against adulteresses, that they should fear the very darkness and the houses the abominable deeds which they had witnessed to light.26

Schlier: The scourge of the Lord will perform its service, then it will be thrown away.

Footnotes:

[10][Hab 1:15. points back to the collective , Hab 1:14. Here it is the object: in Hab 1:9, it is the nominative. For the form, see Greens Heb. Gram., sec. 220, 1 b. The correct orthography is .

[11][Hab 2:1., observance, guard, watch, from , to watch, observe, preserve, etc. Here it is used as a concrete, the place, or post of observation.

[12][Hab 2:1. signifies to look out, to look out for anything, to await.

[13][Hab 2:1., my proof, contradiction, reproof, correction, complaint, refers to the complaint, which he makes against God in Hab 1:13-17, that He permits the Chaldans to multiply their conquests. The suffix is not to be taken passively, but actively,not the complaint against me, but the complaint that I make against God. LXX.: ; Vulgate.: et quid respondeam ad arguentem me: Luther: und was ich antworten soll dem, der mich schilt; Kleinert: was fr Bescheid ich bringen soll auf meine Gegenrede.

[14][Hab 2:2., vision, the prophetic matter about to be communicated to the prophet.

[15][Hab 2:2., and grave. The LXX. read ; the Vulgate has: et explana eum. Luther: und male es. The idea of legibility, and not that of durability, is doubtless intended. The verb may, therefore, be understood as relative to and qualifying it. Write the vision, and that clearly.

[16][Hab 2:3., to the set time the time fixed by God for its realization.

[17][Hab 2:6., parable, apothegm, proverb, poem, song, verse; a satirical poem, Isa 14:4.

[18][Hab 2:6. from , a song of derision.

[19][Hab 2:6., from , intricate speech, a riddle, enigma. The LXX. render them: ; the Vulgate reads, loquelam nigmatum; Luther: eine Sage und Sprchwort; Kleinert: eine Stachelrede, Rathsdspiele. Delitzsch thinks that signifies a brilliant oration, oratio splendida; and hence is used to denote an interpreter, not from the obscurity of the speaking, but from his making the speech clear or intelligible. But there seem to be no instances in which has the meaning of lucere.

[20][Hab 2:6., from , to give a Pledge, by the repetition of the last radical, signifies the mass of pledges (pignorum captorum copia). The word may from two words, so far as the sound is concerned, namely. , cloud (i. e. mass) of dirt. Jerome and the Syriac take the word in this sense. The Vulgate reads: et aggravat contra se densum lutum; Luther: und ladet nur viel Schlamm auf sich.

[21][Hab 2:7. from , to bite, to lend on usury. The idea seems to be, that those would arise, who would demand back from the Chaldans, with interest, the capital of which they had unjustly taken possession. There is an antithesis to , at the close of the preceding verse.

[22][Hab 2:15. is the construct of heat, wrath, and not of , bottle. Luther employs the second person: Wehe dir, der du deinem Nachsten einschenkest und mischest deinen Grimm darunter, etc. So also Kleinert: Wehe dir, der da zu trinken giebt seinem Nichsten, indem du deinen Zornschlauch ausgiessest.

[23][Hab 2:16. a . ., according to Keil, formed from the Pilpal, from ; but, according to Henderson, a reduplicated form of , shame. In some MSS. it is read as two words, , vomit, and , shame, and this etymology has been approved by both Jewish and Christian interpreters. The Vulgate reads: et vomitus ignomini super gloriam tuam; Luther: und musst schandlich speien fur deine Herrlichkeit; Keil: the vomiting of shame; Kleinert: Schandgespei ber deine Herlichkeit.

[24][Hab 2:17. LXX.: . . ; Vulgate: et vastitas animalium deterrebit eos; Luther: und die verstrten Thiere werden dich schrecken, Kleinert: und die Verstrung der Thiere, die er vcrscheucht. Keil considers a relative clause, and translates the clause: and the devastation among the animals, which frightened them. According to this view, the appended Nun is not paragogic, but the verbal suffix of the third feminine plural, agreeing with . For the use of the suffix fem. 3 pl. see Greens Heb. Gram., sec. 104, g.; and for the peculiar form of the verb, sec. 141, 3. Fursts Heb. Lexicon; die Verwstung durch Behemot.

[25][Hab 2:18. ; compare , 1Co 12:2.C. E.]

[26][See the Hippolytus of Euripides, line 415 f.C. E.]

Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange

This is a most blessed prayer, and if I mistake not, it takes into its bosom all the great leading points of redemption. The Prophet by this figure of speech, of seemingly as king, the Lord concerning the glorious and eternal excellency of his nature and character is most blessedly confirming it. He doth indeed thereby more strongly assert it, and grounds the subject of his prayer upon it. It is as if he had said, Thou art, O Lord, O Jehovah Alohim! God in covenant, and that from everlasting! Redemption is not a work of yesterday. Christ the Holy One, hath been set up from everlasting; yea, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world! Psa 89:19 ; Rev 13:8 . And what endears it yet more, the Prophet calls him his Holy One. And so may, and so ought every true believer in Christ to do; for so Jehovah himself commanded. Jer 23:6 . Hence by the way, if a child of God be demanded in this sinful and adulterous generation, wherefore do you call Christ Jehovah; and wherefore do you call him your HOLY ONE, your righteousness? The answer is direct: So Jehovah the Father hath enjoined. This is the name whereby he shall be called. Jehovah. And not only so – but Our Righteousness. And yet more than all this. He who directed the Church so to call Christ, and so to esteem him, hath made Him what he is to all his redeemed; for so the Apostle Paul was commissioned to tell the Church: who of God (saith the Apostle) is made unto us. Mark that! while you and I behold Christ as our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Jesus is made all these to his people by God the Father himself! Hallelu-JAH! 1Co 1:30 . Well then, the Prophet having looked up to a God in covenant, now pleads in this sweet prayer for the salvation of his people. Surely we shall not die. Though Babylon correct, yet Babylon shall not finally prevail. The enemies of the Church must perish, but the Church shall outlive all. Reader! look at this prayer, as it is evidently offered up in the faith of the rich redemption by Christ; and it is all over gospel, from beginning to end. All that the Prophet pleads is founded in the Lord’s free covenant, and consequently by faith he is pleading for all blessings, in the name of the Lord Jesus!

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Hab 1:12 [Art] thou not from everlasting, O LORD my God, mine Holy One? we shall not die. O LORD, thou hast ordained them for judgment; and, O mighty God, thou hast established them for correction.

Ver. 12. Art not thou from everlasting, O Lord my God ] Art thou not Jehovah the unchangeable, and shall we, poor sons of Jacob, be utterly consumed by these Chaldees? Mal 3:6 . Art not thou my God, my Iudex et Vindex, who hast hitherto judged and revenged my cause? and wilt thou now abandon me to the fury of such an enemy? Art not thou mine Holy One, whom I have hitherto sanctified in mine heart and life, Isa 5:16 , and whom I have avouched for mine, Deu 26:17 , devoting myself wholly to thy fear and service? Art thou not all this, and more than this, saith the prophet, in the name and behalf of the Church here? Well, then,

We shall not die ] I am confident, and dare be bold to say it. Lo, here the triumph of faith and the top gallant of it, “We shall not die” (saith she), abruptly, but sweetly, that is sure enough. She drinks to the disconsolate soul in a cup of Nepenthes, and saith, Courage, my heart! Why art thou cast down, O my soul! and why art thou disquieted within me? hope in God. If he be everlasting, so shalt thou; if he be thy God, and thine Holy One, thine in an inviolable covenant, in a league defensive and offensive, shalt thou die? Lo tamuth, Thou shalt not die (so some say this text was anciently read), Lo Namuth, We will not die. So the Church promiseth herself upon the former promises; and such an answer she receiveth in her own heart to her former prayers. And whereas it might be objected that they were likely to be little better than dead in the Babylonish captivity (for Morris habet vices quae trahitur vita gemitibus, an afflicted life is a lifeless life), the prophet answereth:

O Lord, thou hast ordained them for judgment ] i.e. The Chaldeans (our oppressors), for punishment, for destruction, to burn thy rod, when thou hast therewith whipped thy children. See Exo 9:16 .

And, O mighty God (Heb. O rock), thou hast established them for correction] Heb. Thou hast founded them, sc. thy people Israel; thou hast thereunto appointed them, 1Th 3:3 , thou hast both founded and fitted them for thy fatherly chastisements, who are therefore chastened of the Lord, that they may not be condemned with the world. See here the different kinds and ends of good and bad men’s sufferings. It hath been noted before that Almighty God, as he is Piorum rupes, a rock of refuge to the truly religious, so he is Reorum scopulus, a rock of revenge to dash in pieces the impenitent; as Valerius. Maximus saith of Lucius Cassius’s tribunal.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Art Thou not . . . ? Note the change of subject, as shown in the Structure above.

God. Hebrew. Elohim. App-4.

we shall not die. This is one of the eighteen emendations of the Sopherim (see App-33), which they say they made because it was considered offensive to say this of Jehovah; hence, the one word of the primitive text “who diest not” was changed to “who die not” (rendered in Authorized Version, Revised Version, and American Revised Version, “we shall not die”). This is the only one of the eighteen emendations which the Revised Version and American Revised Version notice, and speak of it in the margin as “an ancient Jewish tradition”, whereas a list of such emendations is given in the Massorah. The change from the second person to the first did more than avoid the supposed irreverent expression; it transferred to mortal men the truth which, apart from resurrection, pertains to God alone, “Who only hath immortality” (1Ti 6:16). Compare 1Co 15:53, 1Co 15:54.

O mighty God = O Rock. Compare Deu 32:4, Deu 32:15, Deu 32:18, Deu 32:30; 1Sa 2:2. 2Sa 23:3. Psa 18:2, Psa 18:31, Psa 18:46; Psa 19:14, &c.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

Hab 1:12-17

THE SECOND QUESTION

Hab 1:12-17

O JEHOVAH, MY GOD, MY HOLY ONE . . . Hab 1:12(a)

God had warned Habakkuk he would not believe the answer to his question. (Hab 1:5) The prophet, upon hearing Jehovahs description of the Chaldeans whom He is raising up to punish the sins of Judah, recoils in shocked horror and incredulity. The first half of Hab 1:12 is, to the prophet, a rhetorical question. It answers itself in the asking of it. Jehovah is from everlasting! He is the God of Israels prophets! He is Holy! Therefore, His people shall not die. Here is the most succinct statement in all the Bible of the gross misconception the Jews had of their relationship to God. Their major premise, i.e. the everlasting holy nature of God is correct, but their false conclusion, i.e. that they, as a people, could not, therefore, die was based on a minor premise of their own devising!

In The Story of the Jew Briefly Told, published by Bloch Publishing Company with Jewish confirmation manual, Dr. Maurice H. Harris says, It took centuries to grasp the concepts that God is wholly spirit and without material form, that He is the sole ruler of the universe, not sharing this power with other divinities; that He is omniscient, Omnipresent, and eternal; that He is absolutely righteous and just in dealing with His children-not favoring Israel more than other people, though they were the first to recognize Him. (Italics mine) Dr. Harris here places his finger on the problems of both the nation of Judah and the prophet Habakkuk. The first question asked by the prophet grew out of circumstances fostered by the failure of the people to understand that . . . God is wholly spirit and without material form, that He is the sole Ruler of the universe . . . This failure allowed the Jews again and again to fall into the worship of Baal. (See the discussion of Micah.)

The second question posed by the prophet (Hab 1:12) resulted from their failure to understand that God . . . is absolutely righteous and just in dealing with His children-not favoring Israel more than other people . . .

Zerr: Dropping the predictions of the captivity and the characteristics of the Babylonians, the prophet addresses the Lord on behalf ot the people of Israel (Hab 1:12). He draws a contrast between Him and the Babylonian army. The latter was a mighty force but was destined to be overthrown. But the Lord is from everlasting and will be able to care for His people even though they are suffered to go into captivity. We shall not die means that Judah will not cease to be although she must be severely punished. It was ordained that they have the experience of judgment for the purpose of correction.

Nahums question to Nineveh on the eve of her doom was Art thou better than No-Amon . . . ? (Nah 3:8) As we saw in our study of Nahum, No-Amon, the capital of Egypt, had been devastated by the Assyrians. Nahum would have the Ninevites know they are no better and hence no more assured of national survival than No-Amon. Had someone asked this same question of Judah on the eve of the Babylonian captivity, or of Habakkuk when he entered into his debate with God concerning Gods use of the Chaldeans to punish Judah, both the nation and the prophet would have answered a resounding, Yes! They believed they were better.

If their superiority over other people was not evidenced in their unfaithfulness or their moral corruption, they believed that Gods past dealings with their fathers proved it. They were mistaken. John the Baptist, centuries later, challenged the same attitude. (Cf. Luk 3:7-9) The fundamental Jewish error is a misunderstanding, not only of the nature of God, but as well a misunderstanding of a doctrine which runs through both the Old and New Testaments. It is often called the doctrine of Election. (We suggest just here that the reader review the chapters on the covenant in the introductory section and also my book, Thus It Is Written, College Press.)

This doctrine, that God is calling out of every kindred and race of man a people for His own possession, is inherent in the unfolding inspired interpretation of the work of God in history and makes up the bulk of the Old Testament Scripture. It is the entire burden of the Luke-Acts narrative and comes in for a detailed analysis in the writings of Paul, especially Ephesians, Romans, and Galatians. The Jews were made a heritage of God, having been foreordained according to the plan of Him who effects all things according to the council of His will. (Eph 1:11) This plan of God, which is the mystery hidden in times past to be revealed in Christ through the church, (Eph 3:1-16), never included the Jews or the nation of Israel simply for their own sakes or as an end in themselves.

God chooses whom He will e.g. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David, et al. His choice is made not primarily from the standpoint of its advantage to the chosen. Nor is His choice, even in the Old Testament, limited only to the physical descendants of Abraham. Paul illustrates this truth in Rom 9:14 by referring to Exo 9:16. There God says to the Egyptian Pharaoh (who was anything but a Jew), For this very purpose did I raise thee up, that I might show in thee my power, and that my name might be published abroad in the earth. In a similar vein, Jehovah might well have made a similar statement to the Chaldeans. (Hab 1:6)

The perversion of the Biblical doctrine of election reaches its climax in those who commit themselves to a dispensationalism which makes the Jew per se the center of Gods concern, both in the Bible and in the age to come. Such people believe about the Jew exactly what the Jew came to believe about himself. This belief blinds men to the revealed purpose of Gods intervention in human history. The point is, of course, that the elect or more accurately the called of God, whether individuals or nations, are never chosen for their own sakes merely, but that they are rather called to participate in Gods eternal plan to offer the blessings of Abraham to all mankind.

O JEHOVAH . . . O ROCK . . . Hab 1:12(B)

Habakkuk does not doubt God for a moment. Difficult as it is for him to accept the idea that God should raise up such as the Chaldeans to judge His people, the prophet immediately concedes: Thou hast ordained him (the Chaldeans, particularly Nebuchadnezzar) and thou . . . hast established him for correction. We must also not fail to recognize Habakkuks conviction that Gods people could not be wiped out is related to his understanding, quite correctly, that God is Himself eternal. His error was in identifying that people with a race and a nation, and in objecting to Gods use of another nation and race to bring about His purposes.

The term O Rock applied to Jehovah is reminiscent of Deu 32:4 His use of it reflects Habakkuks conviction that Gods work is perfect . . . His ways are just, even though they are beyond the prophets own understanding. Indeed, it is precisely because of what he knows about God, coupled with his Jewish nationalism that has caused him to so question Jehovah.

THOU THAT ART OF PURER EYES . . . Hab 1:13

Habakkuk knows God to be a pure God who cannot tolerate the presence of evil in His sight. Whatever else the Word teaches about God, it certainly affirms this truth, from Eden to Calvary. How, then, the prophet asks, can such a God look on such perversiveness as is present among the Chaldeans? Why will He look on Babylons destruction of Judah and hold His peace? His bias shows through when he asserts that the Jews of his day are more righteous than the Babylonians.

Two fallacies should be recognized at this point. First, Jehovah, in revealing His intention to raise up the Chaldeans against Judah, did not say He would overlook Babylons evil. Divinely recorded history proves He did, in fact, no such thing. Secondly, the insistence that Judah is more righteous than the Babylonians raises a moot question. They had adopted the Baal worship which originated in the Chaldeas. They had been unfaithful to Jehovah when they were the only people on earth who had His written word. Their behavior had consequently become so corrupt that it was the very reason God chose to raise up a pagan people to smite them.

Zerr: Behold evil (Hab 1:13) is said in the sense of approving it, and looking on iniquity is used in the same sense. God actually sees everything that is going on but He does not favor the evil. The latter part of the verse represents the anxiety of the prophet over the situation. He is more impatient than the Lord, and seems to think that He should deal more harshly with the wicked and treacherous enemy.

HE MAKEST MEN AS FISHES . . . Hab 1:14-17

The prophet reinforces his argument by changing his emphasis from the holy nature of God to the unholy nature of the Chaldeans treatment of people He first says that the incursion of the Chaldeans causes confusion. Like a school of fish or a swarm of insects, those struck by Babylon are left purposeless and leaderless. Then, in the confusion, the Chaldeans capture slaves like catching fish with various nets and devices. It was indeed the practice of Nebuchadnezzar to lead away to slavery those who were the leaders of a conquered people. As we say, Micah promised that exactly this would happen. The practice, according to Micah, was Gods device to punish those whose leadership had corrupted the nation. In Hab 1:16, Habakkuk adds that the success of the Chaldeans is the force of their own skill and power (rather than dependence upon God). They idolize themselves because of this (Cf. Deu 6:17, cp. Isa 10:13; Isa 37:24-25). To Habakkuk this is further evidence that Jehovah cannot use such a nation against his own people. Furthermore (Hab 1:17), asks the prophet, will there ever be an end to it, if God allows such a people as the Chaleans to succeed against His chosen ones? This argument sounds extremely familiar to us today as we are asked to believe that God cannot control the evil forces of communism if these forces are allowed to prevail against us. Perhaps we, as Habakkuk, need to give serious attention to Gods answer.

Zerr: Hab 1:14 is a further description ot the kind of enemy that the Lord’s people had to endure. Makest men as the fishes of the sea means that the Babylonians had no more regard for men than they did for the dumb creatures. Continuing his figure of the fishes, the prophet represents the Babylonians as dealing with the people of God in the same way they would the fishes (Hab 1:15) which they caught in a net to be consumed upon their own appetites. The net is now used (Hab 1:16) to represent the idolatrous god of the heathen. Since the net had contributed gain to its owners, they concluded that it was a god and worthy to have worship paid to it. The prophet asks in a deploring attitude (Hab 1:17), if the Lord will suffer these heartless fishermen to continue their cruel business. A fisherman empties his net so that he may use it to take more fish. The complaint of the prophet really is a prediction that the enemy (Babylon) will not be permitted to continue the wicked dealing with God’s people.

Questions

The Second Question

1. Show how Gods answer to Habakkuks first question gave rise to the second question.

2. State the prophets second question in your own words.

3. Show how the Jews misconception of themselves as Gods people is reflected in Habakkuks second question.

4. What two concepts did the Jews find hard to grasp? (As stated by Dr. Maurice Harris)

5. Show how Nahums question to Nineveh (Nah 3:8) could be asked here of Judah.

6. What do you understand is the Biblical doctrine of election?

7. How does dispensationalism pervert the doctrine of election?

8. What word more accurately states the idea of election?

9. What is implied by Habakkuks use of the term O Rock in reference to Jehovah?

10. What two fallacies combine to confuse Habakkuk in reference to Gods purity and Babylons impurity?

11. Describe the activity of the Babylonians toward neighboring nations.

12. In a sentence, what is Jehovahs answer to Habakkuks second question?

13. List the five woes with which God gives His answer.

14. Show how these woes describe eternal principles in Gods dealing with nations in history.

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

thou not: Deu 33:27, Psa 90:2, Psa 93:2, Isa 40:28, Isa 57:15, Lam 5:19, Mic 5:2, 1Ti 1:17, 1Ti 6:16, Heb 1:10-12, Heb 13:8, Rev 1:8, Rev 1:11

mine: Isa 43:15, Isa 49:7, Act 3:14

we: Hab 3:2, Psa 118:17, Isa 27:6-9, Jer 4:27, Jer 5:18, Jer 30:11, Jer 33:24-26, Jer 46:28, Eze 37:11-14, Amo 9:8, Amo 9:9

thou hast ordained: 2Ki 19:25, Psa 17:13, Isa 10:5-7, Isa 37:26, Jer 25:9-14, Eze 30:25

mighty God: Heb. Rock, Deu 32:4, Deu 32:30, Deu 32:31, 1Sa 2:2, Psa 18:1

established: Heb. founded

for: Isa 27:9, Isa 27:10, Jer 30:11, Jer 31:18-20, Jer 46:28, Heb 12:5, Heb 12:6

Reciprocal: 2Sa 4:11 – when wicked 2Sa 20:1 – a man 2Ch 22:12 – Athaliah 2Ch 24:24 – So Job 6:10 – the Holy One Job 34:12 – surely Psa 94:10 – he correct Psa 97:12 – give thanks Psa 99:9 – for the Psa 102:24 – thy years Psa 104:1 – O Lord Ecc 5:8 – matter Isa 37:23 – the Holy One Isa 43:13 – before Jer 32:18 – the Great Dan 7:9 – the Ancient Amo 5:7 – turn Hab 2:1 – and will Rev 15:4 – thou only

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Hab 1:12. Dropping the predictions of the captivity and the characteristics of the Babylonians, the prophet addresses the Lord on behalf ot the people of Israel. He draws a contrast between Him and the Babylonian army. The latter was a mighty force but was destined to be overthrown. But the Lord is from everlasting and will be able to care for His people even though they are suffered to go into captivity. We shall not die means that Judah will not cease to be although she must be severely punished. It was ordained that they have the experience of judgment for the purpose of correction.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

Hab 1:12. Art thou not, &c. Here the prophet, upon being made sensible that the king of Babylon should attribute all his victories to some false or fictitious deity, or to his own abilities, breaks out into a passionate exclamation to Jehovah, Art thou not from everlasting, O Lord my God? Art not thou he, who only hath been from everlasting; while all others that are called gods have had a beginning, and there was a time when neither they nor the men that set them up had any being? Thou, therefore, art infinitely superior, both to the most powerful men, and to all that are called gods. We shall not die We shall not utterly perish by the Chaldeans, though we shall suffer severely from them. Or, as Secker renders it, Let us not die. Thou hast ordained them for judgment Thou hast appointed the Chaldeans to execute thy judgments on sinners. And, O mighty God Whose sovereignty is unquestionable, and power irresistible; thou hast established them for correction The Hebrew is, thou hast founded them as a rock for correction, namely, of the Jewish people.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Hab 1:12-17. Remonstrance over the Inhumanity of the Chaldeans.The execution of Divine judgment raises fresh questions: Why should the Holy One, whose eyes are too pure to look on evil, appoint as minister of justice a people still more faithless and corrupt than its victim? And why should He make the nations like leaderless swarms of fish, to be swept into the net, and gathered up in the seine (drag-net), then emptied out and slaughtered, while the oppressor in brutal joy offers sacrifice to his nets?

Hab 1:12. Read probably, Yahweh, my Holy God, that diest not? (cf. mg.).The second part of the verse should also perhaps be taken interrogatively, Was it thou that didst ordain (appoint) him. for judgment?For tsur, Rock (which reads very awkwardly), Duhm suggests tsir, messenger or minister: thus, and established him as a minister of chastisement.

Hab 1:14. creeping things: rather, swarming things (Gen 1:20*).

Hab 1:16. The conqueror deifies his weapons of war (cf. Herodotus account of Scythian sacrifices to the scimitar, iv. 59f.)

Hab 1:17. The word tamid, continually, should probably go with the first clause, Shall he be ever emptying his net, to slaughter nations unpitying?

Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible

1:12 [Art] thou not from everlasting, O LORD my God, my Holy One? we shall not {k} die. O LORD, thou hast ordained them for judgment; and, O mighty God, thou hast established them for correction.

(k) He assures the godly of God’s protection, showing that the enemy can do no more than God has appointed, and also that their sins require such a sharp rod.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

C. Habakkuk’s question about Babylonia 1:12-17

This section is another lament (cf. Hab 1:2-4). It expresses the problem of excessive punishment.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

Power was not Habakkuk’s god; Yahweh was. The Lord’s revelation of what He was doing in the prophet’s day brought confidence to his heart and praise to his lips. With a rhetorical question, Habakkuk affirmed his belief that Yahweh, his God, the Holy One, was from everlasting (or antiquity). The implication is that Yahweh is the only true God and that history was unfolding as it was because the God who created history was in charge of events (i.e., sovereign).

Habakkuk believed the Judeans would not perish completely because God had promised to preserve them forever (2Sa 7:16). The prophet now understood that Yahweh had appointed the Babylonians to judge the sinful Judeans. The God who had been a rock of security and safety for His people throughout their history had raised up this enemy to correct His people, not to annihilate them.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

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