Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Habakkuk 2:15
Woe unto him that giveth his neighbor drink, that puttest thy bottle to [him], and makest [him] drunken also, that thou mayest look on their nakedness!
15 17. Fourth woe: his contemptuous humiliation of prostrate potentates and nations
15. The helplessness of the nations before the power or the craft of the Chaldean and his contemptuous treatment of them when subject to him is represented under the figure of giving one to drink to intoxication and then making brutal merriment over the exposure of his nakedness (Gen 9:21).
That puttest thy bottle to him] As the text stands the verse reads: Woe to him that giveth his neighbour drink, mixing therewith (or, adding thereto) thy wrath, and makest him drunken also. The idea would be, not that the wrath was the drink, but only mixed with it or added to it (1Sa 2:36; Isa 14:1). This is not natural. A.V. “bottle” (Gen 21:14) is in Heb. a word similar to “wrath,” and might be read if the vowel points were altered, but its use is quite improbable. The ancient “bottle,” being a wine-skin, would not suggest the figure. Wellh. makes the ingenious conjecture that the term “mixing,” or adding to, has arisen by accidental repetition of a letter, and that its true sense is “from the cup” (Zec 12:2) Woe to him that giveth his neighbour drink from the cup of his (lit. thy) wrath, and makest him drunken also.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
From cruelty the prophet goes on to denounce the woe on insolence. Woe unto him that giveth his neighbor (to whom he owes love) drink (literally, that maketh him drink); that puttest thy bottle to him, and makest him drunken also , that thou mayest look (gaze with devilish pleasure) on their nakedness. This may either be of actual insults (as in the history of Noah), in keeping certainly with the character of the later Babylonians, the last wantonness of unbridled power, making vile sport of those like himself (his neighbor), or it may be drunkenness through misery Isa 29:9 wherein they are bared of all their glory and brought to the lowest shame. The woe also falls on all, who in any way intoxicate others with flattering words or reigned affection, mixing poison under things pleasant, to bring them to shame.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 15. Wo unto him that giveth his neighbour drink] This has been considered as applying to Pharaoh-hophra, king of Egypt, who enticed his neighbours Jehoiachin and Zedekiah to rebel against Nebuchadnezzar, whereby the nakedness and imbecility of the poor Jews was soon discovered; for the Chaldeans soon took Jerusalem, and carried its kings, princes, and people, into captivity.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Another public and crying sin of this Chaldean kingdom was excessive drinking, and making one another drunk, and for this God will severely punish.
Puttest thy bottle to him; forcing them by importunity or threats to drink by greater measures then they can bear.
Makest him drunken also; never givest over till thou hast made him vile and loathsome, as well as senseless in his drink.
That thou mayest look on their nakedness; designing to put the greatest abuse on them, exposing them to view, scorn, and derision, or to beastly or not to be named uncleanness, which vice the Babylonians are charged with by Herodotus and Ctesias.
Another public and crying sin of this Chaldean kingdom was excessive drinking, and making one another drunk, and for this God will severely punish.
Puttest thy bottle to him; forcing them by importunity or threats to drink by greater measures then they can bear.
Makest him drunken also; never givest over till thou hast made him vile and loathsome, as well as senseless in his drink.
That thou mayest look on their nakedness; designing to put the greatest abuse on them, exposing them to view, scorn, and derision, or to beastly or not to be named uncleanness, which vice the Babylonians are charged with by Herodotus and Ctesias.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
15. giveth . . . neighbour drink . .. puttest . . . bottle to himliterally, “skin,” asthe Easterns use “bottles” of skin for wine. MAURER,from a different Hebrew root, translates, “that pourestin thy wrath.” English Version keeps up themetaphor better. It is not enough for thee to be “drunken”thyself, unless thou canst lead others into the same state. The thingmeant is, that the Chaldean king, with his insatiable desires (a kindof intoxication), allured neighboring states into the same madthirst for war to obtain booty, and then at last exposed them to lossand shame (compare Isa 51:17;Oba 1:16). An appropriate imageof Babylon, which at last fell during a drunken revel (Da5:1-31).
that thou mayest look ontheir nakedness!with light, like Ham of old (Ge9:22).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Woe unto him that giveth his neighbour drink,…. Before the full accomplishment of the above prophecy concerning the abundance of the knowledge of the Lord in the earth, and before the utter destruction of antichrist; between that and the Reformation, when it had its fulfilment in part; the following practices inveighed against would be used, as we find they are, and for which the man of sin and his followers will be punished: one of which is expressed by a man’s “giving his neighbour drink”; which is a commendable action, when drink is given to a person in want to quench his thirst, or in sorrowful and distressed circumstances to refresh and cheer him; but when this is done to intoxicate him, and draw him into uncleanness, it is an evil one; and which is the sense of the phrase here, as appears by the “woe” denounced, and by what follows; and is to be understood, not in a literal sense, but in a figurative one; and is expressive of the various artful methods and alluring ways used by the Papists, especially the Jesuits, after the Reformation, with the Protestants, to forsake their religion, and to draw them into the superstition and idolatry of the church of Rome; and which are in the New Testament signified by “the wine of her fornication”, with which the kings, nations, and inhabitants of the earth, are made drunk, Re 17:2 crying up the devotion and religion of their church, its antiquity, purity, holiness, and unity; pretending great love to the souls of men, that they seek nothing but their spiritual good; promising them great advantages, temporal and spiritual, worldly riches and honour, and sure and certain salvation within the pale of their church, without which they say there is none; and by such means they have intoxicated many princes, kingdoms, and multitudes of people, since the Reformation; and have drawn them off from the profession of the Protestant religion, and brought them back to Popery again, as in Poland, Bohemia, Hungary, Germany, France, and other places; and these methods they are now taking in all Protestant countries, and in ours, and that with great success, as is notorious, and time will more abundantly show; but there is a “woe” lies against them for it:
that puttest thy bottle to [him]; giving him not only a glass or cup at a time, but a whole bottle to drink off at once, in order to inebriate him. The word is by some translated “thy gall”, or “thy poison” k; which fitly enough expresses the poisonous doctrines of the church of Rome, which men insensibly imbibe, infused in her wine of fornication, or drink in through the alluring and ensnaring methods taken. It properly signifies “heat” or “wrath”. The Targum is,
“that pours it with heat, that he may drink, and be inebriated.”
The Syriac version is,
“woe to him that gives his neighbour to drink the dregs of fury.”
The words may be truly rendered, “adding thy wrath” l; that is, to the alluring and enticing methods before mentioned, adding menaces, wrathful words, and furious persecutions: and this the Papists do where they can; when good words and fair speeches will not prevail, and they can not gain over proselytes with flattery, deceit, and lying, they threaten them with racks and tortures, with prisons and galleys, and death itself in various shapes, to force men into their communion; and which they have put in execution in many places, in Bohemia, Hungary, and in France even to this day; and this is what in the New Testament is called “the wine of the wrath of her fornication”, Re 14:8:
and makest [him] drunken also, that thou mayest look on their nakedness! as Ham did on his father’s nakedness when in such circumstances: all the above methods are taken in order to intoxicate them, deprive them of the use of their reason, as is the case of a drunken man; and so bring them to believe, with an implicit faith, as the church believes; to believe things contrary to reason; to give into the spiritual whoredom and idolatry of that church, as men when drunk are easily drawn into uncleanness; to cast off their profession of the true religion, as a garment is cast off, as men when drunk are apt to do; and particularly to reject the doctrine of justification by the righteousness of Christ, which is the only robe to cover the nakedness of men, and receive the doctrine of merit and justification by works; in short, to apostatize wholly from the religion they have professed, and join in communion with the whore of Rome, that so they may look upon their apostasy, which is their nakedness, with the utmost pleasure and delight.
k “venenum tuum”, Montanus; so some in Drusius, and R. Jonah in Ben Melech. l “adjugenti, [sive] adhibenti furorem tuum”, Tigurine version.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The fourth woe is an exclamation uttered concerning the cruelty of the Chaldaean in the treatment of the conquered nations. Hab 2:15. “Woe to him that giveth his neighbour to drink, mixing thy burning wrath, and also making drunk, to look at their nakedness. Hab 2:16. Thou hast satisfied thyself with shame instead of with honour; then drink thou also, and show the foreskin. The cup of Jehovah’s right hand will turn to thee, and the vomiting of shame upon thy glory. Hab 2:17. For the wickedness at Lebanon will cover thee, and the dispersion of the animals which frightened them; for the blood of the men and the wickedness on the earth, upon the city and all its inhabitants.” The description in Hab 2:15 and Hab 2:16 is figurative, and the figure is taken from ordinary life, where one man gives another drink, so as to intoxicate him, for the purpose of indulging his own wantonness at his expense, or taking delight in his shame. This helps to explain the , who gives his neighbour to drink. The singular is used with indefinite generality, or in a collective, or speaking more correctly, a distributive sense. The next two circumstantial clauses are subordinate to , defining more closely the mode of the drinking. does not mean to pour in, after the Arabic sfh ; for this, which is another form for Arab. sfk , answers to the Hebrew , to pour out (compare , to pour out, or empty out His wrath: Psa 79:6; Jer 10:25), but has merely the meaning to add or associate, with the sole exception of Job 14:19, where it is apparently used to answer to the Arabic sfh ; consequently here, where drink is spoken of, it means to mix wrath with the wine poured out. Through the suffix the woe is addressed directly to the Chaldaean himself, – a change from the third person to the second, which would be opposed to the genius of our language. The thought is sharpened by , “and also (in addition) making drunk” ( shakker , inf. abs.). To look upon their nakednesses: the plural is used because has a collective meaning. The prostrate condition of the drunken man is a figurative representation of the overthrow of a conquered nation (Nah 3:11), and the uncovering of the shame a figure denoting the ignominy that has fallen upon it (Nah 3:5; Isa 47:3). This allegory, in which the conquest and subjugation of the nations are represented as making them drink of the cup of wrath, does not refer to the open violence with which the Chaldaean enslaves the nations, but points to the artifices with which he overpowers them, “the cunning with which he entices them into his alliance, to put them to shame” (Delitzsch). But he has thereby simply prepared shame for himself, which will fall back upon him (Hab 2:16). The perfect does not apply prophetically to the certain future; but, as in the earlier strophes (Hab 2:8 and Hab 2:10) which are formed in a similar manner, to what the Chaldaean has done, to bring upon himself the punishment mentioned in what follows. The shame with which he has satisfied himself is the shamefulness of his conduct; and , to satisfy himself, is equivalent to revelling in shame. , far away from honour, i.e., and not in honour. is the negative, as in Psa 52:5, in the sense of , with which it alternates in Hos 6:6. For this he is now also to drink the cup of wrath, so as to fall down intoxicated, and show himself as having a foreskin, i.e., as uncircumcised ( from ). This goblet Jehovah will hand to him. Tissobh , he will turn. (upon thee, or to thee). This is said, because the cup which the Chaldaean had reached to other nations was also handed over to him by Jehovah. The nations have hitherto been obliged to drink it out of the hand of the Chaldaean. Now it is his turn, and he must drink it out of the hand of Jehovah (see Jer 25:26). , and shameful vomiting, (sc., ) will be over thine honour, i.e., will cover over thine honour or glory, i.e., will destroy thee. The . . is formed from the pilpal from , and softened down from , and signifies extreme or the greatest contempt. This form of the word, however, is chosen for the sake of the play upon , vomiting of shame, vomitus ignominiae (Vulg.; cf. in Isa 28:8), and in order that, when the word was heard, it should call up the subordinate meaning, which suggests itself the more naturally, because excessive drinking is followed by vomiting (cf. Jer 25:26-27).
This threat is explained in Hab 2:17, in the statement that the wickedness practised by the Chaldaean on Lebanon and its beasts will cover or fall back upon itself. Lebanon with its beasts is taken by most commentators allegorically, as a figurative representation of the holy land and its inhabitants. But although it may be pleaded, in support of this view, that Lebanon, and indeed the summit of its cedar forest, is used in Jer 22:6 as a symbol of the royal family of Judaea, and in Jer 22:23 as a figure denoting Jerusalem, and that in Isa 37:24, and probably also in Zec 11:1, the mountains of Lebanon, as the northern frontier of the Israelitish land, are mentioned synecdochically for the land itself, and the hewing of its cedars and cypresses may be a figurative representation of the devastation of the land and its inhabitants; these passages do not, for all that, furnish any conclusive evidence of the correctness of this view, inasmuch as in Isa 10:33-34, Lebanon with its forest is also a figure employed to denote the grand Assyrian army and its leaders, and in Isa 60:13 is a symbol of the great men of the earth generally; whilst in the verse before us, the allusion to the Israelitish land and nation is neither indicated, nor even favoured, by the context of the words. Apart, for example, from the fact that such a thought as this, “the wickedness committed upon the holy land will cover thee, because of the wickedness committed upon the earth,” not only appears lame, but would be very difficult to sustain on biblical grounds, inasmuch as the wickedness committed upon the earth and its inhabitants would be declared to be a greater crime than that committed upon the land and people of the Lord; this view does not answer to the train of thought in the whole of the ode, since the previous strophes do not contain any special allusion to the devastation of the holy land, or the subjugation and ill-treatment of the holy people, but simply to the plundering of many nations, and the gain forced out of their sweat and blood, as being the great crime of the Chaldaean (cf. Hab 2:8, Hab 2:10, Hab 2:13), for which he would be visited with retribution and destruction. Consequently we must take the words literally, as referring to the wickedness practised by the Chaldaean upon nature and the animal world, as the glorious creation of God, represented by the cedars and cypresses of Lebanon, and the animals living in the forests upon those mountains. Not satisfied with robbing men and nations, and with oppressing and ill-treating them, the Chaldaean committed wickedness upon the cedars and cypresses also, and the wild animals of Lebanon, cutting down the wood either for military purposes or for state buildings, so that the wild animals were unsparingly exterminated. There is a parallel to this in Isa 14:8, where the cypresses and cedars of Lebanon rejoice at the fall of the Chaldaean, because they will be no more hewn down. Shod b e hemoth , devastation upon (among) the animals (with the gen. obj., as in Isa 22:4 and Psa 12:6). is a relative clause, and the subject, shod , the devastation which terrified the animals. The form for , from , hiphil of , is anomalous, the syllable with dagesh being resolved into an extended one, like for in Isa 33:1; and the tsere of the final syllable is exchanged for pathach because of the pause, as, for example, in in Psa 55:2 (see Olshausen, Gramm. p. 576). There is no necessity to alter it into (Ewald and Olshausen after the lxx, Syr., and Vulg.), and it only weakens the idea of the talio. The second hemistich is repeated as a refrain from Hab 2:8.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| Judgment Predicted. | B. C. 600. |
15 Woe unto him that giveth his neighbour drink, that puttest thy bottle to him, and makest him drunken also, that thou mayest look on their nakedness! 16 Thou art filled with shame for glory: drink thou also, and let thy foreskin be uncovered: the cup of the LORD‘s right hand shall be turned unto thee, and shameful spewing shall be on thy glory. 17 For the violence of Lebanon shall cover thee, and the spoil of beasts, which made them afraid, because of men’s blood, and for the violence of the land, of the city, and of all that dwell therein. 18 What profiteth the graven image that the maker thereof hath graven it; the molten image, and a teacher of lies, that the maker of his work trusteth therein, to make dumb idols? 19 Woe unto him that saith to the wood, Awake; to the dumb stone, Arise, it shall teach! Behold, it is laid over with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in the midst of it. 20 But the LORD is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him.
The three foregoing articles, upon which the woes here are grounded, are very near akin to each other. The criminals charged by them are oppressors and extortioners, that raise estates by rapine and injustice; and it is mentioned here again (v. 17), the very same that was said v. 8, for that is the crime upon which the greatest stress is laid; it is because of men’s blood, innocent blood, barbarously and unjustly shed, which is a provoking crying thing; it is for the violence of the land, of the city, and of all that dwell therein, which God will certainly reckon for, sooner or later, as the asserter of right and the avenger of wrong.
But here are two articles more, of a different nature, which carry a woe to all those in general to whom they belong, and particularly to the Babylonian monarchs, by whom the people of God were taken and held captives.
I. The promoters of drunkenness stand here impeached and condemned. Belshazzar was one of those; he was so, remarkably that very night that the prophecy of this chapter was fulfilled in the period of his life and kingdom, when he drank wine before a thousand of his lords (Dan. v. 1), began the healths, and forced them to pledge him. And perhaps it was one reason why the succeeding monarchs of Persia made it a law of their kingdom that in drinking none should compel, but they should do according to every man’s pleasure (as we find, Esth. i. 8), because they had seen in the kings of Babylon the mischievous consequences of forcing healths and making people drunk. But the woe here stands firm and very fearful against all those, whoever they are, who are guilty of this sin at any time, and in any place, from the stately palace (where that was) to the paltry ale-house. Observe,
1. Who the sinner is that is here articled against; it is he that makes his neighbour drunk, v. 15. To give a neighbour drink who is in want, who is thirsty and poor, though it be but a cup of cold water to a disciple, in the name of a disciple, to give drink to weary traveller, nay, and to give strong drink to him that is ready to perish, and wine to those that are heavy of heart, is a piece of charity which is required of us, and shall be recompensed to us. I was thirsty, and you gave me drink. But to give a neighbour drink who has enough already, and more than enough, with design to intoxicate him, that he may expose himself, may talk foolishly, and make himself ridiculous, may disclose his own secret concerns, or be drawn in to agree to a bad bargain for himself–this is abominable wickedness; and those who are guilty of it, who make a practice of it, and take a pride and pleasure in it, are rebels against God in heaven, and his sacred laws, factors for the devil in hell, and his cursed interests, and enemies to men on earth, and their honour and welfare; they are like the son of Nebat, who sinned and made Israel to sin. To entice others to drunkenness, to put the bottle to them, that they may be allured to it by its charms, by looking on the wine when it is red and gives its colour in the cup, or to force them to it, obliging them by the rules of the club (and club-laws indeed they are) to drink so many glasses, and so filled, is to do what we can, and perhaps more than we know of, towards the murder both of soul and body; and those that do so have a great deal to answer for.
2. What the sentence is that is here passed upon him. There is a woe to him (v. 15), and a punishment (v. 16) that shall answer to the sin. (1.) Does he put the cup of drunkenness into the hand of his neighbour? The cup of fury, the cup of trembling, the cup of the Lord’s right hand, shall be turned unto him; the power of God shall be armed against him. That cup which had gone round among the nations, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, and a hissing, which had made them stumble and fall, so that they could rise no more, shall at length be put into the hand of the king of Babylon, as was foretold, Jer 25:15; Jer 25:16; Jer 25:18; Jer 25:26; Jer 25:27. Thus the New-Testament Babylon, which had made the nations drunk with the cup of her fornications, shall have blood given her to drink, for she is worthy,Rev 18:3; Rev 18:6. (2.) Does he take a pleasure in putting his neighbour to shame? He shall himself be loaded with contempt: “Thou art filled with shame for glory, with shame instead of glory, or art filled now with shame more than ever thou wast with glory; and the glory thou hast been filled with shall but serve to make thy shame the more grievous to thyself, and the more ignominious in the eyes of others. Thou also shalt drink of the cup of trembling, and shalt expose thyself by thy fear and cowardice, which shall be as the uncovering of thy nakedness, to thy shame; and all about thee shall load thee with disgrace, for shameful spewing shall be on thy glory, on that which thou hast most prided thyself in, thy dignity, wealth, and dominion; those whom thou hast made drunk shall themselves spew upon it. For the violence of Lebanon shall cover thee, and the spoil of beasts (v. 17); thou shalt be hunted and run down with as much violence as ever any wild beasts in Lebanon were, shall be spoiled as they are, and thy fall made a sport of; for thou art as one of the beasts that made them afraid, and therefore they triumph when they have got the mastery of thee.” Or, “It is because of the violence thou hast done to Lebanon, that is, the land of Israel (Deut. iii. 25) and the temple (Zech. xi. 1), that God now reckons with thee; that is the sin that now covers thee.”
II. The promoters of idolatry stand here impeached and condemned; and this also was a sin that Babylon was notoriously guilty of; it was the mother of harlots. Belshazzar, in his revels, praised his idols. And for this, here is a woe against them, and in them against all others that do likewise, particularly the New-Testament Babylon. Now see here,
1. What they do to promote idolatry; they are mad upon their idols; so the Chaldeans are said to be, Jer. l. 38. For, (1.) They have a great variety of idols, their graven images and molten images, that people may take their choice, which they like best. (2.) They are very nice and curious in the framing of them: The maker of the work has performed his part admirably well, the fashioner of his fashion (so it is in the margin), that contrived the model in the most significant manner. (3.) They are at great expense in beautifying and adorning them: They lay them over with gold and silver; because these are things people love and dote upon wherever they meet with them, they dress up their idols in them, the more effectually to court the adoration of the children of this world. (4.) They have great expectations from them: The maker of the work trusts therein as his god, puts a confidence in it, and gives honour to it as his god. The worshippers of God give honour to him, by offering up their prayers to him, and waiting to receive instructions and directions from him; and these honours they give to their idols. [1.] They pray to them: They say to the wood, Awake for our relief, “awake to hear our prayers;” and to the dumb stone, “Arise, and save us,” as the church prays to her God, Awake, O Lord! arise, Ps. xliv. 23. They own their image to be a god by praying to it. Deliver me, for thou art my God, Isa. xliv. 17. Deos qui rogat ille facit–That to which a man addresses petitions is to him a god. [2.] They consult them as oracles, and expect to be directed and dictated to by them: They say to the dumb stone, though it cannot speak, yet it shall teach. What the wicked demon, or no less wicked priest, speaks to them from the image, they receive with the utmost veneration, as of divine authority, and are ready to be governed by it. Thus is idolatry planted and propagated under the specious show of religion and devotion.
2. How the extreme folly of this is exposed. God, by Isaiah, when he foretold the deliverance of his people out of Babylon, largely showed the shameful stupidity and sottishness of idolaters, and so he does here by the prophet, on the like occasion. (1.) Their images, when they have made them, are but mere matter, which is the meanest lowest rank of being; and all the expense they are at upon them cannot advance them one step above that. They are wholly void both of sense and reason, lifeless and speechless (the idol is a dumb idol, a dumb stone, and there is no breath at all in the midst of it), so that the most minute animal, that has but breath and motion, is more excellent then they. They have not so much as the spirit of a beast. (2.) It is not in their power to do their worshippers any good (v. 18): What profits the graven image? Though it be mere matter, if it were cast into some other form it might be serviceable to some purpose or other of human life; but, as it is made a god of, it is of no profit at all, nor can do its worshippers the least kindness. Nay, (3.) It is so far from profiting them that it puts a cheat upon them, and keeps them under the power of a strong delusion; they say, It shall teach, but it is a teacher of lies; for it represents God as having a body, as being finite, visible, and dependent, whereas he is a Spirit, infinite, invisible, and independent, and it confirms those that become vain in their imaginations in the false notions they have of God, and makes the idea of God to be a precarious thing, and what every man pleases. If we may say to the works of our hands, You are our gods, we may say so to any of the creatures of our own fancy, though the chimera be ever so extravagant. An image is a doctrine of vanities; it is falsehood, and a work of errors,Jer 10:8; Jer 10:14; Jer 10:15. It is therefore easy to see what the religion of those is, and what they aim at, who recommend those teachers of lies as laymen’s books, which they are to study and govern themselves by, when they have locked up from them the book of the scriptures in an unknown tongue.
3. How the people of God triumph in him, and therewith support themselves, when the idolaters thus shame themselves (v. 20): But the Lord is in his holy temple. (1.) Our rock is not as their rock, Deut. xxxii. 31. Theirs are dumb idols; ours is Jehovah, a living God, who is what he is, and not, as theirs, what men please to make him. He is in his holy temple in heaven, the residence of his glory, where we have access to him in the way, not which we have invented, but which he himself has instituted. Compare Ps. cxv. 3, But our God is in the heavens, and Ps. xi. 4. (2.) The multitude of their gods which they set up, and take so much pains to support, cannot thrust out our God; he is, and will be, in his holy temple still, and glorious in holiness. They have laid waste his temple at Jerusalem; but he has a temple above that is out of the reach of their rage and malice, but within the reach of his people’s faith and prayers. (3.) Our God will make all the world silent before him, will strike the idolaters as dumb as their idols, convincing them of their folly, and covering them with shame. He will silence the fury of the oppressors, and check their rage against his people. (4.) It is the duty of his people to attend him with silent adorings (Ps. lxv. 1), and patiently to wait for his appearing to save them in his own way and time. Be still, and know that he is God, Zech. ii. 13.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
This passage, in which the Prophet condemns the king of Babylon for his usual practice of rendering drunk his friends, is frigidly interpreted by most expounders. It has been already often said how bold the Jews are in contriving what is fabulous; when nothing certain occurs to them, they divine this or that without any discrimination or shame. Hence they say, that Nebuchadnezzar was given to excess, and led all whom he could into a participation of the same vice. They also think that his associates were captive kings, as though he bid them for the sake of sport to be brought to his table, and by drinking to their health, forced them to intoxication, that he might laugh at them when they made themselves base and ridiculous. But all this is groundless; for there is no history that relates any such thing. It is, however, easy to see that another matter is here treated of by the Prophet; for he does not speak of the king only, but he refers to the whole empire. I therefore doubt not but that this whole discourse, in which the Babylonian king is condemned for making drunk his associates or friends, is metaphorical or allegorical. But before I proceed further on the subject, I shall say something as to the words; for the meaning of the Prophet will thereby be made more evident.
Woe, he says, to him who gives his friend drink; then he adds, מספח חמתך, mesephech chemetak, “who joinest and bottle.” חמה, cheme, is taken in Hebrew for a bottle; and we know, and it is sufficiently evident from Scripture, that the Jews used bottles of skin, as there are casks and larger vessels with us. Since, then, they put their wine into bottles, these were often taken for their cups, as it is in our language, when one says, Des flacons, des bouteilles. Hence some give this explanation—that the king of Babylon brought forth his flagons, that he might force to intoxication, by excessive drinking, those who could not and dared not to resist his will. But others render חמה, cheme, wrath, with a preposition understood: and in order that nothing may be understood, some render the participle, מספח, “displaying,” that is, “his fury.” But as חמה, cheme, means to be hot, we may, therefore, properly give this version, “Uniting thy heat;” that is, “It is not enough for thee to inebriate others, except thou implicates them with thyself.” We now perceive the meaning of this phrase. He adds, And thou also dost inebriate. We may hence learn that the Prophet had no other thing in view, but to show that the king of Babylon sought for himself many associates in his intemperance or excess: at the same time he takes, as I have said, excess in a metaphorical sense. I shall presently explain more fully what all this means; but now we only expound the words. And thou, he says, dost also inebriate: the particle אף, as it is well known, is laid down for the sake of amplifying. After having said, Thou unitest thy heat; that is, thou exhales thine intemperance, so that others also contract the same heat with thyself, he immediately adds, Thou inebriatest them. It follows, that their nakedness may be made open; that is, that they may disclose themselves with shame. The following verse I shall defer until we shall see more clearly what the Prophet had in view. (41)
As I have already said the Prophet charges the Babylonian king with having implicated neighboring kings in his own evil desires, and with having in a manner inebriated them. He indeed compares the insatiable avarice of that king to intemperance; for as it is the object of drunken men not to drink what may suffice them, but to glut themselves with wine, so also when avarice is dominant in the hearts of men, they are seized with a certain kind of fury, like a person who has an immoderate love for wine. This is the reason for the metaphor; for the Babylonian king, when he thirsted for the blood of men, and also for wealth and kingdoms, led into the same kind of madness many other kings; for he could not have succeeded except he had allured the favor of many others, and deceived them with vain expectations. As a person who gives himself up to drinking wishes to leave associates, so Habakkuk lays the same thing to the charge of the king of Babylon; for being himself addicted to insatiable avarice, he procured associates to be as it were his guests, and quaffed wine to them, that is, elicited their cupidity, that they might join him in his wars; for each hoped for a part of the spoil after victory. Since, then, he had thus blinded many kings, they are said to have been inebriated by him. We indeed know that such allurements infatuate the minds and hearts of men; for there is no intoxication that stultifies men more than that eager appetite by which they devour both lands and seas.
We now then apprehend what the Prophet meant—that the Babylonian king not only burnt with his own avarice, but kindled also, as it were, a flame in others, like drunken men who excite one another. As then he had thus inflamed all the neighboring kings to rush headlong without any consideration and without any shame, like a person suffocated and overcome by excessive drinking; so the Prophet designates this inflaming as quaffing wine to them.
And this metaphor ought to be carefully observed; for we see at this day as in a mirror what the Prophet teaches here. For all the great princes, when they devise any plans of their own, send their ambassadors here and there, and seek to involve with themselves other cities and princes; and as no one is willing to endanger himself without reason, they set forth many fallacious allurements. And when any city fears a neighboring prince, it will seek to fortify itself by a new protection; so a treaty, when offered, becomes like a snare to it. And then when any inferior prince wishes to enlarge his borders, or to revenge himself, he willingly puts on arms, nay, anxiously, that he may be able, by the help of a greater, to effect his purpose, which he could not otherwise accomplish. Thus we see that dukes and counts, as they are called, and free cities, are daily inebriated. They who are chief kings, abounding in wine, that is, full of many vain promises, give to drink, as it were with full flagons, bidding wine to be brought forth on a well furnished table—“I will make thine enemy to give way to thee, and thou shalt compel him according to thy wish, and when I shall obtain the victory a part of the spoil shall be allotted to thee; I desire nothing but the glory. With regard to you, the free cities, see, ye tremble continually; now if you lie under my shadow, it will be the best security for you.” Such quaffing is to be found at this day almost throughout the whole of Europe.
Then the Prophet does not without reason commemorate this vice in the king of Babylon—that he made those associates drunk whom he had bound to himself by perfidious treaties; for as it has been said, there is no intoxication so dangerous as this madness; that is, when any one promises this or that to himself, and imagines what does not exist. Hence he not only says, that the Babylonian king gave drink to his friends, but also that he joined his bottles; as though he had said that he was very liberal, nay, prodigal, while seeking associates in his intemperance; for if one condition did not suffice, another was added—“Behold, my king is prepared; but if he is not enough another will be joined with him.” They thus then join together their heat. If we take חמה, cheme, for a bottle, then to join together their bottles would mean, that they accumulated promises until they inebriated those whom they sought to deceive. But if the other interpretation be more approved, which I am disposed to follow, then the meaning would be— They join together their own heat, that is, they implicate others with themselves; as they burn themselves with insatiable cupidity, so they spread this ardor far and wide, so that the desires of many become united.
He afterwards adds— that thou mayest see their nakedness. It was not indeed an object to the king of Babylon to disclose the reproach of all those whom he had induced to take part in his wars; but we know that great kings are wont to neglect their friends, to whom at first they promise every thing. When a king wishes to entice to himself a free city or an inferior prince, he will say—“See, I seek nothing but to be thy friend”. We indeed see how shamefully they perjure themselves; nor is it enough for them to utter these perjuries in their courts; but not many years pass away before our great kings make public their abominable perjuries; and it appears immediately afterwards that they thus seek, without any shame, to mock both God and all mankind. After testifying that they seek nothing except to defend by their protection what is right and just, and to resist the tyranny and pride of others, they immediately draw back when anything adverse afterwards happens, and the city, which had hoped everything from so liberal a king, is afterwards forced to submit and to agree with its enemies, and to manage matters anyhow; thus its nakedness is disclosed. In the same manner also are inferior princes deprived of their power. And to whom is this to be imputed but to the principal author? For when any one, for the sake of ambition or avarice, leads others to inconvenience or to damage, he may justly and correctly be said to disclose their nakedness. We now apprehend the Prophet’s real meaning, which interpreters have not understood. I come now to the next verse—
(41) The rendering of this verse has been various, though most agree as to its import. Grotius, Marckius, and Henderson, take nearly the same view of its meaning as Calvin, regarding it as metaphorical. But Marckius thinks that the drunkenness which the king of Babylon produced, means the evils which he inflicted on other nations. To make a nation drunk was to subdue and oppress it. See Isa 51:17; Jer 25:15. This view is confirmed by the following verse, where the king of Babylon is threatened with a similar judgment; he was also to drink of the cup of Jehovah’s right hand. As he made other nations drunk, so the Lord threatens him with a like visitation.
The verse will admit of a much simpler rendering than what has been commonly offered, such as the following:—
Woe to him who makes his neighbor to drink, Who adds his bottle, and also strong drink, In order that he may look on their nakedness.
To render [ חמה ], wrath, or heat, or gall, or poison, as some have done, is to introduce an idea foreign to the context, and the word is often found to signify the bottle of skin in which wine was kept. Newcome renders it “flagon.” By mentioning bottle, abundance of wine was probably intended, and to this abundance was added the strong drink, [ שכר ], intoxicating liquor. It is commonly rendered as though it were a verb in Hiphil; but it is not so. It means here no doubt, as in other places, strong drink. This line is only an application, as we find often in the Prophets, of the preceding line.
Though there is no MS. which has “his” instead of “thy” connected with “bottle,” yet the preceding and the following lines seem to require it; and this is the reading of Symmachus and of the Vulgate. The change of persons, it is true, is very common in the Prophets, but not in such a way as we find here, the third person being adopted both in the preceding and in the following line.
The idea of drinking as a judgment may have arisen from the cup of malediction given to criminals before their execution. See also Psa 75:8. Babylon is in Jer 51:7, represented as “a golden cup” in God’s hand to make the nations drunken. It was “golden” to signify an outward appearance that was plausible, and alluring. So the mystic Babylon is said to have a golden cup, which was full of all abominations, Rev 17:4.— Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
CRITICAL NOTES.]
Hab. 2:15. Woe] the fourth. Bottle] Skin in common use. Look] with delight (Gen. 9:22). Naked] The prostrate condition of the drunken man a figure of the overthrow of a conquered nation (Nah. 3:11), and the uncovering of the shame denotes the ignominy that has fallen upon it (Nah. 3:5; Isa. 47:3).
Hab. 2:16. Thou] shalt drink of the cup of sorrow (Jer. 25:15-17). Foreskin] As one uncircumcised. Spewing] Shameful vomiting will cover thy glory, i.e. destroy thee. Turned] Lit. shall turn itself from other nations.
Hab. 2:17. Violence] Outrage in spoiling cedar forests to adorn magnificent edifices (cf. Isa. 14:8). Cover] Completeness of the destruction. Similar violence to that which they had displayed should fall upon them.
HOMILETICS
THE THREE CUPS.Hab. 2:15-17
Woe the fourth is pronounced upon beastly luxury, sensuality, and base treatment of subjugated nations. The bottle of wine turns out a cup of wrath, and the disposition in which it is given is that of voluptuousness and lust of power.
I. The cup of wine. Woe to him that giveth his neighbour drink. The Chaldans, with insatiable desire, allured neighbouring States, intoxicated them with lust of war, to obtain booty, and expose them to shame.
1. Drink given to a neighbour. Drinking oneself is bad enough, but to give to others is worse. To put the bottle to others is a practice too common in the palace and the public-house. By the laws of the club or the fashion of the Court, men are constrained to drink.
2. Drink given to make a neighbour intoxicated. To give drink to a weary traveller, a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple, is commendable; but to offer the bottle with a design to intoxicate, to make him drunken also, is abominable wickedness.
3. Drink given to expose an intoxicated neighbour to shame and contempt. That thou mayest look on their nakedness. To look on such things with delight is most unnatural; to abuse men in such a condition is awful. Woe to them who entice others to drunkenness that they may take advantage of them, and mock their infirmities.
II. The cup of riot. The shame with which the enemy was satisfied, was equivalent to riot, or revelling in shame. Belshazzar drank with his lords and ran to excess. In drink is a breach of propriety and good temper; envyings, and murders, revellings, and such-like. Day by day we learn the corruption of morals engendered and the crimes committed in sensuality and drink. Every lust of the flesh finds in drunkenness and riot its appropriate fuel and fire, and its influence in seduction and ruin baffles all calculation and conception. Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying.
Pass where we may, through city or through town,
Village, or hamlet, of this merry land,
Though lean and beggared, every twentieth pace
Conducts the unguarded nose to such a whiff
Of state debauch, as makes temperance real.
III. The cup of retribution. The cup of the Lords right hand shall be turned unto thee. To deal out, in barrel or bottle, inflaming and polluting drinks is not innocent and blameless conduct. Woe, heavy woe, is pronounced upon such acts. But when the motives are mercenary, and the intentions unkind, the punishment is heavy.
1. They are filled with shame instead of glory. They sought glory, thought to be rich by oppressing others, but they lost their reputation and were filled with shame. Drunkards and ambitious men proclaim their own shame. Shameful spewing is on their glory. God rejects their services, and nature abhors their customs. Their glory is their shame.
2. They were treated as they treated others. Drink thou also, and let thy foreskin be uncovered. Gods judgments are equitable. As they had drawn others to sensuality and cruelty, so they had to drink the very dregs, and become contemptible as a drunken man lying naked, or an uncircumcised heathen, polluting himself with filthy vomit. Sensuality entails shame. Those who aid in the degradation of others adopt the most effectual means to expose themselves. The cup also shall pass through unto thee: thou shalt be drunken and shalt make thyself naked.
3. They were overcome with the violence which they displayed to others. For the violence of Lebanon shall cover thee. Violence to nature, in the destruction of the forests; to beasts, in hunting them for prey, or chasing them in fright; to man, in shedding innocent blood. The city, the country, and the people all suffered. The end of this plunder was not to adorn, but overwhelm them. The destruction was complete; cover thee (Isa. 14:6-8). Violence done to others will be sure to recoil upon the transgressors; to make them a desolation, an astonishment, an hissing, and a curse; as it is this day (Jer. 25:15-18).
HOMILETIC HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS
Hab. 2:16. Shame. The shame of the ungodly cometh forth from himself; the shame he put others to is doubled upon himself; and the very means which he had used to fill himself with glory and greatness, cover the glory which by nature he had with the deeper disgrace, so that he should be a loathsome and revolting sight to all. Man veils foul deeds under fair words; God in his word unveils the foulness [Pusey].
The Lords right hand shall be turned.
1. Retribution among men: turned, Lit. turn itself from others to you. Every ones turn will come.
2. Retribution measured among men. The cup of the Lords right hand. Measure for measure all sin brings its own retribution; but the violent will suffer violence, and deeds of shame will be put to everlasting contempt. Glory. The Hebrew word for glory properly signifies weightiness; as the word twice here used for shame signifies lightness; an elegant opposition, showing that whatsoever the Babylonians gloried in, and held themselves honourable for, should be lightly accounted of, and lie buried in the sheet of shame, as in a dunghill of filthy vomit [Trapp].
Hab. 2:15-16. That is an extraordinary kind of argument which infers, from the mention or prohibition of an extreme sin, the rightfulness of the intervening and causative steps. Here, however, all the stages and agencies are denounced and condemnedthe poisoned potion, the giving of it, and the final result [Temp. Commentary].
Hab. 2:17. Beasts. God avenges cruelty done to brutes. Learn
1. The providence of God over cattle.
2. The treatment they should receive at the hands of man. Hath God care for oxen? We learn here that when God cometh to execute vengeance, he surveyeth the whole catalogue of offences; and as he saith in David, I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thee, the wrong to the cities, to the men, to the beasts, to persons, to places, all comes into account, and the offenders shall smart for all [Marbury].
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 2
Hab. 2:15. Drink. Seldom does any sensual indulgence come alone. One lust prepares the way for others; the first step is sure to lead onwards. The poor deluded victim cannot stop when he pleases [C. Bridges].
Hab. 2:16-18. Shame. There is none of you that ever entered this house of pleasure but he left the skirts of his garment in the hands of shame, and had his name rolled in the chambers of death. What fruit had ye then? This is the question [Bp. Taylor]. The man wakes from his dream, and finds that he possesses not an atom of the rich possessions he had dreamed of [Lorin].
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(15, 16) Woe unto him.It is possible that wanton outrages committed by the debauched Babylonian soldiery in the hour of triumph are here meant. And this is in accordance with the mention of drunkenness as their special sin in Hab. 2:5. But we much prefer to treat the language as figurative. The invader has made his neighbours drink the cup of his cruel anger till they have reached the depths of shameful degradation. He, too, shall drink of the cup of the fierceness of the wrath of Almighty God (Rev. 16:19; see also Psa. 76:8, Jer. 25:26, Lam. 4:21); and then foul shame, as of a man stupefied with drink, shall take the place of glory and dignity.
Puttest thy bottle.It is possible to render, pourest out thy wrath, and this makes the metaphor less obscure.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
(15-17) Woe on the cruel invader who has made the world drink of the cup of wrath.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Woe upon cruelty toward other nations, Hab 2:15-17.
Hab 2:15 presents a figurative description of the craftiness, cruelty, and cunning by the use of which the Chaldeans have reduced the nations to helplessness. The picture is that of a man giving poisonous or intoxicating drink to another, for the express purpose of taking delight in his shame (Gen 9:21), or taking advantage of him. But the oppressor will be compelled to drink of the same cup and suffer shame, only in an intensified form (Hab 2:16-17).
The thought of Hab 2:15 is clear, but there is some uncertainty as to details.
That giveth his neighbor drink, that puttest thy bottle to him The meaning of some of the words is uncertain; hence the difference between A.V. and R.V., “that giveth his neighbor drink, to thee that addest thy venom.” The grammatical construction differs from that in the preceding woes (Hab 2:6; Hab 2:9; Hab 2:12). The meaning of the verb translated “add” or “puttest” is uncertain; the translation “bottle” requires a change of vowel points; on the other hand, the expression “to add venom” is peculiar. This accumulation of peculiarities has led most scholars to suspect a corruption of the text, and various emendations have been attempted. That of Wellhausen is the simplest; it requires but slight alterations, removes the difficulties, and gives a very satisfactory sense: “Woe unto him that giveth his neighbor drink out of the cup of his wrath, and maketh him drunken also” (compare Zec 12:2). The cup of wrath is one offered in wrath, which, therefore, does not contain a pleasant, refreshing drink, but one bitter and destructive. The cruel, heartless man offers this cup and compels his enemy to drink it to the dregs, until he becomes helpless in his intoxication. An apt illustration of the manner in which the Chaldeans treated other nations.
That thou mayest look on their nakedness An indication of the shameful purpose inspiring the act. The one who gives the drink is the Chaldean, those who drink it are the nations; the prostrate condition of the drunken man represents the pitiful condition of the conquered nations, the uncovering of the nakedness suggests the depth of ignominy the conquered nations were made to suffer (Nah 3:5).
Hab 2:16 announces the divine judgment upon the Chaldean; he hoped to exalt himself by bringing shame upon others, and temporarily his hopes appear to be realized, but in the end the ignominy will return upon his own head.
Thou art filled with shame for glory R.V., “with shame, and not glory.” A somewhat freer rendering expresses the thought more clearly, “Thou art filled with shame instead of glory.” The Chaldean’s object in conquest was to win glory; instead he has brought upon himself shame, for he must suffer the same treatment which he has accorded to others.
Drink thou The cup of the divine wrath.
Let thy foreskin be uncovered R.V., “be as one uncircumcised.” Here equivalent to “show thy nakedness.” He compelled others to do this (Hab 2:15). LXX. and other ancient versions read “stagger” instead of “let thy foreskin be uncovered”; the whole clause, “drink thou also and stagger,” which may be original (Nah 2:4; Zec 12:2).
The cup of Jehovah’s right hand Thus far he has compelled the nations to drink the cup he handed them, now he must take from Jehovah’s right hand the cup containing a similar drink.
Shameful spewing R.V., “foul shame.” The translation of A.V. is due to the erroneous dividing of one word into two; it is one word, an intensive form of the ordinary word for shame.
Shall be on thy glory Shall cover it so that it is seen no more; it will entirely displace it.
R.V. expresses more clearly the thought of 17a: “For the violence done to Lebanon shall cover thee, and the destruction of the beasts, which made them afraid.”
The violence of [“done to”] Lebanon This might be understood as a figurative representation of the devastation of Palestine; it is more likely, however, that it is meant literally. The violence is that done to Lebanon by cutting down its stately cedars for use in building enterprises. The inscriptions of both Assyrian and Chaldean kings state that the cedar wood was brought from great distances sometimes Mount Lebanon is mentioned by name to be used in the erection of temples and palaces. The more extensive the building enterprises, the greater the violence to Lebanon. The use of the cedars of Lebanon in the building of heathen temples may have been considered by the Israelites an act of profanity (Isa 14:8).
Shall cover thee Shall return upon thine own head (Oba 1:10; Jer 3:25).
The spoil of beasts [“the destruction of the beasts”] That is, of Lebanon. The inscriptions and monuments reveal what enthusiastic hunters were the kings of the East.
The invasion of Lebanon for such purposes may also have been considered desecration.
Which made them afraid The destruction which made afraid the beasts of Lebanon shall return upon the Chaldean’s own head. Though this thought, which can be had from the present Hebrew text, is not unsuitable, many commentators prefer the reading of some of the ancient versions, “and the destruction of the beasts shall make thee afraid.”
The refrain is repeated from Hab 2:11.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The Fourth Woe ( Hab 2:15-17 ). .
Hab 2:15
‘Woe to him who gives his neighbour drink,
Adding your wrath to him,
And makes him drunk as well,
In order that you may look on their nakedness.’
The fourth woe concerns the fact that Babylon led astray other nations besides herself. It is pictured in terms of wine and drunkenness.
This expands the thought in Hab 2:5. Not only is the great king drunk with his sin, but he gives the same to his subjected peoples, that they might drink, and share in the wrath of God that will be poured out on him (Jer 51:7; Psa 75:8; Isa 51:17; Jer 25:15-16). They are made drunk in sin as well as him. Thus all of them are revealed as naked before YHWH. (Habakkuk may especially have had in mind here Gen 9:20-27, an incident of great shame revealing man’s sinful weakness). The king has forced others into his own sinful and evil ways.
To ‘look on their nakedness’ is to see them laid bare so that their sins and their shame and their mere humanity are openly apparent, so that they are seen to have no excuse. ‘All things are naked and opened to the eyes of Him with Whom we have to do’ (Heb 4:13; compare Gen 2:25; Isa 47:3; Mic 1:11; Nah 3:5).
This is a reminder that we all need to consider what the effects of our actions might be on others. There is also a reminder here of the dangers of the misuse of strong drink.
Hab 2:16
‘You are filled with shame for glory.
You also drink and be as one uncircumcised.
The cup of YHWH’s right hand will be turned to you,
And foul shame will be on your glory.’
But it is not only other nations that are affected. Jerusalem and Judah are included, for they are now addressed. They too have been affected, ‘they will become as one uncircumcised’. They who should have been glorious in YHWH will instead be filled with shame. Becoming like Babylon and the other nations they will forsake the covenant. Thus they will become as though they were not circumcised. For to them circumcision was the seal of the covenant. The result is that they too will drink of the cup of YHWH’s right hand, that is, of His most powerful hand. And the glory that was Jerusalem’s as the holy city will instead be replaced by foul shame.
Sadly this was indeed what they did descend into on the death of Josiah. The influence of Babylon soon manifested itself and resulted in many of the infamies described by Ezekiel in his prophecy (e.g. Eze 8:6-18). Thus they too would drink of the cup of YHWH’s right hand, His manifested judgment, which would finally result in the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple. Babylon had a lot to answer for.
Hab 2:17
‘For the violence done to Lebanon will cover (or ‘overwhelm’) you,
And the destruction of the beasts which made them afraid.
Because of men’s blood, and for the violence done to the land,
To the city and all who dwell in it.’
At the approach of the advancing Babylonian army Lebanon would suffer first. But what would be done to Lebanon was a picture of what would also be done to Judah and Jerusalem. They would suffer the same violence as Lebanon. (Lebanon came first as Nebuchadnezzar descended from the north in his conquest of the area). They will be ‘covered’ or ‘overwhelmed’.
And Lebanon would be made especially afraid because of the huge slaughter of their cattle and sheep, which would demonstrate the savageness of Nebuchadnezzar’s troops. The same would be true for Judah and Jerusalem. Little would be left to them. The armies of Nebuchadnezzar would certainly need provisions, and they would provision themselves by using whatever was available, but some of the slaughter was no doubt carried out to teach them a hard lesson for their rebellion, and was also for the very purpose of frightening them into submission. Men would be slaughtered as well, men’s blood would be spilled, and so the fear would be multiplied, because of the shedding of men’s blood, because of the destruction of cattle and sheep, and because of the violence done to the trees and vegetation (the violence done to the land). And on top of this was the destruction of their city and all who dwelt in it.
So God’s chastening of His rebellious and sinful people would be fulfilled. To find the full extent of their sinfulness at this time we need to turn to Jeremiah and Ezekiel. Society had become violent and corrupt, on top of being idolatrous. The two aspects went together.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Hab 2:15. Woe unto him that giveth his neighbour drink By this neighbour, the neighbouring nations seem to be meant; whom the Chaldeans, as Grotius observes, enticed into their alliance, that they might afterwards treat them in the most ignominious manner. This particularly was the case of the king of Egypt, of whom Calmet more immediately understands it.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
I should conceive, that in allusion to gospel salvation, which the enemies of the cross will endeavour to counteract, the expressions here mean the awful character of those who aim to intoxicate the minds of men, in order to keep them from that knowledge of Christ, and the glories of his person, which is promised to fill the earth. We know that the Holy Ghost, in reference to mystical Babylon, calls her delusions by the name of the wine of wrath, and of fornication. Rev 14:8 . And in explaining this state by the drunkenness of Noah, whom Ham, his son, intoxicated, it is called making a man drunk to look on his nakedness; that is, in respect of divine things, for a drunken man knoweth not what he consents to. But shame, as this scripture declares, will be instead of glory; and well it may, when men subscribe to things under the state of a deluded mind!
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Hab 2:15 Woe unto him that giveth his neighbour drink, that puttest thy bottle to [him], and makest [him] drunken also, that thou mayest look on their nakedness!
Ver. 15. Woe unto him that giveth his neighbour drink ] The Babylonians (among other their flagitious practices afore mentioned) were much addicted to drunkenness, as is recorded by Herodotus, Ctesias, and others. Their land was sick of drink, and would therefore spue them out: themselves were men of wine, Hab 2:5 (see the note), and should therefore drink deep of the wine of God’s fierce wrath. They drank to their neighbours or companions, not in a way either of courtesy or charity, but purposely to intoxicate them, to make them drunk, that they might either deride them or abuse them to filthy pleasure, or both; they bucked them with drink, and then laid them out to be shunned and scorned, as Noah was by his graceless son. Therefore as he cursed Canaan (though Scaliger excuse him), and it stuck to his posterity for ever, so doth God here denounce a woe to drunkards, and so sets it on, as no creature shall ever be able to take it off.
That puttest thy bottle to him
“ Quinetiam Spartae mos est laudabilis ille,
Ut bibat arbitrio pocula quisque sue. ”
Among the old Germans, diem noctemque continuare potando, nulli probrum,
And makest him drunk also
That thou mayest look on their nakedness that puttest thy bottle to him = that addest (or pourest) thy fury or venom (Hebrew construct form of hemah = heat, wrath; not of hemeth = bottle) thereto. See Oxford Gesenius, p. 705, under saphak.
makest him drunken, &c. Reference to Pentateuch (Gen 9:22).
unto: Gen 19:32-35, 2Sa 11:13, 2Sa 13:26-28, Jer 25:15, Jer 51:7, Rev 17:2, Rev 17:6, Rev 18:3
that puttest: Hos 7:5
that thou: Gen 9:22, Exo 32:25
Reciprocal: Gen 9:21 – and he Gen 19:33 – drink Gen 19:36 – General 1Sa 25:36 – merry 1Ki 16:9 – drinking 2Ch 21:11 – caused Est 1:8 – none did compel Pro 20:1 – General Isa 5:11 – rise Isa 5:22 – mighty Isa 10:1 – Woe Isa 28:8 – General Jer 51:57 – I will Lam 1:21 – they shall Phi 3:19 – whose glory Rev 16:15 – lest
Hab 2:15. The Bible teaches that a drunkard will not inherit the kingdom of God (1Co 6:10). so that such a character will be con- demned for his own act. And our present verse condemns those who encourage or induce others to drink. It is especially to be condemned when the motive is as low as indicated In this verse. The statement gives us an additional thought, namely, that when a man is drunk, his mentality is depressed and he Is rendered unreliable in his actions and judgment.
Hab 2:15-16. Wo unto him that giveth his neighbour drink By the metaphorical expressions used in this verse is signified the perfidy of Nebuchadnezzar and the Chaldeans, who gained advantage over other nations by cunning arts of policy, and taking them off their guard by pretences of friendship, and the like; just as some men gain advantage over others by persuading them to drink too much. Thou art filled with shame for glory, &c. Thy glory shall now be turned into shame. Perhaps this might be intended to signify the rejoicing of the nations at the downfall of the Chaldean empire. Drink thou also Now it is come to thy turn to drink of the cup of Gods anger. Be thou also naked, as thou hast made others naked. All this is spoken in derision, or by way of mockery. The cup of the Lords right hand shall be turned unto thee Or, upon thee; that is, thou shalt drink out the whole cup, or experience all the indignation of God. Grotius justly observes, that these two verses contain an allegory. The Chaldeans gave to the neighbouring nations the cup of idolatry and of deceitful alliance, and in return they received from Jehovah the cup of his fury. Newcome.
2:15 Woe to him that giveth his neighbour {m} drink, that puttest thy bottle to [him], and makest [him] drunk also, that thou mayest look on their nakedness!
(m) He reproaches by this the king of Babylon, who as he was drunken with covetousness and cruelty, so he provoked others to the same, and inflamed them by his madness, and so in the end brought them to shame.
Judgment for rapacity 2:15-17
God would judge Babylon because the Babylonians had deceived their neighbor nations with the result that they were able to take advantage of them. The Babylonians had behaved like a man who gets a woman drunk so she will lose her self-control and he can then undress her. That the Babylonians took advantage of their victims sexually is implied in the illustration, as is their love for wine.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)