Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Habakkuk 2:19
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.
19. Woe unto him Awake ] 1Ki 18:27, “he (Baal) sleepeth and must be awaked.” The term is also used of Jehovah when He visibly interposes after apparent inactivity, Psa 78:65; Psa 35:23; Psa 44:23; Psa 59:5. As this verse begins with Woe many propose to place it before Hab 2:18.
it shall teach ] Or, shall it teach! as an exclamation of contempt or wonder at the infatuation of those who consult it. A full stop is to be placed at Arise! Teach is equivalent to, give an answer or oracle when consulted or appealed to. Isa 41:26; Isa 46:7.
laid over with gold ] This is probably the meaning, though the term is obscure. Perhaps: set in gold.
there is no breath ] Psa 135:17; Jer 10:14; cf. Jer 51:17.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
But then the greater is the Woe to him who deceiveth by them. The prophet passes away from the idols as nothings and pronounces woe on those who deceive by them. He . first expostulates with them on their folly, and would awaken them. What hath it profited? (As in Psa 115:5; 1Co 12:2) Then on the obstinate he denounces woe. Woe unto him that saith to the wood, Awake; to the dumb stone, Arise. Self-made blindness alone could, in the light of truth, so speak; but yet more lies in the emphatic word, It. The personal pronoun stands emphatically in Hebrew; He shall teach, lo, He (this same of whom he speaks) this is It which shall teach: It, and not the living God. And yet this same It (the word is again emphatic) he points, as with the finger, to it, behold, It is laid over with, held fast by , gold and silver, so that no voice could escape, if it had any. And there is no breath at all in the midst of it (Compare Jer 10:14 repeated Jer 51:17), literally All breath, all which is breath, there is none within it; he first suggests the thought, breath of every sort, and then energetically denies it all ; no life of any sort, of man, or bird, or beast, or creeping thing Isa 41:23; Jer 10:5; none, good or bad; from God or from Satan; none whereby it can do good or do evil; for which it should be loved or feared. Evil spirits may have made use of idols: they could not give them life, nor dwell in them.
The words addressed to it are the language of the soul in the seeming absence or silence of God (Psa 7:7; Psa 35:23; Psa 44:24; Psa 59:6; Isa 51:9; Delitszch), but mockery as spoken to the senseless stone, as Ehijah had mocked the Baal-priests, peradventure he sleepeth and must be awaked 1Ki 18:26-27.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 19. Wo unto him] How foolish and contemptible to worship a thing formed by the hand of man out of wood, stone, gold, or silver! The meanest brute is superior to them all; it breathes and lives, but they have no breath in them. However, they are said above to be teachers of lies; that is, they appeared to give out oracles: but these were lies; and were not given by the statue, but by the priest.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
In the former verse the prophet declared the uselessness and unprofitableness of the idols of Babylon, now he threatens the idolaters. They sinned greatly by placing their confidence in them, and they should suffer the more for it.
The wood; whatever shape art may give it, or whatever veneration blind idolaters may bear to it, it is still wood, no better; a log, a worthless block.
Awake: this expresseth the idolaters prayer to his idol. Awake; what! is he a sleepy god? No, not so much, it is a lifeless log, and its eyes never did see.
The dumb stone; another sort of their useless idols, senseless as the stones, and still as unable to rise or help as before they were graven and carved; it is a stone, no god.
Arise; another form of praying to this idol; and when the idol can rise Babylon shall be helped, till then it must abide its sorrows.
It shalt teach: sottish men! in misery to hope that lifeless idols shall counsel and direct. What! dumb, and without sense, and yet teach!
Behold; look, ye selfdeceiving idolaters, consult your own senses, see what matter they are made of.
It is laid over with gold and silver; see the facings or plates are different from that which is under, and can that be a god that is made up of such different materials? it were more like men to pull off the gold and silver, and with these to purchase your safety.
There is no breath at all; not so much as the soul of a brute in them.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
19. AwakeArise to my help.
it shall teach!rather,An exclamation of the prophet, implying an ironical questionto which a negative answer must be given. What! “It teach?”Certainly not [MAURER].Or, “It (the idol itself) shall (that is, ought to) teach youthat it is deaf, and therefore no God” [CALVIN].Compare “they are their own witnesses” (Isa44:9).
BeholdThe Hebrewis nominative, “There it is” [HENDERSON].
it is laid over with gold . .. no breath . . . in the midstOutside it has some splendor,within none.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Woe to him that saith to the wood, Awake,…. That saith to a wooden image, let him go by what name he will; saint such an one, or such an one; awake, arise, exert thyself on our behalf; deliver us from present danger; save us from our enemies; or pray and intercede for us, that we may be delivered and saved, as the Papists do; addressing a block of wood as they would God himself, or as his people do, Ps 44:23. This must be very displeasing and detestable to God, and therefore a woe is threatened to such idol worshippers: who also say
to the dumb stone, Arise; to the idol of stone, as the Targum; the stone statue, an image made of stone, such as the Papists have even of wood, and of stone, as well as of gold, and silver, and brass, Re 9:20 and so stupid as to say to such stocks and stones, arise, stand up, and help us:
it shall teach; the stone itself would teach them better, would they but consider what it is, look upon it, and handle it, when they would find it to be a mere stone, and no deity: or, “shall it teach?” so Jarchi, Kimchi, and Ben Melech; no, it cannot teach any true doctrine, or direct to right worship; it cannot teach men their duty, or where they may have help; it is a dumb idol; it cannot teach men the nature of God, and the knowledge of him; or instruct in his mind and will; or inform of things secret or future:
it [is] laid over with gold and silver; it is made of stone, and covered with gold and silver; how should it teach?
and [there is] no breath at all in the midst of it; or, “no spirit” o; so far from having the spirit of divinity in it, or the Spirit of God, that it has not the spirit of a man in it, nor even the spirit of a brute creature; it has not so much as animal breath, and so no life, motion, or activity in it; and therefore must be quite unprofitable to the worshipper of it; incapable of teaching those who apply to it; and they must be stupid that do it, and most righteously bring themselves under the displeasure and wrath of God, and expose themselves to the woe here denounced against such persons.
o “spiritus”, Pagninus, Montanus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius, Burkius.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
He pursues, as I have said, the same subject, and sharply inveighs against the sottishness of men, that they call on wood and stone, as though there were some hidden power in them. They say to the wood, Awake; for they implored help from their idols. Shall it teach? Some render it thus as a question; but I take it in a simpler form, “It will teach;” that is, “It is a wonder that ye are so wilfully foolish; for were God to send to you no Prophet, were there no one to instruct you, yet the wood and the stone would be sufficient teachers to you: ask your idols, that is, ascertain rightly what is in them. Doubtless, the god that is made of wood or of stone, sufficiently declares by his silence that he is no god. For there is no motion in wood and stone. Where there is no vigor and no life, is it not right to feel assured, that there is no deity? There are, indeed, many creatures endued with feeling and motion; but the God who gives power, and motion, and feeling to the whole world, and to all its parts, does he not surpass in these respects all his creatures? Since, then, wood and stone are silent, they are teachers sufficient for you, provided ye be apt scholars.”
We hence see how the Prophet in this way amplifies the insensibility of men; for they did not perceive what was quite manifest. The design of what follows is the same. Behold, it is covered over with gold and silver; that is, it is made splendid: for idolaters think that their gods are better when adorned with gold and silver; but yet there is no breath in the midst of them. “Look,” he says, “within; look within, and ye shall see that they are dead.” (47) The rest we shall dilate on to-morrow.
(47) With the exception of the clause, “It will teach,” there is a general agreement in the mode of rendering this verse. “Shall it teach,” is Newcome’s version. Henderson considers it to be ironical, “It teach!” Grotius agrees with Calvin, “It will itself teach thee,” that is, that it is deaf, and no god. I regard the verse as capable of a simpler and more literal rendering, as follows:
19. Woe to him who saith to the wood, “Awake, Arise;” To the dumb stone, “It will teach:” Behold, it is covered with gold and silver! Yet there is no breath within it.
The two verbs, “Awake, Arise,” stand connected with “wood,” and they are so given in the Septuagint; and there is a striking contrast between the dumb stone and teaching.— Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
19. Woe To him who puts his trust into these lifeless nothings.
Awake From slumber and inactivity (1Ki 18:27).
Arise To help and deliver. Appeals addressed to Jehovah would receive an answer (Psa 35:23; Psa 44:23), but the idols can neither hear nor reply.
It shall teach Better, R.V., “Shall this teach?” A question or exclamation of astonishment at the delusion. Teach is here equivalent to respond to the appeal to show a way of escape from the calamity. The prophet immediately makes it plain why help need not be expected. They have no life in themselves, how can they preserve the life of others?
Laid over The word occurs only here, hence its meaning is not quite certain; the reference seems to be to the overlaying of idols made of wood or other cheap material with gold or silver.
No breath The spirit of life is entirely absent (Jer 10:4 ff.; Isa 44:9 ff.).
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Hab 2:19. It shall teach Can this thing give instruction?Behold, &c. but no breath at all in it. Houbigant, however, renders it, Wilt thou have that for an instructor, which, covered over with gold and silver, hath no breath in it?
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Hab 2:19 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.
Ver. 19. Woe unto him that saith to the wood, Awake ] It is wood still, and yet he saith to it, Awake, Arise, &c., as if he would deny his own reason, and unman himself. When Hezekiah saw that such was the venom of the Israelitish idolatry, that the brazen serpent stung worse than the fiery, he pulled it down, and in contempt called it Nehushtan, that is, a piece of brass, 2Ki 18:4 . Pagnine rendereth it, aenusum. Marinus, aeniculum, that is, parum quid aeris, a little piece of sorry brass (Thes. Ling. Sanct.). The Jews to this day say that as long as they see the preacher direct his speech and prayer to that little wooden crucifix, that standeth in the pulpit by him, to call it his Lord and Saviour, to kneel to it, to embrace it, to kiss it, to weep upon it (as is the fashion of Italy), this is preaching sufficient for them; and persuadeth them more with the very sight of it to hate Christian religion, than any reason that the world can allege to love it. Woe, therefore, to those Popish idolaters, because of offences; destruction to them, that thus say to the wood, Awake, and
to the dumb stone, Arise
It shall teach
Behold, it is laid over with gold and silver
There is no breath at all in the midst of it
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Woe unto him, &c. “The sequence of thought” would not be improved, as suggested, by making Hab 2:19 precede Hab 2:18. See the Structure above.
breath = spirit. Hebrew. ruach. See App-9. Compare Psa 115:4-7; Psa 135:17. Jer 10:14.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
that: 1Ki 18:26-29, Psa 97:7, Isa 44:17, Jer 51:47, Dan 3:7, Dan 3:18, Dan 3:29, Dan 5:23, Jon 1:5
it is: Isa 40:19, Isa 46:6, Jer 10:4, Jer 10:9, Dan 3:1, Act 17:29, Rev 17:4
and there: Psa 135:17
Reciprocal: Jdg 17:3 – a graven image Jdg 18:24 – what have Psa 3:7 – Arise Psa 115:8 – General Psa 135:15 – idols Isa 10:1 – Woe Isa 36:18 – Hath Isa 44:14 – heweth Isa 51:9 – Awake Isa 57:6 – the smooth Jer 2:27 – to a stock Jer 3:9 – committed Jer 10:3 – one Jer 10:5 – speak Jer 10:14 – and Jer 13:25 – trusted Jer 16:19 – Surely Jer 50:38 – the land Jer 51:17 – brutish by his knowledge Eze 24:12 – wearied Dan 5:4 – of gold Hos 4:12 – ask Hos 13:2 – have made 1Co 8:4 – we know 1Co 12:2 – dumb Rev 13:15 – life
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
2:19 Woe to him that saith to the wood, Awake; to the dumb stone, Arise, it shall teach! {q} Behold, it [is] laid over with gold and silver, and [there is] no breath at all within it.
(q) If you will consider what it is, and how it has neither breath nor life, but is a dead thing.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The Lord pronounced woe on those who ignorantly tried to coax their dumb idols, wood or stone perhaps overlaid with gold or silver, to speak (cf. 1Ki 18:26-29). No matter what they looked like or out of what material they were made, they were still only lifeless objects of art. How foolish it was to look to one of these as one’s teacher or guide!