HABAKKUK CHAPTER 1 Unto Habakkuk, complaining of the iniquity of the land, HABAKKUK 1:14 , showed the fearful vengeance by the Chaldeans, HABAKKUK 1:5 . He complaineth that vengeance should be executed by them who are far worse, HABAKKUK 1:12 . The burden; see NAHUM 1:1; to which we may here add,... [ Continue Reading ]
O LORD: unto God alone he makes his application, as only able to redress all grievances. HOW LONG! it may be some years he had preached, and in preaching had complained and cried out against wickedness. SHALL I CRY, unto men in thy name, and unto thee in prayer and supplication. AND THOU WILT NOT HE... [ Continue Reading ]
WHY DOST THOU SHOW ME? it is a most unpleasing sight, and that which troubles me and every good man, to see unjust and injurious men without control, and unpunished, to act their iniquity; and yet, O God, thou not only permittest it to be done, but to be done in sight, and to the grief of thy servan... [ Continue Reading ]
THEREFORE; because the wicked go on with impunity, and the punishment they deserve is deferred. THE LAW OF GOD, given to this people by the hand of Moses, the whole law, moral, ceremonial, and judicial. IS SLACKED; is slighted, weakened, and little studied, and less obeyed by all sorts. AND JUDGMENT... [ Continue Reading ]
BEHOLD YE: here God begins to answer the prophet, and calls for a very particular and exact consideration of the thing; see and ponder. AMONG THE HEATHEN; what judgments, what punishments have been executed upon the heathen, for like sins. REGARD; weigh it well in all its tendency and consequence, f... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR LO: now the prophet declares particularly what it is that the Lord will work. I RAISE UP; awaken to action, animate them in it, and strengthen them to accomplish their design. THE CHALDEANS, who had subdued other nations, and had already ruined the Assyrian monarchy. BITTER; cruel, and without m... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY ARE TERRIBLE AND DREADFUL: to affect the incredulous Jews with greater fear, it is doubled, they are of all nations most terrible; in the fierceness wherewith they assault, and cruelty with which they use their captives. Their judgment, the law they observe, is their own will, and what they ple... [ Continue Reading ]
THEIR HORSES ALSO ARE SWIFTER; they will be sooner upon you than you think, and when once among you, they will be swifter than you can flee from, ISAIAH 30:16 LAMENTATIONS 4:19. THAN THE LEOPARDS; a fierce creature, ravenous as the lion, and much swifter, a watchful and sly beast, from which it is v... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY, Chaldeans, and in particular these fierce and swift horsemen, shall come all, with one purpose, on the same design, to enrich themselves by making a prey of all. THEIR FACES SHALL SUP UP AS THE EAST WIND: either thus, their very countenances shall be as blasting, pestiferous, and dangerous as... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY, both the king of Babylon and his soldiers, shall scoff, deride and contemn, AT THE KINGS, which either confederated with the Jews, or else opposed the designs of the Chaldeans; as the kings of Egypt, of Tyre, &c.; or the kings of the Jews, as Jehoiachin and Zedekiah. THE PRINCES, governors, co... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN: it notes both the time and cause of what happened; extraordinary successes, and a continued series of them, attending the designs and attempts of the Chaldean kings, at last made them so haughty and proud, as to trample on kings, HABAKKUK 1:10; and when their pride was at this height, it stops... [ Continue Reading ]
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 t... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU, O Lord, who hast raised and increased the Chaldean kingdom. ART OF PURER; of infinite purity and holiness. EYES, ascribed unto God to express his knowledge; so his eves run to and fro, and his eye is upon the righteous. THAN TO BEHOLD: his omniscience doth behold all things, and so David expre... [ Continue Reading ]
MAKEST; not infusing cruel, ravenous, and unsatiable appetites, but permitting them to act according to such appetite which was already in them. MEN; who should be just to all, and wrong none, who were once framed for mutual help in civil societies, and whose life should be beneficence. AS THE FISHE... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY; either more generally oppressors every where, or else particularly the Chaldeans. TAKE UP; draw them out slily and craftily, when they are taken by his bait. ALL OF THEM without distinction, all alike, good or bad. WITH THE ANGLE: it may refer to the delight these oppressors took in these cour... [ Continue Reading ]
THEREFORE, because they prosper and thrive, in which they should see and acknowledge thy wise and mighty providence, THEY SACRIFICE, idolize and pay Divine honours, ascribe the praise of their victories and acquired glory, unto their net; to their own contrivances, diligence, and power, as if the fi... [ Continue Reading ]
SHALL THEY? the Chaldeans, Nebuchadnezzar and his armies. THEREFORE; shall former success be pledge of future? they have prospered, and they think they shall; wilt thou confirm this to them? EMPTY THEIR NET; as fishermen empty the full net to fill it again, and cast out what they had taken to take i... [ Continue Reading ]