Habakkuk 1:12

Habakkuk 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? Malachi 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, Isaiah 5:16, and whom I have avouched for mine, Deuteronomy 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 Exodus 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, 1 Thessalonians 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.