INTRODUCTION TO HABAKKUK 1 In this chapter, after the inscription, in which are the title of the book, the name and character of the writer, Habakkuk 1:1, there is a complaint made by the prophet of his cry not being heard, and of salvation being deferred, which was long expected, Habakkuk 1:2 and... [ Continue Reading ]
THE BURDEN WHICH HABAKKUK THE PROPHET DID SEE. This prophecy is called a "burden", or something took up and carried, being what the prophet received from the Lord, and went with to the people of the Jews, and was a heavy burdensome prophecy to them; declaring the calamities that should come upon the... [ Continue Reading ]
O LORD, HOW LONG SHALL I CRY, AND THOU WILT NOT HEAR!.... The prophet having long observed the sins and iniquities of the people among whom he lived, and being greatly distressed in his mind on account of them, had frequently and importunately cried unto the Lord to put a stop to the abounding of th... [ Continue Reading ]
WHY DOST THOU SHOW ME INIQUITY, AND CAUSE [ME] TO BEHOLD GRIEVANCE?.... That is, wicked men, and such as give a great deal of trouble vexation, and grief to others, by their rapine and oppression; suggesting that he could not turn his eyes any where, but such persons presented themselves to his view... [ Continue Reading ]
THEREFORE THE LAW IS SLACKED,.... Is not put into execution against offenders: the civil magistrates, whose office it is to do justice according to law, are dilatory, and do not proceed with vigour and spirit against the transgressors of it, and in favour of honest and good men oppressed: or "it int... [ Continue Reading ]
BEHOLD YE AMONG THE HEATHEN, AND REGARD,.... This is the Lord's answer to the prophet's complaint, or what he directs him to say to the Jews, guilty of the crimes complained of, which should not go long unpunished; and who are called upon to look around them, and see what was doing among the nations... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR, LO, I RAISE UP THE CHALDEANS,.... A people still of late mean and low, famous only for their soothsaying, divination, and judicial astrology; but now become a powerful and warlike people, rising up under the permission of Providence to universal monarchy, and who would quickly add Judea to the... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY [ARE] TERRIBLE AND DREADFUL,.... For the fierceness of their countenances; the number and valour of their troops; the splendour of their armour; the victories they had obtained, and the cruelty they had exercised; the fame of all which spread terror wherever they came: THEIR JUDGMENT AND THEIR... [ Continue Reading ]
THEIR HORSES ALSO ARE SWIFTER THAN THE LEOPARDS,.... Creatures remarkable for their swiftness: these are creatures born of the mating of a he panther and a lioness, and not of a lion and a she panther, as some have affirmed; and which adultery is highly resented by the lion; nor will he suffer it to... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY SHALL COME ALL FOR VIOLENCE,.... Or, "the whole of it" s; the whole army of the Chaldeans, everyone of them; this would be their sole view, not to do themselves justice, as might be pretended, or avenge any injuries or affronts done to them by the Jews; but purely for the sake of spoil and plun... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THEY SHALL SCOFF AT THE KINGS,.... Or, "he shall" u, Nebuchadnezzar king of the Chaldeans, and the army with him; who would make a jest of kings and their armies that should oppose them, as being not at all a match for them; as the kings of Judah, Jehoiakim and Zedekiah, they carried captive, an... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN SHALL [HIS] MIND CHANGE,.... The mind of the king of Babylon; not that, when he had taken Jerusalem, he altered his purpose, and laid aside his designs of attacking other nations, and returned to his own country; where he became guilty of gross idolatry, in setting up the golden image in the pl... [ Continue Reading ]
[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 Habakkuk 1:13 about his providential dealings, in ord... [ Continue Reading ]
[THOU ART] OF PURER EYES THAN TO BEHOLD EVIL, AND CANST NOT LOOK UPON INIQUITY,.... The Lord with his eyes of omniscience beholds all things good and evil, and all men good and bad, with all their actions; but then he does not look upon the sins of men with pleasure and approbation; since they are c... [ Continue Reading ]
AND MAKEST MEN AS THE FISHES OF THE SEA,.... That is, sufferest them to be used as the fishes of the sea, which are easily taken in the net, and are common to everyone; whosoever will may take them up, and kill them, and use them for their food; and which also among themselves are often hardly used,... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY TAKE UP ALL OF THEM WITH THE ANGLE,.... The prophet continues the metaphor of fishing, and observes the different ways of taking fish; which is to be applied to the case he is speaking of: as fishermen take all they can with their angles, so "they" or "he", for it is in the singular number, Neb... [ Continue Reading ]
THEREFORE THEY SACRIFICE UNTO THEIR NET, AND BURN INCENSE UNTO THEIR DRAG,.... Either to their idols, to fortune and the stars, as Aben Ezra; imagining they gave them success, and prospered them in the arts and methods they used: or to their arms, as the Targum; nor was it unusual with the Heathens... [ Continue Reading ]
SHALL THEY THEREFORE EMPTY THEIR NET,.... Or "thus", after this manner, so Noldius; as fishermen do, when they have had a good cast, and a large draught, spread the net, and take out the fishes, in order to throw it again, and catch more; and so it is asked, should these Chaldeans, when they have co... [ Continue Reading ]