Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Habakkuk 2:9

Clarke's Commentary

Verse 9. An evil covetousness to his house — Nebuchadnezzar wished to aggrandize his family, and make his empire permanent: but both family and empire were soon cut off by the death of his son Belshazzar, and the consequent destruction of the Chaldean empire.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

2:6-20 BABYLON’S SINS

The prophet now announces judgment on evildoers, listing five sins that God must punish. He introduces each condemnation with the words, ‘Woe to him who . . .’ (GNB: ‘You are doomed!’). The evildoer here is probably Babylon, but the condemnation has an application also to the Judeans. In fact, it applies to people of any age and race.

The lust for power and wealth (2:6-11)

To illustrate Babylon’s lust for power, the prophet refers to the practice of money-lending, which was the cause of much injustice and hardship in society. Babylon is like a merciless money-lender who, by charging high interest that the debtor cannot repay, gets as many people into his power as possible. But these enslaved people will suddenly arise and overthrow their wicked master. They will do to him what he previously did to them (6-8).
Babylon has made itself wealthy and secure by treating other nations shamefully. It is like a bird that builds its nest high in a tree away from trouble, where it can live in ease and comfort. But Babylon’s luxury will be a witness against it in the day of judgment, and so ensure for it a fitting punishment (9-11).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

"Woe to him that getteth an evil gain for his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the hand of evil!"

WOE II

This is a reference to Babylon. Jamieson's comment is:

"The image is from an eagle's nest (Job 39:27). The royal citadel (of Babylon) is meant. The Chaldean built high towers like the Babel founders, `to be delivered from the power of evil' (Genesis 11:4)."Robert Jamieson, op. cit., p. 830.

Against exploitation and extortion. This woe is directed against dishonest and unscrupulous devices of all kinds, by which men seek to elevate themselves at the expense of others.

"The oppressors have built an empire, their house, by exploitation of conquered peoples and extortion of their possessions. They intend to sustain a thriving economy by these same means."D. David Garland, op. cit., p. 260.

However, as it will be dramatically stated in the very next verse, such efforts to attain earthly security are foredoomed to failure. "The house that has been built upon evil in an effort to reach earthly security will itself `cry out' against the evildoer."Balmer H. Kelley, op. cit., p. 64.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

Woe to him that coveteth an evil covetousness to his house - (or, with accents, “that coveteth covetousness or unjust gain, an evil to his house.”) What man coveteth seems gain, but is evil “to his house” after him, destroying both himself and his whole family or race with him . “That he may set his nest on high,” as an eagle, to which he had likened the Chaldee (Habakkuk 1:8. Compare Jeremiah 20:16). A pagan called “strongholds, the nests of tyrants.” The nest was placed “on high” which means also “heaven,” as it is said, Obadiah 1:4, “though thou set thy nest among the stars;” and the tower of Babel was to “reach unto heaven” Genesis 11:4; and the antichrist, whose symbol the King of Babylon is, Isaiah 14:13 says, “I will exalt my throne above the stars of God.” Babylon lying in a large plain, on the sides of the Euphrates, the image of its eagle’s-nest on high must be taken, not from any natural eminence, but wholly from the works of man.

Its walls, and its hanging gardens were among “the seven wonders of the world.” Eye-witnesses speak of its walls, encompassing at least 100 square miles , “and as large as the land-graviat of Hesse Homberg;” those walls, 335, or 330 feet high, and 85 feet broad ; a fortified palace, nearly 7 miles in circumference; gardens, 400 Greek feet square, supporting at an artificial height arch upon arch, of “at least 75 feet,” forest trees; a temple to its god, said to have been at least 600 feet high.

If we, creatures of a day, had no one above us, Nebuchadnezzars boast had been true Daniel 4:30, “Is not this great Babylon that I have built for the house of the Kingdom by the might of my power and for the honor of my majesty?” He had built an eagle’s nest, which no human arm could reach, encircled by walls which laughed its invaders to scorn, which, at that time, no skill could scale or shatter or mine. Even as one sees in a picture the vast mounds which still remain , one can hardly imagine that they were, brick upon brick, wholly the work of man.

To be delivered from the hand (grasp) of evil - that it should not be able to reach him. Evil is spoken of as a living power , which would seize him, whose grasp he would defy. It was indeed a living power, since it was the will of Almighty God, whose servant and instrument Cyrus was, to chasten Babylon, when its sins were full. Such was the counsel, what the result? The evil covetousness which he worked, brought upon him the evil, from which, in that nest built by the hard toil of his captives, he thought to deliver himself.

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

Habakkuk proceeds in exciting the king of Babylon by taunts; which were not scurrilous jests, but contained serious threatening; for, as it has been already said, the Prophet here introduces indeed the common people, but in that multitude we are to recognize the innumerable heralds of God’s vengeance: and hence he says, Woe to him who coveteth, etc.; or we may say, He! for it is a particle of exclamation, as it has been said: He! thou, he says, who covetest an evil covetousness to thy house, and settest on high thy nest: but what shall happen? The next verse declares the punishment.

The clause, Woe to him who covets an evil covetousness to his house, may be read by itself,—that this cupidity shall be injurious to his house; as though he had said, “Thou indeed wouldest provide for thy house by accumulating great riches; but thy house shall find this to be evil and ruinous. So the word רעה, roe, evil, might be referred to the house; but the verse is best connected by reading the whole together; that is, that the Babylonians not only provided for themselves, while they with avidity plundered and collected much wealth from all quarters; but that they wished also to make provisions for their sons and grandsons: and we also see, that avarice has this object in view; for they who are anxiously bent on the accumulation of riches do not only regard what is needful for themselves to pass through life, but also wish to leave their heirs rich. Since then the avaricious are desirous of enriching for ever their houses, the prophet, deriding this madness, says, Woe to him who covets an evil covetousness to his house; that is, who wishes not only to abound and be satiated himself, but also to supply his posterity with abundance.

He adds another vice, which is almost ever connected with the former—that he may set, he says, his nest on high; for the avaricious have a regard to this—to fortify themselves; for as an evil conscience is always fearful, many dangers come across their minds—“This may happen to me,” and then, “My wealth will procure for me the hatred and envy of many. If then some danger be at hand, I shall be able to redeem my life many times;” and he also adds, “Were I satisfied with a moderate portion, many would become my rivals; but when my treasures surpass what is common, then I shall be as it were beyond the reach of men; and when others envy one another, I shall escape.” So the avaricious think within themselves when they are ardently bent on accumulating riches, and form for themselves a great heap like a nest; for they think that they are raised above the world, and are exempt from the common lot of men, when surrounded by their riches.

We now then see what the Prophet means: Woe, he says, to him who wickedly and intemperately covets. And why does he so do? To enrich his posterity. And then he adds, to him who covets that he may set his nest on high; that is, that he may by wealth fortify himself, that he may be able to drive away every danger, and be thus exempt from every evil and trouble. And he adds, that he may deliver himself from the power of evil; he expresses now more clearly what I have said—that the rich are inebriated with false confidence, when they surpass all others; for they think not themselves to be mortals, but imagine that they have another life, as though they had a world of their own, free from all dangers. But while the avaricious thus elevate themselves by a proud confidence, the Prophet derides their madness. He then subjoins their punishment—

Smith's Bible Commentary

Shall we turn at this time to the book of Habakkuk.

Very little is known concerning the personal background of Habakkuk. Very little, nothing is known. We don't know really anything about his background. There are indications from the book itself that he was of a priestly family, perhaps one of the priests in Israel. He addresses the last chapter, which is a psalm, he addresses it to, "the chief singer on my stringed instrument." And that was usually the place of the priests who were, many of them, God had called them for the purpose of providing music in the temple. So Habakkuk could've been just one of the temple priests.

The time of his prophecy is not declared, as so often at the beginning of a prophecy the prophet will declare, "Who prophesied during the reigns of Josiah, and Jehoiakim," and so forth. He doesn't tell us the time of his prophesies. But, again, from the prophecy itself, from the book itself, we realize that there is a great spiritual declension and the impending invasion of Babylon. Many put the prophecy during the reign of Josiah, however, during the reign of Josiah there was more or less a spiritual revival in Judah. After the evil, wicked reign of Manasseh, Josiah came along and instituted many spiritual reforms. The discovery again of the law of God, the instituting again of the Passover festivals, and there was a great spiritual revival under Josiah.

In chapter 1, Habakkuk is complaining against the tremendous spiritual declension, and thus, probably towards the end of the reign of Josiah, and then, of course, the reign of Jehoiachin and Jehoiakim. It is in the final period of the national deterioration prior to falling to Babylon. And, of course, Habakkuk is prophesying of Babylon's coming invasion and being used as a rod of God to punish God's people.

So he begins,

The burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see ( Habakkuk 1:1 ).

It begins with a cry unto the Lord. Now Habakkuk had a very beautiful and close relationship with God. The word Habakkuk means embracer, and Habakkuk embraced the Lord and was embraced by the Lord. So he begins with a prayer unto the Lord.

O LORD, how long shall I cry, and you will not hear! even cry out unto you of the violence, and you do not save! Why do you show me iniquity, and cause me to behold these grievances? for spoiling and violence are before me: and there are those that raise up strife and contention. Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment never goes forth: for the wicked encompass the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceeds ( Habakkuk 1:2-4 ).

So the complaint against God because of the deteriorating conditions of the country, the land. It seems as though the stem of evil, or the tide of evil, is not being stemmed by God. "Lord, how long will I cry to You of these things that are taking place, and You don't answer, You don't hear, You don't respond? God, there's such a horrible deterioration in the land. There is such moral corruption. There's such an overwhelming tide of evil, and the whole nation is just going down so rapidly. God, You don't seem to be doing anything about it. We pray; we cry unto You, but it seems like evil is prevailing, and that the evil persons are prevailing. As the result, righteous judgment no longer proceeds."

The effect of the moral declension of the nation is reflected in the judicial system. So that the law is slacked and judgment does not go forth. I think of things that are going on in our own area here. I am deeply concerned for the judicial system. Last year this young man John Hinkley attempted to assassinate the President, and we're all aware of the incidents that took place on that fateful day. A couple of weeks later, in Italy a young man attempted to assassinate the Pope. Now he has already had his day in court and was tried, and is now serving his sentence. Hinkley hasn't even come up for trial yet. Now there's something wrong with the judicial system that it's so cumbersome, that here he is not even yet up for trial, and over in Italy those who kidnapped Dozier just recently are already in court being tried.

I was reading where this big drug bust in Newport Beach recently where a million dollars worth of cocaine was recovered from a house up in Spy Glass Hill. Though they found the cocaine there and everything else, they did not have a proper reason to search them. Therefore, they've been dismissed and are now scott free, out buying more drugs, and back into their trade.

Something's wrong with the judicial system that releases known criminals who have even confessed their crimes, but just because of a failure to inform them of their rights before their confession, they're allowed to go free. Or because they were accomplices together in the murder, and though they admitted, both of them, to being involved, each one said the other one did it. And because they can't testify against each other in such a case, they let them both go free. Such was the case of the two young men who murdered my friend Ray Boatright. There's something wrong. The law is slack; judgment does not go forth. That is a mark of a declining moral state, a weakness of a nation. When a body gets so sick that it can no longer purge itself of its poisons, that body will soon die. When we've become so weak in our judicial system that we cannot purge our society of the poison within the society, you can be sure that that society hasn't long to live.

"The wicked compass about the righteous." It would seem that the humanistic, liberal concepts are being embraced by the majority of the people. That those who would dare to stand up for morality and righteousness and pure living are considered as archaic, Victorian, and all of the other names that they call it.

So the prophet Habakkuk sees all these things. He cries out unto the Lord, but it seems like God isn't doing anything about it. It seems like things are just getting worse, there's no change. It seems like their nation is just sliding down more rapidly all the time. So he is distraught. He says, "Lord, I'd just as soon You not show me anything else."

I've really gotten to that place almost myself. Someone came up this morning and said they now have X-rated radio in several of the major cities of the United States. Some radio stations have gone to what they call X-rated programming, in which they use all kinds of filthy language and get into all kinds of filthy type of diatribe and stories and everything else. It says that they are such a tremendous success and have such a large listening audience among the young people, that it's about the greatest success story that's come in radio for a long time, X-rated radio.

I said, "Lord, please don't let me know anything else. I can't take it. Lord, this whole corrupt system seems to be getting worse all the time, and You're not doing anything about it."

"Lord, I cried unto You," he said. "How long shall I cry and You don't seem to hear me?" So the Lord responded to Habakkuk, verse Habakkuk 2:5 , and He said,

Behold ye among the heathen, and regard, and wonder marvelously: for I will work a work in your days, which you will not believe, though it be told you ( Habakkuk 1:5 ).

Now the prophet was saying, "God, please don't show me anything else, because the whole thing is deteriorating so rapidly, and You're doing nothing about it." God in essence responded, "I am doing something. I am working. I'm doing a work in your day, and if it were told to you, you wouldn't believe it." The prophet more or less said, "Try me." And so the Lord went on. He said,

For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land, to possess the dwelling places that are not theirs. They are terrible and dreadful: their judgment and their dignity shall proceed of themselves. Their horses are swifter than leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves: and their horsemen shall spread themselves, and their horsemen shall come from far; they shall fly as the eagle that hasteth to eat. They shall come all for violence: their faces shall sup up as the east wind, and they shall gather the captivity as the sand. And they shall scoff at the kings, and the princes shall be a scorn unto them: they shall deride every stronghold; for they shall heap dust, and take it. Then shall his mind change, and he shall pass over, and offend, imputing this his power unto his god ( Habakkuk 1:6-11 ).

So the Lord said, "I am working, and what I am doing is I am gathering together the Babylonian nations, the Chaldeans, and they are going to come with their swift army. They are going to move through the breadth of this land and conquer it, and destroy the houses of these people."

So he predicts the impending invasion and victory of Babylon over Judah. But then he says when they have conquered, then they are gonna make a mistake, and they are going to attribute the fact that they had been able to conquer Judah to their god being superior to the God of Israel.

Now when God revealed His plan to Habakkuk to use the evil nation of Babylon as an instrument to bring defeat to God's people, to destroy their land, it was true, Habakkuk couldn't believe it. As God said, "I am working, but if it were told to you, you wouldn't believe it." Habakkuk answers God. In his answer to God, he again expresses his not understanding the ways of God. He said,

Are you not from everlasting ( Habakkuk 1:12 ),

Have you not always existed?

O LORD my God, my Holy One? We shall not die. O LORD, thou hast ( Habakkuk 1:12 )

That is, as a nation surely we will not die.

O LORD, thou hast ordained them for judgment; and, O mighty God, thou has established them for correction. But Lord, you are of purer eyes than to behold evil, and you cannot look on iniquity ( Habakkuk 1:12-13 ):

Very interesting verses. God is of purer eyes than to behold evil. That is, to behold in the sense of approval. "You cannot look upon iniquity with approval."

We are coming this week, of course, to the remembrance of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. As this Sunday throughout Christendom, they were celebrating Palm Sunday, the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. Fulfillment of the promise of God through Daniel and through Zechariah of the coming Messiah. "Behold thy King cometh unto thee," Zechariah declared. "But He is lowly sitting on a colt, foal of an ass" ( Zechariah 9:9 ). But even as Daniel said, "When the Messiah comes, He'll be cut off" ( Daniel 9:26 ).

So this is the week right after His triumphant entry, and His being rejected officially by the religious leaders, and their conspiracy to put Him to death. We will be remembering again the death of Jesus Christ. And in remembering the death of Jesus Christ, we remember the agony in the Garden of Eden, as He prayed three times to the Father concerning the cup that He was to drink. Sweating as it were, great drops of blood falling to the ground. As He agonized before the Father concerning the cross, "Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me. Nevertheless if it cannot pass from Me except I drink it, Thy will be done" ( Matthew 26:39 ). As we remember the prayer of Christ, and as we look at the cross, and we hear the cry from the cross, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" then we understand the prayer of the Lord in the Garden of Gethsemane. Isaiah in prophesying concerning the death of Jesus Christ that, "He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon Him. By His stripes we are healed. For all we like sheep have gone astray. We turned every one of us to our own ways, but the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquities of us all" ( Isaiah 53:5-6 ). When Jesus was there on the cross suffering in your place, taking the judgment that was due you for your sins, as the iniquities of the world were laid upon Him, the history of man, all of the evil, vile acts committed by man in his history were at that point placed upon Jesus Christ.

As Habakkuk said, "Thou canst not look upon iniquity." And in His bearing of your iniquities, He became separated from the Father. Thus the cry, "My God, My God why hast Thou forsaken Me?" But we realize that God in His plan to show you how much He loved you, forsook His Son when He took your iniquities, in order that He would not have to forsake you eternally. Oh, the mysteries and the depths of God's love that were revealed there on Calvary, as Jesus bore your sin, and my sin, and He suffered in our place, and took our judgment. We feel like taking the shoes off of our feet whenever we talk about the things of the cross, because truly we are standing there on holy ground. As we consider God's great love for fallen man, for you, for me.

In the Psalm that Jesus was actually quoting when He cried, "My God, My God why hast Thou forsaken Me?" Psalm 22 , it goes on to say, "Why art Thou so far from the cry of my roaring? I cry in the day season, and Thou hearest not, and in the night, and Thou art silent. But," and in verse Habakkuk 2:3 he gives the reason for being forsaken, "but Thou art holy, O Thou who inhabits the praises of Thy people Israel."

Here the prophet speaks of the holiness of God, "Your eyes are so pure that You cannot behold evil. You cannot look upon iniquity, O Thou art holy, thou that inhabits the praises of Israel."

So the penalty and the result of sin, separation from God, was experienced by the Son, who knew no sin, but God made Him to be made sin for us, in order that we might be made the righteousness of God through Him. Oh, I'll tell you, how can a person reject such a fabulous offer that God gives to man? He takes our sin and gives us His righteousness. Oh, what a glorious thing to realize. He became what we are, that we might become what He is. So the declaration of the prophet concerning God: the purity of God, the holiness of God.

Now this brings up an interesting point, you see. Because so many times we find ourselves in that position of asking God to condone our iniquity or our sin. Paul said, "Don't you realize your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you? You're not your own, you've been bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body, and your spirit, which are His."

Don't you realize that if you are using your body for immoral purposes, and your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, you're actually asking God to condone, or to go along, and to partake in your iniquity? Yet, God is of pure eyes than He could behold evil; He cannot look upon iniquity. If God forsook His only begotten Son when the iniquities of the world were laid upon Him, it is sheer folly if you think that you can embrace God while doing evil. "If a man says he is in the light, and walks in darkness, he lies and does not the truth. Be not deceived." Many people are deceived into thinking that they can embrace God and embrace evil and iniquity at the same time. Not so. "Come ye apart from them saith the Lord, touch not the unclean thing, and I will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be My sons and daughters" ( 2 Corinthians 6:17-18 ). But God said, "Be ye holy, for I am holy."

Now the prophet has a problem. "Lord, You are of pure eyes to behold evil, You cannot look upon iniquity,"

how come, Lord, you're looking on those who deal treacherously [That is, the Babylonians], and you hold your tongue when the wicked devours the man that is more righteous than he? ( Habakkuk 1:13 )

What the prophet is basically saying is, "Hey, God, we are bad, I recognize that. But they are worse than we are. I don't understand, Lord, why You would use a nation that is even more corrupt than we are to judge us, or to bring judgment on us. I don't understand this." Speaking of the Babylonians, he said,

They make men as the fish of the sea, as creeping things, that have no ruler over them. They take up all of them with their hooks, and they catch them with their nets, and they gather them with their drag: and therefore they rejoice and are glad. Then they sacrifice unto their nets, and burn incense to their drag; because by them their portion is fat, and their meat plenteous. Shall they therefore empty their net, and not spare continually to slay the nations? ( Habakkuk 1:14-17 )

"God, I don't understand why You would use the Babylonians. They're pagans; they are idolaters. They are like fishermen, who, after they have taken a great multitude of fish, they then offer sacrifices to their nets, burn incense to them and all, and they're worshiping the wrong god. They're not worshiping You. Why would You prosper them? Why would You allow them to have victory? Why would You allow them to have such great spoil?" In other words, "Why would You bless the ungodly and prosper the ungodly?" "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

3. The Lord’s sentence on Babylon 2:6-20

The Lord pronounced taunts or mocking statements on the Babylonians announcing that they would receive judgment for their sins. This taunt song consists of five stanzas of three verses each. Five woes follow. Baker entitled them "the pillager," "the plotter," "the promoter of violence," "the debaucher," and "the pagan idolator." [Note: Baker, pp. 62, 64, 65, and 67.] Each woe is "an interjection of distress pronounced in the face of disaster or in view of coming judgment (cf. Isaiah 3:11; Isaiah 5:11; Isaiah 10:5; et al.)." [Note: Blue, p. 1514.]

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Babylon used its unjust acquisitions to build a secure place for itself that it thought would be safe from all calamity (cf. Genesis 11:4). It built a strong and rich dynasty (house) so it would be self-sufficient. Another interpretation is that the secure nest in view is the capital city. [Note: Bruce, p. 867.]

Saving to protect oneself from large future expenses is not wrong in itself, but to build a fortune so one will not have to trust in anyone else is saving with the wrong attitude (cf. James 5:1-6).

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Judgment for self-exaltation 2:9-11

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

Woe to him that coveteth an evil covetousness to his house,.... The bishops of Rome, being enriched by the donations of Constantine, were not satisfied, but coveted more; these are the greedy dogs Isaiah speaks of, that could never have enough, Isaiah 56:11 but were still seeking and gaping after more for themselves and families, and for their own house or church; which, from the time of their apostasy, became their own house, in distinction from, and in opposition to, the house or true church of God; and of those covetous bishops, or Rome Papal, are these and the following words to Habakkuk 2:9 to be understood:

that he may set his nest on high: in allusion to birds, especially the eagle, which builds its nest in high places, that it may be secure from any that would otherwise disturb it, or take it away: so these covetous and ambitious bishops, getting great wealth and riches, and large dominions into their hands, secular power and authority, as well as ecclesiastical, set themselves up, and advanced their see and seat, not only above all other bishops, but even above the kings and princes of the earth, above all that are called gods, 2 Thessalonians 2:4 and by such means endeavoured to gain their point, the main thing they had in view:

that he may be delivered from the power of evil; that they might be safe and secure against all worldly power, and be out of the jurisdiction of the princes of the earth, and in no danger of being dispossessed or crushed by them.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      5 Yea also, because he transgresseth by wine, he is a proud man, neither keepeth at home, who enlargeth his desire as hell, and is as death, and cannot be satisfied, but gathereth unto him all nations, and heapeth unto him all people:   6 Shall not all these take up a parable against him, and a taunting proverb against him, and say, Woe to him that increaseth that which is not his! how long? and to him that ladeth himself with thick clay!   7 Shall they not rise up suddenly that shall bite thee, and awake that shall vex thee, and thou shalt be for booties unto them?   8 Because thou hast spoiled many nations, all the remnant of the people shall spoil thee; because of men's blood, and for the violence of the land, of the city, and of all that dwell therein.   9 Woe to him that coveteth an evil covetousness to his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the power of evil!   10 Thou hast consulted shame to thy house by cutting off many people, and hast sinned against thy soul.   11 For the stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it.   12 Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood, and stablisheth a city by iniquity!   13 Behold, is it not of the LORD of hosts that the people shall labour in the very fire, and the people shall weary themselves for very vanity?   14 For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.

      The prophet having had orders to write the vision, and the people to wait for the accomplishment of it, the vision itself follows; and it is, as divers other prophecies we have met with, the burden of Babylon and Babylon's king, the same that was said to pass over and offend,Habakkuk 1:11; Habakkuk 1:11. It reads the doom, some think, of Nebuchadnezzar, who was principally active in the destruction of Jerusalem, or of that monarchy, or of the whole kingdom of the Chaldeans, or of all such proud and oppressive powers as bear hard upon any people, especially upon God's people. Observe,

      I. The charge laid down against this enemy, upon which the sentence is grounded, Habakkuk 2:5; Habakkuk 2:5. The lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eye, and the pride of life, are the entangling snares of men, and great men especially; and we find him that led Israel captive himself led captive by each of these. For, 1. He is sensual and voluptuous, and given to his pleasures: He transgresses by wine. Drunkenness is itself a transgression, and is the cause of abundance of transgression. We read of those that err through wine,Isaiah 28:7. Belshazzar (in whom particularly this prophecy had its accomplishment) was in the height of his transgression by wine when the hand-writing upon the wall signed the warrant for his immediate execution, pursuant to this sentence, Daniel 5:1. 2. He is haughty and imperious: He is a proud man, and his pride is a certain presage of his fall coming on. If great men be proud men, the great God will make them know he is above them. His transgressing by wine is made the cause of his arrogance and insolence: therefore he is a proud man. When a man is drunk, though he makes himself as mean as a beast, yet he thinks himself as great as a king, and prides himself in that by which he shames himself. We find the crown of pride upon the head of the drunkards of Ephraim, and a woe to both, Isaiah 28:1. 3. He is covetous and greedy of wealth, and this is the effect of his pride; he thinks himself worthy to enjoy all, and therefore makes it his business to engross all. The Chaldean monarchy aimed to be a universal one. He keeps not at home, is not content with his own, which he has an incontestable title to, but thinks it too little, and so enjoys it not, nor takes the comfort he might in his own palace, in his own dominion. His sin is his punishment, his ambition is his perpetual uneasiness. Though the home be a palace, yet to a discontented mind it is a prison. He enlarges his desire as hell, or the grave, which daily receives the body of the dead, and yet still cries, Give, give; he is as death, which continues to devour, and cannot be satisfied. Note, It is the sin and folly of many who have a great deal of the wealth of this world that they do not know when they have enough, but the more they have the more they would have, and the more eager they are for it. And it is just with God that the desires which are insatiable should still be unsatisfied; it is the doom passed on those that love silver that they shall never be satisfied with it,Ecclesiastes 5:10. Those that will not be content with their allotments shall not have the comfort of their achievements. This proud prince is still gathering to him all nations, and heaping to him all people, invading their rights, seizing their properties, and they must not be unless they will be his, and under his command. One nation will not satisfy him unless he has another, and then another, and all at last; as those in a lower sphere, to gratify the same inordinate desire, lay house to house, and field to field, that they may be placed alone in the earth,Isaiah 5:8. And it is hard to say which is more to be pitied, the folly of such ambitious princes as place their honour in enlarging their dominions, and not in ruling them well, or the misery of those nations that are harassed and pulled to pieces by them.

      II. The sentence passed upon him (Habakkuk 2:6; Habakkuk 2:6): Shall not all these take up a parable against him? His doom is,

      1. That, since pride has been his sin, disgrace and dishonour shall be his punishment, and he shall be loaded with contempt, shall be laughed at and despised by all about him, as those that look big, and aim high, deserve to be, and commonly are, when they are brought down and baffled.

      2. That, since he has been abusive to his neighbours, those very persons whom he has abused shall be the instruments of his disgrace: All those shall take up a taunting proverb against him. They shall have the pleasure of insulting over him and he the shame of being trampled upon by them. Those that shall triumph in the fall of this great tyrant are here furnished with a parable, and a taunting proverb, to take up against him. He shall say (he that draws up the insulting ditty shall say thus), Ho, he that increases that which is not his! Aha! what has become of him now? So it may be read in a taunting way. Or, He shall say, that is, the just, who lives by his faith, he to whom the vision is written and made plain, with the help of that shall say this, shall foretel the enemy's fall, even when he sees him flourishing, and suddenly curse his habitation, even when he is taking root,Job 5:3. He shall indeed denounce woes against him.

      (1.) Here is a woe against him for increasing his own possessions by invading his neighbour's rights, Habakkuk 2:6-8; Habakkuk 2:6-8. He increases that which is not his, but other people's. Note, No more of what we have is to be reckoned ours than what we came honestly by; nor will it long be ours, for wealth gotten by vanity will be diminished. Let not those that thrive in the world be too forward to bless themselves in it, for, if they do not thrive lawfully, they are under a woe. See here, [1.] What this prosperous prince is doing; he is lading himself with thick clay. Riches are but clay, thick clay; what are gold and silver but white and yellow earth? Those that travel through thick clay are both retarded and dirtied in their journey; so are those that go through the world in the midst of an abundance of the wealth of it; but, as if that were not enough, what fools are those that load themselves with it, as if this trash would be their treasure! They burden themselves with continual care about it, with a great deal of guilt in getting, saving, and spending it, and with a heavy account which they must give of it another day. They overload their ship with this thick clay, and so sink it and themselves into destruction and perdition. [2.] See what people say of him, while he is thus increasing his wealth; they cry, "How long? How long will it be ere he has enough?" They cry to God, "How long wilt thou suffer this proud oppressor to trouble the nations?" Or they say to one another, "See how long it will last, how long he will be able to keep what he gets thus dishonestly." They dare not speak out, but we know what they mean when they say, How long? [3.] See what will be in the end hereof. What he has got by violence from others, others shall take by violence from him. The Medes and Persians shall make a prey of the Chaldeans, as they have done of other nations, Habakkuk 2:7; Habakkuk 2:8. "There shall be those that will bite thee and vex thee; those from whom thou didst not fear any danger, that seemed asleep, shall rise up and awake to be a plague to thee. They shall rise up suddenly when thou are most secure, and least prepared to receive the shock and ward off the blow. Shall they not rise up suddenly? No doubt they shall, and thou thyself hast reason to expect it, to be dealt with as thou hast dealt with others, that thou shalt be for booties unto them, as others have been unto thee, that, according to the law of retaliation, as thou hast spoiled many nations so thou shalt thyself be spoiled (Habakkuk 2:8; Habakkuk 2:8); all the remnant of the people shall spoil thee." The king of Babylon thought he had brought all the nations round about him so low that none of them would be able to make reprisals upon him; but though they were but a remnant of people, a very few left, yet these shall be sufficient to spoil him, when God has such a controversy with him, First, For men's blood, and the thousands of lives that have been sacrificed to his ambition and revenge, especially for the blood of Israelites, which is in a special manner precious to God. Secondly, For the violence of the land, his laying waste so many countries, and destroying the fruits of the earth, especially in the land of Israel. Thirdly, For the violence of the city, the many cities that he had turned into ruinous heaps, especially Jerusalem the holy city, and of all that dwelt therein, who were ruined by him. Note, The violence done by proud men to advance and enrich themselves will be called over again (and must be accounted for) another day, by him to whom vengeance belongs.

      (2.) Here is a woe against him for coveting still more, and aiming to be still higher, Habakkuk 2:9-11; Habakkuk 2:9-11. The crime for which this woe is denounced is much the same with that in the foregoing article--an insatiable desire of wealth and honour; it is coveting an evil covetousness to his house, that is, grasping at an abundance for his family. Note, Covetousness is a very evil thing in a family; it brings disquiet and uneasiness into it (he that is greedy of gain troubles his own house), and, which is worse, it brings the curse of God upon it and upon all the affairs of it. Woe to him that gains an evil gain; so the margin reads it. There is a lawful gain, which by the blessing of God may be a comfort to a house (a good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children), but what is got by fraud and injustice is ill-got, and will be poor gain, will not only do no good to a family, but will bring poverty and ruin upon it. Now observe, [1.] What this covetous wretch aims at; it is to set his nest on high, to raise his family to some greater dignity than it had before arrived at, or to set it, as he apprehends, out of the reach of danger, that he may be delivered from the power of evil, that it may not be in the power of the worst of his enemies to do him a mischief nor so much as to disturb his repose. Note, It is common for men to pretend it as an excuse for their covetousness and ambition that they only consult their own safety, and aim to secure themselves; and yet they do but deceive themselves when they think their wealth will be a strong city to them, and a high wall, for it is so only in their own conceit,Proverbs 18:11. [2.] What he will get by it: Thou hast consulted, not safety, but shame, to thy house, by cutting off many people,Habakkuk 2:10; Habakkuk 2:10. Note, An estate raised by iniquity is a scandal to a family. Those that cut off, or undermine, others, to make room for themselves, that impoverish others to enrich themselves, do but consult shame to their houses, and fasten upon them a mark of infamy. Yet that is not the worst of it: "Thou hast sinned against thy own soul, hast brought that under guilt and wrath, and endangered that." Note, Those that do wrong to their neighbour do a much greater wrong to their own souls. But if the sinner pleads, Not guilty, and thinks he has managed his frauds and violence with so much art and contrivance that they cannot be proved upon him, let him know that if there be no other witnesses against him the stone shall cry out of the wall against him, and the beam out of the timber in the roof shall answer it, shall second it, shall witness it, that the money and materials wherewith he built the house were unjustly gotten, Habakkuk 2:11; Habakkuk 2:11. The stones and timber cry to heaven for vengeance, as the whole creation groans under the sin of man and waits to be delivered from that bondage of corruption.

      (3.) Here is a woe against him for building a town and a city by blood and extortion (Habakkuk 2:12; Habakkuk 2:12): He builds a town, and is him-self lord of it; he establishes a city, and makes it his royal seat. So Nebuchadnezzar did (Daniel 4:30): Is not this great Babylon that I have built for the house of the kingdom? But it is built with the blood of his own subjects, whom he has oppressed, and the blood of his neighbours, whom he has unjustly invaded; it is established by iniquity, by the unrighteous laws that are made for the security of it. Woe to him that does so; for the towns and cities thus built can never be established; they will fall, and their founders be buried in the ruins of them. Babylon, which was built by blood and iniquity, did not continue long; its day soon came to fall; and then this woe took effect, when that prophecy, which is expressed as a history (Isaiah 21:9), proved a history indeed: Babylon has fallen, has fallen! And the destruction of that city was, [1.] The shame of the Chaldeans, who had taken so much pains, and were at such a vast expense, to fortify it (Habakkuk 2:13; Habakkuk 2:13): Is it not of the Lord of hosts that the people who have laboured so hard to defend that city shall labour in the very fire, shall see the out-works which they confided in the strength of set on fire, and shall labour in vain to save them? Or they, in their pursuits of worldly wealth and honour, put themselves to great fatigue, and ran a great hazard, as those that labour in the fire do. The worst that can be said of the labourers in God's vineyards is that they have borne the burden and heat of the day (Matthew 20:12); but those that are eager in their worldly pursuits labour in the very fire, make themselves perfect slaves to their lusts. There is not a greater drudge in the world than he that is under the power of reigning covetousness. And what comes of it? Though they take a world of pains they are but poorly paid for it; for, after all, they weary themselves for very vanity; they were told it was vanity, and when they find themselves disappointed of it, and disappointed in it, they will own it is worse than vanity, it is vexation of spirit. [2.] It was the honour of God, as a God of impartial justice and irresistible power; for by the ruin of the Chaldean monarchy (which all the world could not but take notice of) the earth was filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord,Habakkuk 2:14; Habakkuk 2:14. The Lord is known by these judgments which he executes, especially when he is pleased to look upon proud men and abase them, for he thereby proves himself to be God alone,Job 40:11; Job 40:12. See what good God brings out of the staining and sinking of earthly glory; he thereby manifests and magnifies his own glory, and fills the earth with the knowledge of it as plentifully as the waters cover the sea, which lie deep, spread far, and shall not be dried up until time shall be no more. Such is the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ given by the gospel (2 Corinthians 4:6), and such was the knowledge of his glory by the miraculous ruin of Babylon. Note, Such as will not be taught the knowledge of God's glory by the judgments of his mouth shall be made to know and acknowledge it by the judgments of his hand.

Kelly Commentary on Books of the Bible

Lectures on the Minor Prophets.

W. Kelly.

There is no prophetic delivery among the twelve lesser books more peculiar and characteristic than that of Habakkuk. It has no longer the occupation with the enemy as its main feature, although the enemy is referred to; but for its prominent topic we find the soul of the prophet himself, as representing the faithful among the Jews, brought into deep exercises, and indeed a kind of colloquy between God Himself and the prophet, so as to set out not only that which gave him trouble of heart, but also divine comfort, as well as exulting hope into which he was led by the communications of the Spirit of God. We shall see too that the hope proves its divine quality; for there is all that which is calculated to sustain in patient waiting, though there be nothing shown outwardly, save indeed the extreme of earthly trial. Still the prophet rejoices in Jehovah, and counts on as undisturbed possession of all that is promised above every foe, as gazelles enjoy on the heights where no other foot can tread in safety.

"The burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see. O Jehovah, how long shall I cry, and thou dost not hear! even cry out unto thee of violence, and thou dost not save! Why dost thou show me iniquity, and beholdest grievance? for spoiling and violence are before me: and there are that raise up strife and contention. Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth; for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceedeth." Hence there is a goodly measure of spiritual resemblance between the short prophecy of Habakkuk and the longer one of Jeremiah. At the same time Habakkuk is no mere imitator. He alludes to the previous prophets as he does to facts in the early history of Israel: so all the prophets did. There was no avoidance sometimes of direct quotation; nay, we have seen that the Spirit led them to adopt and reiterate that which other prophets had said before them. If the consciousness of originality and affluence of thought sometimes enable men to rise superior to the charge of borrowing from a compeer, much more did divine guidance make prophets less careful and sensitive on this head. Vain souls who yearn after and affect original power are too feeble to act candidly and with freedom, and are apt to show extreme jealousy lest they might be thought to make use of another; if they do not, it is to their own loss and that of their readers; for "non omnia possumus omnes."

Hence in scripture we see the contrary of this weak narrowness. Daniel for instance, who is stamped with a characteristic style of his own from beginning to end, was a diligent student of Jeremiah, and, certainly from no lack of power to express himself, prefers to take up the language of Moses where it suited the Spirit's purpose. So we saw Micah and Isaiah furnishing important portions not only in thought analogous, but in many respects identical in expression, yet each having its own proper object. Consequently the use which they serve remains characteristic for each, so that the very points of resemblance only strengthen the real difference in the object before the Spirit of God. In fact this is so true of scripture, that whether it be the same writer or a different one (most probably the same), we find in the book of Psalms that two of these compositions are almost word for word alike; and yet I am persuaded that neither could be spared without positive loss, and that the few words which differ between Psalms 14:1-7; Psalms 53:1-6 are of the greatest moment to take into consideration if we would rightly divide the word of truth and understand their scope. Consequently while there is instruction in the sameness, there is also the most important key to interpretation by the difference. But almost all this is and must be lost save to those who look carefully into their words separately and as compared with each other, but every word is full of instruction when once clearly seen.

In this way then, although there is a certain spirit of complaint observable at first in Habakkuk as well as in Jeremiah, a burdened sorrowful-stricken spirit, nevertheless we may say of him, as Paul said of himself, "Cast down, but not destroyed." He shows us not sin indeed but infirmity, the infirmity of the earthen vessel; but there is a brilliant testimony in both to the treasure that divine grace put in it.

Here then the prophet groans, but he does what the Jews did not in Hosea he groans to God. "O Jehovah, how long shall I cry, and thou hearest not? even cry out unto thee of violence, and thou savest not?" Jehovah had other purposes; and if He appears not to hear, and if He does not put forth His arm to save for salvation, we must remember, here means by external power, or deliverances shown on the earth, if such be not exerted it is always for the accomplishment of ' better things. We may always count on the perfect goodness of God and the resources of His grace wherever there is faith; for all good for failing man is of faith that it might be by grace; and Habakkuk particularly is the prophet who is charged with the mission of giving its due place to faith. But invariably, wherever there is real faith, it must be tried. We find accordingly the trial even before the faith is distinctly in evidence; yet had there not been real faith underneath, we may be perfectly assured there would have been no such putting to the proof.

Hence the very severity of a trial ought to comfort the believer; for the Lord never puts a heavier burden than He gives grace to bear; and therefore it is always an honour to have a trial as far as it goes. It is no honour to slip aside from what God has given us to do or bear. To be unfaithful as a steward is a disgrace in the eyes both of God and man. :But Habakkuk's distress was that there should be such a state of things in the people of God, that He should delay His answer, and that He should not be able morally to put forth salvation in the way of external deliverance I have just now described. "Why dost thou show me iniquity," if it is so exceedingly distressing? iniquity even in the very place where righteousness might have been looked for. It was among the people of God. This the more harassed him. That the Gentiles should be iniquitous was no wonder; that the Jews should be so was a deep trouble to his soul.

"For spoiling and violence are before me," he says further; "and there are that raise up strife and contention. Therefore the law is slacked." He is speaking of those who had the law and were formally under it. "And judgment doth never go forth." There was no proper answer to it. "For the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceedeth."

But if man and His people fail, Jehovah answers; He at least heard. Therefore so far there is an immediate appearance of the Lord, though not in the way in which the prophet had looked and yearned for it; but Jehovah must always be above the thoughts of the heart. The foolishness of God, as it is said, is wiser than man, let him put forth his best wisdom.

Jehovah then is here represented as calling on His people to see what He was going to do. Great changes were in progress; greater still in store. The fall of the Assyrian kingdom was a grave and alarming event: so should Egypt and all others who proudly resisted Jehovah's will and word the more strikingly shown when His own people were going to be put down among the rest. So much the worse for the Jew if he believed not what God made known to him beyond all the world. "Behold ye among the heathen, and regard, and wonder marvellously: for I will work a work in your days, which ye will not believe, though it be told you." We see that every chapter throughout the prophecy has for its kernel the folly of unbelief and value of faith. This was quoted by the apostle Paul, and that too among the Jews, when they were in danger of letting slip the blessing because of its very magnitude: so perfectly does the Spirit of God always apply the word even in circumstances which might seem to be unlike.

In Acts 13:38-39, the apostle applies the passage to the assembled Jews: "Be it known unto you, therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins; and by him all that believe are justified from all things." This was the great emphatic point; first the Man that has brought in by His work that blessing, the forgiveness of sins, the boon of divine mercy to the needy sinner when awakened. "By him all that believe are justified from all things," a precise and full expression though in the simplest elements of the gospel. It is not only the forgiveness of sins, but "justified," which, of course, includes it? but goes farther. "By him all that believe." Therefore there is the grace that imparts this rich blessing to the feeblest faith, for it is not a question of depth or power but of reality. God is real, and by His grace He gives unlimited blessing to those that are simple and true. This is proved by faith, which honours Him in spite of appearances. It is for "all that believe," says Paul, though all the virtue be "by him." The whole value of redemption stands in Christ, and turns on His work "By him all that believe." Yet it is inseparable from the believer. Although faith may have in itself no such quality as could be a meritorious ground for the blessing, nevertheless "without faith it is impossible to please God." Grace and righteousness are not at issue but in harmony through the cross of Christ. How else could man righteously be blessed, being a sinner before God? Faith takes him out of himself, and brings in all the blessing that comes through another, even through Christ our Lord. "By him all that believe are justified from all things." Everything here is, as it should be, in fulness "justified from all things from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses."

The state of Israel was clearly one of unrighteousness; law could only condemn. Grace could save through the faith of the Messiah, and save in a deeper way than Habakkuk was permitted to see; for the prophet undoubtedly, as is usual in the Old Testament looked on salvation largely, though certainly not exclusively, as a deliverance from outward misery and danger by the gracious intervention of God, and not so much to that still more wondrous deliverance which has come in already to faith in a dead and risen Christ. All things around us remain unchanged; the power of evil still goes on. Fraud and oppression are not judged and gone from the world; but there is One who has broken right through the power of evil, and made a way into heaven itself for those who believe on Him. This is Christianity, and of this the apostle is full, though he does not scruple, as we shall see, to apply the prophecy to it on the principle of faith, and according to the divine depth of the written word. "Beware, therefore," says he, turning to those who refuse the testimony, "lest that come upon you which is spoken of in the prophets; Behold, ye despisers, and wonder and perish; for I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in nowise believe, though a man declare it unto you." Now it is very evident that this has a reference to Habakkuk, though I should think not to Habakkuk only. We can easily see the exactness of it. "That which is spoken of in the prophets." It would seem that Isaiah is referred to as well as Habakkuk, though one need not dwell upon the reasons for the thought just now.

But there is also wisdom in omission; for the prophecy says, "Behold ye among the heathen." This might have appeared ambiguous, and capable of being turned aside by the Jew, who would say, "This is exactly our conviction: we all know the heathen to be in a dangerous state; but why overlook the favour of the people of God?" Therefore in the application the direct reference to the heathen is dropped, and all is made pointed and personal to the people themselves; for undoubtedly if God resent despite to His truth and righteousness among the heathen, much more will He judge it among His own people. No prescriptive place given to the Jew can justly be pleaded to preserve them from the consequences of slighting and blaspheming God and His grace. On the contrary, nowhere is judgment so insupportably severe as among those who take the place of the people of God and yet set Jesus at nought. If bad in Israel, it is incomparably worse in Christendom: what is it in this land of Bibles and free preaching?

I do not, it will be seen, contend that the death and resurrection of Christ is explicitly named in our prophet; but that a principle is laid down which covers the work of the Saviour. The particular application is left entirely open. We know what the work is which alone could meet the need of guilty man before God. On the surface it is rather the work of judgment which Jehovah had then in hand in raising up the Chaldeans to supreme power, and thereby both destroying Assyria and chastising the Jew sorely. That testimony put the Jew to the test then. Now what is such an object of witness as redemption? Despising it, our Lord teaches (Matthew 22:7), would bring a worse judgment from the Romans. But I am inclined to think that the apostle applies the principle to what God was doing then in grace, in view of a judgment which the Lord will execute at His coming. For no prophecy of scripture is of any private interpretation. We must not limit it to the past. All is part of an organic whole with Christ and His kingdom for its centre. If this be so, it was God who had wrought in Christ, and by the Spirit was still carrying on and out His work, grounded, as we know, on the mighty work of redemption.

As to the latter clause of verse 41, it refers to the opposition of their will. "A work which ye shall in nowise believe." It is no question of a decree on God's part, but of the people's will against Him, of which He gives them ample notice. I should doubt its being the judicial sentence, but a prophecy used for a solemn warning of what unbelief would render imperative. The judicial aspect in the book of Acts is reserved tillActs 28:1-31; Acts 28:1-31. There and then it is pronounced. That is, we have the full testimony going out persistently and most patiently; and the more patient God may be with His testimony, the more unsparing the judgment when it comes. But He is slow to anger, as we know, and a strange work to Him is judgment; yet, when it comes, it must surely take its course according to His holy nature and majesty. But it seems to me only pronounced judicially in the last chapter of the Acts. Here it was in progress, as the Jews were being put to the final proof. There was a highly significant act done, and recorded there at the end of this very chapter the shaking off the dust from the disciples' feet; which shows that, although sentence might not formally be pronounced, there was nevertheless a loud testimony to it, and an intimation that they had better beware, for their danger was as extreme as their unbelief.

However, the prophet hears from Jehovah that He was going to raise up the Chaldeans; and this all know was the proximate judgment then impending, though far from being all that awaits the Jew in this way. "For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land, to possess the dwelling places that are not theirs." They were spoilers whom God employed in His providence for the purpose of breaking down the apostacy of Judah, and also for chastising the pride of other nations. "They are terrible and dreadful: their judgment and their dignity shall proceed of themselves. Their horses also are swifter than the leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves: and their horsemen shall spread themselves, and their horsemen shall come from far; and they shall fly as the eagle that hasteth to eat. They shall come all for violence: their faces shall sup up as the east wind, and they shall gather the captivity as the sand. And they shall scoff at the kings, and the princes shall be a scorn unto them: they shall deride every strong hold; for they shall heap dust, and take it. Then shall his mind change, and he shall pass over, and offend, imputing this his power unto his god." Thus there would be a permitted prevalence of the Chaldean scourge for a certain time; but when they forgot that God was employing them for the purpose of dealing with those who had offended His name and glory, directly they imputed their power not to the sovereign will of God but to the positive influence and agency of their own god, then the true God would take them in hand. Their self-proceeding energy would come to nought just as much as the haughtiness of other nations. This action of the Chaldeans is to be assigned to the moment of their coming up under Nebuchadnezzar down to the overthrow of the Babylonish monarchy. It was then that all should be changed. The culminating point of this outrageous iniquity was the insult that was done to Jehovah by Belshazzar, when they praised their gods in presence of the dishonoured vessels of the temple at Jerusalem, as if Jehovah could not preserve His own people before the superior power of their idols, or of Chaldean hands.

Then comes the answer of the prophet to Jehovah's word. "Art thou not from everlasting, O Jehovah, my God?" This brings out now a measure of rest to the spirit of the prophet. Now, instead of yielding to the plaintive tone in which he began, he is emboldened to speak plainly of the Chaldeans. He bows in a measure to the wisdom and righteousness of the discipline; and if not complete as yet, we shall find it has its perfect work before he closes. It is of deep interest to mark such progress in the soul, and it is always thus where there is reality. Nothing more painful than when believers settle down in a barely dogmatic statement of truth, or in a monotonous experience from day to day, without gathering fresh strength from the Lord, instead of seeking to turn everything, whether of sorrow or of joy, into a means of a better knowledge of Himself. This is all-important. It is one of the grand differences between law and grace. According to law you have demands and directions all definitely out, and it is not in the nature of law to produce increase in acquaintance with the divine mind; whereas as surely as grace takes its way, souls "grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ," "increasing," as it is said, "by the knowledge of God."

Just so is it with the prophet here. "Art thou not from everlasting, O Jehovah my God; mine Holy One? we shall not die. O Jehovah, thou hast ordained them for judgment; and, O mighty God, thou hast established them far correction," the Chaldeans. There is but little said about their history. They were brought out fully as a scourge, and this is clearly set forth, but it cannot be without God's taking them in hand in the end. All was measured. His mercy always measured the trial where His people must needs come under a chastening. How blessed that even those self-assertive Chaldeans with an unexampled energy of man should nevertheless be but employed of God for the correction of His own grievously failing people! This is what comforted the prophet at length as he weighs it all. "Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity." He evidently refers to language used elsewhere, as early as Job, but still with an entirely new application. "Wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he?"

For after all this is what drew out the prophet's heart that the people of God, let their faults be what they might, contained whatever was righteous at that time on the earth, and that these Chaldeans, raised up to humble the Jews, were as merciless in their dealings with them as they were forgetful and contemptuous toward God Himself. "And makest men as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping things, that have no ruler over them? They take up all of them with the angle, they catch them in their net, and gather them in their drag: therefore they rejoice and are glad." But as Jehovah told the prophet that they should offend, imputing this very power to their god, so the prophet tells Jehovah, "Therefore they sacrifice unto their net, and burn incense unto their drag; because by them their portion is fat, and their meat plenteous." We see how skilfully he turns the little word that Jehovah had given him as a groundwork now to plead reasons why He should not spare these ruthless enemies of Himself and His people. Nothing can be more beautiful than the way in which a single eye an eye that knows the love God has to His own people and above all to Christ Himself lays hold of the suitable truth and employs it in the interests of the needy who cleave to His name. "Shall they therefore empty their net, and not spare continually to slay the nations." Will Jehovah allow them then to go on in this unsparing way? It cannot be. But the issue must be waited for.

"I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved" This closes the matter. I do not know why this verse should be dislocated from Habakkuk 1:1-17, which it naturally closes. It is the conclusion of the question which had so sorely tried his spirit at first; not so much looking to events in providence but to see what Jehovah will say. There does not seem the least real ground for the hypothesis of a late writer who will have it that the prophet wroteHabakkuk 1:1-17; Habakkuk 1:1-17 under Jehoiakim, Habakkuk 2:1-20; Habakkuk 2:1-20 under Jehoiachin, and Habakkuk 3:1-19 under Zedekiah. Such a scheme breaks up an admirably connected whole.

Jehovah replies to the prophet in the second verse of Habakkuk 2:1-20 "And Jehovah answered and said, Write the vision and make it plain upon the tables, that he may run that readeth it." There is but one reason why it seems to me that it may be taken with the first verse; namely, that it is a plain allusion to what the prophet had just before uttered; but still we must always bear in mind that, except in the Psalms and in the Lamentations of Jeremiah, the division of chapters is not divine, but merely according to the judgment of men. The Psalms are by inspired authority written separately one from another; and, again, they appear to be divinely grouped in the order in which we find them. Jeremiah in a somewhat similar way has a peculiar internal construction, which proves that God divided the Lamentations practically as we see in our common English version. But with all the rest of the Bible, Old and New Testament, spiritual judgment alone can discern where the divisions ought to be made; and the manner in which much of it was made might prepare us for not the happiest results. The distribution into verses is said to have been done during a journey on horseback by a printer, of learning, no doubt, but possessed of no such qualities of a higher order as one could consider requisite for anything like a satisfactory execution of so delicate a task. It certainly will not be pretended by competent judges that either the person or the manner was at all favourable to a judicious dealing with the word of God. I think it would have been better done on one's knees in the closet, than inter equitandum from Paris to Lyons.* However so it has too often fared with the word of God, though it claims and needs a holy and reverent attitude beyond all other books. Is it too much to say that no book in the world has met with such unworthy usage at the hands of man? On the other hand never has God shown Himself so truly and fully as in the way in which He gave it and watched over it, spite of faithless guardians to whose responsibility it was entrusted.

*It is H Stephens, in the Preface to his New Testament of 1576, who tells us the story of this performance of his father R. Stephens at least as far as regards the New Testament, which first appeared in his fourth edition (1551), followed by Beza and since then by almost all."

"Jehovah" then "answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry." It is well known that the apostle Paul applies this to the very centre of the vision, and of all visions, to Jesus Christ the Lord coming back in glory. In Hebrews 10:1-39 we are told that He who shall come will come, and will not tarry. Such is the way in which the Spirit displays His admirable use of Old Testament scripture. Already had the Lord Jesus personally come the first time, and been rejected by the Jews to their own ruin. The apostle's use of it gives the words a much more personal force; yet, we can see, not departing from but only adding to the evident issue contemplated in Hebrews 2:1-18; Hebrews 3:1-19, which can have no greater fulfilment short of that crowning event.

But then there is another remark to be made here. The prophet lets us know that the vision of God is written so that a man does not require I know not what accessories in order to understand it. It was to be made plain on tablets, distinctly set out in large impressive characters. But it is not said, as the common view assumes, that the runner may read, but rather that the reader may run, and thus, it would seem, spread the joyful intelligence one to another. It has been suggested that we should compare Daniel 12:4; but this, I think, carries out the idea of running to and fro, and increasing knowledge thus among such as have an ear to hear. The passage then holds out no premium to the careless reader, but shows how the reader of the vision will be stimulated thereby to earnest spread of the truth he receives.

It is granted, however, that scripture does meet and bless those who take but a scanty draught from the waters of life to which it points in Christ the Lord. At the same time they only enter into its depths who believe in its divine fulness, and have confidence that the Spirit, who made it the word of God in all the emphasis of that expression, delights to lead the believer into the understanding of all the truth.

Thus, while the power of the vision is shown in verse 2, the sureness of it in verse 3, whatever may be the delay meanwhile, from verse 4 we learn another thing, that is, the all-importance of faith to make it good for the soul before it comes. The result is not yet come; but this is no reason we should not gather the profit by that faith which is the substance of things hoped for, It cannot be denied that this is an immensely important principle; and more particularly in prophecy. The common notion is that prophecy never does people good unless it treat directly of the times and circumstances in which they themselves are found. There can be no greater fallacy. Abraham got more good from the prophecy about Sodom and Gomorrah than Lot did; yet it clearly was not because Abraham was there, for he was not in Sodom, while Lot was, who barely escaped and with little honour as we soon sorrowfully learn. But the Spirit teaches us by these two cases in the first book of the Bible His mind as to this question. I grant entirely that when the fulfilment of prophecy in all its details comes, there will be persons to glean the most express directions. But I am persuaded that the deepest value of prophecy is for those who are occupied with Christ, and who will be in heaven along with Christ, just as Abraham was with Jehovah, instead of being like Lot in the midst of the guilty Sodomites. If this be so, the book of Revelation ought to be of far richer blessing to us now who enjoy by grace heavenly associations with Christ, and are members of His body, though we shall be on high when the hour of temptation comes on those that dwell on the earth.

It is freely allowed that the Revelation will be an amazing comfort and help to the saints who may be there. But this is no reason why it should not be a still greater blessing now to those who will be caught up to Christ before that hour. The fact is, that both are true: only it is a higher and more intimate privilege to be with the Lord in the communion of His own love and mind before the things come to pass, though comfort will be given, when they come, to those that are immersed in them. Consequently we see in the Revelation (Revelation 4:1-11; Revelation 5:1-14; Revelation 6:1-17) already with the Lord the glorified saints of the Old and New Testament who were taken up to meet Him, including those to whom the prophecy was primarily given. Afterwards we see the judgments come in gradual succession; but when they take place, there are saints who evidently witness for God on earth, some suffering unto death, others preserved to be a blessed earthly people. To such undoubtedly the prophetic visions will be of value when the actual events arrive; but the most admirable value always is to faith before the events confirm the truth of the word. This is an invariable principle as to the prophetic word and indeed in divine truth generally.

Here we have faith and its ground thus stated: "For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry. Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith." I suppose the proud soul particularly refers to the Chaldean. He was absolutely blind; but the principle of it is just as true of the unrighteous Jew or of any man who hardens himself against the divine word. For certainly the wrath of God is against all ungodliness, and indeed, if there be any difference, against those most of all who hold the truth ever so fast in unrighteousness. It does not matter how orthodox they may be; but if men cleave to the truth in unrighteousness, so much the worse the sin. The truth in this case only condemns the more peremptorily. They may tenaciously hold the truth; yet truth was never given to make righteousness a light matter, but urgently due to God in the relations that pertain to us. The object of all truth is to put us in communion with God and in obedience. But the man whose soul is lifted up is not upright, as is plain. The invariable way of God is this, "He that humbleth himself shall be exalted;" and faith alone gives humiliation of self. It may be here observed that there are two forms of it: the happiest of all is to be humble; the next best thing is to be humbled. It is better to be humble than to be humbled, but there is no comparison between being humbled and being lifted up. Humility is the effect of grace; humiliation rather of God's righteous government where we are not humble. This is what He did with His saints of old and outwardly with His ancient people. It is what is too often needful for ourselves. The best place of all is to be so realizing what the grace and glory of the Lord are that we are nothing before Him. Humility is the effect not so much of a moral process with ourselves, but of occupation with Him. Humbling is the effect of the Lord dealing with our souls when He sees the need of breaking us down, it may be to use us, certainly for further blessing. We could not so deal with ourselves. Judgment must come instead of humbling, but in every case anything is better than to have our soul lifted up: where is the uprightness there?

"The just," it is said, "shall live by faith." This is used repeatedly in the New Testament. There are three well-known quotations in the Epistles, on which a few words may be desirable before we leave the subject. It is the apostle Paul who uses this text on all these several occasions. In writing to the Roman saints he tells them that in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith." Such is the only way and direction of the blessing. The righteousness of God is necessarily outside the reach of any unless it be revealed; but being revealed it is revealed "out of faith," ( ἐκ πίστεως ,) and in no other way, and consequently "unto faith" wherever faith might be. It could not be in the way of law: not even the Jew could suppose this, for the law claims man's righteousness, and does not say a word about the righteousness of God. The fact is that the law simply convicts man of inability to produce the righteousness which it claims; for though it demand it in God's name, there is only the answer of unrighteousness. According to the law a man ought to be righteous; but he is not. This is what the law proves wherever a man fairly confronts it that he is not righteous according to the divine requirement.

This state of ruin Christ has met by redemption; and consequently the gospel is entirely a question of God revealing His righteousness, though so many real Christians misunderstand it through their tradition. The meaning of the phrase is that God acts consistently with what is due to Christ, who has in redemption perfectly glorified God. He glorified Him as Father during His life; yet this could not have put away sin. But He glorified Him as God, when it was expressly a question of our sins, by His atoning death on the cross. Thenceforward God reveals His righteousness in view of that all-efficacious sacrifice; not only vindicating His forbearance in past times, but in the present time justifying the believer freely and fully in consequence of that mighty work. The first effect of God's righteousness, though not referred to in the Epistle to the Romans, is that God sets Christ at His own right hand on high. The next result (and this is the one spoken of there) is, that God justifies the believer accordingly. Romans 1:1-32; Romans 1:1-32 no doubt treats of His righteousness in the most abstract terms. The manner of it is not described till we come to Romans 3:1-31; Romans 4:1-25; Romans 5:1-21. But even in the first statement we have the broad principle that in the gospel there is the revelation of divine righteousness from faith (not from law), and consequently to faith wherever it be found. Such I believe to be the force of the proposition. Probably the chief difficulty to most minds is the expression "from faith." It means on that principle not in the way of obedience to law, which must be the rule of human righteousness. Habits of misinterpretation make the difficulty. [faith alone can be the principle if it be a revelation of divine righteousness; and consequently it is " to faith," wherever faith may be.

It is purposely put in abstract style, because the Spirit has not yet begun to set out how it can be and is. It would be anticipating the doctrine that He was afterwards to expound. For manifestly the work of Christ has not yet been brought in; and hence the consequences could not be explained consistently with any true order. It is mere ignorance to assume that scripture is irregular; for in fact there is the deepest order in what man's haughty spirit presumes thus to censure. It is entirely due to the haste which leads men naturally to admire only the order of man. As to the difficulty of the expression "from faith to faith," it is quite admitted that the idea is put in a very pithy and compressed form; so that to men who are apt to be wordy in the usual style, of course such compactness does sound peculiar.

This it is that answers to the expression of the prophet, "The just shall live by his faith." Success had great weight with the Jewish mind. They wondered at the prosperous career of the Gentile. But the prophet is explaining the enigma as Isaiah had done before. He insists that the only righteous man is the believer. It is not the justified but "the just;" and this in order to keep up the link between doctrine and practice, as it seems to me. "The righteous shall live by his faith." It is the combination of the two points, that faith is inseparable from righteousness, and a righteous man from believing. The Chaldean saw not God, and had no thought of His purpose or His way. The Israelite would find his blessing in subjection to His word and confidence in Himself. "Behold the proud! his soul is not right within him; but the just shall live by his faith." The expression then does not say the justified, but it is implied; and there is no real righteousness in practice apart from it. What preachers ordinarily mean is in itself true. We are justified by faith; but we do not require to draw out more than is in the prophecy; nor is justification explicitly developed inRomans 1:1-32; Romans 1:1-32 but rather inRomans 3:1-31; Romans 3:1-31; Romans 5:1-21. Let every scripture teach its own appropriate lesson.

Again, in Galatians 3:1-29 we have a slightly different use of the same scripture. "But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God it is evident; for the just shall live by faith." Now here it is sufficiently plain that the apostle is excluding the thought of justification by law, and the way he disproves it is by the cited passage of Habakkuk. Hence the difference between Romans 1:1-32 and Galatians 3:1-29 is this, that in Romans we have the positive statement and in Galatians the negative. There he positively affirms that God's righteousness is revealed from faith to faith, supported by this text; whereas the point here is to exclude the law distinctly and peremptorily from playing any part in the justification of a soul. Justification is in no way by law; for "the just shall live by faith:" such is the point in Galatians. It is God's righteousness revealed by faith; for "the just shall live by faith:" such is the point in Romans. The difference therefore is plain.

In Hebrews the passage is used again in a way quite as different by the same apostle Paul. "For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith." The emphasis here is not on "the just" which is strong in Romans, nor upon "faith" which is strong in Galatians, but on "live" which is as strong here. Thus every word seems to acquire the emphasis according to the object for which it is used in these three places. In the end ofHebrews 10:1-39; Hebrews 10:1-39 the apostle is guarding the believer from discouragement and turning aside. He quotes once more "the just shall live by faith." Accordingly we are shown in Hebrews 11:1-40 the elders or Old Testament saints who obtained testimony in the power of faith. So they all lived in faith, every one whom God counts His worthies. It might be shown by faith in sacrifice, or in a walk of communion with God, or in anticipating judgment coming on the world, and accepting the divine means of escape. It might be in wearing the pilgrim character; or in the exertion of such power as delivered from the foe. But whatever the form, there was living by faith in every case. Hence we have here the most remarkable chapter in the Bible for its comprehensive grasp of the men of old who lived by faith, from the first great witness of its power here below to the blessed One who summed up every quality of faith, which others had manifested now and then: they separately and not without inconsistency, He perfectly and combined in His own person, and ways here below, indeed with much more that is deeper and peculiar to Himself alone.

Thus I do not think that it is necessary to vindicate the wisdom of God at greater length. The passage seems most instructive, if it were only to show the fallacy of supposing that each shred of scripture can only warrant a single just application.* Not so; though clothed in the language of men, scripture affords in this respect an answer to the infinite nature of God Himself, whose Spirit can unfold and apply it in distinct but compatible ways. Even among men there are not wanting wise words which bear more than one application, yet each true and just. If faith distinguished and secured the righteous in presence of the Chaldean invader, its value is even more pronounced now in the gospel, where it is a question of a soul before God, refusing false grounds of confidence, and walking unmoved in the path of trial among men.

* "Interpret the Scripture like any other book..... First, it may be laid down, that Scripture has one meaning the meaning which it had to the mind of the Prophet or Evangelist who first uttered or wrote it, to the hearers or readers who first received it." (Essays and Reviews: On the Interpretation of Scripture, 327.) Not the worst answer appears in the next two pages. "There are difficulties of another hind in many parts of Scripture, the depth and inwardness of which require a measure of the same qualities in the interpreter himself. There are lessons in the Prophets which, however simple, mankind have not yet learned even in theory . . . . All that the Prophet meant may not have been consciously present to his mind; there were depths which to himself also were but half revealed." (328, 329) It is no wonder that, when men forget that they are speaking of the word of God, they speak foolishly of Scripture and contradict themselves.

Certainly the word of God is here proved to be susceptible of different uses, weighty and conclusively authoritative. That it is applied by the same apostle Paul makes the case far more remarkable than if it had been differently employed by various writers. Had it been so, I have no doubt that the rationalists would have set each of the different writers against the truth. But they would do well to weigh the fact that it is the same inspired man* who applies to these different ends the same few words of our prophet. He was right. And yet it is very evident that in its own primary application, in its strict position in the prophecy, God is particularly providing for a state which lay before the Jews in that day; but then the same Spirit who wrote by Habakkuk applies it with divine precision in every one of the three instances in the New Testament. For what is common to all is that the word of God is to be believed, and that he who uses it holily, according to God by faith, lives by it, and is alone just and humble in it, as only this glorifies God withal. But what is true in the case of an Israelite so employing the prophetic word applies at least as fully to all the word of God used by faith, and more particularly to the gospel, because the latter is an incomparably deeper unfolding of God's mind than any word strictly prophetic. Prophecy shows us the character of God more especially in government; but the gospel is the display of God in grace, and this in the person and work of His Son, Jesus Christ. Is it possible to go beyond or even to reach this in depth? A simple Christian may indeed be led far beyond that which is usually proclaimed by preachers; but it is impossible to exaggerate the infinite character of the gospel as God has revealed it. We also learn from the use in Hebrews, as well as the prophet's context, that the vision looks on to the future coming of the Lord for the deliverance of His people. This indeed belongs to the prophetic word generally, and is no way peculiar to this vision in particular. It is a striking passage the vision, as setting forth under the Chaldean the downfall of the hostile Gentile, proud as he might be, though Israel might have to wait for the accomplishment. And that the full force is only to be when the Lord is actually come in person, and in relationship with His ancient people renewed by grace, is the gist of the prophets in general.

*I do not stop here to state the overwhelming evidence that Paul and no other wrote the Epistle to the Hebrews. The peculiarity of the style and method can be simply and satisfactorily accounted for by the consideration of his writing to believers of his own nation outside his Gentile apostleship. The doctrine is pre-eminently his own.

But it is important of course to bear in mind that, save in special revelations of the Jewish prophets, the vision of coming deliverance vouchsafed did not discriminate the time between the sufferings of Christ and the glories that should follow. Perhaps we may safely say that none seems to have known beforehand that there would be a long interval between the two advents; yet when the interval came we can bring passages from the prophets to prove it. So perfectly did God write the word by them, and so far beyond the very men who were the inspired witnesses of it; for no prophet knew the full extent or depth of his own inspired communications. This was a far better proof that God wrote by them than if all had been known; because whatever might have been the ignorance of Jeremiah or Isaiah, of Daniel or of Habakkuk the Holy Ghost necessarily knew all from the beginning. Thus what they wrote, going far beyond their own intelligence, rendered His mind who employed them evident. Hence we read in 1 Peter; of "The Spirit of Christ which was in them;" and the same scripture which indicates the reality of the inspiring Spirit in the prophets just now quoted shows that they themselves did not enter into all they wrote. They were "searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glories that should follow." Certainly they did not know, but like others had to learn; and when they searched into it, they were told it was not for themselves, but "unto us they did minister the things that are now reported unto us by them that have preached the gospel unto you by the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven." It will be observed that the expression, "The Holy Ghost sent down from heaven," as we know Him now, is in full contrast with the prophetic Spirit who wrought in them and is called "the Spirit of Christ." The Lord Jesus was the great object of all the visions; and this it is important to note.

"Spirit of Christ," inRomans 8:1-39; Romans 8:1-39, I think, goes far beyond this. As employed by the apostle there, it means that the Holy Ghost characterizes the Christian with the full possession of his own proper portion as in Christ and Christ in him. The Holy Ghost is the seal of all, and dwells in the believer on this ground.

Then we find a remarkable series of what may be called strophes or stanzas, from verse 6 to the end of the chapter, a number of woes in regular succession with a reason annexed to each case. Verse 5 seems to be a general introduction. "Yea also, because he transgresseth by wine, he is a proud man, neither keepeth at home, who enlargeth his desire as hell, and is as death, and cannot be satisfied, but gathereth unto him all nations, and heapeth unto him all people." Here we find that what was pronounced on the Chaldean by the Lord, and what was laid hold of by the tried prophet, when pleading for the people in spite of their faults, is now formally brought out. The evil must be judged before the blessing can be introduced in power. Consequently the evil is now fully set out before us. The reason why the Chaldean must be taken in hand by God flows simply and necessarily from the moral nature of God the impossibility that He should sustain one whom He had employed as His instrument when the instrument dared to exalt itself to the dishonour of God.

Here the derisive ode properly begins, or the first stanza. "Shall not all these (speaking of the nations that he was gathering unto him) take up a parable against him, and a taunting proverb against him and say, Woe to him that increaseth that which is not his! how long? and to him that ladeth himself with many pledges!* Shall they not rise up suddenly that shall bite thee, and awake that shall vex thee, and thou shalt be for booties unto them? Because thou hast spoiled many nations, all the remnant of the people shall spoil thee; because of men's blood, and for the violence of the land, of the city, and all that dwell therein." Such is the first woe here pronounced on the enemy for his cruel rapacity without.

*So it would seem most naturally to mean. The reduplication of the word expresses increase either of degree or of number. So Drs. Lee and Henderson understand. The A.V., with Luther, etc., interprets like the Syriac and Vulgate. The Jewish commentators too are divided. It is hard to see any tolerable sense in the version as it stands.

The second woe pursues the matter more within. "Woe to him that coveteth an evil covetousness to his house that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the power of evil!" It may begin with mere self-aggrandisement or coveting another's; but the end of it is his own exaltation against all adversaries. He might not have so used his resources, but have simply lavished them away; but they are as selfishly employed as they were won to "set his nest on high that he may be delivered from the power of evil." "Thou hast consulted shame to thy house by cutting off many people, and hast sinned against thy soul." Violence follows in the wake. Verse 11, as is easily seen, answers to verse 8. "For the stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it."

Then comes as the third woe (verse 12) another divine denunciation on more daring evil, not private only, but public and on a great scale. "Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood, and stablisheth a city by iniquity! Behold, is it not of the Jehovah of hosts that the people shall labour in the very fire, and the people shall weary themselves for very vanity? For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of Jehovah, as the waters cover the sea" (ver. 12-14) What a picture of the futile labours of the peoples, more particularly of the energetic Chaldean first of the Gentiles to come into the place of supreme power and universal authority! Jehovah reserves it for Himself in the only true sense. The kingdom of Messiah introduced by solemn judgments shall see the peaceful sway of good inseparable from the manifestation of the divine glory. That, and not at all Christianity or the church, is what is referred to here. It is the millennial age which will be the true time for the public establishment of all authority to the glory of Jehovah. The destruction of the Babylonian empire is no doubt of special interest in the mind of God, because the fall of that first world-empire shadows the fall of the last, when the dispersed Jews shall be freed and return from a still longer captivity; and a greater than Cyrus shall rule the world. All will be unrest among the nations till then, however truly grace may give souls far and wide to know a portion in Christ above and apart from the world. But there is no hope for the earth to be filled with the knowledge of Jehovah's glory till that day: on the contrary the apostacy must come before it and be judged by the righteous power of the Lord. What is called "the gospel dispensation" has another object and character, is inconsistent with the special pre-eminence of Israel, and stands aloof from the execution of judgments on the Gentiles.

The next is, "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! 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. 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" (verses 15-17). Here we see the most grievous corruption added to violence. No doubt there was shameless dissolution of manners spread by the Chaldeans; but I agree with those who give the words a larger and deeper bearing than such personal excesses, followed by ignominious exposure when judgment shall come on the nations.

But it is observable that there is a slight divergence from the order in what follows, possibly because it is the last woe here pronounced upon the foe. Consequently there is a purposed difference, and the sin here is brought in before the woe it was so flagrant. In other cases the woe was pronounced, and then the ground of it was explained. In this case, as being idolatry it was not merely a sin against men; neither covetousness nor violence nor corruption of others for selfish purposes; but the making and worship of graven images, an insult to God Himself who handed over power to the Chaldean. Such a return he must be made to feel. There is no room for other woes after this. "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." God might be patient; but to set up a golden image for instance in the plain of Dura, after the God of heaven had formally given him his world-empire, was no small offence in the Chaldean. As usual, the first thorough departure from God is fatal. God may linger ever so many years after before the blow fell on the Chaldean; but when God does judge, this sin comes up before Him. The profane and corrupt Belshazzar was the immediate occasion; but the cause lay deeper the first open insult to God after power was given of God. The last verse of the woe shows how after this the scene changes. "Jehovah is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him."

Habakkuk, however, breaks forth in prayer. It is now a question of the righteous, and not of the judgment of the Chaldean. The last chapter accordingly is a most beautiful and sublime outpouring of the prophet. "A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet on Shigionoth.* O Jehovah, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid. O Jehovah, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy." And so He does. "God came from Teman and the Holy One from mount Paran. Selah. His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise." Although it be a prayer, it assumes the form of a psalm. "And his brightness was as the sunlight; he had rays streaming out of his hand: and there was the hiding of his power. Before him went the pestilence, and burning coals went forth at his feet. He stood, and made the earth tremble: he beheld, and drove asunder the nations; and the everlasting mountains were scattered, the perpetual hills did bow: his ways are everlasting" (Habakkuk 3:1-6).

*It seems plain that the Hebrew refers here as in the Psalms to music, instruments accompanying the song suitably. In this case it was no doubt of a wild enthusiastic measure, expressive of joy and triumph.

Nevertheless God occupies Himself with that which men may despise. He takes notice of the little; and this just because He is infinitely great. Those who merely aspire after a greatness which they do not possess are afraid of demeaning themselves by noticing that which is small. Not so where there is real greatness. Israel were His object, not the rivers or the sea. He sought and would save His people. "I saw the tents of Chushan in affliction: and the curtains of the land of Midian did tremble. Was Jehovah displeased against the rivers? was thine anger against the rivers? was thy wrath against the sea, that thou didst ride upon thy horses and thy chariots of salvation? Thy bow was made quite naked, according to the oaths of the tribes, even thy word. Selah. Thou didst cleave the earth with rivers. The mountains saw thee, and they trembled: the overflowing of the water passed by: the deep uttered his voice, and lifted up his hands on high. The sun and moon stood still in their habitation: at the light of thine arrows they went, and at the shining of thy glittering spear. Thou didst march through the land in indignation, thou didst thresh the nations in anger. Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people." There we see what was near the prophet's heart: was it not also near Jehovah's heart? "Even for salvation with thine anointed; thou woundedst the head out of the house of the wicked, by discovering the foundation unto the neck. Selah" (verses 7-13).

To a Jew's mind, and very properly, the salvation of Israel is as a rule bound up with the judgment of the Gentiles when the chosen people shall rise to their allotted and good eminence, at length fitted for it after humiliation, and the Gentiles willingly subject (though there may be, especially and growingly at the end but feigned obedience) spite of their long-continued resistance in pride. With the Christian salvation has another sense, and implies our calling out of the world to heaven. The world is left undisturbed: the individual soul is called by faith out of it to the Lord, and so it will be up to His coming for us and our change into conformity with His glory. But when salvation comes to the Jews it will be by the putting down of the enemies that strive round about and against them. That is, it is power that comes down to earth, and deals with the world, leaving the Jews for blessing, by the destruction of their enemies under the hand of God. We, on the contrary, are entitled to enjoy the salvation of God in Christ by His cross whilst the evil of mankind remains unjudged; and we, being thus delivered and knowing it in the power of the Spirit, are therefore called out to be separate to the Lord in grace, yet with full sense of personal victory through His death and resurrection.

The account of the judgment proceeds: "Thou didst strike through with his staves the head of his villages: they came out as a whirlwind to scatter me: their rejoicing was as to devour the poor secretly. Thou didst walk through the sea with thine horses, through the heap of great waters."

The prophet then expresses even his awe at such a solemn interference for Israel: what should those feel who must be objects of divine vengeance? "When I heard, my belly trembled; my lips quivered at the voice: rottenness entered into my bones, and I trembled in myself, that I might rest in the day of trouble: when he cometh up unto the people, he will invade them with his troops."

Although however there is such a magnificent description of the sure judgment of the enemy in all its extent (not merely the Chaldeans now, but all their enemies), and although there is the assured salvation of the people of God, even the Jews, the prophet meantime answers to the faith of which he had himself been the preacher by one of the finest expressions of that faith which the Old Testament contains. "Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls:" none able to show them any good. "Yet I will rejoice in Jehovah, I will joy in the God of my salvation. Jehovah the Lord is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds' feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places. To the chief singer on my* stringed instruments."

*That there is any ground to infer from the "my" that the prophet was a Levitical chorister is refuted by Isaiah 38:20, as another has remarked. Certainly Hezekiah was no Levite, as he should be if that reason were valid. I am aware that so runs the tradition, as we learn from the Chisian MS. of the Inscription to Bel and the Dragon in the LXX.; but this is all very precarious.

Thus, with this song which (in strains equally suited and magnificent as a whole) brings out the triumph of glory at the end, and meanwhile the path which faith pursues in the confidence of divine grace spite of all adverse appearances, the prophet closes his remarkable message.