@Hab 2:1-20. THE PROPHET, WAITING EARNESTLY FOR AN ANSWER TO HIS COMPLAINTS (FIRST CHAPTER), RECEIVES A REVELATION, WHICH IS TO BE FULFILLED, NOT IMMEDIATELY, YET IN DUE TIME, AND IS THEREFORE TO BE WAITED FOR IN FAITH: THE CHALDEANS SHALL BE PUNISHED FOR THEIR CRUEL RAPACITY, NOR CAN THEIR FALSE GODS AVERT THE JUDGMENT OF JEHOVAH, THE ONLY TRUE GOD.
1. stand upon . . . watch--that is, watch-post. The prophets often
compare themselves, awaiting the revelations of Jehovah with earnest
patience, to watchmen on an eminence watching with intent eye all that
comes within their view (@Isa 21:8,11 Jer 6:17 Eze 3:17 33:2,3; compare
@Ps 5:3 85:8). The "watch-post" is the withdrawal of the whole soul
from earthly, and fixing it on heavenly, things. The accumulation of
synonyms, "stand open . . . watch . . . set me upon . . . tower . . .
watch to see" implies persevering fixity of attention.
what he will say unto me--in answer to my complaints (@Hab 1:13).
Literally, "in me," God speaking, not to the prophet's outward ear, but
inwardly. When we have prayed to God, we must observe what answers
God gives by His word, His Spirit, and His providences.
what I shall answer when I am reproved--what answer I am to make to
the reproof which I anticipate from God on account of the liberty of
my expostulation with Him. MAURER translates, "What I am to answer in
respect to my complaint against Jehovah" (@Hab 1:12-17).
2. Write the vision--which I am about to reveal to thee.
make it plain--(@De 27:8). In large legible characters.
upon tables--boxwood tables covered with wax, on which national affairs
were engraved with an iron pen, and then hung up in public, at the
prophets own houses, or at the temple, that those who passed might read
them. Compare @Lu 1:63, "writing table," that is, tablet.
that he may run that readeth it--commonly explained, "so intelligible
as to be easily read by any one running past"; but then it would be,
that he that runneth may read it. The true sense is, "so legible that
whoever readeth it, may run to tell all whom he can the good news of the
foe's coming doom, and Judah's deliverance." Compare @Da 12:4, "many
shall run to and fro," namely, with the explanation of the prophecy,
then unsealed; also, @Re 22:17, "let him that heareth
(the good news) say (to every one within his reach), Come." "Run" is equivalent to
announce the divine revelation (@Jer 23:21); as everyone who
becomes informed of a divine message is bound to run, that is, use all
despatch to make it known to others
[HENDERSON]. GROTIUS,
LUDOVICUS
DE
DIEU, and
MAURER interpret it: "Run" is not literal
running, but "that he who reads it may run through it," that is, read
it at once without difficulty.
3. for--assigning the cause why it ought to be
committed to writing: because its fulfilment belongs to the future.
the vision is yet for an appointed time--(@Da 10:14 11:27,35).
Though the time appointed by God for the fulfilment be yet future, it
should be enough for your faith that God hath spoken it (@La 3:26).
at the end it shall speak--MAURER translates, "it pants for the
end." But the antithesis between, "it shall speak," and "not be
silent," makes English Version the better rendering. So the Hebrew is translated in @Pr 12:17. Literally, "breathe out words," "break
forth as a blast."
though it tarry, wait for it--(@Ge 49:18).
4. his soul which is lifted up--the Chaldean's
[MAURER]. The
unbelieving Jew's [HENDERSON].
is not upright in him--that is, is not accounted upright in God's
sight; in antithesis to "shall live." So @Heb 10:38, which with
inspired authority applies the general sense to the particular case
which Paul had in view, "If any man draw back (one result of being
'lifted up' with overweening arrogancy),
my soul shall have no pleasure in him."
the just shall live by his faith--the Jewish nation, as opposed
to the unbelieving Chaldean (compare @Hab 2:5, &c. @Hab 1:6,
&c., @Hab 1:13) [MAURER].
HENDERSON'S view is that the believing Jew
is meant, as opposed to the unbelieving Jew (compare @Ro 1:17 Ga 3:11).
The believing Jew, though God's promise tarry, will wait for it; the
unbelieving "draws back," as @Heb 10:38 expresses it. The sense, in
MAURER'S view, which accords better with the context (@Hab 2:5, &c.).
is: the Chaldean, though for a time seeming to prosper, yet being lifted
up with haughty unbelief (@Hab 1:11,16), is not upright; that is,
has no right stability of soul resting on God, to ensure permanence
of prosperity; hence, though for a time executing God's judgments, he at
last becomes "lifted up" so as to attribute to his own power what is the
work of God, and in this sense "draws back" (@Heb 10:38), becoming
thereby a type of all backsliders who thereby incur God's displeasure;
as the believing Jew is of all who wait for God's promises with
patient faith, and so "live" (stand accepted) before God. The
Hebrew accents induce BENGEL to translate, "he who is just by his
faith shall live." Other manuscripts read the accents as
English Version, which agrees better with Hebrew syntax.
5. Yea also, because--additional reason why the Jews may look for God
punishing their Chaldean foe, namely, because . . . he is
a proud man--rather, this clause continues the reason for the Jews
expecting the punishment of the Chaldeans, "because he transgresseth by
wine (a besetting sin of Babylon, compare @Da 5:1-31, and
CURTIUS
[5.1]), being a proud man." Love of wine often begets a proud contempt of divine things, as in Belshazzar's case, which was the
immediate cause of the fall of Babylon (@Da 5:2-4,30; compare
@Pr 20:1 30:9 31:5).
enlargeth his desire as hell--the grave, or the unseen world, which
is "never full" (@Pr 27:20 30:16 Isa 5:14). The Chaldeans under
Nebuchadnezzar were filled with an insatiable desire of conquest.
Another reason for their punishment.
6. Shall not all these--the "nations" and "peoples" (@Hab 2:5)
"heaped unto him" by the Chaldean.
take up a parable--a derisive song. Habakkuk follows Isaiah
(@Isa 14:4) and Micah (@Mic 2:4) in the phraseology.
against him--when dislodged from his former eminence.
Woe--The "derisive song" here begins, and continues to the end of the
chapter. It is a symmetrical whole, and consists of five stanzas, the
first three consisting of three verses each, the fourth of four verses,
and the last of two. Each stanza has its own subject, and all except the
last begin with "Woe"; and all have a closing verse introduced with
"for," "because," or "but."
how long?--how long destined to retain his ill-gotten gains? But
for a short time, as his fall now proves
[MAURER]. "Covetousness is the
greatest bane to men. For they who invade others' goods, often lose even
their own" [MENANDER].
CALVIN makes "how long?" to be the cry of those
groaning under the Chaldean oppression while it still lasted: How long
shall such oppression be permitted to continue? But it is plainly part
of the derisive song, after the Chaldean tyranny had passed away.
ladeth himself with thick clay--namely, gold and silver dug out of the
"clay," of which they are a part. The covetous man in heaping them
together is only lading himself with a clay burden, as he dares not
enjoy them, and is always anxious about them.
LEE and
FULLER translate
the Hebrew as a reduplicated single noun, and not two words, "an
accumulation of pledges" (@De 24:10-13). The Chaldean is compared to
a harsh usurer, and his ill-gotten treasures to heaps of pledges in the
hands of a usurer.
7. suddenly--the answer to the question, "How long?" (@Hab 2:6).
bite--often used of usury; so favoring
LEE'S rendering
(@Hab 2:6). As the Chaldean, like a usurer, oppressed others, so other
nations shall, like usurers, take pledges of, that is, spoil, him.
8. the remnant of the people--Those remaining of the peoples spoiled
by thee, though but a remnant, will suffice to inflict vengeance on
thee.
the violence of the land . . . city--that is, on account of
thy violent oppression of the lands and cities of the earth
[GROTIUS]
(compare @Hab 2:5,6,12). The same phrase occurs in @Hab 2:17, where
the "land" and "city" are Judea and Jerusalem.
9. coveteth an evil covetousness--that is, a covetousness so
surpassingly evil as to be fatal to himself.
to his house--greedily seizing enormous wealth, not merely for himself,
but for his family, to which it is destined to be fatal. The very same
"evil covetousness" that was the cause of Jehoiakim's being given up to
the Chaldean oppressor (@Jer 22:13) shall be the cause of the
Chaldean's own destruction.
set his nest on high--(@Nu 24:21 Jer 49:16 Ob 1:4). The image is
from an eagle (@Job 39:27). The royal citadel is meant. The
Chaldean built high towers, like the Babel founders, to "be delivered
from the power of evil" (@Ge 11:4).
10. Thou hast consulted shame . . . by cutting off
many--MAURER, more
literally, "Thou hast consulted shame . . . to destroy many," that is,
in consulting (determining) to cut off many, thou hast consulted shame
to thy house.
sinned against thy soul--that is, against thyself; thou art the guilty
cause of thine own ruin (@Pr 8:36 20:2). They who wrong their
neighbors, do much greater wrong to their own souls.
11. stone . . . cry out--personification. The very stones of thy
palace built by rapine shall testify against thee (@Lu 19:40).
the beam out of the timber--the crossbeam or main rafter connecting
the timbers in the walls.
shall answer it--namely, the stone. The stone shall begin and the
crossbeam continue the cry against thy rapine.
12. buildeth a town with blood--namely, Babylon rebuilt and enlarged by blood-bought spoils (compare @Da 4:30).
13. is it not of the Lord of hosts--JEHOVAH, who has at His command
all the hosts of heaven and earth, is the righteous author of
Babylon's destruction. "Shall not God have His turn, when cruel
rapacious men have triumphed so long, though He seem now to be still?"
[CALVIN].
people . . . labour in the . . . fire . . . weary themselves for . . .
vanity--The Chaldeans labor at what is to be food for the fire,
namely, their city and fortresses which shall be burnt. @Jer 51:58
adopts the same phraseology to express the vanity of the Chaldean's
labor on Babylon, as doomed to the flames.
14. Adapted from @Isa 11:9. Here the sense is, "The Jews shall
be restored and the temple rebuilt, so that God's glory in saving His
people, and punishing their Chaldean foe, shall be manifested throughout
the world," of which the Babylonian empire formed the greatest part; a
type of the ultimate full manifestation of His glory in the final
salvation of Israel and His Church, and the destruction of all their
foes.
waters cover the sea--namely, the bottom of the sea; the sea-bed.
15. giveth . . . neighbour drink . . . puttest . . . bottle to him--literally, "skin," as the Easterns use "bottles" of skin for wine.
MAURER, from a different Hebrew root, translates, "that pourest in
thy wrath." English Version keeps up the metaphor better. It is not
enough for thee to be "drunken" thyself, unless thou canst lead others
into the same state. The thing meant is, that the Chaldean king, with
his insatiable desires (a kind of intoxication), allured neighboring
states into the same mad thirst for war to obtain booty, and then at
last exposed them to loss and shame (compare @Isa 51:17 Ob 1:16). An
appropriate image of Babylon, which at last fell during a drunken revel
(@Da 5:1-31).
that thou mayest look on their nakedness!--with light, like Ham of
old (@Ge 9:22).
16. art filled--now that thou art fallen. "Thou art filled" indeed
(though so insatiable), but it is "with shame."
shame for glory--instead of thy former glory (@Ho 4:7).
drink thou also--The cup of sorrow is now in thy turn to pass to thee
(@Jer 25:15-17 La 4:21).
thy foreskin--expressing in Hebrew feeling the most utter contempt.
So of Goliath (@1Sa 17:36). It is not merely thy "nakedness," as in
@Hab 2:15, that shall be "uncovered," but the foreskin, the badge of
thy being an uncircumcised alien from God. The same shall be done to
thee, as thou didst to others, and worse.
cup . . . shall be turned unto thee--literally, "shall
turn itself," namely, from the nations whom thou hast made to drink it.
"Thou shalt drink it all, so that it may be turned as being
drained" [GROTIUS].
shameful spewing--that is, vomiting; namely, that of the king of
Babylon, compelled to disgorge the spoil he had swallowed. It expresses
also the ignominious state of Babylon in its calamity (@Jer 25:27).
"Be drunken, spew, and fall." Less appropriately it is explained
of the foe spewing in the face of the Babylonian king.
17. the violence of Lebanon--thy "violence" against "Lebanon," that
is, Jerusalem (@Isa 37:24 Jer 22:23 Eze 17:3,12; for Lebanon's cedars
were used in building the temple and houses of Jerusalem; and its beauty
made it a fit type of the metropolis), shall fall on thine own head.
cover--that is, completely overwhelm.
the spoil of beasts, which made them
afraid--MAURER explains,
"the spoiling inflicted on the beasts of Lebanon (that is, on
the people of Jerusalem, of which city 'Lebanon' is the type),
which made them afraid (shall cover thee)." But it seems
inappropriate to compare the elect people to "beasts." I therefore
prefer explaining, "the spoiling of beasts," that is, such as is
inflicted on beasts caught in a net, and "which makes them afraid (shall
cover thee)." Thus the Babylonians are compared to wild beasts terrified
at being caught suddenly in a net. In cruel rapacity they resembled wild
beasts. The ancients read, "the spoiling of wild beasts shall make
THEE afraid." Or else explain, "the spoiling of beasts (the Medes
and Persians) which (inflicted by thee) made them afraid
(shall in turn cover thyself--revert on thyself from them)." This
accords better with the parallel clause, "the violence of Lebanon,"
that is, inflicted by thee on Lebanon. As thou didst hunt men as wild
beasts, so shalt thou be hunted thyself as a wild beast, which thou
resemblest in cruelty.
because of men's blood--shed by thee; repeated from @Hab 2:8. But
here the "land" and "city" are used of Judea and Jerusalem: not
of the earth and cities generally, as in @Hab 2:8.
the violence of the land, &c.--that is, inflicted on the land by
thee.
18. The powerlessness of the idols to save Babylon from its doom is
a fitting introduction to the last stanza (@Hab 2:19), which, as the
former four, begins with "Woe."
teacher of lies--its priests and prophets uttering lying oracles, as
if from it.
make dumb idols--Though men can "make" idols, they cannot
make them speak.
19. Awake--Arise to my help.
it shall teach!--rather, An exclamation of the prophet, implying
an ironical question to which a negative answer must be given. What! "It
teach?" Certainly not [MAURER]. Or, "It (the idol itself)
shall (that is, ought to) teach you that it is deaf, and therefore no God"
[CALVIN].
Compare "they are their own witnesses" (@Isa 44:9).
Behold--The Hebrew is nominative, "There it is"
[HENDERSON].
it is laid over with gold . . . no breath . . . in the midst--Outside
it has some splendor, within none.
20. But the Lord--JEHOVAH;
in striking contrast with the idols.
in his holy temple--"His place" (@Isa 26:21); heaven
(@Ps 11:4 Jon 2:7 Mic 1:2). The temple at Jerusalem is a type of it,
and there God is to be worshipped. He does not lie hid under gold and
silver, as the idols of Babylon, but reigns in heaven and fills heaven,
and thence succors His people.
keep silence--in token of reverent submission and subjection to His
judgments (@Job 40:4 Ps 76:8 Zep 1:7 Zec 2:13).