CRITICAL NOTES.]
Habakkuk 1:5-11]. God’s answer to the complaint. Behold] prophet and people. God is about to act, and they will be terrified at its results (cf. Acts 13:41).
Habakkuk 1:6. Raise] To make incursions and at length conquer Judea (cf. 2 Kings 24, 25). Bitter] i.e. cruel (Jeremiah 50:42; cf. marg. Judges 18:25; 2 Samuel 17:8). Hasty] Rash and impetuous.
Habakkuk 1:7. Their] As they had raised themselves to this dignity so they would permit none to share in their counsels and determinations, but would act in the most arbitrary manner [Henderson].
Habakkuk 1:8. Leopards] which leap seventeen or eighteen feet at a spring. Evening wolves] fasting all day, are keen in hunger and commit ravages on the flocks at night (Genesis 49:27; Jeremiah 5:6). The eagerness of cavalry to plunder would be so great that fatigue in the march would be nothing. Like the flight of an eagle] would they rush along (cf. Jeremiah 4:13; Jeremiah 48:40, and Lamentations 4:19).
Habakkuk 1:9. Violence] Not to administer justice. Faces] Presence. Sup] Swallow all before them. They pass along like a tempestuous wind. Sand] Prisoners gathered like dust by the simoom in the desert.
Habakkuk 1:10. Scoff] Resistance impossible and laughed at. Heap] Heap mounds of earth, according to the usual method of taking a fortress.
HOMILETICS
THE WONDERFUL WORK.—Habakkuk 1:5
We have in these words an answer to the prophet’s question. God is not an unconcerned spectator. He will vindicate his glory, and unexpected vengeance will fall upon the transgressors.
I. The Work is Divine. “I will work a work.” God hears the complaints of his servants and remembers the taunt of the wicked, who cry, “Where is now their God?” God is the agent, though the heathen execute his judgments. He intends and he carries out; “work a work” in solemnity and power. “This is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes.”
II. The Work is nigh at hand. “In your days.” That generation would not pass before its accomplishment. Already the clouds blacken: the judgments may be suspended, but will break forth in startling thunder. This evil day cannot be put off. “It is nigh at hand, and not afar off.”
III. The Work is wonderful. “Wonder marvellously.” In its nature it was not common, and in its effects it would be alarming. It would be strange and unparalleled among other nations and in their own history; spectators “among the heathen” would be surprised. “Even all nations shall say, Wherefore hath the Lord done thus unto this land? what meaneth the heat of this great anger?” (Deuteronomy 29:24; Deuteronomy 28:37).
IV. The Work is incredible. “You will not believe, though it be told you.” The Jews did not credit the prediction of such alarming events; accustomed to confide in their cities (Isaiah 31:1; Jeremiah 7:4), and in Egyptian strength, they believed they were too powerful to be overcome. Men now will not believe in the judgments of God, though they loom in the threatenings. They are stupefied by sin, despise the Word of God, and go on until the curse falls upon them. Fearful is the punishment of those who presume upon security in evil. “Behold, ye despisers, and wonder and perish; for I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you.”
V. The Work demands attention. “Behold ye.” The call is solemn and Divine. Behold, since language, the ministry of the prophet, and the complaints of the oppressed, will not do. God will try something else which shall be heard. “I will work,” be patient and silent no longer. Behold, the heathen spectators of their sins will be instruments of their sorrows. This beholding must be attentive; regard, not mere gazing. The matter demands serious and earnest consideration. The overthrow of the Jews is a warning to all, a proof that sin will be fearfully punished if persisted in and the way of escape rejected. “Is not destruction to the wicked? and a strange punishment to workers of iniquity?”
THE WONDERFUL WORK ACCOMPLISHED.—Habakkuk 1:5-10
We have now a particular description of the calamities to be inflicted. The Chaldeans, in their preparations and dispositions, in their victories and devastations, are exactly set forth, to confirm the truth and display the justice of God. The Jews are repaid in their own coin, and the dreadful judgments are inflicted.
I. In raising up a mighty nation. “For lo, I raise up the Chaldeans,” &c. God never lacks instruments to prosecute his design. He can fetch them from afar and dispose them to his will, though already elated with victory and power.
1. A nation naturally fierce. “That bitter and hasty nation.” They are cruel and impetuous, unmerciful, and resolute in their course. They spare no pains and show no pity. Hopeless is the condition of those who fall into their hands. “They hold the bow and the lance” to brandish before the foe; “they are cruel and will not show mercy.”
2. A nation terribly strong. “They are terrible and dreadful.” They are great in numbers, armed with Divine vengeance, and emboldened by former conquests. By the force of terror and the dread of death they gain submission.
3. A nation blindly covetous. They will not only overcome, but rob the land and “possess the dwellings that are not theirs.” It is not merely to overturn others, they also take their possessions. But the dwellings “are not theirs” by right, only held while God pleases, and then lost again. The rights of society and the interests of others are nothing to the covetous. They fatten on the miseries of men, and consider not that poverty will come upon themselves (Proverbs 18:20-22).
4. A nation proudly ambitious. They roam through the land, violently subdue everything before them, and deport themselves in pride and insolence. They “pass over” in quest of glory to fresh booty and new wars. The mightiest empires have been crushed by the weight of their own greatness. In their own ambitious ends they have gone beyond bounds, and brought their own ruin. When our energies are directed to personal aggrandisement and despotic rule we may expect a fall. “Pride,” says Gurnall, “takes for its motto great I and little you.” “Think not thy own shadow longer than that of others,” says Sir Thomas Browne, “nor delight to take the altitude of thyself.” Ambition and pride are often the precursors of ruin. “Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.”
II. In giving them an easy victory. In the figures mentioned, we notice—
1. That the conquest is irresistible. “Their horses are swifter than the leopards,” the lightest, swiftest, and most bloodthirsty of beasts of prey. “They shall fly as the eagle,” hastening to devour what it has secured. “Our persecutors are swifter than eagles of the heavens” (Lamentations 4:19; Ezekiel 17:3).
2. That the conquest is violent. “They shall come all for violence.” The enemy would sweep over them like the east wind, blasting and bearing down everything before it. Gathering the people “as the sand,” and burying them like caravans in heaps of destruction.
3. That the conquest is easy. No opposition will hinder them from performing their work. (a) The power of kings was laughed at. Princes and confederates would be exposed to greatest contempt and most ignominious treatment. Kings will be put down and set up in pleasure and in sport. “They shall scoff at the kings.” (b) The strength of fortifications was derided. Forts and strongholds in which men trust will prove matters of derision to the agents of God’s vengeance. “They shall deride every stronghold.” The mightiest fort will be captured and levelled in the dust. “For they shall heap dust and take it.”
4. That the conquest is complete. “Which shall march through the breadth of the land.” Far and wide they spread terror and death. Unhindered and irresistible they swept over the earth. Kings fled in fear, palaces were plundered with violence, and lands were taken by force. They did as they liked. Their own lust was their law. No power of God or man seemed to limit them in the infliction of judgment upon the Jews, or in getting honour for themselves. God sometimes puts the stubborn and rebellious into the hands of those who measure justice by their own judgment and honour by their own dignity. “Their judgment and their dignity shall come of themselves”—
“The good old rule
Sufficeth them, the simple plan,
That they should take who have the power,
And they should keep who can” [Wordsworth].
EVENING WOLVES.—Habakkuk 1:8
Wolves are very fierce when urged to rabidness by a whole day’s hunger. They prowl forth in that darkness in which all the beasts of the forests creep forth (Psalms 104:20). Such is the disposition of some men towards their fellow-creatures. These evening wolves typify—
I. False teachers. False prophets are compared to “ravening wolves,” rapacious, mischievous, and injurious to the flock of God (Matthew 7:15). We are warned against heretics, and false guides, such as Hymenæus, Alexander, and Philetus. “After my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock” (Acts 20:29).
II. Cruel persecutors. With relentless spite some men pursue others. Christians are wilfully misrepresented in character and conduct; reviled, insulted, and spitefully used (Matthew 5:11). Evil men, as “lions seeking whom they may devour,” pursue them in envy. With keen scent and eager feet they are swift to shed innocent blood. “The assemblies of violent men have sought after my soul.”
III. Anxious cares. The cares of this world devour the good in the heart. Domestic life and business impair the growth of Christian character. Excessive care destroys peace, induces loss of temper, hinders prayer, and hurries into dangerous conduct. “Be careful for nothing.”
IV. Distracting doubts. Doubts and fears distress the mind, hide the light of God’s countenance, and pursue us like evening wolves.
“To doubt
Is worse than to have lost: and to despair,
Is but to antedate those miseries
That must fall on us” [Massinger].
HOMILETIC HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS
Habakkuk 1:6. He is said to raise up those whom he allows to be stirred up against his people, since the events which his providence permits favours their designs, and it rests with him to withhold them. They lift themselves up for some end of covetousness or pride. But there is a higher order of things in which God orders their actions to fulfil by their iniquities his righteousness [Pusey].
1. God’s hand is seen in furnishing the enemies of his people with all necessary qualifications for carrying on their enterprise. Boldness, swiftness, number, &c.
2. The fierceness of the Divine anger may be read in the celerity and activity with which they execute their designs.
3. It is vain for impenitent sinners to lean upon any apparent ground of security or confidence when God arises to plead with them. Distance of places, extent of country, and strength of buildings will not avail [cf. Hutcheson].
Habakkuk 1:9. Violence. Learn,
1. That God often repays violence with violence.
2. Yet those employed by God to punish others may sin themselves by lust and self-aggrandizement.
East Wind. “The East Wind, it seemeth, was the most unwholesome breath of heaven upon that land; within short time withered and destroyed the fruits of the earth, and the hopes of the spring. The Lord saith that the faces of the Chaldeans, the very sight of them, shall be as baneful and as irresistible as the East Wind.” The cruelties of men, the calamities which attend wars and conquests, ought to invite sinners not to provoke God to give them up to such punishment—to terrify such as fear not the threatenings of the Word, and to point out to those suffering such a lot, the bitterness of departing from God [Hutcheson].
Habakkuk 1:2-11. How utterly incomprehensible are the Judgments of God!
1. Incomprehensible in their delay, to the view of those who have no patience, and think that God ought to act as speedily as their anger prompts them (vers.2, 3).
2. Incomprehensible in their threatening, to those upon whom they will fall, and who nevertheless continue to sin in security (Habakkuk 1:4).
3. Incomprehensible to every human mind in their realization. For—(a) They are greater than any human thought would anticipate (Habakkuk 1:5-6). (b) They take place in ways and by means of which no man would dream (Habakkuk 1:6). (c) They are often brought about by men and events that, at first sight, have nothing in common with God.
4. Incomprehensible in their grandeur and universality, to those by whom they are accomplished (Habakkuk 1:11) [Lange].
God’s deeds are always Niphlaoth, and have on them something to excite wonder and astonishment. Incredible as they seem, we know that they will be performed, from past history, present signs, and the light of God’s Word. How they are to happen is a mystery. It is ours to fear, believe, and obey. Regard the threatening, and escape the danger.
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 1
Habakkuk 1:5. Wonder. Others only look and wonder, the Christian only looks and loves [Hurrion].
Habakkuk 1:6-11. Bitter. An envious man waxeth lean with the fatness of his neighbours. Envy is the daughter of pride, the beginner of secret sedition, and the perpetual torment of virtue [Socrates].
Habakkuk 1:7. Dignity. Self-assumed superiority of the Chaldeans. “Every man has just as much vanity as he wants understanding” [Pope].
“They whose wit
Values itself so highly, that to that
All matters else seem weak, can hardly love,
Or take a shape or feeling of affection,
Being so self-endeared” [Shakespeare].