Habakkuk 2 - Introduction
II. Habakkuk’s doubts are solved by the Divine response. Judgment on Babylon’s numerous sins is indeed preparing: meantime, let the righteous wait on God in faith.... [ Continue Reading ]
II. Habakkuk’s doubts are solved by the Divine response. Judgment on Babylon’s numerous sins is indeed preparing: meantime, let the righteous wait on God in faith.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE TOWER. — The practice of ascending a high place to secure an extensive view suggests the figure here. (See 2 Kings 9:17; 2 Samuel 18:24.) In a yet bolder metaphor Isaiah represents himself as appointing a watchman, who brings reports from his tower. We need not suppose that Habakkuk literally be... [ Continue Reading ]
ON TABLES. — Better, _on the tables._ The definite article probably indicates certain well-known tables on which the prophets were wont to inscribe their utterances for public edification. These tables may have been hung up in the Temple (Calvin) or market-place (Luther and Ewald). THAT HE MAY RUN... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THE VISION IS YET FOR AN APPOINTED TIME... — Better, _For the vision is to have its appointed day, and it pants for the end. and it shall not disappoint, i.e.,_ it pants for the day of completion, which shall do it justice. It longs to fulfil its destiny. IT WILL NOT TARRY. — This translation i... [ Continue Reading ]
BEHOLD HIS SOUL.... — Better, _Behold his soul within him is puffed up, it is not upright._ The soul of the Chaldæan invader is inflated with pride, self-dependence ousting from his mind all thoughts of God. It is therefore unsound and distorted. Habakkuk leaves the inference “and therefore it shall... [ Continue Reading ]
YEA, ALSO.... — Better, _Add, too, that wine is treacherous_ (and that) _he is a braggart and cannot be quiet, whose appetite is large as_ (that of) _Hades._ The rest of the verse illustrates this last-named characteristic — restless, rapacious ambition. Two more charges are thus added to the gravam... [ Continue Reading ]
HOW LONG? — _i.e.,_ how long shall this continual annexation be witnessed? THAT LADETH HIMSELF WITH THICK CLAY. — Better, _That accumulates to himself usury._ So the Targum. The rendering “thick clay” originates in a false etymology of the word _abtêt,_ which the student will find in Rashi’s _Comme... [ Continue Reading ]
(6-8) Woe on the reckless rapacity which has spared neither life nor property.... [ Continue Reading ]
(6-20) The destruction of the Chaldæans has hitherto been only implied. It is now plainly foretold in a denunciatory song, put into the mouths of the invader’s victims. In this song there are five strophes, of three verses each, 6-8; 9-11; 12-14; 15-17; 18-20.... [ Continue Reading ]
BITE. — This verb _nâshac_ also means “to oppress with usury,” and this is its force here. _Thy_ turn shall come, and men shall exact usury from thee. Similarly, the verb translated “vex” is, literally, _to shake violently,_ in allusion to a creditor’s forcible seizure of his debtor. (Comp. Matthew... [ Continue Reading ]
VIOLENCE OF. — Scil., _violence wreaked on,_ both here and in Habakkuk 2:17.... [ Continue Reading ]
(9-11) Woe on the aggrandisement of the new dynasty by force and cunning.... [ Continue Reading ]
WOE TO HIM THAT COVETETH... — Better, _Woe to him who accumulates wicked gain for his house, who sets his nest on high to save himself from the hand of evil_ — _i.e.,_ who gathers spoil from the nations, and stows it away in an impregnable treasure- house. The expression _sets his nest on high_ find... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HAST SINNED... — Literally, _and sinning in thy soul._ All the time the Babylonian oppressor was plundering these peoples he was involving his soul in guilt. (Comp. Habakkuk 1:11.)... [ Continue Reading ]
THE STONE SHALL CRY OUT. — Every stone in those giant walls reared by the enforced labour of captives cries aloud to accuse the Babylonian. Every spar out of the woodwork attests the charge.... [ Continue Reading ]
(12-14) “Woe on the extension of Babylon by oppression and enforced labour.... [ Continue Reading ]
IN THE VERY FIRE... FOR VERY VANITY. The preposition is the same in both clauses, and means “for an equivalent in.” The sense is sufficiently conveyed if we render “_labour only for the fire_... _weary themselves all for nothing._” The same expressions occur in Jeremiah’s denunciation of Babylon (Je... [ Continue Reading ]
WITH THE KNOWLEDGE. — Better, _as concerns the knowledge._ See the same promise in Isaiah 11:9. It is here introduced in contrast to the short-lived glory of Babylon. The enslaved nations raised the Babylonian palaces only for the fire to destroy them. But Jehovah’s glory shall be made known all the... [ Continue Reading ]
WOE UNTO HIM. — It is possible that wanton outrages committed by the debauched Babylonian soldiery in the hour of triumph are here meant. And this is in accordance with the mention of drunkenness as their special sin in Habakkuk 2:5. But we much prefer to treat the language as figurative. The invade... [ Continue Reading ]
(15-17) Woe on the cruel invader who has made the world drink of the cup of wrath.... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THE VIOLENCE OF LEBANON.... — Better, _For the violence done to Lebanon shall overwhelm thee, and the destruction of the beasts which it frightened away._ The rest of the verse is a refrain taken from the first woe, that of Habakkuk 2:8. The “destruction of beasts” points, we think, to a raid on... [ Continue Reading ]
A TEACHER OF LIES. — Not the false prophet, but the idol itself, as pointing out false ways in opposition to God, the teacher of truth. THAT THE MAKER... — Better, _that he who frames his image trusts in it, so as to make dumb idols. Dumb nothings_ is, perhaps, the literal translation of _e_’_lîlîm... [ Continue Reading ]
(18-20) _Woe_ on him who neglects Jehovah to worship dumb idols of his own making.... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT THE LORD. — And while all this false worship prevails, the true World-ruler abides, and His presence is in His temple at Jerusalem. To Him the prophet’s eyes are now turned. He ceases his denunciations of the invader, and finds solace in the glorious anticipations of the lyrical ode (Habakkuk 3:... [ Continue Reading ]