Habakkuk 1:15

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. THEY TAKE UP ALL OF THEM - all kinds of fish - i:e., men, as captives, and all other prey that comes in their way. WITH THE ANGLE - i:e., the hook. THEY CATCH THEM IN THEIR NET, AND GATHER THEM IN THEIR DRAG. Some they take up, as with the hook, one by one; others in shoals, as in a "net" and "drag," or enclosing net. THEREFORE - because of their successes. THEY REJOICE - they glory in their crimes because attended with success (cf. , "Then shall his mind change, and he shall pass over (all bounds of moderation in vain glory) and offend")....

12-17 However matters may be, yet God is the Lord our God, our Holy One. We are an offending people, he is an offended God, yet we will not entertain hard thoughts of him, or of his service. It is great comfort that, whatever mischief men design, the Lord designs good, and we are sure that his counsel shall stand. Though wickedness may prosper a while, yet God is holy, and does not approve the wickedness. As he cannot do iniquity himself, so he is of purer eyes than to behold it with any approval. By this principle we must abide, though the dispensations of his providence may for a time, in some cases, seem to us not to agree with it. The prophet complains that God's patience was abused; and because sentence against these evil works and workers was not executed speedily, their hearts were the more fully set in them to do evil. Some they take up as with the angle, one by one; others they...

THEY TAKE UP ALL OF THEM - (literally “he taketh up all of it”) the whole race as though it were one, WITH AN ANGLE; THEY CATCH THEM - literally, he sweepeth it away IN THEIR (HIS) NET - One fisherman is singled out who partly by wiles (as by the bait of “an angle”), partly by violence (the net or drag) sweeps away and gathers as his own the whole kind. Nebuchadnezzar and the Chaldaeans are herein a faint image of Satan, who casts out his baits and his nets in the stormy sea of this life, taking some by individual craft, sweeping others in whole masses, to do evil; and whoso hath no ruler, and will not have Christ to reign over him Luke 19:4, he allures, hurries, drags away as his prey. Jerome: “Adam clave to his hook, and he drew him forth out of Paradise with his net; and covered

EXPOSITION VERSE 1:1-2:20 PART I. JUDGMENT UPON THE EVIL, IN THE FORM OF A COLLOQUY BETWEEN THE PROPHET AND GOD. HABAKKUK 1:1 § 1. _The inscription of the book. _THE BURDEN (see note on Nahum 1:1). The prophet (Habakkuk 3:1). This title, which is added in the inscriptions only to the names of Haggai and Zechariah, and cursorily to that of Jeremiah (46, 47; 50.), implies that he exercised the pr

THEY TAKE UP ALL OF THEM WITH THE ANGLE,.... The prophet continues the metaphor of fishing, and observes the different ways of taking fish; which is to be applied to the case he is speaking of: as fishermen take all they can with their angles, so "they" or "he", for it is in the singular number, Nebuchadnezzar and his army, take up all out of the sea of the world; are ambitious of getting all kingdoms and nations of the world under their power and dominion; particularly all Judea, and all the inhabitants of it, good and bad, without any distinction; for all were fish which came to their net: this may design the artful and alluring methods they first made use of to get the people into their hands, by making covenants with them, and drawing them into making of presents, and paying of tribute: THEY CATCH THEM IN THEIR NET, AND GATHER THEM IN THEIR DRAG; with the angle the fisherman catches...

ANALYSIS AND ANNOTATIONS CHAPTER 1 The Judgment of Judah Through the Chaldeans Announced _ 1. The prophet's cry to Jehovah (Habakkuk 1:1) _ 2. The answer (Habakkuk 1:5) 3. The prophet's plea (Habakkuk 1:12) Habakkuk 1:1. The prophet begins his message with a prayer-cry to Jehovah. He whose name is “the embracer” embraces the Lord and cries to Him on account of the conditions prevailing in Judah. The Spirit of God stirred up the heart of Habakkuk on account of the moral conditions in Judah. He is jealous for Jehovah's glory, which manifested itself in hating the evil. “There is no prophetic

REMONSTRANCE OVER THE INHUMANITY OF THE CHALDEANS. The execution of Divine judgment raises fresh questions: Why should the Holy One, whose eyes are too pure to look on evil, appoint as minister of justice a people still more faithless and corrupt than its victim? And why should He make the nations like leaderless swarms of fish, to be swept into the net, and gathered up in the seine (drag-net), then emptied out and slaughtered, while the oppressor in brutal joy offers sacrifice to his nets? HABAKKUK 1:12. Read probably, Yahweh, my Holy God, that diest not? (_cf. mg_.). The second part of the _verse_ should also perhaps be taken interrogatively, Was it thou that didst ordain (appoint) him. for judgment? For _tsur_, Rock (which reads very awkwardly), Duhm suggests _tsir_, messenger or minister: thus, and established him as a minister of chastisement.

ANGLE. hook. DRAG. a fish-net. Occurs only here (verses: Habakkuk 1:15; Habakkuk 1:16) and in Isaiah 19:8. Greek. _sagene._ See App-122. Italian _seine sagena,_ whence (with. different vowel) the Greek verb _sageneuo =_ to sweep [a country] clear....

_HABAKKUK SAW A TERRIBLE DESTRUCTION -- HABAKKUK 1:15-17:_ Habakkuk saw the Chaldeans dealing with the Jews like fish being caught in a net and consumed. The enemy would come and destroy and take them captive with hooks and nets. Some would be taken captive one by one while others Jews would be taken away in groups. The Chaldeans rejoiced and congratulated themselves on their victory over Judah. The enemy could only see their might and their power. They did not realize that God's hand was in this matter. They looked at the net, their power and might, as their god. They thought they had gained the victory on their own. They celebrate their strength and victory with a banquet "because by them their portion is fat, and their meat plenteous." They did not know nor understand that God was using them to punish his people. Habakkuk asked God how long He was going to allow the Chaldea

THEREFORE THEY REJOICE AND ARE GLAD— _Therefore he rejoices and triumphs._ The whole verse may he rendered in the singular number....