Habakkuk 1:5

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. BEHOLD YE AMONG THE HEATHEN, AND REGARD, AND WONDER MARVELOUSLY: FOR I WILL WORK A WORK. Here Yahweh replies to Habakkuk's complaint (Habakkuk 1:2), Though I do not punish violence and wrong immediately, it is not that I am an unconcerned spectator; in my own good time I will work a work of vengeance upon the transgressors past all that could be expected (cf. Isaiah 29:14, "Behold I will proceed to do a marvelous work among this people, even a marvelous work and a wonder"). Quoted by Paul (Acts 13:41, "Behold, ye despisers, a...

The Prophet turns his discourse to the Jews, after having related the private colloquy, in which he expostulated with God for having so patiently borne with the obstinate wickedness of the nation. Being now as it were furnished with God’s command, (as the case really was,) he performs the office of a herald, and proclaims an approaching destruction. He indeed adopts a preface, which ought to have awakened drowsy and careless minds. He says—_look, see, be astonished, be astonished_; these repetitions do not a little increase the alarm; he twice bids them to see, and he twice exhorts them to be astonished, or to wonder. He then briefly proclaims the judgement of God, which he afterwards more fully describes. We now, then, perceive the object of the Prophet, and the manner in which he proceeds with his subject. And he bids those among the nations to behold, as though he had said, that they...

1-11 The servants of the Lord are deeply afflicted by seeing ungodliness and violence prevail; especially among those who profess the truth. No man scrupled doing wrong to his neighbour. We should long to remove to the world where holiness and love reign for ever, and no violence shall be before us. God has good reasons for his long-suffering towards bad men, and the rebukes of good men. The day will come when the cry of sin will be heard against those that do wrong, and the cry of prayer for those that suffer wrong. They were to notice what was going forward among the heathen by the Chaldeans, and to consider themselves a nation to be scourged by them. But most men presume on continued prosperity, or that calamities will not come in their days. They are a bitter and hasty nation, fierce, cruel, and bearing down all before them. They shall overcome all that oppose them. But it is a grea...

Verse 5. _BEHOLD YE AMONG THE HEATHEN_] Instead of בגוים _baggoyim_, among the _nations_ or _heathen_, some critics think we should read בגדים _bogedim, transgressors_; and to the same purpose the _Septuagint, Syriac_, and _Arabic_ have read; and thus it is quoted by St. _Paul_, Acts 13:41. But neither this, nor any tantamount reading, is found in any of the MSS. yet collated. _Newcome_ translates, "See, ye transgressors, and behold a wonder, and perish." I _WILL WORK A WORK IN YOUR DAYS_] As he is speaking of the desolation that should be produced by the _Chaldeans_, it follows, as Bp. _Newcome_ has justly observed, that the Chaldeans invaded Judah _whilst_ those were living whom the prophet addressed. WHICH _YE WILL NOT BELIEVE_] Nor did they, after all the decla

BEHOLD YE AMONG THE HEATHEN - The whole tone of the words suddenly changes. The Jews flattered themselves that, being the people of God, He would not fulfill His threats upon them. They had become like the pagan in wickedness; God bids them look out among them for the instrument of His displeasure. It was an aggravation of their punishment, that God, who had once chosen them, would now choose these whom He had not chosen, to chasten them. So Moses had foretold; Deuteronomy 32:21, “They have moved Me to jealousy by that which is not God; they have provoked Me to anger with their vanities; and I will move them to jealousy with not-a-people, I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.” There were no tokens of the storm which should sweep them away, yet on the horizon. No forerunners yet. And so He bids them gaze on among the nations, to see whence

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

BEHOLD YE AMONG THE HEATHEN, AND REGARD,.... This is the Lord's answer to the prophet's complaint, or what he directs him to say to the Jews, guilty of the crimes complained of, which should not go long unpunished; and who are called upon to look around them, and see what was doing among the nations; how the king of Babylon had overturned the Assyrian empire, and was going from place to place, subduing one nation after another, and their turn would be quickly: for these words are not addressed to the heathen, to stir them up to observe what was doing, or about to be done, to the Jews; but to the Jews themselves, to consider and regard the operations of the Lord, and the works of his providence among the nations of the earth. These words are differently rendered in the Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions, and which better agree with the quotation of them by the apostle, Acts 13:41:...

FOR I WILL WORK Verse 5 (Habakkuk 1:5) anticipates the dispersion "among the nations". Compare (Deuteronomy 28:64). While Israel as a nation is thus dispersed, Jehovah will "work a work" which Israel "will not believe." (Acts 13:37); interprets this prediction of the redemptive work of Christ. It is significant that Paul quotes this to Jews of the dispersion in the synagogue at Antioch....

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

THE CHALDEANS AS MINISTERS OF DIVINE JUSTICE. In His answer Yahweh directly addresses the evil-doers, warning them that He is about to work a work in their days they would never have believed: He is raising against them the fierce and dreaded power of the Chaldeans, who are already carrying destruction to the ends of the earth, swooping from afar like eagles on the prey, gathering captives like the sand, scoffing at kings and princes, carrying fortresses with a rush, and making their strength a god. HABAKKUK 1:5. For _baggoyim_, among the nations, read _bog dim_, ye evil-doers (LXX). I WORK (ptcp.): _i.e._ I am just about to work. Habakkuk 1:6. bitter and hasty: rather, fierce and impetuous (vehement)....