Habakkuk 1:9

They shall come all for violence: their faces shall sup up as the east wind, and they shall gather the captivity as the sand. THEY SHALL COME ALL FOR VIOLENCE - the sole object of all is, not to establish just rights, but to get all they can by violence. THEIR FACES SHALL SUP UP AS THE EAST WIND - i:e., they shall, as it were, swallow up all before them; so the horse, in Job 39:24, is said to "swallow the ground with fierceness and rage" [from gamaa', to swallow up]. Maurer takes the Hebrew [ mªgamat (H4041)] from an Arabic root, 'the desire of their faces' - i:e., the eager desire expressed by their faces. Henderson, with Symmachus and the Syriac, translates, 'the aspect,' from an Arabic root, 'that which appears externally of anything.' Gesenius...

By saying that they would come to the prey, he means that they would have no trouble or labor, for they would be victorious before they had any contest, or had any war with their enemies. The meaning then is, that the Chaldeans would not come to spend much time in warfare, as when there is a strong power to resist; but that they would only come for the booty, for the Jews would be frightened, and instantly submit themselves. And by these words the Prophet intimates, that there would be neither strength nor courage in a people so refractory: for God thus debilitates the hearts of those who fiercely resist his word. Whenever, then, men become strong against God, he so melts their hearts, that they cannot resist their fellow-mortals; and thus he mocks their confidence, or rather their madness. Lest then the Jews should still harbor any hope from the chance of war, the Prophet says that the...

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 9. _THEIR FACES SHALL SUP UP_ AS _THE EAST WIND_] This may be an allusion to those _electrical winds_ which prevail in that country. Mr. _Jackson_, in his overland journey from India, mentions his having bathed in the _Tigris_. On his coming out of the river one of those winds passed over him, and, in a moment, carried off every particle of _water_ that was on his body and in his bathing dress. So, the Chaldeans shall leave no substance behind them; their _faces_, their bare _appearance_, is the proof that nothing good shall be left. _SHALL GATHER THE CAPTIVITY AS THE SAND._] They shall carry off innumerable captives....

THEY SHALL COME ALL FOR VIOLENCE - “Violence” had been the sin of Judah Habakkuk 1:3, and now violence shall be her punishment. It had been ever before the prophet; all were full of it. Now should violence be the very end, one by one, of all the savage horde poured out upon them; they all, each one of them come for violence. THEIR FACES SHALL SUP UP AS THE EAST WIND - קדומה occurs else only in Ezekiel 11:1, and Ezekiel 11:16 times in Ezek. 40–48 of the ideal city and temple as “Eastwards.” But except in the far-fetched explanation of Abarb (mentioned also by Tanchum) that they ravaged, not to settle but to return home wi

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 SHALL COME ALL FOR VIOLENCE,.... Or, "the whole of it" s; the whole army of the Chaldeans, everyone of them; this would be their sole view, not to do themselves justice, as might be pretended, or avenge any injuries or affronts done to them by the Jews; but purely for the sake of spoil and plunder: THEIR FACES SHALL SUP UP [AS] THE EAST WIND: their countenances will appear so stern and fierce, that their very looks will so frighten, as to cause men to sink and die through terror; just as herbs and plants shrivel up and wither away, when blasted by a nipping east wind. So the Targum, "the reception or look of their faces is like to a vehement east wind.'' Some render it, "the look or design of their faces is to the east t;'' when the Chaldeans were on their march to Judea, their faces were to the west or south west; but then their desire and views were, that when they had got th...

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)....

ALL FOR VIOLENCE: i.e. not for conquest, but for destruction. FACES. aspect, intent, or eagerness, SUP UP, &C.. swallow up (as in Job 39:24), as the Palestine burning east wind withers up and destroys all green things. AS THE SAND. Figure of speech _Paroemia_. App-6....