Habakkuk 2:1

I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved. I WILL STAND UPON MY WATCH - i:e., watchpost. The prophets often compare themselves, awaiting the revelations of Yahweh with earnest patience, to watchmen on an eminence watching with intent eye all that comes within their view (; ; ; ; Ezekiel 33:2: cf. ; ). The watch-post is the...

We have seen in the first chapter Habakkuk 1:2 that the Prophet said in the name of all the faithful. It was indeed a hard struggle, when all things were in a perplexed state and no outlet appeared. The faithful might have thought that all things happened by chance, that there was no divine providence; and even the Prophet uttered complaints of this kind. He now begins to recover himself from his perplexities; and he ever speaks in the person of the godly, or of the whole Church. For what is done by some interpreters, who confine what is said to the prophetic office, I do not approve; and it may be easy from the contempt to learn, that the Prophet does not speak according to his private feeling, but that he represents the feelings of all the godly. So then we ought to collect this verse with the complaints, which we have before noticed; for the Prophet, finding himself sinking, and as it...

1-4 When tossed and perplexed with doubts about the methods of Providence, we must watch against temptations to be impatient. When we have poured out complaints and requests before God, we must observe the answers God gives by his word, his Spirit, and providences; what the Lord will say to our case. God will not disappoint the believing expectations of those who wait to hear what he will say unto them. All are concerned in the truths of God's word. Though the promised favour be deferred long, it will come at last, and abundantly recompense us for waiting. The humble, broken-hearted, repenting sinner, alone seeks to obtain an interest in this salvation. He will rest his soul on the promise, and on Christ, in and through whom it is given. Thus he walks and works, as well as lives by faith, perseveres to the end, and is exalted to glory; while those who distrust or despise God's all-suffi...

CHAPTER II _The prophet, waiting for a return to his expostulation, is_ _answered by God that the time for the destruction of the Jewish_ _polity by the Chaldeans is not only fixed in the Divine_ _counsel, but is awfully near; and he is therefore commanded to_ _write down the vision relative to this appalling subject in the_ _most legible characters, and in the plainest language, that all_ _who read it with attention (those just persons who exercise an_ _unwavering faith in the declaration of God respecting the_ violent irruption of the merciless Babylonians) may fle

I WILL STAND - , i. e. I would stand now, as a servant awaiting his master, UPON MY WATCH - or, keep (Isaiah 21:8. משׁמר in the same sense Jeremiah 51:12), and “set me (plant myself firmly) upon the tower” (literally, fenced place, but also one straitened and narrowly hemmed in), “and will watch” (it is a title of the prophets , as spying by God’s enabling, things beyond human ken); I will spy out, to see a long way off, to see with the inward eye, what He will say unto me (literally, Jerome: in me); first revealing Himself in the prophets “within to the inner man;” then, through them. And what I shall answer when I am reproved , or, upon my complaint literally upon my reproof or arguing; which might mean

EXPOSITION HABAKKUK 2:1 § 5. _The prophet, waiting for an answer to his expostulation, is bidden to write the oracle in plain characters, because its fulfilment is certain._ HABAKKUK 2:1 Habakkuk speaks with himself, and, mindful of his office, waits for the communication which he confidently ex-poets (Jeremiah 33:3). I WILL STAND UPON MY WATCH (Isaiah 21:6, Isaiah 21:8). As a watchman goes to a high place to see all around and discern what is coming, so the prophet pla

I WILL STAND UPON MY WATCH,.... These are the words of the prophet: so the Targum introduces them, "the prophet said;'' and this he said in character as a watchman, as all the prophets were: as a watchman takes the proper place he watches in and looks out, especially in time of danger and distress, if he can spy anyone bringing tidings, that he may receive it, and notify it to the people that have appointed him a watchman; so the prophet retired from the world, and gave himself up to meditation and prayer, and put himself in a waiting posture; looking up to the Lord, and expecting an answer to his expostulations with him, concerning the success of the enemies of God's people, and the calamities that were like to come upon them, that he might report it to them; see Isaiah 21:8: AND SET ME UPON THE TOWER; a place of eminence, from which he could behol

Habakkuk 2:1. _I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved._ «I shall look to God, and I shall also look to myself. There shall be an expectation as I gaze upward to my Lord, and there shall also be an examination as I look within at my empty, guilty, good-for-nothing self.» Habakkuk 2:2. _And the LORD answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it._ The prophets were accustomed to write their messages upon wax tablets, and the Lord bade Habakkuk thus write what he had seen. God would have both his law and his gospel plainly revealed to men, so that they might know and understand his will. Paul wrote to the Corint

CHAPTER 2 The Ungodliness of the Chaldeans and Their Destruction _ 1. The waiting prophet and the message he received (Habakkuk 2:1) _ 2. The five-fold woe upon the Chaldeans (Habakkuk 2:5) Habakkuk 2:1. It seems there was no immediate answer to the plea of the prophet. He then speaks to himself and expresses his attitude. “I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and I will wait to see what He will say to me, and what I shall answer as to my complaint.” He watches like a sentinel upon a watchtower for the answer the Lord will give him. It does not mean that the prophet actually ascended a tower, but he expresses his innermost attitude by the symbol of the watchman. He remained

THE ORACLE FROM YAHWEH. Unable to explain the mystery, the prophet stations himself on his watch-tower, and looks for the revelation of God's purpose. Soon the oracle comes, and he is asked to write it on tablets plainly, that one may read it running: Behold, the soul of the wicked shall faint in him, but the righteous shall live by his faithfulness (his loyalty to God and His promises). HABAKKUK 2:1. I WILL STAND, etc.: an imaginative representation of the prophet's mission as _tsopheh_, watchman (_cf._ Isaiah 21:6 ff.). For -'_ ashib_, I shall return (answer), read _yashib_, He will return (Syr.). Habakkuk 2:2. That one may run while reading it: _i.e._ that one may read it at