Habakkuk 2:13

Behold, is it not of the LORD of hosts that the people shall labour in the very fire, and the people shall weary themselves for very vanity? BEHOLD, IS IT NOT OF THE LORD OF HOSTS. Yahweh, who has at command all the hosts of heaven, and earth, is the righteous Author of Babylon's destruction. 'Shall not God have His turn, when cruel rapacious men have triumphed so long, though He seem now to be still?' (Calvin.) THAT THE PEOPLE SHALL LABOUR IN THE ... FIRE, AND THE PEOPLE SHALL WEARY THEMSELVES FOR VERY VANITY? - the Chaldeans labour at what is to be food for the fire-namely, their city and fortresses, which shall be burnt. adopts the same phraseology to express the vanity of the Chaldean's labour on Babylon, as doomed to the flames....

Then he adds, _Shall it not be, behold, from Jehovah of hosts? _(38) Some give a wrong version, “Is not this,” as though הנה, _ene_, were put here instead of a pronoun demonstrative; but they extenuate and obscure the beauty of the expression; nay, they pervert the meaning of the Prophet: for when he says, הנה, _ene_, behold, he refers not to what he had said, nor specifies any particular thing, and yet he shows, as it were by the finger, the judgement of God, which he bids us to expect; as though he said, “Shall not God at length have his turn, when the avaricious and the cruel have obtained their triumphs in the world, and darkened the minds and thoughts of all, as though no account were to be given by them before the tribunal of God? Shall not God sometime show that it is his time to interpose?” When, therefore, he says, Shall it not be, behold, from Jehovah?

5-14 The prophet reads the doom of all proud and oppressive powers that bear hard upon God's people. The lusts of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life, are the entangling snares of men; and we find him that led Israel captive, himself led captive by each of these. No more of what we have is to be reckoned ours, than what we come honestly by. Riches are but clay, thick clay; what are gold and silver but white and yellow earth? Those who travel through thick clay, are hindered and dirtied in their journey; so are those who go through the world in the midst of abundance of wealth. And what fools are those that burden themselves with continual care about it; with a great deal of guilt in getting, saving, and spending it, and with a heavy account which they must give another day! They overload themselves with this thick clay, and so sink themselves down into destruction and...

Verse Habakkuk 2:13. _THE PEOPLE SHALL LABOUR IN THE VERY FIRE_] All these superb buildings shall be burnt down. See the parallel passage, Jeremiah 51:58, and the note there. _SHALL WEARY THEMSELVES FOR VERY VANITY?_] For the gratification of the wishes of ambition, and in buildings which shall be brought to naught....

BEHOLD, IS IT NOT OF THE LORD OF HOSTS THAT (THE) PEOPLE (NATIONS) SHALL LABOR - o IN (FOR) THE VERY FIRE - literally, to suffice the fire? By God’s appointment, the end of all their labor is for the fire, what may suffice it to consume. This is the whole result of their labor; and so it is as if they had toiled for this; they built ceiled palaces and gorgeous buildings, only for the fire to consume them. AND THE PEOPLES SHALL WEARY THEMSELVES FOR VERY VANITY - They wearied themselves, and what was their reward? What had they to suffice and fill them? “Emptiness.” This is “from the Lord of hosts,” whom all the armies of heaven obey and all creatures stand at His command against the ungodly, and in whose Hand are all the hosts of earth, and so the oppressor’s also, to turn as He wills. Near upon the first stage of

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

BEHOLD, [IS IT] NOT OF THE LORD OF HOSTS?.... That which follows; the judgments of God upon the bloody city, which they that labour to prevent labour in vain. So the Targum, "lo, strong and mighty blows or judgments come from the Lord of hosts;'' the mighty God, the Lord of armies, whose hand when stretched out none can turn back; he does what he pleases, and none can hinder him; when the decree is gone forth from him, it is in vain to attempt to stop it: THAT THE PEOPLE SHALL LABOUR IN THE VERY FIRE, AND THE PEOPLE SHALL WEARY THEMSELVES FOR VERY VANITY? words of the same import, and expressed in much the same language, were used of the destruction of literal Babylon by fire, and of the vain attempts of the Chaldeans in labouring and wearying themselves to quench it, Jeremiah 51:58 and here of mystical Babylon, and the vanity of the people o

IS IT NOT Or, it is not of the LORD, etc, that is, though permitted in His providence, not His plan. Compare (Micah 4:2)....

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

WOES ON THE EVIL-DOER. Habakkuk 2:5 f. Woe on the insatiable conqueror, who treacherously gathers to himself the heritage of all the nations, only to be the victim of their bitterest maledictions. Habakkuk 2:5. As Davidson acknowledges, all efforts to educe sense must fail with the present text. A few slight changes yield the following: Ah! proud and treacherous man, haughty and never satisfied, who enlargeth his desire as Sheol, and like Death is never satisfied, etc. Habakkuk 2:6. parable: rather taunt-song (_cf._ Numbers 21:27). TAUNTING PROVERB: lit. a satire, even riddles (dark sayings, with a s