Habakkuk 2:20

But the LORD is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him. BUT THE LORD - Yahweh; in striking contrast with the idols. IS IN HIS HOLY TEMPLE - "His place" (, "Behold, the Lord cometh out of His place), heaven (, "The Lord is in His holy temple;" ; ). The temple at Jerusalem is a type of it, and there God is to be worshipped. He does not lie hid under gold and silver, as the idols of Babylon, but reigns in heaven, and fills heaven, and thence succours His people. LET ALL THE EARTH KEEP SILENCE - in token of reverent submission and subjection to His judgments ...

After having taught us that the Babylonians were deceived in expecting any help from their idols, and were deluded by Satan, Habakkuk now recalls the attention of the faithful to the only true God; for it would not have been enough to take away from the Babylonians the false confidence which they had in their idols, except the Israelites, on the other hand, trusting in the grace of the true God, were fully persuaded that God was on their side, as he had taken them under his protection. And we ought carefully to observe this order; for we see that many boldly deride all the superstitions which prevail in the world, and at the same time daringly and with cyclopic fury despise the true God. How many are at this day either Epicureans or Lucianians, who prate jestingly and scoffingly against the superstitions of the papacy, but in the meantime they are not influenced by any fear of God? If, h...

15-20 A severe woe is pronounced against drunkenness; it is very fearful against all who are guilty of drunkenness at any time, and in any place, from the stately palace to the paltry ale-house. To give one drink who is in want, who is thirsty and poor, or a weary traveller, or ready to perish, is charity; but to give a neighbour drink, that he may expose himself, may disclose secret concerns, or be drawn into a bad bargain, or for any such purpose, this is wickedness. To be guilty of this sin, to take pleasure in it, is to do what we can towards the murder both of soul and body. There is woe to him, and punishment answering to the sin. The folly of worshipping idols is exposed. The Lord is in his holy temple in heaven, where we have access to him in the way he has appointed. May we welcome his salvation, and worship him in his earthly temples, through Christ Jesus, and by the influence...

Verse Habakkuk 2:20. _THE LORD_ IS _IN HIS HOLY TEMPLE_] Jehovah has his _temple_, the _place_ where he is to be _worshipped_; but _there_ there is no _image_. _Oracles_, however, are given forth; and every word of them is _truth_, and is fulfilled in its season. And this temple and its worship are _holy_; no _abomination_ can be practiced there, and every thing in it leads to _holiness_ of heart and life. _LET ALL THE EARTH KEEP SILENCE BEFORE HIM._] Let all be dumb. Let none of them dare to open their mouths in the presence of Jehovah. He alone is Sovereign. He alone is the arbiter of life and death. Let all hear his commands with the deepest respect, obey them with the promptest diligence, and worship him with the most profound reverence. When an Asiatic sovereign goes to the mosque on

And now having declared the nothingness of all which is not God, the power of man or his gods, he answers again his own question, by summoning all before the presence of the majesty of God. BUT THE LORD - He had, in condemning them, pictured the tumult of the world, the oppressions, the violence, bloodsheddings, covetousness, insolence, self-aggrandizement of the then world-empire, and had denounced woe upon it; we see man framing his idols, praying to the lifeless stones; and God, of whom none thought, where was He? These were people’s ways. “But the Lord,” he joins it on, as the complement and corrective of all this confusion. THE LORD IS IN HIS HOLY TEMPLE - awaiting, in His long-suffering, to judge. “The temple of God” is where God enshrines Himself, or allows Himself to be seen and adored. “God is wholly everywhere, the whole of Him no where.” There is no contra

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

BUT THE LORD [IS] IN HIS HOLY TEMPLE,.... Not in graven and molten images; not in idols of wood and stone, covered with gold and silver; but in heaven, the habitation of his holiness, the place of his residence, where he is seen and worshipped by the holy angels and glorified saints; and from whence he surveys all the children of men, and their actions; observes the folly and stupidity of idol worshippers; and hears and answers the prayers of his own people: or this intends his church, which is his temple, sanctified by him, and set apart for his service, worship, and glory: here he grants his gracious presence to those who worship him in spirit and in truth; and here he will appear as King of saints, in a most glorious manner, when these several woes before mentioned have taken place; as on Rome Pagan already, and in part on Rome Papal at the Reformation, so completely on it, and all wo...

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

HOLY. See note on Exodus 3:5. KEEP SILENCE. Hush! Be still! So Zephaniah 1:7; Zechariah 2:13....