Habakkuk 1:1

The burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see. This prophecy is called a "burden", or something took up and carried, being what the prophet received from the Lord, and went with to the people of the

The burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see. The burden - The prophetic sentence.

CHAPTER 1 Unto Habakkuk, complaining of the iniquity of the land, Habakkuk 1:14, showed the fearful vengeance by the Chaldeans, Habakkuk 1:5-11. He complaineth that vengeance should be executed by them who are far worse, Habakkuk 1:12-17. The burden; see Nahum 1:1; to which we may here add, as proper to this time and place, that the prophet seems to speak of the grievous things here intended as a burden to himself, a trouble he did feel and groan under. Habakkuk: here we might, as others, guess at his country, parentage, and tribe; but no certainty appears in these: his name may perhaps intimate somewhat, either actively one that embraceth, or passively one embraced, and so may refer to God, or to his people, and intimate good to a people, whom God will ere long embrace; or it may speak one that is puzzled with the intricacy of affairs, and therefore expostulateth, as Habakkuk 1:2,3. The prophet; not he that is mentioned in the apocryphal book, but a prophet called and sent of God. Did see; not only in the future certainty of it on others, but did also feel in the present trouble and perplexity wherewith it affected him.

Habakkuk 1:1 The burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see.Ver. 1. The burden] The prophetic burden, saith the Chaldea paraphrast; the burdenous prophecy, saith Tremellius. Which Habakkuk the prophet did see] Amplexator ille, That embracer (so some interpret his name), yea, Optimus Amplexator (as they gather from the last radical emphatically doubled), That best embracer. Et carte omen habet nomen, He hath not his name for nought; for (as Luther writeth) in this prophecy he loveth and huggeth his afflicted countrymen; he helps and solaces them, as the mother doth her crying babe, to still it. Jerome and others make Habakkuk to signify Luctatorem amplex stringentem, a wrestler, that, by closing, strives to prevail; that, by might and slight, seeks to get the better. Such a one was Jacob, whose wrestling was by weeping, and his prevailing by praying, Hosea 12:4. Such another was Habakkuk, who argueth earnestly with God about the state of his people, and prayeth ardently for them; not doubting but that the Lord would "preserve the faithful, and plentifully reward the proud doer," Psalms 31:23. A prophet he is here styled, and a seer, and that is all is said of him; nothing of his pedigree, or time of prophesying; that the word (and not the man) might be glorified, Acts 13:47. Regis epistolis acceptis, saith Gregory; when a king’ s letters are brought to his subjects, it is a ridiculous thing for them to inquire with what pen they were written; it is the matter must be minded: so here. A prophet Habakkuk was; and is therefore to be received into our hearts, if we look for a prophet’ s reward. He received heavenly visions, whereunto therefore we must not be disobedient, Acts 26:19. That memorable sentence of his, "The just shal1 live by faith," is more than once made use of by St Paul, in that weighty business of justification, Romans 1:17 Galatians 3:11, which proves the canonical authority of this prophecy. The precise time when it was uttered is not known. In the days of Manasseh most think; but some are of the opinion in Josiah’ s time rather, or not long before; because he foretelleth the Babylonish captivity, and seemeth to agree with Jeremiah in many things. Sure it is, that this prophet lived not after the captivity, as Epiphanius and Jerome would have it; grounding upon those Apocryphal additions to Daniel, which either are false, or else there were two Habakkuks.

(1-4) Habakkuk complains of the apparent triumph of wickedness among his countrymen.

THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET HABAKKUK Chronological Notes relative to this Book, upon the supposition that it was written a little before the destruction of Jerusalem, about six hundred years before the commencement of the Christian era. -Year from the Creation, according to Archbishop Usher, 3404. -Year of the Julian Period, 4114. -Year since the Flood, 1748. -Year since the vocation of Abram, 1321. -Year from the foundation of Solomon's temple, 412. -Year since the division of Solomon's monarchy into the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, 376. -First year of the forty-fifth Olympiad. -Year since the destruction of the kingdom of Israel by Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, 121. -Year before the birth of Jesus Christ, 596. -Year before the vulgar era of Christ's nativity, 600. -Cycle of the Sun, 26. -Cycle of the Moon, 10. -Third year of AEropas, king of Macedon. -Twentieth year of Alyattes II., king of Lydia. -Twenty-sixth year of Cyaxares or Cyaraxes, king of Media. -Sixth year of Agasicles, king of Lacedaemon, of the family of the Proclidae. -Eighth year of Leon, king of Lacedaemon, of the family of the Eurysthenidae. -Seventh year of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. -Seventeenth year of Tarquinius Priscus, king of the Romans. -Eleventh year of Jehoiakim, king of Judah. CHAPTER I The prophet enters very abruptly on his subject, his spirit being greatly indignant at the rapid progress of vice and impiety, 1-4. Upon which God is introduced threatening very awful and sudden judgments to be indicted by the ministry of the Chaldeans, 5-10. The Babylonians attribute their wonderful successes to their idols, 11. The prophet then, making a sudden transition, expostulates with God (probably personating the Jews) for permitting a nation much more wicked than themselves, as they supposed, to oppress and devour them, as fishers and fowlers do their prey, 12-17. We know little of this prophet; for what we find in the ancients concerning him is evidently fabulous, as well as that which appears in the Apocrypha. He was probably of the tribe of Simeon, and a native of Beth-zacar. It is very likely that he lived after the destruction of Nineveh, as he speaks of the Chaldeans, but makes no mention of the Assyrians. And he appears also to have prophesied before the Jewish captivity, see Habakkuk 1:5; Habakkuk 2:1; Habakkuk 3:2; Habakkuk 3:16-19; and therefore Abp. Newcome thinks he may be placed in the reign of Jehoiakim, between the years 606 B.C. and 598 B.C. As a poet, Habakkuk holds a high rank among the Hebrew prophets. The beautiful connection between the parts of his prophecy, its diction, imagery, spirit, and sublimity, cannot be too much admired; and his hymn, Habakkuk 3:1-19, is allowed by the best judges to be a masterpiece of its kind. See Lowth's Praelect. xxi., xxviii. NOTES ON CHAP. I Verse 1.

1. The burden] the oracle. Comp. Habakkuk 2:6 “take up” a proverb. Numbers 23:7; Isaiah 14:4. See Nahum 1:1. did see] Comp. Isaiah 2:1 “the word that Isaiah saw”; Isaiah 13:1 “the oracle which Isaiah did see.” Amos 1:1; Micah 1:1. In the early times of prophecy the ecstasy or exalted condition of mind was more usual and the things revealed to the prophet were seen by him. Thus Micaiah ben Jimlah said: “I saw all Israel scattered upon the hills, as sheep that have not a shepherd” 1 Kings 22:17; 1 Kings 22:19. In later times these terms “see,” “vision” and the like, which had been formed in the early period, continued to be retained, and any revelation was called a “vision,” and “see” was employed of the act of receiving a revelation, even when it was a word (Isaiah 2:1). On the name Habakkuk see Introduction.

The burden - On the word “burden” see the note at Nahum 1:1. Which Habakkuk the prophet did see - The prophet’s name signifies “strong embrace.” The word in its intensive form is used both of God’s

1. The title. Burden — See on Nahum 1:1 (compare “take up,” Habakkuk 2:6).