Habakkuk 1:11

Then shall [his] mind change,.... The mind of the king of Babylon; not that, when he had taken Jerusalem, he altered his purpose, and laid aside his designs of attacking other nations, and returned

Then shall his mind change, and he shall pass over, and offend, imputing this his power unto his god. Then - when elated by his successes.

Then: it notes both the time and cause of what happened; extraordinary successes, and a continued series of them, attending the designs and attempts of the Chaldean kings, at last made them so haughty and proud, as to trample on kings, ; and when their pride was at this height, it stops not here. His mind; the spirit or wind, as the Hebrew, and so some think the prophet does foretell the change of his prosperous gales, his downfall; but it is more natural to understand it of the change of mind in the prosperous Chaldean, he will think other thoughts of himself. his affairs, and of other men. He shall pass over; break over the bounds of all sober and modest sentiments, exceed in his value of himself, and of his achievements, as Sennacherib first did, , and next Nebuchadnezzar, surnamed the Great, ,30. Offend: this pride was a great sin, and highly provoked God; for the insolent tyrant idolized himself. Imputing this his power, the strength by which he had done all this great exploits, or the might and power to which he had advanced himself, unto his god: this at first seems a little tolerable, it seems to savour somewhat of religion, yet it is a great offence thus to ascribe his grandeur to a dumb idol, but it is worse to reckon his strength to be his god, as the words will express it in the Hebrew. See ,30.

Habakkuk 1:11 Then shall [his] mind change, and he shall pass over, and offend, [imputing] this his power unto his god.Ver. 11. Then shall his mind change] For the worse, in peius proficiet; his good and his blood shall rise together, as the proverb hath it; he shall be puffed up with his victories. “ Luxuriant animi rebus plerunque secundis. ” Pride compasseth prosperous persons as a chain, Psalms 73:5-6 Job 15:25-27; their hearts are lifted up with their successes, as a boat that riseth with the rising of the water. Evagrius noteth it for a special commendation of Mauricius the emperor, that notwithstanding his great prosperity he retained his ancient piety. And he shall pass over] Or transgress all the bounds of modesty. Pride was anciently portrayed with three crowns on her head. Upon the first was written Transcendo, upon the second Non obedio, upon the third Perturbo. David calleth wicked men effractores, breachmakers. And offend, imputing this his power to his god] Bel, or Jupiter Belus. This was a wickedness with a witness; thus to transfer the glory of victory due to God alone upon an idol. When Nebuchadnezzar offended in this sort God turned him a grazing till he had learned better, Daniel 4:37. For, be the gods of the heathen good fellows, saith one; the true God is a jealous God, and will not share his glory with another, Isaiah 42:8.

(11) Then shall his mind change. . . .—Better, Then he sweeps by like a wind and passes. But he is guilty, making this his strength his god. By an abrupt transition the latter half of the verse diverts our attention from the human view of the world-conqueror to his appearance in God’s sight. Men only see an irresistible force sweeping over the face of the earth like a whirlwind; here to-day, and to-morrow nothing but devastation and ruin to testify to its visit. And men are dazzled by this mighty display of power. But, even as Daniel at Belshazzar’s feast, Habakkuk pronounces the oppressor’s doom in the very hour of triumph. The description of the irresistible invader drops into the sudden depths of anti-climax, “But he is (counted) guilty.” His guilt consists just in what men deem so glorious, in his self-reliant irresponsible pursuit of grandeur. The brute force of armaments is the supreme deity of the Chaldæan. His sword and spear are, as it were, his idols. (Comp. Habakkuk 1:16.) God, in whose hands his breath is, and whose are all his ways, has he not glorified. (Comp. Daniel 5:23.) Therefore that God shall bring on him ruin and ignominy, and the very nations which have marvelled at his prowess shall taunt and contemn him (Habakkuk 2:6). Here, then, is the key-note of so much of the second canto (Habakkuk 1:12 to 2 fin.) as relates to the downfall of the invader.

Verse 11. Then shall his mind change] This is thought to relate to the change which took place in Nebuchadnezzar, when "a beast's heart was given to him," and he was "driven from the dwellings of men." And this was because of his offending-his pride and arrogance; and his attributing all his success, &c., to his idols.

11. Then shall his mind change] then he sweepeth onward as the wind (or, a blast), and passeth through. The two words “sweep on” and “pass through” occur again Isaiah 8:8, being said of the Assyrian armies under the figure of an overwhelming flood. But both words are used of wind-storms, the first Isaiah 21:1, and the second Proverbs 10:25. Arrested for a moment by the fortress, as soon as it is fallen he sweeps onwards, and overruns what lies still before him. The “wind” and “spirit” being the same word in Heb., A.V. rendered mind. and offend] and becometh guilty. The rhythm of the verse would place this word in the second clause, but the sense is against this position. Imputing this his power] Rather, this his might becometh his god. The Heb. word “this” is as in Psalms 12:7; the form is oftener a relative, and so R.V., even he whose might is his god. The clause perhaps explains how he “becomes guilty” or offends. His success intoxicates him, and in his pride of heart he deifies his own might. Comp. the words of the Assyrian king Isaiah 10:7 ff., Isaiah 10:13 ff., and those of Nebuchadnezzar, Daniel 4:30. For “offends” Wellh. suggests tentatively a form of the verb to set or make: and maketh this his might to be his god. This restores the rhythm, but the order of words is strange. The text is not above suspicion. The Chaldeans (Heb. Kasdîm), in the Assyrian inscriptions Kaldu, were properly neither Assyrians nor Babylonians, though no doubt like them a Shemitic people. Their seats were in the southmost parts of the Babylonian plain, towards and on the Persian Gulf. Here they formed a number of small states, one of which was Bît Yakin, the kingdom of Merodach Baladan, which lay on the coast and is called in inscriptions “the land of the sea.” If the Shemites penetrated into the plains of the two rivers from the north, the Chaldeans must have formed the vanguard of the immigration and been thrown into the furthest south by the successive waves of population that followed them; if they entered from the south or south-west the Chaldeans would be the latest to arrive. This is most probable, for the movement appears always to have been northward, and the steady aim of the Chaldeans was to gain possession of the country lying to the north of their abode and seat themselves upon the throne of Babylon. This their princes succeeded in doing more than once. Merodach Baladan, who gave trouble to three Assyrian monarchs, Tiglath-Pileser, Sargon and Sennacherib, appears to have occupied the throne of Babylon from b.c. 721 to 709, when after a war with Sargon he was dispossessed. The indefatigable veteran renewed the struggle for the crown of Babylon in the time of Sennacherib, but without success, and disappears from history, though his descendants are spoken of in the annals of the succeeding Assyrian kings.

Then shall his mind change - or, better, “Then he sweeps by, חלף châlaph is used of the overflowing of a river, Isaiah 8:8, of a wind chasing, Isaiah 21:1, of the invisible presence of God passing

9. Their purpose is to rob and to destroy. For violence — They are without humane feelings; their only object is to do violence.