Habakkuk 1
DOYLYthemselves.] They will be their own judges of what is right or wrong. W. Lowth.
Ver. 1. I will stand upon my watch,—tower, &c.] It was the business of a watchman in the time of war to desery from an eminent station what messengers were coming, and to make known the message as soon as possible: see 2 Kings ix. 17. &c. The Prophet puts himself in such a posture, that he may receive God’s answer to the foregoing complaints. W. Louth.
Habakkuk 1:8
- — swifter than the leopards.] When the leopard leaps, he throws himself seventeen or eighteen feet at a time. Harmer. — the evening wolves:] See the note on Jer. v. 6. — their horsemen shall spread themselves.] These words are illustrated by the description given by Baron du Tott of an army of modern Tartars, “dividing into several columns, subdividing successively, and thus overspreading New Servis, burning the villages, corn, and fodder, and carrying off the inhabitants and cattle,” &c. Harmer.
Habakkuk 1:9
- They shall come all for violence: &c.] They shall come purposely to waste and spoil: their very looks shall blast all before them, like an east wind: and they shall carry away a number of captives, as the sand of the sea for multitude. Bp. Hall.
Habakkuk 1:10
- — they shall heap dust, and take it.] They shall cast up mounds against the strong holds, and so take them: see Jer. xxxii. 24; xxxiii. 4. W. Lowth.
Habakkuk 1:11
- Then shall his mind change, &c.] This may be spoken of the Chaldean nation at large. Abp. Newcome.
Habakkuk 1:12
- Art thou not from everlasting, &c.] The Prophet, having had this revelation from God, that the Chaldeans should be the ministers of his vengeance against sinful Judah, falls into an holy expostulation with Him about these dispensations. As if he had said, O everlasting God, whose word is unchangeable as thyself: “Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil” in thine own chosen people; why hast Thou ordained these Chaldeans for their judges, a faithless race of men, who without scruple devour those that are more righteous than themselves, and prey upon them as freely as the fisherman, who takes all that comes to his net; and after all the victories which Thou givest them, they have no notion of thy providence, but impute their success to the power and wisdom of their own false gods? Reading.
Habakkuk 1:13
- Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil.] The holy and pure nature of God is at the greatest distance from evil, and at the greatest contrariety to it. He is so far from having any inclination to evil, that it is the only thing in the world to which He hath an irreconcilable antipathy. This the Scripture frequently declares to us, and that in a very emphatical manner. Ps. v. 4: “Thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness: neither shall evil dwell with thee.” The words are a diminution, and less is said than is intended by them: the meaning is, that God is so far from taking pleasure in sin, that He hath a perfect hatred and abhorrence of it. And here in the Prophet Habakkuk, “Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity.” As, when men hate a thing to the highest degree, they turn away their eyes, and cannot endure to look upon it. Light and darkness are not more opposite to one another, than the holy nature of God is to sin. “What communion hath light with darkness? and what concord hath Christ with Behal?” 2 Cor. vi. 14, 15. Abp. Tillotson.
Habakkuk 1:16
- Therefore they sacrifice unto their net, &c.] They boast themselves in their strength, and deify themselves for their valour. Abp. Newcome.
Habakkuk 1:17
- Shall they therefore empty their net, &c.] Wilt Thou therefore, O Lord, still suffer them to empty their net for a new draught? Wilt Thou not restrain them from making spoil of the nations round about continually? Bp. Hall. Chap. II. To the expostulation, which closes the former chapter, the Prophet tells us here in the second, that he waited most attentively for the answer of God, and received it with a command to write it upon tables so plain, “that he may run that readeth it,” or may The prophet must wait by faith. The judgment upon the Chaldeans Before CHRIST about 626. a Isa. 21. 9. place. Or, in me. Or, when I am argued with. my reproof, or, arguing. b Hebr. 10. 37. c John 3. 56. Rom. 1. 17. Gal. 3. 11. Hebr. 10. 38. Or, How much more. judgment upon the Chaldean for unsatiableness, 9 for covetousness, 12 for cruelty,