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<TITLE>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary on the Whole Bible [Habakkuk II].</TITLE>
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<center><h1>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary
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on the Whole Bible</h1>
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<h3><a href="http://www.biblesnet.com" target="_blank">Back to Biblesnet.com Home Page</a>
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[<A HREF="MHC00000.HTM">Table of Contents</A>]<BR>
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[<A HREF="MHC35001.HTM">Previous</A>]
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<TD ALIGN="RIGHT" VALIGN="TOP">
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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1712)
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<!-- (Begin Body) -->
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<CENTER>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+3><B>H A B A K K U K.</B></FONT>
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<BR>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+2>CHAP. II.</FONT>
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<HR SIZE=1 WIDTH=50>
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</CENTER>
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<FONT SIZE=-1>
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<P>
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In this chapter we have an answer expected by the prophet
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Hab+2:1">ver. 1</A>),
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and returned by the Spirit of God, to the complaints which the prophet
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made of the violences and victories of the Chaldeans in the close of
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the foregoing chapter. The answer is,
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I. That after God has served his own purposes by the prevailing power
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of the Chaldeans, has tried the faith and patience of his people, and
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distinguished between the hypocrites and the sincere among them, he
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will reckon with the Chaldeans, will humble and bring down, not only
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that proud monarch Nebuchadnezzar, but that proud monarchy, for their
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boundless and insatiable thirst after dominion and wealth, for which
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they themselves should at length be made a prey,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Hab+2:2-8">ver. 2-8</A>.
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II. That not they only, but all other sinners like them, should perish
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under a divine woe.
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1. Those that are covetous, are greedy of wealth and honours,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Hab+2:9,11">ver. 9, 11</A>.
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2. Those that are injurious and oppressive, and raise estates by wrong
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and rapine,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Hab+2:12-14">ver. 12-14</A>.
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3. Those that promote drunkenness that they may expose their
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neighbours to shame,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Hab+2:15-17">ver. 15-17</A>.
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4. Those that worship idols,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Hab+2:18-20">ver. 18-20</A>.</P>
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</FONT>
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<A NAME="Hab2_1"> </A>
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<A NAME="Hab2_2"> </A>
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<A NAME="Hab2_3"> </A>
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<A NAME="Hab2_4"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec1"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Waiting upon God; The People Directed.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 600.</TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>1 I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and
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will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall
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answer when I am reproved.
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2 And the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> answered me, and said, Write the vision, and
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make <I>it</I> plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it.
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3 For the vision <I>is</I> yet for an appointed time, but at the end
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it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it;
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because it will surely come, it will not tarry.
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4 Behold, his soul <I>which</I> is lifted up is not upright in him:
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but the just shall live by his faith.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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Here,
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I. The prophet humbly gives his attendance upon God
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Hab+2:1"><I>v.</I> 1</A>):
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"<I>I will stand upon my watch,</I> as a sentinel on the walls of a
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besieged city, or on the borders of an invaded country, that is very
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solicitous to gain intelligence. I will look up, will look round, will
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look within, <I>and watch to see what he will say unto me,</I> will
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listen attentively to the words of his mouth and carefully observe the
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steps of his providence, that I may not lose the least hint of
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instruction or direction. <I>I will watch to see what he will say in
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me</I>" (so it may be read), "what the Spirit of prophecy in me will
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dictate to me, by way of answer to my complaints." Even in a ordinary
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way, God not only speaks to us by his word, but speaks in us by our own
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consciences, whispering to us, <I>This is the way, walk in it;</I> and
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we must attend to the voice of God in both. The prophet's standing upon
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his <I>tower,</I> or high place, intimates his prudence, in making use
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of the helps and means he had within his reach to know the mind of God,
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and to be instructed concerning it. Those that expect to hear from God
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must withdraw from the world, and get above it, must raise their
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attention, fix their thought, study the scriptures, consult experiences
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and the experienced, continue instant in prayer, and thus set
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themselves <I>upon the tower.</I> His standing upon his watch intimates
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his patience, his constancy and resolution; he will wait the time, and
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weather the point, as a watchman does, but he will have an answer; he
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will know what God will <I>say to him,</I> not only for his own
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satisfaction, but to enable him as a prophet to give satisfaction to
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others, and answer their exceptions, when he is reproved or argued
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with. Herein the prophet is an example to us.
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1. When we are tossed and perplexed with doubts concerning the methods
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of Providence, are tempted to think that it is fate, or fortune, and
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not a wise God, that governs the world, or that the church is
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abandoned, and God's covenant with his people cancelled and laid aside,
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then we must take pains to furnish ourselves with considerations proper
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to clear this matter; we must stand upon our watch against the
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temptation, that it may not get ground upon us, must set ourselves upon
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the tower, to see if we can discover that which will silence the
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temptation and solve the objected difficulties, must do as the
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psalmist, <I>consider the days of old</I> and make <I>a diligent
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search</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+77:6">Ps. lxxvii. 6</A>),
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must go into the sanctuary of God, and there labour to understand the
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end of these things
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+73:17">Ps. lxxiii. 17</A>);
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we must not give way to our doubts, but struggle to make the best of
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our way out of them.
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2. When we have been at prayer, pouring out our complaints and requests
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before God, we must carefully observe what answers God gives by his
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word, his Spirit, and his providences, to our humble representations;
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when David says, <I>I will direct my prayer unto thee,</I> as an arrow
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to the mark, he adds, <I>I will look up,</I> will look after my prayer,
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as a man does after the arrow he has shot,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+5:3">Ps. v. 3</A>.
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We must <I>hear what God the Lord will speak,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+85:8">Ps. lxxxv. 8</A>.
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3. When we go to read and hear the word of God, and so to consult the
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lively oracles, we must set ourselves to observe what God will thereby
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<I>say unto us,</I> to suit our case, what word of conviction, caution,
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counsel, and comfort, he will bring to our souls, that we may receive
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it, and submit to the power of it, and may consider what we shall
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answer, what returns we shall make to the word of God, when we are
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reproved by it.
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4. When we are attacked by such as quarrel with God and his providence
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as the prophet here seems to have been--beset, besieged, as in a tower,
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by hosts of objectors--we should consider how to answer them, fetch our
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instructions from God, hear what he says to us for our satisfaction,
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and have that ready to say to others, <I>when we are reproved,</I> to
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satisfy them, as a <I>reason of the hope that is in us</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Pe+3:15">1 Pet. iii. 15</A>),
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and beg of God <I>a mouth and wisdom,</I> and that it may be <I>given
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us in that same hour what we shall speak.</I></P>
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<P>
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II. God graciously gives him the meeting; for he will not disappoint
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the believing expectations of his people that wait to hear what he will
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say unto them, but will <I>speak peace,</I> will <I>answer them with
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good words and comfortable words,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Zec+1:13">Zech. i. 13</A>.
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The prophet had complained of the prevalence of the Chaldeans, which
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God had given him a prospect of; now, to pacify him concerning it, he
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here gives him a further prospect of their fall and ruin, as Isaiah,
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before this, when he had foretold the captivity in Babylon, foretold
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also the destruction of Babylon. Now, this great and important event
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being made known to him by a vision, care is taken to publish the
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vision, and transmit it to the generations to come, who should see the
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accomplishment of it.</P>
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<P>
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1. The prophet must <I>write the vision,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Hab+2:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>.
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Thus, when St. John had a vision of the New Jerusalem, he was ordered
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to <I>write,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+21:5">Rev. xxi. 5</A>.
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He must write it, that he might imprint it on his own mind, and make it
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more clear to himself, but especially that it might be notified to
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those in distant places and transmitted to those in future ages. What
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is handed down by tradition is easily mistaken and liable to
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corruption; but what is written is reduced to a certainty, and
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preserved safe and pure. We have reason to bless God for written
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visions, that God has written to us the great things of his prophets as
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well as of his law. He must <I>write the vision,</I> and <I>make it
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plain upon tables,</I> must write it legibly, in large characters, so
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that <I>he who runs may read it,</I> that those who will not allow
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themselves leisure to read it deliberately may not avoid a
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<I>cursory</I> view of it. Probably, the prophets were wont to write
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some of the most remarkable of their predictions in tables, and to hang
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them up in the temple,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+8:1">Isa. viii. 1</A>.
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Now the prophet is told to <I>write this</I> very <I>plain.</I> Note,
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Those who are employed in preaching the word of God should study
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plainness as much as may be, so as to make themselves intelligible to
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the meanest capacities. The things of our everlasting peace, which God
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has written to us, are made plain, <I>they are all plain to him that
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understands</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+8:9">Prov. viii. 9</A>),
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and they are published with authority; God himself has prefixed his
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<I>imprimatur</I> to them; he has said, <I>Make them plain.</I></P>
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<P>
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2. The people must wait for the accomplishment of the <I>vision</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Hab+2:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>):
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"<I>The vision is yet for an appointed time</I> to come. You shall now
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be told of your deliverance by the breaking of the Chaldeans' power,
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and that the time of it is fixed in the counsel and decree of God.
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<I>There is an appointed time,</I> but it is not near; it is yet to be
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deferred a great while;" and that comes in here as a reason why it must
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be written, that it may be reviewed afterwards and the event compared
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with it. Note, God has an appointed time for his appointed work, and
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will be sure to do the work when the time comes; it is not for us to
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anticipate his appointments, but to wait his time. And it is a great
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encouragement to wait with patience, that, though the promised favour
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be deferred long, it will come at last, and be an abundant recompence
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to us for our waiting: <I>At the end it shall speak and not lie.</I> We
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shall not be disappointed of it, for it will come at the time
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appointed; nor shall we be disappointed in it, for it will fully answer
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our believing expectations. The promise may seem silent a great while,
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but at the end it shall speak; and therefore, <I>though it tarry</I>
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longer than we expected, yet we must continue <I>waiting for it,</I>
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being assured it will come, and willing to tarry until it does come.
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The day that God has set for the deliverance of his people, and the
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destruction of his and their enemies, is a day,
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(1.) That will surely come at last; it is never adjourned <I>sine
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die--without fixing another day,</I> but it will without fail come at
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the fixed time and the fittest time.
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(2.) It <I>will not tarry,</I> for God <I>is not slack, as some count
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slackness</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Pe+3:9">2 Pet. iii. 9</A>);
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<I>though it tarry</I> past our time, yet <I>it does not tarry</I> past
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God's time, which is always the best time.</P>
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<P>
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3. This vision, the accomplishment of which is so long waited for, will
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be such an exercise of faith and patience as will try and discover men
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what they are,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Hab+2:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>.
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(1.) There are some who will proudly disdain this vision, whose hearts
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are so lifted up that they scorn to take notice of it; if God will work
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for them immediately, they will thank him, but they will not give him
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credit; their hearts are lifted up towards vanity, and, since God puts
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them off, they will shift for themselves and not be beholden to him;
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they think <I>their own hands sufficient for them,</I> and God's
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promise is to them an insignificant thing. That man's soul that is thus
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<I>lifted up is not upright in him;</I> it is not right with God, is
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not as it should be. Those that either distrust or despise God's
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all-sufficiency will not walk uprightly with him,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+17:1">Gen. xvii. 1</A>.
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But,
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(2.) Those who are truly good, and whose hearts are upright with God,
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will value the promise, and venture their all upon it; and, in
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confidence of the truth of it, will keep close to God and duty in the
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most difficult trying times, and will then live comfortably in
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communion with God, dependence on him, and expectation of him. <I>The
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just shall live by faith;</I> during the captivity good people shall
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support themselves, and live comfortably, by faith in these precious
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promises, while the performance of them is deferred. <I>The just shall
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live by his faith,</I> by that faith which he acts upon the word of
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God. This is quoted in the New Testament
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+1:17,Ga+3:11,Heb+10:38">Rom. i. 17; Gal. iii. 11; Heb. x. 38</A>),
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for the proof of the great doctrine of justification by faith only and
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of the influence which the grace of faith has upon the Christian life.
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Those that are made <I>just by faith shall live,</I> shall be happy
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here and for ever; while they are here, they live by it; when they come
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to heaven faith shall be swallowed up in vision.</P>
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<A NAME="Hab2_5"> </A>
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<A NAME="Hab2_6"> </A>
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<A NAME="Hab2_7"> </A>
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<A NAME="Hab2_8"> </A>
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<A NAME="Hab2_9"> </A>
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<A NAME="Hab2_10"> </A>
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<A NAME="Hab2_11"> </A>
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<A NAME="Hab2_12"> </A>
|
||
|
<A NAME="Hab2_13"> </A>
|
||
|
<A NAME="Hab2_14"> </A>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A NAME="Sec2"> </A>
|
||
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
||
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Judgment Predicted; Judgment of the King of Babylon.</I></FONT></TD>
|
||
|
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 600.</TD></TR>
|
||
|
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
||
|
</TABLE>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<P>
|
||
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>5 Yea also, because he transgresseth by wine, <I>he is</I> a proud
|
||
|
man, neither keepeth at home, who enlargeth his desire as hell,
|
||
|
and <I>is</I> as death, and cannot be satisfied, but gathereth unto
|
||
|
him all nations, and heapeth unto him all people:
|
||
|
6 Shall not all these take up a parable against him, and a
|
||
|
taunting proverb against him, and say, Woe to him that increaseth
|
||
|
<I>that which is</I> not his! how long? and to him that ladeth himself
|
||
|
with thick clay!
|
||
|
7 Shall they not rise up suddenly that shall bite thee, and
|
||
|
awake that shall vex thee, and thou shalt be for booties unto
|
||
|
them?
|
||
|
8 Because thou hast spoiled many nations, all the remnant of
|
||
|
the people shall spoil thee; because of men's blood, and <I>for</I>
|
||
|
the violence of the land, of the city, and of all that dwell
|
||
|
therein.
|
||
|
9 Woe to him that coveteth an evil covetousness to his house,
|
||
|
that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from
|
||
|
the power of evil!
|
||
|
10 Thou hast consulted shame to thy house by cutting off many
|
||
|
people, and hast sinned <I>against</I> thy soul.
|
||
|
11 For the stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of
|
||
|
the timber shall answer it.
|
||
|
12 Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood, and stablisheth
|
||
|
a city by iniquity!
|
||
|
13 Behold, <I>is it</I> not of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> of hosts that the people
|
||
|
shall labour in the very fire, and the people shall weary
|
||
|
themselves for very vanity?
|
||
|
14 For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the
|
||
|
glory of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, as the waters cover the sea.
|
||
|
</FONT></P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
The prophet having had orders to <I>write the vision,</I> and the
|
||
|
people to wait for the accomplishment of it, the vision itself follows;
|
||
|
and it is, as divers other prophecies we have met with, the burden of
|
||
|
Babylon and Babylon's king, the same that was said to <I>pass over</I>
|
||
|
and <I>offend,</I>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Hab+1:11"><I>ch.</I> i. 11</A>.
|
||
|
|
||
|
It reads the doom, some think, of Nebuchadnezzar, who was principally
|
||
|
active in the destruction of Jerusalem, or of that monarchy, or of the
|
||
|
whole kingdom of the Chaldeans, or of all such proud and oppressive
|
||
|
powers as bear hard upon any people, especially upon God's people.
|
||
|
Observe,</P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
I. The charge laid down against this enemy, upon which the sentence is
|
||
|
grounded,
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Hab+2:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>.
|
||
|
|
||
|
The <I>lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eye,</I> and <I>the pride
|
||
|
of life,</I> are the entangling snares of men, and great men
|
||
|
especially; and we find him that led Israel captive himself led captive
|
||
|
by each of these. For,
|
||
|
|
||
|
1. He is sensual and voluptuous, and given to his pleasures: <I>He
|
||
|
transgresses by wine.</I> Drunkenness is itself a transgression, and is
|
||
|
the cause of abundance of transgression. We read of those that <I>err
|
||
|
through wine,</I>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+28:7">Isa. xxviii. 7</A>.
|
||
|
|
||
|
Belshazzar (in whom particularly this prophecy had its accomplishment)
|
||
|
was in the height of his transgression by wine when the hand-writing
|
||
|
upon the wall signed the warrant for his immediate execution, pursuant
|
||
|
to this sentence,
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+5:1">Dan. v. 1</A>.
|
||
|
|
||
|
2. He is haughty and imperious: <I>He is a proud man,</I> and his pride
|
||
|
is a certain presage of his fall coming on. If great men be proud men,
|
||
|
the great God will make them know he is above them. His transgressing
|
||
|
by wine is made the cause of his arrogance and insolence: therefore
|
||
|
<I>he is a proud man.</I> When a man is drunk, though he makes himself
|
||
|
as mean as a beast, yet he thinks himself as great as a king, and
|
||
|
prides himself in that by which he shames himself. We find <I>the
|
||
|
crown of pride</I> upon the head of the <I>drunkards of Ephraim,</I>
|
||
|
and a <I>woe</I> to both,
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+28:1">Isa. xxviii. 1</A>.
|
||
|
|
||
|
3. He is covetous and greedy of wealth, and this is the effect of his
|
||
|
pride; he thinks himself worthy to enjoy all, and therefore makes it
|
||
|
his business to engross all. The Chaldean monarchy aimed to be a
|
||
|
universal one. He <I>keeps not at home,</I> is not content with his
|
||
|
own, which he has an incontestable title to, but thinks it too little,
|
||
|
and so enjoys it not, nor takes the comfort he might in his own palace,
|
||
|
in his own dominion. His sin is his punishment, his ambition is his
|
||
|
perpetual uneasiness. Though the home be a palace, yet to a
|
||
|
discontented mind it is a prison. He <I>enlarges his desire as
|
||
|
hell,</I> or <I>the grave,</I> which daily receives the body of the
|
||
|
dead, and yet still cries, <I>Give, give;</I> he is <I>as death,</I>
|
||
|
which continues to devour, and <I>cannot be satisfied.</I> Note, It is
|
||
|
the sin and folly of many who have a great deal of the wealth of this
|
||
|
world that they do not know when they have enough, but the more they
|
||
|
have the more they would have, and the more eager they are for it. And
|
||
|
it is just with God that the desires which are insatiable should still
|
||
|
be unsatisfied; it is the doom passed on those that <I>love silver</I>
|
||
|
that they shall never be <I>satisfied with it,</I>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ec+5:10">Eccl. v. 10</A>.
|
||
|
|
||
|
Those that will not be content with their allotments shall not have the
|
||
|
comfort of their achievements. This proud prince is still <I>gathering
|
||
|
to him all nations, and heaping to him all people,</I> invading their
|
||
|
rights, seizing their properties, and they must not be unless they will
|
||
|
be his, and under his command. One nation will not satisfy him unless
|
||
|
he has another, and then another, and all at last; as those in a lower
|
||
|
sphere, to gratify the same inordinate desire, lay <I>house to house,
|
||
|
and field to field, that they may be placed alone in the earth,</I>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+5:8">Isa. v. 8</A>.
|
||
|
|
||
|
And it is hard to say which is more to be pitied, the folly of such
|
||
|
ambitious princes as place their honour in enlarging their dominions,
|
||
|
and not in ruling them well, or the misery of those nations that are
|
||
|
harassed and pulled to pieces by them.</P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
II. The sentence passed upon him
|
||
|
|
||
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Hab+2:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>):
|
||
|
|
||
|
<I>Shall not all these take up a parable against him?</I> His doom
|
||
|
is,</P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
1. That, since pride has been his sin, disgrace and dishonour shall be
|
||
|
his punishment, and he shall be loaded with contempt, shall be laughed
|
||
|
at and despised by all about him, as those that look big, and aim high,
|
||
|
deserve to be, and commonly are, when they are brought down and
|
||
|
baffled.</P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
2. That, since he has been abusive to his neighbours, those very
|
||
|
persons whom he has abused shall be the instruments of his disgrace:
|
||
|
<I>All those shall take up a taunting proverb against him.</I> They
|
||
|
shall have the pleasure of insulting over him and he the shame of being
|
||
|
trampled upon by them. Those that shall triumph in the fall of this
|
||
|
great tyrant are here furnished with a <I>parable,</I> and a
|
||
|
<I>taunting proverb,</I> to take up against him. <I>He shall say</I>
|
||
|
(he that draws up the insulting ditty shall say thus), <I>Ho, he that
|
||
|
increases that which is not his! Aha!</I> what has become of him now?
|
||
|
So it may be read in a taunting way. Or, <I>He shall say,</I> that is,
|
||
|
<I>the just,</I> who <I>lives by his faith,</I> he to whom the vision
|
||
|
is written and made plain, with the help of that shall say this, shall
|
||
|
foretel the enemy's fall, even when he sees him flourishing, and
|
||
|
<I>suddenly curse his habitation,</I> even when he is <I>taking
|
||
|
root,</I>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+5:3">Job v. 3</A>.
|
||
|
|
||
|
He shall indeed denounce woes against him.</P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
(1.) Here is a woe against him for increasing his own possessions by
|
||
|
invading his neighbour's rights,
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Hab+2:6-8"><I>v.</I> 6-8</A>.
|
||
|
|
||
|
He <I>increases that which is not his,</I> but other people's. Note, No
|
||
|
more of what we have is to be reckoned ours than what we came honestly
|
||
|
by; nor will it long be ours, for <I>wealth gotten by vanity will be
|
||
|
diminished.</I> Let not those that thrive in the world be too forward
|
||
|
to bless themselves in it, for, if they do not thrive lawfully, they
|
||
|
are under a woe. See here,
|
||
|
|
||
|
[1.] What this prosperous prince is doing; he is <I>lading himself with
|
||
|
thick clay.</I> Riches are but clay, thick clay; what are gold and
|
||
|
silver but white and yellow earth? Those that travel through thick clay
|
||
|
are both retarded and dirtied in their journey; so are those that go
|
||
|
through the world in the midst of an abundance of the wealth of it;
|
||
|
but, as if that were not enough, what fools are those that <I>load
|
||
|
themselves with it,</I> as if this trash would be their treasure! They
|
||
|
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 of it another day. They overload their ship with
|
||
|
this thick clay, and so sink it and themselves <I>into destruction and
|
||
|
perdition.</I>
|
||
|
|
||
|
[2.] See what people say of him, while he is thus increasing his
|
||
|
wealth; they cry, "<I>How long?</I> How long will it be ere he has
|
||
|
enough?" They cry to God, "How long wilt thou suffer this proud
|
||
|
oppressor to trouble the nations?" Or they say to one another, "See how
|
||
|
long it will last, how long he will be able to keep what he gets thus
|
||
|
dishonestly." They dare not speak out, but we know what they mean when
|
||
|
they say, <I>How long?</I>
|
||
|
|
||
|
[3.] See what will be in the end hereof. What he has got by violence
|
||
|
from others, others shall take by violence from him. The Medes and
|
||
|
Persians shall make a prey of the Chaldeans, as they have done of other
|
||
|
nations,
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Hab+2:7,8"><I>v.</I> 7, 8</A>.
|
||
|
|
||
|
"There shall be those that will <I>bite thee</I> and <I>vex thee;</I>
|
||
|
those from whom thou didst not fear any danger, that seemed
|
||
|
<I>asleep,</I> shall <I>rise up</I> and <I>awake</I> to be a plague to
|
||
|
thee. They shall rise up <I>suddenly</I> when thou are most secure, and
|
||
|
least prepared to receive the shock and ward off the blow. <I>Shall
|
||
|
they not rise up suddenly?</I> No doubt they shall, and thou thyself
|
||
|
hast reason to expect it, to be dealt with as thou hast dealt with
|
||
|
others, that <I>thou shalt be for booties unto them,</I> as others have
|
||
|
been unto thee, that, according to the law of retaliation, as <I>thou
|
||
|
hast spoiled many nations</I> so thou shalt thyself be <I>spoiled</I>
|
||
|
|
||
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Hab+2:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>);
|
||
|
|
||
|
<I>all the remnant of the people shall spoil thee.</I>" The king of
|
||
|
Babylon thought he had brought all the nations round about him so low
|
||
|
that none of them would be able to make reprisals upon him; but though
|
||
|
they were but a remnant of people, a very few left, yet these shall be
|
||
|
sufficient to spoil him, when God has such a controversy with him,
|
||
|
<I>First,</I> For <I>men's blood,</I> and the thousands of lives that
|
||
|
have been sacrificed to his ambition and revenge, especially for the
|
||
|
blood of Israelites, which is in a special manner precious to God.
|
||
|
<I>Secondly, For the violence of the land,</I> his laying waste so many
|
||
|
countries, and destroying the fruits of the earth, especially in the
|
||
|
land of Israel. <I>Thirdly,</I> For the violence <I>of the city,</I>
|
||
|
the many cities that he had turned into ruinous heaps, especially
|
||
|
Jerusalem the holy city, and of <I>all that dwelt therein,</I> who were
|
||
|
ruined by him. Note, The violence done by proud men to advance and
|
||
|
enrich themselves will be called over again (and must be accounted for)
|
||
|
another day, by him <I>to whom vengeance belongs.</I></P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
(2.) Here is a woe against him for coveting still more, and aiming to
|
||
|
be still higher,
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Hab+2:9-11"><I>v.</I> 9-11</A>.
|
||
|
|
||
|
The crime for which this woe is denounced is much the same with that in
|
||
|
the foregoing article--an insatiable desire of wealth and honour; it is
|
||
|
<I>coveting an evil covetousness to his house,</I> that is, grasping at
|
||
|
an abundance for his family. Note, Covetousness is a very evil thing in
|
||
|
a family; it brings disquiet and uneasiness into it (<I>he that is
|
||
|
greedy of gain troubles his own house</I>), and, which is worse, it
|
||
|
brings the curse of God upon it and upon all the affairs of it. <I>Woe
|
||
|
to him that gains an evil gain;</I> so the margin reads it. There is a
|
||
|
lawful gain, which by the blessing of God may be a comfort to a house
|
||
|
(<I>a good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children</I>),
|
||
|
but what is got by fraud and injustice is ill-got, and will be poor
|
||
|
gain, will not only do no good to a family, but will bring poverty and
|
||
|
ruin upon it. Now observe,
|
||
|
|
||
|
[1.] What this covetous wretch aims at; it is <I>to set his nest on
|
||
|
high,</I> to raise his family to some greater dignity than it had
|
||
|
before arrived at, or to set it, as he apprehends, out of the reach of
|
||
|
danger, that he may be <I>delivered from the power of evil,</I> that it
|
||
|
may not be in the power of the worst of his enemies to do him a
|
||
|
mischief nor so much as to disturb his repose. Note, It is common for
|
||
|
men to pretend it as an excuse for their covetousness and ambition that
|
||
|
they only consult their own safety, and aim to secure themselves; and
|
||
|
yet they do but deceive themselves when they think <I>their wealth</I>
|
||
|
will be a <I>strong city</I> to them, <I>and a high wall,</I> for it is
|
||
|
so only <I>in their own conceit,</I>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+18:11">Prov. xviii. 11</A>.
|
||
|
|
||
|
[2.] What he will get by it: <I>Thou hast consulted,</I> not safety,
|
||
|
but <I>shame, to thy house, by cutting off many people,</I>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Hab+2:10"><I>v.</I> 10</A>.
|
||
|
|
||
|
Note, An estate raised by iniquity is a scandal to a family. Those
|
||
|
that cut off, or undermine, others, to make room for themselves, that
|
||
|
impoverish others to enrich themselves, do but consult shame to their
|
||
|
houses, and fasten upon them a mark of infamy. Yet that is not the
|
||
|
worst of it: "<I>Thou hast sinned against thy own soul,</I> hast
|
||
|
brought that under guilt and wrath, and endangered that." Note, Those
|
||
|
that do wrong to their neighbour do a much greater wrong to their own
|
||
|
souls. But if the sinner pleads, Not guilty, and thinks he has managed
|
||
|
his frauds and violence with so much art and contrivance that they
|
||
|
cannot be proved upon him, let him know that if there be no other
|
||
|
witnesses against him <I>the stone shall cry out of the wall</I>
|
||
|
against him, and <I>the beam out of the timber</I> in the roof <I>shall
|
||
|
answer it,</I> shall second it, shall witness it, that the money and
|
||
|
materials wherewith he built the house were unjustly gotten,
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Hab+2:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>.
|
||
|
|
||
|
The stones and timber cry to heaven for vengeance, as <I>the whole
|
||
|
creation groans under</I> the sin of man and waits to be delivered from
|
||
|
that <I>bondage of corruption.</I></P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
(3.) Here is a woe against him for building a town and a city by blood
|
||
|
and extortion
|
||
|
|
||
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Hab+2:12"><I>v.</I> 12</A>):
|
||
|
|
||
|
He <I>builds a town,</I> and is him-self lord of it; he <I>establishes
|
||
|
a city,</I> and makes it his royal seat. So Nebuchadnezzar did
|
||
|
|
||
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+4:30">Dan. iv. 30</A>):
|
||
|
|
||
|
<I>Is not this great Babylon that I have built for the house of the
|
||
|
kingdom?</I> But it is built with the blood of his own subjects, whom
|
||
|
he has oppressed, and the blood of his neighbours, whom he has unjustly
|
||
|
invaded; it is <I>established by iniquity,</I> by the unrighteous laws
|
||
|
that are made for the security of it. <I>Woe</I> to him that does so;
|
||
|
for the towns and cities thus built can never be established; they will
|
||
|
fall, and their founders be buried in the ruins of them. Babylon, which
|
||
|
was built by blood and iniquity, did not continue long; its day soon
|
||
|
came to fall; and then this woe took effect, when that prophecy, which
|
||
|
is expressed as a history
|
||
|
|
||
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+21:9">Isa. xxi. 9</A>),
|
||
|
|
||
|
proved a history indeed: <I>Babylon has fallen, has fallen!</I> And the
|
||
|
destruction of that city was,
|
||
|
|
||
|
[1.] The shame of the Chaldeans, who had taken so much pains, and were
|
||
|
at such a vast expense, to fortify it
|
||
|
|
||
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Hab+2:13"><I>v.</I> 13</A>):
|
||
|
|
||
|
<I>Is it not of the Lord of hosts that the people</I> who have laboured
|
||
|
so hard to defend that city shall <I>labour in the very fire,</I> shall
|
||
|
see the out-works which they confided in the strength of set on fire,
|
||
|
and shall labour in vain to save them? Or they, in their pursuits of
|
||
|
worldly wealth and honour, put themselves to great fatigue, and ran a
|
||
|
great hazard, as those that <I>labour in the fire</I> do. The worst
|
||
|
that can be said of the labourers in God's vineyards is that <I>they
|
||
|
have borne the burden and heat of the day</I>
|
||
|
|
||
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+20:12">Matt. xx. 12</A>);
|
||
|
|
||
|
but those that are eager in their worldly pursuits <I>labour in the
|
||
|
very fire,</I> make themselves perfect slaves to their lusts. There is
|
||
|
not a greater drudge in the world than he that is under the power of
|
||
|
reigning covetousness. And what comes of it? Though they take a world
|
||
|
of pains they are but poorly paid for it; for, after all, <I>they weary
|
||
|
themselves for very vanity;</I> they were told it was vanity, and when
|
||
|
they find themselves disappointed of it, and disappointed in it, they
|
||
|
will own it is worse than vanity, it is <I>vexation of spirit.</I>
|
||
|
|
||
|
[2.] It was the honour of God, as a God of impartial justice and
|
||
|
irresistible power; for by the ruin of the Chaldean monarchy (which all
|
||
|
the world could not but take notice of) <I>the earth was filled with
|
||
|
the knowledge of the glory of the Lord,</I>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Hab+2:14"><I>v.</I> 14</A>.
|
||
|
|
||
|
<I>The Lord is known by</I> these <I>judgments which he executes,</I>
|
||
|
especially when he is pleased to <I>look upon proud men and abase
|
||
|
them,</I> for he thereby proves himself to be <I>God alone,</I>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+40:11,12">Job xl. 11, 12</A>.
|
||
|
|
||
|
See what good God brings out of the staining and sinking of earthly
|
||
|
glory; he thereby manifests and magnifies his own glory, and <I>fills
|
||
|
the earth</I> with the knowledge of it as plentifully as the <I>waters
|
||
|
cover the sea,</I> which lie deep, spread far, and shall not be dried
|
||
|
up until time shall be no more. Such is the <I>knowledge of the glory
|
||
|
of God in the face of Jesus Christ</I> given by the gospel
|
||
|
|
||
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Co+4:6">2 Cor. iv. 6</A>),
|
||
|
|
||
|
and such was the knowledge of his glory by the miraculous ruin of
|
||
|
Babylon. Note, Such as will not be taught the knowledge of God's glory
|
||
|
by the judgments of his mouth shall be made to know and acknowledge it
|
||
|
by the judgments of his hand.</P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A NAME="Hab2_15"> </A>
|
||
|
<A NAME="Hab2_16"> </A>
|
||
|
<A NAME="Hab2_17"> </A>
|
||
|
<A NAME="Hab2_18"> </A>
|
||
|
<A NAME="Hab2_19"> </A>
|
||
|
<A NAME="Hab2_20"> </A>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A NAME="Sec3"> </A>
|
||
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
||
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Judgment Predicted.</I></FONT></TD>
|
||
|
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 600.</TD></TR>
|
||
|
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
||
|
</TABLE>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<P>
|
||
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>15 Woe unto him that giveth his neighbour drink, that puttest
|
||
|
thy bottle to <I>him,</I> and makest <I>him</I> drunken also, that thou
|
||
|
mayest look on their nakedness!
|
||
|
16 Thou art filled with shame for glory: drink thou also, and
|
||
|
let thy foreskin be uncovered: the cup of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>'s right hand
|
||
|
shall be turned unto thee, and shameful spewing <I>shall be</I> on thy
|
||
|
glory.
|
||
|
17 For the violence of Lebanon shall cover thee, and the spoil
|
||
|
of beasts, <I>which</I> made them afraid, because of men's blood, and
|
||
|
for the violence of the land, of the city, and of all that dwell
|
||
|
therein.
|
||
|
18 What profiteth the graven image that the maker thereof hath
|
||
|
graven it; the molten image, and a teacher of lies, that the
|
||
|
maker of his work trusteth therein, to make dumb idols?
|
||
|
19 Woe unto him that saith to the wood, Awake; to the dumb
|
||
|
stone, Arise, it shall teach! Behold, it <I>is</I> laid over with gold
|
||
|
and silver, and <I>there is</I> no breath at all in the midst of it.
|
||
|
20 But the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> <I>is</I> in his holy temple: let all the earth keep
|
||
|
silence before him.
|
||
|
</FONT></P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
The three foregoing articles, upon which the woes here are grounded,
|
||
|
are very near akin to each other. The criminals charged by them are
|
||
|
oppressors and extortioners, that raise estates by rapine and
|
||
|
injustice; and it is mentioned here again
|
||
|
|
||
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Hab+2:17"><I>v.</I> 17</A>),
|
||
|
|
||
|
the very same that was said
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Hab+2:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>,
|
||
|
|
||
|
for that is the crime upon which the greatest stress is laid; it is
|
||
|
<I>because of men's blood,</I> innocent blood, barbarously and unjustly
|
||
|
shed, which is a provoking crying thing; it is <I>for the violence of
|
||
|
the land, of the city, and of all that dwell therein,</I> which God
|
||
|
will certainly reckon for, sooner or later, as the asserter of right
|
||
|
and the avenger of wrong.</P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
But here are two articles more, of a different nature, which carry a
|
||
|
<I>woe</I> to all those in general to whom they belong, and
|
||
|
particularly to the Babylonian monarchs, by whom the people of God were
|
||
|
taken and held captives.</P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
I. The promoters of drunkenness stand here impeached and condemned.
|
||
|
Belshazzar was one of those; he was so, remarkably that very night that
|
||
|
the prophecy of this chapter was fulfilled in the period of his life
|
||
|
and kingdom, when he <I>drank wine before a thousand</I> of his lords
|
||
|
|
||
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+5:1">Dan. v. 1</A>),
|
||
|
|
||
|
began the healths, and forced them to pledge him. And perhaps it was
|
||
|
one reason why the succeeding monarchs of Persia made it a law of their
|
||
|
kingdom that <I>in drinking none should compel,</I> but <I>they should
|
||
|
do according to every man's pleasure</I> (as we find,
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Es+1:8">Esth. i. 8</A>),
|
||
|
|
||
|
because they had seen in the kings of Babylon the mischievous
|
||
|
consequences of forcing healths and making people drunk. But the woe
|
||
|
here stands firm and very fearful against all those, whoever they are,
|
||
|
who are guilty of this sin at any time, and in any place, from the
|
||
|
stately palace (where that was) to the paltry ale-house. Observe,</P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
1. Who the sinner is that is here articled against; it is he that
|
||
|
<I>makes his neighbour drunk,</I>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Hab+2:15"><I>v.</I> 15</A>.
|
||
|
|
||
|
To give a neighbour drink who is in want, who is thirsty and poor,
|
||
|
though it be but a cup of cold water to a disciple, in the name of a
|
||
|
disciple, to give drink to weary traveller, nay, and to give strong
|
||
|
drink to him that is ready to perish, and wine to those that are heavy
|
||
|
of heart, is a piece of charity which is required of us, and shall be
|
||
|
recompensed to us. <I>I was thirsty, and you gave me drink.</I> But to
|
||
|
give a neighbour drink who has enough already, and more than enough,
|
||
|
with design to intoxicate him, that he may expose himself, may talk
|
||
|
foolishly, and make himself ridiculous, may disclose his own secret
|
||
|
concerns, or be drawn in to agree to a bad bargain for himself--this is
|
||
|
abominable wickedness; and those who are guilty of it, who make a
|
||
|
practice of it, and take a pride and pleasure in it, are rebels against
|
||
|
God in heaven, and his sacred laws, factors for the devil in hell, and
|
||
|
his cursed interests, and enemies to men on earth, and their honour and
|
||
|
welfare; they are like the son of Nebat, who <I>sinned and made Israel
|
||
|
to sin.</I> To entice others to drunkenness, to <I>put the bottle to
|
||
|
them,</I> that they may be allured to it by its charms, by <I>looking
|
||
|
on the wine when it is red and gives its colour in the cup,</I> or to
|
||
|
force them to it, obliging them by the rules of the club (and club-laws
|
||
|
indeed they are) to drink so many glasses, and so filled, is to do what
|
||
|
we can, and perhaps more than we know of, towards the murder both of
|
||
|
soul and body; and those that do so have a great deal to answer
|
||
|
for.</P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
2. What the sentence is that is here passed upon him. There is a woe to
|
||
|
him
|
||
|
|
||
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Hab+2:15"><I>v.</I> 15</A>),
|
||
|
|
||
|
and a punishment
|
||
|
|
||
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Hab+2:16"><I>v.</I> 16</A>)
|
||
|
|
||
|
that shall answer to the sin.
|
||
|
|
||
|
(1.) Does he put the cup of drunkenness into the hand of his neighbour?
|
||
|
The cup of fury, the cup of trembling, the <I>cup of the Lord's right
|
||
|
hand,</I> shall be <I>turned unto him;</I> the power of God shall be
|
||
|
armed against him. That cup which had gone round among the nations, to
|
||
|
make them <I>a desolation, an astonishment, and a hissing,</I> which
|
||
|
had made them stumble and <I>fall,</I> so that they could <I>rise no
|
||
|
more,</I> shall at length be put into the hand of the king of Babylon,
|
||
|
as was foretold,
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+25:15,16,18,26,27">Jer. xxv. 15, 16, 18, 26, 27</A>.
|
||
|
|
||
|
Thus the New-Testament Babylon, which had made the nations drunk with
|
||
|
the cup of her fornications, shall <I>have blood given her to drink,
|
||
|
for she is worthy,</I>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+18:3,6">Rev. xviii. 3, 6</A>.
|
||
|
|
||
|
(2.) Does he take a pleasure in putting his neighbour to shame? He
|
||
|
shall himself be loaded with contempt: "<I>Thou art filled with shame
|
||
|
for glory, with shame instead of glory,</I> or art filled now with
|
||
|
shame more than ever thou wast with glory; and the glory thou hast been
|
||
|
filled with shall but serve to make thy shame the more grievous to
|
||
|
thyself, and the more ignominious in the eyes of others. Thou <I>also
|
||
|
shalt drink</I> of the cup of trembling, and shalt expose thyself by
|
||
|
thy fear and cowardice, which shall be as the <I>uncovering of thy
|
||
|
nakedness,</I> to thy shame; and all about thee shall load thee with
|
||
|
disgrace, for <I>shameful spewing shall be on thy glory,</I> on that
|
||
|
which thou hast most prided thyself in, thy dignity, wealth, and
|
||
|
dominion; those whom thou hast made drunk shall themselves spew upon
|
||
|
it. For <I>the violence of Lebanon shall cover thee, and the spoil of
|
||
|
beasts</I>
|
||
|
|
||
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Hab+2:17"><I>v.</I> 17</A>);
|
||
|
|
||
|
thou shalt be hunted and run down with as much violence as ever any
|
||
|
wild beasts in Lebanon were, shall be spoiled as they are, and thy fall
|
||
|
made a sport of; for thou art as one of the beasts that made them
|
||
|
afraid, and therefore they triumph when they have got the mastery of
|
||
|
thee." Or, "It is because of the violence thou hast done to Lebanon,
|
||
|
that is, the land of Israel
|
||
|
|
||
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+3:25">Deut. iii. 25</A>)
|
||
|
|
||
|
and the temple
|
||
|
|
||
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Zec+11:1">Zech. xi. 1</A>),
|
||
|
|
||
|
that God now reckons with thee; that is the sin that now covers
|
||
|
thee."</P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
II. The promoters of idolatry stand here impeached and condemned; and
|
||
|
this also was a sin that Babylon was notoriously guilty of; it was the
|
||
|
<I>mother of harlots.</I> Belshazzar, in his revels, <I>praised his
|
||
|
idols.</I> And for this, here is a woe against them, and in them
|
||
|
against all others that do likewise, particularly the New-Testament
|
||
|
Babylon. Now see here,</P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
1. What they do to promote idolatry; they are <I>mad upon their
|
||
|
idols;</I> so the Chaldeans are said to be,
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+50:38">Jer. l. 38</A>.
|
||
|
|
||
|
For,
|
||
|
|
||
|
(1.) They have a great variety of idols, their <I>graven images</I> and
|
||
|
<I>molten images,</I> that people may take their choice, which they
|
||
|
like best.
|
||
|
|
||
|
(2.) They are very nice and curious in the framing of them: The
|
||
|
<I>maker of the work</I> has performed his part admirably well, the
|
||
|
<I>fashioner of his fashion</I> (so it is in the margin), that
|
||
|
contrived the model in the most significant manner.
|
||
|
|
||
|
(3.) They are at great expense in beautifying and adorning them:
|
||
|
<I>They lay them over with gold and silver;</I> because these are
|
||
|
things people love and dote upon wherever they meet with them, they
|
||
|
dress up their idols in them, the more effectually to court the
|
||
|
adoration of the children of this world.
|
||
|
|
||
|
(4.) They have great expectations from them: <I>The maker of the work
|
||
|
trusts therein</I> as his god, puts a confidence in it, and gives
|
||
|
honour to it as his god. The worshippers of God give honour to him, by
|
||
|
offering up their prayers to him, and waiting to receive instructions
|
||
|
and directions from him; and these honours they give to their idols.
|
||
|
|
||
|
[1.] They pray to them: <I>They say to the wood, Awake</I> for our
|
||
|
relief, "awake to hear our prayers;" and to the dumb stone,
|
||
|
"<I>Arise,</I> and save us," as the church prays to her God, <I>Awake,
|
||
|
O Lord! arise,</I>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+44:23">Ps. xliv. 23</A>.
|
||
|
|
||
|
They own their image to be a god by praying to it. <I>Deliver me, for
|
||
|
thou art my God,</I>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+44:17">Isa. xliv. 17</A>.
|
||
|
|
||
|
<I>Deos qui rogat ille facit--That to which a man addresses petitions
|
||
|
is to him a god.</I>
|
||
|
|
||
|
[2.] They consult them as oracles, and expect to be directed and
|
||
|
dictated to by them: <I>They say to the dumb stone,</I> though it
|
||
|
cannot speak, <I>yet it shall teach.</I> What the wicked demon, or no
|
||
|
less wicked priest, speaks to them from the image, they receive with
|
||
|
the utmost veneration, as of divine authority, and are ready to be
|
||
|
governed by it. Thus is idolatry planted and propagated under the
|
||
|
specious show of religion and devotion.</P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
2. How the extreme folly of this is exposed. God, by Isaiah, when he
|
||
|
foretold the deliverance of his people out of Babylon, largely showed
|
||
|
the shameful stupidity and sottishness of idolaters, and so he does
|
||
|
here by the prophet, on the like occasion.
|
||
|
|
||
|
(1.) Their images, when they have made them, are but mere matter, which
|
||
|
is the meanest lowest rank of being; and all the expense they are at
|
||
|
upon them cannot advance them one step above that. They are wholly void
|
||
|
both of sense and reason, lifeless and speechless (the idol is a
|
||
|
<I>dumb idol,</I> a <I>dumb stone,</I> and there is <I>no breath at all
|
||
|
in the midst of it</I>), so that the most minute animal, that has but
|
||
|
breath and motion, is more excellent then they. They have not so much
|
||
|
as the spirit of a beast.
|
||
|
|
||
|
(2.) It is not in their power to do their worshippers any good
|
||
|
|
||
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Hab+2:18"><I>v.</I> 18</A>):
|
||
|
|
||
|
<I>What profits the graven image?</I> Though it be mere matter, if it
|
||
|
were cast into some other form it might be serviceable to some purpose
|
||
|
or other of human life; but, as it is made a god of, it is of no profit
|
||
|
at all, nor can do its worshippers the least kindness. Nay,
|
||
|
|
||
|
(3.) It is so far from profiting them that it puts a cheat upon them,
|
||
|
and keeps them under the power of a strong delusion; they say, <I>It
|
||
|
shall teach,</I> but it is a <I>teacher of lies;</I> for it represents
|
||
|
God as having a body, as being finite, visible, and dependent, whereas
|
||
|
he is a Spirit, infinite, invisible, and independent, and it confirms
|
||
|
those that become vain in their imaginations in the false notions they
|
||
|
have of God, and makes the idea of God to be a precarious thing, and
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what every man pleases. If we may say to the <I>works of our hands, You
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|
are our gods,</I> we may say so to any of the creatures of our own
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fancy, though the chimera be ever so extravagant. An image is a
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<I>doctrine of vanities;</I> it is <I>falsehood,</I> and a <I>work of
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|
errors,</I>
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|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+10:8,14,15">Jer. x. 8, 14, 15</A>.
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It is therefore easy to see what the religion of those is, and what
|
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|
they aim at, who recommend those teachers of lies as laymen's books,
|
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|
which they are to study and govern themselves by, when they have locked
|
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up from them the book of the scriptures in an unknown tongue.</P>
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<P>
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|
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3. How the people of God triumph in him, and therewith support
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themselves, when the idolaters thus shame themselves
|
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|
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Hab+2:20"><I>v.</I> 20</A>):
|
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|
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|
<I>But the Lord is in his holy temple.</I>
|
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|
|
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|
(1.) <I>Our rock is not as their rock,</I>
|
||
|
|
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|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+32:31">Deut. xxxii. 31</A>.
|
||
|
|
||
|
Theirs are dumb idols; ours is Jehovah, a living God, who is what he
|
||
|
is, and not, as theirs, what men please to make him. He is in his holy
|
||
|
temple in heaven, the residence of his glory, where we have access to
|
||
|
him in the way, not which we have invented, but which he himself has
|
||
|
instituted. Compare
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+115:3">Ps. cxv. 3</A>,
|
||
|
|
||
|
<I>But our God is in the heavens,</I> and
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+11:4">Ps. xi. 4</A>.
|
||
|
|
||
|
(2.) The multitude of their gods which they set up, and take so much
|
||
|
pains to support, cannot thrust out our God; he is, and will be, in his
|
||
|
holy temple still, and glorious in holiness. They have laid waste his
|
||
|
temple at Jerusalem; but he has a temple above that is out of the reach
|
||
|
of their rage and malice, but within the reach of his people's faith
|
||
|
and prayers.
|
||
|
|
||
|
(3.) Our God will make all the world silent before him, will strike the
|
||
|
idolaters as dumb as their idols, convincing them of their folly, and
|
||
|
covering them with shame. He will silence the fury of the oppressors,
|
||
|
and check their rage against his people.
|
||
|
|
||
|
(4.) It is the duty of his people to attend him with silent adorings
|
||
|
|
||
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+65:1">Ps. lxv. 1</A>),
|
||
|
|
||
|
and patiently to wait for his appearing to save them in his own way and
|
||
|
time. <I>Be still, and know that he is God,</I>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Zec+2:13">Zech. ii. 13</A>.</P>
|
||
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