mh_parser/vol_split/35 - Habakkuk/Chapter 1.xml

<div2 id="Hab.ii" n="ii" next="Hab.iii" prev="Hab.i" progress="89.72%" title="Chapter I">
<h2 id="Hab.ii-p0.1">H A B A K K U K.</h2>
<h3 id="Hab.ii-p0.2">CHAP. I.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Hab.ii-p1" shownumber="no">In this chapter, I. The prophet complains to God
of the violence done by the abuse of the sword of justice among his
own people and the hardships thereby put upon many good people,
<scripRef id="Hab.ii-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Hab.1.1-Hab.1.4" parsed="|Hab|1|1|1|4" passage="Hab 1:1-4">ver. 1-4</scripRef>. II. God by him
foretels the punishment of that abuse of power by the sword of war,
and the desolations which the army of the Chaldeans should make
upon them, <scripRef id="Hab.ii-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Hab.1.5-Hab.1.11" parsed="|Hab|1|5|1|11" passage="Hab 1:5-11">ver. 5-11</scripRef>.
III. Then the prophet complains of that too, and is grieved that
the Chaldeans prevail so far (<scripRef id="Hab.ii-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Hab.1.12-Hab.1.17" parsed="|Hab|1|12|1|17" passage="Hab 1:12-17">ver.
12-17</scripRef>), so that he scarcely knows which is more to be
lamented, the sin or the punishment of it, for in both many
harmless good people are very great sufferers. It is well that
there is a day of judgment, and a future state, before us, in which
it shall be eternally well with all the righteous, and with them
only, and ill with all the wicked, and them only; so the present
seeming disorders of Providence shall be set to rights, and there
will remain no matter of complaint whatsoever.</p>
<scripCom id="Hab.ii-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Hab.1" parsed="|Hab|1|0|0|0" passage="Hab 1" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Hab.ii-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Hab.1.1-Hab.1.4" parsed="|Hab|1|1|1|4" passage="Hab 1:1-4" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Hab.ii-p1.6">
<h4 id="Hab.ii-p1.7">The Sins of the People. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Hab.ii-p1.8">b. c.</span> 600.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Hab.ii-p2" shownumber="no">1 The burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see.
  2 <span class="smallcaps" id="Hab.ii-p2.1">O Lord</span>, how long shall I
cry, and thou wilt not hear! <i>even</i> cry out unto thee
<i>of</i> violence, and thou wilt not save!   3 Why dost thou
shew me iniquity, and cause <i>me</i> to behold grievance? for
spoiling and violence <i>are</i> before me: and there are
<i>that</i> raise up strife and contention.   4 Therefore the
law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth: for the wicked
doth compass about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment
proceedeth.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Hab.ii-p3" shownumber="no">We are told no more in the title of this
book (which we have, <scripRef id="Hab.ii-p3.1" osisRef="Bible:Hab.1.1" parsed="|Hab|1|1|0|0" passage="Hab 1:1"><i>v.</i>
1</scripRef>) than that the penman was <i>a prophet,</i> a man
divinely inspired and commissioned, which is enough (if that be so,
we need not ask concerning his tribe or family, or the place of his
birth), and that the book itself is <i>the burden which</i> he
<i>saw;</i> he was as sure of the truth of it as if he had seen it
with his bodily eyes already accomplished. Here, in these verses,
the prophet sadly laments the iniquity of the times, as one
sensibly touched with grief for the lamentable decay of religion
and righteousness. It is a very melancholy complaint which he here
makes to God, 1. That no man could call what he had his own; but,
in defiance of the most sacred laws of property and equity, he that
had power on his side had what he had a mind to, though he had no
right on his side: The land was <i>full of violence,</i> as the old
world was, <scripRef id="Hab.ii-p3.2" osisRef="Bible:Gen.6.11" parsed="|Gen|6|11|0|0" passage="Ge 6:11">Gen. vi. 11</scripRef>. The
prophet <i>cries out of violence</i> (<scripRef id="Hab.ii-p3.3" osisRef="Bible:Hab.1.2" parsed="|Hab|1|2|0|0" passage="Hab 1:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>), <i>iniquity</i> and
<i>grievance, spoil</i> and <i>violence.</i> In families and among
relations, in neighbour-hoods and among friends, in commerce and in
courts of law, every thing was carried with a high hand, and no man
made any scruple of doing wrong to his neighbour, so that he could
but make a good hand of it for himself. It does not appear that the
prophet himself had any great wrong done him (in losing times it
fared best with those that had nothing to lose), but it grieved him
to see other people wronged, and he could not but mingle his tears
with those of the oppressed. Note, Doing wrong to harmless people,
as it is an iniquity in itself, so it is a great grievance to all
that are concerned for God's Jerusalem, who <i>sigh and cry for
abominations</i> of this kind. He complains (<scripRef id="Hab.ii-p3.4" osisRef="Bible:Hab.1.4" parsed="|Hab|1|4|0|0" passage="Hab 1:4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>) that <i>the wicked doth compass
about the righteous.</i> One honest man, one honest cause, shall
have enemies besetting it on every side; many wicked men, in
confederacy against it, run it down; nay, one wicked man (for it is
singular) with so many various arts of mischief sets upon a
righteous man, that he perfectly besets him. 2. That the kingdom
was broken into parties and factions that were continually biting
and devouring one another. This is a lamentation to all the sons of
peace: <i>There are that raise up strife and contention</i>
(<scripRef id="Hab.ii-p3.5" osisRef="Bible:Hab.1.3" parsed="|Hab|1|3|0|0" passage="Hab 1:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>), that foment
divisions, widen breaches, incense men against one another, and sow
discord among brethren, by doing the work of him that is the
accuser of the brethren. Strifes and contentions that have been
laid asleep, and begun to be forgotten, they awake, and
industriously raise up again, and blow up the sparks that were
hidden under the embers. And, if <i>blessed are the
peace-makers,</i> cursed are such peace-breakers, that make
parties, and so make mischief that spreads further, and lasts
longer, than they can imagine. It is sad to see bad men warming
their hands at those flames which are devouring all that is good in
a nation, and stirring up the fire too. 3. That the torrent of
violence and strife ran so strongly as to bid defiance to the
restraints and regulations of laws and the administration of
justice, <scripRef id="Hab.ii-p3.6" osisRef="Bible:Hab.1.4" parsed="|Hab|1|4|0|0" passage="Hab 1:4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>.
Because God did not appear against them, nobody else would;
<i>therefore the law is slacked,</i> is silent; it breathes not;
<i>its pulse beats not</i> (so, it is said, the word signifies); it
intermits, <i>and judgment does not go forth</i> as it should; no
cognizance is taken of those crimes, no justice done upon the
criminals; nay, <i>wrong judgment proceeds;</i> if appeals be made
to the courts of equity, the righteous shall be condemned and the
wicked justified, so that the remedy proves the worst disease. The
legislative power takes no care to supply the deficiencies of the
law for the obviating of those growing threatening mischiefs; the
executive power takes no care to answer the good intentions of the
laws that are made; the stream of justice is dried up by violence,
and has not its free course. 4. That all this was open and public,
and impudently avowed; it was barefaced. The prophet complains that
this iniquity was shown him; he <i>beheld it</i> which way soever
he turned his eyes, nor could he look off it: <i>Spoiling and
violence are before me.</i> Note, The abounding of wickedness in a
nation is a very great eye-sore to good people, and, if they did
not see it, they could not believe it to be so bad as it is.
Solomon often complains of the vexation of this kind which he
<i>saw under the sun;</i> and the prophet would therefore gladly
turn hermit, that he might not see it, <scripRef id="Hab.ii-p3.7" osisRef="Bible:Jer.9.2" parsed="|Jer|9|2|0|0" passage="Jer 9:2">Jer. ix. 2</scripRef>. But <i>then we must needs go out
of the world,</i> which <i>there-fore</i> we should long to do,
that we may remove to that world where holiness and love reign
eternally, and no spoiling and violence shall be before us. 5. That
he complained of this to God, but could not obtain a redress of
those grievances: "<i>Lord,</i>" says he, "<i>why dost thou show me
iniquity?</i> Why hast thou cast my lot in a time and place when
and where it is to be seen, and why do I continue to <i>sojourn in
Mesech</i> and <i>Kedar? I cry to thee</i> of this violence; I cry
aloud; I have cried long; but <i>thou wilt not hear, thou wilt not
save;</i> thou dost not take vengeance on the oppressors, nor do
justice to the oppressed, as if thy arm were shortened or thy ear
heavy." When God seems to connive at the wickedness of the wicked,
nay, and to countenance it, by suffering them to prosper in their
wickedness, it shocks the faith of good men, and proves a sore
temptation to them to say, <i>We have cleansed our hearts in
vain</i> (<scripRef id="Hab.ii-p3.8" osisRef="Bible:Ps.73.13" parsed="|Ps|73|13|0|0" passage="Ps 73:13">Ps. lxxiii. 13</scripRef>),
and hardens those in their impiety who say, <i>God has forsaken the
earth.</i> We must not think it strange if wickedness be suffered
to prevail far and prosper long. God has reasons, and we are sure
they are good reasons, both for the reprieves of bad men and the
rebukes of good men; and therefore, though we plead with him, and
humbly expostulate concerning his judgments, yet we must say, "He
is wise, and righteous, and good, in all," and must believe the day
will come, though it may be long deferred, when the cry of sin will
be heard against those that do wrong and the cry of prayer for
those that suffer it.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Hab.ii-p3.9" osisRef="Bible:Hab.1.5-Hab.1.11" parsed="|Hab|1|5|1|11" passage="Hab 1:5-11" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Hab.ii-p3.10">
<h4 id="Hab.ii-p3.11">Judgment Predicted. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Hab.ii-p3.12">b. c.</span> 600.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Hab.ii-p4" shownumber="no">5 Behold ye among the heathen, and regard, and
wonder marvellously: for <i>I</i> will work a work in your days,
<i>which</i> ye will not believe, though it be told <i>you.</i>
  6 For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, <i>that</i> bitter and
hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land, to
possess the dwelling-places <i>that are</i> not theirs.   7
They <i>are</i> terrible and dreadful: their judgment and their
dignity shall proceed of themselves.   8 Their horses also are
swifter than the leopards, and are more fierce than the evening
wolves: and their horsemen shall spread themselves, and their
horsemen shall come from far; they shall fly as the eagle
<i>that</i> hasteth to eat.   9 They shall come all for
violence: their faces shall sup up <i>as</i> the east wind, and
they shall gather the captivity as the sand.   10 And they
shall scoff at the kings, and the princes shall be a scorn unto
them: they shall deride every strong hold; for they shall heap
dust, and take it.   11 Then shall <i>his</i> mind change, and
he shall pass over, and offend, <i>imputing</i> this his power unto
his god.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Hab.ii-p5" shownumber="no">We have here an answer to the prophet's
complaint, giving him assurance that, though God bore long, he
would not bear always with this provoking people; for the day of
vengeance was in his heart, and he must tell them so, that they
might by repentance and reformation turn away the judgment they
were threatened with.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Hab.ii-p6" shownumber="no">I. The preamble to the sentence is very
awful (<scripRef id="Hab.ii-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:Hab.1.5" parsed="|Hab|1|5|0|0" passage="Hab 1:5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>):
<i>Behold, you among the heathen, and regard.</i> Since they will
not be brought to repentance by the long-suffering of God, he will
take another course with them. No resentments are so keen, so deep,
as those of abused patience. The Lord will inflict upon them, 1. A
public punishment, which shall be beheld and regarded among the
heathen, which the neighbouring nations shall take notice of and
stand amazed at; see <scripRef id="Hab.ii-p6.2" osisRef="Bible:Deut.29.25 Bible:Deut.29.25" parsed="|Deut|29|25|0|0;|Deut|29|25|0|0" passage="De 29:25,25">Deut. xxix.
24, 25</scripRef>. This will aggravate the desolations of Israel,
that they will thereby be made a spectacle to the world. 2. An
amazing punishment, so strange and surprising, and so much out of
the common road of Providence, that it shall not be paralleled
among the heathen, shall be sorer and heavier than what God has
usually inflicted upon the nations that know him not; nay, it shall
not be credited even by those that had the prediction of it from
God before it comes, or the report of it from those that were
eye-witnesses of it when it comes: <i>You will not believe it,
though it be told you;</i> it will be thought incredible that so
many judgments should combine in one, and every circumstance so
strangely concur to enforce and aggravate it, that so great and
potent a nation should be so reduced and broken, and that God
should deal so severely with a people that had been taken into the
bond of the covenant and that he had done so much for. The
punishment of God's professing people cannot but be the
astonishment of all about them. 3. A speedy punishment: "<i>I will
work a work in your days,</i> now quickly; this generation shall
not pass till the judgment threatened be accomplished. The sins of
former days shall be reckoned for in your days; for now the measure
of the iniquity is full," <scripRef id="Hab.ii-p6.3" osisRef="Bible:Matt.23.36" parsed="|Matt|23|36|0|0" passage="Mt 23:36">Mt. xxiii.
36</scripRef>. 4. It shall be a punishment in which much of the
hand of God shall appear; it shall be a work of his own working, so
that all who see it shall say, <i>This is the Lord's doing;</i> and
it will be found a fearful thing to fall into his hands; woe to
those whom he takes to task! 5. It shall be such a punishment as
will typify the destruction to be brought upon the despisers of
Christ and his gospel, for to that these words are applied
<scripRef id="Hab.ii-p6.4" osisRef="Bible:Acts.13.41" parsed="|Acts|13|41|0|0" passage="Ac 13:41">Acts xiii. 41</scripRef>, <i>Behold,
you despisers, and wonder, and perish.</i> The ruin of Jerusalem by
the Chaldeans for their idolatry was a figure of their ruin by the
Romans for rejecting Christ and his gospel, and it is a very
marvellous thing, and almost incredible. <i>Is there not a strange
punishment to the workers of iniquity?</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Hab.ii-p7" shownumber="no">II. The sentence itself is very dreadful
and particular (<scripRef id="Hab.ii-p7.1" osisRef="Bible:Hab.1.6" parsed="|Hab|1|6|0|0" passage="Hab 1:6"><i>v.</i>
6</scripRef>): <i>Lo, I raise up the Chaldeans.</i> There were
those that raised up a great deal of strife and contention among
them, which was their sin; and now God will raise up the Chaldeans
against them, who shall strive and contend with them, which shall
be their punishment. Note, When God's professing people quarrel
among themselves, snarl at, and devour one another, it is just with
God to bring the common enemy upon them, that shall make peace by
making a universal devastation. The contending parties in Jerusalem
were inveterate one against another, when the Romans came and
<i>took away their place and nation.</i> The Chaldeans shall be the
instruments of the destruction threatened, and, though themselves
acting unrighteously, they shall <i>execute the righteousness of
the Lord</i> and punish the unrighteousness of Israel. Now, here we
have,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Hab.ii-p8" shownumber="no">1. A description of the people that shall
be raised up against Israel, to be a scourge to them. (1.) They are
<i>a bitter and hasty nation,</i> cruel and fierce, and what they
do is done with violence and fury; they are precipitate in their
counsels, vehement in their passions, and push on with resolution
in their enterprises; they show no mercy and they spare no pains.
Miserable is the case of those that are given up into the hand of
these cruel ones. (2.) They are strong, and therefore formidable,
and such as there is no standing before, and yet no fleeing from
(<scripRef id="Hab.ii-p8.1" osisRef="Bible:Hab.1.7" parsed="|Hab|1|7|0|0" passage="Hab 1:7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>): <i>They are
terrible and dreadful,</i> famed for the gallant troops they bring
into the field (<scripRef id="Hab.ii-p8.2" osisRef="Bible:Hab.1.8" parsed="|Hab|1|8|0|0" passage="Hab 1:8"><i>v.</i>
8</scripRef>); <i>their horses are swifter than leopards</i> to
charge and pursue, and <i>more fierce</i> than the <i>evening
wolves;</i> and wolves are observed to be the most ravenous towards
the evening, after they have been kept hungry all day, waiting for
that darkness under the protection of which <i>all the beasts of
the forest creep forth,</i> <scripRef id="Hab.ii-p8.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.104.20" parsed="|Ps|104|20|0|0" passage="Ps 104:20">Ps. civ.
20</scripRef>. Their squadrons of horse shall be very numerous:
"<i>Their horse-men shall spread themselves</i> a great way, for
they shall <i>come from far,</i> from all parts of their own
country, and shall be dispersed into all parts of the country they
invade, to plunder it, and enrich themselves with the spoil of it.
And, <i>in making speed to spoil, they shall hasten to the prey</i>
(as those, <scripRef id="Hab.ii-p8.4" osisRef="Bible:Isa.8.1" parsed="|Isa|8|1|0|0" passage="Isa 8:1">Isa. viii. 1</scripRef>,
<i>margin</i>), for they shall <i>fly as the eagle</i> towards the
earth when she <i>hastens to eat</i> and strikes at the prey she
has an eye upon." (3.) Their own will is a law to them, and, in the
fierceness of their pursuits, they will not be governed by any laws
of humanity, equity, or honour: <i>Their judgment and their dignity
shall proceed of themselves,</i> <scripRef id="Hab.ii-p8.5" osisRef="Bible:Hab.1.7" parsed="|Hab|1|7|0|0" passage="Hab 1:7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>. Appetite and passion rule them,
and not reason nor conscience. Their principle is, <i>Quicquid
libet, licet</i>—<i>My will is my law.</i> And, <i>Sic volo, sic
jubeo; stat pro ratione voluntas—This is my wish, this is my
command; it shall be done because I choose it.</i> What favour can
be hoped for from such an enemy? Note, Those who have been unjust
and unmerciful, among whom <i>the law is slacked, and judgment doth
not go forth,</i> will justly be paid in their own coin and fall
into the hands of those who will deal unjustly and unmercifully
with them.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Hab.ii-p9" shownumber="no">2. A prophecy of the terrible execution
that shall be made by this terrible nation: <i>They shall march
through the breadth of the earth</i> (so it may be read); for in a
little time the Chaldean forces subdued all the nations in those
parts, so that they seemed to have conquered the world; they
overran Asia and part of Africa. Or, through the breadth of <i>the
land</i> of Israel, which was wholly laid waste by them. It is here
foretold, (1.) That they shall seize all as their own that they can
lay their hands on. They shall come to <i>possess the
dwelling-places that are not theirs,</i> which they have no right
to, but that which their sword gives them. (2.) That they shall
push on the war with all possible vigour: <i>They shall all come
for violence</i> (<scripRef id="Hab.ii-p9.1" osisRef="Bible:Hab.1.9" parsed="|Hab|1|9|0|0" passage="Hab 1:9"><i>v.</i>
9</scripRef>), not to determine any disputed right by the sword,
but, right or wrong, to enrich themselves with the spoil. <i>Their
faces shall sup up as the east wind;</i> their very countenances
shall be so fierce and frightful that a look will serve to make
them masters of all they have a mind to; so that they shall
<i>swallow up</i> all, as the east wind nips and blasts the buds
and flowers. <i>Their faces shall look towards the east</i> (so
some read it); they shall still have an eye to their own country,
which lay eastward from Judea, and all the spoil they seize they
shall remit thither. (3.) That they shall take a vast number of
prisoners, and send them into Babylon: <i>They shall gather the
captivity as the sand</i> for multitude, and shall never know when
they have enough, as long as there are any more to be had. (4.)
That they shall make nothing of the opposition that is given to
them, <scripRef id="Hab.ii-p9.2" osisRef="Bible:Hab.1.10" parsed="|Hab|1|10|0|0" passage="Hab 1:10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>. Do the
distressed Jews depend upon their great men to make a stand, and
with their wisdom and courage to give check to the victorious arms
of the Chaldeans? Alas! they will make nothing of them. <i>They
shall scoff</i> (he shall, so it is in the original, meaning
Nebuchadnezzar, who being puffed up with his successes, shall
scoff) <i>at the kings</i> and commanders of the forces that think
to make head against him; and <i>the princes shall be a scorn to
them,</i> so unequal a match shall they appear to be. Do they
depend upon their garrisons and fortified towns? <i>He shall deride
every stronghold,</i> for to him it shall be weak, and <i>he shall
heap dust, and take it;</i> a little soil, thrown up for ramparts,
shall serve to give him all the advantage against them that he can
desire; he shall make but a jest of them, and a sport of taking
them. (5.) By all this he shall be puffed up with an intolerable
pride, which shall be his destruction (<scripRef id="Hab.ii-p9.3" osisRef="Bible:Hab.1.11" parsed="|Hab|1|11|0|0" passage="Hab 1:11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>): <i>Then shall his mind
change</i> for the worse. The spirit both of the people and of the
king shall grow more haughty and insolent. Those that will not be
content with their own rights will not be content when they have
made themselves masters of other people's rights too; but as the
condition rises the mind rises too. This victorious king shall
<i>pass over</i> all the bounds of reason, equity, and modesty, and
break through all their bonds, and thereby <i>he shall offend,</i>
shall make God his enemy, and so prepare ruin for himself by
<i>imputing this his power to his god,</i> whereas he had it from
the God of Israel. <i>Bel</i> and <i>Nebo</i> were the gods of the
Chaldeans, and to them they gave the glory of their successes; they
were hardened in their idolatry, and blasphemously argued that
because they had conquered Israel their gods were too strong for
the God of Israel. Note, It is a great offence (and the common
offence of proud people) to take that glory to ourselves, or to
give it to gods of our own making, which is due to the living and
true God only. These closing words of the sentence give a glimpse
of comfort to the afflicted people of God; it is to be hoped that
they will change their minds, and grow better, and ripen for
deliverance; and they did so. However, their enemies will change
their minds, and grow worse, and ripen for destruction, which will
inevitably come in God's due time; for a haughty spirit, lifted up
against God, <i>goes before a fall.</i></p>
</div><scripCom id="Hab.ii-p9.4" osisRef="Bible:Hab.1.12-Hab.1.17" parsed="|Hab|1|12|1|17" passage="Hab 1:12-17" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Hab.ii-p9.5">
<h4 id="Hab.ii-p9.6">The Prophet's Plea; The Prophet's
Complaint. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Hab.ii-p9.7">b. c.</span> 600.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Hab.ii-p10" shownumber="no">12 <i>Art</i> thou not from everlasting, <span class="smallcaps" id="Hab.ii-p10.1">O Lord</span> my God, mine Holy One? we shall not
die<span class="smallcaps" id="Hab.ii-p10.2">. O Lord</span>, thou hast ordained them
for judgment; and, O mighty God, thou hast established them for
correction.   13 <i>Thou art</i> of purer eyes than to behold
evil, and canst not look on iniquity: wherefore lookest thou upon
them that deal treacherously, <i>and</i> holdest thy tongue when
the wicked devoureth <i>the man that is</i> more righteous than he?
  14 And makest men as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping
things, <i>that have</i> no ruler over them?   15 They take up
all of them with the angle, they catch them in their net, and
gather them in their drag: therefore they rejoice and are glad.
  16 Therefore they sacrifice unto their net, and burn incense
unto their drag; because by them their portion <i>is</i> fat, and
their meat plenteous.   17 Shall they therefore empty their
net, and not spare continually to slay the nations?</p>
<p class="indent" id="Hab.ii-p11" shownumber="no">The prophet, having received of the Lord
that which he was to deliver to the people, now turns to God, and
again addresses himself to him for the ease of his own mind under
the burden which he saw. And still he is full of complaints. If he
look about him, he sees nothing but violence done by Israel; if he
look before him, he sees nothing but violence done against Israel;
and it is hard to say which is the more melancholy sight. His
thoughts of both he pours out before the Lord. It is our duty to be
affected both with the iniquities and with the calamities of the
church of God and of the times and places wherein we live; but we
must take heed lest we grow peevish in our resentments, and carry
them too far, so as to entertain any hard thoughts of God, or lose
the comfort of our communion with him. The world is bad, and always
was so, and will be so; it is out of our power to mend it; but we
are sure that God governs the world, and will bring glory to
himself out of all, and therefore we must resolve to make the best
of it, must be ourselves better, and long for the better world. The
prospect of the prevalence of the Chaldeans drives the prophet to
his knees, and he takes the liberty to plead with God concerning
it. In his plea we may observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Hab.ii-p12" shownumber="no">I. The truths which he lays down, which he
resolves to abide by, and with which he endeavours to comfort
himself and his friends, under the growing threatening power of the
Chaldeans; and they will furnish us with pleasing considerations
for our support in the like case.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Hab.ii-p13" shownumber="no">1. However it be, yet God is <i>the Lord
our God,</i> and <i>our Holy One.</i> The victorious Chaldeans
impute their power to their idols, but we are taught to tell them
that the <i>God of Israel is the true God, the living God,</i>
<scripRef id="Hab.ii-p13.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.10.10-Jer.10.11" parsed="|Jer|10|10|10|11" passage="Jer 10:10,11">Jer. x. 10, 11</scripRef>. (1.) He
is <i>Jehovah,</i> the fountain of all being, power, and
perfection. <i>Our rock</i> is not <i>as theirs.</i> (2.) "He is
<i>my God.</i>" He speaks in the people's name; every Israelite may
say, "He is <i>mine.</i> Though we are thus sore broken, and <i>all
this has come upon us, yet have we not forgotten the name of our
God,</i> nor quitted our relation to him, yet have we not disowned
him, nor hath he disowned us, <scripRef id="Hab.ii-p13.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.44.17" parsed="|Ps|44|17|0|0" passage="Ps 44:17">Ps.
xliv. 17</scripRef>. We are an offending people; he is an offended
God; yet he is ours, and we will not entertain any hard thoughts of
him, nor of his service, for all this." (3.) "He is <i>my Holy
One.</i>" This intimates that the prophet loved God as a holy God,
loved him for the sake of his holiness. "He is <i>mine</i> because
he is a <i>Holy One;</i> and <i>therefore</i> he will be my
sanctifier and my Saviour, because he is <i>my Holy One.</i> Men
are unholy, but <i>my God is holy.</i>"</p>
<p class="indent" id="Hab.ii-p14" shownumber="no">2. Our God is from everlasting. This he
pleads with him: <i>Art thou not from everlasting, O Lord my
God?</i> It is matter of great and continual comfort to God's
people, under the troubles of this present life, that their God is
from everlasting. This intimates, (1.) The eternity of his nature;
if he is from everlasting, he will be to everlasting, and we must
have recourse to this first principle, when things seen, which are
temporal, are discouraging, that we have hope and help sufficient
in a god that is not seen, that is eternal. "Art thou not from
everlasting, and then wilt thou not make bare thy everlasting arm,
in pursuance of thy everlasting counsels, to make unto thyself an
everlasting name?" (2.) The antiquity of his covenant: "Art thou
not <i>from of old,</i> a God in covenant with thy people" (so some
understand it), "and hast thou not done great things for them <i>in
the days of old,</i> which we have heard with our ears, and which
our fathers have told us of; and art thou not the same God still
that thou ever wast? Thou art <i>God, and changest not.</i>"</p>
<p class="indent" id="Hab.ii-p15" shownumber="no">3. While the world stands God will have a
church in it. Thou art from everlasting, and then <i>we shall not
die.</i> The Israel of God shall not be extirpated, nor the name of
Israel blotted out, though it may sometimes seem to be very near
it; like the apostles (<scripRef id="Hab.ii-p15.1" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.6.9" parsed="|2Cor|6|9|0|0" passage="2Co 6:9">2 Cor. vi.
9</scripRef>), <i>chastened, and not killed; chastened sorely, but
not delivered over to death,</i> <scripRef id="Hab.ii-p15.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.118.18" parsed="|Ps|118|18|0|0" passage="Ps 118:18">Ps.
cxviii. 18</scripRef>. See how the prophet infers the perpetuity of
the church from the eternity of God; for Christ has said,
<i>Because I live,</i> and therefore as long as I live, <i>you
shall live also,</i> <scripRef id="Hab.ii-p15.3" osisRef="Bible:John.14.19" parsed="|John|14|19|0|0" passage="Joh 14:19">John xiv.
19</scripRef>. He is the rock on which the church is so firmly
built that the <i>gates of hell shall not, cannot, prevail against
it. We shall not die.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Hab.ii-p16" shownumber="no">4. Whatever the enemies of the church may
do against her, it is according to the counsel of God, and is
designed and directed for wise and holy ends: <i>Thou hast ordained
them; thou hast established them.</i> It was God that gave the
Chaldeans their power, made them a formidable people, and in his
counsel determined what they should do, nor had they any power
against his Israel but what was <i>given them from above.</i> He
gave them their commission <i>to take the spoil and to take the
prey,</i> <scripRef id="Hab.ii-p16.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.10.6" parsed="|Isa|10|6|0|0" passage="Isa 10:6">Isa. x. 6</scripRef>. Herein
God appears a mighty God, that the power of mighty men is derived
from him, depends upon him, and is under his check; he says
concerning it, <i>Hitherto shall it come, and no further.</i> Those
whom God ordains shall do no more than what God has ordained, which
is a great comfort to God's suffering people. Men are God's hand,
the rod in his hand, <scripRef id="Hab.ii-p16.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.17.14" parsed="|Ps|17|14|0|0" passage="Ps 17:14">Ps. xvii.
14</scripRef>. And he has <i>ordained them for judgment,</i> and
<i>for correction.</i> God's people need correction, and deserve
it; they must expect it; they shall have it; when wicked men are
let loose against them, it is not for their destruction, that they
may be ruined, but for their correction, that they may be reformed;
they are not intended for a sword, to cut them off, but for a rod,
to drive out the foolishness that is found in their hearts, though
they <i>mean not so, neither does their heart think so,</i>
<scripRef id="Hab.ii-p16.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.10.7" parsed="|Isa|10|7|0|0" passage="Isa 10:7">Isa. x. 7</scripRef>. Note, It is
matter of great comfort to us, in reference to the troubles and
afflictions of the church, that, whatever mischief men design to
them, God designs to bring good out of them, and we are sure that
<i>his counsel shall stand.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Hab.ii-p17" shownumber="no">5. Though the wickedness of the wicked may
prosper for a while, yet God is a holy God, and does not approve of
that wickedness (<scripRef id="Hab.ii-p17.1" osisRef="Bible:Hab.1.13" parsed="|Hab|1|13|0|0" passage="Hab 1:13"><i>v.</i>
13</scripRef>): <i>Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil.</i>
The prophet, observing how very vicious and impious the Chaldeans
were, and yet what great success they had against God's Israel,
found a temptation arising from it to say that it was vain to serve
God, and that it was indifferent to him what men were. But he soon
suppresses the thought, by having recourse to his first principle,
That God is not, that he cannot be, the author or patron of sin; as
he cannot do iniquity himself, so he is <i>of purer eyes than to
behold it</i> with any allowance or approbation; no, it is that
<i>abominable thing which the Lord hates.</i> He sees all the sin
that is committed in the world, and it is an offence to him, it is
odious in his eyes, and those that commit it are thereby made
obnoxious to his justice. There is in the nature of God an
antipathy to those dispositions and practices that are contrary to
his holy law; and, though an expedient is happily found out for his
being reconciled to sinners, yet he never will, nor can, be
reconciled to sin. And this principle we must resolve to abide by,
though the dispensations of his providence may for a time, and in
some instances, seem to be inconsistent with it. Note, God's
connivance at sin must never be interpreted into a giving
countenance to it; for <i>he is not a God that has pleasure in
wickedness,</i> <scripRef id="Hab.ii-p17.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.5.4-Ps.5.5" parsed="|Ps|5|4|5|5" passage="Ps 5:4,5">Ps. v. 4,
5</scripRef>. The iniquity which, it is here said, God does not
look upon, may be meant especially of the mischief done to God's
people by their persecutors; though God sees cause to permit it,
yet he does not approve of it; so it agrees with that of Balaam
(<scripRef id="Hab.ii-p17.3" osisRef="Bible:Num.23.21" parsed="|Num|23|21|0|0" passage="Nu 23:21">Num. xxiii. 21</scripRef>), <i>He has
not be held iniquity against Jacob,</i> nor <i>seen,</i> with
allowance, <i>perverseness against Israel,</i> which is very
comfortable to the people of God, in their afflictions by the rage
of men, that they cannot infer God's anger from it; though the
instruments of their trouble hate them, it does not therefore
follow that God does; nay, he loves them, and it is in love that he
corrects them.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Hab.ii-p18" shownumber="no">II. The grievances he complains of, and
finds hard to reconcile with these truths: "Since we are sure that
thou art a holy God, why have atheists temptation given them to
question whether thou art so or no? <i>Wherefore lookest thou upon
the Chaldeans</i> that <i>deal treacherously</i> with thy people,
and givest them success in their attempts upon us? Why dost thou
suffer thy sworn enemies, who blaspheme thy name, to deal thus
cruelly, thus perfidiously, with thy sworn subjects, who desire to
fear thy name? What shall we say to this?" This was a temptation to
Job (<scripRef id="Hab.ii-p18.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.21.7 Bible:Job.24.1" parsed="|Job|21|7|0|0;|Job|24|1|0|0" passage="Job 21:7,24:1"><i>ch.</i> xxi. 7; xxiv.
1</scripRef>), to David (<scripRef id="Hab.ii-p18.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.73.2-Ps.73.3" parsed="|Ps|73|2|73|3" passage="Ps 73:2,3">Ps. lxxiii.
2, 3</scripRef>), to Jeremiah, <scripRef id="Hab.ii-p18.3" osisRef="Bible:Jer.12.1-Jer.12.2" parsed="|Jer|12|1|12|2" passage="Jer 12:1,2"><i>ch.</i> xii. 1, 2</scripRef>. 1. That God permitted
sin, and was patient with the sinners. He <i>looked upon them;</i>
he saw all their wicked doings and designs, and did not restrain
nor punish them, but suffered them to speed in their purposes, to
go on and prosper, and to carry all before them. Nay, his looking
upon them intimates that he not only gave them no check or rebuke,
but that he gave them encouragement and assistance, as if he smiled
upon them and favoured them. He <i>held his tongue</i> when they
went on in their wicked courses, said nothing against them, gave no
orders to stop them. <i>These things thou hast done, and I kept
silence.</i> 2. That his patience was abused, and, <i>because
sentence</i> against these evil works and workers <i>was not
executed speedily,</i> therefore <i>their hearts</i> were the more
<i>fully set in them to do evil.</i> (1.) They were false and
deceitful, and there was no credit to be given them, nor any
confidence to be put in them. They deal <i>treacherously;</i> under
colour of peace and friendship, they prosecute and execute the most
mischievous designs, and make no conscience of their word in any
thing. (2.) They hated and persecuted men because they were better
than themselves, as Cain hated Abel because <i>his own works were
evil and his brother's righteous. The wicked devours the man that
is more righteous than he,</i> for that very reason, because he
shames him; they have an ill will to the image of God, and
<i>therefore</i> devour good men, because they bear that image.
Though many of the Jews were as bad as the Chaldeans themselves,
and worse, yet there were those among them that were much more
righteous, and yet were devoured by them. (3.) They made no more of
killing men that of catching fish. The prophet complains that,
Providence having delivered up the weaker to be prey to the
stronger, they were, in effect, made as <i>the fishes of the
sea,</i> <scripRef id="Hab.ii-p18.4" osisRef="Bible:Hab.1.14" parsed="|Hab|1|14|0|0" passage="Hab 1:14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>. So
they had been among themselves, preying upon one another as the
greater fishes do upon the less (<scripRef id="Hab.ii-p18.5" osisRef="Bible:Hab.1.3" parsed="|Hab|1|3|0|0" passage="Hab 1:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>), and they were made so to the
common enemy. They were <i>as the creeping things,</i> or
<i>swimming</i> things (for the word is used for <i>fish,</i>
<scripRef id="Hab.ii-p18.6" osisRef="Bible:Gen.1.20" parsed="|Gen|1|20|0|0" passage="Ge 1:20">Gen. i. 20</scripRef>), <i>that have no
ruler</i> over them, either to restrain them from devouring one
another or to protect them from being devoured by their enemies.
They are given up to the Chaldeans as fish to the fishermen. Those
proud oppressors make no conscience of killing them, any more than
men do of pulling fish out of the water, so small account do they
make of human lives. They make no difficulty of killing them, but
do it with as much ease as men catch fish, that make no resistance,
but are unguarded and unarmed, and it is rather a pastime than any
pains to take them. They make no distinction among them, but all is
fish that comes to their net; and they reckon every thing their own
that they can lay their hands on. They have various ways of
spoiling and destroying, as men have of taking fish. Some they
<i>take up with the angle</i> (<scripRef id="Hab.ii-p18.7" osisRef="Bible:Hab.1.15" parsed="|Hab|1|15|0|0" passage="Hab 1:15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>), one by one; others <i>they
catch</i> in shoals, and by wholesale, <i>in their net,</i> and
<i>gather them in their drag,</i> their enclosing net. Such variety
of methods have they to destroy those by whom they hope to enrich
themselves. (4.) They gloried in what they got, and pleased
themselves with it, though it was got dishonestly: <i>Their portion
is fat, and their meat plenteous;</i> they prosper in their
oppression and fraud; they have a great deal, and it is of the
best; their land is good, and they have abundance of it. And
therefore, [1.] They have great complacency in themselves, and are
very pleasant; they live merrily (<scripRef id="Hab.ii-p18.8" osisRef="Bible:Hab.1.15" parsed="|Hab|1|15|0|0" passage="Hab 1:15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>): <i>Therefore they rejoice and
are glad,</i> because their wealth is great, and their projects
succeed for the increase of it, <scripRef id="Hab.ii-p18.9" osisRef="Bible:Job.31.25" parsed="|Job|31|25|0|0" passage="Job 31:25">Job
xxxi. 25</scripRef>. <i>Soul, take thy ease,</i> <scripRef id="Hab.ii-p18.10" osisRef="Bible:Luke.12.19" parsed="|Luke|12|19|0|0" passage="Lu 12:19">Luke xii. 19</scripRef>. [2.] They have a great conceit
of themselves, and are great admirers of their own ingenuity and
management: They <i>sacrifice to their own net, and burn incense to
their own drag;</i> they applaud themselves for having got so much
money, though ever so dishonestly. Note, There is a proneness in us
to take the glory of our outward prosperity to ourselves, and to
say, <i>My might, and the power of my hands, have gotten me this
wealth,</i> <scripRef id="Hab.ii-p18.11" osisRef="Bible:Deut.8.17" parsed="|Deut|8|17|0|0" passage="De 8:17">Deut. viii. 17</scripRef>.
This is idolizing ourselves, sacrificing to the dragnet, because it
is our own, which is as absurd a piece of idolatry as sacrificing
to Neptune or Dagon. That which makes them adore their net thus is
because by it <i>their portion is fat.</i> Those that make a god of
their money will make a god of their drag-net, if they can but get
money by it.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Hab.ii-p19" shownumber="no">III. The prophet, in the close, humbly
expresses his hope that God will not suffer these destroyers of
mankind always to go on and prosper thus, and expostulates with God
concerning it (<scripRef id="Hab.ii-p19.1" osisRef="Bible:Hab.1.17" parsed="|Hab|1|17|0|0" passage="Hab 1:17"><i>v.</i>
17</scripRef>): "<i>Shall they therefore empty their net?</i> Shall
they enrich themselves, and fill their own vessels, with that which
they have by violence and oppression taken away from their
neighbours? Shall they empty their net of what they have caught,
that they may cast it into the sea again, to catch more? And wilt
thou suffer them to proceed in this wicked course? Shall they not
<i>spare continually to slay the nations?</i> Must the numbers and
wealth of nations be sacrificed to their net? As if it were a small
thing to rob men of their estates, shall they rob God of his glory?
Is not God the king of nations, and will he not assert their
injured rights? Is he not jealous for his own honour, and will he
not maintain that?" The prophet lodges the matter in God's hand,
and leaves it with him, as the psalmist does. <scripRef id="Hab.ii-p19.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.74.22" parsed="|Ps|74|22|0|0" passage="Ps 74:22">Ps. lxxiv. 22</scripRef>, <i>Arise, O God! Plead thy own
cause.</i></p>
</div></div2>