---
title: "Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible -  Habakkuk 1"
description: "CHAPTER 1   :-. HABAKKUK"
image: "/images/missing.jpg"
url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/habakkuk/1"
---

CHAPTER 1

. HABAKKUK'S
EXPOSTULATION WITH JEHOVAH
ON ACCOUNT OF THE
PREVALENCE OF INJUSTICE:
JEHOVAH SUMMONS
ATTENTION TO HIS
PURPOSE OF SENDING
THE CHALDEANS AS THE
AVENGERS. THE
PROPHET COMPLAINS,
THAT THESE ARE
WORSE THAN THOSE
ON WHOM VENGEANCE
WAS TO BE
TAKEN.

**1. burden**—the prophetic
sentence.

**2, 3. violence . . . Why dost thou
show me iniquity?**—Similar language is used of the Chaldeans
([Habakkuk 1:9](../../../kjv/habakkuk/1/9); [Habakkuk 1:13](../../../kjv/habakkuk/1/13)),
as here is used of the Jews: implying, that as the Jews sinned by
*violence* and *injustice,* so they should be punished by
*violence* and *injustice* ([Habakkuk 1:13](../../../kjv/habakkuk/1/13)). Jehoiakim's reign was marked by injustice, treachery, and
bloodshed ([Jeremiah 22:3](../../../kjv/jeremiah/22/3); [Jeremiah 22:13-17](../../../kjv/jeremiah/22/13-17)).
Therefore the Chaldeans should be sent to deal with him and his
nobles according to their dealings with others ([Habakkuk 1:6](../../../kjv/habakkuk/1/6);
[Habakkuk 1:10](../../../kjv/habakkuk/1/10); [Habakkuk 1:11](../../../kjv/habakkuk/1/11);
[Habakkuk 1:17](../../../kjv/habakkuk/1/17)). Compare Jeremiah's
expostulation with Jehovah, [Jeremiah 12:1](../../../kjv/jeremiah/12/1);
[Jeremiah 20:8](../../../kjv/jeremiah/20/8); [Job 19:7](../../../kjv/job/19/7);
[Job 19:8](../../../kjv/job/19/8).

**3. cause me to behold
grievance**—MAURER
denies that the *Hebrew* verb is ever *active;* he
translates, "(Wherefore) dost Thou behold (without doing aught
to check) grievance?" The context favors *English Version.*
**there are that raise up
strife and contention**—so CALVIN.
But MAURER, not so well,
translates, "There is strife, and contention raises *itself.*"

**4. Therefore**—because Thou dost
suffer such crimes to go unpunished.
**law is slacked**—is
chilled. It has no authority and secures no respect.
**judgment**—justice.
**wrong judgment
proceedeth**—Decisions are given contrary to right.

**5. Behold . . . marvellously . . . a
work**—(Compare [Isaiah 29:14](../../../kjv/isaiah/29/14)).
Quoted by Paul ([Acts 13:41](../../../kjv/acts/13/41)).
**among the heathen**—In [Acts 13:41](../../../kjv/acts/13/41), "ye despisers," from the *Septuagint.* So
the *Syriac* and *Arabic* versions; perhaps from a
different *Hebrew* reading. In the *English Version*
reading of Habakkuk, God, in reply to the prophet's expostulation,
addresses the Jews as about to be punished, "Behold ye *among
the heathen* (with whom ye deserve to be classed, and by whom ye
shall be punished, as despisers; the sense *implied,* which Paul
*expresses*): learn from them what ye refused to learn from Me!"
For "wonder marvellously," Paul, in [Acts 13:41](../../../kjv/acts/13/41), has, "wonder *and perish,*" which gives the
*sense,* not the literal wording, of the *Hebrew,* "Wonder,
wonder," that is, be overwhelmed in wonder. The despisers are to
be given up to their own stupefaction, and so perish. The Israelite
unbelievers would not credit the prophecy as to the fearfulness of
the destruction to be wrought by the Chaldeans, nor afterwards the
deliverance promised from that nation. So analogously, in Paul's day,
the Jews would not credit the judgment coming on them by the Romans,
nor the salvation proclaimed through Jesus. Thus the same Scripture
applied to both.
**ye will not believe, though
it be told you**—that is, ye will not believe *now that I
foretell it.*

**6. I raise up**—not referring to
God's having brought the Chaldeans from their original seats to
Babylonia (see on ), for
they had already been upwards of twenty years (since Nabopolassar's
era) in political power there; but to His being about now to raise
them up as the instruments of God's "work" of judgment on
the Jews ([2 Chronicles 36:6](../../../kjv/2-chronicles/36/6)). The *Hebrew*
is *future,* "I will raise up."
**bitter**—that is, cruel
([Jeremiah 50:42](../../../kjv/jeremiah/50/42); compare [Jeremiah 50:42](../../../kjv/jeremiah/50/42), *Margin;* [Jeremiah 50:42](../../../kjv/jeremiah/50/42)).
**hasty**—not *passionate,*
but "impetuous."

**7. their judgment and . . . dignity
. . . proceed of themselves**—that is, they recognize no *judge*
save themselves, and they get for themselves and keep their own
"dignity" without needing others' help. It will be vain for
the Jews to complain of their tyrannical *judgments;* for
whatever the Chaldeans decree they will do according to their own
will, they will not brook anyone attempting to interfere.

**8. swifter than the leopards**—OPPIAN
[*Cynegeticks,* 3.76], says of the leopard, "It runs most
swiftly straight on: you would fancy it was flying through the air."
**more fierce**—rather,
"more keen"; literally, "sharp."
**evening wolves**—wolves
famished with fasting all day and so most keen in attacking the fold
under covert of the approaching night ([Jeremiah 5:6](../../../kjv/jeremiah/5/6);
[Zephaniah 3:3](../../../kjv/zephaniah/3/3); compare [Zephaniah 3:3](../../../kjv/zephaniah/3/3)). Hence "twilight" is termed in *Arabic* and
*Persian* "the wolf's tail"; and in French, *entre
chien et loup.*
**spread themselves**—proudly;
as in [Jeremiah 50:11](../../../kjv/jeremiah/50/11); [Malachi 4:2](../../../kjv/malachi/4/2),
it implies *strength* and *vigor.* So also the *Arabic*
cognate word [MAURER].
**their horsemen . . . come
from far**—and yet are not wearied by the long journey.

**9. all for violence**—The sole
object of all is not to establish just rights, but to get all they
can by violence.
**their faces shall sup up as
the east wind**—that is, they shall, as it were, *swallow up*
all before them; so the horse in is said to "*swallow* the ground with fierceness
and rage." MAURER
takes it from an *Arabic* root, "the *desire* of their
faces," that is, the eager desire expressed by their faces.
HENDERSON, with SYMMACHUS
and *Syriac,* translates, "the aspect."
**as the east wind**—the
simoon, which spreads devastation wherever it passes (). GESENIUS
translates, "(is) forwards." The rendering proposed,
*eastward,* as if it referred to the Chaldeans' return home
*eastward* from Judea, laden with spoils, is improbable. Their
"gathering the sand" accords with the simoon being meant,
as it carries with it whirlwinds of sand collected in the desert.

**10. scoff at . . . kings**—as
unable to resist them.
**they shall heap dust, and
take it**—"they shall heap" earth mounds outside, and
so "take every stronghold" (compare [2 Samuel 20:15](../../../kjv/2-samuel/20/15);
[2 Kings 19:32](../../../kjv/2-kings/19/32)) [GROTIUS].

**11. Then**—when elated by his
successes.
**shall his mind change**—He
shall lose whatever of reason or moderation ever was in him, with
pride.
**he shall pass over**—all
bounds and restraints: his pride preparing the sure way for his
destruction ([Proverbs 16:18](../../../kjv/proverbs/16/18)). The
language is very similar to that describing Nebuchadnezzar's "change"
from man's heart (understanding) to that of a beast, because of pride
(see on [Proverbs 16:18](../../../kjv/proverbs/16/18); [Proverbs 16:18](../../../kjv/proverbs/16/18); [Proverbs 16:18](../../../kjv/proverbs/16/18)). An
undesigned coincidence between the two sacred books written
independently.
***imputing*****this
his power unto his god**— ([Proverbs 16:18](../../../kjv/proverbs/16/18)). Sacrilegious arrogance, in ascribing to his idol Bel the
glory that belongs to God [CALVIN].
GROTIUS explains, "(saying
that) his power is his own as one who is a god to himself"
(compare [Habakkuk 1:16](../../../kjv/habakkuk/1/16); [Daniel 3:1-30](../../../kjv/daniel/3/1-30)).
So MAURER, "He shall
offend as one to whom his power is his god" ([Daniel 3:1-27](../../../kjv/daniel/3/1-27); see on [Daniel 3:1-27](../../../kjv/daniel/3/1-27)).

**12.** In opposition to the impious
deifying of the Chaldeans power as their god (MAURER,
or, as the *English Version,* their attributing of their
successes to their idols), the prophet, in an impassioned address to
Jehovah, vindicates His being "from everlasting," as
contrasted with the Chaldean so-called "god."
**my God, mine Holy
One**—Habakkuk speaks in the name of his people. God was "the
Holy One of *Israel,*" against whom the Chaldean was
setting up himself ([Isaiah 37:23](../../../kjv/isaiah/37/23)).
**we shall not die**—Thou,
as being *our* God, wilt not permit the Chaldeans utterly to
destroy us. This reading is one of the eighteen called by the Hebrews
"the appointment of the scribes"; the Rabbis think that
Ezra and his colleagues corrected the old reading, "*Thou
shalt* not die."
**thou hast ordained them for
judgment**—that is, to execute Thy judgments.
**for correction**—to
chastise transgressors ([Isaiah 37:23](../../../kjv/isaiah/37/23)). But not that they may deify their own power ([Isaiah 37:23](../../../kjv/isaiah/37/23), for their power is from Thee, and but for a time); nor that
they may destroy utterly Thy people. The *Hebrew* for "mighty
God" is *Rock* ([Deuteronomy 32:4](../../../kjv/deuteronomy/32/4)).
However the world is shaken, or man's faith wavers, God remains
unshaken as the Rock of Ages ([Deuteronomy 32:4](../../../kjv/deuteronomy/32/4), *Margin*).

**13. purer . . . than to behold
evil**—without being displeased at it.
**canst not look on
iniquity**—unjust injuries done to Thy people. The prophet checks
himself from being carried too far in his expostulatory complaint, by
putting before himself honorable sentiments of God.
**them that deal
treacherously**—the Chaldeans, once allies of the Jews, but now
their violent oppressors. Compare "treacherous dealers,"
([Isaiah 21:2](../../../kjv/isaiah/21/2); [Isaiah 24:16](../../../kjv/isaiah/24/16)).
Instead of speaking evil against God, he goes to God Himself for the
remedy for his perplexity ([Isaiah 24:16](../../../kjv/isaiah/24/16)).
**devoureth the man that is
more righteous**—The Chaldean oppresses the Jew, who with all his
faults, is better than his oppressor (compare [Ezekiel 16:51](../../../kjv/ezekiel/16/51);
[Ezekiel 16:52](../../../kjv/ezekiel/16/52)).

**14. And**—that is, And *so,*
by suffering oppressors to go unpunished, "Thou makest men as
the fishes . . . that have no ruler"; that is, no defender. All
may fish in the sea with impunity; so the Chaldeans with impunity
afflict Thy people, as these have no longer the God of the theocracy,
their King, to defend them. Thou reducest men to such a state of
anarchy, by wrong going unpunished, as if there were no God. He
compares the world to the *sea;* men to *fishes;*
Nebuchadnezzar to a *fisherman* ().

**15. they take up all of them**—all
kinds of fishes, that is, *men,* as captives, and all other prey
that comes in their way.
**with the angle**—that is,
the hook. Some they take up as with the hook, one by one; others in
shoals, as in a "net" and "drag" or enclosing
net.
**therefore**—because of
their successes.
**they rejoice**—They glory
in their crimes because attended with success (compare ).

**16. sacrifice unto their net**—that
is, their arms, power, and military skill, wherewith they gained
their victories; instead of to God. Compare , MAURER'S
interpretation. They idolize themselves for their own cleverness and
might ([Deuteronomy 8:17](../../../kjv/deuteronomy/8/17); [Isaiah 10:13](../../../kjv/isaiah/10/13);
[Isaiah 37:24](../../../kjv/isaiah/37/24); [Isaiah 37:25](../../../kjv/isaiah/37/25)).
**by them**—by their net
and dragnet.
**their portion**—image
from a banquet: the prey which they have gotten.

**17. Shall they . . . empty their
net?**—Shall they be allowed without interruption to enjoy the
fruits of their violence?
**therefore**—seeing that
they attribute all their successes to themselves, and not to Thee.
The answer to the prophet's question, he by inspiration gives himself
in the second chapter.

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