Hab. ii, 4. Behold, his soul ivhich is lifted up is not upright in him : but the just shall live by his faith.
THE sense of these words is not very obvious. In truth, the sense of them, as standing in the context, and as quoted in the New Testament, is so different, that we need examine them with great care, in order to find their true and full import. Their literal mean- ing, I apprehend, is to this effect. The prophet had foretold the captivity of the Jews in Babylon. The Jews would not believe that the predicted events could ever take place a. They therefore contended with the prophet ; and he, wearied with their per- verseness, spread his case before the Lord, and im- plored direction from him : " I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say to me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved b." The Lord answers him, and commands him to write it in large and legible cha- racters, for the instruction of the whole nation, that the predicted events should take place in their appointed season ; and that those who, through pride and hypo- crisy, rejected the Divine testimony, should perish ; whereas those who, with simplicity of mind, believed it, should be saved.
Had we no further insight given us into these words in the New Testament, we should rest in that exposition of them, and conceive that we had given nearly the full meaning of them. But the captivity in Babylon was a forerunner of a yet more terrible bondage which they would suffer, through their con- tempt of that great Prophet who should come into the world. Through their pride and hypocrisy, they would reject him, even the Lord Jesus Christ, and would perish in their unbelief0 : but those who should believe in Christ, and place their hopes entirely on
a Hab. i. 5, 6. b ver. 1.
c Compare Hab. i. 5. with Acts xiii. 41.