THE
PULPIT COMMENTARY, EDITED BY TIIB
VERY REV. H. D._ M. SPENCE, D.D., DE.Uf OF GI.OUOB8Tll:lli
ANll BY THE
REV. JOSEPH S. EXELL, M.A.
H AB AK K U·K. e!xpos{tfon BY REV, W. J. DEANE, M.~. BEOTOB OF ABBEN.
Womfletlcs BY REV. T. WHITELA. W, D.D.
~omilirs b~ Jlatious ~utbots. REV. S. D, HILLMAN, B.A. BEV. D. THOMAS, D.D.
NEW EDITION,
FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY LONDON AND NEW YORK 1906 THE BOOK OF HABAKKUK.
INTRODUCTION.
§ I. SUBJECT OF THE BOOK.
NAHUM had comforted Judah with the assurance that the power of Assyria. should be overthrown, though for a time it was permitted to afflict the people of God. Habakknk warns Judah of another great empire which was commissioned to chastise her backslidings (in spite of the partial reformation under Josiah), but which should itself suffer the vengeance which its iniquities merited. The predicted fate of Nineveh had lulled the Judmans into a false security, so that they forgot the dangers that threatened them, and, though they were no longer guilty of idolatry or selfish ln.xnry, they relapsed into carelessness, forgetfulness of God, and various evil practices. Habakkuk is commissioned to show them that punishment was waiting for them at the hands of the Chaldeans, from whom as yet they had not realized their danger, though Isaiah (xxxix. 6, etc.) had forewarned Hezekiah that hie treasures should be carried to Babylon and his sons be servants in the palace of the king. The Chaldeans were hitherto little known in Judma, and prophecies referring to them made but slight impression on the hearers. It was not, indeed, till Nineveh had fallen that Babylon, long an appanage of Assyria, secured its independence, and entered on its short but brilliant career of conquest. N abopolassar, who had treacherously joined the Medes and aided in the capture of Nineveh, obtained the hand of the Median king's daughter for his son Nebuchadnezzar, and received, as the reward of his treachery, not only Babylonia itself, but a large portion of the Assyrian territory, including the suzerainty over Syria and Palestine. Thus the way was prepared for the interference of the ChaldeaIIS in Jewish affairs. The overthrow of Pharaoh-Necho, King of Egypt, at Carchemish by Nebuchadnezzar left the Babylonian monarch free to punish the revolt of Jehoiakim, and to continue the hostile measul'es which culminated in the destruction of Jcl'llsalem and the deportation of the Jews. ii INTRODUCTlON TO
The prophecy of Habakkuk is an organic whole, divided into two parts, the first of which is a colloquy between God and the prophet, in which is announced the judgment coming upon Judah through the instrumentality of the Ohaldeaus; the second is a magnificent ode celebrating the punish- ment of God's enemies and the salvation of the pious. After announcing his office and mission, the prophet ( eh. i.) expostulates with God on the iniquity :i,nd corruption which abounded in Judrea, and complains that it has not sooner been checked and the righteous released from suffering at the hands of the wicked. God answers that the day of retribution is at hand, for he commissions the Ohaldeans, a fierce, rapacious, warlike nation, to punish the sinful people. Terrified at this account of the Ohaldeans, the prophet beseeches the Lord not to punish unto death, and not to involve the good in the fate of the evil, and asks how God, in his holiness, can look calmly on the wickedness of those whom he uses as the instruments of his vengeance. The prophet (eh. ii.) waits for the answer to his expostulation; and God graciously replies, and bids him write the oracle pla.inly that all may read, because, though the fulfilment may be delayed, it is absolutely certain. The law of his kingdom is that the just shall live by faith; that righteousness has the promise of life and is life, but the proud and evil shall perish. This asserts the doom of the Ohaldeans in general terms ; and then their fall is announced in more particular form, under :five special "woes," arranged strophically, and supposed to be uttered by the nations whom they had oppressed. They are thus denounced for insatiate ambition, covetousness, cruelty, drunkenness, and idolatry. So if the evils among the Jews are about to meet with chastisement, yet destruction awaits the oppressing Ohaldeans, and God's justice is confirmed. The psalm that follows ( eh. iii.) illustrates and, as it were, recapitulates the substance of the previous portion. Habakkuk professes himself greatly terrified at the judgment announced, and prays the Lord, while carrying out his threat, to remember mercy. Then he depicts the coming of the Lord to judge the world and to bring salvation to the righteous. He describes the theophany wherein God showed his majesty and power, and made the nations and inanimate nature to tremble. He delineates the jndgment against the enemies of the Church, first symbolically, by the agitation of material things at the Lo:.-d's presence, and then properly, by its effect on the ungodly in this world. And through all runs a stream of consolation in that salvation is promised to the righteous amid the wreck of evil men. He ends the ode by describing the effects of this manifesta- tion on the people of God, viz. fear at the coming chastisement, and hope and joy at the future salvation.
§ II. AuTHon. The writer of this book calls himself "Habakkuk tLe prophet; " and that is all that vre are told of him for certain in Holy Scripture. The THE BOOK OF HABAKKUK. iii