The Pulpit Commentary — Habakkuk — Section 11

Matt. xxv. 32; Heb. ix. 27). 5. Its strangeness. It should be both startling and incredible. (1) Startling. A.s to its Author, Jehovah; as to the quarter whence it should proce,-d, from among the heathen; as to the power by which it should be inflicted, the Chaldcans, when they might rather have expected the A.ssyrinns (if Habakkuk prophesied under Manasseh) or the Egyptians (if be flourished in the first years of Jehoiakirn); as to the suddenness with which it should spring forth, there being at the time when Habakkuk wrote no tokens of its coming discernible on the horizon. So will tbe judgment of the great day surprise the ungodly world and a sleeping Church (Mau. xxiv. 27--44; xxv. 6; 1 'l'hess. v. 2, 3; Rev. xvi. 16). (2) Incredible. So unlikely did a Chaldean invasion of Judrea seem, that Jehovah felt nothing but an actual experience of the same would ever convince his people of it. A. simple fore- announcement of it would not suffice to carry conviction of its reality to their mind, al thou:i;h, of course, it should. That this was true, the reception accorded to J eremiah's prediction of Nebuchadnezzar's appearance before Jerusalem showed (Jer. v. 12; xx. 7, S; xxvi. 8-11). Up to the moment when the Chaldean armies arrived neither Jeboiakim nor his people would allow that a Chaldean conquest was so much as possible. Events, however, proved them to be in error. So the antediluvians knew not till the Flood came and took them all away (Matt. xxiv. 39). So shall the comina0 of the Son of man be (2 Pet. iii. 1-10). . II. lTs :NBTRUMEI,'T INDICATED. (Vers. 6-11.) This was the Chaldean or Baby- lonian power, at the time subject to .Assyria, and not risen to the ascendency it after- wards enjoyed under Nebuchadnezzar and his successors. The prophet depicts it when raised up, not only into a nation, but against Judah by a sevenfold characteristic. 1. Its natural di:sposition. He calls it " a bitter and hasty nation," i.e. fierce and rough, heedless and rash, and represents it as marching through the breadth of the earth, impelled by covetousness, and making a way for itself by sheer brute force and violence-taking possession of dwelling-places not its own. 2. Its formidable appear- ance. "They are," or he, i.e. the nation, is, "terrible and dreadful," by its very name and much more by its aspect and actions inspiring terror in the breasts of beholders. 3. Its preS'U,mptuous seif-su.tfici,ency. "Their judgment and dignity pro- ceed from themsel ,es ; " i.e. conscious of its own strength, it determines for itself its own rule of right, and ascribes to itself its elevation above the other nations of the earth. This putting of self instead of God in the place of honour and seat of authority is the essence of all sin. Wicked men walk after the counsels and in the imaginations of their own evil hearts (Jer. vii. 24), and are prone to arrogate to themselves what should be rendered to God, viz. the glory of their successful achievements (Dent. viii. 17; Judg. vii 2). 4. Its military strength. (1) Its horses swifter than leopards, lighter of foot than panthers, which spring with the greatest rapidity on their prey, and fiercer than evening wolves, or wolves going forth at eventide after having fasted all day-an emblem of ferocity applied to the judges of Judah (Zeph. iii. 3). (2) Its horsemen or warriors coming from afar and spreading themselves abroad-" Neither distance of march shall weary nor diffusion weaken them" (Pusey~arting upon its foes like an eagle basting to devour, a bird to which Nebuchadnezzar is compared (Jer. xlviii. 40; Lam. iv. 19; Ezek. xvii. 3; Dan. vii. 4). (3) Both bent upon violence and having their faces set eagerly as the east wind, i.e. either set towards the front with determination, or like the east wind for devastation. Thus the character- i~tics of Babylonian warfare were--swiftness of movement, simultaneousness of action in the different parts of the army, unanimity of purpose, determination and ferocity, qualities the existence of which in them the monuments sufficiently attest. 6. Ita warlike achievements. (1) The deportation of subjected popuhtions. "They gather captives as the sand," i.e." countless as the particles which the east wind raises, sweep- ing over the sand wastes, where it buries whole caravans in one death" (Pusey). (2) The defiance of all opposition. "Yea, he scoffeth at kings, and princes are a derision unto Lim." So Nebuchadnezzar did with Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah (2 Kings xxiv. 15; xxv. 6, 7; 2 Chron. xxxvi. 6-21). (3) The capture of every stronghold, No fortress could withstand the Babylonian conqueror. Not even Tyre, "whose very nam~ (Rock) betokened its strength" (Pusey). 'l'be most impregnable garrison seemed only to require that he should heap up a little dust against it, and it was taken. 6. ltB du.rir,g impiety. Rushing on like a swollen torrent, like hill own Euphrates when it OH. I. 1-11,J THE BOOK OF HABAKKUK, 9