The Pulpit Commentary — Habakkuk — Section 13

perplexity was the same which from time immemorial has troubled thoughtful men, the dark enigma of providence-why good men should so frequently be crushed by misfortune, and wicked men so often crowned with prosperity. This mystery was a source of anxiety to Job (xii. 6; xxi. 7-13), David (Ps. :xvi. 14, 16), Asaph (Ps. lxxiii. 1-13), Jeremiah (xii. 1), the Preacher (Eccles. vii. 16; viii. 14), in the olden times; has caused much stumbling to good men since, and probably will do so while the world lasts. 3. .A valuabk discipline. Distressing as this mystery is, it is nevertheless not without its uses to such as are exercised thereby. It assists them to understand the sovereignty of God, that he giveth not account of any of his mntters (Job xxxiii. 13); to realize their own limited and imperfect vision, which can only see in part, not in whole (Job xxxvii. 21; 1 Cor. xiii. 9), only the middle and neither the beginning nor the end of God's w0rk in providence;· to cultivate those virtues of patience, humility, trustfulness, which are essential elements in all true goodness (Ps. xxxvii. 3-5); and to seek their portion in God himself (Ps. xvi. 6) rather than in earthly things (Ps. xvii. 14), in the future world rather than in the present life (Col. iii. 2). III. HABAKKUX's CONSOLATION. (Vers.12-17.) 1. OO'll,cerning the righteous. (1) Jehovah being what he was, it was impossible his people should be either cut or cast off. Habakkuk argued that..J udah could not perish-" We shall not die "-because God lived a.ad was holy. Jehovah sustained the argument by answering, in Mai. iii. 6, "I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed;" and Christ acknowledged its validity when he said to his disciples, "Because I live, ye shall live also" (John xiv. 19). This implies not exemption from physical suffering or death, as donbtless many Judreans perished in the Chaldean conquest, but protection from that future and eternal death which is the last penalty of unrepented and unforgiven sin. This the main consolation of a believer under suffering, that his covenant God hath said, "My mercy will I keep for him for evermore" (Pa. lxxxix. 28), and that Christ hath declared, "My sheep shall never perish "'(John x. 28). (2) This beinir so, their sufferings must be designed only for their correction, not for their destruction, and accordingly should be regarded rather as fatherly ch.astisements than as penal inflictions. Habakkuk perceived that the Chaldean had been" ordaine.d for judgmeat" and "raised up for correction," not commissioned for extermination. So the Christian discerns that "tribulation worketh patience," etc. (Rom. v. 3); that "our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding, even an eternal weight of glory" (2 Cor. iv. 17); that present chastisements are intended for our future profit, "that we might be partakers of his holiness" (Heb. xii. 10), and that they might yield to us "the peaceable fruits of righteousness" (Heb. xii. 11); and in short, that suffering is the royal road to moral and spiritual perfection (Heb. ii. 10). 2. Concerning the wicked. Jehovah being what he is, the wicked cannot be allowed to go on always as they are. "Shall he," the Chaldean, "therefore empty his net" to fill it again? Is this process of angliag and draggin~ for men and nations to go on for ever? Shall he "not spare to slay the· nations continually"? the prophet asks; meaning by the question, " No, verily, this must come to an end." .And those who have reflected deepest on the problem· have perceived that, at the longest, the triumph of the wicked is bnt short (Job xx. 6; Ps. xxxvii. 35, 36 ; Jxxiii. 18-20), and that their experience of prosperity, however loco- it may be, will only in the end aggravate their misery, unless before the end they rep~nt of their wickedness, and turn to God in faith, humility, love, and righteous- ness. "The immortal gods," wrote Julius Cresar, in his 'Gallic War' (i. 14), "are accustomed, the more heavily to pain by reverse of fortune those of whom for their wickedness they wish to be avenged, to grant to them in the mean while a larger share of prosperity and a longer period of impunity." Learn: 1. That the good man's best comfort in affliction and stay in adve'l"Sity is the character of God (Deut. xx:xiii. 27; Isa. Iii. 21; 2 Cor. i. 3). 2. '!'hat with God silence is not to be understood as equivalent to consent (Ps. 1. 21). 3. That it is God's custom to make men reap as they have sown, to reward perverseness with perverseness, and iniquity with iniquity (Pa. xviii. 26; Matt. vii. 2; Gal. vi. 7). 4. That governments tend to the good order of society, and are to be respected and obeyed even when not perfect (Rom. xiii. 1, 2). fi. 'l'hat the reign of wickedness will oue day terminate (Ps. cxlv. 20; Matt. :xxi. 11; 1 Cor. xv. 25). 'mi. 1. 1-17.] THE BOOK OF HABAKKUK. 11