The Pulpit Commentary — Habakkuk — Section 21

distress? Devastation and violence are before me; there arises strife, and contention lifts itself up. Therefore the Law is benumbed, and justice comes not forth for ever: for sinners encircle the righteous man: therefore justice goes forth perverted." The substance Clf this is ihe old complaint," Wherefore doth the W1\Y of the wicked prosper? wherelore are all they happy that deal very treacherously?" (Jer. xii. 1). Two facts should be set against this complaint. 1. The good, have the best of it, even in this life, Goodness is its own reward. 'l'ake two men-one who enjoys the love and fellowship of God, but whu is destitute of this world's good and lives in poverty; the other, in whose heart reign the elements of wickedness, but who has an abundance of the things of this life. Ask which of the two is the happier. The former, without doubt. Benevo- lence is the fountain of happiness, and selfishn- the fountain of misery in both worlds, In this world give me poverty and piety rather than riches with wickedness. 2. That the evil will have the worst of it in the next life. There is no doubt about this. 'l'he parable of the rich man and Lazarus teaches this. " When the wicked spring as the grass, and when all the workers of iniquity do flourish, it is that they shall be destroyed for ever " (Ps. xcii. 7). CoNcLusroN. Pray on, brother. "Pray without ceasing." Thy prayers are tot lost. Let not God's apparent disregard to the supplications of his people and the moml condition of society perplex thy judgment s.nd disturb thy peace. Wait the great explaining day. " What thou knowest not now thou shalt know hereafter."-D. T. 1ers. 5-10.-The doom of a nation of co11,ventional religionists. "Behold ye among the heathen, and regard, and wonder marvellously : for I will work a work in your days, which ye will not believe, though it be told you. For, lo, I raise up t;he Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation; which shall march through the breadth of the land," etc. In these verses we have the doom of a nation of conventional religionists. The Jews were such a nation; they prided themselves in the orthodoxy of their faith, in the ceremonials of their worship, in the polity of their Church. " To them pertained the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the Law, and the service of God, and the promises" (Rom. ix. 4). But they had now become abhorrent to their Maker. He was weary of them, and he threatens them with a terrible doom; the doom was so terrible that "ye will not believe, though it be told you." The doom threatened was terrible in many respects. I. IT WAS TO llE WROUGHT BY THE INSTRUMENTALITY OP A WIOKED NATION. "l will work a work in your days, which ye will not believe, though it be told you. For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land, to possess the dwelling-places that are not theirs." "Nabo- polassar had already destru_l'ed the mighty empire of Assyria, and founded the Chaldeo-Babylonian rule. He had made himself so formidable that Necho found it necessary to march an army against him, in order to check his progress; and, though defeated at Megiddo, he had, in conjunction with his son Nebuchadnezzar, gained a complete victory over the Egyptiaus at Carchemish. These events were calculated to alarm the Jews, whose country lay between the dominions of the two contending powers; but, accustomed as they were to confide in Egypt and in the sacred localities uf their own capital (Isa. xxxi. 1; Jer. vii. 4), and being in alliance with the Chaldeans, they were indisposed to listen to, and treated with the utmost incredulity, any pre- dictions which described their overthrow by that people" (Henderson). Observe that God employ~ wicked n.ations as his instruments. " Lo, I raise up the Chaldeans." " I will work a work." he save; but how? By the Chaldeans. How does he raise up wicked nations to do his work? 1. Not instigatingly. He does not inspire them with wicked passions necessary to qualify them for the infernal work of violence, war, mpine, blood- shed. God could not do this. The diabolic passions are in them. 2. Not coercively. He does not force them to it; in no way does he interfere with them. They are the xesponsible party. They go forth on the bloody message with a consciou.qness of freedom. How, then, does he "raise" them up? He permits them. He could prevent them; but he allows them. He gives them life, capacity, and opportunities; but he does not inspire or coerce them. Now, would not the fact that the destruction of the Israelites would come upon them from a heathen nation, a nation which they despised, ma~e it all the more terrible? err. I. 1-17.l THE BOOK OF HABAKKUK. 19