The Pulpit Commentary — Habakkuk — Section 30

e.vidumque in tom pore fmnus." The" biters" to building and enriching towns, temples, rising up su,ldenly nre the Persians who and palaces (see Josephus, 'Cont. Ap.,' i. destroyed the Bnbylonio.n power e.s quickly 19. 7, etc.). Prom the power of evil; from nnd o.s unexpectedly e.s it had uisen. Vex; the hand of eml; i.e. from a.II calamity. lilero.lly, shal,e 'IJiolenUy, like 61a<Tel<T11n Ver. 10.-The very means he took to (Luku iii. 14), or like the violent arrest of e. secure his power shall prove his ruin. Thou creditor (Me.tt. xviii. 28); Septuagint, ol he.et consulted she.me to thy house. By thy brl/30,•/l.ol <Tou, "thy plotters;" Vulge.te, measures thou hast really determined upon, lacerantee te. So of the mystic Babylon, devised shame anrl disgrace for thy family; her end comes suddenly (Rev. xviii. 10, 17). that is the result of all thy schemes. By Ver. 8.-'fhe le.w ofretaliation is asserted. outting off many people (peoples). This is All the re!D!le.nt of the people (peoples) shall virtue.Uy correct. The verb in the present spoil thee. The remnant of the nations text is in the infinitive, e.nd may depend subjugated e.nd plundered by the Che.ldeans upon the verb in the first clause. The she.II rise np age.inst them. The downfall versions read the pa.et tense, <Twe,dpavru, of Babylon we.a brought about chiefly by concidisti. So the Chaldee and Syriac. the combined forces of Medie., Persia, e.nd This may be taken as the prophet's expla- Elam (lee.. xxi. 2; Jer. 1. 9, etc.); e.nd it nation of the shameful means employed. is certain that Nebuchadnezzar, e.t one lie.et sinned against thy soul (Prov. viii. 36 ; period of his reign, conquered and annexed xx. 2). Thou hast endangereo. thy own life Elam ; e.nd there is every probability that by provoking retribution. The Greek and he warred successfully against Media. (see Le.tin Versions have, "Thy soul ha.th Jer. xxv. 9, 25; Judith i. 5, 13, etc.); and sinned." doubtless many of the neighbouring tribes, Ver. 11.-Even inanimate things shall which had suffered under these oppressors, raise their voice to denounce the Ohal- joined in the attack. Because of men's deans' wickedness. The stone shall ory out blood. Because of the cruelty and blood- of the wall. A proverbial expression to shed of which the Babylonians were guilty. denote the horror with wh.ich their cruelty For the violence of ( done to) the land, of the and oppression were regarded ; it is par- oity (see ver. 17). 'l'he statement is genera.I, ticularly appropriate here, as these crimes but with special reference to the Chaldeans' had been perpetrated in connection with treatment of Judma. e.nd Jerusalem, e.s in the buildings in which they prided them- Isa.. xllii.14; xiv. 4; Jer. Ii. 4, 11. Jerome selves, and which were raised by the en- takes " the violence of the land," etc., to forced labour of miserable captives and mean the wickedness of the Jews them- O.dQrned with the fruits of fraud and pillage. selves, which is to be punished. He is led Compo.re another application of the expres- o.stray by the Septuagint, which gives, 611~ sion in Luke xix. 40. Jerome quotes Cicero, • . . ri<Te/3,las .,,;;,, "through . . . the 'Ora.t. pro Marcello,' 10, "Parietes, medius iniquity of the land." fidius, ut mihi videntnx, hujus curire tibi Vere. 9-11.-§ 9. The second woe: for gratia.s a.gere gestiunt, quod brevi tempore futura. sit illa. e.uctoritaa in his majorum their avarwe, 'Diolence, and cunning. euorum et suis sedibus" (comp. Enxip., Ver. 9.-That coveteth an evil oovetous- 'Hippol.,' 418, T<peµ.vcl T' or1«•11 µ.-f, 1ron ness to his house ; better, gaineth evil gains d>Bomv a.n: Ovid, 'Metam.,' ii. 696, for his house. The "house" is the royal "Tutus ee.s: la.pis iste prius tua. furta. family or dyne.sty, e.s in ver. 10; and the loquetur '"). Wordsworth sees a literal ful- Cha.ldean is denounced for thinking to filmeut of these words in the appalling cir- secure its stability and permanence by cumstance at Belsha.zzar's feast, when e. amassing godless gains. The.t he me.y set be.nd wrote on the palace wall tl1e doom of his nest on high. This is a. figure.live ex- Be.by Ion (Dan. v.). And the beam out of the pression, denoting security e.s well as pride timber she.11 answer it. "The tie-bea.ru out e.nd self-confidence (comp. Numb. xxiv. 21; of the timber work shall" take up the Job xxxix. 27, etc.; Jer. xlix. 16; Obad. refrain, and "auswer" the stone froru the 4), and denotes the various means which the wall. The Hebrew word (kaphis) rendcrcu Chaldeans employed to establish and secure ".beam" is an li..-a{ /1.E"fOµ.e.ov. It is explained their power (comp. lee.. xiv. 14). Some see e.s above by St. Jerome, being referred to o. in the words an e.llusion to the formidable verb meaning "to biud." Thw Symmachus fortifications raised by Nebuchadnezzar for and Theodotion tri:msle.te it by <Tuv5e<Tµ.os. the protection of Babylon, and the wonder- Henderson and others thiuk it means "a. ful po.lace erected by him e.s o. roye.l resi- half-brick," and Aquila renders it by µ.ii(a, dence (see Rawlinsou, 'Ano. Mon.,' iii. 340, "something baked." But we have no otc., edit. 1865). It is certain that N ebu- evidence that the Babylonians in their suru p- ohadnezzur nnd other monarchs, after suc- tuous edifices interlaced timber and lia1t·- 1:essful expeditions, turned their o.ttention bricks (see Pustiy, p. 419, note 23). T!J.~ 26 THE BOOK OF HABAKKUK. [err. 11. 1-20