The Pulpit Commentary — Habakkuk — Section 31

LXX. gives, ,ui,•9apos /,c tJAov, a beetle, a sncriflce interest to venge11noe, and the worm, from tbe wood. Hence, referring to peace of a kingdom to n tiger-like thirst for Chri•t on the crnes, St. Ambrose (' Orat. blood . . . we cannot bo surprised that, de Obit. Theod.,' 46) writes, "Adoravit when final judgmeut woe denounced og11inst ilium qui pependit in ligno, illum inquam Babylon, it was deolnred to be sont in a qui sicut eoarabmue cli,mavit, ut pe:ree- great measure 'because of men's blood, cmd cutoriblll! suie peccata oondon11ret." St. for the violence of the land, of the city, and Cyril argues that tie-beams were called of all that dwelt therein.'" 1«iv6apo1 from their clinging to and support- Ver. 13.-Is it not of the Lord of ho■ta 1 ing wa 11 or roof. Snme reason for this Rath not God ordained thnt this, about to be supposition is gained by the fact that the mentioned, should be the iBSue of all this word canferim, or oantl,erius, is used in evil splendour? That the people shall Latin in the sense of " rafter." labour in the very :II.re; rather, that the Vera. 12-14.-§ 10. The third 'IIJOe: for peopla labourfor theft re; i.e. that the Obaldees and such like nations expended all this toil jounding their power in bwod and de11astation. on cities and fortresses only to supply food Ver. 12.-The Chaldeans are denounced for .fire, which, the prophet sees, will be for the use they make of the wealth ac- their end (Isa. xl. 16). Jeremiah (Ii. 58) quired by violence. That bnildeth a town applies these and the following words to the with blood (Micah iii. 10, where see note). destruction of Babylon. Th is is indeed to They used the riches gained by the mur- weary themselves for very vanity. BabyIon, der of conquered nations in enlarging and when it was finally taken, was given over to beautifying their own city. By iniquity. fire and sword (comp. Jer. l. 32; li. 30, etc.). To get means for these buildings, and to Ver. 14.-The prophet now gives the carry on their construction, they used in- reo.son of the vanity of these human under- juetice and tyranny of every kind. That takings. For the earth shell be ftlled, etc. mercy was not an attribute of Nebuchad- The words are from lee.. xi. 9, with some nezzar we learn from Daniel's ad-rice to him little alterations (comp. Numb. xiv. 21). (iv. 27). The captives and deported in- This is one of the passages whioh attests habitants of conquered countries were used "the community of testimony," as it is called1 e.s slaves in these public works (see an illus- among the prophets. To take e. few out of tration of this from Koyunjik, Rawlinson'& many cases that offer, IS1L. ii. 2-4 compared • .Anc. Mon.,' i. 497). What was true of with Micah iv. 1-4; Isa. xiii. 19-22.with AseyriB we.s no lees true of Babylon. Pro- Jer. 1. 39, etc.; Isa. Iii. 7 with Nab. i. 15.; Jer. fessor Rawlinson (ii. 528, etc.) tells of the xlix. 7-22 with Obad. 1-4; Amos ix. 13 extreme misery and almost entire ruin of with Joel iii. 18 (Ladd,' Doctrine of Scrip- subject kingdoms. Not only are lands ture,' i. 145). All the earth is to be :filled wasted, cattle and effects carried off, the with, and to recognize, the glory of God as people punished by the beheading or im- manifested in the overthrow of ungodliness: palement of hundreds or tboueande, but and therefore Babylon, and the world-power sometimes wholesale deportation of the in- of whioh she is a typ~, must bo subdued habitants is practised, tens or hundreds of and perish. This announcement looks for- tbonaande being carried a way ce.pti ve. " The ward to the establishment of Messiah's 1nilitary successes of the Babylonians," he kingdom, which " shall break in pieces and ~aye (iii. 332), "were accompanied with consume all these kingdoms, and shall stand 11e::dless violence, and with outrages not un- for ever" (Dan. ii. 44). We must remember UBnal in the East, which the historian must how intimately in the minds of Ee.stem nevertheless regard as at once crimes and heathens the prosperity of a nation was con- follies. The transplantation of conquered nected with its local deities. Nothing in races may, perhaps, have been morally their eyes could show more perfectly the defensible, notwithstanding the sufferings impotence of a god than his failing to pro- which it involved. But the mutilations of tect his worshippers from destruction (comp. prisoners, the wee.ry imprisonments, the 2 Kings xviii. 33, etc.). The glory of massacre of non-combatants, the refinement Jehovah and his sovereignty over the earth of cruelty shown in the execution of children would be seen and &eknowledged in the before the eyes of their fathera,-these and overthrow of Babylon, the powerful, victori- similar atrocities, which are recorded of the ous =tion. As the waters cover the sea, Babylonians, are wholly without excuse, As the waters fill the basin of the sea (Gen. since tbey did not eo much terrify as ex- i. 22; 1 Kings vii. 23, where the great asperate the conquered nations, and thus vessel of ablution is called "the sea"). rutller endangered thlLD added strength or Vera. 15-17.-§ 11. TM fourth wos: stcurity to the empire. A se.nge and in- bumou temper is betrayed by these harsh for ba1e and degrading treatment of aubjea punishments, one that led its posse880rs to natiO'llll. Olt. rt, 1-20.] THE nooK OF TIABAKKUK. 27 ----------.