The Pulpit Commentary — Habakkuk — Section 44

reluctantly-aliens who had fallen as ce.ptives into the powel' of the Che.ldee.ns were me.de to labour and serve; but toil in the interests of God's kingdom is ever voluntai·y aud is rendered lovi11gly and without constraint. 2. Toil in the interests of earthly kingdoms is often toil/or that which shall be desti·oyed, and which shall come to nougltt. "The people shall labour in the very fire, and the people shall weary themselves for very vanity " (ver. 13), i.e. they should labour in erecting edifices which should be consumed by fire, and thus their toil prove in vain; but toil in the inte,·ests of God's kingdom shall prove abidin,q and eternal in its i·esults. 3. The workers of iniquity, no matter ho"" earnest their toil, should be covet·ed eventually with dishonour and shame-" Woe to him I" etc. (ver. 12)-but all true toilers for God and righteousness shall be divinely app,oved and honoured. 1,-. THE PROSPERITY OF MATERIAL KINGDOMS IS UNCERTAIN j WHEREAS THE TRIUMPH OF Gon's SPIRITUAL KINGDOM IS ASSURED. "The knowledge of the glory of the Lord shall cover the earth." Y. EARTHLY KINGDOMS ARE LIMITED IN EXTENT; BUT THE SPIRITUAL KINGDOM OF oua Gon SHALL ATTAIN UNTO UNIVERSAL DOMINION. "The earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea."-S. D. H. Vers. 15-li.-God's retributivejustire. It is a Divine law that"whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap'' (Gal. vi. 7). God is just, and hence will cause retribution to be e.:perienced by evil-doers. A striking illustration of the operation of this great law is vresented in these verses. Consider- I. THE COURSE THE CHALDEANS IIA.D ADOPTED TOW.U,ll OTHERS. (Ver. 16.) The reference in this verse is not to the sin of drunkenness. '!'hat sin is a distressing and degrading one, and they are true lovers of their kind who seek to lessen its ravages, to deliver men from its thraldom. It has proved a blight to the children of men all down the ages. The Cbaldeans were notorious for it; revellings, banquetings, excess of wine, marked them all through their history, and specially signalized the close or their career. The prophet, huwever, here simply used this vice as a symbol in order to set forth vividly the course the Babylonims had adopted towards others, and specially to indicate their deceitfulness. Drink drowns the reason, and places its victim at the mercy of any who are mean enough to take advantage of him. And the thought the prophet wished to convey here (ver. 15) seems to be that as a man, desiring to injure another, persuades him to take stimulant, and thus, whilst professing good intentions, effects his evil purpose, so had tbe Chaldeans intoxicated feebler powers by professions of friendship and regard. drawing them into alliance, and then turning upon them to their discomfiture and ruin. And he proceeds to indicate- IL THE COURSE Gan WOULD ADOPT TOWARDS THEM. (Vers. 16, 17.) And in this he traced the Divine retribution of their iniquity. He saw prophetically that: 1. As tbey bad taken advantage of other6, so others should in due course take advantage of them (ver. 16) and bring them to shame. 2. As they would lay waste his country and take his people into captivity, so subsequently they should themselves be brought to nought, and their empire pass out of their hands (ver.17; comp. Isa. xiv. 8, in which the fir trees and cedars are made to rejuice in the overthrow of Babylon). Our prophet had been perplexed at the thought of the Chaldeans as being the instruments of the Divine justice in reference to his own sinful people, but the mystery was clearing away, and in the final overthrow of Babylon he here foreshadowed, he traced another token that "the Lord is righteous in all his ways."-S. D. H. Vers. 18-20.- Worship, false and true. Tbe prophet, in recounting the sins of the Chaldeans, finally recalled to mind the idolatry prevailing amongst them. He thought of the temple of Bel, "casting its shadow far and wide over city and plain," and of the idolatrous worship of which it was the centre, and he. broke forth _in _words expressive of the utmost scorn and contempt, and th~n closed h~ song ~y pomtmg to him wlw alone i.Jl worthy to receive the devout adoration and adoring praise of all the inhabitants of the earth. Notice- J. His EXPOSURE OF THE WEAKNESS AND FOLLY OF IDOLATRY. (Vers. 18, 19.) 1. He appealed to ezperience. His own people unhappily bad been betrayed into idoJ~t•y, a,1rl he asked them whether they had ever profited thereby (ver. 18). 2. He OH, ll, 1-20.) 'l'HE BOOK OF HABAKKUK. 4l