Habakkuk 1

Habakkuk 1:1-17 . HABAKKUK'S EXPOSTULATION WITH JEHOVAH ON ACCOUNT OF THE PREVALENCE OF INJUSTICE: JEHOVAH SUMMONS ATTENTION TO HIS PURPOSE OF SENDING THE CHALDEANS AS THE AVENGERS. THE PROPHET COMPLAINS, THAT THESE ARE WORSE THAN THOSE ON WHOM VENGEANCE WAS TO BE TAKEN.

1. burden--the prophetic sentence.

2, 3. violence . . . Why dost thou show me iniquity?--Similar language is used of the Chaldeans ( Habakkuk 1:9 Habakkuk 1:13 ), as here is used of the Jews: implying, that as the Jews sinned by violence and injustice, so they should be punished by violence and injustice ( Proverbs 1:31 ). Jehoiakim's reign was marked by injustice, treachery, and bloodshed ( Jeremiah 22:3 Jeremiah 22:13-17 ). Therefore the Chaldeans should be sent to deal with him and his nobles according to their dealings with others ( Habakkuk 1:6 Habakkuk 1:10 Habakkuk 1:11 Habakkuk 1:17 ). Compare Jeremiah's expostulation with Jehovah, Jeremiah 12:1 , 20:8 ; and Job 19:7 Job 19:8 .

3. cause me to behold grievance--MAURER denies that the Hebrew verb is ever active; he translates, "(Wherefore) dost Thou behold (without doing aught to check) grievance?" The context favors English Version.
there are that raise up strife and contention--so CALVIN. But MAURER, not so well, translates, "There is strife, and contention raises itself."

4. Therefore--because Thou dost suffer such crimes to go unpunished.
law is slacked--is chilled. It has no authority and secures no respect.
judgment--justice.
wrong judgment proceedeth--Decisions are given contrary to right.

5. Behold . . . marvellously . . . a work--(Compare Isaiah 29:14 ). Quoted by Paul ( Acts 13:41 ).
among the heathen--In Acts 13:41 , "ye despisers," from the Septuagint. So the Syriac and Arabic versions; perhaps from a different Hebrew reading. In the English Version reading of Habakkuk, God, in reply to the prophet's expostulation, addresses the Jews as about to be punished, "Behold ye among the heathen (with whom ye deserve to be classed, and by whom ye shall be punished, as despisers; the sense implied, which Paul expresses): learn from them what ye refused to learn from Me!" For "wonder marvellously," Paul, in Acts 13:41 , has, "wonder and perish," which gives the sense, not the literal wording, of the Hebrew, "Wonder, wonder," that is, be overwhelmed in wonder. The despisers are to be given up to their own stupefaction, and so perish. The Israelite unbelievers would not credit the prophecy as to the fearfulness of the destruction to be wrought by the Chaldeans, nor afterwards the deliverance promised from that nation. So analogously, in Paul's day, the Jews would not credit the judgment coming on them by the Romans, nor the salvation proclaimed through Jesus. Thus the same Scripture applied to both.
ye will not believe, though it be told you--that is, ye will not believe now that I foretell it.

6. I raise up--not referring to God's having brought the Chaldeans from their original seats to Babylonia they had already been upwards of twenty years (since Nabopolassar's era) in political power there; but to His being about now to raise them up as the instruments of God's "work" of judgment on the Jews ( 2 Chronicles 36:6 ). The Hebrew is future, "I will raise up."
bitter--that is, cruel ( Jeremiah 50:42 ; compare Judges 18:25 , Margin; 1 Samuel 17:8 ).
hasty--not passionate, but "impetuous."

7. their judgment and . . . dignity . . . proceed of themselves--that is, they recognize no judge save themselves, and they get for themselves and keep their own "dignity" without needing others' help. It will be vain for the Jews to complain of their tyrannical judgments; for whatever the Chaldeans decree they will do according to their own will, they will not brook anyone attempting to interfere.