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Habakkuk
Chapter One
Habakkuk 1
Chapter Contents
The wickedness of the land. The fearful vengeance to be
executed. (1-11) These judgments to be inflicted by a nation more wicked than
themselves. (12-17)
Commentary on Habakkuk 1:1-11
(Read Habakkuk 1:1-11)
The servants of the Lord are deeply afflicted by seeing
ungodliness and violence prevail; especially among those who profess the truth.
No man scrupled doing wrong to his neighbour. We should long to remove to the
world where holiness and love reign for ever, and no violence shall be before
us. God has good reasons for his long-suffering towards bad men, and the
rebukes of good men. The day will come when the cry of sin will be heard
against those that do wrong, and the cry of prayer for those that suffer wrong.
They were to notice what was going forward among the heathen by the Chaldeans,
and to consider themselves a nation to be scourged by them. But most men
presume on continued prosperity, or that calamities will not come in their
days. They are a bitter and hasty nation, fierce, cruel, and bearing down all
before them. They shall overcome all that oppose them. But it is a great
offence, and the common offence of proud people, to take glory to themselves.
The closing words give a glimpse of comfort.
Commentary on Habakkuk 1:12-17
(Read Habakkuk 1:12-17)
However matters may be, yet God is the Lord our God, our
Holy One. We are an offending people, he is an offended God, yet we will not
entertain hard thoughts of him, or of his service. It is great comfort that,
whatever mischief men design, the Lord designs good, and we are sure that his
counsel shall stand. Though wickedness may prosper a while, yet God is holy,
and does not approve the wickedness. As he cannot do iniquity himself, so he is
of purer eyes than to behold it with any approval. By this principle we must
abide, though the dispensations of his providence may for a time, in some
cases, seem to us not to agree with it. The prophet complains that God's
patience was abused; and because sentence against these evil works and workers
was not executed speedily, their hearts were the more fully set in them to do
evil. Some they take up as with the angle, one by one; others they catch in
shoals, as in their net, and gather them in their drag, their enclosing net.
They admire their own cleverness and contrivance: there is great proneness in
us to take the glory of outward prosperity to ourselves. This is idolizing
ourselves, sacrificing to the drag-net because it is our own. God will soon end
successful and splendid robberies. Death and judgment shall make men cease to
prey on others, and they shall be preyed on themselves. Let us remember,
whatever advantages we possess, we must give all the glory to God.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Habakkuk》
Habakkuk 1
Verse 1
[1] The burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see.
The burden — The prophet seems to speak of
these grievous things, as a burden which he himself groaned under.
Verse 4
[4] Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go
forth: for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore wrong
judgment proceedeth.
Therefore — Because the wicked go on with
impunity.
The law — The whole law, moral, ceremonial, and judicial.
Is slacked — Is slighted, and not observed.
Go forth — From magistrates, judges, and public officers.
Doth compass about — As it were besieges,
with design to oppress and ruin.
Verse 5
[5] 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.
Behold ye — Here God begins to answer the
prophet.
Among the heathen — See what judgments
have been executed upon the heathen for like sins.
Verse 6
[6] For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty
nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land, to possess the
dwellingplaces that are not theirs.
Bitter — Cruel, and without mercy.
Hasty — Speedy in executing their merciless purposes.
Verse 7
[7] They are terrible and dreadful: their judgment and their
dignity shall proceed of themselves.
Their judgment — The law they observe, is their
own will.
Their dignity — Their authority is all from
themselves, without respect to any other law or rule whatever.
Verse 8
[8] Their horses also are swifter than the leopards, and are
more fierce than the evening wolves: and their horsemen shall spread
themselves, and their horsemen shall come from far; they shall fly as the eagle
that hasteth to eat.
The evening wolves — Which with fasting in
the day, came out in the evening, fierce and ravenous.
Shall spread — All over the land.
Verse 9
[9] They shall come all for violence: their faces shall sup
up as the east wind, and they shall gather the captivity as the sand.
For violence — To enrich themselves by making a
prey of all.
Their faces — Their very countenances shall be
as blasting as the east-wind.
Verse 10
[10] And they shall scoff at the kings, and the princes shall
be a scorn unto them: they shall deride every strong hold; for they shall heap
dust, and take it.
At the kings — Which opposed their designs.
And take it — By mighty mounts cast up.
Verse 12
[12] Art thou not from everlasting, O LORD my God, mine Holy
One? we shall not die. O LORD, thou hast ordained them for judgment; and, O
mighty God, thou hast established them for correction.
Shall not die — Be utterly destroyed.
Ordained — Set up, and designed.
Them — The Chaldean kingdom.
For judgment — To execute this judgment, which
is tempered with mercy.
For correction — To chastise, not to destroy.
Verse 14
[14] And makest men as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping
things, that have no ruler over them?
And makest — Not infusing cruel appetites, but
permitting them to act according to such appetite which was already in them.
As the fishes — Of which the greater greedily
devour the smaller.
Creeping things — Which in the waters are food for
the lesser fry; so the world, like the sea, is wholly oppression.
No ruler — None to defend the weak, or restrain the mighty.
Verse 15
[15] They take up all of them with the angle, they catch them
in their net, and gather them in their drag: therefore they rejoice and are
glad.
They — The Chaldeans draw out all alike, good or bad.
In their net — Destroying many together.
And gather — As if they could never have
enough, they drive men into their nets.
Verse 16
[16] Therefore they sacrifice unto their net, and burn
incense unto their drag; because by them their portion is fat, and their meat
plenteous.
They sacrifice — Ascribe the praise of their
victories.
Their net — To their own contrivances,
diligence, and power.
Verse 17
[17] Shall they therefore empty their net, and not spare
continually to slay the nations?
Empty their net — As fisher-men empty the full net
to fill it again.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Habakkuk》
01 Chapter 1
Verses 1-17
The burden which Habakkuk
the prophet did see.
Responsibilities
We can see how appropriate is the word
“burden” used by the prophets to describe their gift and duty. The obligation
laid on them often involved strain and danger. And yet it was a glorious
privilege to be commissioned by God, to act for Him, to be His mouthpiece to
the people. Habakkuk’s burden was the sight of the general evil and corruption
prevalent in the Holy Land, among the chosen people. What burden can be heavier
than this, to see evil prevail among God’s people, and to be unable to remedy it?
Two lessons--
1. Every privilege entails suffering.
2. Do not lose heart.
The burden is laid on you
by the Lord who gave you your glorious privilege. Look at the vocation, not at
the burden. (S. Baring-Gould.)
The burden of
enlightenment
The light of Divine favour
bestowed upon Habakkuk was the source of much perplexity of mind and distress
of soul to him. This paradox is common in Christian experience. The prophet’s
mission of mercy was a burden to himself.
I. A burden of enlightenment. He was--
1. A spectator of evil; looking upon the great and terrible disorders
that devastated his country.
2. An inspired spectator of evil. “God showed him iniquity,” etc. To
see, in the light of heaven the fearful ramifications of evil in society is an
essential condition of Christian service.
3. A troubled spectator of evil. His heart strings vibrated with
jarring discords at the touch of the workers of iniquity.
II. A burden of prayer. With a vivid consciousness of God’s almighty
power the prophet called upon Him to interpose and save His people. But days
rolled on and lengthened into months, and still evil abounded. Oh, the burden
of prayers unheard! Oh, the burden of unanswered prayers l Oh, the burden of
delay! The heart grows sick with hope deferred.
III. A burden of discipline. Designed--
1. As a test to see if they will continue to work and witness for
God.
2. Still trust in the Lord, even in the presence of the great mystery
of iniquity. The burden is--
3. For training, that God’s servants may become strong in faith,
giving glory to God. (Joseph Willcox)
Verse 2
O Lord! how long shall I cry, and Thou wilt not hear?
The crisis of prayer
The question to be answered is this: How long will God suffer His people to
pray, and still neglect to hear? Answer--
1. Till they see the plague of their own hearts--till each one sees
his own individual iniquities, and lies in the dust before God.
2. Till the Church feels that she stands in the gap between God and a
sin destroyed world.
3. Till they are willing to do whatever of duty He requires, in
addition to praying.
4. Till they move the stumbling-blocks out of the way of a revival of
His work.
5. If God sees in His people any disposition to withhold from Him the
glory of the work He does. We
see from this subject--
(1) Why so many prayers seem to be offered in vain.
(2) We see some
of the causes of spiritual declension in the Church.
(3) The subject shows how we should set about raising the Church
from her low estate.
(4) We see the duty of every Christian to search well his own heart.
The hindrances to revivals are the sins of individuals. Each Christian,
therefore, must search and purify himself.
(5) How fearful is the Church’s responsibility; and how great should
be her watchfulness, lest by her apathy, her selfishness, or her unbelief, she
hinder the work of the Lord. (National Preacher.)
The cry of a good man under the perplexing procedure of God
I. God’s apparent
disregard to his earnest prayer. Under the pressure of that “burden” which was
resting on his heart, namely, the moral corruption and the coming doom of his
country; it would seem that he had often cried unto the Almighty and implored
His interposition; but no answer had come. Why are not the prayers of good men
immediately answered? In reply to this question three undoubted facts should be
borne in mind.
1. That importunity of soul is necessary to qualify for the
appreciation of the mercies sought. It is not until a man is made to feel the
deep necessity of a thing that he values it when it comes. “How long shall I
cry?” Until the sense of need is so intensified as to qualify for the reception
and due appreciation of the blessing. Another fact that should be borne in mind
is--
2. That the exercise of true prayer is in itself the best means of
spiritual culture. Conscious contact with God is essential to moral excellence.
You must bring the sunbeam to the seed you have sown, if you would have the
seed quickened and developed; and you must bring God into conscious contact
with your powers, if you would have them vivified and brought forth into
strength and perfection. True prayer does this; it is the soul realising itself
in the presence of Him “who quickeneth all things.”
3. That prayers are answered where there is no bestowment of the
blessing invoked. “Not my will, but Thine be done.” This is all we want.
Acquiescence in the Divine will is the moral perfection, dignity, and
blessedness of all creatures in the universe. With these facts let us not be
anxious about the apparent disregard of God to our prayers.
II. God’s apparent
disregard to the moral condition of society. “Why dost Thou show me iniquity,
and cause me to behold grievance? for spoiling and violence are before me: and there are that
raise up strife and contention. Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth
never go forth:
for the wicked cloth compass about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment
proceedeth.” The substance of this is the old complaint, “Wherefore doth the
way of the wicked prosper?” Two facts should be set against this complaint.
1. The good have the best of it, even in this life.
2. The evil will have the worst of it in the next life. (Homilist.)
The expostulation of faith
The prophet is deeply afflicted, for there is little religion in
the land, and as little of the true service of God. The one in reality is the
measure of the other, although there may often seem more religion than
righteousness. He does not, however, begin with attacking vice and irreligion
and sin. He knows better than to do this. He carries his complaint to God, and
in this way he would find some relief from his perplexity. The prophet
expostulates with his God. His work seems almost hopeless, but he is a godly man, and he
turns instinctively from man to God. Assuredly there is an expostulation of
faith as well as of presumption. It may be good for the prophet, and for those
in like circumstances, that at times God is silent. It is not that the prophet
distrusts the justice or the mercy of God; it is rather, that in his impatience
he would set times and seasons for His working. The times in which the prophet
lived were times of ungodliness, of violence, and of misrule. Every one did
that which was right in his own eyes. To correct this, the merely human sense
of right is powerless. In such times, righteous men, such as wished to “lead a
tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and gravity,” must go to the wall.
Even thus they cannot escape injustice and violence, scorn and oppression, from
the many who have no belief in the Unseen, and who act accordingly. And so they
are compassed about with wickedness. The mercy of God may be compassing them
about, but for the time they can hardly see any evidences of it, and they are
almost in despair. They are tempted to think that “all the foundations of the
earth are moved,” and to say, “God hath forsaken the earth.” (P. Barclay, M.
A.)
Freedom allowed in prayer
The prophet does not here teach the Jews, but prepares them
for a coming judgment, as they could not but see that they were justly
condemned, since they were proved guilty by the cry and complaints made by all
the godly. Now this passage teaches us that all who really serve and love God,
ought, according to the prophet s example, to burn with holy indignation
whenever they see wickedness reigning without restraint among men, and
especially in the Church of God. There is indeed nothing which ought to cause
us more grief than to see men raging with profane contempt for God, and aa
regard had for His law and for Divine truth, and all order trodden under foot.
When therefore such a confusion appears to us, we must feel roused, if we have
in us any spark of religion. If it be objected that the prophet exceeded
moderation, the obvious answer is this,--that though he freely pours forth his feelings, there was
nothing wrong in this before God, at least nothing wrong is imputed to him: for wherefore do we
pray, but that each of us may unburden his cares, his griefs, and anxieties, by
pouring them into me bosom of God? Since then God allows us to deal so
familiarly with Him, nothing wrong ought to be ascribed to our prayers, when we
thus freely pour forth our feelings, provided the bridle of obedience keeps us
always within due limits, as was the case with the prophet; for it is certain
that he was retained under the influence of real kindness. Our prophet here
undertakes the defence of justice; for he could not endure the law of God to be
made a sport, and men to allow themselves every liberty in sinning. He can be
justly excused, though he expostulates here with God, for God does not condemn
this freedom in our prayers. The end of praying is, that every one of us pour
forth his heart before God. (John Calvin.)
The deeper plan in human events
In listening to a great organ, played by the hand of a master,
there is often an undertone that controls the whole piece. Sometimes it is
scarcely audible, and a careless listener would miss it altogether. The lighter
play goes on, ebbing and flowing, rising and sinking, now softly gliding on the
gentler stops, and now swelling out to the full power of the great organ. But
amid all the changes and transpositions this undertone may be heard, steadily
pursuing its own thought. The careless listener thinks the lighter play the
main thing; but he that can appreciate musical ideas, as well as sounds,
follows the quiet undertone of the piece, and finds in it the leading thought
of the artist. So men see the outward events of life, the actions, the words,
the wars, famines, sins; but underneath all God is carrying out His own plans,
and compelling all outward things to aid the music He would make in this world.
(Christian Age.)
I will work a work in your days, which ye will not believe, though
it be told you.
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. The doom threatened was terrible in many respects.
I. It was to be
wrought by the instrumentality of a wicked nation. “I 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.” “Nabopolassar
had already destroyed 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 Egyptians 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 of their own capital (Isaiah 31:1; Jeremiah 7:4), and being in alliance with
the Chaldeans, they were indisposed to listen to, and treated with the utmost
incredulity, any predictions which described their overthrow by that people”
(Henderson). God employs wicked nations as His instruments. “I will work a
work.” He says, 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, rapine,
bloodshed. God could not do this.
2. Not coercively. He does not force them to it, in no way does He
interfere with them. They are the responsible party. 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. Now, would not the fact that their
destruction would come upon them from a heathen nation, a nation which they
despised, make it all the more terrible?
II. IT WAS TO BE
WROUGHT WITH RESISTLESS VIOLENCE.
1. The violence would be uncontrolled. “Their judgment and their
dignity shall proceed of themselves.” They recognise no authority, and proudly
spurn the dictates of others. “They recognise no judge save themselves, and
they get for themselves in their own dignity, without needing others’ help.”
2. The violence would be rapid and fierce. “Swifter than the
leopard.” “Evening wolves.”
III. It was to be
wrought with immense havoc. In the east wind, or simoom; spreading destruction
everywhere. (Homilist.)
The Chaldeans, that bitter
and hasty nation.
The Chaldeans
Very graphic is the description of this new and formidable enemy.
Gather four lessons for ourselves.
I. The evil of
sin. It separates the soul from God. Wherever sin is it makes the prophet’s
roll to be written within and without. “Lamentation, and weeping, and woe.”
“All unrighteousness is sin.”
II. National sins
lead to national judgments. They are said to “defile” a land, and to be a
“reproach” to any people. Direct judgments come on a nation for its sin; as on
Sodom and Gomorrah, Egypt, Israel, etc. Then let our nation take heed.
III. The power of
little things. “He heapeth up dust, and taketh it.” That is, the king of
Babylon, by means of mounds of dust, would put himself on a level with the
besieged, and rapidly overcome them. It needs no great means when God is using
the instrument.
IV. The danger of
false security. “They shall deride every stronghold.” When the Lord God is not
there, the defence is vain. “The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the
righteous runneth in, and is safe.” Every false hiding-place will be swept away
in the coining storm. Last year I saw in Pompeii a cellar where eighteen
persons had fled for safety in the time of the great overthrow, but it was a
false refuge. They were all lost. There is something like that in spiritual
things. Many souls are hiding in a refuge of lies. They are trusting to their
own merits, or to God’s uncovenanted goodness apart from Jesus Christ, and Him
crucified. Without Christ, the God man, you are defenceless and exposed to
storm and tempest. (A. C. Thiselton.)
Art Thou not from everlasting, O Lord my God, mine Holy One?
we shall not die.
The Christian conception of immortality
We know” that this prophet was inspired, from the profound
moral insight and far-reaching spiritual vision revealed in his utterance. His
words are his only credentials, but they are amply sufficient. The prophecy
dates near the close of the seventh or the beginning of the sixth century, b.c.
The circumstances of Habakkuk’s time largely determined the contents as well as
the form of his prophecy. What were these circumstances? On the one hand grave
disappointment in the development of his own nation. The hope centring in
Josiah was dispelled by his death in ill-advised battle. Simultaneously the
power of Assyria waned, and the power of Babylon grew. The politician’s despair
is the prophet’s opportunity, and grandly does Habakkuk rise to the occasion.
The prophet saw that though Babylon was a hindrance to Judah’s political
emancipation, yet it was one of the necessary agents of its moral deliverance.
Chaldea is to this extent God’s agent, that it will compel Judah to fall back
upon its religion and its God. Because the Eternal God is holy, Judah cannot
die. The argument deals, strictly speaking, only with the persistence and decay
of earthly societies and kingdoms. The life which is inferred from ethical
kinship with God is victorious national life. The individual counterpart of the
prophet’s argument is given by our Saviour in His inspiring words, “Because I
live, ye shall live also.” The relation of the principle to the individual, and
individual immortality is, no doubt, more subtle and complicated, especially
with regard to the negative results of the principle; but there is a wide field
of positive conclusions, where the argument is quite as strong and clear and
inspiring in the case of the individual as of the nation, and this profounder
and richer application has been fully made in the New Testament. Indeed the
whole progress of revelation has been the unfolding of old principles into
ampler significance rather than the addition of new ones. In the New Testament
the individual is emphasised, and all ethical and religions considerations are
first of all studied in reference to the individual. There is a little danger nowadays
of losing sight of the individual again, of going back to the old world
immature conceptions of society, in which the individual lay latent in the
mass. This is a mistake. We shall not create an ideal society by accomplishing
superficial reformations in the mass; we must be ever searching through the
mass for the individual. The religion of Christ is primarily for the
individual. Primarily, therefore, in the application of the Divine message, we
have to deal with the spirit of man in its individual relation to God.
I. The spiritual
man’s conviction of immortality. The Scriptures nowhere assert the general
principle of human immortality. There is certainly no clear indication of
conditional immortality. The biblical revelation of immortality is in part
bright and clear as the noonday, in part obscure and shadowy. We must not
confound the method of Plato and Butler with the biblical method. One thing is
clear. As man is, like God, an essentially ethical being, he cannot be
destroyed by a merely physical change like death. The sense of spiritual kinship
with God gradually compelled the personal conviction of immortality. The
revelation has always come in the intense individual conviction, “I live in
God, and so live for ever.” The manifest aim of revelation has been to develop
the Christian consciousness, not to satisfy all our curiosity about the eternal
future. It is sometimes said that the only certain proof of immortality is the
resurrection of Jesus Christ. This is correct, if it is carefully stated. It is
correct, when the resurrection of Christ completes the Christian consciousness,
and is vitally related to it. Paid argues thus, “If the resurrection of Christ
be not a historic fact, then the deepest and noblest spiritual consciousness of
men is a vanity and a falsehood, for that depends upon and demands a risen
Christ.” The Christ within me is the final assurance of life and immortality.
II. The christian
contents of this conviction. It is a conviction, not of mere continued
existence, but of eternal life, rich and varied in its content, a life filled
to overflowing with the fulness of the Eternal.
1. The Christian conviction of immortality involves the assurance of
a great increase and expansion of life after death. This assurance of expansion
of life does not imply a breach of continuity between this life and the next.
2. The contents of this conviction include the resurrection of the
body. Scepticism on this subject has arisen from supposed intellectual
difficulties which have been allowed to obscure the utterance of the living
voice of the Christ-spirit within. The denial of the resurrection of the body
is virtually a denial of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Are there then no
difficulties? None at all, except those created by superficial theories of the
resurrection. The continuity and redemption of our wonderful complex life will
be complete. (John Thomas, M. A.)
The eternity, providence, and holiness of Jehovah
I. The prophet
regards the eternity of Jehovah as an argument for their preservation. “Art Thou not from
everlasting?” The interrogatory does not imply doubt on his part. The true God
is essentially eternal, He “inhabiteth eternity.” From His eternity the prophet
argues that His people will not perish,--“we shall not die.” There is force in
this argument. His people live in Him. Christ said to His disciples, “Because I
live, ye shall live also.” Man’s immortality is not in himself, but in God.
II. He regards His
providence as a source of comfort. “O Lord, Thou hast ordained them for judgment;
and, O Mighty God, Thou hast established them for correction.” “Jehovah, for
judgment Thou hast appointed it, and, O Rock, Thou hast founded it for
chastisement” (Delitzsch). Whatever evil of any kind, from any quarter, comes
upon the loyal servants of God, comes not by accident: it is under the direction of the All-wise
and the All-beneficent. These Chaldeans could not move without Him, nor could
they strike one blow without His permission; they were but the rod in His hand.
All the most furious fiends in the universe are under His direction. Whatever
mischief men design to inflict upon His people, He purposes to bring good out
of it; and His counsel shall stand.
II. He regards His
holiness as an occasion for perplexity. “Thou art of purer eyes than to behold
evil, and canst not look on iniquity: wherefore lookest Thou upon them that deal
treacherously, and holdest Thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is
more righteous than he?” Jehovah is the Holy One. As if he had said, Since Thou
art holy, why allow such abominations to take place? why permit wicked men to
work such iniquities, and to inflict such suffering upon the righteous? This
has always been a source of perplexity to good men. (Homilist.)
Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look
upon iniquity.
The holiness of God
There is in our Maker a purity of nature, and an essential sort of
holiness which render Him incapable of enduring sin in any person, or under any
circumstances. I believe this is the very foundation of all religious feeling
whatever. The true fear of God is the fear of His holiness.
1. This is no contradiction to the character in which God is
exhibited to us in the Gospel, as a God of love. But we must notice the limits
under which the love of God must be taken in application to ourselves. Only in
the Gospel is it revealed.
2. God has always shown a sort of instinctive abhorrence of sin,
which no worth of the individual sinner could induce Him to overcome. This
holiness of God is opposed to sin in every form and degree. There is nothing in
man which can reconcile the nature of God to sin. Is sin regarded by us, as we
must know and believe it is
regarded by God? (H. Raikes, A. M.)
The holiness of God
I. His holiness is
universally manifest.
1. It is manifest to man.
(1) In law. The principles of His moral law are holy, just, and
good.
(2) In providence. Justice is but holiness in action, and through
all ages God has expressed His abhorrence of sin in the judgments He has
inflicted.
(3) In Christ. He sent His Son into the world. What for? “To put
away sin.” To cleanse humanity by His self-sacrificing life.
(4) In conscience. The moral constitution of man, which recoils from
the wrong and sympathises with the right, manifests God’s holiness. There is no
room for man, then, to doubt God’s holiness.
2. It is manifest to angels. They live in its light. They are adorned
with its beauties, they are inspired with its glories, and their anthem is,
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty.”
3. It is manifest to the lost. They are bound to exclaim, “Just and
right are Thy ways, Thou King of saints.”
II. His holiness is
eternally original. The holiness of all holy intelligences is derived from Him.
III. His holiness is
gloriously effulgent. “He is glorious in holiness.” He is light, in Him there
is no darkness at all.
IV. His holiness is
absolutely standard. It is that to which the holiness of all other beings must
come, and by which it must be tested. The law is, we are “ to be holy as He is
holy.” But how can fallen man be raised to this standard of holiness? Here is
the answer, and the only satisfactory answer: “For the grace of God that bringeth
salvation hath appeared to all men,” etc. (Homilist.)
Wherefore lookest Thou
upon them that deal treacherously?--
Things that suggest mistrust of God
St. Hierom’s opinion is that the name Habakkuk is derived from a
word that signifies embracing, and may imply the embraces of a wrestler, who
clasps his arms about the person he contends with. In this chapter we have the
prophet contending with no less an antagonist than the great God, and upon no
lower subject than His holiness, justice, and goodness. Is it not a very bold
and daring thing for a creature thus to arraign the justice of His Creator? The
father fore-mentioned explains that the prophet in his own person represents
the frailty and impatience of man. We understand Habakkuk to be really saying,
“True it is, O Lord, we are a very wicked and sinful people; but yet not so bad
as the tyrannous Nebuchadnezzar, and his idolatrous Chaldeans. How then can it
be consistent with Thy justice and hatred to sin, to permit the greater sinners
to prosper in their oppression of the less, of those that are better than
themselves?” “Why dost Thou favour them in their treacherous enterprises?” The
words of the text contain an expostulation with God, concerning that seemingly
strange dispensation of His providence in suffering the wicked to prosper and
thrive, and that by the afflictions and oppressions of the righteous.
I. The ground and
occasion of this expostulation of the text. Good men cannot oppress, or take
indirect methods to thrive; they have a God above, and a conscience within,
which overawe them, and will not suffer them to do it. Nor can they be supposed
to use such means as may effectually secure them from the violences and
oppressions of others; for the good man, charitably measuring others by
himself, does not stand upon a constant guard, nor use preventive methods to
keep off those injuries that he is not apprehensive of. But a bad man has none
of those restraints of God, or conscience, or charity, to hinder him from
falling upon the prey that lies exposed to him. It is not then to be wondered
at that “those who deal treacherously prosper,” or “that the wicked devoureth
the man that is more righteous than he.”
II. Inquire into
the objections that are made against God’s permission hereof. How comes it to
pass that God does not interpose, that He does not hinder the evil and defend
the good? This has been a stumbling-block in all ages. It was to holy Job; to
Jeremiah; and to Asaph. It is a great argument of the atheists to banish the
belief of a God and His providence out of the world. They say, If God would
hinder them but cannot, then is He not omnipotent; if He can, but will not,
then is He not just and good; so that either His power, or His justice and
goodness, must be given up; or else those attributes must be salved by the
imperfection of His knowledge. But the true notion of God is a Being infinite
in all perfections, and therefore he that is defective in knowledge can no more
be God than he that is not infinite in power, justice, or goodness. And so they
would dispute God out of being.
III. Vindicate the
Divine providence by showing the weakness of these objections. It may be very
consistent with the justice and goodness of God to permit these things. The
objection is built upon the contrary supposition.
1. It is not inconsistent with
God’s justice and goodness to suffer good men to be afflicted in this world,
because--
(1) Afflictions are not always punishments, but means whereby God does
a great deal of good and benefit to them that are exercised with them. He weans
them from the world, reduces them (leads them back) when they are going astray,
tries and proves their faith, patience, submission, resignation, etc.
2. Supposing afflictions to be punishments, the best men will find
failings and sins enough in themselves to make the punishment reasonable. They
may well think God good and merciful in thus chastising them.
3. He has appointed
a day wherein He will abundantly recompense all the troubles and sorrows and
sufferings of pious men with joys unspeakable.
4. It is not inconsistent with God’s justice and goodness to suffer
bad men to be prosperous here.
(1) Prosperity is not always a blessing. If the impunity of the
wicked be their hardening and judgment, it is certainly not unjust with God to
suffer it.
(2) There is hardly any man so bad but has something of good in him,
by which he is useful and serviceable to the world. For God to reward the
natural or moral goodness of otherwise bad men, with outward temporal
blessings, is agreeable to His rule of rewarding every one according to his
works.
(3) It cannot argue want of justice or goodness in God to try all
means to reduce wholly wicked men and make them better.
(4) There is a day of retribution coming.
5. It is not inconsistent with God’s justice and goodness to suffer
bad men to be the instruments whereby good men are afflicted. If a thing has to
be done, and is right to do, it cannot matter whether the agent employed is
good or bad, so long as he is efficient for the work. And can the good be
employed in many of these judgments, or calamities, or wrongs? If God may work
by such things, He must use the sort of people who can do them. Inferences--
1. This subject gives us an irrefragable assurance of a future
judgment and state.
2. Learn not to “love the world, nor the things of the world.”
3. The facts dwelt on should excite and inflame our desires and
longings after the other world, where the wicked shall be made miserable, and
the good man happy.
4. Learn not to think hardly of God, nor to envy wicked men when He
permits them to persecute His Church, and to triumph in the miseries and ruin
of His best servants. (W. Talbot, D. D.)
“Wait, and you will see”
Linnell, the artist, had a commission to paint a picture, for
which he was to receive £1000. Not wishing any one to inspect it until
perfected, he veiled it when not working at it, and wrote over it in Latin,
“Wait, and you will see.” The final issue of much of God’s work is now hidden
from us, but assured that, even in times of affliction, God is acting wisely,
we must wait until He is pleased to let us see the finished glory of His work.
(Gates of Imagery.)
And makest men as the
fishes of the sea
Rapacious selfishness in
power
Illustrated in
Nebuchadnezzar.
Selfishness is the root and essence of sin. All unregenerate men are therefore
more or less selfish, and rapacity is an instinct of selfishness. Selfishness
hungers for the things of others.
I. It practically
ignores the rights of man as man. “And makest man as the fishes of the sea, as
the creeping things, that have no ruler over them.” The Babylonian tyrant did
not see in the population of Judea men possessing natural endowments,
sustaining moral relationships, invested with rights and responsibilities
similar to his own fellow-men; but merely “fishes”;--his object was, to catch
them and turn them to his own use. It is ever so with selfishness: it blinds man to the
claims of his brother. What does the selfish employer care for the man in those
who work in his service and build up his fortune? He treats them rather as
fishes to be used, than as brethren to be respected. What does the selfish
despot care for the moral humanity of the people over whom he sways his
sceptre? He values them only as they can fight his battles, enrich his
exchequer, and contribute to his pageantry and pomp. What were men to Napoleon?
etc.
II. It assiduously
works to turn men to its own use. “They take up all of them with the angle,
they catch them in their net, and gather them in their drag; therefore they
rejoice and are glad.” Ah me! Human life is like a sea--deep, unresting, treacherous; and the
teaming millions of men are but as fishes, the weaker devoured by the stronger.
The mighty ones use the hook to oppress individuals one by one, the net and the
drag to carry multitudes away. As the fisherman works by various expedients to
catch the fish, the selfish man in power is ever active in devising the best
expedients to turn human flesh to his own use.
III. It adores self
on account of its success. “Therefore they sacrifice unto their net, and burn
incense unto their drag; because by them their portion is fat, and their meat
plenteous.” Because men are everywhere selfish, they are everywhere “sacrificing
unto their” net, and burning incense unto their drag. The selfish statesman
says, There is no measure like mine; the selfish sectarian, There is no Church
like mine; the selfish author, There is no book like mine; the selfish
preacher, There is no sermon like mine.
IV. It remains
unsatiable notwithstanding its prosperity. “Shall they therefore empty their
net?” etc. An old author thus paraphrases the language, “Shall they enrich
themselves and fill their own vessels, with that which they have by violence
and oppression taken away from their neighbours? Shall they empty their net of
what they have caught, that they may cast it into the sea again to catch more?
And wilt Thou suffer them to proceed in this wicked course? Shall they not
spare continually to slay the nations? Must the numbers and wealth of nations
be sacrificed to their net?” Conclusion--What an awful picture of the world we
have here! (Homilist.)
The baits of Satan
All sorts of baits are
used to catch human souls. One of the old fathers of the Church says that Satan
is the ape of God. That is, Satan imitates whatever God does, but with a
different object. God uses the beautiful things He has made to draw you to Him.
Satan uses the same things to lure you into his power, and draw you away from God.
Since man has been in the world, he has had to work. And God has blessed work.
But Satan takes work, and tries to make mischief with it. He tries to make you
care for your work apart from God, and thus it is turned into dead, graceless,
unprofitable work. The world--the society of your fellows--may draw the souls
of those who move in it to God; for there is a great deal of good in the world.
You cannot always say that this or that is bad in itself. It is bad only when
Satan has put his hook through it. Consequently you must not rashly denounce an
amusement or a pursuit, as bad, unless you can see the hook in it. Look at some
scriptural instances of Satan’s fishing. Case of Job; of David; of Judas
Iscariot. As you go through life you will meet with all sorts of temptations.
Temptations are Satan s baits. Then, whatever you undertake, keep God before
your eyes: keep
God in your thoughts. Directly you begin to lose sight of God and to forget
Him--then beware! Recover yourself as quickly as you can; you have somehow got
hold of a bait which Satan is pulling towards him. (S. Baring-Gould,
M. A.)
Verse 16
Therefore they sacrifice unto their net, and burn incense to their
drag; because by them their portion is fat, and their meat plenteous.
Self-worship
Nebuchadnezzar is here represented as gathering the people into
his net, and then, forgetting that he was only an instrument, doing homage to
his own power and skill, as though they had won for him the victory.
1. The most numerous illustrations of this spirit are those which may
be found in the conduct of our secular work. The ungodliness of the daily life
of men is a fact too manifest to be disputed. They see in every increase of
their wealth and power a fresh evidence of their skill and strength; and,
intoxicated with pride or vanity,
burn incense only to their own net. Among those who bear the Christian name
there are evidences only too palpable of its presence and power, now prone are
we, in secular matters, to forget the relation in which we stand to God. The
precept, “In all thy ways acknowledge Him,” is either wholly ignored, or its
application restricted to special spiritual exercises and duties. We need a
more thorough and pervading sense of God’s presence, and our reliance on Him to
penetrate our lives. The danger is one to which we are specially liable in an
age when the science and industry of man have achieved so much. Science has
unveiled so many secrets of nature that we begin to fancy that there is nothing
so hidden that the same skill may not drag it from its retreat. It is not
wonderful that man should deify intellect, and forgetful of Him from whom comes
every talent, should ask, “Is not this great Babylon, that I have built?”
Everywhere, in fact, do we see men thus exalting themselves and their own
wisdom. They would fain put God
out of His own world, by enthroning man in His place. To correct these godless
views of life, God, from time to time, sends us solemn and emphatic warnings of
His power and our dependence. The wise hear the rod, and who hath appointed it.
Judgment instructs those whom the gentler voice of mercy did not reach.
2. Mark the development of this spirit in our spiritual life. Much
apparently Christian service would not abide the Master’s test, because so much
of this earthly element enters into the spirit by which it is inspired. Is
there not too often a disposition to trust in the wisdom of our plans and the
efficiency of our instruments, rather than in that blessing which alone can
make rich? Self-reliance, self-conceit, self-exaltation, self-seeking,
self-worship, are evils that intrude even into religious institutions.
(1) This spirit may reveal itself in the motives that induce
activity in the service of the Church. Love to Christ is the only true and
enduring motive of all Christian labour. But we may work to extend our party
rather than to glorify God. There is danger in mere sectional attachments. Our
motives may be more directly personal. We may labour only to gratify our own
ambition or fancy. Our vanity may be pleased by the rich incense of flattery.
Our desire for power may be gratified by the influence we gain over other men.
There are tests which we may all employ with advantage to prove the character of our work.
(2) The spirit displays itself in regard to the modes of Christian
labour. There are two opposite extremes against which we have to guard. There
are not a few who are crying out for a new Gospel. There are those who are sticklers
not only for truth, but for the very phrases in which it is set forth. These
two parties are wide as the poles asunder, yet they agree in this--they are
both burning incense to their own net.
(3) This spirit may reveal itself in the way in which we regard the
results of Christian labour. In the hour of success we think more of the
efficiency of the instrument than of the grace of the Divine Spirit. The
greatest talent is insufficient if alone. We want all the power that Christians
possess sanctified to Christ. We want to see the most perfect instrumentality,
but we want something beyond that. There is no real power unless the Spirit of
God be in our midst. (J. Guinness Rogers, D. D.)
The worship of the net
The word “drag” simply means a large fishing net. The bold
metaphor of the text is that of a fisherman whose mind is so overborne by the
large draughts of fish which he is continually taking that he begins actually
to worship those nets which are the instruments of such wonderful success. The
prophet is portraying the condition of the Babylonian Empire. It had been
swallowing up the smaller nations. Puffed up by its military successes, it had
sunk into a condition of practical atheism. They came to worship the resources
which they had at their disposal. They paid homage to material power. In answer
to his prayer the prophet receives a vision of judgment. Haughty, idolatrous
Babylon will not continue for ever. They worshipped the net; they would be
captured by the net of another military empire. The sin of man keeps repeating
itself throughout the ages. Notwithstanding all the lessons of the past, there
are still multitudes who forget the living God. They seek their own
gratification and aggrandisement. When they are successful they are puffed up
with pride. They boast themselves of the means and methods which have been the
instruments of their success. Let us be thankful that the righteousness of God
keeps repeating itself too. The principles of the Divine government are
eternal. God was in the history of old Judaea and Assyria, but He is also in
the history of every nation of modern Europe. His providence must not be left
out of human calculations. Have we in England learnt the lesson that only
“righteousness” can really and permanently exalt any nation? How prone are we
to magnify the instruments of our national greatness! We worship rank, wealth,
intellect, business. But God is not mocked, and in many ways He breaks men’s
idols before their eyes. (T. Campbell Finlayson.)
The idolatry of work
In our times the idolatry of work has replaced the thirst for wisdom;
there is no time to fill the treasure-house, and there is no time to dispense
its stores. The consequences of this sort of life are sufficiently mischievous
before we bring in on it the light of Christ and the Gospel. What was our
Lord’s teaching in correction of this tendency to an idol-worship of work? He
taught that work
is not an end, but a means. It may be fruitful or unfruitful, stopping with
itself, or producing something. It is essentially of two kinds--it may begin
with itself, or it may have a beginning behind it; it may be (so to say) its
own life, or it may be the manifestation of a life prior and ancient. Not the
work, but the workman, is the all-important thing. All depends, not upon what
the man wrought, but upon what he was. (C. J. Vaughan, D. D.)
Self-conceit
The over-estimate of one’s capabilities and powers, and the
depreciation of the capabilities and Dowers of all other people. Self-knowledge
is not self-conceit. Nor is the right and diligent use of the talents with
which God has entrusted us any indication of self-conceit. Illustration-The
principle contained in the words, “They sacrifice unto their own net,” etc.
I. Men do this
when they attribute their temporal prosperity to their own skill and energy,
and not to God. Wealth may, or may not, be a proof of skill and industry.
Self-reliance is a noble quality; it is different from self-sufficiency. But we
are dependent upon God.
II. When they
attribute the discoveries of science and the inventions that have benefited the
world to the human intellect and not to God. Man’s discoveries are God’s
revelations.
III. When they
attribute the prosperity of a country to any other source than to God.
Patriotism is a virtue. Our prosperity may be ascribed to different causes. Let
us honour God; let not our pride weaken us.
IV. In their
treatment of God’s merciful revelation to the world.
V. When they
depend for the spread of God’s rule on human plans and organisations, and not
on the blessing of the highest. “The excellency of the power is of God.”
Without God’s presence and blessing all that we do is in vain. (James Owen.)
Conceit born of success
This passage discovers to us the secret impiety of all those who
do not serve God sincerely and with an honest mind. There is, indeed, imprinted
on the hearts of men a certain conviction respecting the existence of a God;
for none are so barbarous as not to have some sense of religion; and thus all
are rendered inexcusable, as they carry in their hearts a law which is
sufficient to make them a thousand times guilty. But at the same time the
ungodly, and those who are not illuminated by faith, bury this knowledge, for
they are enveloped in themselves; and when some recollection of God creeps in,
they are at first impressed, and ascribe some honour to him; but this is
evanescent, for they soon suppress it as much as they can; yea, they even
strive to extinguish (though they cannot) this knowledge, and whatever light
they have from heaven. This is what the prophet now graphically sets forth in
the person of the Assyrian king. He had before said, “This power is that of his
God.” He had complained that the Assyrians would give to their idols what was
peculiar to God alone, and thus deprive Him of His right; but he says now, that
they would “sacrifice to their own drag, and offer incense to their net.” This
is a very different thing; for how could they sacrifice to their idols if they
ascribed to their drag whatever victories they gained? Now by the words “drag” and
“net” the prophet means their efforts, strength, forces, power, councils, and
policies, as they call them, and whatever else there be which profane men
arrogate to themselves. But what is it to sacrifice to their own net? The
Assyrian did this, because he thought he surpassed all others in craftiness;
because he thought himself so courageous as not to hesitate to make war with
all nations, regarding himself as well prepared with forces, and justified in
his proceedings; and because he became successful, and omitted nothing
calculated to ensure victory. Thus the Assyrian regarded as nothing his idols;
for he put himself in the place of all his gods. But if it be asked, whence
came his success? we must answer, that the Assyrian ought to have ascribed it
all to the one true God; but he thought that he prospered through his own
valour. If we refer to counsel, it is certain that God is He who governs the
counsels and minds of men; but the Assyrian thought he gained everything by his
own skill. If, again, we speak of strength, whence is it? And of courage,
whence is it but from God? But the Assyrian appropriated all these things to
himself. What regard, then, had he for God? We see how he now takes away all
honour even from his own idols, and attributes everything to himself. But this
sin belongs to all the ungodly; for where God’s Spirit does not reign there is
no humility, and men ever swell with inward pride until God thoroughly Cleanse
them. It is, then, necessary that God should empty us by His special grace, that
we may not be filled with this Satanic pride, which is innate, and which cannot
by any means be shaken off by us until the Lord regenerates us by His Spirit.
God cannot be really glorified except when men wholly empty themselves. (John
Calvin.)
Sacrificing to the net
There is a curious passage in the prophecy of Habakkuk which
speaks of fishermen who “sacrifice to their net, and burn incense to their
drag.” I think that sometimes very true and earnest Christians are in danger of
doing that. They almost worship the visible Church, which, after all, is only a
net “to catch men” for Christ. They delight in its historic character. They
glory in its apostolic order. They venerate every feature of its organic
structure. In one word, it becomes no more a spiritual Church, but a kingdom of
this world. But by and by a terrible shock shakes them like an earthquake. Some
iniquity appears in Zion. Wickedness shelters itself under the robes of piety.
Political scheming creeps into ecclesiastical councils. The very law of the
Church is made an instrument of oppression. They stand confounded and amazed.
What means it all? Why, it means just this, that Christ is telling you that no
earthly kingdom is the Church of Christ. This is not your rest. The marriage
supper of the Lamb is not in the poor feast of a visible Church. The “New
Jerusalem” is not yet let down from God Out of heaven. (Bishop Cheney.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》