casts the rod into a fire." For just as God deals with each person individually, elevating him to the highest point when He casts him down to the lowest, thus God also deals with a whole nation, indeed, with the whole world. To be sure, to endure and bear that requires faith and the Word of God. The Jewish nation, too, experienced that. Their kingdom perished when Christ appeared. For everything that happened to this nation after the Babylonian captivity is nothing more than a brief and quick preparation for Christ's coming. After its destruction the country was restored a little, and the people gathered again for the sole purpose that Christ might have space and people for His preaching and for initiating His kingdom.
Thus our Habakkuk is a comforting prophet whose mission was to strengthen and to sustain the people, so that they would not despair of the Christ's coming, no matter how difficult the situation might appear to be. To this end he employed all means and methods to fortify their faith in the promised Christ in their hearts. Thus he proclaimed: It is true indeed that the country must be destroyed by the king of Babylon by reason of their sins, but that this would not stay the coming of the Christ and of His kingdom.
Moreover, even the destroyer, the king of Babylon, would not enjoy his good fortune very long; he, too, would perish. For it is God's way and method to help when help is needed and to appear exactly at the proper time, as Habakkuk's song sings: "He remembers mercy when tribulation is present."9 This agrees with the saying: "The rope breaks when it holds you most tightly." We, too, must sustain Christians for the Last Day with the Word of God. Even though it seems that Christ is tarrying very long and will not come,
He will come, as He Himself says, when this is least expected, when people engage in building, in planting, in buying, selling, eating, drinking, in marrying and in being given in marriage, etc. If not all, at least a few can thus be preserved in faith. For as we perceive so clearly every day, this calls for faith and for preaching.
From all of this we can infer that our prophet Habakkuk lived prior to the Babylonian captivity, perhaps at the time of Jeremiah. This also makes it easy to understand his meaning. But there is nothing to support the assertion of several books that Habakkuk brought Daniel food to eat from the land of Judah during the latter's captivity in Babylon. And I suppose it does not agree with the chronology either, since there are so many prophecies of Habakkuk that show that he antedates Jeremiah. The latter experienced the destruction of Jerusalem; Habakkuk foretold it. But Daniel lived later than Jeremiah; and he lived a long time before he was east into prison. Habakkuk's name befits his office. For in German the word
Habakkuk means Herzer ("one who caresses"), or one who caresses another and takes him into his arms.
And that is exactly what he does with his prophecy. He caresses his nation and takes it into his arms, that is, he comforts and encourages it as one fondles a poor weeping child or other person, quieting and pacifying it with the assurance that, if God wills, conditions will mend.
1. The burden of God which Habakkuk the prophet saw.
IT is clear from the text itself that Habakkuk lived long before the Babylonian captivity, because he states that he "saw" the burden. In the Hebrew tongue the prophets are called "seers" or "beholders" because they see and behold future happenings with their mind's eye. Therefore Isaiah also calls his book a "vision concerning Judah and Jerusalem" (Is. 1:1) in which he speaks of the future events beheld by him.
And Obadiah calls his book "the vision of Obadiah" (Obad. 1). And Amos writes that Amaziah bade him flee, saying (Amos 7:12): "O seer, go, flee away to the land of Judah." We must familiarize ourselves with such terms to know that in Hebrew a prophet is called a "seer" who beholds future and hidden events, which others do not see. In that way Habakkuk, too, has seen the disaster that would one day befall
Jerusalem through the king of Babylon. And he consoles the people and encourages them to believe and to hope.
But why does he speak about a "burden" when his intent is to console? For he comforts far more than he distresses. It is the custom of the prophets to call their prophecy a "burden," אשָָּּׂׂמַ in Hebrew. As Jeremiah indicates, this derives from the fact that the prophets generally reproved the people and threatened them with God's wrath. And it is necessary for a preacher always to reprove people, because the godly are few and the ungodly many in number. But when they did this, it became proverbial to ask:
"What did he preach?" And the reply was: "He surely preached at us. We are always the target of his threats." As the saying goes today: "They make hell hot and paint the devil black for us." Since the prophets constantly preached about some evil that would befall them, they termed their sermons a "burden," that is, something that would tumble down on them, something that was poised and suspended
- 65 over them and would soon strike them. Thus God's wrath and punishment are constantly poised and suspended over the ungodly, even though they do not perceive this. In Jer. 23:33 you may read that they called God's Word אשָָּּׂׂמַ. This angered God, and He forbade it. And since Habakkuk, too, preaches about future punishment on Jerusalem (although he comforts more than he frightens), he terms his sermon a "burden" in agreement with the custom of all the prophets and of the people. For here, too, he first threatens them to humble and to frighten them, so that they might mend their ways, be converted, and thereby avert the future punishment.
2. O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and Thou wilt not hear? Or cry to Thee "Violence!" and Thou wilt not save?
Here he begins to rebuke the people for their transgression and sin because of which the wrath of God and the burden had to come upon them. He introduces this with a passionate outcry and a supplication to God. It sounds as though he were angry with God because of His long-suffering with the sins of the people, which permitted them to transgress so smugly. It is as though he were saying: "I am preaching much, but all to no avail. My words are despised, and no one mends his ways. On the contrary, people are getting worse all the time. Therefore I have no other recourse than to pour out my complaint to You. But You, too, pretend neither to hear me nor to notice me." But Habakkuk does not do this by way of quarreling with God or by way of chiding Him. To be sure, that is the impression his words lend. No, he wishes to frighten the people and move them to repent. He wants to show how the wrath and burden will justly overtake them, since they heed no preaching, threatening, admonishing, and also no pleading addressed to them. In the first place, he serves notice that he has preached very passionately and has taken great pains to correct the people but that this has borne no fruit; in the second place, that he was deeply concerned and worried about the people because of their future punishment and burden. He would like to save them and avert all of this. But they pay no attention to either. They do not believe that a burden is imminent; nor do they want to refrain from sin. That is the way of sinners: because they do not feel it, they refuse to believe it, no matter how one may threaten and rebuke them.
3. Why dost Thou make me see toil and trouble? Why dost Thou show me robbery and iniquity round about me?
Here we note that Habakkuk is speaking of the Jewish nation and not yet of the king of Babylon. For he is bemoaning the evil conditions in his country, he laments that wickedness is so rampant round about him and that he is obliged to look on helplessly. In view of this, he is growing tired and weary of preaching. That is the experience of every godly preacher who is so eager to avert punishment from his people and to make them godly. When he sees that he is not progressing in this but that conditions are, as it were, growing worse, he almost despairs of his preaching. And yet he may not and dare not desist from it because of a few elect. And this happened and was recorded for our consolation and for our admonition, lest we be taken aback and lest we regard it strange when but few people are reformed by our teaching or when people even grow worse. For preachers generally assume, especially when they are novices and have just come off the production line,1 that things will prosper as soon as they speak, that all will come about and change in a moment. But that is far from true. This did not happen to the prophet either, not even to Christ Himself. The saying applies: "You are too young to reform old rascals." That was also the experience of our good friend Habakkuk. He is grievously vexed that his teaching is not translated into pure works and deeds.
The two Hebrew words ָאֶוֶו ן and למָעָָ, which I reproduced in German with Mühe und Arbeit ("toil and trouble"), are often used together, especially in the prophets. We must familiarize ourselves with these words. They are used in two different meanings. In the first place, they denote displeasure and trouble.
When speaking of difficult situations and troublesome, evil matters, we say in German: Here there is "toil and trouble." Thus Ps. 90:10 declares of old people that, at best, the span of their life covers 80 years and that anything in excess of that is ָאֶוֶו ן and למָעָָ, "toil and trouble," because old age is a difficult and unpleasant existence and life. The second meaning is: wrongs, vice, and wickedness. It is used in that sense by the prophets when they rebuke the ungodly and the evildoers. They call their evil life "toil and labor." Thus Ps. 10:7 says of the Antichrist: "Under his tongue are toil and trouble." That is so because false teachers and evil men cause others much unhappiness with their wicked conduct and teaching. For instance, they rob them, defraud them, steal from them, oppress them, mislead them; furthermore, they
- 66 burden and they harass them with useless laws and intolerable works. Similarly, we use the word misfortune in two different ways. In the first place, we use it simply to designate a mishap, an accidental injury. This does not involve any sin. In the second place, it also applies to vice and villainy. For instance, when we see a villain perpetrate an evil deed, we say that he is going to serve up a misfortune, that is, a wickedness that will result in misfortune to others and, ultimately, also to himself. This distinction and usage of language must be observed in keeping with the occasion and the context in which the term is used.
With this expression Habakkuk describes the condition in the country at the time of his preaching; namely, toil and trouble prevailed there. That is, there was no love, no friendship, no fidelity or faith among the people. Everybody was bent on his own welfare, defrauding his neighbor, cheating him, grasping, robbing, and stealing wherever possible. That is the way Habakkuk himself interprets and explains this as he says: "Why dost Thou show me robbery and iniquity round about me?" It is as though he were saying: "I mean such toil and trouble by which one robs his neighbor of his property and treats him with violence." For the Hebrew words for "robbery and iniquity" are strong terms. The former does not mean simply to rob but also to destroy and to devastate, as a house or a city is destroyed and devastated. The prophet wishes to say that the one destroys the other and reduces him to beggary, so that he loses house and home and all his goods as though these had been destroyed and devastated. That is what usually happens in cities and countries that are without law and order and when the rich and the tyrants do as they wish. Therefore the second word is "iniquity," that is, violence, as of people who respect no law. In German we reproduce the meaning of these two words by saying: "They indulge in sheer violence and destroy one another in the city."
But you do not find Habakkuk chiding the Jews here because of idolatry or other sins that are committed against God, but solely because of sins committed against one's neighbor. So there must still have been some godly people at the time who preserved the pure worship of God. The great multitude, however, was devoid of faith and of love. They were obsessed with greed, usury, and injustice. But no worship is pleasing to God, no matter how good it may be otherwise, so long as one at the same time inflicts wrongs on his neighbor, as He declares in Hos. 6:6: "I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice"; and in Matt. 5:24: "Leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother." Because they are destroying each other and doing violence to each other, He threatens that they will be destroyed in return and that they will suffer violence at the hands of the king of Babylon. For it is God's way to judge and to punish everyone as he deserves.
Might goes before right.
Here Habakkuk himself explains what he means with toil and trouble, iniquity and destruction. He means to say that no rights are protected or observed but that nothing but might is employed. Here he refers to the bigwigs and masters in the country. To assail the mighty with his preaching and chiding entailed danger enough for himself. He might also have been condemned as a revolutionary, as one who tried to induce the subjects to treat their government with disdain. For he is commonly dubbed a rebel who reproves the lords with God's Word, who does not let them do as they choose, and who, over and above this, fails to praise and honor them in their evil plans. Now, it is no one's fault but the government's if injustice prevails in a country, for sword and punishment of wrong are entrusted to it by God. And now the government not only permits injustice to prevail, but it also commits injustice itself. Whenever a government administers laws strictly, the subjects will probably refrain from doing what they might otherwise do.
But Habakkuk carries through; he is not afraid of being called a rebel. He rebukes the sins of the mighty most of all, blaming them for all the misfortunes that will befall the country in days to come. For, as I have already said, he does not chide them because of idolatry and idols, nor because of any common sins rampant among the people, such as lying, cheating, adultery, carousing, etc., but because of violence and of judicial injustice. All of his preaching is addressed to the lords and judges, as is borne out by the punishment meted out later. For the king of Babylon led all the great men of the country into captivity and left only the poor, lowly plowmen and vinedressers behind, as we see in 2 Kings 25:11 f. It is as though
God wished to declare emphatically: "The great alone deserved this; therefore they are the ones who must suffer the punishment." All of God's punishments commonly follow this pattern: The government is punished most; it is overthrown, whereas the people remain in the country. For after all, the people must
- 67 have a government, and they must be subject to it as a horse is subject to its master. And if government and masters are rascals, it is quite indifferent to the people to have another master appear and depose the other, no matter whether he be more godly or just as wicked. God's punishment on earth is, as it were, the drama of which Mary sings (Luke 1:52): "He has put down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of low degree." From the beginning of the world to the present day we witness that God always deposes one king through another, one lord through another, and that he leaves the people and the country intact, unless it is His purpose to destroy country and people, as was the case with Sodom and Gomorrah and the like.
Thus He dethroned the king of Israel by the king of Assyria, and, in turn, the king of Assyria by the king of Babylon, the king of Babylon by the king of Persia, the king of Persia by Alexander, the king in Greece, the Greek kingdom by the Romans, the Romans by the Goths and the Turks. And if the world stands long enough, the Turks, too, will find someone to knock them off. That is the way it goes on and on, both in great and in small governments; both among emperors and kings we behold a constant seating and unseating. The whole world with its governments appears to be God's cavalry tournament, with all of His horsemen stabbing and unseating each other. The rule is: Whoever lies prostrate, lies prostrate; whoever is mounted, is mounted. And all of this happens because of their injustice and their violence, and because it is their fault whenever evils and injustices prevail in a country. The devil, the supreme prince of the world, goads them on, so that they do not use the sword, committed to them by God, aright, just as the world also misuses all the other gifts of God. And yet the sword is necessary, as eating and drinking are.
But because of their abuse of it God constantly wrests the sword from the fist of one and gives it to another. Sword and government always remain in the world, but the persons sitting on thrones must continue to topple and tumble as they deserve.
But that is what deceived the Jews and hardened their hearts, so that they did not believe Habakkuk.
Since they did not commit adultery and had no idols at the time, they assumed that they were godly and had a gracious God. Consequently they were not at all expecting God's wrath. That is peculiar of these people down to the present day, as it is of all hypocrites and work-righteous: they always imagine that they above all others are the dear children. They cannot believe that they are deserving of wrath. They say, as we read in Micah 2:7: "Should this be said, O house of Jacob? Is the Spirit of the Lord impatient? etc."
For if they had acknowledged that they are sinners, they would have obeyed Habakkuk. They would have reformed fearfully and humbly, as the Ninevites did, and averted the punishment. But since they did not do this, it is certain that they regarded Habakkuk as a fool and idle preacher but themselves as godly, as innocent, and as the true children of God. And this is what we see our own clergy do even today. Amid the most terrible sins and blasphemies they think that they are serving God and are pleasing to Him.
Therefore Habakkuk's statement "might before right" will remain operative in the world. This is also a common saying used by everyone to complain about and to decry violence. But it should not surprise us; this is the way things must be, and this is the world's true color. For when things are right, that is no longer the world or the government of the world but the government of God Himself. And if might would no longer go before right, the devil could no longer be the prince of the world. Then that would really be
God's government. And yet God does not permit this to go unpunished. As the world does not cease sinning, God does not cease punishing. He continues to remove one after another and to set up others, as Dan. 2:21 says: "He removes kings and sets up kings," and as Solomon declares in his Prov. 28:2: "When a land transgresses, it has many rulers; but with men of understanding and knowledge its stability will long continue."
4. So the law is slacked, and justice never goes forth.
This means: Things are not done in keeping with the law of God, but the Law must be bent, and it must yield to their whims. For Habakkuk here assails those who boast of justice and who by no means wish to be regarded as acting contrary to justice. But they pick up a few letters of the alphabet and force them to yield their own meaning. That is what shrewd jurists of our own day also do with their severe justice. When they have a bad and evil cause, they thumb their noses at justice and make their cause appear right and good. That is what Habakkuk here describes with the phrase "the law is slacked" as he points out that every good cause is hindered and kept from being carried out. The true meaning of the laws is thus east to the winds and is disregarded. Then they go their way, they have gained their point in keeping with law, but law bent to their mind. The world is full of such people. They are called godly; nor - 68 may they be called otherwise. And yet God judges and punishes them and threatens not to spare them. In short, but few good causes get into the hands of jurists and judges. They themselves feel that and admit it.
The good causes do not yield any money. And the jurists, who are all gold and silk today, would indeed be beggars if it were not for the evil cases in court.
For the wicked defraud the righteous, so justice goes forth perverted.
We note here that Habakkuk is thinking of the craftiness which one employs against another in court.
Thus Micah also says (Micah 7:3): "The prince and the judge ask for a bribe." All the bigwigs talk about their mischief and thus aggrieve the country. For when Habakkuk states here that the wicked defraud the righteous, he expresses the same thought as St. Paul does in 1 Thess. 4:6 with the word circumvenire
("circumvent"), to trip him up and to surround him with trickery, so that the righteous suffer injustice.
Such men are far baser rogues than public thieves and criminals. For the latter violate the law openly, so that anyone can understand and perceive this, whereas those people presume to pose as godly; they want to see injustice regarded as justice. That makes them rogues doubly: first, because they commit wrongs; second, because they want to adorn and defend these same wrongs with justice. The second is worse than the first. For when Habakkuk indicates here that the law is slackened and that false judgments are made, he clearly refers to those who deal wrongly with the law and judgment, as they cloak their injustice. So we see now what conditions in the country were like. The country was full of villains, especially among the bigwigs. And yet these did not want to be regarded as such. In that way they harmed others with double villainy: first, by doing them injustice; second, by violating the rights of others and making these appear as wrongs. Thus feigning piety, they are really vile rogues. That is most offensive both to God and to the world. And therefore God cannot tolerate this for long but punishes it, as we see from the following words.
5. Look among the heathen and see; wonder and be astounded. For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told.
Here he begins to threaten the afore-mentioned villains with the penalty. To begin with, he strips them of the defiance and of the security on which they had relied. For they had relied on the fact that they were
God's people and that God dwelled in His holy temple in Jerusalem. Up to that time this city had several times been saved most miraculously by God, not only from the surrounding countries, principalities, and kingdoms, but also from the Assyrian empire, which had previously destroyed all of Israel and led the people away into captivity. However, in the days of King Hezekiah this empire had been utterly confounded before the gates of Jerusalem. There its army had lost 185,000 men in one night and had to resort to flight (2 Kings 19:35 f.). That is why it sounded ridiculous and foolish to the Jews to hear
Habakkuk and other prophets say that Jerusalem would be destroyed. In fact, they could not believe this up to the last hour before it occurred. So firmly did they rely on the fact that God dwelled among them in Jerusalem. To be sure, this was no slight cause for reliance; and reason was loath to surrender it.
Moreover, false prophets abetted this faith, citing verses in which God promised Christ's advent and said how glorious David's throne would be, and the like. Over against this Habakkuk and his kind, who declared the opposite, had to appear as liars. For the two statements that a glorious kingdom should be established and that it should be destroyed could not be harmonized.
And now Habakkuk attacks their defiance and their boasting, saying: "Look among the heathen, and see; wonder and be astounded," as if to say: "You look to yourselves, you consider only yourselves, you have a high opinion of yourselves. You are sure and convinced that God works great things only through you, things about which the heathen will be amazed, as He did in the past. But now mark what I am going to do through the heathen. I am going to change the order and perform something through the heathen, and this will seem so strange and odd to you that you will not believe it until you have experienced and felt it.
In fact, all will regard My prophets Habakkuk, Jeremiah, and others like them as fools and liars and will not believe that the words they utter are My words." In the same way King Zedekiah could not believe what Jeremiah said about this. He summoned him and asked him whether this was really God's Word, Jer.
37:17; 38:14 ff. What stranger thing could God do than to use His enemies, the heathen, for the destruction of His throne, His temple, His city, His people, whom He until now had glorified and preserved from all the heathen and whom He had promised that He would be their God and Protector forever?
- 69 Thereby God shows us clearly that He does not want us to rely on anything at all except solely on His grace and mercy. For you note here that it does not help the Jews that they are God's people, that they are the seed of the fathers, that they possess God's law, temple, throne, city, and country and are His people; nor does it help them that so many miracles have been wrought on them heretofore, nor that they have
God's promise. Why not? Because all of this may be held without faith and spirit. And the majority of the Jews did possess all of this devoid of faith and spirit. But where this is so, the debt before God is merely increased. For from him who has much much will be demanded (Luke 12:48). And besides, this begets proud, defiant, smug, presumptuous, arrogant people who exalt themselves above all others who do not have it. They claim to be God's people and possession alone; they despise and condemn all others. And God cannot tolerate that anyone relies on anything but on His grace. He destroys any other object of reliance together with all who rely on it. However, flesh and blood cannot believe this. This seems much too strange to them. They feel so smug in their defiance until they learn from experience. That is what is happening to the Jews here. For they paid no heed to faith and spirit, assuming that it sufficed that they were called the children of God and had received protection. Because of that they perish utterly. All of this is also written for us who bear the name and the semblance of Christians, who boast of Baptism or of clergy status and office over against heathen and Jews, and who, despite this, are devoid of faith and spirit just as they are. In the end we, too, must perish at the hands of those whom we despise and regard as worse than we are, just as the Jews did at the hands of the Chaldeans.
Here the question arises how this text agrees with its citation by St. Paul in Acts 13:40 f.: "Beware, therefore, lest there come upon you what is said in the prophets: 'Behold, you scoffers, and wonder, and perish; for I do a deed in your days, a deed you will never believe if one declares it to you.'" As is cogently indicated by the context, St. Paul is undoubtedly referring to Christ's resurrection. The Jews do not believe in that to the present day. Habakkuk, however, applies it to the coming destruction of the country by the king of Babylon because of the people's sins. We can clearly infer that from his speech.
The answer is that St. Paul's statement is a general saying, used in a similar way. For one may say of any future event of God: "Behold, God will do something which no one believes," whether we sing it or say it; for the world does not believe God's Word until it experiences its truth. Therefore Habakkuk applies this saying correctly to the great work of God's coming destruction of the country, and Paul applies it correctly to God's greatest work, the resurrection of Christ, which had taken place. For both were not believed. We may still similarly adduce daily against the pope and the ungodly all the sayings of Scripture which the prophets uttered concerning the destruction of Jerusalem. I may say, for example, that no one would have believed what God did to the papacy, no matter who had said it, and that He will still do something to the papacy that no one will now believe even though he is told. But he will experience it. Thus Habakkuk, too, wishes to say here: "Behold, God will do something which you do not believe so long as you are merely told about it. You will not believe it until you experience it." The fact that St. Paul says "you scoffers" and Habakkuk says "among the heathen" is due to a varying translation chosen by Paul. That is quite indifferent; the general meaning is still the same.
6–7. For lo, I am rousing the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, who march through the breadth of the earth, to seize habitations not their own. Dread and terrible are they.
This is the threat against the wicked and hardened sinners. But as I have said, they mocked and ridiculed and acted just like the sons-in-law of Lot in Gen. 19:14. They did this even though the prophet made the danger loom so fierce and great. He wanted to frighten them and move them to repentance. He declares that these are not feeble enemies whom God will arouse against them, but the Chaldeans, that is, the emperor of Babylon. For at that time this empire was the dominant power and was constantly increasing in might. That was very much like threatening us with the Turks today. They would prove too strong for us and too angry with us. That sounds far more terrible than being threatened with some ordinary prince in our neighborhood. He says furthermore that this is a bitter nation, that is, an evil and violent nation which deals angrily and tyrannically with country and people. For it wants to be feared and respected. Resistance by anyone provokes the Chaldeans to run full tilt against him. Therefore the Jews certainly had reason to fear. They could depend on no lethargy or slothfulness on the part of the Chaldeans. In addition, the Chaldeans are also quick and show great speed. The Jews need not suppose that they were so far away and would not appear for a long time. It is as though Habakkuk were to say:
"Repent, dear children, and do not trust your notion that the Chaldeans are not so fierce and that they are - 70 still far away. They are bitter and angry especially and above all others with you Jews; and they can come quickly."
In the third place, Habakkuk points to their great numbers. "They march through the breadth of the earth," that is, the country will be filled with Chaldeans, it will fairly swarm with enemies. It is as though he were to say: "If it fails to frighten you that such a mighty empire is aroused against you, the knowledge that it is a bitter and wrathful nation and that it is angry particularly with you should terrify you indeed.
And if that does not do it, let it frighten you to know that this nation is so quick and so well armed and equipped against you. And if that does not do it either, then remember that they are so many and you so few that they could surely trample you to death." The Jews must have felt very smug, and they must have been very reckless to provoke the prophet to frighten them so vehemently and fiercely. For as I have already said, they relied on the fact that they alone were God's people and that they would not perish so.
Therefore the prophet continues, painting the picture still darker. He says that the Chaldeans will "seize habitations not their own," that is, "they will seize all your cities and houses, which they did not build but which you built for yourselves. They will not be concerned about that. Nor will it help you that Jerusalem is God's city and habitation." The Jewish people banked so strongly on that. But that is vain, the Babylonian people will occupy everything, even though it is not their own; for they are a ruthless and terrible nation. Habakkuk chose the words "habitations not their own" very wisely, as though tacitly saying, "also the habitations of God, such as Jerusalem and the temple." For at that time it was most hazardous, offensive, and blasphemous to say that Jerusalem, where God Himself dwelled, would be lost.
The common man could not bear to hear that. Therefore Habakkuk avoids such words, and yet he says as much, namely, that all of this is included.
7. For they will judge and oppress in their own way.
Here Habakkuk explains why the Babylonian nation is so ruthless and terrible. It does not judge or act according to any nation's laws or customs. "Nor will it be governed by your law, but it will deal with you according to its own whims. It will take advantage of its victory as it pleases. It will allow no one to curb it, but its judgment of you will be dictated by the bitterness and wrath it harbors against you. And it will match its judgment with its action; it will enact and execute its judgment on you." That is what Habakkuk means when he says here: "They will judge and oppress in their own way," that is, not pursuant to any law but according to their own disposition and pleasure. For that is what cruel tyrants are accustomed to do.
After they have gained a victory, they know no mercy, no law, no fear of God, no fairness, no patience, no acknowledgment of their own sin and of the punishment they deserve, but like wild wolves they vent their wrath according to their evil and angry will and avenge themselves most ruthlessly. See how this is exemplified in our own day by the bishops and the nobility. They have avenged themselves and still daily avenge themselves on the peasants without restraint.2 The innocent have to suffer with the guilty. They are not content with having carried the day and with being established again. There is no thought of acknowledging that they, too, are guilty and that they also deserved to suffer not only a temporary loss from God as a moderate penalty but also death and hell as proper punishment. There is no other way; they demand restitution down to the last penny, without the least abatement of punishment, as though they themselves had never committed a sin against God. And why? To the end that they, too, may receive no mercy from God for their sins, that their hearts may be hardened so that they cannot see their sin, and that their lips may be closed and be unable to pray: "Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive, etc.," and that they may finally also perish without mercy. Therefore it is not without meaning that noblemen commonly show a lion, a bear, wolves, and other wild beasts in their coats of arms. This reflects their nature.
8. Their horses are swifter than leopards, more agile than the evening wolves.
I have never seen leopards, but travelers report that this is an animal with many spots on its fur and that the females are fiercer than the males. Some people translate "evening wolves" as wolves from the desert. The Hebrew letters admit either one.3 However, I believe that these are evening wolves. I think that this means to say that wolves, which are rapacious, ravenous, murderous beasts by nature, are far more so in the evening because they have not roamed about during the day and their hunger looks to the evening.
Therefore the term "evening wolves" is practically synonymous with "hungry wolves" who have not eaten for a long time. Thus Zeph. 3:3 says of false teachers: "Her judges are evening wolves that leave nothing till the morning." Habakkuk wishes to say here that the leopards or wolves are swift, not that they are faster than other animals by nature, but that they rush and hasten to reach their prey when they are hungry
- 71 and that they are more ruthless and voracious at such a time. He compares the Babylonians to leopards, rushing and hastening to rob and to destroy the Jewish country. Also this comparison is made by him to terrify the people and to move them to reform.
Yea, their horsemen come from afar; they fly like an eagle swift to devour.
A part of the text is omitted here.4 It should read: "Their horsemen spread out, and their horsemen come from afar, etc." Here the prophet vividly portrays the Babylonian army to the Jews just as though he could see their approach. For such is the picture that presents itself when an army approaches from a distance. At first only a detachment of horsemen is seen; but the longer they approach, the more they grow in number, and they seem to multiply as they come. That is what Habakkuk means when he says: "Their horsemen are spreading out," that is, to the view their number seems to increase as they approach. And the fact that they "come from afar" also makes the host appear more numerous. As they come from afar, there seems to be no end to them, and more and more of them seem to be behind them in the distance. Thus they also "fly like an eagle swift to devour." Here Habakkuk refers to the swift pace as this appears to a viewer of an army's approach. It seems particularly swift to him if he knows that the march is directed against him. Then the army seems to be coming immediately and before he can arm himself for defense. Thus
Habakkuk employs the art of a painter here, portraying the approach of a foe and, in addition, describing the emotions of those against whom this is aimed. Their one thought is that they will be devoured as when an eagle devours a carcass that cannot fend the eagle off.
Here we note how beautifully and fittingly the prophets are able to speak, and how they can briefly and yet amply depict a subject. For anyone else would have reported this with one word and said: "The Babylonians will come and destroy Jerusalem." Habakkuk employs many words here. He portrays everything realistically and embellishes it with figures of speech. And it is necessary to do that when preaching to a hard and rude rabble; one must paint it for them, pound it into them, chew it for them, and resort to every means to see whether they can be moved. At least, it helps as much as it can. On the other hand, it is easy to preach to a sensible person. Therefore Habakkuk continues and says:
9. They come only to commit iniquity. They rush along like an east wind.
Earlier I explained the meaning of "committing iniquity."5 So it is to be understood here too. The prophet wants to say that the Babylonians are coming for the sole intent of exercising might. They pay no heed to rights or to mercy. The guilty and the innocent have to suffer alike. That always happens when a country as a whole is punished; the innocent cannot be set apart. In fact, they generally suffer most. Here
Habakkuk indicates that the Babylonian king has no just claim on the land of the Jews nor on the other countries he destroys, for he says: "They come only to commit iniquity." Whoever commits iniquity and uses violence does not act justly, nor has he any right to do this. And yet, this is a description of all empires on earth, especially those whose glory is in war, and that is why Ps. 76:4 calls them "mountains of prey." Therefore they must also be destroyed again in the end, as were Babylon and Rome. Thus
Augustine says very aptly: "What are great empires but great robberies?"6 However, God still uses their might to punish whom He will.
The east wind is the wind which comes from the east. The Latin Bible calls it ventum urentem;7 that is, it is the wind that scorches and dries and is more injurious than the sun's heat. The wind from the west, on the other hand, is moist and fruitful. The wind from the south brings storms; the wind from the north brings fair weather and drives the clouds away. Each operates in its own way. As the east wind sears and extracts strength and moisture from the earth and from all that grows, so the Babylonians will come and destroy everything in all the countries. And as no one can stay the east wind, so no one can resist the Babylonians either. The prophet draws a gruesome, elaborate picture of the Babylonian host in order to move and to frighten the stiff-necked Jews.
They gather captives like sand.
This means that many people in these countries will be captured and led away together with all their property, without distinction, the rich and the mighty, and without mercy all will be gathered in a heap, as hay or straw is raked together. The Hebrew tongue characteristically compares a multitude to sand. In Gen. 22:17 God says to Abraham that He will multiply his descendants "as the stars of heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore." In Judg. 7:12 we read that the Midianites were "as the sand which is upon the seashore for multitude, etc." And here we read that "they gather captives like sand," that is to say, extraordinarily many.
10. At kings they scoff, and of rulers they make sport. They laugh at every fortress, for they heap up earth and take it.
Here Habakkuk deprives them of all comfort and of all defiant boasting. The Jews cannot rely on any human help. Even if kings, princes, and fortified cities, such as Jerusalem and Tyre, should oppose him, the power and might of the Babylonians is too great, and nothing will avail. Indeed, the conquest will be so easy for them that they will make sport of anyone's attempt to oppose them and defend himself against them. Thus no numbers or might of people will help here, nor will any wall or fortress provide protection.
When they cannot knock the walls down, they will pile up dirt round about them so high that they can shoot across the walls and run over them. With these words the prophet is referring chiefly to the city of Jerusalem, on which the Jews also relied because it was so strongly and well fortified. Much has been said and written about that.
11. Then their heart will be exalted and they will continue and sin; then their victory must be the victory of their god.
Here Habakkuk describes how the Babylonians will misuse their victory for their own haughtiness and their blasphemy of God. Thereby they commit sin and constrain God to topple and to destroy them, too, in the end. For no human heart can do otherwise than exalt itself and boast when it fares well and is attended by good fortune. Not only Holy Scripture points that out, but also the heathen testify to that from experience and admit it. Thus the poet Vergil speaks of Nescia mens hominum … servare modum rebus sublata secundis, "the human heart that does not know … how to control its ways when excited by prosperous circumstances."8 The reverse is also true: it cannot be moderate when evil befalls it. Then it cannot but despair and be despondent. A heart is too soft and too feeble for either fortune or misfortune; but it is much feebler for bearing the former than the latter. As the saying has it: "You can endure everything else, but not prosperity." And: "It would take very strong legs to carry good days." Experience also confirms that wherever riches, honor, and all sorts of fortune fall to a man's lot as he likes it, he cannot cease revelling, defying, strutting, raging until misfortune strikes home and curbs him. Thus the saying goes: "Fortune begets courage, courage begets arrogance, arrogance begets poverty, but poverty hurts, and hurt again seeks fortune."9 That is the sequence and the circle followed in the course of human events in the world. This will never change.
That is illustrated by the recent peasant revolt.10 That evil example will deservedly be remembered forever and will never be forgotten. When the peasants succeeded in achieving their aims, O God, what defiance, conceit, boasting, bragging, mischief, and arrogance of every type they displayed! They would no longer look or listen; there was no moderation whatsoever; they had to have their way. They soared high yet never arrived anywhere. On the other hand, when this misfortune struck the lords, how depressed and despondent and crushed were they who had been so lionhearted before! There was no longer any trace of courage or glory but nothing but flight and faintheartedness. However, now that the tables are turned and the lords are victorious and fortunate and the peasants defeated, there is no moderation on either side.
The lords are at a loss to know how to vent their wrath sufficiently, and the peasants are so dejected that they do not know what to do. May God grant that this will not develop into something still worse and that both masters and subjects will not founder completely. As we shall hear, that is what happened to these
Babylonians in the end.
For when the king and his people observed that things were prospering and succeeding so well for his kingdom and that no king, prince, city, or country could withstand them, their courage grew, and as Habakkuk says here, "their heart was exalted," that is, because of their great success they first became really defiant and still prouder than they had been before. They could not observe moderation or recognize their own lot, nor could they give God the honor, although this entire success was nothing but an undeserved gift from God. Similarly, our princes and bishops fail to give God the honor for their survival; nor can they acknowledge their guilt and humble themselves. "They go on," says Habakkuk, "and sin," that is, they continue to boast and defy, they flaunt and they strut along as though they were assured now and had leaped across all mountains. Thus they commit two horrible sins, and in the end these will effect their terrible fall. One sin is the haughtiness which they vent on those people whom they have conquered.
On these they practice their tyranny so arbitrarily. The other sin is their blasphemy. They fail to give God the honor but assume that they are so pious and worthy in God's sight. Those whom they have vanquished they despise and revile as people whom God has condemned and rejected as they deserved. There they
- 73 really run afoul of things and also sin against God. Thus they incur the enmity both of God and of man and become unbearable to both. They will come to an early end. In fact, they are striving toward that goal.
The first sin, haughtiness over against other people, grieves the human heart; but the second sin, blasphemies against God, grieves the prophet and all saints far more. Therefore Habakkuk expounds these further, enlarges on them, and comments on them. To the first he simply applies a common name, saying:
"They sin with their haughtiness." But he assails the other sin with sharp and harsh words, saying: "Then their victory must be the victory of their god." That is to say that they are not content with their haughtiness, with defeating and oppressing people, but they must also honor their idol in Babylon as if he had given them that strength and victory. Of course, the true God in Jerusalem did not do that, being a much weaker and lesser God; He had been defeated together with His people, the Jews, and had succumbed to their Babylonian god. It is his great victory, and to him it must be attributed. Now, where is the God of the Jews? In 2 Kings 18:33–35 we hear something similar. There the chief cupbearer of the king of Assyria declared that his lord had defeated all the gods in the surrounding countries and that the God of the Jews would not be able to withstand him either. It really provokes the prophet that the ungodly not only fail to recognize the source of their strength and their victory but that they are also hardened in their wickedness, that they blaspheme God so freely and defiantly. They attribute to the devil what they really have from God. They make a virtue of their wickedness and let the people of God appear as sinners and rogues. Therefore the prophet concerns himself with this sin and talks himself blue over it to the end of the chapter. He really becomes angry and impatient with the Babylonians' claim and boast to be in the right and with the inference that the people of God are in the wrong, merely because the latter suffer misfortunes and the former enjoy success.
In the same way the Jews, too, defied Christ when they had the upper hand and had crucified Him.
Then they blasphemed, saying (cf. Matt. 27:40, 42): "If He is the Son of God, let Him save Himself."
They said this just as though God were on their side, just as though they were entirely in the right and Christ were wrong. Then their strength and their victory also had to be accounted their god's strength and victory, that is, their devil's and idol's. They did not know and did not believe that the true God had thus forsaken Christ and had delivered Him into their hands, yet loved Christ nevertheless and was angry with them. That is what all ungodly tyrants do. They judge God's grace by temporal fortune or misfortune.
That is what our bishops and princes do today. Because God has granted them victory over the peasants and at the same time has permitted them to torture and persecute many innocent Christians, they are convinced that their cause is just and right and pleasing to God. They are defiant and insolent and "suppose that they are rendering God a service" (John 16:2). They cannot imagine that their god and their cause are sheer deviltry, because they note the success attending them and the misfortune besetting the Gospel. But they do not know that the God and the cause of these same persecuted Christians are right and that God has given these Christians into their hands, just as He did Christ Himself and all the saints. And so they also continue and proceed to blaspheme, saying: "Now, where is your Christ? Have Him help you!" Their might and their victory must also be accounted their god's, and they must be in the right. This constitutes the real Christian cross: not only to suffer evil but also to be regarded to be in the wrong and, like Christ, to be numbered among the malefactors (Mark 15:28).
However, they will come to an ugly end. Now that they have sown their honey, a very sharp mustard will grow up. For since they do not fear God in His judgments and works and do not humble themselves,
He lets them rush confidently along to ruin, attended abundantly by victory and good fortune, and makes fools of them in their smartness and smugness. Now they fill the measure of their sins and become hardened until the hour strikes when He will tend to them as He did to the Babylonians and the Jews and all such tyrants. For where are they now who said to Christ (Matt. 27:43): "He trusts in God; let God deliver Him now, if He desires Him"? Where is their god to whom they ascribed their victory? Christ has remained, but they are dispersed and scattered like the dust of the field. We, too, may take comfort from that today. For the hour will come very soon when it will be said of our tyrants, bishops, and clerics:
"Where are they? Where is their god now? Where is their precious, just cause? Where is their Christian church? Where are they who said: 'Let Christ help you and your Gospel'?" The fact that they are victorious now, that they are raging, defying, strutting, and attributing their victory to their god, as though
God were on their side and against us, tends to make them confidently rush along to ruin, become fools, - 74 become hardened, and become very ripe for punishment. Even if they are told this, they will not believe it but laugh it to scorn, lest they be converted and saved.
12. Art Thou not from everlasting, O Lord my God, my Holy One? Let us not die, but let them, O Lord, be but a punishment, and let them, O our Shelter, only chastise us.
Here he reproves the sins of the blasphemers, rebuking them and comforting his own people. He wants to say: "The fact that the Babylonians are victorious and that we are suffering and were defeated by them does not mean that the Babylonian god to whom they ascribe such might is a true God, nor does it signify that they are so pious and just and that we are sinners and unjust. No, it is You, O Lord, who is doing all of this, who is forsaking us and exalting them. It is Your will. This they do not know. They are contending against You with what You are giving them, namely, power and victory, and they ascribe this to their god.
There are two reasons why You are accustomed to do this. In the first place, You use their wickedness as a rod with which to chastise those whom You love. Thus we read in Is. 10:5: 'Assyria, the rod of My anger,' and in Rev. 3:19: 'Those whom I love I reprove and chasten.' This happens, secondly, so that they rush along to ruin and become fools over Your plans, with which they are not acquainted, and then perish," as I said earlier and as Habakkuk will say further in chapter three. For the saying goes: "After a father has chastised a child, he casts the rod into the fire."
The prophet pleads with God to confine Himself to the punishment and not let the Jewish people perish completely, Now he says, in the stead of the people and together with the people: "O Lord my God, my Holy One!" For no nation under the sun had the true God or knew the true God except the Jewish people alone. Therefore they alone could say "My God." He calls Him his "Holy One" as the prophets usually call God "the Holy One of Israel." Is. 1:4: "They have despised the Holy One of Israel." Ps. 89:18:
"The Lord is our shield, the Holy One of Israel is our king." So we read here, too: "My God, my Holy One." This term is used to indicate that they were holy by reason of their God and nothing else. As God says in Lev. 20:8: "I am the Lord who sanctify you." So we today become "Christians," that is, saints, through Christ and nothing else, not through our works or merits, etc. Habakkuk continues: "Art Thou not from everlasting?" It is as though he were to say: "O Lord, there is of course no God except You, the ancient, true, and eternal God, and there is no new, false god, such as the god in Babylon and others who were invented and appeared on the scene in the course of time." With this he consoles himself and his people and simultaneously defies and derides the Babylonian god, whom the Babylonians exalt so highly.
For the conviction and firm faith that there is only one God and that this God is our God, our Holy One, who is on our side, generates strong courage. In the face of this, what can all the other gods on earth accomplish? "Because You alone are God and our Holy One and we are Your people and all rests in Your hands, be gracious to us and do not let us die or perish at the hands of the Babylonians but just chasten and chastise us, so that, in keeping with Your promise, seed may remain for Your people." For this prayer is based on God's promise, in which He told the people that He would not forsake them entirely, even though He will not save them all. See Rom. 9:29 (Is. 1:9).
In Hebrew this text reads better than it can be reproduced in German, namely: "Is it not true, O God, that You are my God, my Holy One, from everlasting, so that we will not die?" In these words the prophet briefly comprehends all of God's promises and wonders that the Jewish people experienced. It is as though he were to say: "Do You not know or do You not remember that You promised to be our God and that You have not let us perish to the present day? And You will not let us perish now either. For, as You told us, You are our God, in whom we live and do not die." In the Hebrew the words that follow are joined to these and may also be read as a question, thus: "Is it not true, O God, that You are my God, my Holy
One, from everlasting, so that we will not die but that You will use them for punishment, O Lord, and for chastisement, O our Shield?" He converses with God by way of a question, asking whether He will deal with them thus and only chastise them. Not that he doubts this, but he wants to show how faith lives amid trials and temptations (Anfechtung). Then faith appears so feeble. When confronted and oppressed by great misfortunes, it seems that it would immediately sink into doubt. For even though faith remains firm, it nevertheless cracks a bit and speaks quite differently when engaged in battle than it does when it has gained a victory. Thus it was difficult for the people to believe that they would be preserved in the Babylonian captivity or ever return home, and that this was to be but a chastisement. Therefore these words follow:
13. Thou who art of purer eyes than to behold evil and canst not look on wrong.
- 75 It is as though Habakkuk were to say: "All right, if You are of pure eyes, so that, as is proclaimed of You, You cannot bear evil, that You are just and let no wrongs go unpunished, how, then, does it happen that You act quite differently, that You tolerate such wrongs and fail to punish them?" In the Hebrew this reads thus: "mundare oculis" vel "sis plane mundus oculis," et est amara concessio in opere contrario.11
Of a person of good repute but of contradictory conduct we say in German: "All right, you are pious, but why do you act thus? Is that proper for a pious man?" Similarly here: "All right, God, You are just, that is what they say of You, but where is Your justice now?" These words of Habakkuk present the thoughts that occur to a struggling faith. It believes that God is just, but when He tarries so long and looks on the evil committed, faith is tempted to think that He is not just, but that He delights in these rogues. That is what we, too, are prone to think now that God permits our Gospel to be persecuted and reviled so miserably, as both violence and the sects increase daily in opposition to it. We, too, are inclined to say:
"To be sure, You are of pure eyes and are loath to see violence and injustice. But when will You give proof of this also by Your action? It seems to us that You think that we are in the wrong and they are in the right; nevertheless, we are convinced that we are in the right and they are in the wrong."
Not only the common people but also the prophet himself, together with other prophets, experienced such weakness, or such trials (Anfechtung), of faith. For instance, Jer. 12:1 ff. speaks in the same vein:
"Righteous art Thou, O Lord, when I complain to Thee; yet I would plead my case before Thee. Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all who are treacherous thrive? Thou plantest them, and they take root; they grow and bring forth fruit; Thou art near in their mouth and far from their heart." And Ps. 73:2 f. reads: "But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled, my steps had well nigh slipped. For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked, etc." For it hurts exceedingly when the unrighteous prosper so long, earning their great good fortune, as it were, with their wrongs, and the righteous earn so much misfortune with their piety. However, all of this happens to let those people properly run to ruin and to increase our faith and make it strong and rich in God, as Habakkuk says later about the king of Babylon and as the aforementioned Ps. 73 also declares (v. 18) that God lifts the evildoers up high so that He might hurl them down far. And the above quotation from Jeremiah is immediately followed by the words (Jer. 12:3): "Pull them out like sheep for the slaughter, and set them apart for the day of slaughter."
Why dost Thou look on scorners, and art silent when the wicked swallows up the man more righteous than he?
Here struggling faith comes to grips with the good fortune of the ungodly; it mentions point after point, as though it were to say: "I believe and am certain that You alone are God and that the ungodly are impotent to do anything without Your will. But why, then, do You stand by silently?" He employs strong terms, calling the ungodly "scorners." This refers to the iniquitous, smug, and insolent people who regard
God's Word and work far beneath anything else, so that no one can despise anything as much. In Eph.
4:19 St. Paul calls these people ἀπηλγηκότες. We translated this into German with the word Verrüchte.12
To say it in Latin: qui non solum contemnunt sed etiam negligunt, quasi indignos habeant, quos contemnant.13 In Hebrew: ּבֹוֵגֵג ד.
This is the way we view the Jews and the Jews view us, the one regarding the other as absolutely nothing. At present some ungodly people also despise the Gospel similarly; to them it is nothing but a joke. They are convinced of nothing so much as that there is nothing to it, These people who feel nothing and accept nothing are called genuine יםדִגּבֹו ְ and ἀπηλγηκότες and verrucht, with not so much as a semblance of taste or smell15 remaining, but with everything vanishing from their hearts. The heathen writer tells us that the tyrant Dionysius, who had robbed a temple and was then favored with good weather for sailing, boasted: "Behold what fair weather God grants the despoilers of a church!"16 In the absence of Christian patience flesh and blood might well wish ten thunders upon the head of such a person to strike him nine yards into the ground. Anyone who dares to do that without fear we call foolhardy. This practically agrees with the Hebrew boged, or woged.17
Habakkuk states, in the second place, that God does nothing at all to such foolhardy, unconcerned people. He simply holds His peace, and this even encourages them. They assume that it is indifferent how they conduct themselves, that God is unconcerned with regard to them as they are with regard to God, that He feels nothing and is not interested. This pits two foolhardy parties against each other: God and the ungodly. Oh, that presents a vexatious silence on the part of God and an intolerable contempt on the part of those foolhardy people. Thus Habakkuk here also describes the Babylonians as foolhardy and so - 76 cocksure in their cause that they would have believed anything else rather than that God regarded the Jews as His people and the Babylonians as His enemies. To them there was nothing more certain than this: "We
Babylonians are God's children, and the Jews are His foes." They were so thoroughly deceived by their good fortune. That is the way with all ungodly people. Well, it is not so unbearably difficult for a prophet to engage in such a struggling faith for himself; but when he enters his office and is expected to console and preserve an entire nation engaged in the same struggle—this entails work, misery, and trouble. The people flounder about, with scarcely two or three of the entire multitude believing and struggling with him. All the others are offended by the foolhardy tyrants, thinking: "We don't have a chance; God is against us. Don't you see how He exalts them and carries them along, whereas He forsakes and despises us? Indeed, preach as you will; I can see the meaning of all this." This is what also happened to Moses at the Red Sea (Ex. 14) and with Korah at Paran (Num. 16). Mere talk and advice are useless. Therefore
Habakkuk stresses this subject with so many weighty words; he wants to strengthen and console the people as well as himself.
The third point is that God grants the ungodly such great good fortune, enabling him to devour those more righteous than he is, that is, in particular the Jews, and in addition also many other countries and nations that were more righteous than the BabyIonians. For this is what happens: Wherever great wealth and might are found, there great sins and wrongs also prevail. Money begets thieves, good fortune begets rogues.18 As I have already said,19 good fortune is too heavy a burden for man to bear. It would not be quite so bad if the evil would devour not the righteous but only those who are more evil than they or only those who are just as evil as they. However, as it is, God permits them to devour the most righteous. And again, it would be easier to bear if the evildoers would merely chasten the pious or afflict them with a slight sorrow; but the great pity is that the ungodly devour and consume the righteous completely, let nothing survive but destroy everything. It is as Ps. 79:7 says: "Lord, they have devoured Jacob and laid waste his habitation, etc." And over and above all of this, they have the glory and the honor that God is with them and that they were entirely in the right, as Habakkuk said earlier with words of bitterness:
"Then their victory must be the victory of their god."20 All of this poses a real cross for the children of God. Their suffering consists not only in their defeat, but in addition they also find themselves regarded as being in the wrong. They have to witness both their enemy's victory over them and also his boast that God is on his side. Thus Christ, too, says in John 16:2: "The hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God." That is what Christ Himself experienced on the cross. But that is where the sublime and profound wisdom of God lies hidden; that is where He deals wonderfully with His saints (Ps.
4:4), indeed, even with His enemies. All of this transcends all human reason and experience.
14. For Thou makest men like the fish of the sea, like crawling things that have no ruler.
All of this is still spoken by a struggling faith about the good fortune attending the ungodly Babylonians over against other countries and nations. "How do the fish in the sea fare? They have no government or order to defend them against anyone; they just drift along. Whoever catches them, catches them; whoever snatches them away, owns them. There is no one to fend off anybody or to protect them.
Such fish are practically placed right before the eyes of the devourers. Men catch and eat them; large fish and otters eat them; eagles, hawks, and other birds eat them; beavers and other animals eat them. They are nothing but food for man, for birds, for animals, and for other fish. And that is what You permit all countries and nations to be to the Chaldeans, who do nothing but capture, eat, and swallow up." Now, is it not vexatious that all righteous countries and nations are to serve as little fish for the kitchen of such evil, ungodly people who capture, slaughter, and devour them at will? Thus St. Paul quotes (Rom. 8:36) the saying from the Psalms (Ps. 44:22): "For Thy sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered." The other words, "like crawling things that have no ruler," express the same thought. In my opinion Habakkuk is not referring to the worms on land but to the crawling creatures in the ocean; for instance, to the small fish of which Ps. 104:25 speaks: "The sea … which teems with things innumerable." For the Hebrew word ֶר ֶמ ׂש applies to everything that crawls and creeps. I choose the word
"worms," although this term is too narrow. However, I have no better one. We speak of something abounding in, and teeming with, something. Habakkuk adds these words to indicate which fish he means, namely, the small ones. These are really small worms over against their devourers. For man is equipped with fishhooks, nets, seines, creels, bow nets, and all sorts of apparatus for catching and eating them, to say nothing of what birds and large fish do with their beaks and claws. All these fish have no ruler, that is,
- 77 they have no order. Nor do they know how to get help from anyone, but they just drift along aimlessly, only to serve as food for others.
15. He brings all of them up with a hook, he drags them out with his net, he gathers them in his seine.
Habakkuk calls the Chaldeans fishermen, just as Moses in Gen. 10:9 calls Nimrod a hunter. As I said earlier, man is equipped with various gadgets for catching fish. Therefore Habakkuk here says of the king of Babylon that he is a great and clever fisherman who drags up everything, catches, and collects it with various types of power. These hooks, nets, and seines are nothing but his large and mighty armies, with which he has conquered all countries and nations and gathered all the world's goods, gems, silver and gold, tribute and revenue to himself in Babylon, taking also the vessels in the temple in Jerusalem away.
For when such a great king sends his armies forth over a country and vanquishes it, he confiscates all the money and the jewels, also leads the people into captivity, and finally also appropriates the revenue and tribute in that country. How does that differ from a fisherman who casts out his net, gathers all that he catches, and keeps whatever is good?
So he rejoices and exults.
How it vexed the prophet to see the ungodly Chaldeans have such good fortune and rejoice over it, while all other countries and nations weep and mourn! They are happy and suppose that they have done the right thing. Lo, how this victory and good fortune tickles them! They are jubilant, but they do not know that God is thereby fattening them for the slaughter. All of this is written also for our sake. Such and similar examples should comfort us when we, too, behold the wicked faring so well and when they boast and rejoice over us in our misery. Then our one thought must be that they are cattle fattened for slaughter
(Jer. 12:3). For fattened cattle are not raised for anyone's amusement nor to serve any other purpose than to be slaughtered for the kitchen. But the animals which are raised for man's amusement or for other purposes are kept lean and slender. God is a great cook. He also maintains a large kitchen; therefore He fattens large animals, that is, mighty kings and princes. He fattens them well, giving them a greater abundance of goods, honor, pleasure, and power than He does all others. He lets them exult and dance even for the necks and bodies of His children. That is how Herod's21 daughter danced for St. John, and that is the way the world exulted when the apostles sorrowed, as Christ says (John 16:20). Thus this tickled the king of Babylon and his people uncommonly, especially when he defeated the Jews, who were reputed to be invincible because of their God. And with them he dealt more cruelly than he did with others.
16. Therefore he sacrifices to his net and burns incense to his seine; for by them his portion has become so fat and his share so rich.
Earlier22 Habakkuk had said: "Then their victory must be the victory of their god." This means that he accords his idol Bel and Nebo (that is what Is. 46:1 calls the god in Babylon) the honor and not the true
God in Jerusalem. Habakkuk remarks that "he sacrifices to his net and burns incense to his seine," although we just said that his net and his seine symbolize the might of his army. How, then, can he sacrifice to these and simultaneously give his god the honor? The answer: The prophet is so incensed over the Chaldeans that he, in his great zeal for God and His people, mocks the king of Babylon and his people together with their god and their worship of him. It is as though he were to say: "To whom do you burn incense, and to whom do you sacrifice? For after all, there is no God here." Nor is the idol anything, as St.
Paul declares in 1 Cor. 10:19. "Indeed, I will tell you to whom you are sacrificing and to whom you are burning incense, namely, to your net, to your might. For whoever boasts of anything and rejoices and exults over it, as you are doing over your good fortune, and does not thank the true God, as you also are failing to do, makes an idol of himself, gives himself the honor; he does not rejoice in God but in his own strength and work. Therefore, even though you mention God with your lips and bring sacrifices and burn incense before the idol with your hands, this is actually and really meaningless; it is nothing. No, you regard yourselves highly and are very pleased with yourselves because of your achievement. You assume that you are deserving of this, that you merited it. Therefore it is your net, that is, your power and might; it is your god to whom you sacrifice and burn incense. For you rely so defiantly on your power, you boast of that and exult over that. If it were not for that, your idol would indeed help or delight you little." Is. 2:8 says something similar: "They bow down to the work of their hands, to what their own fingers have made." And in Acts 7:41 Stephen says: "They rejoiced in the works of their hands." For whatever one rejoices in, upon whatever one relies, that is one's god, since one must not rely on anyone but God nor