CHAPTER 1

(626 B.C.)

WHY DOES GOD PERMIT INJUSTICE AND ALLOW OPPRESSION?

¹The burden which Habakkuk the Prophet did see. (This burden concerned an oracle of judgment upon Judah, which was to be destroyed and taken captive by the Chaldeans. This Prophecy was given only about 40-50 years before Nebuchadnezzars first incursion into Jerusalem in 605 B.C. Jeremiahs prophetic Ministry began about 627 B.C., not long after Habakkuks; therefore, the earlier Prophets Ministry would have served as a staging area for Jeremiah.

Considering that Babylon had not yet come into power, and considering that Habakkuk spoke of the coming Chaldeans, such would have aroused more curiosity than fear; nevertheless, it would come to pass exactly as the Holy Spirit predicted.)

²O LORD, how long shall I cry, and You will not hear! even cry out unto You of violence, and You will not save! (O LORD, how long shall I cry, and You will not hear!, proclaims the Prophets heart, jealous for God and the Law, asking why God is silent and inactive in view of the cruelties [iniquities], oppression [grievance], robbery, violence, strife, and contention practiced by the rich in Zion against the poor, owing to the slackness of law and the corrupt administration of justice.

The exclamation, O LORD, how long shall I cry, and You will not hear!, implies that the Prophet had long been complaining of the moral depravity of Judah and calling for help against it. He was discouraged that the Lord did not seem to answer his petition.

The last phrase pertains to the Prophet frustrated in the knowledge that God has the Power to do something about these things, but seemingly does nothing. The implication is: the helpless and poor of the land had appealed to Habakkuk to cry to the Lord on their behalf regarding their oppression by the ruling aristocracy, who no longer cared for the things of God but rather their own enrichment.

They are crying in the Prophets ears; therefore, he cries into Gods Ears, but with what looks like little result.)

³Why do You show me iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance? for spoiling and violence are before me: and there are who raise up strife and contention. (The question, Why do You show me iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance?, has reference to the Prophets frustration.)

⁴Therefore the Law is slacked, and judgment does never go forth: for the wicked does compass about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceeds. (Therefore the Law is slacked, means that the Law of Moses was ignored, or even set aside, by the ruling aristocracy of Judah. Where the Bible does not rule, injustice does!

The phrase, And judgment does never go forth, means a lack of fair and equitable judgment for all.)

GODS USE OF THE CHALDEANS (THE BABYLONIAN CAPTIVITY)

⁵Behold you among the heathen, and regard, and wonder marvelously: for I will work a work in your days, which you will not believe, though it be told you. (The Apostle Paul, in Acts 13:41, quotes this Verse. His argument was: just as the Hebrews would not believe Habakkuk foretelling the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans, and the Salvation offered to Israel, so the Jews did not believe Paul foretelling the destruction that then impended at the hands of the Romans, and the Salvation proclaimed through Christ.

Behold you among the heathen, is meant to point to Babylon, which shall be the instrument used by Jehovah to punish Judah. This was something that Habakkuk did not understand, in that God would use those more wicked that Judah to punish Judah. Therefore, he would regard and wonder marvelously.

For I will work a work in your days, is actually part of the answer to Habakkuks inquiry. The words, In your days, meant that some of those now living would see this coming chastisement; therefore, Judah was beginning the countdown, a countdown which would ultimately lead to her destruction.

I will work, signifies that the Lord will work to bring destruction, upon an absence of Repentance, just as He works to bring blessing upon obedience. Which you will not believe, though it be told you, was fulfilled in totality. The people did not believe Habakkuk, and they did not believe Jeremiah, even when on the very eve of destruction.)

⁶For, 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. (For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, would have presented a somewhat puzzling spectrum to the people of Judah. At this time, Babylon did not even exist as an empire. In fact, at least at this time, such a thought was preposterous. However, the short phrase, I raise up, portrays the Lord as able to do what He says that He will do. The Babylonians will take the land of Judah!)

⁷They are terrible and dreadful: their judgment and their dignity shall proceed of them selves. (They are terrible and dreadful, is meant to emphasize not only what the Babylonians will be but also the entirety of Gentile dominion. This Gentile dominion was carried out by the Babylonians, by the Medes and Persians, by the Greeks, and by the Romans. It will also continue under the coming Antichrist.

Their judgment and their dignity shall proceed of themselves, means that the Babylonians would be led not at all by God, but their own selfish desires in reality, by Satan.)

⁸Their 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 hastes to eat. (These horsemen, although beginning with the Babylonians, would also pertain to the Medes and the Persians, the Greeks, the Romans, the Barbarians, the Turks, the Arabs, the Spanish, etc., and the Germans. Tragically, it has not ended even yet; it will culminate with the Antichrist. It pertains to the times of the Gentiles [Lk. 21:24].)

⁹They shall come all for violence: their faces shall sup up as the east wind, and they shall gather the captivity as the sand. (They shall come all for violence, concerns the manner of operation of the Babylonians, as well as all who would follow thereafter.)

¹⁰And 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. (The first phrase pertains to the fact that no mercy will be shown even to the Potentates. They shall deride every stronghold, means that Judahs strongest defense would be as nothing to them.)

¹¹Then shall his mind change, and he shall pass over, and offend, imputing this his power unto his god. (Then shall his mind change, refers to the arrogance of Nebuchadnezzar, when he became lifted up in pride. The phrase, Imputing this his power unto his god, means that he defied the Lord and made his might his god.)

GODS CHARACTER; WHY SHOULD HE USE THE WICKED TO PUNISH THE LESS WICKED?

¹²Are you not from everlasting, O LORD my God, my Holy One? we shall not die. O LORD, You have ordained them for judgment; and, O mighty God, You have established them for correction. (In the balance of this Chapter, the Prophet complains of the Divine action in employing for chastisement a people more wicked than the Jews, whom they were commissioned by God to punish. This perplexed Habakkuk. And, O mighty God, You have established them for correction, means that the Lord has set in motion a series of events, which will establish the Babylonians in power that they may bring about these corrective measures to Judah.)

¹³You are of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look on iniquity: wherefore look You upon them who deal treacherously, and hold Your Tongue when the wicked devours the man who is more righteous than he? (You are of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look on iniquity, means that God cannot look with complacency on evil. And yet the Lord proposes to permit evil men, called the Chaldeans, to afflict the Holy Seed. This is the Prophets perplexity, which he lays before the Lord.

The question, And hold Your Tongue when the wicked devours the man who is more righteous than he?, is a question that has perplexed more than Habakkuk.)

¹⁴And make men as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping things, who have no ruler over them? (The Verse refers to the Babylonians showing no restraint, because God did not rule them. They were ruled by men, and evil men at that, who had no respect for decency, compassion, or mercy.)

¹⁵They 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. (In this Scripture, Habakkuk refers to the people as fish [all of them] and the net as the army of the Babylonians.)

¹⁶Therefore they sacrifice unto their net, and burn incense unto their drag; because by them their portion is fat, and their meat plenteous. (The phrase, Therefore they sacrifice unto their net, means that they gave their idol gods the credit for their vast success, little understanding that Jehovah had allowed their place and privilege.)

¹⁷Shall they therefore empty their net, and not spare continually to slay the nations? (Habakkuk now realizes that the Lord is the Author of this which is coming.)