The fear of God, as we see, does not exclude the boldness with which Habakkuk asks the Creator his questions. To some they might have seemed impious, for one could view it as Habakkuk, by demanding an answer from the Lord, almost challenging Him. And yet...
The fear of God, as we see, does not exclude the boldness with which Habakkuk asks the Creator his questions. To some they might have seemed impious, for one could view it as Habakkuk, by demanding an answer from the Lord, almost challenging Him. And yet He does not reject these questions and answers them. Here we unexpectedly discover that the Lord does not shut Himself off from us - He is ready to give answers to any of our hard questions, provided we are ready to hear and understand them. More than that, He not only wants us to grasp and accept His will, but also does not reject our desire to enter into dialogue with Him. In the end, it was He who endowed the human being with reason, and His gifts were given to us not so that we might let them rot in the far corner of the pantry.
It is another matter that human reason alone is not enough to comprehend the highest wisdom; trust in the One whose reason is immeasurably higher is necessary. For what the Lord reveals to us is often hard for our consciousness to assimilate. Trust in God is all the more necessary because the law on which the pious had relied until now is called powerless. The law, of course, did not thereby become untenable, but its constant violation greatly weakened the possibility of its full action. This will have to be paid for: in place of the old evil, already grown familiar, a new evil will be brought by the Chaldeans. In them, violators of the weakened law will encounter "elemental materialists" who worship only understandable earthly things. Their god is named as strength: they worship everything that serves to increase their power.
The pagan Chaldeans are compared to fishermen who catch people in a net and send them into slavery, and here we paradoxically recall Christ's call to be fishers of men, addressed to the Galilean fishermen. But those who agreed to be caught in the apostles' nets are, on the contrary, freed from the nets of sinful slavery.
1 The prophet complains of the violence practised by the Jews, Hab 1:1-4.
God foretells the punishment of it, Hab 1:5-11.
The prophet complains of the mischief done by the Chaldeans, Hab 1:12-17.
1:1 The burden - The prophet seems to speak of these grievous things, as a burden which he himself groaned under.
1:4 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.
1:5 Behold ye - Here God begins to answer the prophet.Among the heathen - See what judgments have been executed upon the heathen for like sins.
1:6 Bitter - Cruel, and without mercy. Hasty - Speedy in executing their merciless purposes.
1:7 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.
1:8 The evening wolves - Which with fasting in the day, came out in the evening, fierce and ravenous. Shall spread - All over the land.
1:9 For violence - To enrich themselves by making a prey of all.Their faces - Their very countenances shall be as blasting as the east - wind.
1:10 At the kings - Which opposed their designs.And take it - By mighty mounts cast up.
1:12 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.
1:14 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.
1:15 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.
1:16 They sacrifice - Ascribe the praise of their victories.Their net - To their own contrivances, diligence, and power.
1:17 Empty their net - As fisher - men empty the full net to fill it again.