the beam out of the timber--the crossbeam or main rafter connecting the timbers in the walls.
shall answer it--namely, the stone. The stone shall begin and the crossbeam continue the cry against thy rapine.
12. buildeth a town with blood--namely, Babylon rebuilt and enlarged by blood-bought spoils (compare [Da 4:30]).
13. is it not of the Lord of hosts--Jehovah, who has at His command all the hosts of heaven and earth, is the righteous author of Babylon's destruction. "Shall not God have His turn, when cruel rapacious men have triumphed so long, though He seem now to be still?" [Calvin].
people ... labour in the ... fire ... weary themselves for ... vanity--The Chaldeans labor at what is to be food for the fire, namely, their city and fortresses which shall be burnt. [Jr 51:58] adopts the same phraseology to express the vanity of the Chaldean's labor on Babylon, as doomed to the flames.
14. Adapted from [Is 11:9]. Here the sense is, "The Jews shall be restored and the temple rebuilt, so that God's glory in saving His people, and punishing their Chaldean foe, shall be manifested throughout the world," of which the Babylonian empire formed the greatest part; a type of the ultimate full manifestation of His glory in the final salvation of Israel and His Church, and the destruction of all their foes.
waters cover the sea--namely, the bottom of the sea; the sea-bed.
15. giveth ... neighbour drink ... puttest ... bottle to him--literally, "skin," as the Easterns use "bottles" of skin for wine. Maurer, from a different Hebrew root, translates, "that pourest in thy wrath." English Version keeps up the metaphor better. It is not enough for thee to be "drunken" thyself, unless thou canst lead others into the same state. The thing meant is, that the Chaldean king, with his insatiable desires (a kind of intoxication), allured neighboring states into the same mad thirst for war to obtain booty, and then at last exposed them to loss and shame (compare [Is 51:17]; Ob 16). An appropriate image of Babylon, which at last fell during a drunken revel ([Da 5:1-31]).
that thou mayest look on their nakedness!--with light, like Ham of old ([Ge 9:22]).
16. art filled--now that thou art fallen. "Thou art filled" indeed (though so insatiable), but it is "with shame."
shame for glory--instead of thy former glory ([Ho 4:7]).
drink thou also--The cup of sorrow is now in thy turn to pass to thee ([Jr 25:15-17]; [La 4:21]).
thy foreskin--expressing in Hebrew feeling the most utter contempt. So of Goliath ([1Sa 17:36]). It is not merely thy "nakedness," as in [Ha 2:15], that shall be "uncovered," but the foreskin, the badge of thy being an uncircumcised alien from God. The same shall be done to thee, as thou didst to others, and worse.
cup ... shall be turned unto thee--literally, "shall turn itself," namely, from the nations whom thou hast made to drink it. "Thou shalt drink it all, so that it may be turned as being drained" [Grotius].
shameful spewing--that is, vomiting; namely, that of the king of Babylon, compelled to disgorge the spoil he had swallowed. It expresses also the ignominious state of Babylon in its calamity ([Jr 25:27]). "Be drunken, spew, and fall." Less appropriately it is explained of the foe spewing in the face of the Babylonian king.
17. the violence of Lebanon--thy "violence" against "Lebanon," that is, Jerusalem ([Is 37:24]; [Jr 22:23]; [Eze 17:3], ; for Lebanon's cedars were used in building the temple and houses of Jerusalem; and its beauty made it a fit type of the metropolis), shall fall on thine own head.
cover--that is, completely overwhelm.
the spoil of beasts, which made them afraid--Maurer explains, "the spoiling inflicted on the beasts of Lebanon (that is, on the people of Jerusalem, of which city 'Lebanon' is the type), which made them afraid (shall cover thee)." But it seems inappropriate to compare the elect people to "beasts." I therefore prefer explaining, "the spoiling of beasts," that is, such as is inflicted on beasts caught in a net, and "which makes them afraid (shall cover thee)." Thus the Babylonians are compared to wild beasts terrified at being caught suddenly in a net. In cruel rapacity they resembled wild beasts. The ancients read, "the spoiling of wild beasts shall make THEE afraid." Or else explain, "the spoiling of beasts (the Medes and Persians) which (inflicted by thee) made them afraid (shall in turn cover thyself--revert on thyself from them)." This accords better with the parallel clause, "the violence of Lebanon," that is, inflicted by thee on Lebanon. As thou didst hunt men as wild beasts, so shalt thou be hunted thyself as a wild beast, which thou resemblest in cruelty.
because of men's blood--shed by thee; repeated from [Ha 2:8]. But here the "land" and "city" are used of Judea and Jerusalem: not of the earth and cities generally, as in [Ha 2:8].
the violence of the land, &c.--that is, inflicted on the land by thee.
18. The powerlessness of the idols to save Babylon from its doom is a fitting introduction to the last stanza ([Ha 2:19]), which, as the former four, begins with "Woe."
teacher of lies--its priests and prophets uttering lying oracles, as if from it.
make dumb idols--Though men can "make" idols, they cannot make them speak.
19. Awake--Arise to my help.
it shall teach!--rather, An exclamation of the prophet, implying an ironical question to which a negative answer must be given. What! "It teach?" Certainly not [Maurer]. Or, "It (the idol itself) shall (that is, ought to) teach you that it is deaf, and therefore no God" [Calvin]. Compare "they are their own witnesses" ([Is 44:9]).
Behold--The Hebrew is nominative, "There it is" [Henderson].
it is laid over with gold ... no breath ... in the midst--Outside it has some splendor, within none.
20. But the Lord--Jehovah; in striking contrast with the idols.
in his holy temple--"His place" ([Is 26:21]); heaven ([Psa 11:4]; [Jon 2:7]; [Mi 1:2]). The temple at Jerusalem is a type of it, and there God is to be worshipped. He does not lie hid under gold and silver, as the idols of Babylon, but reigns in heaven and fills heaven, and thence succors His people.
keep silence--in token of reverent submission and subjection to His judgments ([Job 40:4]; [Psa 76:8]; [Zep 1:7]; [Zec 2:13]).
Chapter 3
Ha 3:1-19. Habakkuk's Prayer to God: God's Glorious Revelation of Himself at Sinai and at Gibeon, a Pledge of His Interposing Again in Behalf of Israel against Babylon, and All Other Foes; Hence the Prophet's Confidence Amid Calamities
This sublime ode begins with an exordium ([Ha 3:1], ), then follows the main subject, then the peroration ([Ha 3:16-19]), a summary of the practical truth, which the whole is designed to teach. ([De 33:2-5]; [Psa 77:13-20] are parallel odes). This was probably designed by the Spirit to be a fit formula of prayer for the people, first in their Babylonian exile, and now in their dispersion, especially towards the close of it, just before the great Deliverer is to interpose for them. It was used in public worship, as the musical term, "Selah!" ([Ha 3:3], 9, 13), implies.
1. prayer--the only strictly called prayers are in [Ha 3:2]. But all devotional addresses to God are called "prayers" ([Psa 72:20]). The Hebrew is from a root "to apply to a judge for a favorable decision." Prayers in which praises to God for deliverance, anticipated in the sure confidence of faith, are especially calculated to enlist Jehovah on His people's side (2Ch 20:20-22, 26).
upon Shigionoth--a musical phrase, "after the manner of elegies," or mournful odes, from an Arabic root [Lee]; the phrase is singular in [Psa 7:1], title. More simply, from a Hebrew root to "err," "on account of sins of ignorance." Habakkuk thus teaches his countrymen to confess not only their more grievous sins, but also their errors and negligences, into which they were especially likely to fall when in exile away from the Holy Land [Calvin]. So Vulgate and Aquila, and Symmachus. "For voluntary transgressors" [Jerome]. Probably the subject would regulate the kind of music. Delitzsch and Henderson translate, "With triumphal music," from the same root "to err," implying its enthusiastic irregularity.
2. I have heard thy speech--Thy revelation to me concerning the coming chastisement of the Jews [Calvin], and the destruction of their oppressors. This is Habakkuk's reply to God's communication [Grotius]. Maurer translates, "the report of Thy coming," literally, "Thy report."
and was afraid--reverential fear of God's judgments ([Ha 3:16]).
revive thy work--Perfect the work of delivering Thy people, and do not let Thy promise lie as if it were dead, but give it new life by performing it [Menochius]. Calvin explains "thy work" to be Israel; called "the work of My hands" ([Is 45:11]). God's elect people are peculiarly His work ([Is 43:1]), pre-eminently illustrating His power, wisdom, and goodness. "Though we seem, as it were, dead nationally, revive us" ([Psa 85:6]). However ([Psa 64:9]), where "the work of God" refers to His judgment on their enemies, favors the former view ([Psa 90:16], ; [Is 51:9], ).
in the midst of the years--namely, of calamity in which we live. Now that our calamities are at their height; during our seventy years' captivity. Calvin more fancifully explains it, in the midst of the years of Thy people, extending from Abraham to Messiah; if they be cut off before His coming, they will be cut off as it were in the midst of their years, before attaining their maturity. So Bengel makes the midst of the years to be the middle point of the years of the world. There is a strikingly similar phrase ([Da 9:27]), In the midst of the week. The parallel clause, "in wrath" (that is, in the midst of wrath), however, shows that "in the midst of the years" means "in the years of our present exile and calamity."
make known--Made it (Thy work) known by experimental proof; show in very deed, that this is Thy work.
3. God--singular in the Hebrew, "Eloah," instead of "Elohim," plural, usually employed. The singular is not found in any other of the minor prophets, or Jeremiah, or Ezekiel; but it is in Isaiah, Daniel, Job, and Deuteronomy.
from Teman--the country south of Judea and near Edom, in which latter country Mount Paran was situated [Henderson]. "Paran" is the desert region, extending from the south of Judah to Sinai. Seir, Sinai, and Paran are adjacent to one another, and are hence associated together, in respect to God's giving of the law ([De 33:2]). Teman is so identified with Seir or Edom, as here to be substituted for it. Habakkuk appeals to God's glorious manifestations to His people at Sinai, as the ground for praying that God will "revive His work" ([Ha 3:2]) now. For He is the same God now as ever.
Selah--a musical sign, put at the close of sections and strophes, always at the end of a verse, except thrice; namely, here, and [Ha 3:9], and [Psa 55:19]; , where, however, it closes the hemistich. It implies a change of the modulation. It comes from a root to "rest" or "pause" [Gesenius]; implying a cessation of the chant, during an instrumental interlude. The solemn pause here prepares the mind for contemplating the glorious description of Jehovah's manifestation which follows.
earth ... full of his praise--that is, of His glories which were calculated to call forth universal praise; the parallelism to "glory" proves this to be the sense.
4. as the light--namely, of the sun ([Job 37:21]; [Pr 4:18]).