Notes on Habakkuk
From the Original 1599 Geneva Bible Notes
Hab 1:1
1:1 The burden which Habakkuk the prophet saw.
The Argument - The Prophet complains to God, considering the great felicity of the wicked, and the miserable oppression of the godly, who endure all types of affliction and cruelty, and yet can see no end. Therefore he had this revelation shown to him by God, that the Chaldeans would come and take them away as captives, so that they could look for no end of their troubles as yet, because of their stubbornness and rebellion against the Lord. And lest the godly should despair, seeing this horrible confusion, he comforts them by this, that God will punish the Chaldeans their enemies, when their pride and cruelty will be at height. And for this reason he exhorts the faithful to patience by his own example, and shows them a form of prayer, with which they should comfort themselves.
Hab 1:2
1:2 O LORD, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! [even] cry out to thee {a} [of] violence, and thou wilt not save!
(a) The Prophet complains to God, and bewails that among the Jews is left no fairness and brotherly love: but instead of these reigns cruelty, theft, contention, and strife.
Hab 1:4
1:4 Therefore the law is feeble, and judgment doth never go forth: for the wicked doth {b} surround the righteous; therefore judgment goeth forth {c} perverted
(b) To suppress him, if any should show himself zealous of God's cause.
(c) Because the judges who should remedy this excess, are as evil as the rest.
Hab 1:5
1:5 Behold ye among the nations, and regard, and wonder marvellously: for [I] will work a work in your days, [which] {d} ye will not believe, though it be told [you].
(d) As in times past you would not believe God's word, so you will not now believe the strange plagues which are at hand.
Hab 1:7
1:7 They [are] terrible and dreadful: {e} their judgment and their dignity shall proceed from themselves.
(e) They themselves will be your judges in this cause, and none will have authority over them to control them.
Hab 1:9
1:9 They shall come all for violence: their faces shall sup up [as] the {f} east wind, and they shall gather the captives {g} as the sand.
(f) For the Jews most feared this wind, because it destroyed their fruits.
(g) They will be so many in number.
Hab 1:10
1:10 And they shall scoff at the kings, and the princes shall be a scorn to them: they shall deride every strong hold; for they shall heap {h} dust, and take it.
(h) They will cast up mounds against it.
Hab 1:11
1:11 Then shall [his] mind change, and he shall {i} pass over, and offend, [imputing] this his power to his god.
(i) The Prophet comforts the faithful that God will also destroy the Babylonians, because they will abuse this victory, and become proud and insolent, attributing the praise of this to their idols.
Hab 1:12
1:12 [Art] thou not from everlasting, O LORD my God, my Holy One? we shall not {k} die. O LORD, thou hast ordained them for judgment; and, O mighty God, thou hast established them for correction.
(k) He assures the godly of God's protection, showing that the enemy can do no more than God has appointed, and also that their sins require such a sharp rod.
Hab 1:14
1:14 And makest men as the {l} fishes of the sea, as the creeping animals, [that have] no ruler over them?
(l) So that the great devours the small, and the Chaldeans destroy all the world.
Hab 1:16
1:16 Therefore they sacrifice to their {m} net, and burn incense to their drag; because by them their portion [is] fat, and their food plenteous.
(m) Meaning that the enemies flatter themselves, and glory in their own strength, power, and intellect.
Hab 1:17
1:17 Shall they therefore empty their net, and not spare continually to slay {n} the nations?
(n) Meaning, that they would not.
Hab 2:1
2:1 I will stand upon my {a} watch, and seat myself upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say to me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved.
(a) I will renounce my own judgment, and only depend on God to be instructed what I will answer those that abuse my preaching, and to be armed against all temptations.
Hab 2:2
2:2 And the LORD answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make [it] plain upon tablets, that he may run {b} that readeth it.
(b) Write it in great letters, that he that runneth may read it.
Hab 2:3
2:3 For the vision [is] yet for an appointed time, but at the {c} end it shall speak, and not lie: though it may tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.
(c) Which contained the destruction of the enemy, and the comfort of the Church. And even though God does not execute this according to man's hasty affections, yet the issue of both is certain at his appointed time.
Hab 2:4
2:4 Behold, {d} his soul [which] is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.
(d) To trust in himself, or in any worldly thing, is never to be at peace: for the only rest is to trust in God by faith; Ro 1:17, Ga 3:11, He 10:38 .
Hab 2:5
2:5 Yea also, because {e} he transgresseth by wine, [he is] a proud man, neither keepeth at home, who enlargeth his desire as hell, and [is] as death, and cannot be satisfied, but gathereth to him all nations, and heapeth to him all people:
(e) He compares the proud and covetous man to a drunkard that is without reason and sense, whom God will punish and make a laughing stock to all the world: and this he speaks for the comfort of the godly, and against the Chaldeans.
Hab 2:6
2:6 Shall not all these take up a parable against him, and a taunting proverb against him, and say, Woe to him that increaseth [that which is] not his! {f} how long? and to him that ladeth himself with thick clay!
(f) Signifying that all the world will wish the destruction of tyrants, and that by their oppression and covetousness, they heap but upon themselves more heavy burdens: for the more they get, the more are they troubled.
Hab 2:7
2:7 Shall {g} they not rise suddenly that shall bite thee, and awake that shall oppress thee, and thou shalt be for booty to them?
(g) That is, the Medes and persians, that would destroy the Babylonians?
Hab 2:10
2:10 Thou {h} gavest shameful counsel to thy house by cutting off many people, and hast sinned [against] thy soul.
(h) Signifying that the covetous man is the ruin of his own house, when he thinks to enrich it be cruelty and oppression.
Hab 2:11
2:11 For the {i} stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it.
(i) The stones of the house will cry, and say that they are built from blood, and the wood will answer and say the same of itself.
Hab 2:13
2:13 Behold, [is it] not from the {k} LORD of hosts that the people shall labour [only] for fire, and the nations shall weary themselves for nothing?
(k) Meaning, that God will not defer his vengeance long, but will come and destroy all their labours, as though they were consumed with fire.
Hab 2:14
2:14 For the earth shall {l} be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.
(l) In the destruction of the Babylonians his glory will appear through all the world.
Hab 2:15
2:15 Woe to him that giveth his neighbour {m} drink, that puttest thy bottle to [him], and makest [him] drunk also, that thou mayest look on their nakedness!
(m) He reproaches by this the king of Babylon, who as he was drunken with covetousness and cruelty, so he provoked others to the same, and inflamed them by his madness, and so in the end brought them to shame.
Hab 2:16
2:16 Thou art filled with shame {n} for glory: drink thou also, and let thy shame come upon thee: the cup of the LORD'S right hand shall be turned to thee, and utter shame [shall be] on thy glory.
(n) Whereas you thought to have the glory of these your doings, they will turn to your shame: for you will drink of the same cup with others in your turn.
Hab 2:17
2:17 For the {o} violence of Lebanon shall cover thee, and the spoil of beasts, [which] made them afraid, because of men's blood, and for the violence of the land, of the city, and of all that dwell in it.
(o) Because the Babylonians were cruel not only against other nations, but also against the people of God, which is meant by Lebanon and the beast in it, he shows that the same cruelly will be executed against them.
Hab 2:18
2:18 What profiteth the graven {p} image that its maker hath engraved it; the molten image, and a teacher of lies, that the maker of his work trusteth in it, to make dumb idols?
(p) He shows that the Babylonian gods could not help them at all, for they were but blocks or stones. See Geneva Jer "10:8"
Hab 2:19
2:19 Woe to him that saith to the wood, Awake; to the dumb stone, Arise, it shall teach! {q} Behold, it [is] laid over with gold and silver, and [there is] no breath at all within it.
(q) If you will consider what it is, and how it has neither breath nor life, but is a dead thing.
Hab 3:1
3:1 A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet {a} upon Shigionoth.
(a) "upon Shigionoth" or "for the ignorance". The prophet instructs his people to pray to God, not only because of their great sins, but also for those they had committed in ignorance.
Hab 3:2
3:2 {b} O LORD, I have heard thy speech, [and] was afraid: O LORD, revive thy {c} work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy.
(b) Thus the people were afraid when they heard God's threatenings, and prayed.
(c) That is, the state of your Church which is now ready to perish, before it comes to half a perfect age, which would be under Christ.
Hab 3:3
3:3 God came from {d} Teman, and the Holy One from mount Paran. Selah. His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise.
(d) Teman and Paran were near Sinai, where the Law was given: by which is signified that his deliverance was as present now as it was then.
Hab 3:4
3:4 And [his] brightness was as the light; {e} he had horns [coming] out of his hand: and there [was] the hiding of his power.
(e) By which is meant a power that was joined with his brightness, which was hidden to the rest of the world, but was revealed at Mount Sinai to his people; Ps 31:16 .
Hab 3:6
3:6 He stood, and measured the earth: he beheld, and drove asunder the nations; and the everlasting mountains were scattered, the perpetual hills did bow: his {f} ways [are] everlasting.
(f) Signifying that God has wonderful means, and always has a marvellous power when he will deliver his Church.
Hab 3:7
3:7 {g} I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction: [and] the curtains of the land of Midian trembled.
(g) The iniquity of the king of Syria in vexing your people was made manifest by your judgment, to the comfort of your Church, Jud 5:10 , and also of the Midianites, who destroyed themselves, Jud 7:22 .
Hab 3:8
3:8 Was the LORD displeased against the {h} rivers? [was] thy anger against the rivers? [was] thy wrath against the sea, that thou didst ride {i} upon thy horses [and] thy chariots of salvation?
(h) Meaning that God was not angry with the waters, but that by this means he would destroy his enemies, and deliver his Church.
(i) And so did use all the elements as instruments for the destruction of your enemies.
Hab 3:9
3:9 Thy {k} bow was made quite naked, [according] to the {l} oaths of the tribes, [even thy] word. Selah. Thou {m} didst cleave the earth with rivers.
(k) That is, your power.
(l) For he had not only made a covenant with Abraham, but renewed it with his posterity.
(m) Read Nu 20:11 .
Hab 3:10
3:10 The mountains saw thee, [and] they trembled: the overflowing of the water {n} passed by: the deep uttered his voice, [and] lifted up his hands on high.
(n) He alludes to the Red Sea and Jordan, which gave passage to God's people, and showed signs of their obedience as it were by the lifting up of their hands.
Hab 3:11
3:11 The {o} sun [and] moon stood still in their habitation: {p} at the light of thy arrows they went, [and] at the shining of thy glittering spear.
(o) As appears in Jos 10:12 .
(p) According to your command the sun was directed by the weapons of your people, that fought in your cause, as though it dare not go forward.
Hab 3:13
3:13 Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people, [even] for salvation with thy {q} anointed; thou didst wound the head out of the house of the wicked, by laying bare the foundation to the {r} neck. Selah.
(q) Signifying that there is no salvation, except by Christ.
(r) From the top to the bottom you have destroyed the enemies.
Hab 3:14
3:14 Thou didst {s} strike through with his staffs the head of his villages: they came out as a whirlwind to scatter me: their rejoicing [was] as to devour the poor secretly.
(s) God destroyed his enemies both great and small with their own weapons, though they were ever so fierce against his Church.
Hab 3:16
3:16 When I {t} heard, my belly trembled; my lips quivered at the voice: rottenness entered into my bones, and I trembled in myself, that I might rest in {u} the day of trouble: when he cometh up {x} to the people, he will invade them with his troops.
(t) He returns to that which he spoke as in, Hab 3:2 and shows how he was afraid of God's judgments.
(u) He shows that the faithful can never have true rest, except that which they feel before the weight of God's judgments.
(x) That is, the enemy, but the godly will be quiet, knowing that all things will turn to good for them.
Hab 3:18
3:18 Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy {y} in the God of my salvation.
(y) He declares in what the joy of the faithful consists, though they see ever so great afflictions prepared.
Hab 3:19
3:19 The LORD God [is] my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds' [feet], and he will make me to walk upon my high places. {z} To the chief singer on my stringed instruments.
(z) The chief singer upon the instruments of music, will have occasion to praise God for this great deliverance of his Church.
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