Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible
back to:
Habakkuk
Book: Habakkuk
Chapter: 1
Overview:
The wickedness of the land. The fearful vengeance to be
executed.
(1-11) These judgments to be inflicted
By a nation
more wicked than themselves.
(12-17)
1-11 The servants of the
Lord are deeply afflicted
By seeing
ungodliness and violence prevail; especially among those who
profess the
Truth.
No Man scrupled doing wrong to his neighbour.
We should long to remove to the world where
Holiness and
Love
reign for ever, and
No violence shall be before us.
God has good
reasons for his long-suffering towards bad men, and the rebukes
of good men. The
Day will come when the cry of
Sin will be heard
against those that do wrong, and the cry of
Prayer for those
that suffer wrong. They were to notice what was going forward
among the
Heathen By the Chaldeans, and to consider themselves a
nation to be scourged
By them. But most men presume
On continued
prosperity, or that calamities will not come in their days. They
are a
Bitter and hasty nation, fierce, cruel, and bearing down
all before them. They shall overcome all that oppose them. But
it is a great
Offence, and the common
Offence of proud people,
to take
Glory to themselves. The closing words give a glimpse of
comfort.
12-17 However matters may be, yet
God is the
Lord our
God, our
Holy One. We are an offending people, he is an offended
God, yet
we will not
Entertain hard thoughts of him, or of his service.
It is great comfort that, whatever mischief men design, the
Lord
designs good, and we are sure that his counsel shall stand.
Though wickedness may prosper a while, yet
God is holy, and does
not approve the wickedness. As he cannot do iniquity himself,
So
he is of purer eyes than to behold it with any approval.
By this
principle we must abide, though the dispensations of his
Providence may for a time, in some cases, seem to us not to
agree with it. The
Prophet complains that
God's patience was
abused; and because sentence against these evil
Works and
workers was not executed speedily, their hearts were the more
fully set in them to do evil. Some they take up as with the
angle, one
By one; others they catch in shoals, as in their
Net,
and gather them in their drag, their enclosing
Net. They admire
their own cleverness and contrivance: there is great proneness
in us to take the
Glory of outward prosperity to ourselves. This
is idolizing ourselves, sacrificing to the drag-
Net because it
is our own.
God will soon
End successful and splendid robberies.
Death and
Judgment shall make men cease to prey
On others, and
they shall be preyed
On themselves. Let us remember, whatever
advantages we possess, we must give all the
Glory to
God.