Habakkuk 2:16 Komentář

In this chapter we have an answer expected by the prophet (Hab 2:1), and returned by the Spirit of God, to the complaints which the prophet made of the violences and victories of the Chaldeans in the close of the foregoing chapter. The answer is, I. That after God has served his own purposes by the prevailing power of the Chaldeans, has tried the faith and patience of his people, and distinguished between the hypocrites and the sincere among them, he will reckon with the Chaldeans, will humble and bring down, not only that proud monarch Nebuchadnezzar, but that proud monarchy, for their boundless and insatiable thirst after dominion and wealth, for which they themselves should at length be made a prey (Hab 2:2-8). II. That not they only, but all other sinners like them, should perish under a divine woe. 1. Those that are covetous, are greedy of wealth and honours (Hab 2:9, Hab 2:11). 2. Those that are injurious and oppressive, and raise estates by wrong and rapine (Hab 2:12-14). 3. Those that promote drunkenness that they may expose their neighbours to shame (Hab 2:15-17). 4. Those that worship idols (Hab 2:18-20).

INTRODUCTION TO HABAKKUK 2 This chapter contains an answer from the Lord to the expostulations, pleadings, and reasonings of the prophet, in the name of the people. The preparation of the prophet to receive this answer is described, Hab 2:1 then follows the answer itself, in which he is bid to write and make plain the vision he had, that it might be easily read, Hab 2:2 and a promise is made, that vision should still be continued to the appointed time, at which time the Messiah would come; and this the righteous man, in opposition to the vain and proud man, is encouraged to live in the faith of, Hab 2:3 and then the destruction of the enemies of the people of God is threatened for their pride, ambition, covetousness, oppression, and murder, Hab 2:5 which would be unavoidable, Hab 2:13 and issue in the spread of the knowledge of the glory of God in the world, Hab 2:14 and also the ruin of other enemies is threatened, for drawing men into apostasy, and for their violence and idolatry, Hab 2:15 upon which would follow an universal silence in the earth, Hab 2:20.

For the violence of Lebanon shall cover thee,.... Lebanon was a mountain on the borders of the land of Israel, from whence cedar wood was brought, of which the temple was built, and for that reason is sometimes so called, as in Zac 11:1 and so the Targum and Jarchi interpret it, "the violence of the house of the sanctuary shall cover thee;'' and this was a type of the church of Christ, the violence of which is that which is offered to it, and which it suffers; and designs all the injuries, oppressions, and persecutions of it by the Papists; who shall be surrounded with the judgments of God, and covered with his wrath and vengeance for the violence done to his people, as a man is covered with a garment: or else the sense is, that the same, or a like judgment, should come upon them, as did on Lebanon, or the material temple of Jerusalem, which with great force and violence destroyed it; as that was consumed by fire for the sins of the Jews in rejecting Christ and persecuting his people, so shall Rome be burnt with fire for the opposition of the inhabitants of it to Christ, and the injuries they have done to his church and people: and the spoil of beasts, which made them afraid; or, "the spoil of the beasts" shall cover thee, which "made them afraid"; we read of two beasts, one rising out of the sea, and the other out of the earth; and both design the pope of Rome in different capacities, as considered in his secular and ecclesiastical power; and the spoil he has made of those that oppose him, the calamities of fire and sword he has brought upon them, are what have greatly terrified the sheep of Christ; but for all the spoil and havoc he has made, the judgments of God shall come upon him on all sides, and utterly destroy him; the beast and false prophet shall be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone; see Rev 13:1, because of men's blood, and for the violence of the land, of the city, and of all that dwell therein; the same that is said in Hab 2:8 and here repeated, as respecting another body of men, guilty of the same or like crimes: there Rome Pagan, concerned in the crucifixion of Christ, the desolation of the land of Judea, and city of Jerusalem, and their inhabitants, as well as in persecuting the saints, the citizens of the church of God; here Rome Papal, where our Lord has been crucified again, and his blood, and the efficacy of it, set at nought; the blood of the saints and martyrs of Jesus shed in great abundance, and violent persecutions of the churches of Christ, and the members of them; for all which the above judgments shall come upon them; see Rev 11:8.

(Verg. 15 seqq.) Woe to him who gives drink to his friend, sending forth his gall and intoxicating him, so that he may see his nakedness. He is filled with shame instead of glory. Drink also yourself, and be drunk, for the cup of the Lord's right hand will surround you, and the vomit of shame will be upon your glory. For the wickedness of Lebanon will cover you, and the destruction of animals will frighten them away, from the blood of men and the iniquity of the land, the city, and all the inhabitants therein. Woe to those who give drink to their neighbor, mixing in their own venom, so that they may look into their hidden corners. Drink of the shame of glory, and be moved, for the cup of the Lord’s right hand has surrounded you, and shame has gathered upon your glory. For the wickedness of Lebanon will cover you, and the misery of beasts will terrify you, because of the blood of men and the impieties of the land and the city, and of all who dwell in it. For the confused subversion, Symmachus interpreted it as, καὶ ἀφιὼν ἀκρίτως τὸν θυμὸν ἑαυτοῦ, which means, and releasing without judgment his own fury. Theodotius interpreted it as ἀπὸ χύσεώς σου, which means from your outpouring. The fifth edition ἐξ ἀπροσδοκήτου ἀνατροπῆς τῆς ὀργῆς σου, which signifies, from the unexpected overturning of your anger. Aquila, ἐξ ἐπιτρίψεως χόλου σου, which we can translate as, from the outburst of your rage. In another edition, I found οὐαὶ τῷ ποτίζοντι τὸν ἑταῖρον αὐτοῦ ἀέλλην πετομένην, which in our language means: Woe to the one who gives his companion a flying whirlwind. But I read it translated elsewhere: Woe to the one who gives drink to his neighbor's ἔκστασιν ὀχλουμένην, that is, troubled madness. This is done in order to understand how much the Hebrew word Maspha () which the LXX translated as subversion, differs in all editions. Therefore, this is still an invective against Nebuchadnezzar, because forgetting his own condition, and as if unaware that he is a man, he offered happiness and bitterness to another man. However, we can understand it either as the king of Judea, or generally all men whom he has intoxicated with evils, so that he may see the nakedness of Sedecias and all the captives. This was interpreted by Symmachus and the fifth edition, that he may see their ignominies. However, these things are said in the metaphor of a drunken man, and of those made shameful by nakedness, because Nebuchadnezzar has intoxicated all with the cup of his fury, and has seen all stripped and captive, and those who were once glorious have been reduced to the utmost servitude: for this is what he says: He is filled with ignominy instead of glory, so that it may be understood that a friend, and close, or a partner of the kingdom, who drinks your cup, O Nebuchadnezzar. Because you have made many people drunk, you too shall drink from the cup of the Lord's wrath and become intoxicated. You will be surrounded by the punishments of the Lord's right hand, and all that you have consumed will be vomited forth in disgrace. You will be brought down from your lofty glory to the depths of misfortune. The iniquity of Lebanon will cover you, and your pride and the destruction of the temple will be your downfall. The plundering of the sanctuary will lay waste to you. And because the mountain of Lebanon was mentioned, under the same metaphor it compares victims, sacrifices, or certainly the multitude of peoples that were killed in Jerusalem, to animals or beasts, saying: And the devastation of animals will oppress you. But all this you will suffer, because you devastated Judah, you overturned the land of promise, and the city of Jerusalem and all its inhabitants. I met a certain Hebrew in Lydda, who was wise among them and was called a secretary, telling such a story: Zedekiah, he said, was blinded by King Nebuchadnezzar in Riblah, which is Antioch, and in various mocking ways, he was led to Babylon (2 Kings 25; Jeremiah 39). And when one day Nebuchadnezzar was celebrating a banquet, he commanded him to give him a drink, which, when drunk, would make the drinker's stomach flow freely: and suddenly, brought in before the mouths of the feasters, he was compelled to expel from his belly, polluted with filth, and this is what the Scripture here says: Woe to him who gives drink to his friend, sending his gall and making him drunk, so that he may see his nakedness and disgrace for glory: namely, that he who was the most powerful king was brought to such a disgrace by him. And God threatens him that he himself will drink this kind of potion and suffer all that Zedekiah suffered. How ridiculous this is, you know, even without me speaking. For if they say, 'Drink yourself and pass out, and the cup of the Lord's right hand will surround you, and the vomit of shame will be upon your glory,' they do not understand it as referring to the cup, but to the evils that Nebuchadnezzar will drink. Therefore, the cup that was given to Zedekiah should be understood as referring to evils, not, as they want, a cleansing potion. But if they say truly, and if this kind of potion is moderate, as I recounted above: therefore this cup which Nebuchadnezzar is about to drink is to be considered full of purgative, so that the God of Sabaoth and the Almighty Lord may offer purgative for the great revenge of Nebuchadnezzar and may make him defiled with his own dung. This is against the Jewish tradition. But let us come to spiritual understanding. Woe to you, devil, or Antichrist, or perverse doctrine of heretics, who intoxicate ((alternatively: who intoxicate and overthrow and give)) the deceived people with your teachings and turbid potion, and overthrow their previous faith, giving them a potion not from Siloam, not from the Jordan, not from the fountains of Israel, but from the brook Cedron and from the river of Egypt, of which Jeremiah says: 'What to you and the way of Egypt for you to drink waters from Geon' (Jeremiah 2:18)? For which reason it is written in Hebrew 'Sior' (which means turbid and muddy); although the rivers of Egypt are believed to come out of the paradise of the Scriptures, yet because they are trampled on by the feet of Pharaoh, they have lost their splendor, and violated by Egyptian mire, they have turned into torrents, concerning which it is said with rejoicing: 'Our soul has passed through a torrent.' (Ps. 123:5) But if someone objects and brings up the torrent of Corath, from which Elijah drank (1 Kings 17), and another torrent, from which the Lord drank on the way (for it is thus written: 'He will drink from the brook on the way' (Ps. 109:7)), it must be said that whoever is in Egypt and on the way of this world, even if he is Moses and Aaron, even if he is Jeremiah and Elijah, he must necessarily drink from the temptations of Egypt and the wilderness. Therefore, the word of the Lord, who assumed flesh for this reason, to drink from the brook, considering his majesty, said: 'Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me.' (Matt. 26:39) Seeing again that he was in Egypt, and that the waters could not be cleansed unless he himself could, he said: Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will. These things, therefore, because the devil intoxicates his neighbors with subversion and turbid drink and perverse teachings, that is, the rational animal, and makes those whom he deceives look to their own caves. For the teachings of the Church are free: they rejoice by day and by light. But those who are intoxicated, are intoxicated by night (1 Thess. 5:7): and those who intoxicate them, do not lead them into the courts of the Lord, which are not darkened by any roof, but into caves. For they made the house of the Father, which had been a house of prayer, into caves of robbers, promising certain initiations and mysteries, and hidden secrets known only to heretics, of which Isaiah speaks: And they shall hide themselves: and shed into caves, and into the clefts of rocks, and into the holes of the earth (Isa. II, 18, 19). Therefore, let us not enter into the caves of heretics, nor hide ourselves there, where the impious Saul used to expel the filth of his teachings (1 Sam. XXIV): but rather let us ascend to the lofty cave of Mount Sinai, where Elijah also saw the Lord (1 Sam. XIX), and Moses saw His back parts (Exod. XXXIII). And Isaiah cries out concerning the Lord: 'He will dwell in the high cave.' (Isai. XXXII, 16) But if anyone does not have a turbid cup and heretical teaching, and he is the master of the Church, and he does all things for the sake of dirty gain, and he sells doves in the temple, that is, the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and on the priestly seat he sets free birds. This person does not indeed make the house of prayer a den of thieves, but he makes the house of the Father a house of business. After this comes: Drink, for the glory, the fullness of shame, O devil, O twisted doctrine, O heretic, who thought yourself to be a golden chalice, by which all nations are intoxicated, in order to see your caves and secrets, to fill with the greatness of glory the fullness of shame, and to consider the works of the potter's hands as a vessel of clay: drink also from the chalice of the Lord, of which it is said in the psalm: 'The chalice in the hand of the Lord is filled with mixed wine,' and He inclined from this into that: nevertheless, its dregs are not emptied out. And to move the prior opinion, and do not think them to be firm and stable, in which you desired to stand first: because the cup of the right hand of the Lord has encompassed you. Moreover, because you have caused a turbulent overthrow to your neighbor, shame will be gathered upon you, and upon your glory, which you believed to have first: and you will suffer this, because the impiety of Lebanon will cover you, according to what is said: And let his prayer become sin (Psalm 109:7). For Mount Lebanon, next to the Greek word ὁμώνυμος, is the name of frankincense; but frankincense is the symbol of spiritual incense, which is the worship of God. Therefore, the perverse speech of heretics, not directed by the simplicity of the Gospel, will be turned into sin for them, and impiety will cover their worship of God. Hence it follows: 'And the misery of beasts shall frighten thee, because of the blood of men, and the impieties of the land, and the city, and all that dwell therein.' And this is the meaning: Those whom you deceived with your frauds and made into your beasts from the flock of Christ, when you see them in misery and endure punishment for their error, then you will be terrified, then you will fall. And do not think that when I mentioned Lebanon and its beasts, I was speaking of brute animals and not of men, I tell you more plainly: You will endure these things, because you have shed the blood of many men whom you have caused to perish for God. And you have exercised wickedness in the land of the living, in the land of the gentle, and your wickedness has also raged in the city of the Lord, that is, in His Church; and you have made many who dwell in it participants in your wickedness. Let this be said under the mask of heretics. But if we want to understand about the Antichrist, or about the devil who will work in the Antichrist, and he will intoxicate many with his cup, with which he desires to overthrow the discipline of Christ, so that they may enter his caves drunkenly: but after the end has come, for the glory with which he magnified himself, he will be filled with ignominy. However, he will be filled, because he will drink the cup of punishments, and he will be moved, not steadfast in his wickedness, but fearful and late in his repentance. For the cup of the Lord's right hand will surround him, who is the Lord and Savior, when he has killed him with the breath of his mouth, and has destroyed him by the brightness of his coming. Then all the disgrace that he gathered for himself with thoughts, actions, and words will come upon his glory: so that as much as he was considered illustrious before, so much afterwards he will be full of disgrace. For he blasphemed against God, and the impiety which he practiced in Lebanon will cover him, and the rage of many people who were ravaged against the Church of God will be imputed to him; nor will he be able to lift up his head, but he will be crushed to the ground in terror. For he has killed many people, and with his impiety he has devastated the whole world, that is, the Church of Christ and its inhabitants. Therefore, it should be understood that this chapter, which we have now presented, namely: Woe to him who gives his neighbor a turbid drink for his downfall; and the previous three in which it was said: Woe to him who multiplies for himself what does not belong to him, and: Woe to him who gathers evil avarice to his house, and: Woe to him who builds a city in blood, can be equally understood according to history, and according to the anagogical interpretation, or against Nebuchadnezzar, or against the devil and the Antichrist and the heretics.

The prophet, waiting for a return to his expostulation, is answered by God that the time for the destruction of the Jewish polity by the Chaldeans is not only fixed in the Divine counsel, but is awfully near; and he is therefore commanded to write down the vision relative to this appalling subject in the most legible characters, and in the plainest language, that all who read it with attention (those just persons who exercise an unwavering faith in the declaration of God respecting the violent irruption of the merciless Babylonians) may flee from the impending vengeance, Hab 2:1-4. The fall of the Chaldeans, and of their ambitious monarch is then predicted, Hab 2:5-10; and, by a strong and bold personification, the very stone and wood of those magnificent buildings, which the Babylonish king had raised by oppression and bloodshed, pronounce his wo, and in responsive taunts upbraid him, Hab 2:11, Hab 2:12. The prophet then beautifully sets forth the absolute impotence of every effort, however well conducted, which is not in concert with the Divine counsel: for though the wicked rage, and threaten the utter extermination of the people of God; yet when the Set time to favor Zion is come, the destroyers of God's heritage shall themselves be destroyed, and "the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of God, as the waters cover the sea," Hab 2:13, Hab 2:14. See Psa 102:13-16. For the cup of idolatry which Babylon has given to many nations, she will receive of the Lord's hand the cup of fury by the insurrection of mighty enemies (the Medes and Persians) rushing like wild beasts to destroy her, Hab 2:15. In the midst of this distress the prophet very opportunely asks in what the Babylonians had profited by their idols, exposes the absurdity of trusting in them, and calls upon the whole world to stand in awe of the everlasting Jehovah, Hab 2:16-19.

The cup of the Lord's right hand - Among the ancients, all drank out of the same cup; was passed from hand to hand, and each drank as much as he chose. The Chaldeans gave to the neighboring nations the cup of idolatry and of deceitful alliance: and in return they received from the Lord the cup of his fury. So Grotius.

THE PROPHET, WAITING EARNESTLY FOR AN ANSWER TO HIS COMPLAINTS (FIRST CHAPTER), RECEIVES A REVELATION, WHICH IS TO BE FULFILLED, NOT IMMEDIATELY, YET IN DUE TIME, AND IS THEREFORE TO BE WAITED FOR IN FAITH: THE CHALDEANS SHALL BE PUNISHED FOR THEIR CRUEL RAPACITY, NOR CAN THEIR FALSE GODS AVERT THE JUDGMENT OF JEHOVAH, THE ONLY TRUE GOD. (Hab. 2:1-20) stand upon . . . watch--that is, watch-post. The prophets often compare themselves, awaiting the revelations of Jehovah with earnest patience, to watchmen on an eminence watching with intent eye all that comes within their view (Isa 21:8, Isa 21:11; Jer 6:17; Eze 3:17; Eze 33:2-3; compare Psa 5:3; Psa 85:8). The "watch-post" is the withdrawal of the whole soul from earthly, and fixing it on heavenly, things. The accumulation of synonyms, "stand open . . . watch . . . set me upon . . . tower . . . watch to see" implies persevering fixity of attention. what he will say unto me--in answer to my complaints (Hab 1:13). Literally, "in me," God speaking, not to the prophet's outward ear, but inwardly. When we have prayed to God, we must observe what answers God gives by His word, His Spirit, and His providences. what I shall answer when I am reproved--what answer I am to make to the reproof which I anticipate from God on account of the liberty of my expostulation with Him. MAURER translates, "What I am to answer in respect to my complaint against Jehovah" (Hab 1:12-17).

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 (Hos 4:7). drink thou also--The cup of sorrow is now in thy turn to pass to thee (Jer 25:15-17; Lam 4:21). thy foreskin--expressing in Hebrew feeling the most utter contempt. So of Goliath (Sa1 17:36). It is not merely thy "nakedness," as in Hab 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 (Jer 25:27). "Be drunken, spew, and fall." Less appropriately it is explained of the foe spewing in the face of the Babylonian king.

Destruction of the Ungodly World-Power - Habakkuk 2 After receiving an answer to this supplicatory cry, the prophet receives a command from God: to write the oracle in plain characters, because it is indeed certain, but will not be immediately fulfilled (Hab 2:1-3). Then follows the word of God, that the just will live through his faith, but he that is proud and not upright will not continue (Hab 2:4, Hab 2:5); accompanied by a fivefold woe upon the Chaldaean, who gathers all nations to himself with insatiable greediness (Hab 2:6-20).