1 I will take my position and be on watch, placing myself on my tower, looking out to see what he will say to me, and what answer he will give to my protest.
And the watchman gave a loud cry, O my lord, I am on the watchtower all day, and am placed in my watch every night:
I will give ear to the voice of the Lord; for he will say words of peace to his people and to his saints; but let them not go back to their foolish ways.
To give the revelation of his Son in me, so that I might give the news of him to the Gentiles; then I did not take the opinion of flesh and blood,
Seeing that you are looking for a sign of Christ giving out his word in me; who is not feeble in relation to you, but is strong in you:
Are you not eternal, O Lord my God, my Holy One? for you there is no death. O Lord, he has been ordered by you for our punishment; and by you, O Rock, he has been marked out to put us right. Before your holy eyes sin may not be seen, and you are unable to put up with wrong; why, then, are your eyes on the false? why do you say nothing when the evil-doer puts an end to one who is more upright than himself? He has made men like the fishes of the sea, like the worms which have no ruler over them. He takes them all up with his hook, he takes them in his net, getting them together in his fishing-net: for which cause he is glad and full of joy. For this reason he makes an offering to his net, burning perfume to his fishing-net; because by them he gets much food and his meat is fat. For this cause his net is ever open, and there is no end to his destruction of the nations.
You are in the right, O Lord, when I put my cause before you: still let me take up with you the question of your decisions: why does the evil-doer do well? why are the workers of deceit living in comfort?
I have put watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem; they will not keep quiet day or night: you who are the Lord's recorders, take no rest,
Now David was seated between the two town doors; and the watchman went up to the roof of the doorways, on the wall, and, lifting up his eyes, saw a man running by himself.
When my thoughts were turned to see the reason of this, it was a weariness in my eyes; Till I went into God's holy place, and saw the end of the evil-doers.
I would make clear the number of my steps, I would put it before him like a prince! The words of Job are ended.
If only God would give ear to me, and the Ruler of all would give me an answer! or if what he has against me had been put in writing!
I would see what his answers would be, and have knowledge of what he would say to me. Would he make use of his great power to overcome me? No, but he would give attention to me. There an upright man might put his cause before him; and I would be free for ever from my judge.
And the children of Israel did secretly against the Lord their God things which were not right, building high places for themselves in all their towns, from the tower of the watchmen to the walled town.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Habakkuk 2
Commentary on Habakkuk 2 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 2
In this chapter we have an answer expected by the prophet (v. 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,
Hab 2:1-4
Here,
Hab 2:5-14
The prophet having had orders to write the vision, and the people to wait for the accomplishment of it, the vision itself follows; and it is, as divers other prophecies we have met with, the burden of Babylon and Babylon's king, the same that was said to pass over and offend, ch. 1:11. It reads the doom, some think, of Nebuchadnezzar, who was principally active in the destruction of Jerusalem, or of that monarchy, or of the whole kingdom of the Chaldeans, or of all such proud and oppressive powers as bear hard upon any people, especially upon God's people. Observe,
Hab 2:15-20
The three foregoing articles, upon which the woes here are grounded, are very near akin to each other. The criminals charged by them are oppressors and extortioners, that raise estates by rapine and injustice; and it is mentioned here again (v. 17), the very same that was said v. 8, for that is the crime upon which the greatest stress is laid; it is because of men's blood, innocent blood, barbarously and unjustly shed, which is a provoking crying thing; it is for the violence of the land, of the city, and of all that dwell therein, which God will certainly reckon for, sooner or later, as the asserter of right and the avenger of wrong.
But here are two articles more, of a different nature, which carry a woe to all those in general to whom they belong, and particularly to the Babylonian monarchs, by whom the people of God were taken and held captives.