Habakuk

Habakkuk 1 – Skeptic's Annotated Bible answered

A response and reply to the notes on Habakkuk 1 in the Skeptic's Annotated Bible (SAB).

King James Version

SAB comment

My comment

1 The burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see.

2 O LORD, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! even cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save!

Does God help in time of need?

Habakkuk is not in need of help here, as the author of the SAB has it. As John Gill explains:

The prophet having long observed the sins and iniquities of the people among whom he lived, and being greatly distressed in his mind on account of them, had frequently and importunately cried unto the Lord to put a stop to the abounding of them, that the people might be brought to a sense of their sins, and reform from them;

3 Why dost thou shew me iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance? for spoiling and violence are before me: and there are that raise up strife and contention.

4 Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth: for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceedeth.

(1:4, 13) Do bad things happen to good people?

I assume the author of the SAB refers here to “for the wicked doth compass about the righteous.” Obviously bad things happen to good people. We live in a fallen world, and who does not sin? But see Prov. 12:21 which the author of the SAB reads as if no evil will happen to good people.
But this verse in Habakkuk is slightly different: it says the wicked compass about the righteous. In the most limited sense it means the wicked are around the good, because the laws are not upheld. It is not a complaint that bad things happen to good people, but that they are surrounded by the bad. And it vexes them, see 2 Pet. 2:7.

5 Behold ye among the heathen, and regard, and wonder marvellously: for I will work a work in your days, which ye will not believe, though it be told you.

6 For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land, to possess the dwellingplaces that are not theirs.

God will have the Chaldeans (Babylonians) devastate Israel.

Yes, as punishment for their sins, just as the Israelites have been used to punish the former inhabitants of Canaan.

7 They are terrible and dreadful: their judgment and their dignity shall proceed of themselves.

8 Their horses also are swifter than the leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves: and their horsemen shall spread themselves, and their horsemen shall come from far; they shall fly as the eagle that hasteth to eat.

The Chaldeans' horses were faster than leopards and more fierce than wolves.

It is sad if one cannot appreciate poetry.

9 They shall come all for violence: their faces shall sup up as the east wind, and they shall gather the captivity as the sand.

10 And they shall scoff at the kings, and the princes shall be a scorn unto them: they shall deride every strong hold; for they shall heap dust, and take it.

11 Then shall his mind change, and he shall pass over, and offend, imputing this his power unto his god.

12 Art thou not from everlasting, O LORD my God, mine Holy One? we shall not die. O LORD, thou hast ordained them for judgment; and, O mighty God, thou hast established them for correction.

13 Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity: wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he?

14 And makest men as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping things, that have no ruler over them?

15 They take up all of them with the angle, they catch them in their net, and gather them in their drag: therefore they rejoice and are glad.

16 Therefore they sacrifice unto their net, and burn incense unto their drag; because by them their portion is fat, and their meat plenteous.

17 Shall they therefore empty their net, and not spare continually to slay the nations?