Chapter Two

1. Introductory remark on the prophet’s reception of the second divine response set forth in this chapter. 2–3. The importance of this response and revelation as attested by God Himself, and its relation to the distant future. 4–5. The theme or principal and likewise initial point of all the subsequent content of the chapter. 6–20. Fivefold “woe” upon the wicked, godless conquerors.

Habakkuk 2:1. I have taken my stand on the watchtower and positioned myself on the fortress, so that I might see what He will say to me, and what answer He will give to my complaint. Having laid before God his doubts or complaints regarding the dominion of pagans over the chosen people of God (Hab 1:12-17), the prophet desires from God Himself “with prophetic eyes to see the solution of what he sought” (blessed Theodoret, p. 27). “He says: I will stand on my guard, that is, in the rapture of the prophetic Spirit, and I will watch to see what will follow after the captivity of the people and after the fall of the city and temple... We must also note that the prophetic vision and the word of God came to the prophet not in an external manner, but in an internal way and was addressed to the inner man. For this reason also the prophet Zechariah said: And the Angel who spoke in me (Zech 1:9), and in the Psalms it is said: I will listen to what the Lord will say to me (Ps 84:9)” (blessed Jerome, 154–155). The concepts of “watch” (Hebrew mishmereth) and “fortress” (Hebrew matzor) in this case have not a literal meaning but a figurative one, namely they represent a symbolic designation (as in Isa 21:8) of the performance of prophetic ministry; thus, the first half of verse 1 may be paraphrased thus: “The prophet says: I will remain in that position to which I have been exalted, and I will not forsake the fortress” (blessed Theodoret). The prophets in general were watchmen of the house of Israel (Ezek 3:17; Jer 6:17; Isa 52:8), whom God Jehovah, the supreme Shepherd and Watchman of Israel (Ps 79:2), raised up for the preservation of the integrity and holiness of the covenant and theocracy among the people of God – in view of their frequent departures from these principles. (See P. Laur. Die Prophetennamen des Alten Testamentes. Freiburg. 1903. s. s. 103–107). “Always exalting themselves in all respects above their contemporaries, constantly uttering to them instructions, rebukes, threats, afflictions, and thereby being illuminated by the Spirit of God who searches the deepest things of God, – these men, in cases of particular importance and doubt, especially intensified their effort of standing on the spiritual watch entrusted to them of the walls of Jerusalem (Isa 62:6) and themselves prayerfully questioned God about His will, so as to announce it to the people. This prayer in general was recognized as one of the special duties of the prophets (Jer 32:16; Dan 9:3), and sometimes it was directly commanded to them by God” (prof. Golubev, p. 863). So also the prophet Habakkuk, wishing to receive a new divine response to the doubts he had raised, to his complaint (Hebrew tokahat) (ch. I), gathers all his attention, ascends to a certain “stone, that is, to some elevated and safe fortress of thoughts” (St. Cyril of Alexandria) and awaits the revelation of God for communication to men. Thus, “the present place is highly important from a psychological point of view – for judgment about the condition of those who were deemed worthy of the prophetic gift. From the opening words of the passage it is revealed that it was not constantly present in the soul of the prophets, but required beforehand some special disposition of the soul for its reception; that the prophets constantly needed divine illumination and received it only at times and in parts, as students, having received instruction in the fundamentals of doctrine, still need instruction about each of them in particular (Isa 50:4). From the words of the latter, that this gift was not self-deception, prophecy from their own heart (Jer 23:16; Ezek 13:2-3), but the word proceeding from the mouth of God (Isa 55:11), a gift truly divine” (prof. Golubev, p. 866). Apart from these peculiarities, the speech of the prophet in verse 1 has parallels in Mic 7:7 and in the Psalms: Ps 85:9.

Habakkuk 2:2. And the Lord answered me and said: Write the vision and make it plain on tablets, so that the one reading it may run, The divine response on this occasion came, it seems, immediately, which is why we do not read the former mournful: “how long” (Hab 1:2). In this response Jehovah, first of all, commands to write down the revelation that follows, namely to inscribe it with perfect clarity on certain tablets, Hebrew galluhot, so that the one reading it may run (verse 2). The tablets here are understood, it seems, to be similar to the Sinai stone tablets (Exod 24:12; Deut 9:9); the prophet Habakkuk, like those who received similar commands, such as the prophet Isaiah (Isa 30:8), was to write “with a human pen” (Isa 8:1) what was communicated on boards – stone or bronze (cf. Deut 9:9; 1 Macc 14:27), in view of the slow fulfillment of the revelation and its particular importance (cf. Jer 30:2; Job 19:24). It is not improbable that the opinion of certain scholars (Ewald, Kleinert and others) that such boards with prophetic utterances written on them, after their proclamation to the people, were delivered to the temple and preserved there, to which we owe the preservation of so many prophecies; such a method of preserving written monuments in antiquity is confirmed by Assyro-Babylonian cuneiform documents which occupied entire rooms. The end of verse 2 according to the Hebrew text literally is: “so that the one reading it may run” (as in the LXX: ὅπως διώκῃ, Slavonic: “so that he may overtake”), that is, “run for the purpose of spreading the news in the regions of Jerusalem where it was given, and further... The good news of prophecy must be spread with all speed” (cf. Nah 1:15; Isa 52:7; Dan 12:4; Jer 23:21) (prof. Golubev, p. 868).

Habakkuk 2:3. For the vision still refers to an appointed time and speaks of the end and will not deceive; and though it may delay, wait for it, for it will surely come to pass, it will not fail. In verse 3 the cause or basis of what is said in verse 2 is indicated; the event prefigured by the vision relates to an appointed, namely distant time (cf. Dan 8:17). But at the same time it “hastens, literally breathes, eagerly strives, is drawn forth, so as not to be late (as is said in parallel at the very end of the verse): true prophecy, as the word of the living, all-knowing and almighty God, is as it were animated by the desire for its end, fulfillment, similar to how healthy emerging life is animated by the desire for birth, the search for ultimate development, – which is absent in false prophecy – deception” (prof. Golubev, p. 871). It will not deceive – as false prophets deceived people, promising their hearers various blessings in the near future (cf. Mic 2:11). “But if by chance, as a result of your, reader, impatience and fiery desire it seems to you that what was promised has somewhat delayed in fulfillment, do not despair in its coming, but wait patiently” (blessed Jerome, p. 156). “Truly the word of this prediction is steadfast, therefore do not doubt, though after the passage of much time you do not see the end; because it will surely be accomplished and will not remain unfulfilled” (blessed Theodoret, p. 28). “It will surely come to pass, it will not fail,” Hebrew: bo yabo lo eaḥer, Vulgate: veniens veniet, et non tardabit. LXX: ἐρχόμενος ἥξει, καὶ οὐμὴ χρονίση). The LXX, as well as the Vulgate, understood the Hebrew bo not as an infinitive absolute, but as a participle (Hebrew ba), and in this participle (ἐρχόμενος) saw an indication of the personal Messiah, who will surely come as judge of the world. In this sense the words of verse 3 under consideration are cited also in the Epistle to the Hebrews, Heb 10:37 “the coming one will come, and will not delay.” Such an understanding, in its idea and in its essence, is certainly quite acceptable and entirely correct, but the form of the Hebrew expression bo yabo is more favorable to an abstract than to a concrete understanding of the subject in this predicate (“the coming one” would be gabba).

Habakkuk 2:4–5. Behold, the proud soul will not be at rest, and the righteous shall live by his faith: The haughty man, like fermented wine, does not find rest, so that he enlarges his soul like the grave, and like death he is insatiable, and gathers to himself all peoples, and seizes all nations for himself. In the divine response of verse 4, in two opposite but mutually clarifying statements, the divine judgment is depicted both concerning the people that will oppress the people of God and about this latter – to the former is foretold condemnation, to the latter – justification, life, salvation. The sin of the conquering people is denoted by the verbs: upleted and lo-yashar. The first verb means: to swell, to puff up (the corresponding noun hofol means: a swelling, a growth) and expresses the principal characteristic of the Chaldeans as a conquering people: pride, self-deification with bold forgetfulness of God (cf. Num 14:44; Deut 1:43), where the same verb afal is used of the bold attempt of the Hebrews, after they were condemned to forty years of wandering, to occupy Canaan contrary to the will of God). Similarly, the second verb means the absence in the character of this people of moral rectitude, sincerity, meekness (the verb yashar in the material sense means the evening of roads, the lowering of mountains, hills and cliffs (Isa 40:3-4), and in the moral sense – the rectitude of the paths of life, and humility and rectitude of heart (Ps 31:11). By both verbs, thus, the divine confirmation of the truthfulness of the prophet’s judgments about the character of the conquering people (Hab 1:15-16) is given, and agreement is expressed with the thoughts expressed by the prophet about the latter and about the moral superiority of the people of God before it (Hab 1:13). Already from the first half-verse of verse 4 one can, thus, deduce the thought of the punishment from God awaiting the wicked people of the Chaldeans. But this thought is even more evident from the second half-verse of verse 4: “and the righteous shall live by his faith” (Hebrew vetzaddik beemunataṿ iḥye). Here the divine response calls the chosen people of God by the name of the righteous, which the prophet had earlier called them (Hab 1:13), and likewise the happy, blessed future awaiting them is briefly but fully denoted by the name of life – also in correspondence and opposition to the words of the prophet about the death threatening his people (Hab 1:12); life, of course, is understood in that higher meaning and sense which is generally inherent to the law of Moses (Deut 30:15-19) and to the prophets (Ezek 18:22; Amos 5:4). Such life will be granted through the faith of the righteous (beemunato). That the latter name – emunah in this case means precisely faith and trust in God and His salvation (and not human honesty and righteousness, as some rationalist interpreters expounded), this is evident both from the context of this passage, verses 3–4, in which it speaks only of the relations of man to God, and from other Old Testament places where this same word (emunah), as well as the verb of one root with it (namely, in the Hiphil form heemin) means in the technical sense faith in God (Gen 15:6; Exod 14:31; Num 14:11; Deut 1:32; 2 Sam 17:14; 2 Chr 20:20; Jonah 3:5; Isa 43:10 and others) and wherein happiness of life and salvation was usually placed in dependence on faith (2 Chr 20:20; Isa 28:16 and others). So the ancient Hebrew tradition also interpreted the passage under consideration, as evidenced by the preserved traces of it in the Talmud and among individual rabbis (Babul, Gemara, tr. Makkot f. 24a). But most important of all is that such an understanding from the Old Testament church passed into the New Testament church and was confirmed by the threefold testimony of the holy Apostle Paul: Rom 1:17; Gal 3:11; Heb 10:38, and in the latter case the apostle cites the words of the prophet of verse 4 according to the LXX translation and moreover with a reversal of the two halves of the verse one for the place of the other. The translation of the LXX differs in rendering verse 4 in that, first, in the first half of the verse it speaks not of the pride of the enemy but of doubt, wavering, lack of faith (in the Hebrews themselves), and, second, in the second half of the verse it has “by My faith” (and not “his own”), although many codices do not read μου (see codices 26, 36, 42, 49, 62, 68, 70, 86, 87, 91, 97, 228, 240, 310, 311 in Holmes). The first peculiarity is present also in the Vulgate and in the Slavonic translation (“If [My soul] doubts, it will not be pleased with him, and the righteous shall live by faith”). Verse 4, which depicts the very essence of the struggle lying before Israel, properly concludes the divine response to Habakkuk, and the prophet, now as before (Hab 1:12), attaches to it his extensive meditation on the revelation received by him on the divine watch, verses 5–20, which meditation, as uttered by the prophet in the moment of illumination by the Spirit of God, is also true prophecy. In order to give his thoughts about the terrible fate awaiting the Chaldeans greater expressiveness, the prophet, beginning from verse 6, places his speech, full of bitterness and irony, in the mouths of the peoples and tribes oppressed and humiliated by the Chaldeans. From their lips the Chaldeans are proclaimed fivefold “woe.” But the theme of these terrible pronouncements for the Chaldeans is given in verse 5. Here the ruinous pride and haughtiness of the Chaldeans is explained by comparison with drunkenness: both concepts are related, and besides, the Chaldeans, according to the testimony of history, greatly indulged in wine, and the very fall of their capital occurred amid drunkenness (Jer 51:31; Isa 21:5; Dan 5:1). “As wine produces on the one who becomes drunk such an effect that, when he rises, neither his feet nor his thoughts fulfill their duties, but the speed of thoughts comes into disorder; so also the haughty man will not be magnified, and will not bring his desire to fulfillment. That one, who is like death and the grave, will not be satisfied and will not see the end of his greed, even when he subjugates all tribes and all peoples to his power” (blessed Jerome, p. 161). Cf. the same image of insatiability in Isa 5:14; Prov 20:1. The very reproaching speech, proclaiming “woe” to the Chaldeans, consists of five stanzas, each of three verses: 1) 6–8; 2) 9–11; 3) 12–14; 4) 15–17; and 5) 18–20). Moreover, in the first four stanzas each first verse contains the utterance of woe or curse, the second – the designation of its nature or form, and the third, constantly beginning with the conjunction because (Hebrew ki), – the indication of its basis, the motive for punishment or woe. Only in the fifth stanza the utterance of “woe” (Hab 2:19) is preceded by the indication of its basis (Hab 2:18). All the speech, as has already been said, is placed in the mouths of the defeated and oppressed peoples and tribes once oppressed by the Chaldeans, now rejoicing at the fall of their oppressor (cf. Nah 3:19), and, by its content and character, is called a “parable,” mashal in the special sense of a “mocking song” (Hab 2:6, as also in Isa 14:4; Mic 2:4), “a sharp, biting riddle,” melitza hidot (cf. Prov 1:6). Having the closest relation properly to the Chaldeans and Babylon, this song or speech contains also general, universal thoughts of a religious-moral nature, which is indicated by the concluding exclamation of the speech: “let all the earth be silent before the face of Jehovah” (Hab 2:20).

Habakkuk 2:6–8. Will not all of them pronounce a parable and a mocking song about him: “Woe to him who enriches himself without measure not by his own – how long? – and burdens himself with pledges!”: Will not those who bite you rise up suddenly, and will not those who rob you rise up against you, and you will become plunder for them?: Because you have robbed many peoples, all the remaining peoples will rob you in turn for the shedding of human blood, for the devastation of the land, city, and all who dwell in it. The first “woe”: to the people – the enemy, embodying, as in verse 5, in the image of one man, is charged with his boundless greed, by reason of which he mercilessly robbed many peoples and cities; he immoderately burdened himself with “pledges” or “hostages,” Hebrew abṭit (verse 6). This obscure word the rabbis and the Syriac translation understood as compounded from ab, cloud, density, and tit, mud, – “a mass of mud”; such an understanding was known to Jewish teachers and to blessed Jerome: “Pay attention,” he says, “also to how subtly he called the accumulated wealth a thick mud” (p. 162). The crime of Babylon will be answered with perfect retribution: the peoples robbed by it will with usury, with interest (verse 7) exact their property from him, and he will become to them for complete plunder (verses 7–8, cf. Isa 33:1).

Habakkuk 2:9–11. Woe to him who seeks unjust gains for his house, so as to set his nest on high and thereby protect himself from the hand of misfortune!: You have devised shame for your house, destroying many peoples, and you have sinned against your own soul.: For the stones of the walls will cry out and the wooden beams will answer them: The second “woe” sets as the object of reproach again the greed of the enemy, but from the standpoint of the falsely understood goal of protecting himself from the enemy: evil cannot hide from evil, and one cannot build his well-being on plunder and injustice (verse 9; cf. Jer 22:13-19); by the law of God’s justice, the lot of one acting thus – shame, disgrace and ruin (verse 10). “Truly he is thrice wretched and most wretched, who desires more and by such means attempts to enrich his house, and endeavors to raise himself above all people. Such a one will suffer a greater fall, as one cast down from a great height into the abyss. Having caused thousands of evils to many peoples, you have pierced your own soul with sins and covered your whole house with shame” (blessed Theodoret, p. 29). A similar image – in Prov 1:19 and in Ps 9:16-17. The very stones and wood – the material of the unjustly created house – will testify to the instability and ruinousness of such building. “Not only rational creatures, but also inanimate and senseless things will cry out about your foolishness and madness” (blessed Theodoret, p. 30). Cf. Matt 21:9; Luke 19:40.

Habakkuk 2:12–14. “Woe to him who builds a city by blood and establishes a fortress by injustice! Behold, is it not from the Lord of hosts that peoples labor for the fire and tribes afflict themselves in vain? For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters fill the sea. The thought of the previous stanza continues also in the present stanza, but is developed with greater breadth: the enemy previously reproved was represented as a builder of houses of injustice, here entire cities and fortresses, and as a builder emerges not one, but a whole multitude of peoples. The complete worthlessness of the deeds done on the basis of iniquity by entire peoples (verse 13; cf. Jer 51:58), the prophet shows in the very name of God, by the determination of whom, all their undertakings prove to be worthless without God’s cooperation (cf. Ps 126:1), – namely in the designation of the Lord of hosts, Jehovah of armies (Jehovah Tsebaot; on the meaning of this name of God, used precisely in the royal-prophetic period of biblical history, see in the book of sacred professor A. A. Glagolev, Old Testament biblical teaching about Angels, 1900, p. 238–256). In contrast to the worthlessness of human deeds (cf. Mic 3:10; Eccl 1:3), the more brightly will shine the greatness and glory of the Lord in His judgment over the proud and wicked kingdom (the Chaldeans), and the knowledge of this glory must spread throughout all the earth (verse 14; cf. Isa 11:9).

Habakkuk 2:15–17. Woe to you, who give your neighbor a drink, mixing in your poison, so as to see his shame!: You have become surfeited with shame instead of glory; drink also you and show shame – so also the cup of the right hand of the Lord will turn to you, and shame upon your glory.: For your violence against Lebanon will come down upon you for the destruction of the terrified animals, for the shedding of human blood, for the devastation of the land, city, and all who dwell in it. In the fourth “woe,” namely in the first statement (verse 15) is indicated a particularly characteristic mark of the cunning, treacherous malice of the Chaldeans: like a deceitful friend who forces his neighbor to drink wine only so as to afterward maliciously enjoy his debased appearance. Babylon lured peoples into friendly alliances with itself (cf. 2 Sam 20:12-18), so that afterward, having plied them from the cup of its malice (cf. Jer 25:15; Nah 3:11), it would delight in their extreme humiliation and shame (cf. Nah 3:5; Isa 47:3), – an image borrowed from the extraordinary depravity of morals to which the enemy indulged on its feasts (whereby, according to Hebrew tradition, captives were brought to these feasts, were plied with wine, made to dance until exhaustion and nakedness, and thereby contemptibly amused themselves). The crime will be answered exactly with punishment – according to the general law of God’s righteousness: by Jehovah, once having entrusted the cup of His wrath to Babylon for presentation to other peoples (Jer 25:15; cf. Isa 51:17; Ps 59:5), is now returned to Babylon itself – it will inevitably have to drink it to the last drop (see Obad 1:16; Jer 51:7), and it awaits the same humiliations, shame and disgrace which it prepared for others (verse 16: gearel, show uncircumcision; kikalon – vomit, cf. Isa 28:8). In verse 17 the basis of such retribution from God to Babylon is indicated, namely – the evils and devastations committed by it upon Lebanon (verse 17), as representative of the promised land (Jer 22:6).

Habakkuk 2:18–19. What profit is there from a carved idol made by the craftsman, this cast image, a teacher of lies, although the one who makes it relies on his own creation? Woe to him who says to the wood: “Awake!” and to the senseless stone: “Wake up!” Will it teach anything? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, but there is no breath in it. The fifth and last “woe” denounces the root of the malice and wickedness of the Chaldeans (as of other pagan peoples), namely: their idolatry. Idols of all kinds: a wooden or stone idol, a graven image or one cast from metal, a molten image – utter nothingness, and prayerful appeal to it – absurdity; the first is proved by the usual indication among biblical writers that the idol – is the work and product of human hands (verse 18; cf. Ps 113:11-16; Isa 44:9), the second – by the fact that idols are “teachers of lies” – in the sense that from them people expected wise counsels and prophecies, but both turned out to be nothing but lies.

Habakkuk 2:20. But the Lord – in His holy temple: let all the earth be silent before His face! Verse 20, which no longer belongs to the threatening speech of “woe” but serves as a transition to chapter III, indicates that the only worthy objects of the faith and hope of men can be only Jehovah. Before Jehovah, dwelling in heaven (cf. Deut 26:15; Ps 10:4), as well as in the temple of Jerusalem (cf. Isa 66:6; Joel 3:16; Amos 1:2) the whole earth (cf. Zeph 1:7) must be silent, and not only the Chaldeans. “The idols are mute and deprived of all power; and for our Master as it were a temple serves the heaven, and on earth in Jerusalem, there is a place dedicated to Him.” * * * Notes Philologically, emunah first and foremost means firmness, steadfastness in the word and promise of God, a faith unshaken by any contradictions of reality in the invisible Greek ὑπόστασις, Heb 11:1; Latin constantia, fiducia.