the Jews also caused St. Paul much anguish of heart in Rom. 9:3, and he was ready to wish that he himself "were accursed and cut off from Christ" for their sake. But Jonah is informed that it would be better for him to display this anger over the prospect of Nineveh's destruction than over the withering of this plant, that it would be better that Nineveh be preserved than this plant. This reflects what St. Paul says in Rom.
11:11: "Through their (the Jews') trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles," that is, it is better and fairer that Judaism should die (which, after all, was unprofitable and without spirit, all leaves and no fruit) than that it be preserved and the whole world be brought to ruin. That is the judgment which was pleasing to God. And therefore it is fitting that we Gentiles thank Him for His mercy. For the Jews sustained no loss if they were willing to believe and abandon their Judaism; and for us, all of salvation depends on this.
May God help us to attain this. Amen.
THE PLAN OF THE PROPHET HABAKKUK AND THE TIME WHEN HE THERE is no agreement among ecclesiastical authors about the content or the purpose and the time of this prophecy. Jerome and those following him think that Habakkuk prophesied at the time of the Babylonian captivity and that he directed his prophecy against the king of the Chaldeans,1 who had wretchedly afflicted the people of God. To support their opinion, they have something or other which they have made up, or a story from Daniel about Habakkuk's being seized by an angel, etc., but because the story they adduce is not in the Hebrew canon,2 nothing definite can be decided from it. However, on the basis of the circumstances of the text, I conclude that the opinion of Jerome and all those who follow him does not fit at all. Therefore it turns out that in this respect I disagree with them. For there is no doubt in my mind that Habakkuk was a prophet who prophesied before the Babylonian captivity and that he was prophesying to the two remaining tribes about the king of the Chaldeans who was to come. To summarize, then, my opinion is that this is what Habakkuk is doing: first, he prophesies to the two tribes still remaining that their destruction is coming, that is, that the king of the Chaldeans will come against them as God's judgment and will destroy all things. His second prophecy is that the king himself will be destroyed, no matter whether he might subject many kingdoms to himself and everywhere acquire rule over the lands. For the supreme control of affairs at that time was in the hands of the Chaldeans, etc.
1. The prophet. This is a proud, dignified title, for hardly any prophet calls himself a prophet except 2. Violence. He means to say: "I do not stop shouting, preaching, and showing the people their wickedness; I call the people back from violence and injustices, but I do all this for nothing, for they hardly listen to me." This seems to me to be the meaning of this verse. Jerome and his followers, as I mentioned above, think that this ought to be applied to the king of the Chaldeans, which I cannot accept.
Let him who wishes adopt Jerome's opinion; I do not adopt it. For this is in keeping with the Scriptures everywhere (as I have mentioned several times before)1 that when God is about to punish a wicked nation,
He sends His prophets ahead to smite them, to announce His Word, to reveal their sin, and to declare the coming wrath of God on account of their sins. God does this with the intention that there might be some who will be converted. In addition to this, the circumstances of the text keep me from subscribing to Jerome's interpretation. I will mention this later at the proper place wherever the references apply.
3. Why dost Thou make me see wrongs and look upon trouble? Holy Scripture has often employed these two words. In fact, it almost always joins them. But the Latin translator,2 since he enjoyed using a large Latin vocabulary, almost everywhere has translated them differently—although in the Hebrew language they are the same words, for example, in Ps. 90:10: "Their span is but toil and trouble"; also in another place (Ps. 10:7): "Under his tongue are mischief and iniquity." Here are the same words, with the - 46 meaning: "What is this? Why have You sent me to preach? I do not improve them; they do not come to their senses, and so I am forced to see only miseries and calamities while I preach for nothing so long as they in their blindness persist in their character. I see nothing but grief and disaster."
Violence is before me. I understand this to refer to the wickedness of God's people, as I have mentioned. I think that all these words apply to God's people, not to the king of the Chaldeans. All the words that follow from this passage to where it says "strife and contention arise, etc.," must be deleted,3 because they are not in the Hebrew text but have perhaps been added by someone not sufficiently informed. Therefore we read only the things that are in the Hebrew texts.
Strife and contention arise. This is like saying: "Concerning no lawsuit is judgment given and pronounced on the basis of the laws, no cases are heard, none are settled; but those who are in power reign and abuse all the laws and judgments as they wish. They support judgment with strife and quarrels. Justice is not equal for all. To such an extent all things have become violent and tyrannical." And in that vein the prophet continues.
4. So the law is slacked. There is no place for laws. There are none who stand by the laws; there are none who pronounce equal justice, but tyrants make up their own laws and change them as they please.
And justice never goes forth. Here he is speaking in the Hebrew manner. There is a similar way of speaking in a psalm, to the effect that no one carries out what has been established by the laws.4 All these things cannot be understood as applying to the king of the Chaldeans. For what is the relation between weapons and laws? "Laws must be silent when weapons speak," the well-known author says.5 "Force settles matters."6 "The savage soldier is the darling of the hour."7 "They would rather use the sword to reclaim their possessions."8 Etc.
For the wicked are stronger than the righteous. You would translate the Hebrew word more accurately this way: "For the wicked surrounds the righteous, etc.," for it really means "to go around," "to encircle,"
"to catch," as in Ps. 22:12: "Many bulls encompass me, strong bulls of Bashan surround me." Here he gives the reason why the judgments are perverse and the Law is tottering and reeling (this is what the Hebrew really means). Since the kings deal in force, he says, they do not stand by the laws, and they oppress just men; therefore it is inevitable that their judgments will be distorted and outrageous. It is not rightly called justice, but the kings make their pronouncements as they wish. And so they go astray like people on byways. This is the way it ought to be read on the basis of the Hebrew text. All the things that follow agree very closely with our interpretation, which cannot happen in Jerome's interpretation. But not only in this passage in Jerome's comment but here and there in all the prophets, in fact, in every chapter of almost every prophet, as long as people somehow manage to twist things in their own way, it happens that they handle everything piecemeal and that the things that precede are in no way connected with the things that follow, and vice-versa.
5. Look among the nations and see. Luke has quoted this verse in Acts 13:41. It is apparent that he quotes from the Septuagint, for he has added many words that are not in the Hebrew. The Hebrew "Look among the nations" Luke has translated "Behold, you scoffers." This error could easily have arisen from just one letter in the Hebrew word.9 Perhaps it happened that the letter was changed by a mistake of the copiers. However, since all the books today agree, we also will read "among the nations." Perhaps a poor translation was made by the Seventy,10 in whose translation there are many other errors as well, since they were yawning and paying too little attention. It is inevitable that such errors occur when a translator is not careful and fails to keep his eyes open. A second point: Our reading both wonder and be astounded is only one word in Hebrew, but it is repeated: "Wonder, wonder." It is characteristic of the Hebrew language to repeat the same word either for the sake of emphasis or distribution,11 for example: exulting, I will exult; rejoicing, I will rejoice, that is, I will rejoice exceedingly. Also Moses customarily repeats distributively when he says, "Take a man and a man," that is, "Take one man each." There is the same kind of distribution in this passage.
Because a work is done in your days. The word "is" makes me think that this prophet prophesied before the time of the Babylonian captivity, for he is obviously speaking about the king of the Chaldeans who will come, etc. This is the meaning: "Your sins predominate, you despise my words, I produce no fruit in you. Therefore, look around and see in all the nations: 'Wonder and be astounded,' a new thing will happen, punishment will not be delayed, a very great catastrophe is threatening you, which you do not believe, although it is already being told you." In a general way this thought applies to all unbelievers,
- 47 who do not believe. Until they fall into misfortune, they keep on despising all the threats of God, just as they despise all His promises. And in this way an answer can be given to the question that might be asked:
Why has Luke applied this passage to Christ and the grace of Christ, since the prophet whom Luke was quoting was looking at something altogether different, namely, the king of the Chaldeans,whose coming against them he was threatening? In what way is Christ related to the Chaldeans? It is also strange how
Jerome has ignored this question, who otherwise regularly tortured himself in such a strange way in explaining questions of this kind—which can be sufficiently noticed in Paul's Epistle to the Galatians,12 if nowhere else. And so I answer this way: Both Christ and the apostles were accustomed to apply certain general thoughts not only to the immediate circumstances but also to many other similar instances.
Examples of this sort include "A blind man leads a blind man" (Matt. 15:14); "He who exalts himself will be humbled" (Luke 14:11). This thought teaches humility (ταπεινοφροσύνη), which Christ applied to the proud guests, as the gospel account has it. All God's works are of this kind, so that the judgment of the flesh is to disbelieve them completely, to fail totally to understand any of them because they transcend all understanding of reason, but this happens to our very great detriment, etc.
6. That bitter and hasty nation. In this way the Lord is all in all: without His will nothing happens; He is the one who arouses both the good and the evil men to vindicate Himself.
Who march through. These words point out the vast number and strength of the Chaldeans.
To seize habitations not their own. This statement refutes the false prophets who were trying to prevent the people from believing the true prophets, who were predicting the devastation which was coming. To make their point, the false prophets were using those Scripture passages and promises which God had given to His people to the effect that the Lord would not desert His people, in whose midst He had promised to stay. Also He had promised them an eternal kingdom, that it would not happen that they would be led into captivity, etc., as I have mentioned before in the case of almost all the other prophets.
7. Their justice and dignity proceed from themselves. This means: "You have neglected justice, you have changed the Law as you pleased, you have not rendered equal justice but have done all things with violence. Therefore, because you have been unwilling to judge fairly, a judge will come against you eventually who will teach you how to judge. His justice and dignity will proceed from him himself. Since you do not follow righteousness, therefore the justice and dignity of the Chaldeans will come upon you, so that the truth of the jingle will mock you: 'If you do not wish to judge, you will be judged by him.' "
8. More fierce than the evening wolves. In two passages in Scripture I know that I have read this about evening wolves just as our version13 translates—in Zeph. 3:3 and in this prophet. But the meaning of the word translated "evening" is uncertain, and there is a difference of opinion among the linguists whether it ought to be translated "evening wolves" or "wolves of the desert."14 Jerome translated "evening wolves," influenced by this line of reasoning: Since evening wolves have suffered hunger throughout the day, they attack a flock more viciously than other wolves do, and they do not leave until they have filled themselves. Who does not see that such an interpretation is weak? Therefore I prefer to adopt the other interpretation, so I translate "wolves of the desert," that is, wolves that are fierce and untamed. The Germans also have this way of speaking: "May savage wolves tear you apart!"15 And Christ calls the wolves ravenous (Matt. 7:15). Therefore, the word refers to the fury and aggressiveness of the Chaldeans.
Their horsemen press proudly on. This is the same word Moses often uses When he describes leprosy that has spreadl6 on a person's skin.
9. They all come for booty. The prophet is continuing to describe the power and troops of the Chaldeans, who will come so well armed and trained that no one will be able to escape. However, I translate this way from the Hebrew: "All will come for violence against them like the east wind." This means that there will be no hope that anyone will be able to resist the Chaldean; for he comes violently like a wind, he will come with force and will seize all things. And when Habakkuk compares the Chaldean with the east wind, he is not only showing that the Chaldeans dwell in the east but also that their force and violence are just as violent as the east wind. Moses everywhere calls it a burning wind, as can be seen in Exodus (Ex. 10:13; 14:21), for that wind is accustomed to dry things up, as the south wind is accompanied by rain. In fact, the Latin poets call the south wind "rain-producing."
They gather captives like sand. "Just as no one is able to keep the wind from breaking forth, so the Chaldean will rush in with so many troops and such great power that you will not be able to prevent him
- 48 from gathering all the nations as a wind gathers the sand of the sea." He describes the captives as so innumerable and countless.
10. At kings they scoff, that is, not only the Jewish kings but whichever kings he will lead away captive and show off in a triumphal procession.
And of rulers they make sport, that is, so great will his power be that he is going to conquer them all for fun and laugh at those who try to resist him.
They laugh at every fortress. There will be no city so well fortified that he will not easily destroy it.
For they heap up earth and take it. Jerome writes that Nebuchadnezzar made Tyre, which formerly had been a complete island, into a peninsula. Certainly it required great effort, very great power and expense for him to accomplish this. However, it is very sure that he fought very fiercely against Tyre, as is plain in Ezek. 29:18, for the city was very well fortified and very rich. In fact, it is described as "fortified" in Joshua 19:29. Habakkuk seems to be referring to this also.
11. Then his spirit will be changed, and he will pass away. This verse is hard to understand. I translate it from the Hebrew this way: "Then his heart will be exalted, and he will continue and will sin." This is the way human affairs usually turn out. The human heart is far too weak to enjoy favorable circumstances modestly. It cannot keep from becoming unruly, for favorable circumstances torment even the souls of wise men. All the histories of all nations attest this, and so do the most elegant songs of the poets. "When things are going too well, passions usually indulge to excess."17 Or, "O human mind, that does not know its future fate and lot, nor how to control its ways when excited by prosperous circumstances."18 Scripture also points this out when it says: "You have set your heart like the heart of God."19 The Romans, the Persians, the Medes, and all the other very powerful kingdoms illustrate this. At this point Habakkuk is saying the same thing about the king of the Chaldeans, namely, since he will enjoy such great success in all his affairs, he will boast of his own powers, he will wax proud, he will not be able to make the most of his victory (as that what's-his-name demanded as a first requisite in a king),20 but he will attribute to his own idol the victory which he has gained. Therefore he will sin, as Habakkuk adds here:
Whose own might is their god! In this way Habakkuk separates Nebuchadnezzar's idol from the true God. An idol is one's imagination about God, but it is a false god whom we strive to please with our own efforts and works. However, the true God is the One who wants to help us. He does not demand our goods or our works, as I have mentioned amply about idolatry in my commentary on Nahum.21 All nations, however wicked, boast about the name and worship of their god, but they are mistaken, etc. And our own opinion is our idol.
12. Art Thou not from everlasting, O Lord? At this point the prophet again uses his own manner of speaking, which is different from that of the others. Earlier he was contrasting the two gods, the true and the false, as if to say: "The king was attributing victory to his own god, failing to realize all along that You are the true God, my God," so that the emphasis and the stress are on the phrases "his god" and "my God."
In this way the prophet is speaking in the place of the people. This is what the prophet was thinking:
"Why, O Lord, do You permit this wicked enemy to trample all over Your people, who are better by far than the enemy, who does not even recognize that You are the One who has won and given him the victory? You are my God, aren't You?" This is the way Scripture usually names God: "The God of Israel and the Holy One of Israel," just as also here the prophet calls Him the One who is both holy Himself and the One who makes Israel holy. This is the meaning therefore: "You give good fortune to the wicked kings, although You are my God and my Holy One," so that from this we might see that there is no salvation and no victory except from heaven, for there is no safety in the strength of the horse or in the legs of a man, etc. (Ps. 147:10). Hope for safety placed in a horse is a misplaced hope (Ps. 33:17).
We shall not die. Earlier I have said that the same thing must be watched for in all the prophets, for all the prophets keep in sight the fact that the nation will still be safe and that the kingdom of Judah will continue until the coming of the Christ,22 as Jacob had promised in Gen. 49:10. But the captivity was arguing against these words of the prophets and against the promises about the eternal kingdom. After all, who could hope for an eternal kingdom when all had been carried away into captivity into very distant lands and while the tribes were perishing? In such conditions human reason was not able to trust God.
Therefore the prophets encourage the people not to doubt—not even in the middle of captivity—that they would be brought back and would remain safe, etc. Habakkuk is talking this way here also: "Even in this condition You are our God and our Holy One, so that, although we are afflicted, although we are led away