Habakuk 2:6

In Hab 2:6-20 the destruction of the Chaldaean, which has been already intimated in Hab 2:4, Hab 2:5, is announced in the form of a song composed of threatening sentences, which utters woes in five strophes consisting of three verses each: (1) upon the rapacity and plundering of the Chaldaean (Hab 2:6-8); (2) upon his attempt to establish his dynasty firmly by means of force and cunning (Hab 2:9-11); (3) upon his wicked ways of building (Hab 2:12-14); (4) upon his base treatment of the subjugated nations (Hab 2:15-17); and (5) upon his idolatry (Hab 2:18-20). These five strophes are connected together, so as to form two larger divisions, by a refrain which closes the first and fourth, as well as by the promise explanatory of the threat in which the third and fifth strophes terminate; of which two divisions the first threatens the judgment of retribution upon the insatiableness of the Chaldaean in three woes (Hab 2:5), and the second in two woes the judgment of retribution upon his pride. Throughout the whole of the threatening prophecy the Chaldaean nation is embraced, as in Hab 2:4, Hab 2:5, in the ideal person of its ruler. (Note: The unity of the threatening prophecy, which is brought out in the clearest manner in this formal arrangement, has been torn in pieces in the most violent manner by Hitzig, through his assumption that the oracle of God includes no more than Hab 2:4-8, and that a second part is appended to it in Hab 2:9-20, in which the prophet expresses his own thoughts and feelings, first of all concerning king Jehoiakim (Hab 2:9-14), and then concerning the Egyptians (Hab 2:15-20). This hypothesis, of which Maurer observes quite correctly, Qua nulla unquam excogitata est infelicior, rests upon nothing more than the dogmatic assumption, that there is no suc…

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).

2:6-20 Five taunt songs (2:6-8, 9-11, 12-14, 15-17, 18-20) portray God’s future judgment of the Babylonians (and others who, like the Babylonians, indulge in violence and injustice). God allows them to seal their own doom. Those who suffer will be able to repeat these taunts when the wicked come to judgment (see 1:14-17). Each taunt contains a pronouncement of sorrow, a judgment, and the reason for God’s judgment. 2:6-8 In the first of Habakkuk’s taunt songs, he condemns the Babylonians for despoiling the nations. • thieves . . . extortion: The imagery compares the Babylonians to creditors whose oppressive measures cause their debtors to rise up against them. Greed can easily mar an individual’s or nation’s spiritual fiber (Luke 12:15; Eph 5:3).