Albert Barnes Commentary Habakkuk 1:11

"Then shall he sweep by [as] a wind, and shall pass over, and be guilty, [even] he whose might is his god." — Habakkuk 1:11 (ASV)

Then his mind will change - or, better, “Then he sweeps by.” חלף châlaph is used of the overflowing of a river (Isaiah 8:8), of a wind chasing (Isaiah 21:1), of the invisible presence of God passing by (Job 9:11), or a spirit (Job 4:15), of the swift passing of our days, like a ship or eagle (Job 10:26), of idols utterly passing away (Isaiah 2:18), of rain past and gone (Song of Solomon 2:11). It is, together with עבר ‛âbar, used of transgressing God’s law (Isaiah 24:5). It is always intransitive, except when piercing the temples of a man (Judges 5:26), or himself (Job 20:24).

A wind - רוח rûach — metaphor for simile, as (Psalms 11:1); (Psalms 22:14); (13 English) (Psalms 90:4); (Job 24:5); (Isaiah 51:12).

And passes - עבר ‛âbar “pass over” (with חלף châlaph — as here,) (Isaiah 8:8); (Nahum 1:8); (Habakkuk 3:10); “transgress,” passim; “pass away,” (Psalms 37:6); (Job 34:29); (Nahum 1:12).

And is guilty; this strength of his is his god - The victory was completed, all resistance ended. He sweeps by, as his own Euphrates when, over-filled by the swelling (Isaiah 8:8) of all its tributary streams, it rises up over all its banks and overwhelms all where it passes; he is as a wind which sweeps (Isaiah 21:1) over the desert. Then he passes over all bounds and laws, human and divine, and is guilty and stands guilty before God, making himself as God.

This power of his is his god - God had said to Israel (Exodus 6:7), I will be to thee God. The Chaldean virtually said, “This strength of mine is my god to me.” This is what Nebuchadnezzar’s own words attest (Daniel 4:30): Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honor of my majesty? The statue which was to be worshipped was very probably of himself, as the intoxication of pride has made other pagan kings or conquerors, Alexander or Darius.

Belshazzar said (Isaiah 14:14), I will be like the Most High; the prince of Tyre said (Ezekiel 28:2), I am a god; and Antichrist, it is said, will exalt himself above all that is called god, and, as God, sit in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is god (2 Thessalonians 2:4).

Such is all pride. It sets itself in the place of God; it ceases to think of itself as God’s instrument and so becomes a god to itself, as though its eminence and strength were its own, its wisdom were the source of its power , and its will the measure of its greatness.

The words, with a divine fullness, express separately that the king will sweep along, will pass over all bounds and all hindrances, will pass away, will be guilty, and will bear his guilt; and so they comprise in one his sin and his punishment, his greatness and his fall.

And so, 40 years afterward, Nebuchadnezzar: (Daniel 5:19–20) whom he would, he slew; and whom he would, he kept alive; and whom he would, he set up; and whom he would, he put down; but when his heart was lifted up, and his mind hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him; (Daniel 4:31) there fell a voice from heaven, The kingdom is departed from thee.

And Belshazzar (Daniel 5:23; Daniel 5:30), in the same night that he lifted up himself against the Lord of heaven, was slain.