Charles Ellicott Commentary Habakkuk 2

The Tower. —The practice of ascending a high place to secure an extensive view suggests the figure here. (See 2 Kings 9:17; 2 Samuel 18:24.) In a yet bolder metaphor Isaiah represents himself as appointing a watchman, who brings reports from his tower. We need not suppose that Habakkuk literally went to a solitary height to wait for a revelation. Balaam, the heathen soothsayer, did so (Numbers 23:3), but his conduct throws no light on the customs of the Jewish prophets.

What he will say to me. —Better, what He will say in me, and what answer I will make to my complaint: i.e., of what solution to the perplexities I am deploring, Jehovah will make me the mouthpiece.

On tables. —Better, on the tables. The definite article probably indicates certain well-known tables on which the prophets were accustomed to inscribe their utterances for public edification. These tables may have been hung up in the Temple (Calvin) or marketplace (Luther and Ewald).

That he may run that readeth it — i.e., the prophecy is to be inscribed plainly and legibly, so that the reader may “run his eye” quickly through it.

For the vision is yet for an appointed time... — Better: For the vision is to have its appointed day, and it pants for the end, and it shall not disappoint, that is, it pants for the day of completion, which shall do it justice. It longs to fulfill its destiny.

It will not tarry. — This translation is unfortunate. The prophet has just said that it will tarry. Nevertheless, he adds, men are to wait for it, because it will surely come, and shall not be behindhand,, namely, on its appointed day. This and Habakkuk 2:4 are welded into the Apostle’s exhortation in Hebrews 10:37. The citation is not from the Hebrew, but is an adaptation of the equally familiar Septuagint variant, ὅτι ἐρχόμενος ἥξει καὶ οὐ μὴ χρονίσῃ ἐὰν ὑποστείληται, οὐκ εὐδοκεῖ ἡ ψυχή μου ἐν αὐτῷ.

Behold his soul... — A better rendering is: Behold his soul within him is puffed up, it is not upright. The soul of the Chaldean invader is inflated with pride, self-dependence ousting from his mind all thoughts of God. It is therefore unsound and distorted. Habakkuk leaves the inference “and therefore it shall die” to be imagined, and hastens to the antithesis: “But the righteous man shall live by his faith.” The word live is emphatic. The reward promised to patient waiting on God is life — deliverance from destruction. How far the promise extends, and whether it includes that aspiration after future life which is plainly expressed by many Hebrew poets and prophets, we cannot determine.

The student must be cautioned against such renderings as “he that is righteous-by-faith shall live,” or, “he that is justified-by-faith shall live,” which have been suggested by the Pauline quotations Romans 1:17, Galatians 3:11. If the adjective could be taken in this close collocation with the substantive, “he that is consistent in-his-confidence shall live” would be the only possible rendering. Thus whatever force we assign to St. Paul’s citation, here, at least, the words have no doctrinal significance. Their ethical importance is, however, undeniable. (See Introduction 4)

Furthermore ... .—A better translation is: Add, too, that wine is treacherous (and that) he is a braggart and cannot be quiet, whose appetite is large as (that of) Hades. The rest of the verse illustrates this last-named characteristic—restless, rapacious ambition.

Two more charges are thus added to the core accusation of Habakkuk 2:4. Not only are the Chaldeans arrogant, but drunkards, and insatiably covetous.

The former charge, drunkenness, is expressed in a kind of proverb: “(It is a known fact that) wine is treacherous.” Perhaps the aphorisms of Proverbs 20:1 are in Habakkuk’s mind: Wine is a mocker, strong drink is noisy. The charge of drunkenness is further illustrated in Rawlinson, Ancient Monarchies, vol. 2, 504-507.

The other charge, that of rapacity, also recalls the Book of Proverbs, where the insatiable appetite of death and Hades is twice described (Proverbs 30:16).