John Calvin Commentary Habakkuk 1:7

"They are terrible and dreadful; their judgment and their dignity proceed from themselves." — Habakkuk 1:7 (ASV)

By saying that the Chaldeans would be terrible and dreadful, he does not praise their virtues. Instead, as I have already reminded you, he shows that they would be prepared to do His service by executing His vengeance; and He so regulated His judgment that He used their cruelty for a good purpose.

Thus we see that the worst of men are in God's hand, just as Satan is, who is their head. Yet God is not implicated in their wickedness, as some irrational people maintain, for they say that if God governs the world by His providence, He thereby becomes the author of sin, and men's sins are to be ascribed to Him.

But Scripture teaches us far otherwise: that the wicked are led here and there by the hidden power of God, and yet the fault is in them when they act in a deceitful and cruel manner, and that God always remains just, whatever use He may make of instruments, indeed, even the very worst.

But when the Prophet adds that its judgment would be from the nation itself, he means that the Chaldeans would act according to their own will. When anyone indeed obeys laws and willingly submits to them, he will freely allow either judges or umpires in case of a dispute. But he who insists that all things be done according to his own purpose rejects all judges.

The Prophet therefore means that the Chaldeans would be their own judges, so that the Jews or others would complain in vain about any wrongs done to them. “They shall be,” he says, “their own judges and shall execute judgment, for they will not accept any arbitrators.” The word judgment, taken in a good sense, is used here for law (jus); as if he said, “Whatever the Chaldeans will claim for themselves, it shall be theirs, for no one will dare to interfere, and they will not submit to the will of others; but their power shall be law, and their sword a tribunal.”

We now understand the Prophet’s meaning. We must always bear in mind what I have already said: that God had no participation in these vices, but it was necessary that the stubbornness of an irreclaimable people should be corrected in this way, or at least broken down. The Lord, in the meantime, could use such instruments in such a way as to preserve some moderation in His judgments.