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Then shall his mind change - This is thought to relate to the change which took place in Nebuchadnezzar, when "a beast's heart was given to him," and he was "driven from the dwellings of men." And this was because of his offending - his pride and arrogance; and his attributing all his success, etc., to his idols.
Then shall his mind 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 ship or eagle, Isaiah 2:18, of rain past and gone, Isaiah 24:5. It is always intransitive, except as piercing the temples of man Judges 5:26, or himself Job 20:24.
A wind - רוח rûach metaphor for simile, as Psalm 11:1; Psalm 22:14; (13English) Psalm 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,” Psalm 37:6; Job 34:29; Nahum 1:12)
And is guilty; this his strength 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, riseth up over all its banks, and overwhelms all where it passes; as a wind which sweepeth Isaiah 21:1 over the desert: and passes over all bounds and laws, human and divine, and is guilty and stands guilty before God, making himself as God.
This his power is his god - God had said to Israel Exodus 6:7, “I will be to thee God.” The Chaldaean virtually said, “this my strength is to me my god.” This Nebuchadnezzars own words speak 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?” And 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,” and the prince of Tyre said Ezekiel 28:2, “I am a god, and antichrist shall “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, and its wisdom were the source of its power (See Ezekiel 28:2-5), and its will the measure of its greatness. The words, with a divine fullness, express severally, that the king Shall sweep along, shall pass over all bounds and all hindrances, and shall pass away, shall be guilty and shall 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.”
These anxious questionings were voiced by the prophet Habakkuk. Viewing the situation of the faithful in his day, he expressed the burden of his heart in the inquiry: “O Lord, how long shall I cry, and Thou wilt not hear! even cry out unto Thee of violence, and Thou wilt not save! Why dost Thou show me iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance? for spoiling and violence are before me: and there are that raise up strife and contention. Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth: for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceedeth.” Habakkuk 1:2-4. PK 385.1
God answered the cry of His loyal children. Through His chosen mouthpiece He revealed His determination to bring chastisement upon the nation that had turned from Him to serve the gods of the heathen. Within the lifetime of some who were even then making inquiry regarding the future, He would miraculously shape the affairs of the ruling nations of earth and bring the Babylonians into the ascendancy. These Chaldeans, “terrible and dreadful,” were to fall suddenly upon the land of Judah as a divinely appointed scourge. Verse 7. The princes of Judah and the fairest of the people were to be carried captive to Babylon; the Judean cities and villages and the cultivated fields were to be laid waste; nothing was to be spared. PK 385.2
Confident that even in this terrible judgment the purpose of God for His people would in some way be fulfilled, Habakkuk bowed in submission to the revealed will of Jehovah. “Art Thou not from everlasting, O Lord my God, mine Holy One?” he exclaimed. And then, his faith reaching out beyond the forbidding prospect of the immediate future, and laying fast hold on the precious promises that reveal God's love for His trusting children, the prophet added, “We shall not die.” Verse 12. With this declaration of faith he rested his case, and that of every believing Israelite, in the hands of a compassionate God. PK 386.1
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