Loading...
Their horses also are swifter than the leopards - The Chaldean cavalry are proverbial for swiftness, courage, etc. In Jeremiah, Jeremiah 4:13, it is said, speaking of Nebuchadnezzar, "His chariots are as a whirlwind; his horses are swifter than eagles."
Oppian, speaking of the horses bred about the Euphrates, says, "They are by nature warhorses, and so intrepid that neither the sight nor the roaring of the lion appals them; and, besides, they are astonishingly fleet." The leopard, of all quadrupeds, is allowed to be the swiftest.
The evening wolves - The wolf is remarkable for his quick sight. Aelian says, Οξυωτεστατον εστι ζωον, και μεντοι, και νυκτος και σεληνης ουκ ουσης ὁδε ὁρᾳ ; "The wolf is a very fleet animal; and, besides, it can see by night, even when there is no moonlight." Some think the hyena is meant: it is a swift, cruel, and untameable animal. The other prophets speak of the Chaldeans in the same way. See Deuteronomy 28:49; Jeremiah 48:40; Jeremiah 49:22; Ezekiel 17:5; Lamentations 4:19.
Their horses are swifter - literally, lighter, as we say “light of foot”
Than leopards - The wild beast intended is the panther, the lightest, swiftest, fiercest, most bloodthirsty of beasts of prey “It runs most swiftly and rushes brave and straight. You would say, when you saw it, that it is borne through the air.” Cyril: “It bounds exceedingly and is exceedingly light to spring down on whatever it pursues.”
More fierce - o
Than the evening wolves - Compare Jeremiah 5:6, i. e., than they are when fiercest, going forth to prey when urged to rabidness by hunger the whole day through. Such had their own judges been Zephaniah 3:3, and by such should they be punished. The horse partakes of the fierceness of his rider in trampling down the foe.
Their horsemen shall spread themselves - literally, widespread are their horsemen
And their horsemen from far shall come - Neither distance of march shall weary them, nor diffusion weaken them. So should Moses‘ prophecy be again fulfilled (Deuteronomy 28:49-50, מרחוק occurs in both.) “The Lord shall raise against thee a nation from far, from the ends of the earth, as the eagle flieth; a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand; a nation of fierce countenance, which shall not regard the person of the old, nor show favor to the young.”
They shall fly as the eagle that hasteth - literally, hasting
To eat - Jerome: “not to fight, for none shall withstand; but with a course like the eagle‘s, to whom all fowl are subdued, hasting but to eat.” Behold, Jeremiah says of Nebuchadnezzar Jeremiah 48:40, he shall fly as an eagle and spread his wings over Moab; and, he repeats the words Jeremiah 49:22, over Bozrah. Our pursuers, Jeremiah says Lamentations 4:19, are swifter than the eagles of the heavens. Ezekiel likens him to Ezekiel 17:3 “a great eagle with great wings full of feathers;” in Daniel‘s vision he is Daniel 7:4 “a lion with eagle‘s wings.”
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
Read in context »