For behold, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and impetuous nation, which marcheth through the breadth of the earth, to possess dwelling-places that are not theirs.
Habakkuk had just complained to God about the wrongdoing among His own people. God's answer names the instrument He is about to use: the Chaldeans, the rising power of Babylon. The shock is not that judgment is coming. It is who will carry it — a foreign power more brutal than the people it will punish.
God claims the action as His. The Chaldeans do not rise on their own; He raises them. One writer traces what God was breaking down, and how far He would let the invaders go:
The prophet hears from the LORD that He was going to raise up the Chaldeans. Everyone knew this was the judgment then close at hand. But it is far from all that awaits the Jew in this way… They were plunderers whom God used in His providence to break down Judah's turning away from Him, and also to chastise the pride of other nations… God allowed the Chaldean scourge to prevail for a certain time. But they forgot that He was using them to deal with those who had offended His name and glory. They credited their power to their own god instead of to God's sovereign will. Then the true God would take them in hand.
God can use a nation without approving it. Nothing good in these people drew Him to them:
The Lord took care that the prophet would learn another lesson. When He raised up the Chaldeans it was not because He had discovered any spiritual or moral good in them. Rather the contrary; they were a cruel nation. How could God ever appreciate this? They were hasty, striking first in attack. They advanced over the breadth of the earth and conquered the countries of the world. They took possession of inhabited regions that were not theirs.
Seizing homes that belong to others marks a people who accept no rule but their own appetite:
This nation of the Chaldeans is described as a bitter and hasty nation, marked by cruelty and violence. With aggressive energy they marched through the earth to seize dwellings not their own. Their acts of terror spread fear and dread. In them they were a law to themselves, with no respect for the customs of the nations. They had sunk below the level of natural men. So wild and fierce animals picture the inhuman cruelty with which they would prey upon the nations.
If God will not tolerate sin in His own people, how can He hand them over to a nation whose sin is worse? One writer sums up the book's answer:
Habakkuk complains of the sin of God's people. He then develops the chastening that will fall on them. Those still more wicked than they will carry it out — the Chaldeans. Because they give free rein to their violence, they become in their turn objects of the judgment of the LORD. But God will show His glory and His righteousness in both the one and the other, pictures of the Jewish people and of the world.
With this announcement, rule itself passes out of Jewish hands into Gentile ones:
At that moment the Assyrian power had not yet fallen. The Lord would, however, raise up the Chaldean. He would put the other nations under this power, and His own people first of all… There was a still more terrible judgment. The Lord would take the kingdom from Israel and give it to Babylon, to "the golden head" of the Gentile empire.
The Chaldean invasion was not the last word. Commentators read it as a preview:
Here, as in the explanation of every prophecy, it is important to see that the near judgment by the Chaldeans foreshadowed a future judgment.
- Raised, not risen. God says, "I am raising up" — the invading army is His act, not an accident of history that caught Him off guard.
- Raised without merit. The nation He raises is cruel and grasping. Usefulness to God is never a certificate of goodness.
- Raised against His own. The rod falls first on His people for their turning away, and then on the pride of the surrounding nations.
- Raised, then judged. The Chaldeans give free rein to their violence, so they too fall under judgment. God shows His righteousness in both.
- Raised, and rule changes hands. God takes the kingdom from Israel and gives it to Babylon, the golden head. That near judgment pictures a greater one still ahead.
They are terrible and dreadful their judgment and their dignity proceed from themselves.
Habakkuk cried out to God about the injustice in Judah. God answers by naming the nation He will use: a people who accept no standard but their own will. Two hard questions follow. Why would God hand His people over to such a power? And what happens to a nation that makes itself the source of its own rights?
The Chaldeans, also called the Babylonians, never guessed what their rise was for. One writer explains who was really at work:
So, in his day, God tells the prophet that He has raised up the Babylonians to carry out His work of government. The Babylonians never imagined that God had lifted them to the height of power only to be a tool in His hand — a tool to discipline His people and to hold back the evils of the nations. Yet that is how it was in the prophet's day. And so it has been again and again in world history, when cruel tyrants have been allowed for a time to attack the nations around them.
This is the heart of the verse. The Chaldean made his own rules and set his own worth. The quote below uses an older translation of the verse, where the ESV reads "their justice and dignity go forth from themselves":
"Their judgment and their dignity proceed from themselves." His own will decided what the Chaldean called his right. It was the same with his dignity. He paid no attention to anyone else's dignity. He felt that his own dignity raised him above everyone else. High-handedness and endless pride drove him. Don't we know cases like this in our own day? The believer might want God to put this pride down. But God says to him: Don't you see that these judgments come from Me? They begin with the nations around you, but they are meant for you.
What did that dread look like in practice? One writer describes their way of war:
The Chaldeans are described as a bitter and hasty nation, marked by cruelty and violence. They marched across the earth with fierce energy to take homes that were not theirs. They spread terror and dread by their acts of horror. In these acts they were a law to themselves, with no respect for the customs of other nations. They had sunk below the level of natural men. So wild, savage animals become the picture of the inhuman cruelty with which they would prey on the nations.
Habakkuk protested that the tool was worse than the people it would punish. One writer answers by pointing to the limits God set:
God had taken the Assyrians up as the rod of His anger, to discipline many a nation that was far from Him — and Israel among them. Later God used the Chaldeans in the same way. This is what troubled Habakkuk. He protested that, bad as Israel might be, the Chaldeans, whom God was about to use to discipline them, were worse. We see here what we also see in Habakkuk: God may use an evil nation to discipline His faithless people, but only under His strict supervision and control.
Another writer adds that God did not choose them for any good He saw in them. The opposite was true: they were a cruel nation (H. L. Rossier).
A people who take their glory from themselves end up with a god of their own making:
He would raise up the Chaldeans against His people. They were the very picture of pride and energy. They succeeded in everything they undertook, and they sought glory only in the opinion they had of themselves. Their leader would turn away from the true God who had given them their strength, and would worship a god of his own.
The story does not end there. The God who lifts up one offender to punish others also brings him down when he claims honours that belong to God. Babylon's fall proved it (Arno Clemens Gaebelein).
- Raised — The Chaldeans rose because God raised them. They were a tool in His hand, and they never guessed it.
- Self-ruled — Their own will decided what was right. Their own pride set them above everyone else.
- Feared — Being a law to themselves, they respected no custom of the nations and ruled by terror.
- Limited — God may use an evil nation to discipline His failing people, but only under His strict control.
- Judged — Glory taken from self ends in worshipping self. God puts down the very power He raised up to punish others.