Then they sweep by like the wind and go on, guilty men, whose own might is their god!”
Habakkuk had asked God why violence in Judah went unanswered. God answered that He was raising up the Chaldeans — the army of Babylon — as the tool in His hand. Verse 11 marks the turn in that answer. The tool stops seeing itself as a tool. The conqueror becomes a guilty man whose god is his own strength.
The Chaldean was God's hired rod
The armies described in the verses before this one are not simply history running its course. They are a chosen tool, given a limited season.
William KellyThey were destroyers whom God used in His providence to break down Judah's turning away from Him, and also to punish the pride of other nations… So the Chaldeans would be allowed to prevail as God's whip for a set time.
The change of mind
The verse turns on something that happens inside the conqueror. Older translations read the opening line, "Then shall his mind change, and he shall pass over, and offend" — and that is the wording these writers work from. One writer gives the sense of the words: the man's spirit swells up, overflows, and ends in guilt.
J. N. Darby"Then his mind" (his spirit) "sprang up" (broke out, or took the lead) "and overflowed, and he was guilty" (he transgressed)… "this his power is his god" — he transgresses, calling his power his god. His power stands as a god to him. It is the character of the proud man.
The man had already been cruel and proud for years. What is new here is the object of his worship.
H. L. RossierA moment came when the head of the Chaldean nation changed his mind. The Lord held him responsible for the task God had entrusted to him. Instead of seeing himself as an instrument, he went beyond what he was charged with, and sinned by doing so. He had already sinned a thousand times over by his cruelties, pride, and idolatry. But the time came when his own strength took the place of God. The power that God had laid into his hands became his god. He worshipped that power: his power. He trusted in it, he honoured it.
Forgetting where the power came from
One writer gives the sin its name: impiety. It does more than ignore the conscience. It denies God His rights.
J. N. DarbyImpiety not only refuses to respect the conscience, but, what is worse, it denies the rights of God… His thought is of the power he holds. May we remember that God is the one who gave it, and who overrules it! (Compare Hab. 1:11, 15-17.) Impiety forgets the source of power, and claims every right for itself, even against God Himself.
The boast that proved it
The king who carried out this prophecy said it out loud. Then he had to learn who had raised him up.
Hamilton SmithThey failed completely to see that they were only instruments in the hand of God. Puffed up by their own successes, they would reject the true God, set up a god of their own making, and worship their own power. So we know it came to pass, when Nebuchadnezzar said, "Is not this great Babylon, which I have built by my mighty power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty?" He had to learn what every other tyrant in history has had to learn. The God who had raised him up to deal with offenders will also put him down when he offends against the true God by claiming divine honours for himself.
(Nebuchadnezzar says these words in Daniel 4:30.)
The judge becomes the judged
The verse calls these men guilty. So the tool in God's hand does not escape.
Arno Clemens GaebeleinAs he wins, the Chaldean becomes proud. He forgets that God used him only as an instrument to deal with those who had done evil… His own might is his god. Then comes the day when the Lord takes the Chaldean in hand for judgment, and deals with him as He dealt with other nations.
Where this road ends
One writer traces this worship of power forward, to what the world will worship at the end.
H. L. RossierThe head of the Chaldean empire was not alone in this… In the last days of mankind there will be far less talk of open idolatry than of the worship of man, whom the world will make its idol. The idolaters of long ago worshipped an unknown god for his power, goodness, and righteousness… The one worshipped in the future will be man.
Summary
- Loaned. The Chaldean's strength was not his own. God used him to break down Judah's turning away and to punish the pride of other nations.
- Forgotten. He stops seeing himself as an instrument. Impiety is forgetting the source of power.
- Deified. What God had laid in his hands took God's place: he worshipped, trusted, and honoured his own power.
- Boasted. Nebuchadnezzar said it out loud: "Is not this great Babylon, which I have built…"
- Judged. The God who raises a man up to deal with offenders also puts him down when he claims divine honours for himself.