He brings all of them up with a hook; he drags them out with his net; he gathers them in his dragnet; so he rejoices and is glad.
God has just told Habakkuk that He will raise up the Chaldeans — the power of Babylon — to punish His own people. Now the prophet watches them haul whole nations in like fish, and asks how a holy God can let the fisherman enjoy his catch.
Fishing Tackle Turned On Human Beings
Hook, net and dragnet were the working tools of a real trade. Here the prophet turns them on people.
Morrish Bible DictionaryFishing was very common in Egypt. People used the net, and also the line and hook (Isaiah 19:8). The Israelites used the same tools. Nets are often mentioned, and the fish with the coin in its mouth was caught with a hook (Matthew 17:27). In Habakkuk 1:15 these same things stand as a picture of catching men for captivity. The Lord made His apostles fishers of men.
So the same picture runs both ways: men dragged off into captivity here, and men caught by the Lord's apostles.
Caught, And Then Consumed
A fish is caught to be eaten. The conqueror had the same use for people.
Hamilton SmithThis wicked nation treated men as if they were only fish in the sea, or crawling creatures with no ruler to guide or protect them. They took hold of the weak and the helpless, and used them to give themselves a good portion and plenty.
Why There Was No One To Protect Them
Fish have no ruler. Neither did these nations, and one writer traces that back to God's right over the governments He gives out.
H. L. RossierGod entrusts a government to men. He also has the right to take it all back, and to hand them over as prey to the men He gives the power to. This is what would soon happen to the nations Babylon conquered. The same fate would fall on Israel, which once stood as one whole under God's government. It had deserted the Lord, and it would end up with no king, no prince and no help against the enemy.
The Fisherman's Delight
The verse does not end with the catch. It ends with the fisherman's mood as he looks at his haul.
Arno Clemens GaebeleinThe Chaldean took men as if they were fish. A fisherman puts out his net and his dragnet; in the same way they catch men with net and dragnet. He gathers in the people with their wealth, and he rejoices and is glad.
God's Own Word Turned Into A Plea
God had already warned the prophet about this conqueror. He would go too far and credit his power to his own god. Habakkuk picks that warning up and hands it back to God as an argument.
William KellyThe LORD had told the prophet that they would offend by crediting this very power to their god. So the prophet says back to the LORD that they sacrifice to their net and burn incense to their dragnet, because through them their portion is rich and their food plentiful. Notice how he takes the little word the LORD had given him as a foundation, and uses it to plead reasons why He should not spare these merciless enemies of Himself and of His people. Nothing could be more beautiful. An eye fixed on one thing — an eye that knows the love God has for His own people, and above all for Christ Himself — takes hold of the truth that fits, and uses it for the good of the needy who cling to His name.
The Same Net In Modern Hands
The net was only a tool, lent to a man for a purpose. Then he began to worship the tool, and one writer calls that the worst sin of all.
Hamilton SmithTheir crowning sin is that they make a god of the power by which they have won their successes, and so set aside the true God.
The prophet saw this in his own day. Another writer turns it into a question for ours.
H. L. RossierHe saw that the enemy took the power entrusted to him and made an idol of his "net" and his "drag." We may well ask ourselves whether things are any different today, even if they now take another form.
Summary
- Hook — ordinary fishing gear becomes a picture of people hauled off into captivity.
- Catch — the conqueror treats his captives as creatures with no ruler to guide or protect them, and seizes them while they are weak.
- Cause — when God takes back the government He once entrusted to men, a people ends up with no king, no prince and no help against the enemy.
- Gladness — the conqueror gathers in both the people and their wealth, and his response to it is joy.
- Prayer — Habakkuk takes the very word God gave him and pleads with it for the needy who cling to God's name. Writers put the same question to us: has our own "net" become an idol?