For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, who march through the breadth of the earth, to seize dwellings not their own.
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.
The invader is God's own doing
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:
William KellyThe 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.
Chosen as a tool, not commended as a people
God can use a nation without approving it. Nothing good in these people drew Him to them:
H. L. RossierThe 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.
What "bitter and hasty" looked like on the ground
Seizing homes that belong to others marks a people who accept no rule but their own appetite:
Hamilton SmithThis 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.
The problem this created for the prophet
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:
J. N. DarbyHabakkuk 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.
More than an invasion: a change of hands
With this announcement, rule itself passes out of Jewish hands into Gentile ones:
H. L. RossierAt 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.
A pattern that outlives Babylon
The Chaldean invasion was not the last word. Commentators read it as a preview:
H. L. RossierHere, as in the explanation of every prophecy, it is important to see that the near judgment by the Chaldeans foreshadowed a future judgment.
Summary
- 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.