Their horses are swifter than leopards, more fierce than the evening wolves; their horsemen press proudly on. Their horsemen come from afar; they fly like an eagle swift to devour.
Habakkuk had complained to God about the violence in Judah, and God answered by raising up an invading army. Verse 8 zooms in on that army and forces a hard question: why send a nation worse than the one He was correcting?
Speed That Leaves No Escape
Three animals carry the whole picture. The leopard gives speed, the wolf gives hunger, the eagle gives the strike from above. One writer sets them beside the Assyrians and pictures how they closed in on their prey.
H. L. RossierThe Assyrian and the Chaldean had traits in common. But the Assyrian did not conquer and kill in such an organised way. The Chaldeans were as fast and as nimble as a pack of hungry wolves rushing on without a sound. With gleaming eyes glowing in the dark, they were sure to reach their prey. Just at the right moment the horsemen came storming on, swift as eagles.
Why Animals And Not Soldiers
The verse never describes this army in military terms. Every comparison comes from the animal world instead. One writer reads that choice as a verdict on the men themselves.
Hamilton SmithThey spread terror and dread by their acts of horror. In these they were a law to themselves, and they had 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 on the nations.
The Army God Raised Up
The horses and the riders are theirs. The campaign is God's. The conquerors themselves never saw it.
Hamilton SmithThe Babylonians never thought that God had raised them to the height of power simply to be a tool in His hand. He used them to discipline His people and 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 ruthless tyrants have been allowed for a time to attack the nations around them.
Violence Answered With Violence
Habakkuk's complaint had been about violence among God's own people. God's answer takes the shape of that same sin.
H. L. RossierThe prophet was terrified about the state of the people, and he cried out to the Lord: "Violence!" God showed him that this violence would meet its just repayment in the violent behaviour of Babel. History repeats itself, people say with resignation. True — but only because the traits of sinful man repeat themselves, challenging God's holiness and daring Him.
The Instrument Is Not Spared
If the story stopped here, cruelty would look like the winner. It does not stop here. One writer points to Assyria as the pattern.
J. N. DarbyGod uses the pride and sin of the wicked to discipline His people. Afterwards He destroys the instrument. The Assyrian was God's rod to strike Israel. But he boasted against God, and God broke the rod.
The tool breaks when it starts taking the credit for the work.
Hamilton SmithThey completely failed to see that they were only tools in God's hand. Puffed up by their own successes, they would reject the true God. They would set up a god of their own making, and worship their own power.
The Wolf's Last Chapter
Scripture uses the wolf beyond this verse. The last use turns the picture around.
Morrish Bible DictionaryScripture describes this well-known animal as "ravening," and it seeks its prey in the evening. Wolves do great damage among sheep, harrying them and killing more than they can eat. That makes the wolf a fitting picture of the wicked, who attack the sheep and lambs of God's flock, and even creep in among them. One sign of how great the change will be in the millennium is that the wolf and the lamb will live together.
Summary
- Raised — the fastest army of the age moved at God's word, not its own. He raised the Chaldeans up to discipline His people and hold back the evils of the nations.
- Ravenous — leopard, evening wolf and eagle picture men who had sunk below the level of natural men.
- Returned — the violence Habakkuk complained about came back on his people through the violence of Babylon.
- Rod — God uses the pride and sin of the wicked to discipline His people, then destroys the instrument.
- Reversed — the wolf that destroys more than it can eat ends its story lying down with the lamb.