Habakkuk 1:13
Verse
Context
Habakkuk’s Second Complaint
12Are You not from everlasting, O LORD, my God, my Holy One? We will not die. O LORD, You have appointed them to execute judgment; O Rock, You have established them for correction. 13Your eyes are too pure to look upon evil, and You cannot tolerate wrongdoing. So why do You tolerate the faithless? Why are You silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves? 14You have made men like the fish of the sea, like creeping things that have no ruler.
Sermons
David Pawson
Andrew Strom
Chuck Smith
Zac Poonen
Rolfe Barnard
John Piper
Denis LyleSummary
Commentary
- Adam Clarke
- Keil-Delitzsch
- Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
- John Gill
Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
Thou art of purer eyes - Seeing thou art so pure, and canst not look on iniquity - it is so abominable - how canst thou bear with them who "deal treacherously, and hold thy tongue when the wicked devour the righteous?" All such questions are easily solved by a consideration of God's ineffable mercy, which leads him to suffer long and be kind. He has no pleasure in the death of a sinner.
Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch Old Testament Commentary
The believing confidence expressed in this verse does not appear to be borne out by what is actually done by God. The prophet proceeds to lay this enigma before God in Hab 1:13-17, and to pray for his people to be spared during the period of the Chaldaean affliction. Hab 1:13. "Art Thou too pure of eye to behold evil, and canst Thou not look upon distress? Wherefore lookest Thou upon the treacherous? and art silent when the wicked devours one more righteous than he? Hab 1:14. And Thou hast made men like fishes of the sea, like reptiles that have no ruler. Hab 1:15. All of them hath he lifted up with the hook; he draws them into his net, and gathers them in his fishing net; he rejoices thereat, and is glad. Hab 1:16. Therefore he sacrifices to his net, and burns incense to his landing net; for through them is his portion rich, and his food fat. Hab 1:17. Shall he therefore empty his net, and always strangle nations without sparing?" In Hab 1:13, טהור עינים, with the two clauses dependent upon it, stands as a vocative, and טהור followed by מן as a comparative: purer of eyes than to be able to see. This epithet is applied to God as the pure One, whose eyes cannot bear what is morally unclean, i.e., cannot look upon evil. The purity of God is not measured here by His seeing evil, but is described as exalted above it, and not coming at all into comparison with it. On the relation in which these words stand to Num 23:21, see the remarks on Hab 1:3. In the second clause the infinitive construction passes over into the finite verb, as is frequently the case; so that אשׁר must be supplied in thought: who canst not look upon, i.e., canst not tolerate, the distress which the wicked man prepares for others. Wherefore then lookest Thou upon treacherous ones, namely, the Chaldaeans? They are called בּוגדים, from their faithlessly deceptive and unscrupulously rapacious conduct, as in Isa 21:2; Isa 24:16. That the seeing is a quiet observance, without interposing to punish, is evident from the parallel תּחרישׁ: Thou art silent at the swallowing of the צדיק ממּנּוּ. The more righteous than he (the ungodly one) is not the nation of Israel as such, which, if not perfectly righteous, was relatively more righteous than the Chaldaeans. This rabbinical view is proved to be erroneous, by the fact that in Hab 1:2 and Hab 1:3 the prophet describes the moral depravity of Israel in the same words as those which he here applies to the conduct of the Chaldaeans. The persons intended are rather the godly portion of Israel, who have to share in the expiation of the sins of the ungodly, and suffer when they are punished (Delitzsch). This fact, that the righteous is swallowed along with the unrighteous, appears irreconcilable with the holiness of God, and suggests the inquiry, how God can possibly let this be done. This strange fact is depicted still further in Hab 1:14-16 in figures taken from the life of a fisherman. The men are like fishes, whom the Chaldaean collects together in his net, and then pays divine honour to his net, by which he has been so enriched. ותּעשׂה is not dependent upon למּה, but continues the address in a simple picture, in which the imperfect with Vav convers. represents the act as the natural consequence of the silence of God: "and so Thou makest the men like fishes," etc. The point of comparison lies in the relative clause לא־משׁל בּו, "which has no ruler," which is indeed formally attached to כּרמשׂ alone, but in actual fact belongs to דּגי היּם also. "No ruler," to take the defenceless under his protection, and shelter and defend them against enemies. Then will Judah be taken prisoner and swallowed up by the Chaldaeans. God has given it helplessly up to the power of its foes, and has obviously ceased to be its king. Compare the similar lamentation in Isa 63:19 : "are even like those over whom Thou hast never ruled." רמשׂ, the creeping thing, the smaller animals which exist in great multitudes, and move with great swiftness, refers here to the smaller water animals, to which the word remes is also applied in Psa 104:25, and the verb râmas in Gen 1:21 and Lev 11:46. כּלּה, pointing back to the collective 'âdâm, is the object, and is written first for the sake of emphasis. The form העלה, instead of העלה, is analogous to the hophal העלה in Nah 2:8 and Jdg 6:28, and also to העברתּ in Jos 7:7 : to take up out of the water (see Ges. 63, Anm. 4). יגרהוּ from גרר, to pull, to draw together. Chakkâh is the hook, cherem the net generally, mikhmereth the large fishing-net (σαγήνη), the lower part of which, when sunk, touches the bottom, whilst the upper part floats on the top of the water. These figures are not to be interpreted with such specialty as that the net and fishing net answer to the sword and bow; but the hook, the net, and the fishing net, as the things used for catching fish, refer to all the means which the Chaldaeans employ in order to subdue and destroy the nations. Luther interprets it correctly. "These hooks, nets, and fishing nets," he says, "are nothing more than his great and powerful armies, by which he gained dominion over all lands and people, and brought home to Babylon the goods, jewels, silver, and gold, interest and rent of all the world." He rejoices over the success of his enterprises, over this capture of men, and sacrifices and burns incense to his net, i.e., he attributes to the means which he has employed the honour due to God. There is no allusion in these words to the custom of the Scythians and Sauromatians, who are said by Herodotus (iv. 59, 60) to have offered sacrifices every year to a sabre, which was set up as a symbol of Mars. What the Chaldaean made into his god, is expressed in Hab 1:11, namely, his own power. "He who boasts of a thing, and is glad and joyous on account of it, but does not thank the true God, makes himself into an idol, gives himself the glory, and does not rejoice in God, but in his own strength and work" (Luther). The Chaldaean sacrifices to his net, for thereby (בּהמּה, by net and yarn) his portion (chelqō) is fat, i.e., the portion of this booty which falls to him, and fat is his food ( בּראה is a neuter substantive). The meaning is, that he thereby attains to wealth and prosperity. In Hab 1:17 there is appended to this the question embracing the thought: Shall he therefore, because he rejoices over his rich booty, or offers sacrifice to his net, empty his net, sc. to throw it in afresh, and proceed continually to destroy nations in so unsparing a manner? In the last clause the figure passes over into a literal address. The place of the imperfect is now taken by a periphrastic construction with the infinitive: Shall he constantly be about to slay? On this construction, see Ges. 132, 3, Anm. 1, and Ewald, 237, c. לא יחמול is a subordinate clause appended in an adverbial sense: unsparingly, without sparing.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
purer . . . than to behold evil--without being displeased at it. canst not look on iniquity--unjust injuries done to Thy people. The prophet checks himself from being carried too far in his expostulatory complaint, by putting before himself honorable sentiments of God. them that deal treacherously--the Chaldeans, once allies of the Jews, but now their violent oppressors. Compare "treacherous dealers," (Isa 21:2; Isa 24:16). Instead of speaking evil against God, he goes to God Himself for the remedy for his perplexity (Psa 73:11-17). devoureth the man that is more righteous--The Chaldean oppresses the Jew, who with all his faults, is better than his oppressor (compare Eze 16:51-52).
John Gill Bible Commentary
Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look upon iniquity,.... The Lord with his eyes of omniscience beholds all things good and evil, and all men good and bad, with all their actions; but then he does not look upon the sins of men with pleasure and approbation; since they are contrary to his nature, repugnant to his will, and breaches of his righteous law: and though sin in general may be included here, yet there seems to be a particular respect had to the "evil" or injury done by the Chaldeans to the Jews, in invading their land, spoiling their substance, and slaying their persons; and to the "iniquity", labour, or grievance, by which may be meant the oppression and violence the same people exercised upon the inhabitants of Judea; which, though permitted by the Lord, could not be well pleasing in his sight. The Targum interprets it of persons, workers of evil, and workers of the labour of falsehood; see Psa 5:4, wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously; the Chaldeans, who dealt treacherously with God, by worshipping idols; and with the Jews, pretending to be their good friends and allies, when they meditated their ruin and destruction; and yet the Lord in his providence seemed to look favourably on these perfidious persons, since they succeeded in all their enterprises: this was stumbling to the prophet, and all good men; and they knew not how, or at least found great difficulty, to reconcile this to the purity and holiness of God, and to his justice and faithfulness; see Jer 12:1, and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he? the comparison does not lie so much personally between Nebuchadnezzar and Zedekiah the last king of the Jews, whose eyes the king of Babylon put out, and whom he used in a cruel manner; who was, no doubt, comparatively speaking, a more righteous person than the Chaldean monarch was; being not the worst of the kings of Judea, and whose name has the signification of righteousness in it: but rather between the Chaldeans and the Jews; who, though there were many wicked persons among them, yet there were some truly righteous, who fell in the common calamity; and, as to the bulk of them, were a more righteous people, at the worst, than their enemies were, who devoured them, destroyed many with the sword, plundered them of their substance, and carried them captive; and the Lord was silent all this while, said nothing in his providence against them, put no stop to their proceedings; and by his silence seemed to approve of, at least to connive at, what they did; and this the prophet in the name of good men reasons with the Lord about.
Habakkuk 1:13
Habakkuk’s Second Complaint
12Are You not from everlasting, O LORD, my God, my Holy One? We will not die. O LORD, You have appointed them to execute judgment; O Rock, You have established them for correction. 13Your eyes are too pure to look upon evil, and You cannot tolerate wrongdoing. So why do You tolerate the faithless? Why are You silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves? 14You have made men like the fish of the sea, like creeping things that have no ruler.
- Scripture
- Sermons
- Commentary
Habakkuk
By David Pawson5.7K50:22PropheticHAB 1:13HAB 2:4HAB 2:14MAT 6:33In this sermon, the speaker encourages the audience to broaden their perspective beyond their own country and see what God is doing globally. He shares a personal testimony of taking church members to Israel and how it opened their eyes to a bigger view of God's work. The speaker also discusses the story of Habakkuk, who complained to God about injustice and violence but persisted in prayer. The sermon emphasizes the importance of understanding the context of biblical texts and encourages the audience to delve into the book of Habakkuk for a deeper understanding of its message.
Pray Along With Agonizing Prayer
By Andrew Strom3.8K43:16Agonizing PrayerPSA 80:18HAB 1:13MAT 24:10REV 1:16REV 2:4In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the need for revival and urges the audience to pray for it. They express concern that if people simply go back to their normal lives after a powerful experience, the current generation will be lost. The speaker calls for fervent and agonizing prayer, both individually and in small groups, as they believe that this kind of prayer cannot be regained once lost. They also pray for America's awakening, for preachers who preach righteousness, and for the raising up of intercessors. The sermon references biblical passages that warn of false prophets, increasing wickedness, and the need for standing firm in faith. The speaker concludes by urging people to live holy lives as a form of worship and to preach repentance to their families.
(Through the Bible) Habakkuk
By Chuck Smith2.2K1:23:40JER 29:11HAB 1:13HAB 2:3HAB 3:192CO 6:142PE 3:3In this sermon, the speaker expresses sadness over the careless behavior of people who litter and leave debris on the ground. He reflects on the corruption that man has brought upon the earth and longs for the day when the whole earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord. The sermon then shifts to a discussion of God's judgment and the great desolation that will occur during the period of the great tribulation. The speaker also mentions a severe famine that will take place during this time. However, amidst all the despair, the prophet Habakkuk is reminded that God is working and will bring about His plans in His appointed time.
God Is a Holy God
By Zac Poonen2.2K51:46Holiness Of GodHAB 1:13ROM 11:22In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the importance of understanding the motives behind our actions. He highlights that even acts of fasting, prayer, and helping the poor can be seen as worthless in God's eyes if they lack genuine love. The speaker refers to 1 Corinthians 13 to illustrate this point. He also draws attention to the severity of God, citing an example from Deuteronomy where rebellious children were stoned to death. However, he balances this severity with the kindness of God, exemplified in Genesis where God promises that the seed of the woman will crush the serpent's head. The speaker encourages listeners to carefully consider both the kindness and severity of God throughout their lives.
Are You on God's Side?
By Rolfe Barnard56541:00GodDEU 32:43PSA 56:8HAB 1:13ROM 6:23HEB 10:25REV 19:1In this sermon, the preacher reflects on his forty years of preaching and the impact it has had on people's lives. He emphasizes that he cannot save anyone, but believes in the power of God to intervene in people's lives. The preacher talks about the two weapons that believers have: God collecting the tears of his people and the prayers of his people. He confidently declares that he knows how the war between good and evil will end, with Jesus Christ ultimately victorious. The preacher challenges the audience to choose which side they are on and reminds them of the importance of recognizing the need for punishment of sin and rejoicing in God's judgments.
The Holiness of God
By John Piper0HAB 1:13John Piper emphasizes the supreme importance of God's holiness, highlighting that everything begins with God and His infinite greatness. God's character is unimpeachable, with an infinite love for what is valuable and an infinite hate for what opposes it. The evil in the world is an offense against God's holiness, preparing for divine vindication. Understanding God's holiness is crucial for understanding God, man, and the world, as it sets the foundation for all other thoughts and feelings.
The Discipline of Defeat
By Denis Lyle0JOS 7:11PSA 10:6PSA 139:23JER 16:17HAB 1:13MAT 6:33ROM 14:71CO 5:11CO 12:26COL 3:5HEB 4:131JN 1:9Denis Lyle preaches on 'The Discipline of Defeat' using the story of Achan's sin in the Bible to illustrate how even the smallest sin can have significant consequences, affecting not only the individual but the entire nation. He emphasizes the causes of defeat such as self-confidence, prayerlessness, and disobedience, highlighting the importance of depending on God and maintaining a life of prayer. Lyle also discusses how sin is always exposed before God's watchful eye, and the necessity of identifying and confessing sin to experience victory and restoration.
The Presence of the Lord With His People, and Its Effect
By J.B. Stoney0JDG 16:21PSA 25:14EZK 14:4HOS 4:17HAB 1:13MAT 28:20JHN 4:391CO 1:231CO 11:19J.B. Stoney preaches about the presence of the Lord with His people, emphasizing that His presence is often revealed through the exposure of hidden sins and the purification of His church. When God is near, He exposes unconfessed iniquity and calls for repentance, both in individuals and in the assembly. The Lord's presence brings about a separation of the faithful from the lukewarm and worldly, leading to a clearer acknowledgment of His truth and the removal of hindrances to genuine revival.
The Character of God
By Timothy Dwight0GEN 39:9JOB 1:8JOB 42:1PSA 119:68PSA 139:23PSA 145:9EZK 48:35HAB 1:13ACT 14:17JAS 1:171JN 3:3Timothy Dwight preaches on the story of Job, a righteous man who faced immense suffering and accusations from his friends. Despite his trials, Job maintained his integrity and eventually humbled himself before God. The sermon emphasizes that clear and just views of God's character naturally lead to humility and repentance in individuals. It highlights the importance of realizing God's presence, sovereignty, and goodness, which should evoke abasing and penitential thoughts about ourselves, acknowledging our dependence on Him and our obligation to obey His commands.
Commentary Notes - Habakkuk
By Walter Beuttler0HAB 1:13Walter Beuttler preaches on the Book of Habakkuk, highlighting the prophet's perplexity at God's seeming failure to respond to prayer, tolerate evil, and indifference to the suffering of the righteous. Despite these challenges, God reveals that He is raising up the Chaldeans for judgment, emphasizing the importance of faith in His plan. Through prayer and recalling God's mighty acts, Habakkuk's doubts turn into a triumphant song of faith, showcasing the transformation from burdened questions to joyful confidence in God's character.
Four Things Which God Cannot Do
By Thomas Brooks0God's HolinessThe Nature of SinPSA 5:4ISA 59:2HAB 1:13ROM 3:232TI 2:13TIT 1:2HEB 6:18JAS 1:131JN 1:5REV 21:8Thomas Brooks emphasizes the immutable nature of God by outlining four things that God cannot do: He cannot lie, die, deny Himself, or look favorably upon iniquity. This sermon highlights God's infinite purity and righteousness, illustrating that His gaze upon sin is filled with hatred, anger, and vengeance. Brooks encourages believers to understand the seriousness of sin in the eyes of a holy God, reminding them of the importance of living a life that reflects God's purity.
- Adam Clarke
- Keil-Delitzsch
- Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
- John Gill
Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
Thou art of purer eyes - Seeing thou art so pure, and canst not look on iniquity - it is so abominable - how canst thou bear with them who "deal treacherously, and hold thy tongue when the wicked devour the righteous?" All such questions are easily solved by a consideration of God's ineffable mercy, which leads him to suffer long and be kind. He has no pleasure in the death of a sinner.
Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch Old Testament Commentary
The believing confidence expressed in this verse does not appear to be borne out by what is actually done by God. The prophet proceeds to lay this enigma before God in Hab 1:13-17, and to pray for his people to be spared during the period of the Chaldaean affliction. Hab 1:13. "Art Thou too pure of eye to behold evil, and canst Thou not look upon distress? Wherefore lookest Thou upon the treacherous? and art silent when the wicked devours one more righteous than he? Hab 1:14. And Thou hast made men like fishes of the sea, like reptiles that have no ruler. Hab 1:15. All of them hath he lifted up with the hook; he draws them into his net, and gathers them in his fishing net; he rejoices thereat, and is glad. Hab 1:16. Therefore he sacrifices to his net, and burns incense to his landing net; for through them is his portion rich, and his food fat. Hab 1:17. Shall he therefore empty his net, and always strangle nations without sparing?" In Hab 1:13, טהור עינים, with the two clauses dependent upon it, stands as a vocative, and טהור followed by מן as a comparative: purer of eyes than to be able to see. This epithet is applied to God as the pure One, whose eyes cannot bear what is morally unclean, i.e., cannot look upon evil. The purity of God is not measured here by His seeing evil, but is described as exalted above it, and not coming at all into comparison with it. On the relation in which these words stand to Num 23:21, see the remarks on Hab 1:3. In the second clause the infinitive construction passes over into the finite verb, as is frequently the case; so that אשׁר must be supplied in thought: who canst not look upon, i.e., canst not tolerate, the distress which the wicked man prepares for others. Wherefore then lookest Thou upon treacherous ones, namely, the Chaldaeans? They are called בּוגדים, from their faithlessly deceptive and unscrupulously rapacious conduct, as in Isa 21:2; Isa 24:16. That the seeing is a quiet observance, without interposing to punish, is evident from the parallel תּחרישׁ: Thou art silent at the swallowing of the צדיק ממּנּוּ. The more righteous than he (the ungodly one) is not the nation of Israel as such, which, if not perfectly righteous, was relatively more righteous than the Chaldaeans. This rabbinical view is proved to be erroneous, by the fact that in Hab 1:2 and Hab 1:3 the prophet describes the moral depravity of Israel in the same words as those which he here applies to the conduct of the Chaldaeans. The persons intended are rather the godly portion of Israel, who have to share in the expiation of the sins of the ungodly, and suffer when they are punished (Delitzsch). This fact, that the righteous is swallowed along with the unrighteous, appears irreconcilable with the holiness of God, and suggests the inquiry, how God can possibly let this be done. This strange fact is depicted still further in Hab 1:14-16 in figures taken from the life of a fisherman. The men are like fishes, whom the Chaldaean collects together in his net, and then pays divine honour to his net, by which he has been so enriched. ותּעשׂה is not dependent upon למּה, but continues the address in a simple picture, in which the imperfect with Vav convers. represents the act as the natural consequence of the silence of God: "and so Thou makest the men like fishes," etc. The point of comparison lies in the relative clause לא־משׁל בּו, "which has no ruler," which is indeed formally attached to כּרמשׂ alone, but in actual fact belongs to דּגי היּם also. "No ruler," to take the defenceless under his protection, and shelter and defend them against enemies. Then will Judah be taken prisoner and swallowed up by the Chaldaeans. God has given it helplessly up to the power of its foes, and has obviously ceased to be its king. Compare the similar lamentation in Isa 63:19 : "are even like those over whom Thou hast never ruled." רמשׂ, the creeping thing, the smaller animals which exist in great multitudes, and move with great swiftness, refers here to the smaller water animals, to which the word remes is also applied in Psa 104:25, and the verb râmas in Gen 1:21 and Lev 11:46. כּלּה, pointing back to the collective 'âdâm, is the object, and is written first for the sake of emphasis. The form העלה, instead of העלה, is analogous to the hophal העלה in Nah 2:8 and Jdg 6:28, and also to העברתּ in Jos 7:7 : to take up out of the water (see Ges. 63, Anm. 4). יגרהוּ from גרר, to pull, to draw together. Chakkâh is the hook, cherem the net generally, mikhmereth the large fishing-net (σαγήνη), the lower part of which, when sunk, touches the bottom, whilst the upper part floats on the top of the water. These figures are not to be interpreted with such specialty as that the net and fishing net answer to the sword and bow; but the hook, the net, and the fishing net, as the things used for catching fish, refer to all the means which the Chaldaeans employ in order to subdue and destroy the nations. Luther interprets it correctly. "These hooks, nets, and fishing nets," he says, "are nothing more than his great and powerful armies, by which he gained dominion over all lands and people, and brought home to Babylon the goods, jewels, silver, and gold, interest and rent of all the world." He rejoices over the success of his enterprises, over this capture of men, and sacrifices and burns incense to his net, i.e., he attributes to the means which he has employed the honour due to God. There is no allusion in these words to the custom of the Scythians and Sauromatians, who are said by Herodotus (iv. 59, 60) to have offered sacrifices every year to a sabre, which was set up as a symbol of Mars. What the Chaldaean made into his god, is expressed in Hab 1:11, namely, his own power. "He who boasts of a thing, and is glad and joyous on account of it, but does not thank the true God, makes himself into an idol, gives himself the glory, and does not rejoice in God, but in his own strength and work" (Luther). The Chaldaean sacrifices to his net, for thereby (בּהמּה, by net and yarn) his portion (chelqō) is fat, i.e., the portion of this booty which falls to him, and fat is his food ( בּראה is a neuter substantive). The meaning is, that he thereby attains to wealth and prosperity. In Hab 1:17 there is appended to this the question embracing the thought: Shall he therefore, because he rejoices over his rich booty, or offers sacrifice to his net, empty his net, sc. to throw it in afresh, and proceed continually to destroy nations in so unsparing a manner? In the last clause the figure passes over into a literal address. The place of the imperfect is now taken by a periphrastic construction with the infinitive: Shall he constantly be about to slay? On this construction, see Ges. 132, 3, Anm. 1, and Ewald, 237, c. לא יחמול is a subordinate clause appended in an adverbial sense: unsparingly, without sparing.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
purer . . . than to behold evil--without being displeased at it. canst not look on iniquity--unjust injuries done to Thy people. The prophet checks himself from being carried too far in his expostulatory complaint, by putting before himself honorable sentiments of God. them that deal treacherously--the Chaldeans, once allies of the Jews, but now their violent oppressors. Compare "treacherous dealers," (Isa 21:2; Isa 24:16). Instead of speaking evil against God, he goes to God Himself for the remedy for his perplexity (Psa 73:11-17). devoureth the man that is more righteous--The Chaldean oppresses the Jew, who with all his faults, is better than his oppressor (compare Eze 16:51-52).
John Gill Bible Commentary
Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look upon iniquity,.... The Lord with his eyes of omniscience beholds all things good and evil, and all men good and bad, with all their actions; but then he does not look upon the sins of men with pleasure and approbation; since they are contrary to his nature, repugnant to his will, and breaches of his righteous law: and though sin in general may be included here, yet there seems to be a particular respect had to the "evil" or injury done by the Chaldeans to the Jews, in invading their land, spoiling their substance, and slaying their persons; and to the "iniquity", labour, or grievance, by which may be meant the oppression and violence the same people exercised upon the inhabitants of Judea; which, though permitted by the Lord, could not be well pleasing in his sight. The Targum interprets it of persons, workers of evil, and workers of the labour of falsehood; see Psa 5:4, wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously; the Chaldeans, who dealt treacherously with God, by worshipping idols; and with the Jews, pretending to be their good friends and allies, when they meditated their ruin and destruction; and yet the Lord in his providence seemed to look favourably on these perfidious persons, since they succeeded in all their enterprises: this was stumbling to the prophet, and all good men; and they knew not how, or at least found great difficulty, to reconcile this to the purity and holiness of God, and to his justice and faithfulness; see Jer 12:1, and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he? the comparison does not lie so much personally between Nebuchadnezzar and Zedekiah the last king of the Jews, whose eyes the king of Babylon put out, and whom he used in a cruel manner; who was, no doubt, comparatively speaking, a more righteous person than the Chaldean monarch was; being not the worst of the kings of Judea, and whose name has the signification of righteousness in it: but rather between the Chaldeans and the Jews; who, though there were many wicked persons among them, yet there were some truly righteous, who fell in the common calamity; and, as to the bulk of them, were a more righteous people, at the worst, than their enemies were, who devoured them, destroyed many with the sword, plundered them of their substance, and carried them captive; and the Lord was silent all this while, said nothing in his providence against them, put no stop to their proceedings; and by his silence seemed to approve of, at least to connive at, what they did; and this the prophet in the name of good men reasons with the Lord about.