Habakkuk 1:4

Therefore the law is slacked,.... Is not put into execution against offenders: the civil magistrates, whose office it is to do justice according to law, are dilatory, and do not proceed with vigour

Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth: for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceedeth. Therefore - because thou dost suffer such crimes to go unpunished.

Therefore; because the wicked go on with impunity, and the punishment they deserve is deferred. The law of God, given to this people by the hand of Moses, the whole law, moral, ceremonial, and judicial. Is slacked; is slighted, weakened, and little studied, and less obeyed by all sorts. And judgment; not only private men neglect the law, but magistrates, judges, and public officers pervert, or divert, or obstruct it also. Doth never go forth, Heb. to the end, or, unto victory, with prevalence to restrain the unjust, and to protect the innocent, which is the end of magistracy, . The wicked; the unjust and violent man. Doth compass about; as it were besiegeth, surroundeth, with design to oppress and ruin by false witness, interest, or bribery. Wrong judgment; perverse judgment, wherein innocence is condemned and the guilty are acquitted: so the judges are swords in the bowels, when they should be shields over the bodies of the righteous.

Habakkuk 1:4 Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth: for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceedeth.Ver. 4. Therefore the law is slacked] Defluit lex. An elegant metaphor from the pulse, which, in a dying man, beateth faintly. The law is the pulse of the commonwealth. If it stir not at all, the commonwealth is dead. If it have but slow motion, the commonwealth is weak. But if it keep an equal course, the commonwealth is in good constitution. Lex lux, the law is a light, saith Solomon; but the deluge of sin had well nigh put out this light in Israel; who was now grown in a manner lawless, through long impunity. And judgment doth never go forth] Or, it goeth not forth to the utmost, to victory; it is not carried on to a right upshot, as the Septuagint and Latin render it, Usque ad finem, ειςτελος. For the wicked doth compass about the righteous] As a crown compasseth the head; he surroundeth and circumventeth him to his hurt. "The children of this world are wiser in their generation," &c. The Midianites outwitted the Israelites, Numbers 25:18. The Pharisees hemmed in our Saviour to insnare him; but were disappointed. Therefore wrong judgment proceedeth] Distorted judgment. So Ezekiel 9:9, the city was full of Mutteh, that is, of (mishpat din mitteh, as Kimchi expoundeth it, καταπροσκλισιν), judgment turned from the bias; the balance of justice was tilted on the one side, 1 Timothy 5:21. A judge is to retain the decency and gravity of the law; to do nothing of partiality or popularity; to proceed, not according to opinion or appearance; but as a just law is a heart without affection, an eye without lust, a mind without passion, &c., so should he. Else wrong and wrested judgment will soon proceed, to the prejudice of the righteous.

(4) The law—the Mosaic tôrâh—which ought to be a bond of security and social welfare is “slacked” or “paralyzed;” and is, therefore, unable to do its work. “Judgment” (mishpât, i.e., “redress of evils “) “doth never go forth,” for the wicked have hemmed the righteous in; and, therefore, there are no judicial sentences, save such as favour the wicked.

Verse 4. The law is slacked] They pay no attention to it; it has lost all its vigour, its restraining and correcting power, it is not executed; right judgment is never pronounced; and the poor righteous man complains in vain that he is grievously oppressed by the wicked, and by those in power and authority. That the utmost depravity prevailed in the land of Judah is evident from these verses; and can we wonder, then, that God poured out such signal judgments upon them? When judgment doth not proceed from the seat of judgment upon earth, it will infallibly go forth from the throne of judgment in heaven.

4. law is slacked] lit. numbed, rigid, i.e. motionless, paralysed and ineffectual. The term “law” (torah) means properly divine instruction given orally at the mouth of the priest (Jeremiah 18:18; Malachi 2:6-7); then also that given orally by the prophet (Isaiah 1:10), and more generally any oral instruction (Proverbs 1:8; Proverbs 6:20). In a wider sense it is divine instruction regarding any subject, particularly matters of ritual; then specially of the law of Moses in Deuteronomy, and finally of the whole Pentateuch. In some cases the word seems generalized to mean the revelation as a whole communicated to Israel, particularly as being essentially the true knowledge of the true God, which it is the mission of Israel the servant of the Lord to impart to the nations, Isaiah 42:4; cf. Isaiah 49:6, Isaiah 51:4. Parallel to the word in this use is the term “judgment,” e.g. Isaiah 42:3-4 “till he have set judgment in the earth, and the isles shall look unto his torah.” See next clause. judgment doth never go forth] The word “never” does not seem anywhere to mean “at no time,” “on no occasion,” it appears always to refer to the future, e.g. Psalms 10:11; Isaiah 13:20; Amos 8:7. The words must therefore be rendered: and judgment shall never go forth—a sense unsuitable to the connexion. It is probable that the word has here some modified meaning, and that the sense is akin to Isaiah 42:3 “judgment unto truth,” or, according to truth, paraphrased “unto victory” Matthew 12:20. “Law” here hardly means the specific decision of the priest on particular questions, nor “judgment” the sentence of the magistrate in particular causes; rather the sense is: law, i.e. moral (social) law (Amos 2:4; Hosea 4:6) is paralysed and cannot assert its validity, and judgment, i.e. “right,” comes not forth in its fulness, but is seen maimed. Others, as Wellhausen, take law and judgment in the sense they have in Isaiah 40 seq., of the true religion of Jehovah, and consider the prophet’s complaint to be that the predominance of the heathen powers represses the true religion and prevents its expansion and effectiveness. This sense is less in harmony with the other statements of the passage. the wicked doth compass about the righteous] Unlike its use in Psalms 142:7 “compass” is employed here in a hostile sense, to hem in, so as to impair one’s liberties and just rights (Job 3:23). Both “righteous” and “wicked” are collective terms, referring to classes. The antithesis was used not only of two classes in Israel (Isaiah 3:10-11; Isaiah 5:23; Isaiah 11:4; Zephaniah 1:3), but particularly in later times “wicked” was used of the heathen nations and “righteous” of Israel. The antithesis is taken in the latter sense here by those who consider Habakkuk 1:1-4 to refer to heathen oppressions, cf. Habakkuk 1:13. wrong judgment proceedeth] As R.V.: therefore judgment goeth forth perverted, i.e. “right,” the good cause of the righteous, fails to prevail.

Therefore - i. e., Because God seemed not to awake to avenge His own cause, people promised themselves that they might sin on with impunity.

2. How long shall I cry — Literally, have I cried. The Hebrew verb implies the idea “for help,” that is, to bring about a change in the terrible condition in which the prophet finds himself.