Bible Verses and Early Church Commentary | Historical Christian Faith

[AD 420] Jerome on Habakkuk 1:1-2

(Chapter 1, Verses 1, 2.) How long, O Lord, will I cry out and you will not hear? I will shout to you with violence, but you will not save. Why have you shown me iniquity and pain, to see plunder and injustice against me? According to the Septuagint: How long, O Lord, will I cry out and you will not hear? I will shout to you with violence, but you will not save. Why have you shown me hardships and sorrows, to see misery and impiety? Meanwhile, the prophet raises a question against God, why Nebuchadnezzar devastates the temple and Judah, why the once city of the Lord, Jerusalem, is destroyed? Why does the people cry out, and yet not be heard? Why does he cry out to the Lord, oppressed by the Chaldeans, and yet not be saved? Why does even the prophet, or the people on whose behalf he now speaks, live through this and be brought here, to see the wickedness of the enemies and their own labor? Why does injustice prevail against them? And this is said out of the narrowness of mind, not knowing that gold is refined in fire, and three young men come out of the furnace purer than when they entered (Dan. III). Moreover, we can also generally understand that the prophet, seeing sinners abound and possess riches in this world, compares their sons to newly planted saplings in their youth, and their daughters to adorned temples, their storehouses bursting with plenty, their sheep fat and multiplying in their ways, and other things that are more fully written in a lamenting voice and full of sorrow in the 143rd psalm. Why do you look at the despisers and remain silent, while the impious trample upon the more just, and you make men like fish of the sea, and like reptiles without a leader? We read something similar in the seventy-second psalm: But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled, my steps had nearly slipped (Psalm 73:2), and so on. And again in the same psalm: And if there is knowledge in the Most High. For behold, the sinners and those who abound in the world have obtained riches, and so on, until my hands. But these things they speak ignorantly, investigating the judgments of God (Rom. XI), and the deep riches of his wisdom and knowledge, that God does not see as man sees. Man looks only at the present: God knows the future and the eternal (I Sam. XVIII). And how if a sick and burning with fever person asks for cold water, and says to the doctor: I suffer violence, I am tormented, I am burned, I am almost dead: how long, doctor, shall I cry out and you will not hear? And the wisest and most merciful doctor responds to him: I know when I should give you what you ask for: I do not just have pity, because pity is cruelty, and your will is against you. So our Lord God, knowing the weights and measures of His mercy, sometimes does not hear the one crying out, in order to test him and to provoke him to pray more, and to make him more just and pure as if he were refined by fire. Understanding this, the Apostle, having obtained mercy from the Lord, says: Let us not grow weary in tribulations (Ephesians 3:13); and he blesses God at all times (Psalm 33); and he knows that he who perseveres until the end will be saved (Matthew 10:22). And he glories in labor and pain. And as Jeremiah says: I will invoke tribulation and misery. Just as another person invokes God, so a holy man and invincible warrior, desiring to exercise and prove himself, wishes tribulation and misery to come.

Source: Commentary on Habakkuk

[AD 1781] Richard Challoner on Habakkuk 1:1

Burden: Such prophecies more especially are called burdens, as threaten grievous evils and punishments.

[AD 1781] Richard Challoner on Habakkuk 1:1

HABACUC was a native of Bezocher, and prophesied in JUDA, some time before the invasion of the CHALDEANS, which he foretold. He lived to see this prophecy fulfilled, and for many years after, according to the general opinion, which supposes him to be the same that was brought by the ANGEL to DANIEL in BABYLON, Dan. 14.

[AD 428] Theodore of Mopsuestia on Habakkuk 1:2

It is not as though bringing a censure against God that the prophet says this. Rather, he speaks this way as it is the custom with people who are in some sort of trouble or who are righteously indignant with those responsible to present the injustice of what is being done under the guise of censure. Blessed David also says in like manner, “Why, O Lord, do you keep your distance? Why do you look down on us in good times and in bad? When the godless act disdainfully, the poor person is inflamed,” and so on, saying this not to censure God but to express indignation with those responsible for it and at a loss as to how they are not quickly called to account.

Source: COMMENTARY ON HABAKKUK 1:2

[AD 420] Jerome on Habakkuk 1:3-4

(Ver. 3, 4.) And judgment and contradiction become more powerful: therefore the law is torn apart and judgment does not reach its end: because the wicked prevail against the just, therefore a perverse judgment proceeds. LXX: Judgment has been made against me, and the judge accepts it: therefore the law is torn apart and judgment does not reach its end: because the wicked prevail against the just, therefore a perverse judgment proceeds. Still, the prophet or the people speak to the Lord, because they were judged not by truth but by power, and they did not receive any support from the law and righteousness. Therefore, their judgment had no end. However, the purpose of judgment is to judge fairly. And why they dare to speak, they explain in the following, saying: Because the wicked Nebuchadnezzar prevailed against the just Judah (2 Kings 22), and this is the reason why they say judgment has not reached its end; because it is unjust and perverse for the righteous King Josiah to be killed by the Egyptian king (2 Kings 23); for Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah to serve (Daniel 3); and for the Babylonian emperor to command and for Belshazzar to drink from the vessels of God among his prostitutes and concubines (Daniel 5). This prophet is speaking about the condition of his time (we are following because you wanted an account of history as well). Moreover, according to the Septuagint, it is a common complaint of the saints to God that an unjust judgment is rendered against them and innocent blood is shed in persecutions. And sometimes, when they stand before the secular tribunal, the judge, after receiving bribes, condemns the innocent and sets the guilty free. This can be said not only of judges of the world, but sometimes also of the leaders of the Church, who, because of bribes, disregard the law and do not bring a trial to completion, allowing the wicked to prevail against the righteous. And in the judgment, the sin of the rich is more powerful than the truth of the poor. Where there is complaint, judgment becomes perverted: but we ought not to be disturbed by this inequality of things, seeing in the beginning of the world the impious Cain slew the just Abel (Gen. IV), and afterwards Jacob, being an exile, reigned in his father's house over Esau (Gen. XXVIII), and the Egyptians afflicted the children of Israel with mud and bricks, and the Lord against whom the complaint is now directed, is crucified by the Jews (John. XIX), and the robber Barabbas is chosen (John. XVIII). This day will fail me if I want to enumerate how in this age, with the wicked prevailing, the righteous are oppressed.

Source: Commentary on Habakkuk

[AD 62] Acts on Habakkuk 1:5

For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption: But he, whom God raised again, saw no corruption. Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses. Beware therefore, lest that come upon you, which is spoken of in the prophets; Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish: for I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you. [Habakkuk 1:5] And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next sabbath. Now when the congregation was broken up, many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas: who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God.

[AD 420] Jerome on Habakkuk 1:5

(Verse 5.) Look among the nations and see, be astonished and astounded; for a work is being done in your days that you would not believe if you were told. LXX: Look, you scoffers, be astounded and perish; for I am doing a work in your days, a work that you will not believe, even if someone tells you. Symmachus, in response to what we have said: “a work is being done in your days”, interpreted it as “a work will be done in your days”. The rest is similar. Again, at the beginning of the chapter, where it is written in Hebrew 'Rau Baggoim', and we have translated it, look among the nations, and the Septuagint has put 'contemptores', except for Aquila and Symmachus and Theodotion, who agree with our interpretation, in another edition I found 'ἀνωνύμῃ' you will see the slanderers, and in another similarly without the title of the author, you will see the decliners. Therefore, in response to the complaints of the prophet who causes and says: 'How long, O Lord, will I cry out, and you will not hear?' And the rest, up to the end of this introduction, the voice of the responding Lord is introduced, so that he may see this injustice, which he thinks is happening only in Israel, among the Gentiles: and that not only the Jews and Jerusalem, as he thought as a prophet, would be handed over to the Chaldeans, but all nations around, and that he would be so powerful and afterwards overthrown, that if someone were to predict what is going to happen, they would seem incredulous because of the magnitude of the matter. But even this, which the 70 and the other interpreters have put forth: See the despisers, whether you will see the slanderers and those who turn away, it agrees with the meaning of this place, and they are shown from the very discourse of their audacity and contempt towards the Lord: from the person of whom the prophet had cried out, why they have dared to despise the majesty of God and speak rashly, and as much as they can, to slander the providence of God, and to turn away from the Lord, thereby convicting themselves of wickedness. So you will see, you who scorn, and then you will admire, and you will consider all your complaining as nothing, when you perceive what I will do in your days; lest perhaps you say: What does the future have to do with us? The work that will be so great will overwhelm all your reasoning: so that if someone were to predict it now, you would not readily believe. But what this work is, is shown in what follows.

Source: Commentary on Habakkuk

[AD 444] Cyril of Alexandria on Habakkuk 1:5

He remained Lord of all things even when he came, for the divine economy, in the form of a slave, and this is why the mystery of Christ is truly wonderful. Indeed God the Father said to the Jews through one of the prophets, “Look on this, you scoffers, be struck with wonder and disappear, for I am doing a work in your days, a work in which you will not believe even if one were to explain it to you.”

Source: ON THE UNITY OF CHRIST

[AD 420] Jerome on Habakkuk 1:6-11

(Verse 6 onwards) For behold, I will raise up the Chaldeans, a bitter and hasty nation, who march through the breadth of the earth to take possession of dwelling places that are not theirs. They are feared and dreaded; their justice and dignity proceed from themselves. 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. They all come for violence; their faces forward; they gather captives like sand. At kings they scoff, and at rulers they laugh. They laugh at every fortress, for they pile up earth and take it. Then they sweep by like the wind and go on, guilty men, whose own might is their god. LXX: For behold, I will raise up the bitter and swift Chaldeans, who walk over the breadth of the earth to possess dwelling places that are not theirs. They are dreadful and renowned; their judgment and their dignity proceed from themselves. Their horses also are swifter than leopards, and more fierce than evening wolves. Their horsemen shall spread themselves, and their horsemen shall come from afar; they shall fly as the eagle that hastens to eat. They shall come all for violence; their faces shall sup up as the east wind, and they shall gather the captivity as the sand. And they shall scoff at the kings, and the princes shall be a scorn to them; they shall deride every stronghold, for they shall heap up earth and take it. Then his spirit shall change, and he shall pass over, and offend, imputing this his power unto his god. What I have told you: Look among the nations, and see, and be amazed, and be astounded; for a work is being done in your days that you would not believe if you were told. This is what the following passage describes: Behold, I am stirring up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, who march through the breadth of the earth, to seize dwellings not their own. And this is his work, not to exercise the land by plowing; but to live by plunder and sword, and to possess cities that are not his own: before he strikes his hand, before he breaks out into war, he carries terror on his face. And when he says, 'Judgment and burden will come out from himself,' as Symmachus interpreted, it means that he will judge for himself, and will go forth according to his decree, or it should be understood that he will appoint princes from his own people, and his power and the sword of other nations will not have guards, or certainly as he did, it will be done to him, and he will be devastated just as he devastated. The horses as well as the cavalry, who will come from far away, will be so destructive in pursuing and plundering everything, that they will surpass leopards and evening wolves. Indeed, wolves are said to be more fierce at night, and throughout the day they are driven to madness by hunger. So the cavalry will not fly to fight, because no one will resist them; but they will run like an eagle, to whom all things are subject in the air, hastening to devour. And just as green things wither at the breath of scorching wind, so everything will be devastated at their sight, and the number of captives and spoils will be so great that, by exaggeration, it could even equal the sand. He himself, that is, Nebuchadnezzar, will also reign in the whole world, and triumphing over the kings in his chariot, he will hold them up to ridicule and consider them among his delights. He will have such power and pride that he will strive to overcome nature and capture the most fortified cities with the strength of his army. For he will come to Tyre and, by throwing a causeway into the sea, he will turn the island into a peninsula and provide a land entrance between the waves of the sea into the city. For this reason, he will laugh at and tear down every barrier, and he will capture it, that is, the fortification, or Tyre; which is clearly demonstrated in Ezekiel, where it is said: Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, subjugated his army with great effort against Tyre. Every head is bald, and every shoulder is shaved, and no payment is given to him and his army against Tyre, and the work in which he served against it. But when he will have attained to the pinnacle of power, and nothing will stand in his way, then his spirit will change into pride: and thinking himself to be God, he will set up a golden image in Babylon, which he will force all nations to worship. And when he has done this, he will transform into the form of a beast, and afterwards he will fall: for which reason Aquila and Symmachus translated καὶ πλημμελήσει, that is, and he will transgress: the Holy Scripture having this custom, that it puts Vasam (), that is, he will transgress, in place of what it is, and it will cease to be what it was. Similarly, we have such phrases in our language, saying: The army was beaten, meaning that it was killed and slaughtered. And, the vineyard and field sinned, meaning that they did not produce a harvest of grapes and crops. And what is said at the end of the chapter: This is the strength of his God, is to be understood ironically, so that the meaning is: This is the strength he received from his god Beldeus. All nations were compelled to worship him, even through scripture and the threat of death under his cruel rule. According to the Hebrew: Now let us turn to the Septuagint, so that, with each sentence set forth, we may join together an allegorical interpretation. Behold, I will raise up the Chaldeans, a bitter and swift nation, who march throughout the breadth of the earth to possess dwellings not their own. God threatens against those who despise and slander His providence, that He will raise up the Chaldeans, who are interpreted as demons or even as the worst angels, serving His fury, wrath, and the tribulation which He inflicts upon sinners; or as the souls of the worst men, through whom they deserve torment. But the Chaldeans, a bitter and swift nation, do not spare and quickly fulfill what has been commanded to them. And they walk upon the breadth of the earth. For there is a wide and spacious road that leads to death ((Matt. VII, 13)): through which the rich man in the Gospel walked, who shone in purple (Luc. XVI), and those of whom it is said: Who sleep on ivory beds, and abound in delights on their couches. Who eat calves from the herds that are still suckling, and drink clarified wine, and anoint themselves with the best ointments (Amos. VI, 4): these, because they walk on the wide road, are called the breadth of the earth, which is pressed by the steps of the Chaldeans. For they did not want to walk on the narrow and tight road that leads to life, on which Paul was walking, glorifying God in tribulation and distress (I Cor. VI, 12). However, the Chaldeans walk over the breadth of the earth, in order to possess tents that are not their own. For every reasonable soul, although it has become a dwelling place of the Chaldeans through its vice and fault, is by nature a tent of God. And although in the Gospel the worst demon speaks: I will go to my house from where I came out (Matt. XII, 44), he should not be believed; for no rational creature was made for the purpose of being a dwelling place for a demon. It follows: He is terrible and illustrious: from him will come judgment, and his assumption will come forth from him. The Chaldean is terrible because of the many and varied punishments he inflicts on the contemptuous; illustrious, because he assumes for himself the glory of divinity. And through his own oracles and false responses, and the healings of the diseases which he himself had caused, he seems illustrious among the inexperienced and contemptuous of God. For the judgment and punishment of the contemptuous will come from him, that is, from himself or from the Chaldean. For they will be handed over to punishment, according to the Apostle, so that they may learn not to blaspheme (1 Timothy I): from whomsoever shall repent and turn to God, he shall depart, after he had been held by his hands, and there had been a Chaldean assumption. If when we see someone having served the devil for a long time, and afterwards having been converted to God, let us say about him: And his assumption went forth from him. For whoever shall have done penance, and left behind the demons, to which like horses they previously offered their backs to be sat upon; and they shall have thrown off and shaken off their riders, the horsemen themselves, like leopards and wolves, in the evening, and having come with empty and light backs to carry him, who, meek and poor, ascends upon the foal of an ass (John XII), these, hastening as if from afar, and not satisfied with running and rushing, shall assume flight, and shall come as if an eagle, to feed on the flesh of God's word, and to satisfy the hunger of such a long time. For in that which is said, καὶ ἐξιππάζονται οἱ ἱππεῖς αὐτοῦ, and the Seventy have translated: And his horsemen shall ride, according to the sense which we have stated above, Symmachus has interpreted: His horsemen shall be poured out, that is, they shall fall and be dashed to the ground. But the wolves of Arabia, that is, the enemies of the evening and of the West, are rightly so called, by whom the worst intercourse has been sought; and being set before in darkness, they abandon the whole path of the evening. When they have abandoned it, and have flown forth ready, that they may devour the fleshly produce of the Word of God, then shall come the consummation upon the ungodly, that is, upon the Chaldeans who withstood the turning of the penitent to their Lord. Therefore, the consummation will come upon the wicked, opposing their faces from the front. But when they have been consumed and captivity has been snatched from their hands, then the divine word will gather together, like the sand of the Chaldean captivity, and it will delight in the kings, and the jokes of tyrants will be its amusement, seeing the once powerful devil and his kingdoms (which also, showing to the Savior, he says, 'All these things I will give you if you fall down and worship me') destroyed by his coming; for they are the delights of prudence and the pleasures of wisdom, when folly is destroyed, and the power of tyrants, once overcome and cast down, is turned into ridicule. For indeed the dragon was not formed alone for the purpose of being a plaything for the Lord, who is the beginning of its creation, but was made as a mockery to the angels. And God will not give him alone, as if to a little sparrow, but if anyone else is also cruel and of a tyrannical mind, he will be handed over to the word of God as a subject of ridicule. And He Himself says, He will mock at every stronghold. But what other stronghold is there except that of which the Apostle speaks: For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but powerful with God for the destruction of fortresses, destroying imaginations and every exaltation that is raised up against the knowledge of God (2 Cor. 10:4-5). Therefore, whatever things there may be, whether in speeches that claim to have height and greatness contrary to the truth, or in all glory and riches and strength that is praised in the world, all will be destroyed, and the word of God will mock every stronghold. And He will send a rampart and will prevail over it, and earthly things that it produces, exposing its fragility in those things where it seemed to have some strength before. But when this shall have been accomplished, then the spirit will be converted, and it will not punish as it had previously punished, but passing through sinners it will intercede for them, and it will reconcile them with their former Lord: in all of which the strength is shown, which has accomplished such great things, of our God. You see how precarious these places are, and how contrary they are to the truth of history. And how those things which we have interpreted literally concerning the Chaldeans, now seem to sound, according to tropology, the clemency and freedom of those who have escaped from the hands of the Chaldeans. Strict history is, and does not have the faculty of wandering. Free tropology, and only restricted by these laws, so that it follows the piety of intelligence and the context of speech, and does not violently connect things that are very different from each other.

Source: Commentary on Habakkuk

[AD 1781] Richard Challoner on Habakkuk 1:11

Then shall his spirit: Viz., the spirit of the king of Babylon. It alludes to the judgment of God upon Nabuchodonosor, recorded Dan. 4., and to the speedy fall of the Chaldean empire.

[AD 420] Jerome on Habakkuk 1:12

(Verse 12.) Surely you are from the beginning, O Lord my God, my holy one? And shall we not die? O Lord, you have appointed him for judgment; you have established him as a strong one to correct him. LXX: Are you not from the beginning, O Lord my God, my holy one? And shall we not die? O Lord, you have appointed him for judgment: and he has formed me, so that I may chastise in his discipline. Symmachus more clearly: Are you not from the beginning, O Lord my God, my holy one, so that I would not die? O Lord, you have appointed him for judgment, you have established him for reproof. To the prophet's complaint, saying: How long, O Lord, shall I cry out, and you will not hear? God had answered, saying: Look at the nations and see: and after the preface he had added: Behold, I will raise up the Chaldeans, a bitter and swift nation. With every detail complete, whether about Nebuchadnezzar or the devil in the end, it is stated: Then the spirit will change, and it will pass through, and it will fall, this is the might of his God. When the prophet heard and understood, therefore Nabuchodonosor, against Judam, or the devil against believers, can obtain power to rebuke them, and after the rebuke, he himself is also punished in the end, he responded to the Lord: So, are you, my Lord God, my holy one (he speaks these words with a tone of flattery and repentance), the one who created us from the beginning? Upon whose mercy do we still rely? For I did not know that our adversaries could have so much power, nor did I know that Nabuchodonosor or the devil of this world, and all the powers of the nations, had received power. Therefore, no one of us can resist his might. But as for your mercy, it is all that we live, for we have not been killed by him, and have been led to the works of death. For you, Lord, have placed him to judge, so that he himself may be the enemy and avenger, and through him you may rebuke all who have sinned against you. But because we have once interpreted the Chaldeans about demons, and Nebuchadnezzar about their king the devil, we must briefly describe the devil and his power, so that the prophet may justly say: Lord, you have placed him to judge, and have founded him as a mighty one to rebuke. It is raised up against unbelievers and scorners of the nations of demons, bitter for punishment, and present everywhere. It also walks wherever the width of the earth is, in order to possess men, in whom Christ was supposed to dwell. It is horrible and terrifying, and can hardly be overcome by anyone, and is not broken before it comes to fruition with the magnitude of sins and the weight of its own wickedness. His horses and horsemen are always thirsty for blood, like leopards and wolves; they desire plunder, they pretend to be absent, and when they are not expected, they will quickly come from afar. They will fly like an eagle, which, raising its flight, wants to place its nest among the stars of the sky, and always hastens towards its prey. And in Ezekiel, it is described under the figure of Nebuchadnezzar and the king of Egypt, upon the devil. There is no demon who spares: all will come quickly for plunder: ahead of them is a burning wind: whatever they see, whatever is in their sight, they will desire to burn and destroy. But the most powerful king will be in the midst of captives, and he will take their number as the sand of the sea from his satellites on all sides, and he himself will triumph over kings, and his ridiculous tyrants will be. For by his deceit, he will deceive many saints, and those who seemed to be the most powerful to themselves, and exercise tyranny against demons, and cast them out of possessed bodies, he will subject to his servitude, and consider them a laughingstock. But he, the strongest, with a forced hand and a gathered army of the wicked, will laugh at every fortification and will strive to overthrow whatever may happen to be there. For he will bring together a mound, that is, he will surround with earthworks; and when the earth is heaped up, he will easily capture every fortification. However, after such a great victory, his spirit will change, and his mouth will reach up to the heavens, and he will make himself a god, beginning to blaspheme his Creator. And when he does this, he will fall, and the ruin will show how strong his divinity was, and the imitation of idols under whose images he enslaved people to his worship. Therefore, hearing these things, the prophet understands that such a great and powerful king of this world will gather captivity like the sand of the sea and triumph over kings; and that his tyrants will be ridiculous, and he will laugh at every fortification, and he will construct the first rampart and then capture it; and he will be so arrogant as to dare to resist his Creator and make himself like a god, who previously spoke boldly to the Lord; and he had declared himself, or his people, or those on whose behalf he was speaking, to be just: now he bursts forth in words of flattery and says, 'Are you then my Lord God, my Holy One, from the beginning?' And as we do not die, nor are captured by such a great enemy, it is by your mercy. For you, O Lord, have established him as if a torturer; and you have made him strong, so that no one or very few can resist his strength. Moreover, according to the Septuagint, what is said at the end 'And he formed me, that I may reprove in his discipline' can be referred to the person of prophet, so that the meaning is: I have also been inspired as a prophet, that I may reprove the evildoers and teach the discipline of the Lord. Some people think that the Lord, who was formed by the Father and took on a body, is called that in order to teach people about the doctrine of God the Father. But whether this is in harmony with the context of the previous statements and the consistency of the whole passage, it will be for the judgment of the reader rather than me.

Source: Commentary on Habakkuk

[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Habakkuk 1:13

“For the Lord does not desire to look upon wrongs, for he, the almighty one, observes all those who perform lawless deeds, and he will save me; and do you plead before him, if you can praise him, as it is possible even now.” Not only did the Lord not countenance wrongs, but he did not even wish to see them, as another prophet said: “You who are of purer eyes than to behold evil and cannot look on wrong.” You see, what providence, what protection, what comprehension! Even if he does not take vengeance, he nevertheless abhors actions.

Source: COMMENTARY ON JOB 35

[AD 420] Jerome on Habakkuk 1:13-14

(Verse 13, 14.) Your eyes are the world's eyes, so that you may not see evil, and you cannot look upon injustice. Why do you not look upon those who commit wickedness and remain silent as the wicked devour the righteous? And you make men like the fish of the sea, and like the reptile that has no ruler? LXX: The world's eye, so that it may not see evil, and it cannot look upon grief. Why do you look upon those who despise, will you be silent when the wicked devours the righteous? And he will make men like the fish of the sea, like creeping things that have no ruler. Such is what Jeremiah speaks to God: You are just, Lord, I confess; yet I will speak judgments to you: Why does the way of the wicked prosper; why do all who are treacherous thrive? You planted them, and they have taken root; they grow, they bring forth fruit; you are near in their mouths and far from their heart. (Jeremiah 12:1-2). Therefore, Abacuc is also in the same opinion: Lord, you are the eyes of the world, he says; and I know that you do not willingly look upon evil and injustice, nor can anyone doubt your justice. However, why do you allow the Babylonians to boast with such cruelty, and the just Israel to be oppressed by the impious Nebuchadnezzar: not because the one who is oppressed is perfectly just, but because he is more just than the one who oppresses him. And just as fish, who do not have a ruler, and irrational animals, and a multitude of reptiles without providence, submit to the stronger, and whoever is stronger in strength, dominates the other: so among men, the rational animal, created in Your likeness, reason and merit will not prevail; but the strength of the body and irrational strength will. But if we want to understand in a general way, regarding providence, when the prophet asks: Why does the devil have so much power in the world, and exercise tyranny while God rules? This will be the meaning, and with the previous explanations, this interpretation will be connected: I know, O Lord my God, my holy one, that because of your providence and defense, we do not die; and I know that you have allowed an adversary, so that, like an executioner himself, he may seize and not kill sinners. I wonder why it seems unjust to you that nothing pleases you, and your eyes are free from all wickedness, and you cannot see the sufferings of those who are subjected to injustice. However, I cannot find a reason why the righteous Abel is killed by the unjust Cain (Genesis IV), and you remain silent? Why does the raging whale devour not only smaller fish but also Jonah himself (Jonah II)? Why does the wicked prevail and the righteous suffer? I do not say this because I know anyone to be justified in your sight and to be without sin, and that I am unaware of human frailty; but just as Sodom and Gomorrah are compared with Jerusalem, so also the tax collector in the Gospel is made more righteous in comparison with the Pharisee (Luke 18): likewise, he who is oppressed by the devil is indeed a sinner, but he is more righteous when he submits to being oppressed. Therefore, why is there no standard or measure, so that if a just person is once oppressed and subjected, they do not submit to an impious person, but to someone more righteous? Is it possible for anything to be done without you, and you not willing, that is not impious? To think this is blasphemous. Therefore, since you are the ruler and Lord of the universe, it is necessary for you to do what cannot be done without you. And he says this not because he himself as a prophet believes it, as I have attested above, but because he expresses human impatience in his own person: just as we frequently see the apostle receiving various opinions from people, and now saying: 'But I see another law in my members, fighting against the law of my mind, and leading me captive to the law of sin, which is in my members.' (Rom. VII, 23). And, as if he were beginning: Brethren, I do not think that I have apprehended, but we know in part, and we prophesy in part (Philippians 3:13). And again, as if he were perfect: So, therefore, let us have this knowledge, that however perfect we may be, we may still say that we know in part and are not perfect (1 Corinthians 13:9). And lest you should perhaps think that this is not the custom of the Apostles, but rather an argument of our own, he himself speaks to the Corinthians: But these things, brethren, I have transfigured myself and Apollo for your sake, so that you may learn in us (1 Corinthians 4:6). Otherwise how can God have men like fish of the sea, and like reptiles that have no ruler: whereas the angels daily behold the face of the Father who is in heaven (Matthew 18); and the angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him, and delivers them (Psalm 34). Therefore, just as in humans we can see the providence of God running through each individual, so in other animals we can understand a general arrangement, order, and course of things. For example, how a multitude of fish is born and lives in the waters, how reptiles and quadrupeds arise on land, and what food they are nourished by. Moreover, it is absurd to ascribe to the majesty of God the knowledge of how many mosquitoes are born and die in every moment, how many bugs and fleas and flies exist in the world, how many fish swim in the water, and which of the smaller creatures should yield to the prey of the larger ones. Let us not be such foolish flatterers of God that, while detracting from His power even to the lowest things, we become injurious to ourselves, saying that there is the same providence of rational and irrational things. From this, that apocryphal book of folly is to be condemned, in which it is written that a certain angel named Tyri presided over reptiles, and in the same way, angels assigned to fish, trees, and all beasts for their protection.

Source: Commentary on Habakkuk

[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Habakkuk 1:14

You see, even if it is the wicked who perish, nevertheless the souls of good people are likely to show compassion when they see people being punished. And you will find each of the good people and the inspired writers making earnest supplication for them, as for example the patriarch did for the Sodomites and the inspired writers all continued to do. One, for instance, said, “Woe is me, Lord; are you wiping out the remnant of Israel?” Another said, “Will you make people like the fish of the sea, deprived of a leader?” So since without even this the good man was troubled in mind and sick at heart, the Lord, in case the sight of these things should cast Noah into deeper depression, locked him in the ark as though in a prison, lest he have a sight of these events and be terror-struck. In his care for him, therefore, the loving God does not allow him to view the torrent of water or see the disaster occurring that involved the destruction of the world.

Source: HOMILIES ON GENESIS 25:12

[AD 420] Jerome on Habakkuk 1:15-17

(Verses 15 and following) He lifted the whole thing on his hook, he pulled it into his net, and gathered it into his seine: over this he will rejoice and exult. Therefore he sacrifices to his seine, and offers to his net, for in them his portion has become fat, and his food is choice: because of this he spreads out his seine, and never stops killing nations. LXX: He lifted the completion onto his hook, and drew it into his net, and gathered it into his seines: because of this he will rejoice and be glad: therefore he sacrifices to his seine, and burns incense to his net, for in them he has fattened his portion, and his food is choice: therefore he spreads out his net, and never ceases to kill nations. Because above he had named fish, saying: And you will make men like fish of the sea, and like creeping things, which is more significant in Hebrew, Remes (), that is, moving, everything namely that which can be moved, therefore it preserves the metaphor of fish in the other things, just as a fisherman throws a hook, and a net, and a dragnet, so that what the hook could not catch may be surrounded by the wider nets that the escaping one will enclose: thus also the Babylonian king will lay waste to everything, and will make all people his prey (Dan. III). Furthermore, what he says: he will rejoice and be glad, and will sacrifice to his net and offer incense to his drag, signifies the idol that he made in the field of Dura (also known as Duram) and the statue of Bel, to which he sacrificed the fattest victims like a great drag, coercing all the nations he had conquered to worship it. For in them, that is, in his idols, he believed that he had become enriched, and his share, that is, he considered himself to possess all the riches, as if he had conquered even the great fish, princes and kings, under his own rule, whom he calls select delicacies. And because once he was satiated by the most abundant fishing, and he filled his net, that is, his army, therefore he does not cease to kill nations, that is, to always fight and slaughter. Moreover, according to the Septuagint, the impious devil (who oppresses the just and has men like fishes of the sea, and devastates all things as if they were reptiles without a leader) sent his hook opposite to that hook, by which the fish was first caught through the apostle Peter, in whose mouth a stater was found (Matthew 17). And his hook caught hold of Adam, and he drew him out of paradise with his net: and he covered him with his snares, various and manifold deceits. Therefore, he will rejoice, and he will consider his traps to be more than the command of the Lord. And he will offer sacrifices not with a hook (which is understood as perverse speech and still established in the beginning), but with his net, because it captures very fat sacrificial victims in it. And: Through one man sinners have become many (Rom. 5:19), and in Adam we all died (1 Cor. 15), and all the saints thereafter were cast out of paradise together with him. And where his chosen foods were, as the Psalmist says: 'He seeks from God his food' (Psalm 104:21), desiring to overthrow the prophets and apostles. And because he deceived the first man, he does not cease to destroy the entire human race every day. And it can also be understood as the perverse and manifold doctrine of heretics, that they themselves catch many fish with their hook, net, and snares, and catch many reptiles, and therefore they rejoice, and they use their speech to deceive and persuade, as if they were adoring and worshiping God, and robbing him: they themselves serve with all their skill, by which they know that so many victims have been killed by them, and that so many of the powerful and holy have been deceived, whom Scripture now names as the fat portion and chosen foods. Therefore, in a likeness of animals, which once they taste blood always thirst for it, they spread their net, and their whole endeavor is to kill not a few, as at the beginning, but many. There is no doubt about the slaughter of many peoples, who have seen such a multitude of heresies and perverse doctrines caught by the hook, the net, and the snares of the devil: and yet the end of their capture is destruction.

Source: Commentary on Habakkuk

[AD 542] Caesarius of Arles on Habakkuk 1:16

The entire life of the saints is engaged in this war, for there happens in them what is written: “The flesh lusts against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh.” They, indeed, fight, but they are not overcome. What shall I say about wicked, carnal and dissipated souls who do not struggle but are carried along in subjection? Because they follow willingly, and of their own accord [they] devote themselves to wicked deeds. With such souls the devil does not condescend to fight at all, because they never or only with difficulty oppose his counsels. But with the saints he has daily struggles, because it is written of him, “His food is rich.” This, I repeat, is the life of the saints, and in this war people are always in danger until they die. But what are the saints going to say at the end, that is, in the triumph of victory? “O death, where is your victory?” This will be the word of the triumphant. “O death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin,” and death arises from its consequences. Sin is like a scorpion: it stings us, and we are dead. But when is it that we may say, “O death, where is your victory?” This is not promised to us in this life but at the resurrection. Then it will be granted to the saints neither to wish to sin nor to be able to do so at all.

Source: SERMON 177:3

[AD 580] Martin of Braga on Habakkuk 1:16

Although, in general, this inflation of pride attacks many people, there are none who have to fear it more than those who have reached the perfection of virtues of the spirit or copious riches and highest offices in the flesh. It becomes all the greater in their cases, because the one who shows pride is greater. It is not content to destroy lowly and common people, but it is also present in the wiles of the greatest. The higher their rank, the deeper their fall. Hence Scripture also has this to say about the same spirit of pride: “And his food,” it says, “is rich.” It attacks people who are select and lofty. It suggests to them that they are great, that they need nothing, that whatever they do, think or say is all due to their wisdom and their prudence. If something turns out well for them under God’s direction, they straightaway claim that it was due to their own strength and their own industry, and they shout, “I did this,” “I said it,” “I thought it,” and as if everyone were stunned, they seize the glory of God and offer themselves to be admired in his likeness. By a righteous sentence, God withdraws his protection from them, as the apostle says, “He has given them up to a reprobate sense, so that they do not do or think what is fitting,” because, when they recognize the providence of God in all matters, they do not magnify God or offer thanks, but they boast of themselves and turn aside in their own idle thoughts. Though they claim to be wise, they are foolish; though they boast that they are firm, unconquered, powerful, they are weak, conquered and powerless.

Source: ON PRIDE 8