Habakkuk 1:4

1:1-11 The servants of the Lord are deeply afflicted by seeing ungodliness and violence prevail; especially among those who profess the truth. No man scrupled doing wrong to his neighbour. We should long to remove to the world where holiness and love reign for ever, and no violence shall be before us. God has good reasons for his long-suffering towards bad men, and the rebukes of good men. The day will come when the cry of sin will be heard against those that do wrong, and the cry of prayer for those that suffer wrong. They were to notice what was going forward among the heathen by the Chaldeans, and to consider themselves a nation to be scourged by them. But most men presume on continued prosperity, or that calamities will not come in their days. They are a bitter and hasty nation, fierce, cruel, and bearing down all before them. They shall overcome all that oppose them. But it is a great offence, and the common offence of proud people, to take glory to themselves. The closing words give a glimpse of comfort.

(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.

Therefore the law is feeble, and judgment doth never go forth: for the wicked doth {b} surround the righteous; therefore judgment goeth forth {c} perverted (b) To suppress him, if any should show himself zealous of God's cause. (c) Because the judges who should remedy this excess, are as evil as the rest.

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. Psalm 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 Psalm 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.

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, Romans 13:3 . 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.

Verse 4. - Therefore . Because God has not interfered to put an end to this iniquity, or because of the want of righteous judges, the following consequences ensue. The Law is slacked. The Law. Torah , the revealed code which governed the moral, domestic, and political life, "is chilled," is benumbed ( Genesis 45:26 ), is no longer of any force or efficacy, is become a dead letter. Διασκέδασται "is dispersed" (Septuagint); lacerata est (Vulgate). Judgment doth never go forth; i.e. right is powerless, as if it had never been; justice never shows itself in such a case. Septuagint, οὐ διεξάγεται εἰς τέλος , "proceedeth not effectually; ' so the Vulgate. The rendering, "goeth not forth unto victory," given by the Syriac, is not so suitable; "unto truth" is a mistake arising from referring the word to a wrong root. Doth compass about. In a hostile sense, with threats and treachery ( Judges 20:43 ; Psalm 22:13 ). Septuagint, καταδυναστεύει , "prevails;" Vulgate, praevalet adversus. Therefore . Because the righteous are unable to act as they desire, being opposed by the wicked. Wrong judgment proceedeth; rather, judgment goeth forth perverted. Eight, or what is so called, when it does come forth, is distorted, wrested, so as to be right no more. Habakkuk 1:4

Therefore - i. e., Because God seemed not to awake to avenge His own cause, people promised themselves that they might sin on with impunity. Sin produces sin, and wrong produces wrong; it spreads like an infectious disease, propagating itself, and each, to whom it reaches, adds to its poison. At last, it reached those also, who should be in God's stead to restrain it. The divine law itself is silenced, by the power of the wicked, by the sin of the judge, the hopelessness of all. When all around is evil, even those not yet lost are tempted to think; "Why should I be other than they? What evil befalls them? Why stand alone?" Even a Psalmist Psalm 73:15 , Psalm 73:12-13 speaks as if tempted to "speak even as they. These are the ungodly who prosper in the world; they increase in riches; verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency;" and Solomon Ecclesiastes 8:11 , "Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil." The law is slacked - literally "is chilled" (as we say, "is paralyzed"), through lack of the fire of love. This is what our Lord says Matthew 24:12, Because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.

The divine law, the source of all right, being chilled in people's hearts, "judgment," i. e., the sentence of human justice, as conformed to divine justice, "doth never go forth." Human sense of right is powerless, when there is not the love of God's law. It seems always ready to act, but always falls short, like an arrow from an unstrung bow. The man seems always about to do right; he judges, sees, aright - all but does it - yet, at last, he always fails. "It goes not forth. The children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth" Isaiah 37:3. For the wicked doth compass about the righteous, laying snares for him, as the Jews for our Lord; evil is too strong for a weak will to do right, and overbears it. Pilate sought in many ways, how he might deliver Jesus, yet he finally did deliver Christ into their hands. Therefore wrong judgment proceedeth - literally, "judgment proceedeth wrested." He had said, "it never goes forth;" never, that is, in its true character; for, when it does "go forth," it is distorted.