Habakkuk 2:5 - Exposition

§ 7. The character of the Chaldeans in some particulars is intimated. The general proposition in the former hemistich of Habakkuk 2:4 is here applied to the Chaldeans, in striking contrast to the lot of the just in the latter clause. Yea also, because he transgresseth by wine. This should be, And moreover, wine is treacherous. A kind of proverbial saying ( Proverbs 20:1 ). Vulgate, Quomodo vinum potantem decipit. There is no word expressive of comparison in the original, though it may be supplied to complete the sense. The intemperate habits of the Babylonians are well attested (see Daniel 5:3 , Daniel 5:4 ; Quint. Curt; Daniel 5:1 , "Babylonii maxime in vinum et quae ebrietatem sequuntur effusi sunt;" comp. Her; 1.191; Xen; 'Cyrop.,' 7.5. 15). They used beth the fermented sap of the palm tree as well as the juice of the grape, the latter chiefly imported from abroad. "The wealthy Babylonians were fond of drinking to excess; their banquets were magnificent, but generally ended in drunkenness". Neither the Septuagint, nor the Syriac, nor the Coptic Version has any mention of wine in this passage. The Septuagint gives, ὁ δὲ κατοιόμενος καὶ καταφρονητής , "the arrogant and the scorner." He is a proud man, neither keepeth he at home; a haughty man, he resteth not. His pride is always impelling him to new raids and conquests. This is quite the character of the later Chaldeans, and is consistent with the latter part of the verse. The comparison, then, is this: As wine raises the spirits and excites men to great efforts which in the end deceive them, so pride rouses these men to go on their insatiate course of conquest, which shall one day prove their ruin. The verb translated "keepeth at home" has the secondary sense of "being decorous;" hence the Vulgate gives, Sic erit vir superbus, et non decorabitur; i.e. as wine first exhilarates and then makes a man contemptible, so pride, which begins by exalting a man, ends by bringing him to ignominy. Others take the verb in the sense of "continueth not," explaining that the destruction of Babylon is here intimated. But what follows makes against this interpretation. The LXX . gives, ἁνὴρ ἀλαζὼν οὐθὲν μὴ τεράνη , which Jerome, combining with it his own version, paraphrases, "Sic vir superbus non decorabitur, nec voluntatem suam perducet ad finem; et juxta Symmachum, οὐκ εὐπορήσει , hoc est, in rerum omnium erit penuria." Who enlargeth his desire as hell; Hebrew, Sheol. Hell is called insatiable ( Proverbs 27:20 ; Proverbs 30:16 ; Isaiah 5:14 ). Is as death, which seizes all creatures and spares none. People ; peoples.