Matthew Henry on Habakkuk 2:5-14
The prophet having had orders to write the vision, and the people to wait for the accomplishment of it, the vision itself follows; and it is, as divers other prophecies we have met with, the burden of Babylon and Babylon's king, the same that was said to pass over and offend, Hab 1:11. It reads the doom, some think, of Nebuchadnezzar, who was principally active in the destruction of Jerusalem, or of that monarchy, or of the whole kingdom of the Chaldeans, or of all such proud and oppressive powers as bear hard upon any people, especially upon God's people. Observe,
I. The charge laid down against this enemy, upon which the sentence is grounded, Hab 1:5. The lusts of the flesh, the lusts of t…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on Habakkuk 2:8
the remnant of the people--Those remaining of the peoples spoiled by thee, though but a remnant, will suffice to inflict vengeance on thee.
the violence of the land . . . city--that is, on account of thy violent oppression of the lands and cities of the earth [GROTIUS] (compare Hab 2:5-6, Hab 2:12). The same phrase occurs in Hab 2:17, where the "land" and "city" are Judea and Jerusalem.
Adam Clarke on Habakkuk 2:8
For the violence of the land - Or, for the violence done to the land of Judea, and to the city of Jerusalem.
John Gill on Habakkuk 2:8
Because thou hast spoiled many nations, all the remnant of the people shall spoil thee,.... Those that survived the persecutions of the Roman emperors; those that were left of the great numbers put to death by them; those under Constantine rose up, and by just retaliation spoiled them of all their power and wealth:
because of men's blood; the blood of the saints and martyrs of Jesus, of those under the altar, whose blood cried for vengeance, Revelation 6:9, which was shed under the ten bloody persecutions: or, "because of the blood of a man": of Adam (f), as it may be rendered; the blood of Christ the second Adam, which, though shed at the instance of the Jews, yet by the order of Pontius P…
