Two books of commentaries on the prophet Habakkuk to Chromatius

O Chromatius, most learned of bishops! First of all, we need to know that among the Greeks and Latins the name of the prophet is incorrectly read “Ambakum”; This name among the Jews is read “Abakuk” and is understood in the sense of “embrace,” or as we will use more expressively in Greek: περίληψις, i.e. "grasping" Then, where the Seventy Interpreters, Symmachus, Theodotion translated λῆμμα, i.e. “taking”, in Hebrew there is the word massa (םשא), which Aquila translated: “heaviness”, which we have more fully stated in the commentaries on the prophet Nahum. And the word “massa” is used in the introduction only when something seems important, full of labor and hardship. From this it necessarily follows that the present prophecy contains something strict, just as Nahum’s burden was heavy, which he saw against the city of Assyria; Thus, in the present case, we must investigate against whom is this heaviness, revealed to the spiritual vision of the prophet? In the book of the twelve prophets there are four, of which three, namely: Nahum, Habakkuk and Malachi, have an introduction at the beginning, expressed by the word λῆμμα, i.e. heaviness (burden); and then the fourth - Zechariah, uses two introductions of this kind, in the middle and towards the end; of these introductions, one is: “The burden of the word of the Lord is on the land of Hadrach, and in Damascus its rest” (Zech. 9:1), and the other is: “The burden of the word of the Lord is on Israel” (Zech. 12:1). The book about Nahum, with the assistance of your prayers, has already been published; Regarding Zechariah and Malachi there will be a discussion later, if there is a favorable way for this from the Lord. At the present time, we have in our hands Habakkuk, who is called “embrace,” either because he is the beloved of the Lord, or because he enters into an argument, a struggle and, so to speak, a hand-to-hand competition with God, so that his name comes from the competitor, i.e. wrapping his arms around the opponent. For no one dared to call on God with such a bold voice to resolve the dispute about justice and say to Him: “Why is there so much injustice in human affairs and in the structure (πολιτεία) of this world?” “I will cry to You while suffering violence and You will not save me? Why did You command me to see injustice and disaster? The law is torn to pieces and there is no righteous judgment to the end: since the wicked prevails in the struggle against the righteous, then a corrupt judgment occurs” (Hab. 1: 2-4). Do you not see that the voice is insolent and to some extent even blasphemous when it calls its Creator to judgment and when an earthen vessel argues with the potter about why it was done this way or that way? (Isa.45:9; Jer.18:6; Rom.9:20). It should also be noted that the vision of the prophet is a “lifting” or “burden”, which, as we have already said, denotes severe disasters, and that he clearly understands his vision - contrary to the perverted teaching of Montanus - so that he does not speak like a madman, and does not make meaningless sounds like crazy women. Therefore, the Apostle orders that if during the prophecy of some and others receive revelation, the first ones who spoke were silent, and immediately then he adds: “For God is not a God of discord, but of peace” (1 Cor. 14:33). From this it is clear that if someone voluntarily becomes silent and gives the opportunity to speak to another, he can both speak and remain silent whenever he wants. But the one who speaks in admiration, i.e. against the will, has no power of its own either to remain silent or to begin speaking. Find out also - since you strenuously demand from me that I interpret history for you, making, as it were, some steps on a ladder for your support - find out that this prophecy is directed against Babylon and Nebuchadnezzar, king of the Chaldeans; so that just as before Nahum, followed by Habakkuk, had a prophecy against Nineveh and the Assyrians, who defeated the ten tribes called Israel, Habakkuk receives a prophecy against Babylon and Nebuchadnezzar, by whom Judah, Jerusalem and the church were subjected to pogrom. And so that you know that Habakkuk lived at a time when two tribes, called Judah, were already taken into captivity, Daniel the prophet can show you this, because Habakkuk is sent to him into the lions’ den with food (Dan. 14:33-34), although the Jews do not have this story in their books. So, whether someone accepts it as truth or does not accept it, both are in our favor or indifferent: if they accept it, then the book of Habakkuk describes events after they occurred; if he does not accept, then he admits that Habakkuk described the events like a prophet, foreseeing that they would take place. You might be interested in: