Habakkuk 1:5-11--The LORD's Answer

Habakkuk 1:5-11
English Standard Version

The LORD's Answer
5 “Look among the nations, and see;
    wonder and be astounded.
For I am doing a work in your days
    that you would not believe if told.
6 For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans,
    that bitter and hasty nation,
who march through the breadth of the earth,
    to seize dwellings not their own.
7 They are dreaded and fearsome;
    their justice and dignity go forth from themselves.
8 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.
9 They all come for violence,
    all their faces forward.
    They gather captives like sand.
10 At kings they scoff,
    and at rulers they laugh.
They laugh at every fortress,
    for they pile up earth and take it.
11 Then they sweep by like the wind and go on,
    guilty men, whose own might is their god!”

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We already started to hint the LORD tells Habakkuk that He's already at work to answer his prayer/complaint.  The LORD tells the prophet Habakkuk that he will not believe what it is the LORD is up to, even if the LORD would tell it to him (we'll see that is very true as we progress through the book).  What is this amazing thing that the LORD is doing?  He is using the Chaldeans (the rich and powerful ruling and warrior class of the Babylonian Empire) to judge the surrounding nations.  They will also be used to judge the people of Judah that the prophet Habakkuk just decried and asked "How long O LORD?"

The LORD identifies the Chaldeans as dreadful and fearsome.  Those who do not fear the LORD will be made to fear His agents of justice and wrath.  The Chaldeans have their own sense of justice that they are known for as they will quickly sweep through the region and devour many people who worship idols.  They will form the opinion that their victory is because the gods of these people were not strong enough to save them and the Babylonians will start to think of themselves as having superhuman strength to even go to war against gods.  All the mighty men who trust in their own strength or in their false gods will be destroyed and put to shame.  But what of the people of God when the LORD allows them to be defeated and captured?  Will this not harm His great Name? That has been and will continue to be an objection that the prophets raise, and it is the main reason that the LORD will again act to save His people in the end--not because they deserve it, but for the sake of His holy Name, so that the nations will see it and fear Him and worship Him.