I will stand at my watch: After presenting the prayer and argument he had formulated concerning the success of these wicked Babylonians, the prophet took his position and awaited the Divine answer that would reach him. There is a distinction between a mishmar, a watch, and a matzor, a siege position. A watch is established to protect what is being guarded, as in “those who kept the watch of the king’s house” and “the watch of the Temple.” A siege position, however, is established in order to conquer the object being besieged. The prophet’s words in the preceding chapter contained two elements: first, his prayer on behalf of Israel that their suffering be removed; and second, his argument concerning the prosperity of the wicked Babylonians. The two halves of the verse correspond to these two matters. “I will stand at my watch and look to see what Hashem will speak within me” refers to his prayer for Israel’s deliverance. He could not present this as a reasoned argument, because he knew that Israel had incurred punishment through its evil deeds. He therefore approached God in prayer and stood at his watch, waiting to hear what God would tell him concerning when the anger would end and the time of salvation arrive. “And I will station myself upon the siege position, to see what I shall answer concerning my reproof” refers to his objection concerning Babylon’s tranquility and success. On this subject, he had argued directly: “Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do You behold traitors? Why do You show me iniquity?” He therefore stationed himself as though conducting a siege—a combatant seeking to conquer and prevail through his argument—and waited to see what answer would be given concerning his challenge and disputation. He says, “what I shall answer,” because his complaints were not personally directed against God; rather, he had reported the complaints of his generation, who raised strife and contention concerning the ways of Divine Providence, as stated, “There is strife, and contention arises.” He wished to learn the answer that he could give to those disputing this matter.

And Hashem answered me: “Write the vision”: God answered him and revealed Babylon’s downfall and that its ultimate fate was destruction. He did not disclose the fixed time when this would occur, because that revelation was reserved for a later prophet—Jeremiah. He revealed only their downfall in a vision and commanded Habakkuk to write the vision upon tablets and explain it clearly, so that everyone could understand it. There was a difference between something written in a book, since not everyone read books, and something inscribed upon tablets, which were accessible to everyone. He likewise commanded the prophet to explain his words so that nothing in the prophecy would remain obscure, so that anyone reading it could run through it and everyone would understand its meaning.

For there is yet a vision for the appointed time: God informed Habakkuk that the appointed time of Babylon’s downfall would not be revealed to him. A separate vision concerning that time would later be given through Jeremiah, who foresaw that it would occur when Babylon’s seventy years were completed, in the third year of Belshazzar. God also informed him that the appointed time of Babylon’s downfall would not be the end. It would constitute only a visitation and not the final culmination of the wonders, for after Israel was redeemed from Babylon, they would go into exile again. The end—the final redemption—would not occur then. “And another will speak concerning the end.” Another prophet would arise to speak and prophesy concerning the end, which “will not fail” or be interrupted. The appointed time would “fail,” in the sense that the redemption occurring then would subsequently cease, because Israel would again be exiled. The final end, however, would not fail, since no exile would follow it. Daniel would be the prophet who spoke concerning that end, which would not fail but would bring everlasting salvation. “Though it tarries,” although the final end may take a long time, nevertheless, “wait for it, for it will surely come and will not be late.” There is a distinction between tarrying and being late. Something is late only when it passes its fixed and appointed time. If an event is appointed for a thousand years hence, then although it tarries, it is not late if it arrives at the end of those thousand years. The final redemption has two possible times: if Israel merits it, “I will hasten it”; if they do not, it will come “in its appointed time.” Although it may tarry when Israel is unworthy, because its fixed time is exceedingly distant, nevertheless, once that appointed time arrives, it will not be delayed beyond it. The end will certainly come under all circumstances.

Behold, his soul is presumptuous; it is not upright within him: A person whose inner soul is not upright becomes presumptuous and emboldens himself to calculate the time of the end and force its arrival. God informed Habakkuk that many would stumble by presumptuously attempting, through strength and force, to bring about the end. Thus it is written, “The lawless among your people will exalt themselves to fulfill the vision, but they will stumble.” Numerous false prophets would arise and bring many calamities upon Israel. Many people would presumptuously attempt to fulfill the vision and calculate the time of the end; when it failed to arrive at the time they had calculated, they would abandon the faith. But the righteous shall live by his faith: The righteous person whose soul is upright within him will not presumptuously calculate the end or attempt to force the vision’s fulfillment. Instead, he will live by his faith, believing that Hashem’s day will come, remaining silent before Hashem and waiting patiently for Him.

Moreover: The vision now begins to reveal Babylon’s downfall. Although God did not disclose its appointed time to Habakkuk, He revealed how it would occur. It is known that in the third year of Belshazzar, the king made a great feast and drank wine before a thousand guests. During the feast, he commanded that the Temple vessels be brought before him, and he, his officials, and his wives drank wine from them. They praised their idols, believing that their gods had prevailed over the God of Israel and that He lacked the power to recover His sacred vessels from Belshazzar’s hands. Belshazzar had calculated the period foretold by Jeremiah and mistakenly concluded that its appointed time had already passed. God then sent His angel, who wrote upon the wall, “Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin.” Daniel explained that because Belshazzar had desecrated God’s sacred vessels and attributed power and might to idols of silver and gold, his kingdom had been divided and given to Media and Persia. That very night Belshazzar was killed, bringing the Babylonian kingdom to an end. The prophet had already alluded to this above in the words, “Then a spirit passed over him, and he transgressed and became guilty—this power of his is his god.” After describing the Babylonian king’s success and the wicked spirit that entered Belshazzar, causing him to attribute his strength to gods of gold and silver, Habakkuk interrupted the account with his prayer and argument. The vision now resumes and explains the event in detail. The word “moreover” means that, in addition to the spirit of arrogance that passed over him, “the wine betrayed the arrogant man.” The wine he drank deprived him of his reason, causing him presumptuously to desecrate the Temple vessels and drink from them. Therefore, “he shall not remain in his dwelling”: he would no longer remain in his residence or palace, for he was immediately killed and cast out of his royal abode. The verse now explains the matter more fully: “For he enlarged his appetite like Sheol.” He expanded his appetite and desire until they resembled Sheol, which is never satisfied by receiving the dead, as it is written, “Sheol and destruction are never satisfied.” “And he himself is like death and is never satisfied.” Figuratively, death is portrayed as Sheol’s agent: Sheol and destruction cry, “Give, give,” and send death to kill living souls and bring them into Sheol, as in Isaiah 28:15. Accordingly, the prophet compares Belshazzar’s appetite for food, drink, wealth, and pleasures to Sheol. This appetite sends him forth like death to kill multitudes and destroy mighty nations and peoples. His desire is never satisfied, and he likewise is never satisfied with taking lives. Consequently, “he gathered all the nations to himself” after conquering them in his wars.

Will not all these: All the nations that he conquered will take up a parable against him, with an enigmatic interpretation concerning him. This parable possesses a melitzah—an interpretation explaining its meaning—and is expressed as a riddle. What is the parable? “Woe to him who increases what is not his.” They compare him to a man who continually borrows money from others at interest. He does not borrow it for his own needs but for the benefit of others, yet he personally assumes the obligation to repay both the principal and the interest. This is the meaning of “him who increases”—one who borrows at interest—“what is not his,” meaning not for his own use. “Until when?” His borrowing has no temporal limit: he continually borrows without ever repaying. “And who burdens himself with pledges”: He assumes the pledge and the debt upon himself and becomes obligated to repay what he has taken as security and borrowed.

Will not your creditors suddenly arise: Those who exact interest and increase will arise and demand payment of the interest you owe. And will not those who shake you awaken: Your creditors will awaken from their sleep and shake you, demanding repayment of the principal as well. When you have nothing with which to repay them, you will become their spoil. This is the parable; the prophet will now explain its figurative meaning and interpretation.

For you have plundered many nations: This is the loan described in the parable. The wealth you plundered from numerous nations remains in your possession only as a loan, and you are obligated to repay both the plunder itself and its interest. You also “increased what was not yours,” for the spoils you seized are being preserved for Media and Persia, who will take them from your hand, while you will be required to make repayment because you assumed the debt upon yourself. “All the remnant of the peoples shall plunder you” is the figurative meaning of “Will not your creditors suddenly arise?” All those who remain from the nations you slaughtered will plunder you. The verse should be understood as follows: “All the remnant of the peoples shall plunder from you the city and all who dwell in it, because of human bloodshed and violence against the land.” In payment of the enormous debt you owe for the human blood you spilled and for the violence, robbery, and plunder you inflicted upon the land, all the surviving peoples will despoil you of the city—Babylon, the royal capital—and all its inhabitants. They will become plunder in repayment of the principal and interest owed for human bloodshed and violence against the land.

Woe to him who acquires evil gain: The profit he has obtained is actually evil for his own house, because it will cause his house and kingdom to be destroyed. The verse explains that this results from his desire to set his nest on high—to fortify the Babylonian kingdom and exalt it above all the kingdoms of the earth—and from his desire to escape from the hand of evil, so that no one will be able to overpower him and seize his kingdom from him.

You have devised: For the purpose of setting your nest on high, you have devised shame for your own house. What was your plan? You devised the destruction of many peoples—and one sinner. You planned to cut off and destroy numerous nations, but together with them you also planned the destruction of a single sinner. Who is that sinner? Your own soul! Your soul will be cut off together with them, and you too will perish.

(11–12) For a stone shall cry out from the wall: “Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed”: Every stone that you placed in the wall of Babylon’s buildings will cry out from the wall and declare, “Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed,” for you built Babylon with the blood you spilled. The clauses correspond to one another: “For a stone shall cry out from the wall, ‘Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed,’ and a wooden beam shall answer it, ‘Woe to him who establishes a city through injustice.’” A city’s stone structure is built first, and every stone will therefore cry out, “Woe!” because he erected the building with the blood he had shed. Afterward, the city is completed by placing the wooden roof upon the top of the finished structure. The wooden beam used for roofing will then answer the stone and say, “Woe to him who establishes a city through injustice.” Even the final stage of construction—although by that time he had ceased shedding blood because he had already conquered all the nations—was completed through injustice, plunder, and violence.

Behold, is this not from Hashem? The wooden beam will announce that a decree has gone forth from God to repay the evildoer according to his wickedness. “The peoples shall labor for the fire”: A fire will be ignited in the city’s roof and in the wood acquired through injustice and placed there. All the peoples will labor to extinguish the fire but will be unable to do so. The stone will announce from the wall that “the nations shall exhaust themselves for nothing”: afterward, the stone wall itself will be destroyed, and the nations will exhaust themselves attempting to save the structure, but their efforts will be futile. Thus Jeremiah said, “Babylon’s broad wall shall be utterly demolished, and her high gates shall be set on fire. The peoples shall labor for nothing”—that is, trying to save the wall—“and the nations for the fire, and they shall weary themselves”—that is, trying to save the gates and the wooden roofing (Jeremiah 51:58).

For the earth shall be filled: This came about through Belshazzar’s desecration of the Temple vessels and through the writing that the angel inscribed upon the wall. Daniel subsequently informed him that God’s wrath had fallen upon him because he had desecrated His sacred vessels and praised gods of silver and gold. Consequently, Belshazzar was killed and Babylon was conquered. Through this, all the nations came to recognize God’s glory, power, might, and Providence. Thus it says, “For the earth shall be filled with knowledge of the glory of Hashem, as the waters cover the sea.” This event became known to the kings of Media and Persia, who were then besieging Babylon, and they proclaimed God’s glory and might to all the peoples.

Woe: The prophet now describes the event itself—how their punishment came through drinking wine from the Temple vessels. He says, “Woe to him who gives his companion drink”: Belshazzar gave his companions, his officials, wine to drink from the Temple vessels. “Joining them to your heat”: This is explained by Jeremiah’s words: “In their heat I will prepare their feast, and I will make them drunk so that they exult and sleep an everlasting sleep” (Jeremiah 51:39). When they began drinking from the Temple vessels, God caused an intense heat to arise among them, greatly inflaming them. Afterward, they became so intoxicated that they fell into an eternal sleep and heard neither of Belshazzar’s death nor of the entry of the Persian and Median army. The soldiers killed them in their sleep, and they never awoke. Thus, when you gave your officials drink, they became joined to your heat and fever, causing the heat of the feast to intensify and increase. “And you also made them drunk”: They became exceedingly intoxicated, “so as to gaze upon their vomit”—they vomited the wine because of their extreme drunkenness, and everyone saw their vomit.

You have become sated with shame instead of glory: The prophet says to Belshazzar: You filled yourself with something contemptible from something honorable. That is, from the honored vessels of the House of God you drank your fill of wine, something base and degrading. Their purpose in drinking wine from those vessels was to dishonor them, for drinking wine from them was a greater indignity than drinking water, as I explained in my commentary on Daniel concerning the words, “They drank wine.” Therefore, “you too shall drink and expose yourself”: you will drink the cup of reeling that God will give you—a cup of poison. The prophet then explains the source of this poison: “The cup of Hashem’s right hand shall come around upon you.” The poisonous cup that came upon you from Hashem’s right hand was the right hand of the angel—the palm that wrote upon the wall above the king, “Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin.” From Hashem’s right hand, which inscribed these words against him, Belshazzar drank the poisonous cup. “And disgraceful vomit shall cover your glory”: because you drank shame from God’s glory and from the Temple vessels, vomit and disgrace came upon your own glory.

For the violence done to Lebanon shall cover you: The violence you committed against Lebanon—that is, the Temple—by desecrating its sacred vessels will cover you with disgrace. “And the destruction by beasts shall terrify them”: The verse should be understood as saying, “The destruction by beasts shall terrify the city and all its inhabitants, because of human bloodshed and violence against the land.” Since the prophet calls the Temple “Lebanon,” he figuratively portrays it as the forest of Lebanon, as though that forest sent forth the predatory beasts dwelling within it. The devastation wrought by the beasts of Lebanon terrified and destroyed the city of Babylon and all its inhabitants, for they tore Babylon and its population apart. Jeremiah similarly portrayed Babylon’s downfall: “Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the pride of the Jordan against the strong habitation” (Jeremiah 50:44). He compared the armies of Persia and Media to lions coming from the Land of Israel and the pride of the Jordan to avenge the Land of Israel, while comparing Babylon to a flock of sheep: “Surely the least of the flock shall drag them away.” The prophet says that this punishment would come because of the human blood the Babylonians had shed and the violence they had committed against the land. He also uses the word “beasts” as an allusion to the animals that had existed within the figurative Lebanon—the Temple—the sacrificial animals offered there, whose blood had been placed in the vessels that Belshazzar now desecrated. It is as though those animals awakened and brought devastation and terror upon the city of Babylon.

What benefit has the idol: On this basis, the prophet challenges them for praising gods of silver and gold, as Daniel said to Belshazzar: “You exalted yourself against Hashem of heaven, and the vessels of His House were brought before you … You praised gods of silver, gold, bronze, and iron, which neither see, hear, nor know; but the God in whose hand is your soul you did not honor.” The prophet says: See now what benefit you received from the idol you praised as though it had defeated the supreme God. Did it save you from His hand? He then describes the idol’s degradation from the perspectives of its maker, material, form, and purpose. Concerning its maker, he says, “For its maker carved it”: the one who made and shaped it is merely a human being. Concerning its material, he calls it “a molten image,” for its substance consists of metal that was melted and cast. Concerning its form, he says that it is “a teacher of falsehood.” Concerning its purpose, he says, “For the maker trusts in what he has formed, to make mute idols.” The verse means that the trust placed by the created object in its maker ultimately returns upon the maker himself. The created idol “trusts” its maker to make it a mute god, for the craftsman can do nothing more: he cannot give it living breath or speech. Yet the craftsman, in turn, trusts this created image, although all he has made is a mute idol. This figuratively describes Belshazzar, who was killed, lost the breath of life, and lay like a silent stone—resembling the lifeless idol he had made and trusted, within which there was no living spirit. The following verse explains this further.

Woe to him who says to the wood, “Awaken”: The prophet presents a sublime image. He portrays Belshazzar’s body after he was killed, lying as a silent corpse without the breath of life but clothed in garments of gold and silver, exactly like his idol, which was likewise a mute, lifeless object covered with gold and silver and containing no living spirit. It is as though the idol transformed Belshazzar, its worshiper, into its own likeness—a lifeless image clothed in gold and silver. Accordingly, the prophet cries, “Woe!” and refers to “the one who says to the wood, ‘Awaken.’” This is Belshazzar, who worshiped an image of wood and stone and called upon it in prayer to awaken from its sleep and arise to hear him. “He shall teach”: Belshazzar himself will teach, demonstrate, and establish the truth of what I said—that the maker ultimately receives from the image what the image received from its maker, becoming a mute idol himself. For behold, he—Belshazzar—is covered with gold and silver, his corpse clothed in them, but there is no breath within him, for his soul has departed. Thus, through the trust he placed in the idol, he became a mute idol like it.

But Hashem: Hashem whom you despised and whose sacred Temple vessels you desecrated is still in His holy Temple—the Temple in Jerusalem—and He has executed judgment upon those who desecrated its vessels. Let all the earth be silent before Him: Through this, everyone will recognize Hashem’s glory and fear Him, as stated above (verse 14): “For the earth shall be filled with knowledge of the glory of Hashem.”