Habakkuk 1:16, commentary and pictures

The verse describes the Chaldean oppressor worshiping his nets and dragnets, his weapons and military power and means of conquest, as gods because by victory and spoil his portion is made fat and plenteous. The net and drag stand for wily schemes and business combinations and trusts by which the oppressor captures and controls helpless people made as fishes of the sea with no defense, and then rejoices in that control. To sacrifice to the net is to trust in, honor, serve and rely on one's own machinations, and to burn incense to the drag is to rejoice and take pride in them, giving those means the credit for wealth and abundance that belongs to God. It is a prophecy of last-day conditions fulfilled in grasping rich men and financial rulers and monopolists whose commercial schemes entrap the public, control necessities, oppress the poor and gather the wealth of peoples. Those who do so are accountable to God for wealth misused, for He permits the oppressor to triumph only for a time as a corrector of His people and will at last judge him and let the spoiled rise against him.

Words and Ancient Setting

The verse alludes to an ancient pagan custom among peoples living near the sea, who when their fishing nets were spread out to dry would sacrifice to them and worship them in hope of gaining success in their work and winning the favor of their gods.

The prophecy is directed against the Chaldeans who would sweep over the land on account of its wickedness. In its immediate setting it is a reproof of the oppressive and wealthy in Israel, with warning of the Chaldeans' coming. The name Habakkuk means to embrace, and the prophecy was given about 630 or 640 B.C. in the reign of Josiah, near the time of Nahum and a little later, as late as the middle of Jeremiah's prophecy. Habakkuk was contemporary with Jeremiah.

In its historical sense the verse describes the Chaldean oppressor and conqueror worshiping his nets and dragnets as gods. He treats his weapons, his military power, and his means of conquest as objects of worship, sacrificing to his net and burning incense to his drag. He does so because by victories and conquest his spoil, portion, and food are made fat, wealthy, and plenteous, giving them credit for his prosperity and abundant food as though net and drag had provided his wealth. In crediting his instruments of warfare rather than God, he shows the pride and false worship of a power made prosperous by conquest.

Idolizing the Means of Gain

The net and the drag are wily schemes by which the oppressor captures and controls others, gathers peoples and nations under his power, and exploits them for gain. They are business combinations and trusts, commercial schemes that entrap the public, and the practices of monopolists by which a few wealthy men control necessities and treat men as things to be caught. The worship of gold belongs to the same idolatry, honoring the wealth and power gained through ensnaring schemes because they make the portion fat.

The fish taken in the net are poor and helpless people made as fishes of the sea with no ruler and no defense against their oppressors. The oppressor takes them all, catches them and gathers them in net and dragnet, taking people and gathering nations, and then rejoices and is glad in that control. This despoiling of the helpless poor is the work of grasping rich men and financial rulers, whose triumph ends when the oppressed rise and spoil them in judgment.

To sacrifice unto the net is to trust in, honor, serve, and rely on one's own machinations and artful schemes, and to burn incense unto the drag is to rejoice, celebrate, and take pride in them. The oppressor glorifies, worships, and gives credit to those means, treating his net as a god, because by them his portion is fat and his meat plenteous with abundant wealth, food, and provision. The modern capitalist who gathers the wealth of many peoples does the same, taking pride in the means by which riches are accumulated and rejoicing in net and drag because they bring increase.

This is crediting instruments of gain and external means rather than God, treating them as the source of prosperity and giving them the honor and devotion that belong to God. To sacrifice to one's own net is to seek personal credit or profit and give oneself the glory, which shows self-interest as the motivating principle, with self remaining the source and end of such duties. To strive with heart and mind, soul and strength to add to possessions while never acknowledging God to direct the path, thinking much of one's own perseverance and praising self and never the Maker to whom the earth and its fullness belong, is to live without God in the world as much as bowing down to stocks and stones.

Prophecy and Present Application

Chapters 1 and 2 depict last-day conditions, with woes against those who are covetous, cruel, and intemperate. The oppression of Habakkuk's day is a prophecy of last-day conditions, and his times are a type of the present time, including last-day oppression of the poor and strife between the rich and the poor. The prophecy was directed against the Chaldeans who would sweep over the land on account of its wickedness, given about 630 or 640 B.C. in the reign of Josiah, near the time of Nahum and a little later, as late as the middle of Jeremiah's prophecy, with Habakkuk contemporary with Jeremiah. In its setting it is a reproof of the oppressive and wealthy in Israel with warning of the Chaldeans' coming, where the conqueror treats his net — the means by which he captures and enriches himself — as a god because it brings him abundant wealth and food.

The verse applies to the modern capitalist, grasping rich men, financial rulers, monopolists, and the rule of the trust that claims mastery of the world. It portrays greed, increase of riches, the worship of gold, commercial schemes that entrap the public and let a few control necessities, oppression of the poor in mining and the coal strike, and gathering the wealth of many peoples. That modern power puts governments in the back seat, controls war and peace, compels all to buy at its own price, and withholds resources to multiply values. The fish caught in the net picture poor people with no defense and no ruler, whom the oppressor takes, catches, gathers, despoils, and then rejoices and is glad in that control, celebrating and relying on his own machinations and artful schemes.

Those who gain prosperity by oppressing others are accountable to God, for great wealth is an opportunity to do justice, and failing to use it rightly brings judgment. God permits the oppressor to triumph as an instrument for correcting His people, crediting weapons of conquest with success and abundance, but that success does not give license to destroy continually. The exploiter prospers by taking people and gathering nations, but the oppressed will eventually rise and spoil him in judgment.

The verse also describes fallen churches sacrificing to their net and burning incense to their drag by honoring and rejoicing in their denominational standards, articles, creeds, confessions of faith, disciplines, and human standards put in place of the word of the Lord which is sufficient for doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness. With them they deal treacherously, make men as fishes of the sea without a ruler, take them up with the angle and catch and gather them in net and drag, and rejoice in that success because by these nets their portion is fat and their meat plenteous. Almost every division of the professed church has its net and drag in its institutions, periodicals, colleges, ministers, churches, and papers. It is right and necessary for a fisherman to have a net and drag, but he must not worship them, for God alone can give success; people are prone to stop short of the Great First Cause and rob God of glory by taking pride in means, a snare to be avoided by valuing and praying for the success of the work, including the Sabbath and Advent paper, while looking beyond the means to the Great First Cause for final and sure success. Honoring one's own means and teaching instead of God, and saying that the moral law contained in the ten commandments is done away, is sacrificing to one's own net and burning incense to one's own drag because they make the portion fat. Watchmen upon the walls of Zion who say this serve their own interest while rejecting God's law, statutes, and commandments, which are perfection and not to be changed.