For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of Jehovah as the waters cover the sea.
Commentary for this Verse
This verse closes a woe spoken over a violent empire that built its capital on bloodshed. It answers that woe with a promise, and readers have long asked how the promise arrives: by the slow spread of preaching, or by God's own act.
The Woe It Answers
The verse is the climax of the third woe. Commentators point to what the Chaldeans had achieved and on what it rested.
Arno Clemens GaebeleinA third woe follows. Verses 12-14 are of special interest, because they give us a picture of a godless civilisation and its appointed end. Their cruel oppression and their ungodly gains had built up a magnificent city. Excavations have shown what a remarkable civilisation was in force when Babylon was mistress of the world. But the foundations of it all were iniquity and the blood of victims.
Against that background the promise transfers world rule out of human hands altogether.
Hamilton SmithThe third woe is pronounced against this nation that has tried to establish itself in power on a foundation of bloodshed and iniquity. It tells us that these men will come under the fire of judgment, and they will weary themselves in vain against it. The LORD has kept universal power over the nations for Himself.
Labour for the Fire, Then Glory
Verse 14 opens with "For". It looks back to the words just before it, where the nations wear themselves out for nothing. That link decides the meaning.
J. N. DarbyTurn now to Habakkuk. There you have one of those passages that are constantly in people's minds, as showing that the gospel will go on and spread until it fills the world. I refer to them only to point out the opposite: they show nothing of the kind… The people are all labouring in the fire and wearying themselves for utter emptiness. Then the glory comes and fills the earth.
Three Passages, One Pattern
Three passages in Scripture promise an earth filled like this. Kelly points out what all three have in common.
William KellyOne more remark is worth making. Three Scriptures speak of worldwide blessing and glory for the earth. Not one of them connects it with the preached gospel; all connect it with divine judgment. Numbers 14:21 is the first mention of this purpose of the Lord… Isaiah 11 is the second. There the picture of millennial blessedness shows the earth full of the knowledge of Jehovah. Yet that picture opens with the Lord smiting the earth with the rod of His mouth and slaying the wicked with the breath of His lips… The third and last case is Habakkuk 2:14. There it is clear that the filling of the earth with the knowledge of Jehovah's glory is in no way the fruit of people labouring for love or for emptiness. It is the fruit of God's mighty intervention for His own glory, when He brings the proud head of nations to nothing.
Darby draws the same line, and adds a warning about who does the filling:
J. N. DarbyIt is certainly through judgments that the knowledge of the glory of the Lord — not the knowledge of His grace — will cover the earth… It is easy for men to say, "We shall fill"; but Scripture does not say that.
Why the Wording Is Fuller Here
Habakkuk does not just repeat the earlier promises. He joins them.
J Wilson SmithWhile waiting for the vision, he looks onward and sees something fine, beautiful, thrilling — "the earth filled." Not only with the glory of the Lord, as promised in Numbers 14. Not only with the knowledge of the Lord, as in Isaiah 11. He sees both together: "the knowledge of the glory of the Lord!"
Knowledge, Not Faith
The verse promises knowledge, not belief. Kelly explains why that word fits the coming age of blessing.
William KellyIn the new age people will be richly blessed, but the blessing of the millennium does not exactly take the shape of belief… The earth will be filled with the knowledge — not with the faith, but with the knowledge — of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea… They will see the glory. They will look on the Lord, no longer hidden but displayed.
Seeing the glory is not the same as being saved by it. Kelly adds:
William KellyThis does not necessarily mean that everyone who knows the glory of Jehovah will know His grace and be converted. Still, many will be brought to the Lord.
What the Vision Is For
The vision was not just for admiring. Habakkuk had to write it down so readers would act.
H. P. BarkerAs he looked out on the horizon of God's future, he saw a wonderful vision of the day when "the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea"… That day was still far off. But Habakkuk was to record the vision, so that on reading it men would start running. They were to run, in their affections, away from the evil world around them and towards the bright world the vision testified to.
Summary
- Woe — The verse answers a woe on an empire that built its power on bloodshed and iniquity.
- Fire — The nations' work ends in the fire of judgment. They wear themselves out for emptiness — and then the glory comes.
- Judgment — Numbers 14:21, Isaiah 11 and Habakkuk 2:14 all promise a filled earth. Each ties the filling to God's own intervention, not to preaching.
- Fullness — Numbers 14 promised glory. Isaiah 11 promised knowledge. Habakkuk promises both at once: the knowledge of the glory.
- Sight — The promise is knowledge, not faith. Men will see the Lord Himself, no longer hidden but displayed.