The Lord replies to Habakkuk's second complaint and tells him to write it down. What God is about to say would not happen immediately, but it would happen. And it is to be made plain, and it is to be declared. Though it would take some time to come about, the revelation would come to pass, it would happen, and it would happen at just the right time. One of the hardest things about being a Christian is getting used to God's timing! From our perspective He often does things too soon or too late, in reality it is always at just the right time.
"He" in verse 4 is the Babylonians, they were a proud and boastful people, and unrighteous with it. For a long time he would seem to succeed. So what are the righteous to do in the meantime? Live by faith, or faithfulness. Both are true. When the outworking of God's plans are not clear to us, we need to live by faith, knowing that in the end it is His will that will prevail. At the same time, even if the world around us is living unrighteously, we are to live righteously.
Babylon was an utterly evil nation, but she would suffer judgement because of it. The final judgement is actually good news, because otherwise it would mean that evil would go unpunished.
The Babylonians had idols that they worshipped, they also carried them about. Now we might think this was just silly, but in the context of the time it would add to the terrifying effect of the nation. But Habakkuk mocks the Babylonian idol worship.
One day all the earth will be silent before the Lord.
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