Hab 1:8 | KingComments | STEP | From a military point of view, Babylon is not lacking in anything, not in equipment and not in the greed for conquest. Everything has been prepared down to the last detail. The distance is not an objection. In raging speed they will reach their goal, because their “horses are swifter than leopards”. They arrive with a ferocity worse than that of hungry evening wolves. Once they see their prey, they shoot at it like an eagle to devour it (cf. ; ). The cavalry of Babylon is compared to three predators, “leopards”, “wolves in the evening” and “an eagle”. These three predators are symbols of God’s judgment of Judah (cf. ). Wolves in the evening are hungry because of their lack of food during the day and therefore they go out for prey in the evening ( ). When Moses tells the people what will happen to them if they are unfaithful, he speaks of a cruel people who will come to them and compares that people to an eagle. What Habakkuk says here is the fulfillment of what Moses said ( ).

‏ Habakkuk 1:8

Babylon’s Cavalry

From a military point of view, Babylon is not lacking in anything, not in equipment and not in the greed for conquest. Everything has been prepared down to the last detail. The distance is not an objection. In raging speed they will reach their goal, because their “horses are swifter than leopards”. They arrive with a ferocity worse than that of hungry evening wolves. Once they see their prey, they shoot at it like an eagle to devour it (cf. Jer 48:40 ; Jer 49:22; Lam 4:19).

The cavalry of Babylon is compared to three predators, “leopards”, “wolves in the evening” and “an eagle”. These three predators are symbols of God’s judgment of Judah (cf. Jer 5:10). Wolves in the evening are hungry because of their lack of food during the day and therefore they go out for prey in the evening (Zep 3:3). When Moses tells the people what will happen to them if they are unfaithful, he speaks of a cruel people who will come to them and compares that people to an eagle. What Habakkuk says here is the fulfillment of what Moses said (Deu 28:49-50).