Commentaries:
Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown
the violence of Lebanon—thy "violence" against "Lebanon," that is, Jerusalem (Isaiah 37:24; Jeremiah 22:23; Ezekiel 17:3, Ezekiel 17:12; for Lebanon's cedars were used in building the temple and houses of Jerusalem; and its beauty made it a fit type of the metropolis), shall fall on thine own head.
cover—that is, completely overwhelm.
the spoil of beasts, which made them afraid—MAURER explains, "the spoiling inflicted on the beasts of Lebanon (that is, on the people of Jerusalem, of which city 'Lebanon' is the type), which made them afraid (shall cover thee)." But it seems inappropriate to compare the elect people to "beasts." I therefore prefer explaining, "the spoiling of beasts," that is, such as is inflicted on beasts caught in a net, and "which makes them afraid (shall cover thee)." Thus the Babylonians are compared to wild beasts terrified at being caught suddenly in a net. In cruel rapacity they resembled wild beasts. The ancients read, "the spoiling of wild beasts shall make THEE afraid." Or else explain, "the spoiling of beasts (the Medes and Persians) which (inflicted by thee) made them afraid (shall in turn cover thyself—revert on thyself from them)." This accords better with the parallel clause, "the violence of Lebanon," that is, inflicted by thee on Lebanon. As thou didst hunt men as wild beasts, so shalt thou be hunted thyself as a wild beast, which thou resemblest in cruelty.
because of men's blood—shed by thee; repeated from Habakkuk 2:8. But here the "land" and "city" are used of Judea and Jerusalem: not of the earth and cities generally, as in Habakkuk 2:8.
the violence of the land, etc.—that is, inflicted on the land by thee.
Other Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown entries containing Habakkuk 2:17:
Habakkuk 2:8
Zechariah 11:1
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