Habakkuk 1:15
They take up all of them with the angle, they catch them in their net, and gather them in their drag: therefore they rejoice and are glad. They take up all of them with the angle, they catch them in their net, and gather them in their drag: therefore they rejoice and are glad.
Habakkuk 1:15 portrays the Chaldeans in their ruthless conquering power lifting peoples and nations as fishermen lift fish with hook and line, catching net, and gathering dragnet, then rejoicing and exulting in their power and success. The hook, net, and drag are wily schemes and devices by which rulers, oppressors, and the powerful bring the helpless under their control, despoil them, and swallow up their substance, and the rejoicing is their delight in the advantage, abundance, and rich portion those schemes secure. To treat men as fishes of the sea and creeping things with no ruler is to treat them as helpless prey with no defender, no rights, and no divine rule, regarding them as mere things to catch, collect, and use for gain. The same picture exposes the greedy rich and mighty of the present day, including exploiting capitalists, predatory trusts and monopolists, and covetous employers and institutions, who catch men like fish, exploit the poor and laborers, withhold wages, cut pay, destroy livelihoods, seize resources, and dictate terms while rejoicing in the taking. Chapters 1 and 2 also depict last-day conditions and pronounce woes upon the covetous, the cruel, and the intemperate, so that time is a type of the present time, and in religion the verse likewise describes churches that set aside the Bible's teaching for human creeds and standards, capture souls, and glory in the influence gained.
Imagery and Historical Setting
The verse shows the Chaldeans in their ruthless conquering work lifting up all peoples and nations as fishermen lift fish with angle and hook, catching them in the net and gathering them in the drag, then rejoicing and being glad in their power and success. It belongs to the Lord's answer that the Chaldeans will overthrow Jerusalem, and it prompts Habakkuk's question whether they will go on destroying nations without restraint. It was given not far from 630 or 640 B.C., as late as the middle of Jeremiah's prophecy, when the Chaldeans were sweeping over the land on account of its wickedness. It belongs to Habakkuk's reproof in the days of Jeremiah against the oppressive and wealthy in Israel, warning them of the coming Chaldeans who take peoples as fishermen take fish with angle and net and drag.
Chapters 1 and 2 clearly depict last-day conditions and pronounce woes against the covetous and the cruel and the intemperate. That time is a type of our own time.
The angle and net and drag are the wily schemes and devices by which rulers and oppressors and the powerful control others and despoil the helpless and financially swallow up the poor and bring them under their power. The fishing gear is the means by which people are controlled and exploited and gathered into subjection. Their rejoicing is pleasure and celebration of success in those schemes, because the schemes bring advantage and abundance and make the portion rich and the sustenance abundant.
To make men as the fishes of the sea and as creeping things with no ruler over them is to treat them as helpless sea life with no defender or protector. It is to treat them as though they had no rights and as if justice and God's rule did not exist. It exposes the inhumanity of oppression, in which men are regarded as mere prey and resources and things to catch and collect and ensnare and gather for gain and to use for selfish ends.
Condemnation of Modern Greed
The verse describes the greedy rich and powerful of the present day treating people like fish to be caught and gathered up, exploiting the poor and laborers as objects to be seized, taking possession of others and accumulating the wealth of peoples for their own gain while rejoicing in the taking. The exploiting capitalist is the present-day form of this catcher of men, using hook and nets to gather them up and rejoicing over the catch. Its picture of men made as fishes of the sea and creeping things with no ruler is a picture of people treated as helpless and without protector, caught and gathered through nets and hooks while their captors rejoice over what they have taken.
Its nets are the schemes by which predatory trusts treat men as fishes to catch and as things to exploit for gain, reaching beyond their proper sphere as appetite for wealth grows. It means the rule of the trust, where combined iron and steel interests claim mastery of the world, push governments aside, control war and peace, dictate buying prices, seal up resources such as iron mines to multiply future billions, rule everything, and grow stronger daily, with rich portion and abundant sustenance from the system. The same image is applied to wealthy interests using large commercial schemes to exploit cities, states, and people, and to the monopolist who gathers wealth through oppression and rejoices in what he has taken.
It is applied to covetous employers and institutions that put money and property above human beings, exploiting workers through withheld wages, wage cuts, job losses, and policies that deprive the poor of their livelihood and leave them without protection. Its principle of oppressive exploitation applies to the dangerous, insecure, and poorly paid conditions of coal miners, caught and gathered like prey while their captors rejoice. It connects last-day oppression of the poor with abundant gain and gathering of peoples, and bears on the responsibility of those who have power and wealth.
In a religious application, the verse describes people led astray and captured like fish with hooks and nets when churches replace the Bible's teaching and correction with human creeds and standards, rejoicing and taking pride in the influence gained over those they capture.