Daily Manna, Year Two · Day 190 · July 9
Purer Eyes
“Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity: wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he?”
God is too pure to look at evil. That is what the first half of this verse gets used to say, and a person who has watched something get away with it hears an alibi in it: he was looking elsewhere on purpose, for reasons of holiness.
Habakkuk is building an accusation with it. The whole thing is one sentence. Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity: wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he?
The first clause is granted so that the second can land. You cannot stand this, he says, so explain why you are watching it and saying nothing.
Scripture files this complaint more than once and never files it away. David states the doctrine flatly: For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness: neither shall evil dwell with thee. Jeremiah asks Habakkuk's question in Habakkuk's own vocabulary: Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? wherefore are all they happy that deal very treacherously? Two men, one grievance, and neither corrected for raising it.
So this verse is a prophet holding God's own holiness up in front of him and demanding an account, in the book, under his own name. He did not get his answer that day. What he did was climb. I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me. The tower is the invitation. Bring the accusation in those words, with the name attached, and stay up there where you can be answered.
Daily Manna runs on a two-year cycle. The year one reading for day 190 is The Same Forever (Hebrews 13:8).