How Can the Holy God Use the Wicked?

Habakkuk does not quietly accept the first answer. He appeals to God’s everlasting holiness and justice, then asks why God tolerates a treacherous nation swallowing people more righteous than itself. Scripture preserves the protest rather than editing it out.

The fishing imagery sharpens the complaint. Human beings are treated like fish with no ruler, swept into hooks, nets, and dragnets; the conqueror then virtually worships the machinery of conquest that made him rich. Power has become an idol.