GOD ANSWERS
HIS SECOND COMPLAINT
Chapter 2:5-20
God now gives the final response containing the solution to the doubts and problems that disturbed Habakkuk. There we find the absolute justice of God in His judgement, for the sin of the wicked and cruel people that will overwhelm God's people will not go unpunished. The most important element in the purpose revealed by God is not the condemnation of sinners or the salvation of the people of God. It is above both and consists in the glorification of the LORD Himself. His great Name will be lifted high over all names and everybody will recognize His supremacy (Philippians 2:10,11 and Colossians 1:18).
In the Bible the two concepts of condemnation and salvation are inseparable, for the grace extended by God to the sinner who repents and converts to Him by faith is paired with His fair judgments on unbelieving sinners. Because light can only be appreciated in contrast with dark, it is also by seeing the contrast between salvation and condemnation that the sinner saved by faith is motivated to render praise and thanksgiving to God. His grievances and complaints will seem trivial when compared with the glorious grace of God. But the grace of God is always inseparable from His righteousness and holiness, and therefore from His fearsome judgement.
In this response we have a series of woes (the opposite of "beatitudes") which God speaks over "the proud, whose soul is not upright in him"( v.4), here referring to the king of Babylon, type of the incredulous world that rebels against God and harms His people, which is "the righteous” that “will live by faith"( v.4 ). Here we have a list systematically presenting them in five stanzas with three verses each.
1. “Woe to him who increases what is not his—how long? And to him who loads himself with many pledges!” (Verses 6-8): God first speaks (v. 5) of addiction to alcohol (wine). Alcoholism, the traitor, will contribute to the end of Babylon. Centuries later, alcoholism was also a cause of the end of the Roman Empire. Today it is corrupting and destroying the Western civilization in our day, being responsible, with drugs, for the growing immorality and crime in this part of the world. Together with drinking, Nebuchadnezzar also had an insatiable appetite for conquering other people. This appetite is compared with death (Sheol) and could not be satisfied though “he gathered to himself all nations and heaped up for himself all peoples,” invading them one by one in order to subdue them forming a great empire. That appetite for conquest of foreign territory continued to be the cause of wars, deaths and disasters around the world through the centuries. Like Israel, many Christians are also victims of bullies moved for political or religious reasons who aspire to conquer their physical, moral or religious assets.
The punishment of the Babylonians comes in the measure of their offences. Plundered people will say “Woe to him who increases what is not his—how long? And to him who loads himself with many pledges!” Those who were robbed (the "Creditors ") will rise up suddenly, "For the stone will cry out from the wall, and the beam from the timbers will answer it" and will subdue their tormentors and treat them as prey. It literally happened about eighty years after this prophecy was written (Daniel 5).
2. “Woe to him who covets evil gain for his house" (Verses 9-11): best translationis "is enriched by borrowing." One thing is to pay for what is bought and another is to take it by force, because you have to pay back one day, like getting a mortgage loan to buy property. All the people of the empire will revolt and will ridicule those that dominated them by force, and had mocked, jeered and laughed at them as they took their land (1:10). God is pronouncing a curse against the Babylonians for appropriating themselves of what did not belong to them, in order to be safe from “the power of disaster”. We often think that the end justifies the means, hurting own conscience. One day this injustice will have to be paid for.
3. “Woe to him who builds a town with bloodshed, who establishes a city by iniquity" (verses 12 to 14). Violence, murder and plunder were the method of conquering which built Babylon. They enriched themselves with wars they promoted, and this is the method used throughout history, from the Old Testament to this day by ambitious leaders and unscrupulous politicians, to the misfortune of everyone, including them. Verse 13 could be translated: "Behold, it is not of the LORD of hosts that the work of the people is only for the fire, and that nations should be tired in vain?”. Futile efforts were made by the great nations of the past. Instead of growing, or at least maintaining their grandiosity, they took little time to fall down completely. Greece for example, with its beautiful architecture, statues, art, and literature lost its glory centuries ago and now we see little more than sad ruins to delight tourists and scholars of antiquity. The Macedonian Alexander the Great advanced to Asia leaving only ruins behind him, one large civilization after another, and thus became famous. The same happened with Babylon, the nation of this prophecy. The cities of Babylon, built by slave labour, were simply destroyed by fire. But one day the earth will come to recognize the true God as the Lord: “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea" (Compare Micah 4:2-4).
4. “Woe to him who gives drink to his neighbour, pressing him to your bottle " (verses 15-17): "That you may look on his nakedness” i.e., to corrupt, demoralize and put his neighbour to shame. He is not drunk himself as a result of alcoholism seen above, but gives alcohol (“pressing him to your bottle”) to his neighbour in order to commit immorality. Drunkenness leads people to commit sins they would avoid if they were sober, involving immorality, dishonesty, and others. But to give alcohol for others to drink is now considered courtesy at all social levels. It is not the custom to offer a cup of milk or soft drink to a stranger who walks into a bar and who we wish to establish contact with: it is invariably a glass of beer or strong drink. In a high society cocktail party, it is the “finest” alcoholic drinks which fill trays, and if someone “just” wants a glass of water, fruit juice or non-alcoholic fizzy drink he must ask for it to be brought in especially for him. Often alcoholism is also the path to drug abuse. In this prophecy, God condemns both the alcoholic person and the alcoholic beverage that he offers to others. The Babylonians were guilty of violence as much as corruption. These are also the main ingredients today of television, film and "literature", against which the sober believer must guard himself.
5. “Woe unto him who says to the wood ‘Awake’ to the dumb stone, ‘Arise’!” (Verses 18-20): "It shall teach!' Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, yet in it there is no breath at all.” If we were to measure it, we would find that idolatry is the greatest sin of all, for it originates the other sins. The people of Israel themselves give us an example: the first stage in their downfall was their apostasy, followed by terror and then anarchy. It's happening today with countries in North America and Europe. Neither anarchy nor terror is the main problem, but spiritual apostasy. The apostasy in the case of Israel and Babylon was to deviate from the true God and to make idols for themselves of wood and metal as an object of worship. With this they thought they were “freed” from their obligations to the living God, and created rituals and fashions of their own choosing, to seek to satisfy their spiritual emptiness. Today modern nations also have departed from the living God and seek shelter in atheism, humanism and other religions without God, if not in pagan religions and apostate Christianity. We have terrorism, and anarchy is not far away.
The last verse reassures us that despite the threats, the attacks, and the dominion of the enemy here on earth, “the LORD is in His holy temple. Let all the earth keep silence before Him." The Lord, in the person of Jesus Christ has supreme authority, no matter what His opponents may think (Matthew 28:18, etc.). This fact is not limited to the situation of the Jews in Habakkuk’s time but it is eternal, for all times and all situations, even our own.
Before His person all must be silent, and this will be fulfilled to the letter when He takes His place of command in His kingdom here on earth. Meanwhile, Psalm 2 says it all: “Why do the nations rage and the people plot a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying, ‘Let us break their bonds in pieces and cast away their cords from us.’ He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; the LORD shall hold them in derision. Then He shall speak to them in His wrath, and distress them in His deep displeasure: ‘Yet I have set My King on My holy hill of Zion…’ Now therefore, be wise, O kings; be instructed, you judges of the earth. Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and you perish in the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him.”
All complaints of Habakkuk are ended when he contemplates the sovereign majesty and holiness of the living God full of glory. The saints also need to be reminded sometimes of the purity and holiness of the God we worship. There is always the danger of coming into His presence very carelessly and negligently. Also to talk and sing too much. We would do better to keep quiet from time to time to allow God to speak! The impressive reality of His holy presence should move us to a respectful silence.
R David Jones
5 "Indeed, because he transgresses by wine, He is a proud man, And he does not stay at home. Because he enlarges his desire as hell, And he is like death, and cannot be satisfied, He gathers to himself all nations And heaps up for himself all peoples.
6 "Will not all these take up a proverb against him, And a taunting riddle against him, and say, 'Woe to him who increases What is not his—how long? And to him who loads himself with many pledges'?
7 Will not your creditors rise up suddenly? Will they not awaken who oppress you? And you will become their booty.
8 Because you have plundered many nations, All the remnant of the people shall plunder you, Because of men's blood And the violence of the land and the city, And of all who dwell in it.
9 "Woe to him who covets evil gain for his house, That he may set his nest on high, That he may be delivered from the power of disaster!
10 You give shameful counsel to your house, Cutting off many peoples, And sin against your soul.
11 For the stone will cry out from the wall, And the beam from the timbers will answer it.
12 "Woe to him who builds a town with bloodshed, Who establishes a city by iniquity!
13 Behold, is it not of the LORD of hosts That the peoples labour to feed the fire, And nations weary themselves in vain?
14 For the earth will be filled With the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, As the waters cover the sea.
15 "Woe to him who gives drink to his neighbour, Pressing him to your bottle, Even to make him drunk, That you may look on his nakedness!
16 You are filled with shame instead of glory. You also—drink! And be exposed as uncircumcised! The cup of the LORD's right hand will be turned against you, And utter shame will be on your glory.
17 For the violence done to Lebanon will cover you, And the plunder of beasts which made them afraid, Because of men's blood And the violence of the land and the city, And of all who dwell in it.
18 "What profit is the image, that its maker should carve it, The molded image, a teacher of lies, That the maker of its mold should trust in it, To make mute idols?
19 Woe to him who says to wood, 'Awake!' To silent stone, 'Arise! It shall teach!' Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, Yet in it there is no breath at all.
20 "But the LORD is in His holy temple. Let all the earth keep silence before Him."
Habakkuk chapter 2 verses 5 to 20