Habakkuk 2:6-14
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Prayer
This week we pick up in verse 6 of Habakkuk chapter 2. The revelation here begins to address Habakkuk’s question that follows directly from God’s statement that he was going to use the Babylonians to punish injustice of Judah: “How can you use an unrighteous nation to punish a more righteous nation” or “How can you be silent while evil overtakes the good”?
6 Shall not all these take up their taunt against him, with scoffing and riddles for him, and say,
“Woe to him who heaps up what is not his own—
for how long?—
and loads himself with pledges!”
Referring back to verse 5, we see that “all these” are the peoples the babylonians attacked and ransacked their nations; and he or him is the Babylonian nation.
5 “Moreover, wine is a traitor,
an arrogant man who is never at rest.
His greed is as wide as Sheol;
like death he has never enough.
He gathers for himself all nations
and collects as his own all peoples.”
The word taunt here, mashal, is the same word translated proverb or byword. This speaks of how the Babylonians would be picked up as an example, a description of what happens to nations that treat other nations in the way that the Babylonians have treated the ones they are conquering and will conquer.
There is a favorite song that we sing every time there is a smack down between rival teams, particularly one that is puffed up in their belief that they are better or could not be beaten.
Na na na na, na na na na, hey hey, goodbye
Na na na na, na na na na, hey hey, goodbye
Na na na na, na na na na, hey hey, goodbye
However, infinitely more consequential than a basketball or football game. A taunt song that is taken up by the team that soundly defeats the other team.
None the less this is the taunt song taken up against the pride of the Babylonians and the nation that oppresses its people in an effort to secure its position and longevity.
Note through out these Woes, that God treats nation of Babylon as a whole. The whole of the nation is judged, for these woes, not just the ‘individuals’ committing these atrocities
In this we see even God’s judgement against Babylon here on this earth, in that justice, although not final justice, is done Judah committed these same atrocities shown in the woes as does Babylon. They themselves were being judged for the acts they committed which were the same as the Babylonians.
What is a woe? Woe: A dirge or lament; Word has been translated “AH” and “ALAS” one might utter a profound misery or sadness; an announcement of doom; and but has been directed at the Babylonians.
There is an escalating and connectedness of these woes as we walk through them.
We see, also, how the earthly judgement is in-kind with treatment of the Babylonians; I.e that they suffer the same fate that they visited on others.
The Babylonians’ shame for their evil deeds must be equal in intensity to the injustice suffered by good men and women at the hands of the Babylonians—lest the good men and women begin to weary of waiting for vindication. The wealth the Babylonians accumulated by unjust means must be relinquished.
Kaiser, Jr., Walter C.. The Preacher's Commentary - Vol. 23: Micah / Nahum / Habakkuk / Zephaniah / Haggai / Zechariah / Malachi . Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.
Woe 1: Woe to those who extort money and oppress others with violence
Woe 1: Woe to those who extort money and oppress others with violence
6 Shall not all these take up their taunt against him, with scoffing and riddles for him, and say,
“Woe to him who heaps up what is not his own—
for how long?—
and loads himself with pledges!”
7 Will not your debtors suddenly arise,
and those awake who will make you tremble?
Then you will be spoil for them.
8 Because you have plundered many nations,
all the remnant of the peoples shall plunder you,
for the blood of man and violence to the earth,
to cities and all who dwell in them.
This passage refers to Babylon specifically but could refer to any tyrant in any time.
This passage passes “woe” onto any people who would oppress others.
Contains 2 assertions interrupted by a question - showing impatience on the part of those taking up the lament here.
A pledge is something offered in security of something owed. So a person might pledge his cloak as security against a loan he was taking out. If he didn’t pay back that loan, then the person loaning the money could take the pledge item in repayment for the loan.
This woe is certainly figurative with the idea that the taking what didn’t belong to them. A practice of extortion. They would seize and keep the pledges or make them pay what they did not owe; manipulating things to their own advantage.
Babylonians piled up treasure at the expense of of their conquered nations; and wealth flowed from those conquered, broken cities to Babylon.
They used their power to take advantage of the nations.
The question here in verse 7 is a rhetorical question. There is no doubt that those the Babylonians plundered and took from, would rise up and extract back from them with interest what is owed to them.
Babylon probably should have already been trembling, but they weren’t I am sure, laughing at this thought as they sat pretty where they were for the moment.
In the end, v8, the babylonians had set off a series of events that would end with them being plundered themselves. Thus, the principle of sowing and reaping comes to bear here. What the Babylonian’s had sown, they would reap.
Woe 2:
Woe 2:
9 “Woe to him who gets evil gain for his house,
to set his nest on high,
to be safe from the reach of harm!
10 You have devised shame for your house
by cutting off many peoples;
you have forfeited your life.
11 For the stone will cry out from the wall,
and the beam from the woodwork respond.
This woe builds on the last one, and begins with building fortunes and power structures on unjust gain.
Jeremiah 22:17 below shows the fullness of the meaning surrounding the idea of dishonest gain.
16 He judged the cause of the poor and needy;
then it was well.
Is not this to know me?
declares the Lord.
17 But you have eyes and heart
only for your dishonest gain,
for shedding innocent blood,
and for practicing oppression and violence.”
The money and wealth stolen from the oppressed ones, the nations, was taken and used to build security for themselves.
House both means “residence” as well as family. They built their house by taking unfair advantage of others.
The Babylonians were arrogant. Nests built on high is a symbol of their perceived invincibility, like an eagle, soaring above all and seeming to reign over all it surveys. The Babylonians ruthlessly took from others and built houses and fortunes that appeared to be invincible, and they themselves sought to be and thought they were untouchable by judgement.
Ultimately though, what they thought was justified superiority, protection and security through their wealth and destroying others, only brought shame on them and their houses. Wealth gained in this way will always bring shame in the end (if not here, then certainly in the endtimes).
Instead of building themselves up they participated in the process of their own destruction.
God often calls as witnesses inanimate objects against those who rebel against God. In the end, even their houses cried out against them.
God considers this wickedness so great that Even if there is no-one left, their houses will still cry out, i.e. their wealth and fortunes. even as Abel’s blood cried out from the ground; God often calls Heaven and Earth or mountains and hills as witnesses against those who do the same thing as the babylonians were doing.
God is concerned with the needy, even down to the “lowest rungs of society”. There is shame on those who oppress people and take advantage of others to pile up unjust wealth.
Woe 3: Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed and crime.
Woe 3: Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed and crime.
12 “Woe to him who builds a town with blood
and founds a city on iniquity!
13 Behold, is it not from the Lord of hosts
that peoples labor merely for fire,
and nations weary themselves for nothing?
14 For the earth will be filled
with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.
This woe continues the previous 2 in the idea of people gaining wealth by unlawful and unethical means. And ends with a description of the purpose of God in the world.
Nebuchadnezzer and Babylon built and beautified their city at the expense of the blood and lives of the people they conquered. This city has been built by shedding the blood of innocent victims and commit serious crimes (NIV translation of iniquity). It has been built on badness, malice, injustice and perversity. This involves crimes of social (slavery), property (theft), and trade natures. and belongs to values that all nations should be able to follow without having the benefit of the law. This people lived on the backs of the weak and powerless, and ultimately this nation (as will any nation) collapse under this.
Behold calls us to pay special attention.
The LORD of hosts => Yahweh Sabot
The God who presides over the court of heaven. This also refers to the armies of God. This is a term of Royal Dominion.
In other words, here the nation labors in the end for what will be burned up. That their lasting legacy in the end would be for naught, burned up in the fire. They tried to protect themselves from ruin, to see that their glory would reign, and knowledge of themselves would be spread around the world through military conquest.
However, the Lord of Hosts controls an army against which Babylon has no chance
Behold is it not from the LORD of Hosts that peoples labor merely for fire (what will be burned up) and the nations weary for nothing. Their efforts will come to naught. Fighting him, is an exhausting, fruitless labor
But the Lord proves he is sovereign over the whole of this. Frustrating the purposes of the proud and arrogant, and causing to live those who will trust him.
This woe describes the futility of getting and spending without dependence on the Lord.
This last woe though doesn’t end in the way that we expect or the way that the other woes so far have ended.
Conclusion
Conclusion
This passage, and this sermon, ends with a description of the purpose of God in this world. This final stanza leads us to hope, and is the one bright spot so far in these Woe’s.
A book by Kaiser on Habakkuk calls this section of Habakkuk “The vindication of Faith”. In v 2:4 God says
4 “Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him,
but the righteous shall live by his faith.
This answer here settles in part the question Habakkuk asked earlier. And answers the problem of what we do with evil seemingly succeeding in this world and how can you reconcile that against the knowledge that there is an an All-Knowing, All-Powerful, All-Good God in this world.
We begin to catch a glimpse of light in the darkness of the woes’ here.
God’s desire here goes beyond the punishment of the wicked, which is surely coming, to His desire that the world know him. They wanted to spread the knowledge of themselves and their Glory; God instead will become famous throughout the world and his Glory will be beheld as water covers the sea.
31 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. 33 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
This knowledge of the Glory of God goes beyond knowing about God, but that knowledge of him would permeate every nook and cranny of the world, the way the waters fill the sea. There is no corner, no space that the water isn’t present and doesn’t fill.
For us, this takes us to the work of Christ. Jesus came into the world to make God known
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him,
14 But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. 15 For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, 16 to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things?
And through him that the earth may be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord.