Habakkuk 2:19-The Fifth Woe Spoken by the Lord Against the Babylonians for Their Practice of Idolatry

Habakkuk 2:19 Woe to him who says to wood, ‘Come to life!’ Or to lifeless stone, ‘Wake up!’ Can it give guidance? It is covered with gold and silver; there is no breath in it.” (NIV)

Habakkuk 2:19 “Disaster to the one who says to a piece of wood, ‘Come to life!’ To a lifeless piece of stone, ‘Wake up!’ Does it have the ability to give guidance? See, it is overlaid with gold and silver but there is absolutely no breath within its inner parts.” (My translation)

Habakkuk 2:19 continues the Lord’s response to Habakkuk’s argument against His choice of the Babylonians to discipline the apostate citizenry of the southern kingdom of Judah and which argument is recorded in Habakkuk 1:12-17.

This response began in Habakkuk 2:2 and ends in Habakkuk 2:20.

Habakkuk 2:2-20 presents the Lord’s decision to judge the Babylonian empire in the future for their unrepentant sinful behavior.

Specifically, He will judge them because of their evil treatment of those nations they conquered in the Mediterranean and Mesopotamian regions of the world at the end of the seventh century B.C. and at the beginning of the sixth century B.C.

However, Habakkuk 2:18-19 reveal that the Lord will judge the Babylonians because they are also unrepentant idolators.

In fact, these verses constitute the fifth and final woe directed at the Babylonians by the Lord God of Israel.

So therefore, Habakkuk 2:19 contains the fifth and final woe here in Habakkuk 2:2-20, which like the first four in Habakkuk 2:6, 9, 12 and 15 respectively, is directed against the Babylonians.

The first four woes are against the Babylonians because of their evil, sinful treatment of the citizens of the various nations in the Mediterranean and Mesopotamian regions of the world at the end of the seventh century B.C. and beginning of the sixth century B.C.

However, the fifth and final woe we noted earlier is against the Babylonians because of their unrepentant, sinful, evil conduct in relation to God.

Specifically, this woe is addressed to the Babylonians because of their unrepentant idolatry in which they rejected worshiping the true and living God and instead worshiped gods of their own creation.

This is the fifth time in Habakkuk chapter two that we have seen the interjection hôy (Hab. 2:6, 9), “woe,” which we noted in our studies of Habakkuk 2:6, 9, 12 and 15 indicates dissatisfaction and discomfort and occurs entirely in the prophetic literature of the Old Testament with one exception (1 Kings 13:30).

It can be translated “woe, alas” but in today’s English a better translation would be “disaster” since the word pertains to a sudden calamitous event bringing great damage, loss, or destruction.

As was the case when the word was used in Habakkuk 2:6, 9, 12 and 15, the word here in Habakkuk 2:19 is expressing the idea of the Lord God of Israel promising that disaster would strike the Babylonians.

The contents of Habakkuk 2:18-19 reveal that this disaster will come against the Babylonians because of their unrepentant idolatry.

The fifth woe asserts that disaster will come to the person who says to a piece of wood, “Come to life!”

It also asserts that disaster will come to the person who says to a piece of lifeless stone, “Wake up!”

In context, the person issuing these commands is a Babylonian idolator.

This is indicated by the fact that the Lord in Habakkuk 2:2-17 condemns the Babylonians for their unrepentant, evil conduct in relation to the citizens of the various nations which they conquered and plundered in the Mediterranean and Mesopotamian regions of the world at the end of the seventh century B.C. and at the beginning of the sixth century B.C.

This interpretation as we noted is also indicated by the fact that in Habakkuk 2:18-19 the Lord is condemning the Babylonians for their unrepentant idolatry.

These two commands present the absurdity of idolatry as practice in the sixth and seventh centuries B.C.

These two commands are followed by a rhetorical question, which is addressed to the prophet Habakkuk and the faithful remnant of Judah by the God of Israel.

It asks if a piece of wood or stone fashioned by a craftsman into an idol to be worshiped by people can give guidance to a person.

This question demands of course an emphatic negative response by its recipients since the Lord God of Israel is totally opposed to the practice of idolatry, which He expressed to the nation of Israel in the Mosaic Law.

Therefore, this rhetorical question emphatically asserts that an idol does not have the ability to give guidance to people with regards to direction in life.

Then, we have an emphatic declaration which asserts that the idol is overlaid with gold and silver in the sense that the piece of wood or the lifeless stone are covered with these two precious elements.

Then, we have an adversative clause which presents a contrast with the previous emphatic declarative statement which asserts that the idol is overlaid with gold and silver.

The former asserts that there is absolutely no breath within the inner parts of the idol.

Therefore, this indicates that an idol is overlaid with gold and silver “but” there is absolutely no breath in it whatsoever.

In other words, this word indicates that there is absolutely no breath within the inner parts of the idol “despite” the fact that it is overlaid with previous elements such as gold and silver.

Tim Shenton writes “The idol might look beautiful on the outside, but it is a mask. Under the precious metals lies an object that has ‘no breath in it’ (cf. Jeremiah 10:14); it is lifeless and therefore owns no soul, no feelings, no understanding, no spirit. How then can it give guidance?”[1]

O. Palmer Robertson writes “The glitter of the idol cannot conceal its lifelessness.5 Its spectacular outer coatings may exude a shimmering illusion of liveliness. But the very coverings themselves attest to their deadness. As the mode of expression chosen by Habakkuk emphasizes, there is no breath at all in the idol (wəḵol-rûaṭ ʾên bəqirbô).”[2]

J. D. Currid writes “Idols may look good on the outside. They are sheathed with gold and silver. But on the inside there is no breath or life. Idols are empty and vacuous. The lustre is truly mere façade. This is true no matter what the idol that one serves. Material things may present an attractive outward appearance, but what they provide is only skin-deep. They give no satisfaction or true purpose and meaning. Riches are a whitewashed sepulchre filled with decaying bones!”[3]

[1] Shenton, T. (2007). Habakkuk: an expositional commentary (p. 66). Leominster, UK: Day One Publications.

5 Rudolph, p. 229.

[2] Robertson, O. P. (1990). The Books of Nahum, Habakkuk and Zephaniah (p. 210). Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

[3] Currid, J. D. (2009). The Expectant Prophet: Habakkuk Simply Explained (p. 99). Darlington, England: EP Books.