However, when Josiah died Jehoiakim his son became king in his place and the
Bible tells us that Jehoiakim "did evil in the sight of the Lord".
Last time I went into some detail about the things that he was doing so I'm not
going to go through those again, but suffice it to say, the nation wasn't in a
very good state. And that's when this book was written.
He begins in verses 1-4 by questioning God about the wickedness of those in authority over them. He didn't understand how God could allow such wickedness to go on in Judah. But in the next 7 verses God proceeded to reveal part of His plan to Habakkuk. God told Habakkuk that He was raising up the Chaldeans to come against Judah and that Judah wold be conquered by them.
Now, the Chaldeans talked about here is the Babylonian empire. At this point in history, Babylon was swiftly becoming the most powerful nation on earth. And as bad as Judah was at the time, Babylon was worse. And these are the people that God said He was raising up to judge Judah.
Well this didn't make sense to Habakkuk, so the rest of chapter 1 records a second question that he raised to God. Habakkuk recognized that God had appointed these people to conquer them, but he didn't understand how God could use an extremely wicked nation to judge those more righteous than they. He knew that Judah was bad, but because Babylon was so much worse he didn't see why God would allow them to come over them.
After Habakkuk asked this question he did something key. He waited. He waited on the Lord to answer. He went up on a tower and sought the Lords answer, and the Lord answered him. If we want to hear from the Lord we need to learn to wait on Him.
Most of chapter 2 records Gods answer to Habakkuk. In verses 2 and 3 God tells him to write down the vision because it was a sure thing and in would surely come to pass. And then the rest of the chapter He goes on to reveal His justice to Habakkuk and show him that the wicked will not go unpunished.
Last time we looked at this phrase in chapter 2 verse 4 "the just shall live by faith." and we visited the three places in the New Testament where it is quoted. And we noted from these passages that the just, that is those who have been made righteous by the blood of Christ, will have eternal life by faith, because we are justified and saved by faith. We also noted that it's by faith that we live our lives here on earth, and we looked at examples in Hebrews 11 of men and women who lived their earthly lives "by faith".
But now I'm going to go through the rest of chapter two and look and the rest of the Lords answer to Habakkuk. The rest of Gods answer is outlined by five woes. There are mentioned here 5 different areas of injustice that we observe. But He reveals here to Habakkuk that He is just and that He will certainly not leave the guilty unpunished. Though they may prosper for a season, justice will at last be served.
Verse 6 begins - "Will not all of these take up a taunt-song against him, even mockery and insinuations against him" to get some context look up in verse five. When it says "all these" it's talking about the captives who were being oppressed by the Chaldeans. Those who the Chaldeans had overthrown would eventually take up this taunt-song against them, and the taunt is in the form of five woes.
The first woe is in verses 6-8 which says - "Woe to him who increases what is not his-- For how long-- And makes himself rich with loans?' Will not your creditors rise up suddenly, and those who collect from you awaken? Indeed, you will become plunder for them. Because you have looted many nations, all the remainder of the peoples will loot you--Because of human bloodshed and violence done to the land to the town and all its inhabitants."
So this first woe has to do with greed. The word "loans" in verse 6, also translated "pledges" is referring to something that the Chaldeans would do after they would overthrow a city. The Chaldeans would completely overtake a town and ransack it, and then they would enforce a heavy tax on the people they had conquered. They would set over them a certain amount per month that the people would have to pay, and they would tell them that if they didn't pay it they were going to come back and make things even worse. They were increasing what was not their own and God says "Woe to him who increases what is not his." So the same thing that they were doing to people was going to happen to them. Within two generations from the time that the Chaldeans came into power, they were conquered by Assyria.
Woe on stealing riches. Consequence - sudden reversal. What you've done to others will soon be done to you.
The second woe is in verses 9-11 which says - "Woe to him who gets evil gain for his house to put his nest on high, to be delivered from the hand of calamity! You have devised a shameful thing for your house by cutting off many peoples; So you are sinning against yourself. Surely the stone will cry out from the wall, and the rafter will answer it from the framework."
We saw in the first woe, greed. But now we see the motive. "For his house." he's compared to an eagle here. When eagles build a nest they look for the highest and most remote place so that they can be free from predators. A lot of people are living their lives for greed, Why? So that they can set themselves up with a pretty secure situation. They think that their wealth is going to keep them safe. Safe from human harm maybe, but not from Gods judgment. God says in Jeremiah 49:16 - "The arrogance of your heart has deceived you, O you who live in the clefts of the rock, who occupy the height of the hill. Though you make your nest as high as an eagle's, I will bring you down from there," declares the LORD." And again in Obediah 4 - "Though you build high like the eagle, though you set your nest among the stars, from there I will bring you down," declares the LORD." Proverbs says that a rich mans wealth is his fortress.
Riches never satisfy. Jesus said it this way, "What shall it profit a man if he should gain the whole world and lose his soul?"
The third woe is in verses 12-14 - "Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed and founds a town with violence! Is it not indeed from the LORD of hosts that peoples toil for fire, and nations grow weary for nothing? For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea." This is closely tied with the first two. In the first one we saw greed, and in the second the reason for greed, now in this third one we see how. It talks about bloodshed. Cutting down other people in order to build themselves up.
So God says Woe to those who increase what is not theirs by climbing over other people in order to make themselves secure on this earth.
We look at some of the things going on in the work place today and we see this very thing happening. People stepping on and discrediting others in order to climb the corporate ladder. People lying and charging ridiculous amounts just to make themselves rich. We look at this and wonder how God can allow this kind of person to prosper. But all this is going to burn.
Look at verse 13 - "Is it not indeed from the LORD of hosts that peoples toil for fire, and nations grow weary for nothing?" Toil for fire. That's an interesting phrase. But that's all these people are doing. 2 Peter 3:10 says - "But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up." All this stuff, these riches that they're unjustly heaping up for themselves, it's all going to pass away. But we should be focusing on the eternal, not the temporal. Since we know that these things are all going to pass away we should be laying up for ourselves treasures in heaven. Verse 14 says - "For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea." We can be working on that right now. We need to be living our lives for His glory.
The forth woe is in verses 15-17 - "Woe to you who make your neighbors drink, who mix in your venom even to make them drunk so as to look on their nakedness! You will be filled with disgrace rather than honor. Now you yourself drink and expose your own nakedness the cup in the LORD'S right hand will come around to you, and utter disgrace will come upon your glory. For the violence done to Lebanon will overwhelm you, and the devastation of its beasts by which you terrified them, because of human bloodshed and violence done to the land to the town and all its inhabitants." Proverbs says that "wine is a mocker and strong drink a brawler and whoever is intoxicated it is not wise." And back in verse 5 it says "wine betrays the haughty man." But this goes beyond just drinking. This is talking about making others drink. There is an interesting connection between this woe and the last one, which has to do with idol worship.
Daniel 5:1-4, 23 says - "Belshazzar the king held a great feast for a thousand of his nobles, and he was drinking wine in the presence of the thousand. When Belshazzar tasted the wine, he gave orders to bring the gold and silver vessels which Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem, so that the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines might drink from them. Then they brought the gold vessels that had been taken out of the temple, the house of God which was in Jerusalem; and the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines drank from them. They drank the wine and praised the gods of gold and silver, of bronze, iron, wood and stone." "but you have exalted yourself against the Lord of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of His house before you, and you and your nobles, your wives and your concubines have been drinking wine from them; and you have praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood and stone, which do not see, hear or understand But the God in whose hand are your life-breath and all your ways, you have not glorified."
It was after they began to drink that they began to worship these false gods. In verse 22 Daniel talks to Belshazzar about the fact the he hasn't humbled himself. Again, in verse five it says that wine betrays the haughty man. So Belshazzar, who was king of Babylon at this point, was proud, he began drinking with those around him, he then started worshiping false Gods, and that very night he lost his life. Serious consequences.
The last woe is in verses 18-20 - "What profit is the idol when its maker has carved it, or an image, a teacher of falsehood? For its maker trusts in his own handiwork when he fashions speechless idols. Woe to him who says to a piece of wood, 'Awake!' To a mute stone, 'Arise!' And that is your teacher? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all inside it. But the LORD is in His holy temple let all the earth be silent before Him." There is a lot in the Bible about making and worshiping idols. One of the most common passages is Isaiah 44:12-20.
This is talking about false religion. Every form of false religion, including self idolatry is idol worship. So this is basically saying woe to him who gives his life to false religion. Because it's futile. There is one way to be saved, and every other path leads to calamity. And all false religions are engineered by the god of this world for the destruction of Gods creatures. But God loves us and all His judgment and chastisement for sin was poured out on His own Son in order that we might be forgiven. I heard a quote this pass week that I really like. It said, "Islam is a religion in which god requires you to send your son to die for him. Christianity is a faith in which God sends His son to die for you." That is the one true faith. And anyone who follows any other way will surely come to destruction. Woe to those people.
The last verse of chapter 2 says "The Lord is in His holy temple." God is on the throne. He is in control. He doesn't owe us an explanation. From our perspective things may not always seem fair, but God is just. He will bring everything about in perfect justice. We can trust that despite our circumstances, despite how things look from our point of view, God is in His holy temple. The whole earth will one day be filled with His glory, and we will live by faith.
He begins in verses 1-4 by questioning God about the wickedness of those in authority over them. He didn't understand how God could allow such wickedness to go on in Judah. But in the next 7 verses God proceeded to reveal part of His plan to Habakkuk. God told Habakkuk that He was raising up the Chaldeans to come against Judah and that Judah wold be conquered by them.
Now, the Chaldeans talked about here is the Babylonian empire. At this point in history, Babylon was swiftly becoming the most powerful nation on earth. And as bad as Judah was at the time, Babylon was worse. And these are the people that God said He was raising up to judge Judah.
Well this didn't make sense to Habakkuk, so the rest of chapter 1 records a second question that he raised to God. Habakkuk recognized that God had appointed these people to conquer them, but he didn't understand how God could use an extremely wicked nation to judge those more righteous than they. He knew that Judah was bad, but because Babylon was so much worse he didn't see why God would allow them to come over them.
After Habakkuk asked this question he did something key. He waited. He waited on the Lord to answer. He went up on a tower and sought the Lords answer, and the Lord answered him. If we want to hear from the Lord we need to learn to wait on Him.
Most of chapter 2 records Gods answer to Habakkuk. In verses 2 and 3 God tells him to write down the vision because it was a sure thing and in would surely come to pass. And then the rest of the chapter He goes on to reveal His justice to Habakkuk and show him that the wicked will not go unpunished.
Last time we looked at this phrase in chapter 2 verse 4 "the just shall live by faith." and we visited the three places in the New Testament where it is quoted. And we noted from these passages that the just, that is those who have been made righteous by the blood of Christ, will have eternal life by faith, because we are justified and saved by faith. We also noted that it's by faith that we live our lives here on earth, and we looked at examples in Hebrews 11 of men and women who lived their earthly lives "by faith".
But now I'm going to go through the rest of chapter two and look and the rest of the Lords answer to Habakkuk. The rest of Gods answer is outlined by five woes. There are mentioned here 5 different areas of injustice that we observe. But He reveals here to Habakkuk that He is just and that He will certainly not leave the guilty unpunished. Though they may prosper for a season, justice will at last be served.
Verse 6 begins - "Will not all of these take up a taunt-song against him, even mockery and insinuations against him" to get some context look up in verse five. When it says "all these" it's talking about the captives who were being oppressed by the Chaldeans. Those who the Chaldeans had overthrown would eventually take up this taunt-song against them, and the taunt is in the form of five woes.
The first woe is in verses 6-8 which says - "Woe to him who increases what is not his-- For how long-- And makes himself rich with loans?' Will not your creditors rise up suddenly, and those who collect from you awaken? Indeed, you will become plunder for them. Because you have looted many nations, all the remainder of the peoples will loot you--Because of human bloodshed and violence done to the land to the town and all its inhabitants."
So this first woe has to do with greed. The word "loans" in verse 6, also translated "pledges" is referring to something that the Chaldeans would do after they would overthrow a city. The Chaldeans would completely overtake a town and ransack it, and then they would enforce a heavy tax on the people they had conquered. They would set over them a certain amount per month that the people would have to pay, and they would tell them that if they didn't pay it they were going to come back and make things even worse. They were increasing what was not their own and God says "Woe to him who increases what is not his." So the same thing that they were doing to people was going to happen to them. Within two generations from the time that the Chaldeans came into power, they were conquered by Assyria.
Woe on stealing riches. Consequence - sudden reversal. What you've done to others will soon be done to you.
The second woe is in verses 9-11 which says - "Woe to him who gets evil gain for his house to put his nest on high, to be delivered from the hand of calamity! You have devised a shameful thing for your house by cutting off many peoples; So you are sinning against yourself. Surely the stone will cry out from the wall, and the rafter will answer it from the framework."
We saw in the first woe, greed. But now we see the motive. "For his house." he's compared to an eagle here. When eagles build a nest they look for the highest and most remote place so that they can be free from predators. A lot of people are living their lives for greed, Why? So that they can set themselves up with a pretty secure situation. They think that their wealth is going to keep them safe. Safe from human harm maybe, but not from Gods judgment. God says in Jeremiah 49:16 - "The arrogance of your heart has deceived you, O you who live in the clefts of the rock, who occupy the height of the hill. Though you make your nest as high as an eagle's, I will bring you down from there," declares the LORD." And again in Obediah 4 - "Though you build high like the eagle, though you set your nest among the stars, from there I will bring you down," declares the LORD." Proverbs says that a rich mans wealth is his fortress.
Riches never satisfy. Jesus said it this way, "What shall it profit a man if he should gain the whole world and lose his soul?"
The third woe is in verses 12-14 - "Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed and founds a town with violence! Is it not indeed from the LORD of hosts that peoples toil for fire, and nations grow weary for nothing? For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea." This is closely tied with the first two. In the first one we saw greed, and in the second the reason for greed, now in this third one we see how. It talks about bloodshed. Cutting down other people in order to build themselves up.
So God says Woe to those who increase what is not theirs by climbing over other people in order to make themselves secure on this earth.
We look at some of the things going on in the work place today and we see this very thing happening. People stepping on and discrediting others in order to climb the corporate ladder. People lying and charging ridiculous amounts just to make themselves rich. We look at this and wonder how God can allow this kind of person to prosper. But all this is going to burn.
Look at verse 13 - "Is it not indeed from the LORD of hosts that peoples toil for fire, and nations grow weary for nothing?" Toil for fire. That's an interesting phrase. But that's all these people are doing. 2 Peter 3:10 says - "But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up." All this stuff, these riches that they're unjustly heaping up for themselves, it's all going to pass away. But we should be focusing on the eternal, not the temporal. Since we know that these things are all going to pass away we should be laying up for ourselves treasures in heaven. Verse 14 says - "For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea." We can be working on that right now. We need to be living our lives for His glory.
The forth woe is in verses 15-17 - "Woe to you who make your neighbors drink, who mix in your venom even to make them drunk so as to look on their nakedness! You will be filled with disgrace rather than honor. Now you yourself drink and expose your own nakedness the cup in the LORD'S right hand will come around to you, and utter disgrace will come upon your glory. For the violence done to Lebanon will overwhelm you, and the devastation of its beasts by which you terrified them, because of human bloodshed and violence done to the land to the town and all its inhabitants." Proverbs says that "wine is a mocker and strong drink a brawler and whoever is intoxicated it is not wise." And back in verse 5 it says "wine betrays the haughty man." But this goes beyond just drinking. This is talking about making others drink. There is an interesting connection between this woe and the last one, which has to do with idol worship.
Daniel 5:1-4, 23 says - "Belshazzar the king held a great feast for a thousand of his nobles, and he was drinking wine in the presence of the thousand. When Belshazzar tasted the wine, he gave orders to bring the gold and silver vessels which Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem, so that the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines might drink from them. Then they brought the gold vessels that had been taken out of the temple, the house of God which was in Jerusalem; and the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines drank from them. They drank the wine and praised the gods of gold and silver, of bronze, iron, wood and stone." "but you have exalted yourself against the Lord of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of His house before you, and you and your nobles, your wives and your concubines have been drinking wine from them; and you have praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood and stone, which do not see, hear or understand But the God in whose hand are your life-breath and all your ways, you have not glorified."
It was after they began to drink that they began to worship these false gods. In verse 22 Daniel talks to Belshazzar about the fact the he hasn't humbled himself. Again, in verse five it says that wine betrays the haughty man. So Belshazzar, who was king of Babylon at this point, was proud, he began drinking with those around him, he then started worshiping false Gods, and that very night he lost his life. Serious consequences.
The last woe is in verses 18-20 - "What profit is the idol when its maker has carved it, or an image, a teacher of falsehood? For its maker trusts in his own handiwork when he fashions speechless idols. Woe to him who says to a piece of wood, 'Awake!' To a mute stone, 'Arise!' And that is your teacher? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all inside it. But the LORD is in His holy temple let all the earth be silent before Him." There is a lot in the Bible about making and worshiping idols. One of the most common passages is Isaiah 44:12-20.
This is talking about false religion. Every form of false religion, including self idolatry is idol worship. So this is basically saying woe to him who gives his life to false religion. Because it's futile. There is one way to be saved, and every other path leads to calamity. And all false religions are engineered by the god of this world for the destruction of Gods creatures. But God loves us and all His judgment and chastisement for sin was poured out on His own Son in order that we might be forgiven. I heard a quote this pass week that I really like. It said, "Islam is a religion in which god requires you to send your son to die for him. Christianity is a faith in which God sends His son to die for you." That is the one true faith. And anyone who follows any other way will surely come to destruction. Woe to those people.
The last verse of chapter 2 says "The Lord is in His holy temple." God is on the throne. He is in control. He doesn't owe us an explanation. From our perspective things may not always seem fair, but God is just. He will bring everything about in perfect justice. We can trust that despite our circumstances, despite how things look from our point of view, God is in His holy temple. The whole earth will one day be filled with His glory, and we will live by faith.
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