Habakkuk Part 5
2609 words long.
Published on 2024-03-30
Woe upon Lawbreakers
The second section of Habakkuk identified by symbol the five civilizations that would occupy Israel and Jerusalem. The third addressed whether the civilization aimed to dominate its conquered peoples through syncretism or suppression. The fourth section described the (bad) character of each civilization. This fifth section pronounces separate sentences upon each for breaking God’s laws, to be carried out at the proper time. The sentences take the form of five woes. This is among the most significant connections between Habakkuk and Revelation 9. The fifth trumpet is said to announce the first of three woes to be inflicted upon the ungodly. The first woe in Habakkuk and the first woe in Revelation both afflicted the same civilization, the Ottoman Empire.
The five woes form a chiasm with the five character qualities given in the previous section. Thus right after the quality of the final empire, the Ottoman, is given, we learn of its fate. Then the remaining woes work backwards to the first empire, Babylon. The preamble to the woes is telling:
Shall not all these take up their taunt against him,
with scoffing and riddles for him…
- Habakkuk 2:6a
The prophet straight up tells us that the words to follow are riddles.
First woe, against Islamic Civilization
“Woe to him who heaps up what is not his own
(for how long?)
and loads himself with pledges!”
Will not your debtors suddenly arise,
and those awake who will make you tremble?
Then you will be spoil for them.
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.
- Habakkuk 2:6b-8
The key to the fall of the Ottoman Empire was economic; they bankrupted themselves. The precipitating incident was the mammoth public debt taken on to finance the Crimean War against Russia, but it was imprudent spending and luxurious living that was their downfall. In the 19th century they repeatedly defaulted on loans. Spending exceeded revenue by more than a factor of ten.
To increase revenue, the empire changed the land ownership laws so they could sell off real estate holdings in Palestine. This permitted the Jews to begin buying back their homeland. Remember this economic component as it is fundamental to understanding the fifth trumpet judgment in Revelation.
Second woe, against Rome
“Woe to him who gets evil gain for his house,
to set his nest on high,
to be safe from the reach of harm!
You have devised shame for your house
by cutting off many peoples;
you have forfeited your life.
For the stone will cry out from the wall,
and the beam from the woodwork respond.
- Habakkuk 2:9-11
In Peace, one of Jesus’ prophecies was analyzed. The Lord spoke in Matthew 12 about binding the strong man so that you could plunder his house. The strong man is Satan and his house at the time was the Roman Empire. Satan was bound in 380 AD by the Edict of Thessalonica which made Rome a Christian empire. The goods that the church plundered were souls formerly in bondage to the devil, as well as the material wealth of empire.
The latter fortunes of Christendom in the sixth millennium appeared in prophecy in Ecclesiastes 10 as also argued in Peace. Solomon used the analogy of building a house to describe the process of building Western Civilization. Since Christendom rose from the ashes of Rome and stood on the toes of clay and iron spoken of by Daniel, that house analogy and the Lord’s are connected. Here in Habakkuk we see house, stone, beam and woodwork, again in the position that corresponds with Rome.
The Christian European Colonial empires certainly cut off many peoples and were judged for this theft. On to more woe.
Third woe, against Greece
Woe to him who builds a town with blood
and founds a city on iniquity!
Behold, is it not from the Lord of hosts
that peoples labor merely for fire,
and nations weary themselves for nothing?
For the earth will be filled
with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.
- Habakkuk 2:12-14
Many kings built cities upon the blood of their enemies, but special mention must be reserved for Antiochus IV Epiphanes. He slaughtered a pig and sprinkled its blood upon the altar of the temple in Jerusalem. He killed many Jews and constructed a fortress, the Acra, as a city within the city, called by Josephus the “lower city”. That fortress resisted the Maccabees’ attacks for twenty years before surrendering.
What are we to make of “that peoples labor merely for fire”? This could speak of futility like in Ecclesiastes, building things only to see them burn. It could also be a reference to the Hanukkah miracle of the lamp whose flame did not go out, enabling them to rededicate the temple.
The final part of the woe is a blessing and an affront. During this period the Septuagint translation was written, enabling anyone who could read what would become the lingua franca of the Roman Empire to learn the ways of Yahweh. This began the blessed process of “the knowledge of the glory of the Lord” filling the earth. The Greeks valued wisdom greatly, as Athena was one of their chief deities. The affront was that it would be knowledge of the wisdom of Yahweh that would prevail, not that of Athena, Zeus and the rest of the Greek pantheon.
Fourth woe, against Medo-Persia
Woe to him who makes his neighbors drink
you pour out your wrath and make them drunk,
in order to gaze at their nakedness!
You will have your fill of shame instead of glory.
Drink, yourself, and show your uncircumcision!
The cup in the Lord's right hand
will come around to you,
and utter shame will come upon your glory!
The violence done to Lebanon will overwhelm you,
as will the destruction of the beasts that terrified them,
for the blood of man and violence to the earth,
to cities and all who dwell in them.
- Habakkuk 2:15-17
Judgement against deception, drunkenness, sexual immortality and murder are in view here. Proving that this woe was directed against Medo-Persia and not Babylon was not easy. The metaphor used of God’s judgment is pouring liquid wrath out of a cup. The obvious miraculous use of a cup was against Babylon’s king Belshazzar in Daniel 5. The king served his dinner guests from sacred goblets stolen by his ancestor, king Nebuchadnezzar, from the Jewish temple in Jerusalem. This is part of that account:
Then they brought in the golden vessels that
had been taken out of the temple, the house of
God in Jerusalem, and the king and his lords, his wives,
and his concubines drank from them. They drank wine
and praised the gods of gold and silver,
bronze, iron, wood, and stone.
- Daniel 5:3-4
Using the Lord’s vessels to get drunk with your concubines and worship idols is pretty low. God immediately wrote his sentence on the wall with his finger. They sent for Daniel to interpret the words. The prophet explained them. The king attempted to make amends but died before the day was over. That is certainly a cup of wrath. Why look any further to find a match with Persia? Jeremiah tells us why.
Baylbon was a golden cup in the Lord's hand,
making all the earth drunken;
the nations drank of her wine;
therefore the nations went mad.
- Jeremiah 51:7
Babylon is offered as the root of the evil religious and political systems that would follow, their prototype and inspiration. When judgment later comes to Persia or any other empire, it is the traces of Babylon in their culture that form the golden cup into which God pours His wrath. Thus the execution of Belshazzar is for desecrating the Lord’s cups, but the destruction of Persia would be for drinking out of a different cup, the cup that is Babylon.
Where do we see cups of wine resulting in judgment during the time of the Persian empire? There are two places. First, we have a merciful judgment, a constructive decision favorable to the Jews. At the end of Nehemiah 1 we learn that Nehemiah was cupbearer to the king of Persia. He was distressed by the state of the temple, of Jerusalem and of his people, so he appealed to the king for permission to rebuild Jerusalem.
In the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes,
when wine was before him, I took up the wine and gave it to the king.
Now I had not been sad in his presence. And the king said to me,
“Why is your face sad, seeing you are not sick?
This is nothing but sadness of the heart.”
Then I was very much afraid. I said to the king,
“Let the king live forever! Why should not my face be sad,
when the city, the place of my fathers' graves, lies in ruins,
and its gates have been destroyed by fire?”
Then the king said to me,
“What are you requesting?” …[lengthy request omitted]…
And the king granted me what I asked,
for the good hand of my God was upon me.
- Nehemiah 2:1-8
The second prominent story during the Persian occupation in which wine is quaffed is about Queen Esther, Haman and the king. The queen set up two dinner parties to expose the false pretenses behind Haman’s murderous intent, the genocide of the Jews. This would bring about his downfall.
And as they were drinking wine after the feast,
the king said to Esther,
“What is your wish?
It shall be granted you.
And what is your request?
Even to the half of my kingdom,
it shall be fulfilled.”
- Esther 5:6
And on the second day, as they were drinking wine
after the feast, the king again said to Esther,
“What is your wish, Queen Esther?
It shall be granted you.
And what is your request?
Even to the half of my kingdom,
it shall be fulfilled.”
- Esther 7:2
And the king arose in his wrath from the wine-drinking
and went into the palace garden, but Haman stayed to beg
for his life from Queen Esther, for he saw that harm
was determined against him by the king.
- Esther 7:7
In this stellar instance, the wrath connected to cups of wine fell upon the Jews’ enemies in a timely fashion. Persia would ultimately be judged and fall, but not that day.
Fifth woe, against Babylon
What profit is an idol
when its maker has shaped it,
a metal image, a teacher of lies?
For its maker trusts in his own creation
when he makes speechless idols!
Woe to him who says to a wooden thing, Awake;
to a silent stone, Arise!
Can this teach?
Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver,
and there is no breath at all in it.
But the Lord is in his holy temple;
let all the earth keep silence before him.”
- Habakkuk 2:18-20
Five hopeful words. Before looking at the judgment, let’s collect the good tidings from the whole book. We have passed over some of the rare statements of hope without remark. Seeing them gathered together is profitable:
- We shall not die. (1:12b)
- but the righteous shall live by his faith. (2:4b)
- For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. (2:14)
- But the Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him.” (2:20)
- yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer's; he makes me tread on my high places. (3:18-19)
These five hopeful words tell a story counter to the five woes against the wicked. Consider them the five blessings. The person of faith (1) will not die, (2) will live, and then (3) will hear the Word of God come to them as an invitation. To where are they invited? (4) To approach God’s temple! (5) He strengthens their feet so that they can climb the Holy Hill in safety, enter the temple and praise God in joyful song. This is the road that leads out of the barren desert and into a harvest of abundant life.
The words of hope were not for Babylon. Instead, as expressed in this woe, its king excelled at idolatry, building the tallest, most lavish idol of its time.
King Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold,
whose height was sixty cubits and its breadth six cubits.
He set it up on the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon…
And [all the leaders and people] stood before the image that
Nebuchadnezzar had set up. And the herald proclaimed aloud,
“You are commanded, O peoples, nations, and languages,
that when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre,
trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music,
you are to fall down and worship the golden image that
King Nebuchadnezzar has set up. And whoever does not
fall down and worship shall immediately
be cast into a burning fiery furnace.”
- Daniel 3:1,4-6
People today are casual about idolatry and puzzled at why God should make such a big deal about idols. Idols are deadly because fools like Nebuchadnezzar are ready to kill to promote them. People like him are still in power in our day, and just as murderous in their folly.
If we tally our results again, we see that God named the five empires, told us how they behave (tolerant or otherwise), what they were like and specified His charges against them. This is in the same spirit as the Law Pattern described elsewhere in this book, just with fewer parts and not sorted according to Exodus 20. Nevertheless, it shows that God is orderly and comprehensive in executing judgment. He is not negligent. As prophecy, God even gave all these empires fair warning of His intent. The world is without excuse.
Links to the other articles in this section:
- Connections to other books The scope of inquiry is given. The riddle is connected to Genesis, Psalms 34 and 119, Jeremiah 32, Habakkuk, John 21, Matthew 13, and Revelation 9.
- Defining 153 Noah's Flood is shown to have lasted precisely 153 days.
- Fear 153 is connected to the Fear of the Lord through Psalms 24 and 119, Luke 12 and 2 Kings 17.
- Hope Jeremiah connects a related victory number, seventeen (17), to hope. Then the themes of John 21 are connected to Habakkuk.
- Habakkuk: Part 1 Analysis of Habakkuk 1:1-4. Habakkuk puts questions to God.
- Habakkuk: Part 2 Analysis of Habakkuk 1:5-11. God doubles down: the bitter and hasty Chaldeans are coming.
- Habakkuk: Part 3 Analysis of Habakkuk 1:12-2:1. Habakkuk complains with three threes about innocent people caught in a cruel net.
- Habakkuk: Part 4 Analysis of Habakkuk 2:2-5. God offers a fourfold assurance to the faithful.
- Habakkuk: Part 5 Analysis of Habakkuk 2:6-20. Five woes are pronounced against lawbreakers.
- Habakkuk: Part 6 Analysis of Habakkuk 3:1-16. Prophecy of God's coming six-ply war against the wicked.
- Habakkuk: Part 7 Analysis of Habakkuk 3:17-19. Six laments over a barren harvest and a seventh praise of God in faith.
- The Fifth Trumpet of Revelation The Revelation 9 Plague of Locusts lasts 153 Years.
- Habakkuk's War Revisits the sixth section of Habakkuk with a final insight into God's battle plan.
