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In the second chapter, the dialogue between God and Habakkuk continues with God addressing Habakkuk’s second question: Why does God tolerate the wicked persecuting the righteous? (Hab. 1:13).
Habakkuk did not offer a prescription for how he thought God should fix all that had gone wrong in Judah. In the prophet’s mind, perhaps Yahweh should have appointed a new judge like Samuel, who could rectify the problems of the judicial system. Or perhaps Judah needed a warrior king like David to bring peace to Jerusalem. Or maybe they needed a reformer like Josiah who would rid the nation of idolatry. Instead, God told the prophet he was raising up the Babylonians as the instrument of his judgment.
The answer tormented Habakkuk. Like the other prophets, he saw the futility behind the endless cycle of violence. In his day, Egypt, Assyria, and Babylon were in a constant power struggle. What one empire built up, the next tore down. The smaller nations, like Judah, stayed vulnerable to the revolving door of conquering armies. The prophets were Yahweh’s megaphone, reminding his people that all empires were accountable to Yahweh (Jer. 25:31), and the way they worshipped their own military strength was repulsive to him (Hos 8:14; Mic. 7:16).
Habakkuk stood out among the prophets in that he was determined to get an answer to why God was associating himself with the wrangling of earthly empires. Habakkuk’s problem from the beginning of his book was not that another pagan army was coming for Judah. His concern was theological: why did God have a hand in the process?
Divine silence
The opening of Habakkuk 2 provides insight into prophetic agency, and all the anguish that came along with the role. Habakkuk proclaimed, “I will stand at my watch post, and station myself on the rampart; I will keep watch to see what he will say to me and what he will answer concerning my complaint” (2:1). The prophet had waited for a lengthy period for God’s answer in the first chapter, and he was once again resigned to wait out the silence until the next revelation.
The watchman motif conveyed that the prophet was not passive as a recipient of God’s revelation. For a prophet, waiting was active, performed with expectancy and resolve. The prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel also likened themselves to watchmen eagerly awaiting sight of God’s message (Isa. 21:6-9; Ezek. 3:17-21). In Habakkuk’s case, considering God’s warning that he was raising up the Babylonians, he may have sat on a literal watchtower, not just a metaphorical one. He was spiritually waiting on an answer from God and practically looking out for the approach of the Babylonian army.
When Yahweh broke the silence, he commanded Habakkuk to write the divine revelation: “a vision for the appointed time,” and to “make it plain on tablets” (2:2). This command associating a prophet with the act of writing was confirmation to us as believers that the transmission of God’s word was a carefully guarded practice. Remember that Nahum is the only prophetic book that introduces itself as a book. Little reference is made to documenting prophecies in the other 11 books.
The choice of tablets over parchment hints that the prophecy was given a long time before its fulfillment. If it needed to last until the prophecy came true, a more durable material was essential. Interestingly, “tablets” is plural, so perhaps God asked the prophet to make duplicates. While the entire book is an intimate dialogue between God and Habakkuk, the job of the prophet is to share oracles publicly, as well.
Commentaries differ about what God meant by “make it plain.” One thought is that God told Habakkuk to make the lettering readable, suggesting that he displayed the tablets like messenger boards for passersby. Alternatively, the instructions pertain to the preservation of the tablets, so that clear documentation of the prophecy would help future generations believe in the reliability of the prophetic witness. A day was coming, in the Second Temple period, when prophecy would cease. All that would be left for those living through the occupation of the Greeks and Romans were the writings from the prophets that had endured through the previous empires.
Woe oracles
Yahweh’s reply to Habakkuk focused on why Babylon deserved God’s judgment (2:6-20). These are “woe” oracles, meaning they open with “woe,” which is sometimes translated as “oy” or “alas.” The woe oracle was a type of speech formula used frequently by the biblical prophets to warn Judah or her neighbors. God had delivered Habakkuk’s woe oracles in a vision, assuring the prophet that God saw the wickedness of the Babylonians. He was not ignoring their sin, even if in the near-term he was using them to punish the rebellious in Judah.
In the series of five woe oracles, God described Babylon as nothing less than death personified: “Like Death they never have enough” (2:5). Describing the insatiable appetite of Babylon, God said “they gather all nations for themselves, and collect all peoples as their own” (2:5). The victims of Babylon’s aggressive expansion taunted the empire with “mocking riddles.” Until this point, the subjugated nations had been silent. Now, they were finding their voices, even though Babylon had not yet fallen. Its demise was certain enough that they felt secure in pushing back on their oppressor.
In the first taunt, the victims accused Babylon of constructing their empire with ill-gotten gains. Babylon sought self-glorification through its grand building projects, but they had built the foundations of their empire on greed and bloodshed. They conscripted prisoners of war for labor. The spoils of their campaigns had funded the city’s beautification. In Habakkuk, the victims are anonymous. The text doesn’t specify which nations were speaking out against Babylon, but we do know that Babylon would eventually melt down Jerusalem’s gold and treasures to fill its coffers. Babylonian conquerors would take Jerusalem’s elite into exile and force them into servitude. Those exiles would read the woe oracles of Habakkuk and hear their own voices in the words of the victims.
In each woe oracle, Habakkuk turned the tables on Babylon. The nations that were once helplessly pillaged by Babylon would become the empire’s “creditors,” who would rise and demand reparations and repayment for all that Babylon had stolen. Habakkuk warned, “Because you have plundered many nations, all that survive of the peoples shall plunder you” (2:6-8).
In another oracle, God portrayed Babylon as a drunkard who lured nations to join her in an intoxicated stupor and then degraded them by gazing upon their nakedness (2:15-17). Reliefs found in the ancient Near East show that conquering armies often humiliated their captives by parading them naked as a way of disgracing them. The prophet’s responsibility was to thoughtfully contemplate the madness he observed in the world and inquire about Yahweh’s clarifications. Drunkenness was a fitting image to describe the Babylonians’ uncontrolled pursuits. Recall the story of Noah and God’s punishment of Ham, when he did not act more respectfully to cover the nakedness of his drunken father (Gen. 9:22-29). Just as God had cursed Ham for his immorality, the lewdness of the Babylonians did not go unnoticed. The final cup they would drink was Yahweh’s cup of wrath.
Habakkuk warned that the Babylonians would one day be shamed, just as they had shamed others. The victims taunted, “You will be sated with contempt instead of glory. Drink, you yourself, and stagger” (Hab. 2:16, NRSV). The NIV reads, “Now it is your turn! Drink and let your nakedness be exposed.” The Hebrew text is more direct, best reflected in the ESV, “Drink, yourself, and show your uncircumcision!” While this may be more vulgar, the accuracy of the translation is important because circumcision was a sign of the covenant. Habakkuk was reminding his audience that the Babylonians were outside of the covenant with Yahweh.
The last of the woe oracles climaxes with the condemnation of Babylon’s idolatry. The root source of their immorality was that they worshiped idols of their own creation rather than the sovereign creator of the universe. Habakkuk was dripping with sarcasm when he called out pagans who worshiped idols made from their own hands. He asked, “Of what value is an idol carved by a craftsman?” (2:18). How could they ascribe sanctity to an object with “no breath in it” (2:19)?
Habakkuk maintained the prophetic custom of ridiculing the folly of idolatry, worshiping something created rather than the creator (Jer. 2:27). Recall the prophet Elijah, who had challenged the prophets of Baal. When the altars to Baal sat untouched, Elijah had mockingly told the idolatrous priests to call Baal louder to wake him up (1 Kings 18:27).
Throughout the woe oracles, there is a strong theology of retribution. As the prophet Hosea warned, those who had planted wickedness would reap evil (Hos. 10:13). As the woe oracles promised, Babylon would pay for each of their misdeeds: greed, debauchery, violence, deceit, theft, and idolatry. In addition, one theme that runs throughout the oracle is the futility that lurked behind all of Babylon’s activities. Their armies had engaged in battle, but the conquest did not sate the empire. They built and beautified their city, but only through stolen labor and resources. They prayed to idols made by their own hands.
Earthly kingdoms are all fleeting, and even if they may be impressive due to the speed of their expanse or the sophistication of their cities, it is all empty without Yahweh. Worship of an empire is as futile as worship of a cast image. On the other end of the spectrum, Habakkuk looked forward to the day of the Lord when “the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea” (Hab. 2:14). Isaiah saw the same vision, although he understood that it would be a long time before that day would arrive (Isa. 11:9). Knowledge of Yahweh, a close intimacy with the creator of the universe, is the opposite of futile empire-building.
The vision God had provided Habakkuk for him to write on tablets, was a message of assurance from Yahweh that he would reckon with Babylon. Indeed, with the benefit of hindsight, we know that Babylon’s high point did not last even a century (612-539 BCE). By 539 BCE, the Persians under Cyrus the Great, had defeated the Babylonians and ended their empire.
Anthem
Embedded within the woe oracles against Babylon is one brief message of assurance for the faithful of Judah. Habakkuk promised, “the righteous person will live by his faithfulness” (2:4). While Babylon was a short-lived empire, a remnant of Judah would ultimately persevere. Yahweh did not deny that the Babylonians were about to come out on top, but he also did not justify their methods. Instead, he pointed to an eschatological future when he would reward the righteous with life and the wicked with death.
For as much time as Habakkuk spent describing the evil ways of the Babylonians, he did not give any description of what it meant to be counted among the righteous. The righteous could not include all of Judah. The prophet had complained about all the wrongdoing going on in his own community. Isaiah and Micah made the same observations around this time about the spiritual rebellion they had witnessed in Judah. The righteous also could not refer just to those being obedient to the Torah. Habakkuk had already stated that in his day, the Torah had gone “slack” (1:4, NRSV) or was “paralyzed” (1:4, NIV).
Even if there had been righteous Jews who wanted to live according to the Torah’s obligations, the corrupt temple systems and the perversion of the judicial system held them back. However, a faithful remnant existed within Judah despite their inability to maintain the law. God counted them among the righteous because of their faithfulness. All throughout the prophets, Yahweh had promised he would cling to those who cling to him.
Every prophet had a major statement, a theological generalization, or a promise of hope, which became the anthem of the entire book. Zechariah wrote, “Return to me and I will return to you” (1:3). Hosea declared, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice” (6:6). Amos relayed, “Seek me and live” (5:4). Joel preached, “rend your hearts, not your garments” (2:13). Micah encouraged, “do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God” (6:8). For Habakkuk, the signature verse was “the righteous person will live by his faithfulness” (2:4). This short message of hope, even though it was stated parenthetically, has become the most revered Habakkuk mantra in both Jewish and Christian traditions.
According to Jewish tradition, as recorded in the Babylonian Talmud, Habakkuk’s anthem summarized all 613 laws in the Torah. In the New Testament, the apostle Paul repurposed Habakkuk’s promise as the hinge for his entire message in Romans. Paul wrote, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith, to the Jew first and to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith; as it is written, ‘The one who is righteous will live by faith’” (Rom. 1:17).
These are the foundational passages for Paul’s explanation of the mechanics of justification by faith versus works. He further developed the message in his letter to the churches of Galatia, quoting Habakkuk again (Gal. 3:11). The author of Hebrews, trying to encourage believers living under persecution, also quoted Habakkuk, writing “in a very little while, the one who is coming will come and will not delay; but my righteous one will live by faith” (Heb. 10:38). As a religious Jew steeped in the whole of the Hebrew scriptures, Paul frequently quoted the prophets, expanding their original context to inform the new community of Gentile believers in a Jewish Messiah.
Habakkuk 2 ends with a praise section dedicated to Yahweh: “But the Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him!” (2:20). The image of Yahweh in his temple conveys the permanence of God’s role in the world, in contrast to the temporality of empires. Empires and idols were products of man’s imagination and creation. However, as Habakkuk would explain in the next chapter, the God of the universe is wrapped in mystery. In that mystery, we find our meaning.