The Five Woes of Habakkuk
When Habakkuk was confronted with violence and injustice in Judah, he prayed to God to act and stop the moral corruption that was affecting the lives of many people and destroying the nation. When God did not answer Habakkuk’s prayer, he challenged God’s justice by intimating that he was allowing this evil situation to occur, “Why do you tolerate wrong?” (Habakkuk 1:3 NIV). God’s response to Habakkuk was that he was bringing the Babylonians as his instrument of justice.
God’s method of dealing with the violence and injustice in Judean society was not pleasing to Habakkuk. He said to Yahweh: “So why do you put up with such treacherous people? Why do you say nothing when the wicked devour those more righteous than they are?” (Habakkuk 1:13 NET).
Habakkuk’s question raises an issue that most people seldom consider its implication. When God wants to accomplish his work in the world, God uses human and nonhuman agents. God said that Nebuchadrezzar was “my servant”: “Now I will hand all your countries over to my servant Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon; I will make even the wild animals subject to him” (Jeremiah 27:6). God also said that the Babylonians were the “weapons of his wrath” (Jeremiah 50:25).
When God brought his judgment on Jerusalem, God’s judgment came through Nebuchadnezzar. Yahweh said, “I have completed its destruction by his hand” (Jeremiah 27:8).
However, when the Babylonians acted as the agents of God to judge the violence of Judah, the Babylonians were brutal in their treatment of the people. Yahweh said, “I am extremely angry with the nations that are at ease; for while I was only a little angry, they made the disaster worse” (Zechariah 1:15).
As Fretheim writes, ““Babylon and other agents exceeded their mandate, going beyond their proper judgmental activities in vaunting their own strength at the expense of Israel and in making the land an “everlasting waste’” (Fretheim 2004: 372).
In using human agents to accomplish his work in the world, God takes some risk because human agents who are called to do God’s work may fail, and their failure then is attributed to God.
Fretheim writes that “One might fault God’s choice of agents, but God uses the means available in that time and place to accomplish the divine purposes and, true to the nature of the relationship, does not perfect them before involving them” (Fretheim 2004: 369).
As a result, the “decision to work through such means is a risky move for God because God thereby becomes associated with the agent’s activity. God thereby implicitly accepts any ‘guilt by association’ that may accrue to the divine reputation” (Fretheim 2004: 369).
The Five Woes Against Babylon
When the Babylonians came up to Judah as God’s instrument of divine justice, the Babylonians overstepped the boundaries in their treatment of the people of Judah and they became guilty on account of their violence and brutality (Habakkuk 1:11).
Habakkuk says that the people who suffered the brutality of the Babylonians will mock them when they are invaded and destroyed, “But soon their captives will taunt them. They will mock them, saying, ‘What sorrow awaits you thieves! Now you will get what you deserve’” (Habakkuk 2:6 NLT).
Habakkuk’s pronouncement of judgment against Babylon comes in five woe oracles. The Hebrew word hôy is generally translated as “Woe” (KJV) or “Alas” (NRSV). The New Living Bible translates hôy as “What sorrows.” This word is used in lamentations for the dead (1 Kings 13:30) and in announcements of God’s coming judgment (Clifford 1966: 458–464).
The First Woe Oracle, Habakkuk 2:6b-8
“Woe to him who piles up stolen goods and makes himself wealthy by extortion! How long must this go on? Will not your debtors suddenly arise? Will they not wake up and make you tremble? Then you will become their victim. Because you have plundered many nations, the peoples who are left will plunder you. For you have shed man’s blood; you have destroyed lands and cities and everyone in them” (Habakkuk 2:6–8).
The Babylonians are called thieves because they became rich by taking spoils from the conquered nations. They became rich by pillaging and by extortion, by demanding heavy tribute from their vassals. But when their day of judgment comes, they will receive what they deserve.
The oppressed people, “their debtors,” will arise, they will “wake up,” and they will take their vengeance on Babylon. The Babylonians “will become their victims” and they will pillage Babylon while their citizens will suffer what they had suffered, “Because you have plundered many nations, the peoples who are left will plunder you.” The Babylonians are accused of brutality against their victims, they are accused of bloodshed, and of devastating the land by destroying crops and by making cities desolate.
Habakkuk is declaring that Babylon will pay for the atrocities they have committed. Retribution “represents the law of justice in which a willful oppressor receives from the hand of God what he deserves” (Robertson 1990: 116).
The Second Woe Oracle, Habakkuk 2:9–11
“Woe to him who builds his realm by unjust gain to set his nest on high, to escape the clutches of ruin! You have plotted the ruin of many peoples, shaming your own house and forfeiting your life. The stones of the wall will cry out, and the beams of the woodwork will echo it” (Habakkuk 2:9–11).
The meaning of the second woe is debated. The NIV says that the Babylonians enlarged their empire by unjust gains. The NLT says the Babylonians “build big houses with money gained dishonestly.” The probable meaning of this second woe is that the Babylonians built their empire by using violence to get riches to make their nation prosperous.
The idea of building their nest on high implies that the Babylonians built their defenses in order to be secure against the attacks of their enemies, “to escape the clutches of ruin,” making their nation almost invulnerable against attacks from their enemies. But Babylon will not be safe when Yahweh comes to judge them, “Although you make your nest as high as the eagle’s, from there I will bring you down, says the LORD” (Jeremiah 49:16).
The Babylonians have forfeited their own lives by the crimes they have committed. The stones in the walls of the cities they conquered and burned cry out as witnesses against them.
The Third Woe Oracle, Habakkuk 2:12–14
“Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed and establishes a town by crime! Has not the LORD Almighty determined that the people’s labor is only fuel for the fire, that the nations exhaust 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).
Habakkuk accuses the king of Babylon of building cities “with bloodshed.” They may be a reference to forced labor used in the building of Babylonian cities. This was a pattern used by conquerors to build their nations. When Israel was in Egypt, the Egyptians forced the Israelites “to build the cities of Pithom and Rameses” (Exodus 1:11).
Because of the violence and the brutality the Babylonians used to build their nation, Yahweh “determined that the “people’s labor” was “only fuel for the fire” because the cites of Babylon were to be burned when Babylon fell. According to Habakkuk, Babylonian cities were built with bloodshed and with violence.
Habakkuk speaks of Yahweh’s expectations for the nations. According to Nogalski, “These expectations do not include a world order in which people become commodities to serve the greed of an empire or of a ruler whose nationalistic appetites know no bounds and who works continually to consume what belongs to others” (Nogalski 2011: 671).
Habakkuk makes reference to Isaiah 11:9, “the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea” (Isaiah 11:9), to express the final victory of God. Nations such as Assyria, Babylon, Rome, and so many others used violence and injustice to establish their empires. Evil and violence will end when the knowledge of God is spread throughout the world “as the waters cover the sea.”
The Fourth Woe Oracle, Habakkuk 2:15–17
“Woe to him who gives drink to his neighbors, pouring it from the wineskin till they are drunk, so that he can gaze on their naked bodies. You will be filled with shame instead of glory. Now it is your turn! Drink and be exposed. The cup from the LORD’s right hand is coming around to you, and disgrace will cover your glory. The violence you have done to Lebanon will overwhelm you, and your destruction of animals will terrify you. For you have shed man’s blood; you have destroyed lands and cities and everyone in them” (Habakkuk 2:15–17).
Habakkuk’s charges against the Babylonians reflect the moral depravity and brutality Babylonian soldiers used in the wars of conquest. The Babylonians are accused of getting people drunk in order to look at their naked bodies.
To look at the nakedness of their captives is probably a euphemism for sexual acts. The Babylonian soldiers were getting their prisoners drunk so that they could rape them. The rape of women and men as a result of wars is a violation of human dignity. When prisoners of wars are violated by rape, their dignity comes under assault and their human rights are violated.
The Babylonians are accused of two environmental crimes. They cut down the cedars of Lebanon in order to build houses in Babylon. The king of Assyria boasted that he had gone to Lebanon and cut down its tallest cedars, and the best of its pine trees (2 Kings 19:23). The destruction of the cedars of Lebanon was an offense to God because these were the cedars of Lebanon which the Lord had planted (Psalm 104:16).
The Babylonians also are accused of killing wild animals. Some of them were captured to be used in sport. The killing of the animals reveals the cruelty of the Babylonians, “The righteous knows the needs of their animals, but the mercy of the wicked is cruel” (Proverbs 12:10). The book of Jonah says that one of the reasons Yahweh spared Nineveh was because Yahweh had compassion for the animals in the city (Jonah 4:11).
The Fifth Woe Oracle, Habakkuk 2:18–20
“Of what value is an idol, since a man has carved it? Or an image that teaches lies? For he who makes it trusts in his own creation; he makes idols that cannot speak. 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. But the LORD is in his holy temple; let all the earth be silent before him” (Habakkuk 2:18–20).
The final woe against Babylon speaks about the foolishness of worshiping idols. This text teaches several things about the worship of idols. First an idol is the creation of a craftsman, “a man has carved it.” Second, an idol is made of metal. Third, an idol is “a teacher of lies.” Fourth, an idol has no life, “Come to life.” Fifth, the idol maker worships his own creation. Finally, an idol is a god who cannot speak.
A god of wood or stone is not like Yahweh, the living God. The true God is not like a god who cannot speak, a god who does not have life. Yahweh is in his temple and from there he speaks to his people and from there he speaks words of life.
The command to be silent is an admonition to all the nations of the earth to recognize that Yahweh is different from gods made of wood and stones. It is also an invitation to the nations to be attentive to the words that come from his temple: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths” (Micah 4:2).
Conclusion
When Habakkuk first spoke to Yahweh in order to understand the reason God allowed violence and injustice to prevail in Judah, Habakkuk was confronted with the mysterious ways by which God works in the world.
When God told him that he was using the Babylonians, a sinful and violent people, as his agents to bring judgment on Judah, Habakkuk went to God in prayer. Habakkuk was looking for additional information about the way God was working in bringing justice to the people who were being oppressed by wicked people in Judah.
Habakkuk may not have fully understood the implications of God’s answer to his question. However, the prophet had placed his trust in Yahweh and trusted his admonition that righteous people live by their faithfulness.
The lesson Habakkuk learned from his dialogue with God is the lesson believers today must also learn. Believers must recognize that God is Lord and that he has a plan and a purpose for his creation. In the midst of the mysteries of God’s work in the world, believers must understand that God is at work to reconcile the world unto himself, granting mercy to sinners and giving life to people who are willing to trust in him.
Claude Mariottini
Emeritus Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
Clifford, R. J. “The Use of hôy in the Prophets.” The Catholic Biblical Quarterly 28 no 4 (1966): 458–464.
Fretheim, Terence E. “‘I was only a little angry’: Divine Violence in the Prophets.” Interpretation 58 no 4 (2004): 365–375.
Nogalski, James D. “Habakkuk.” The Book of the Twelve: Micah–Malachi. Smyth & Helwys Bible Commentary. Macon, GA: Smyth & Helwys, 2011.
Robertson, O. Palmer. The Books of Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1990.
