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Song of Judgement | Habakkuk 2:6-19
March 9th, 2025
The Book of Habakkuk begins with Habakkuk’s lament over the injustice that he sees and God’s apparent lack of concern. However, we learn that God is working in a way that will shock him – using the evil Chaldeans to discipline Judah and establish justice. Habakkuk’s second lament is to question God’s method, telling Him that by using the evil Chaldeans to discipline righteous Judah is not consistent with His character. Yet, amid all the confusion, Habakkuk’s question is anchored in faith. How, then, should we as Christians respond when we meet or learn of someone so entrenched in sin, so arrogant, so destructive to others? Today we will see how God responds, not just in warning of impending judgment, but also how He speaks verbally through His people to the evil Chaldeans. God leads Habakkuk from despair to dependence as He declared that “the righteous will live by his faith.” The Book of Habakkuk is a comfort in that it shows that we can always trust God and rest in His sovereignty.
A dramatic shift begins in verse six of Chapter Two, with the song that Judah is to sing to the Chaldeans. The song is initiated by the priest in congregational worship; he speaks God’s words, and the people respond. This is an encouragement in that Judah knows that God’s judgment on them is coming via the Chaldeans, but He will sustain them and ultimately punish the Chaldeans. Judah has a settled confidence that they will endure the impending judgment, so they sing this unique song.
Let us consider other biblical practices that are rooted in God’s revelation but, because of our culture, challenge our common expectations. We need to remember that God’s ways are not always our ways. Though His ways are not necessarily what we expect, they are consistent with His justice, His sovereignty, and His redemptive purposes.
Imprecatory Prayers
Such prayers are imploring God to exercise judgment on His and our spiritual enemies. David prays in Psalm 69:22-28, “May their table before them become a snare; and when they are in peace, may it become a trap.” David prays this for God’s glory. Psalm 137:8-9, which reads “O daughter of Babylon, you devastated one, how blessed will be the one who repays you with the recompenses with which you have recompensed us. How blessed will be the one who seizes and dashes your infants against the cliff.” This is difficult for us to pray because it seems inconsistent with God’s character. The Babylonians mocked the Jews for their inability to resist them, and this is Judah’s way of warning the Babylonians that God is going to bring about their demise. In 2 Timothy 4:14, Paul prayed such a prayer against Alexander, the coppersmith, who did him great harm. Imprecatory prayers are asking for God to annihilate evil in the world.
Lamentations – Structured Public Mourning
These are formal expressions of grief, liturgical and national. The Book of Lamentations is written in an acrostic to help Israel memorize and lament over Jerusalem’s destruction. Even today Jews have a national day of mourning the destruction of Solomon’s Temple and, also, the second temple. Psalm 88 and 2 Samuel 1 are examples of such laments. God desires that His people have seasons of grief, by acknowledging our pain while expressing our trust in Him.
Shaking dust off our feet
This is a symbol of judgement against a city or a people who reject the gospel and turn their hearts from God. Mathew 10 records Jesus’ instructions to the twelve apostles who were sent to Jewish towns to proclaim that the kingdom of heaven was at hand. They were told to let their peace rest upon those who received the message, but for those who rejected it, they were to remove their peace and shake the dust off their feet when they left that house or city. The practice of shaking dust off by a messenger of God was not an isolated event. In Acts 13:51 we read that Paul and Barnabas shook the dust off their feet against the Jews in Antioch of Pisidia when they stirred up persecution against them.
Acting out God’s messages in a very dramatic fashion
Sometimes God would have His prophets act out prophecies. Isaish walked around Jerusalem naked and barefoot for three years as a message to Israel not to trust in Egypt or Ethiopia because God was sending the Assyrians to defeat them. In Jeremiah 27:2, God had Jeremiah wear a yoke on his neck as a message from God that any nation who refused to submit to the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar would be consumed by Babylon. Ezekiel was commanded to lie on his side for over a year, eating food cooked over human dung, thus drawing Jerusalem’s attention to the coming destruction. Because of man’s complacency and hardness of heart, God sometimes has to shock us with strange practices to get our attention.
Lifting hands in prayer
As opposed to bowing our heads and folding our hands, lifting our hands is a posture of dependence and reverence. Psalm 141:2 says, “May my prayer be established as incense before You; the lifting of my hands as the evening offering.” Paul wrote to Timothy in 2:8, “Therefore I want the men in every place to pray, lifting up holy hands.” Lifting of hands represents a complete surrender to God.
There are some unique practices in Scripture with which we are not familiar, and because of the society in which we live, we may be caught off guard. Our culture is built on individuality, and yet we fear uniqueness. We find comfort in sameness. We often reject things that challenge our norms, but in doing this we may ignore the biblical mandate to love our neighbor.
In verse six, Habakkuk transitions to a taunt-song of judgment against the Chaldeans. It was common practice in the middle east for captured nations to mock their captors, anticipating their eventual demise. Babylon was very arrogant and had enslaved many nations. Biblical taunt-songs had a higher purpose other than personal vengeance; they declared God’s justice, a divine proclamation that the wicked will not prevail. Taunt-songs are saturated with sarcasm and irony, and they highlight the futility of greed, arrogance or idolatry. Ezekiel 28 is an example of a taunt-song. One of the most well-known examples is in Isaiah 14 where the Jewish captives taunt the king of Babylon singing that they thrust him into Sheol and that he is just a dead man walking, a corpse in a grave.
Habakkuk’s taunt-song follows the format of the one in Isaiah 14; there is the arrogance and corruption of Babylon, there is God’s certain judgment, and there is reassurance to the faithful that God is true, and He will have the last word. Remember that this portion of Habakkuk’s book is a song that the congregation sang. It was a call initiated by the priest and a response by the people. The purpose of a taunt-song was to mock the wicked. Another aspect of the taunt-song emphasized the reversal of fortune, those who were once proud are now the disgraced.
This taunt-song comes at a crucial turning point in this book. Previously Habakkuk has been wrestling with the question of why God would allow evil in His people, and why would He use the evil Babylonians to punish the righteous Jews, then rather than punishing Babylon, allow them to grow ever stronger. God’s answer is that this will only be for a short time, then He will execute vengeance upon these people.
Woe to the Greedy (vv. 6-8)
The taunt-song beginning in verse six introduces the first of five woes against Babylon. The other woes are against the Self-Exalting (v. 9), the Violent (v. 12), the Corrupt and Shameless (v. 15), and the Idolaters (v. 18). This taunt-song is a demonstration of righteous anger. The lesson we learn from Habakkuk’s taunt-song is that, still today, God will judge the wicked. As we read Revelation and Isaiah 14, we see that this taunt-song is against Satan. Jesus will come and be victorious and rule, and we will find comfort as these taunt-songs will be on full display. Today we see evil and injustice abound, but we are called to look beyond this moment and take comfort in knowing that God’s justice is on the horizon. This taunt-song is a declaration of God’s justice, and it is a call to trust God’s sovereignty, and it is a warning to those who exalt themselves. We understand from Romans 7 that the ability to slide into sin is an ever-present possibility, so we must keep watch over our minds, the birthplace of sin.
Driven by Exploitation (v. 6)
The first woe in verse six announces to Babylon that the greed that made them strong would lead to their downfall. In this verse we see that greed is driven by exploitation. Greed promises security in that it may satisfy desires, but it always results in ruin. The format of the taunt-song was that the priest would recount all the evil deeds of the Babylonians; then he would pause, and the congregation would respond with woe to Babylon for [then listing these things]. The sarcasm in this taunt is righteous, it is biblically accurate because it comes from a proper theological understanding of God’s justice. The pronouncement of these woes comes from confidence in God, not from pride.
These woes come from anguish, sorrow, and despair, etc.; it is associated most closely with mourning for the dead. As used in the Old Testament it has a legalistic implication of divine justice. Isaiah 5 lists six woes against greedy landlords. We see Isaiah undone in Isaiah 6:5 when he sees the throne room of God and cries woe to me! He sees the holiness of God and despairs over his sinfulness. Isaiah 10 says woe to those who enact evil statutes and harsh treatment of others. Ezekiel 13 proclaims woe to evil prophets. Amos 6:1 says woe to the complacent; those who are comfortable in their salvation and feel no need to serve the Lord. In each of these cases the woe would have mimicked a cry of immense distress. Then Micah cries over the moral corruption of the Jews (Micah 7).
When Jesus said “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites…” in Matthew 23, these people were aware of the woes proclaimed in the Old Testament, and this fueled the hatred they had for Him. The taunt-song in Habakkuk 2 is God’s first act of judgment against the Babylonians. God wanted the Babylonians to hear this funeral song, sung in public, and know that His judgment is coming. James 5 gives a similar warning to the rich who gained wealth by exploiting others.
We need to understand that greed encompasses far more than just a desire for more money. The Chaldeans found that they could have what they wanted by exploiting others. They began as a loose federation of tribes that dwelt in marshy, swamp land and grew in power by capturing weaker tribes around them. They eventually grew in strength and, because of their brutality, were able to capture large nations. Greed is simply a refusal to be satisfied, a violation of the Tenth Commandment: “You shall not covet...” A.W. Pink said, “The prohibition in the Tenth Commandment is concerning the first motion of our heart toward any object the God has fenced.” Jesus said in Luke 12:15, “Watch out and be on your guard against every form of greed, for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions.”
Greed is misplaced desires, and these misplaced desires lead to a false sense of security. We have a myriad of misplaced desires that we pursue, whereas we should be pursuing God Himself. The Puritan, Ezekiel Hopkins, said that James 1:14 exposes the process of misplaced desires. “But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is matured, it brings forth death.” Hopkins identifies four degrees in the process that leads to greed when a seed has been implanted in our mind: 1) The film or shadow of an evil thought. This is the embryo of a desire that begins in our mind when we realize that there is something that we don’t have. 2) The second degree is when the thought is not resisted but entertained. 3) The next degree is ascent. Here we wrestle within our conscience but give ourselves judicial consent as we excuse and justify the desire. 4) The final degree is to commit the sin. Hopkins says that this is what a violation of the Tenth Commandment looks like in our heart.
Deluded into Invincibility (v. 7)
The Chaldeans fed all of their desires and wanted more. God called the congregation of His people to mock their greed. They sang, “Woe to him who increases what is not his.” Then they mocked the Chaldeans by singing for how long O Babylon? The Chaldeans were drunk with their own arrogance, and Habakkuk understood that their due was coming. If we look at someone steeped in sin, we may wonder how long they will continue to live this way. However, as long as they are getting what they want, they are blind, yet everyone else can see their sin. Greed exploits others whom they see as tools to meet their desires.
The Chaldeans were deluded into thinking that they were invincible, but as verse seven warns, “Will not your creditors rise up suddenly, and those who make you tremble awaken? Indeed, you will become spoil for them.” The person who gets what they want thinks they are untouchable, but this is a false sense of security, because greed is a liar. Babylon lived without fear, believing that no one could touch them. As they gained more wealth and more power and more control, they became even more arrogant, believing that they were immune to consequences.
Proverbs 18:11 says, “A rich man’s wealth is his strong city, and like a high wall in his own imagination.” The greedy trust in their personal track record as a fortress, but this fortress is an allusion. It only takes one event to cause this fortress to crumble. Babylon’s end was coming. Habakkuk said in verse seven that those who make you tremble awaken. The conscience already knows. Even people who gain power and wealth through greed and intimidation experience fear and trepidation; this is revealed in their anger and aggression. Their conscience informs them of their frailty, for they inherently understand that they are not eternal nor sovereign.
Doomed to Loss (v. 8)
The greedy person who uses others to gain what they want believe that their gain reflects their power and control, but they are doomed to loss. Verse eight says, “Because you have taken many nations as spoil, all that is left of the peoples will take you as spoil.” Greed is a liar and will always bring self-destruction. Part of the satire in this taunt-song is that Babylon bragged that they could take from the world whatever they wanted. The Bible teaches that greed has a boomerang effect, and the things we grasp too tightly will be torn from our hands. Proverbs 22:16 says that whoever oppresses the poor or gives to the rich to make more for himself will only come to poverty. Jeremiah 17:11 says that he who makes a fortune unjustly will in the end be a wicked fool.
The Chaldeans fulfilled every desire known to man. They hoarded wealth, thinking that it was their security, then they watched as, literally, in one night their fortune was taken away. That which is gained in an unjust manner will always be demanded back by God. Revelation 18:7-8 says that “To the degree she has glorified herself and lived sensuously, to the same degree give her torment and mourning…For this reason in one day her plagues will come.” The Chaldeans built a huge empire unjustly on the backs of others, and they never considered that they were only accumulating debt before God.
We see corruption today as men make their fortunes through fraud and manipulation, and Babylon was no different. Their downfall was only a matter of time. We need to understand that greed can overtake us as well, often in very unexpected ways. For example, parents may gain control of their children through emotional manipulation rather than from biblical instruction. We may guilt a child into obedience rather than teaching them the right reasons for obedience. Or we may bribe our children rather than discipling them. We may foster external compliance rather than planting the seeds of the gospel then praying that God would transform their hearts. In the short term, the child obeys, and we get our rest. In the long term, the child learns to respond to guilt and bribery, rather than truth and authority.
In the case of marriage, one partner may gain control over the other through emotional manipulation or by withholding affection. One partner plays the victim to avoid taking responsibility. There may be passive-aggressive behavior. There may be outbursts of anger. Short term you get what you want; long term the marriage is weakened, trust erodes, and the gospel is maligned.
At the workplace, one person may try to take credit for another person’s work, or he/she may be pretending to be hard at work while accomplishing little. Short term: promotions and praise. Long term: loss of integrity, exposure of incompetence, ruined reputation, loss of platform for the gospel.
Serving in the church when it benefits your reputation rather than serving out of a love for Christ. We might use spiritual language to cover up sin. We might say we feel led by God when we just want to do something that makes us feel good. We may manipulate others by pretexting Scripture for personal advantage. Long term loss, spiritual hollowness, and exposure of selfish motives.
When we develop relationships with others, greed is at the heart of most. It is easy for greed to infiltrate these relationships because many relationships are built on self-interest, not laying our life down for someone else. We naturally gravitate toward others who mirror our preferences, who affirm our desires and serve our needs. I love this person because of what they can do for me; that is greed. Such relationships become transactional rather than transformational, and they reduce people to a means, rather than a valued image bearer of God whom you want to love and serve because of what Christ has done for you.
The Chaldeans obtained for their comfort all of their desires at the expense of others, and they praised themselves for it. We need to examine our life to see if we have the Chaldean’s tendencies. Do I allow greed to control my behavior? If so, “Woe to him who increases what is not his – for how long – and makes himself rich with loans?” This is false security. God abhors greed because it stands in opposition to His character. God gives; greed takes. Greed is self-serving, whereas God created us to serve Him and others. In Habakkuk, God gives a unique precedent for His people – to mock their captors with a taunt-song, declaring His justice over an arrogant, self-indulgent people. The taunt-song was also a form of mercy with the hope that the Chaldeans might repent.
The mark of a true believer in Christ is giving, not taking, abandoning all for Christ because He abandoned all for us. Are we abandoning all for Christ, or are we taking what we want from others? The latter is a misrepresentation of the cross for which we say we are so thankful.
Selah:
When have you exploited someone to satisfy your personal desires?
When have you deluded yourself thinking that you might escape the consequences of some sin?
What relationships have you lost because you weren’t willing to lay down your life for them?
