“Elohim,
The Almighty One,
Came from Teman.
The Holy One
Came from Mount Paran.”
Selah
Habakkuk has a series of names for Yahweh. He was called Elohim, the Almighty One, and the Holy One. This Almighty One was coming from Teman in Edom, the territory south of Judah. Paran was a mountain in Edom. Thus, Yahweh was going to enter Judah from the south. Like in many of the psalms, there is an indication for a pause with the Selah.
“Shall not everyone
Taunt such people,
With mocking riddles?
Let them say about them!
‘Woe to you!
You heap up
What is not your own!’
How long will you
Load yourselves
With goods
Taken in pledge?
Will not your own creditors
Suddenly rise up?
Those who make you tremble
Will wake up.
Then you will be booty
For them.
Because you have plundered
Many nations,
All that survive of the peoples
Shall plunder you.
Human bloodshed,
With the violence
To the earth,
Is in the cities,
As well as to all
Who live in them.”
Habakkuk has a series of taunts against the Chaldeans because of their behavior. These 5 woes or curses were delivered in mocking riddles. First of all, they have stored up things that were not their own. How long would they continue to take things as pledges for the future? Those creditors would rise up against them, and make them tremble and shake. Then, they would become the booty of the people whom they plundered. They have plundered so many countries, that the surviving countries would plunder them. There was so much violence and bloodshed in the cities where people lived. Does that sound familiar?
“During the seven days
Of the festival,
The prince shall provide,
As a burnt offering
To Yahweh,
Seven young bulls,
As well as seven rams
Without blemish.
This will be done
On each of the seven days.
He shall also provide
A male goat daily
For a sin offering.
He shall provide
As a grain offering
An ephah for each bull,
An ephah for each ram,
With a hin of oil
For each ephah.”
Yahweh, via Ezekiel, also mentioned that the prince had to provide a series of animals and grains for the 7 day Passover celebration. This was on top of eating the unleavened bread for 7 days. There was a burnt offering of a bull and an unblemished ram each day of the weeklong festival. Besides the bull and the ram, the prince had to provide a goat each day for a sin offering. He also had to provide a grain offering for each bull and ram. This grain offering was to be an ephah or 2/3rds of a bushel with a hin or a gallon of oil for each ephah of grain.
“Who has
Gone up into heaven?
Who has
Taken her?
Who has
Brought her down
From the clouds?
Who has
Gone over the sea?
Who has
Found her?
Who will buy her
For pure gold?
No one knows
The way to her.
No one is concerned
About the path to her.”
Next Baruch asked a series of questions about wisdom. Who has ever gone up to heaven and took wisdom away? Who has brought her down from the clouds? Who has gone over the seas and then found her? Who was able to buy wisdom with pure gold? The answer, of course, is no one. No one knows the way to wisdom. In fact, most people are not concerned about the paths to wisdom. There is no broad highway to wisdom.
“Those who see you
Will stare at you.
They will ponder over you.
‘Is this the man
Who made the earth tremble?
Is this the man
Who shook kingdoms?
Is this the man
Who made the world
Like a desert?
Is this the man
Who overthrew its cities?
Is this the man
Who would not let his prisoners go home?’
All the kings of the nations
Lie in glory,
Each in their own tomb.
But you are cast out.
You are away from your grave,
Like loathsome carrion.
You are clothed with the dead,
Those pierced by the sword.
You go down to the stones of the Pit,
Like a corpse trampled underfoot.”
Isaiah then has his companions ask this king a series of satirical questions. They were staring at this king as they thought about him. He had made the earth tremble. He had shook up kingdoms. He had made the world a desert. He had overthrown cities. He had never let prisoners go. But look at him now! Is this the same man? Most kings are buried in their own tombs. However, he was cast out of his grave so that he became rotten flesh for birds to eat. He was pierced by the sword so that he was not in a grave, but in a pit, so that his corpse was trampled on as people walked by.
“The oracle
Concerning Babylon
That Isaiah
Son of Amoz
Saw.”
Now begins a series of divine oracles against foreign countries. Obviously despite the title indicating that Isaiah, the son of Amoz, saw this, the Babylonian captivity did not happen in the 8th century BCE, but in the 6th and 7th century BCE. Babylon was the largest city in the world with over 200,000 people, probably the first city to have this many people living in one place during the 18th century BCE (Hammurabi, 1792–1750 BCE), and 6th-7th century BCE (Nebuchadnezzar II, 604–561 BC). This city was located about 50 miles south of present day Baghdad, in present day Hillah, Iraq, between the Tigris River and the Euphrates River, but mostly on the Euphrates River. Babylon was the capital city of the Assyrian Empire from around 911-609 BCE. In 539 BCE, the Persians put an end to the Assyrians after a century of disputes. In the 4th century BCE the Greeks under Alexander the Great took over Babylon. Babylon may have been the inspiration for the story about the Tower of Babel in Genesis, chapter 11.
“Shall the axe vaunt itself
Over the one who wields it?
Can the saw magnify itself
Against the one who handles it?
Can the rod
Raise the one who lifts it up?
Can the staff
Lift the one who is not wood?”
Isaiah asks a series of rhetorical questions about the proud King Tiglath-Pileser III (745-727 BCE) of Assyria. The axe cannot wield itself. Someone, like Yahweh, has to wield the axe, who is the king. A saw, like the king, will not work unless someone is making it work, like Yahweh. The rod by itself, the king, is useless unless Yahweh lifts it up for punishment. Can a staff of wood do anything without someone controlling it like Yahweh. Yahweh is controlling this proud king, but he thinks that he is in charge.
“Whoever throws a stone straight up
Throws it on his own head.
A treacherous blow
Opens up many wounds.
Whoever digs a pit
Will fall into it.
Whoever sets a snare
Will be caught in it.
If a person does evil,
It will roll back upon him.
He will not know
Where it came from.”
Sirach then has a series of paradoxes. If you throw a stone straight up in the air, it will land on your head. A treacherous blow opens many wounds. If you dig a pit, you will fall into it. If you set a snare, you will be caught in it. Whenever you do evil, it will roll back on you. However, you will have no idea where it came from.
“Woe to timid hearts!
Woe to slack hands!
Woe to the sinners!
They walk a double path.
Woe to the fainthearted!
They have no trust.
Therefore they will have no shelter.
Woe to you who have lost your nerve!
What will you do
When the Lord’s reckoning comes?”
Now we have a series of curses. The timid hearts, the slack hands, and the double path sinners will be cursed. The fainthearted without trust will have no shelter. If you have lost your nerve, you will be cursed. What are you going to do when the Lord comes to render judgment?
Eugene Finnegan Bible Project 