Habakkuk 2:9-14 - Yet more woe

2:9-11

This woe could be directed at Babylon, but also applied to some in Judah, for gaining wealth by unjust means was something that took place in Judah. Using unjust means can seem attractive, it can seem to offer some sort of security, but ultimately it will lead to ruin. In the course of pursuing unjust gain will mean that one day we have to answer to God, to answer to Him for the lives we have ruined in our pursuit. The ultimate cost of pursuing unjust means is our loss of respect and ultimately loss of our lives forever. There is a God who sees all, and to whom all will one day have to give an account. A society that loses sight of this is one that will ultimately collapse. As we become increasingly secular we become a society that is accountable to no one, with the ensuing consequences. The stones and timber in Babylon were often plundered from other nations, and quite possibly built with slave labour. They would cry out in testimony against Babylon.

2:12-14

Babylon used brute force to build her empire, having no concern for justice. For a time force with no regard for justice may seem to work, whether on an individual level, or at a national level. But a time of reckoning will certainly come. Earlier in the book we have seen Habakkuk complaining about the seeming lack of justice, and God’s apparent inaction. We now learn that the Babylon has just been mounting up her own punishment. All her efforts will ultimately be in vain.

The eventual outcome is that “the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord”. In the West today governments and the elite are abandoning God’s ways as quickly as they can. For a time they may seem to be triumphant, but ultimately their efforts are all in vain. For the final outcome is that God’s glory will fill the whole earth.