Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood, and establisheth a city by unrighteousness!
God has told Habakkuk that He will use the Chaldeans — the empire of Babylon — to discipline His own people. Now the prophet hears the song the nations will one day sing over that empire, and its third "woe" falls on a capital city built with blood.
The woes in this song rise step by step, and each has its own target.
The first "woe" spoke of the nation, the second of the "house"; the third has the capital as its subject. This is not "the city" (Jerusalem), as in verse 8, but a city, a town. In its direct application to the Chaldean this passage refers to Babylon, which was founded on the slaughter of the nations and the blood of men. This was true of Nineveh too (Nahum 3:1). All this raging of the nations would find its end in the judgment. Their effort would have no other result than their downfall; nothing of it would remain. Isn't it a serious thought that all the glory, the riches and the beauty that adorn the world's capitals will have to vanish and sink into nothing? Faith, however, understands this riddle; it understands the reason behind all these reversals.
The empire built well. The problem was what went into the foundations: other people's lives.
Verses 12–14 are of special interest, for they give us a picture of a godless civilisation and its appointed end. Their cruel oppression, their ungodly gains, had built up a magnificent city. Excavations have shown what a marvellous civilisation existed when Babylon ruled the world. But the foundations of it all were iniquity and the blood of victims. Is it any better today?
God had permitted the invasion — yet permission is not approval. The oppressor's own behaviour is what turns the woe back on him.
God allowed His people to be crushed by injustice and oppression, because of their sins. Even so, the conduct of the oppressor cried out to heaven and brought judgment on his own head. Woe to him! For even apart from God's relations with His people, it is He who judges the earth and delivers it from the oppressor and the wicked.
Such building is not only wicked; it is wasted. One writer applies that to the plans of his own day.
This is exactly the poor mad world's occupation and condition today — they are labouring in vain. They dream of worldwide, lasting peace and disarmament. They dream of enjoying a golden age without Christ and without conversion. These are only dreams, and they will never come true. Their statesmen, their reformers, their builders are all only labouring for the fire. Weariness, utter weariness and disappointment: that is their predicted portion. Knowing this, how can the Christian enter into the spirit of it and allow himself to share its groundless hopes?
Babylon was the first empire to rule the whole world. One writer says who really owns that authority, and when the earth will finally be ruled in peace.
What a picture of the useless labours of the peoples, and above all of the energetic Chaldean! He was the first of the nations outside Israel to come into the place of supreme power and worldwide authority. Jehovah reserves it for Himself in the only true sense. The kingdom of Messiah will be brought in by solemn judgments. It will then see the peaceful rule of good, which cannot be separated from the display of the divine glory. That, and not Christianity or the church at all, is what this passage is about.
One writer explains why that peaceful kingdom must wait:
The everlasting kingdom of Christ can only be established when all evil has been judged. For this kingdom to come, unrighteousness must disappear. Everything that lifts itself up against the Ruler of the whole earth must be cast down and brought low.
- Built — the third woe falls on a capital city. In its direct sense that city is Babylon, founded on the slaughter of nations and the blood of men.
- Bloodstained — the splendour was real, and the dug-up ruins prove it. But its foundations were iniquity and the blood of victims.
- Boomeranged — God let the oppressor crush His people for their sins. Then the oppressor's own conduct cried to heaven and brought judgment down on his own head.
- Burned — the nations labour "for the fire". Statesmen, reformers and builders who plan a golden age without Christ end in weariness and disappointment.
- Blessed — God keeps worldwide authority for Himself. His peaceful kingdom comes only after every high thing lifted against Him is brought low.
Behold, is it not of Jehovah of hosts that the peoples labour for the fire, and the nations weary themselves in vain?
A woe has just fallen on a capital city built with blood, and this verse gives God's verdict on it: the labour only feeds a fire. So why does God say this emptiness comes from Him, and how can it stand next to the promise that the earth will be filled with His glory?
This is the third woe in the chapter, and its subject is a capital city. One writer names that city and traces where its splendour ends.
The first "woe" spoke of the nation, the second of the "house"; the third has the capital as its subject. This is not "the city" (Jerusalem) of verse 8, but a city, a town. Applied directly to the Chaldean empire, this part refers to Babylon, which was founded on the slaughter of nations and the blood of men. This was true too of Nineveh (Nahum 3:1). All this raging of the nations would end in judgment. Their effort would produce nothing but their own ruin; nothing of it would remain: they "weary themselves for nothing." Isn't it a serious thought that all the glory, the riches and the beauty that decorate these capital cities must vanish and sink into nothing?
The verse says one thing twice: the fire eats the work, and the workers get nothing back. One writer then follows the judgment through to what it achieves.
After pronouncing woe on violence and injustice, the prophet asks if it is not from the LORD that the peoples labour for the fire, and the nations weary themselves for nothing: "For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea." What the peoples toil at is only fuel for the fire to consume. Their weariness for nothing (compare Jeremiah 51:58) is what the judgments of the Lord will show. But those judgments will do more and better: they will cause the earth to be filled with the knowledge of His glory.
The verse opens with "Behold, is it not from the LORD of hosts" — so the emptiness of this work is not bad luck or bad planning. God stands behind it, and He has a reason.
All the earth should keep silence before Him. It should be filled with the knowledge of His glory, as the bed of the sea is filled with the waters that cover it. The people of the world should labour as in the fire for nothing at all, and this comes from the LORD; for He will fill the world with the knowledge of Himself.
Another writer gives the reason God works this way.
Faith understands this riddle; it understands the reason for all these upheavals. The everlasting kingdom of Christ can only be established when all evil has been judged.
The next verse is often read as a promise that preaching will slowly win the world. One writer says it shows nothing of the kind.
Turn now to Habakkuk, where you have one of those passages that people always have in mind as showing that the gospel is to go on and spread until it fills the world. I point to them only to say what they do not teach: they show nothing of the kind… The people are all labouring in the fire and wearying themselves for nothing at all, and then the glory comes and fills the earth.
Another writer names the kingdom that comes instead, and makes Babylon's fall a picture of a later one.
The kingdom of the Messiah is brought in by solemn judgments. Then good will rule in peace, and that rule cannot be separated from the showing of the divine glory. That, and not Christianity or the church at all, is what this speaks of… The fall of Babylon's empire matters greatly to God, because the fall of that first world-empire pictures the fall of the last. Then the scattered Jews will be freed and will return from a still longer captivity, and one greater than Cyrus will rule the world. Until then there will be unrest among the nations.
The same verdict falls on the plans of our own day. One writer asks what a Christian should then do with the world's hopes.
This is exactly what the poor mad world is doing today, and where it stands. They are labouring in vain. Their dreams of worldwide, lasting peace and disarmament, their hope of a golden age without Christ and without conversion, are only dreams, and they will never come true. Their statesmen, their reformers, their builders, are all labouring for the fire, and weariness — utter weariness — and disappointment is the portion foretold for them. Knowing this, how can a Christian enter into the spirit of it and share its groundless hopes?
- Blood. The woe falls on a capital city founded on slaughter — Babylon first, Nineveh with it. All its glory and riches must sink into nothing.
- Fire. What the peoples toil at is only fuel for the fire. They wear themselves out and get nothing back.
- From God. The emptiness comes from the LORD of hosts Himself. He means to fill the world with the knowledge of Himself, and evil must be judged first.
- Then glory. The order is fixed. First men labour in the fire and wear themselves out. Then the glory comes and fills the earth — the reign of the Messiah, brought in by judgment, not the church age.
- So now. Today's builders, statesmen and reformers labour for the fire. A Christian is asked not to share the world's groundless hopes.
For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of Jehovah as the waters cover the sea.
This verse closes a woe spoken over a violent empire that built its capital on bloodshed. It answers that woe with a promise, and readers have long asked how the promise arrives: by the slow spread of preaching, or by God's own act.
The verse is the climax of the third woe. Commentators point to what the Chaldeans had achieved and on what it rested.
A third woe follows. Verses 12-14 are of special interest, because they give us a picture of a godless civilisation and its appointed end. Their cruel oppression and their ungodly gains had built up a magnificent city. Excavations have shown what a remarkable civilisation was in force when Babylon was mistress of the world. But the foundations of it all were iniquity and the blood of victims.
Against that background the promise transfers world rule out of human hands altogether.
The third woe is pronounced against this nation that has tried to establish itself in power on a foundation of bloodshed and iniquity. It tells us that these men will come under the fire of judgment, and they will weary themselves in vain against it. The LORD has kept universal power over the nations for Himself.
Verse 14 opens with "For". It looks back to the words just before it, where the nations wear themselves out for nothing. That link decides the meaning.
Turn now to Habakkuk. There you have one of those passages that are constantly in people's minds, as showing that the gospel will go on and spread until it fills the world. I refer to them only to point out the opposite: they show nothing of the kind… The people are all labouring in the fire and wearying themselves for utter emptiness. Then the glory comes and fills the earth.
Three passages in Scripture promise an earth filled like this. Kelly points out what all three have in common.
One more remark is worth making. Three Scriptures speak of worldwide blessing and glory for the earth. Not one of them connects it with the preached gospel; all connect it with divine judgment. Numbers 14:21 is the first mention of this purpose of the Lord… Isaiah 11 is the second. There the picture of millennial blessedness shows the earth full of the knowledge of Jehovah. Yet that picture opens with the Lord smiting the earth with the rod of His mouth and slaying the wicked with the breath of His lips… The third and last case is Habakkuk 2:14. There it is clear that the filling of the earth with the knowledge of Jehovah's glory is in no way the fruit of people labouring for love or for emptiness. It is the fruit of God's mighty intervention for His own glory, when He brings the proud head of nations to nothing.
Darby draws the same line, and adds a warning about who does the filling:
It is certainly through judgments that the knowledge of the glory of the Lord — not the knowledge of His grace — will cover the earth… It is easy for men to say, "We shall fill"; but Scripture does not say that.
Habakkuk does not just repeat the earlier promises. He joins them.
While waiting for the vision, he looks onward and sees something fine, beautiful, thrilling — "the earth filled." Not only with the glory of the Lord, as promised in Numbers 14. Not only with the knowledge of the Lord, as in Isaiah 11. He sees both together: "the knowledge of the glory of the Lord!"
The verse promises knowledge, not belief. Kelly explains why that word fits the coming age of blessing.
In the new age people will be richly blessed, but the blessing of the millennium does not exactly take the shape of belief… The earth will be filled with the knowledge — not with the faith, but with the knowledge — of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea… They will see the glory. They will look on the Lord, no longer hidden but displayed.
Seeing the glory is not the same as being saved by it. Kelly adds:
This does not necessarily mean that everyone who knows the glory of Jehovah will know His grace and be converted. Still, many will be brought to the Lord.
The vision was not just for admiring. Habakkuk had to write it down so readers would act.
As he looked out on the horizon of God's future, he saw a wonderful vision of the day when "the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea"… That day was still far off. But Habakkuk was to record the vision, so that on reading it men would start running. They were to run, in their affections, away from the evil world around them and towards the bright world the vision testified to.
- Woe — The verse answers a woe on an empire that built its power on bloodshed and iniquity.
- Fire — The nations' work ends in the fire of judgment. They wear themselves out for emptiness — and then the glory comes.
- Judgment — Numbers 14:21, Isaiah 11 and Habakkuk 2:14 all promise a filled earth. Each ties the filling to God's own intervention, not to preaching.
- Fullness — Numbers 14 promised glory. Isaiah 11 promised knowledge. Habakkuk promises both at once: the knowledge of the glory.
- Sight — The promise is knowledge, not faith. Men will see the Lord Himself, no longer hidden but displayed.