Woe unto him that giveth his neighbour drink, -- that pourest out thy flask, and makest [him] drunken also, that thou mayest look on their nakedness!
In Habakkuk's song, a fourth woe falls on the man who hands his neighbour the cup — not as a friend, but to strip him and stare at him. Commentators read the drink as a picture: an empire spreading corruption, and a woe that reaches far past Babylon.
Is this woe about drunken excess, or something larger? William Kelly allows the first but presses for the second.
Here we see the most grievous corruption added to violence. No doubt the Chaldeans spread a shameless collapse of morals. But I agree with those who give the words a larger and deeper meaning than such personal excesses, followed by shameful exposure when judgment comes on the nations.
If the cup means more than wine, what does it stand for? Arno Clemens Gaebelein reads it as the state a conqueror reduces his victims to before robbing them.
Drunkenness here is a picture of the complete helplessness of the nations the Chaldeans had conquered. In their wicked schemes they stripped them of all they had. They spread a shameless dissolution in every direction.
The order matters: the cup comes before the attack. Hamilton Smith sets out the sequence and names the aim behind it.
A fourth woe comes from a vision of the corruption, followed by violence, that marks what the enemy does. With deceit and cunning they trick the nations into a helpless condition. So they prepare the way to attack them with violence and to seek their own glory. In the end they will be filled with shame instead of glory, when the LORD makes them drink the cup of judgment from His hand.
H. L. Rossier traces that pairing of evils back to the beginning. He also hears bitter mockery in the way the song throws the word "glory" back at the oppressor.
This part of the song describes the low, shameful lack of restraint that marked the Chaldean nation. How can one speak of his glory, when the choir has just sung of the glory of the Lord? "You are filled with shame instead of glory." "A shameful vomit shall be on your glory" — so the cry goes, full of mocking bitterness and vengeful anger. Violence goes with all these corrupting things. Ever since Adam's fall, these evils have always supported and increased each other among men who join together in societies.
The man who wanted to stare at his neighbour's shame ends in shame himself. Rossier sees the whole song working this way, with the word "violence" hammering through it.
The glory of the Lord will cover the earth, but the violence of man will not be forgotten; it will fall upon him and cover him. Violence — notice how often this word comes back — receives violence in return, as we have already seen in chapter 1.
Who is this woe actually aimed at? Rossier reads it as pointing past ancient Babylon.
This song against the Chaldean brings us to the last days. The song never once names the king it speaks of, because the traits it gives him are not his alone. It is a proverb, a picture in symbols meant to be understood, a riddle that needs solving. It leads us toward the setting up of Christ's glorious reign. This song about Babylon and its king is the Lord's final answer to the prophet's second "Why," and it concerns the oppressor of His people.
Gaebelein sees the same reach in world powers that never improve:
While all this applies first of all to the Chaldean, it is also a prophecy about the future. The world powers remain the same to the end of the times of the Gentiles… Look for no improvement among the world powers. As we have seen so often in studying the prophets, the end of the age brings still greater opposition and defiance of God, with a matching moral decline.
- The cup — the offered drink is a weapon. The oppressor first makes his neighbour helpless, then strips him and stares at him. Corruption clears the way for violence.
- The motive — the aim behind the cunning is the oppressor's own glory. That is the word the song mocks: he ends filled with shame instead.
- The cup returned — what he poured out comes back. The LORD hands him the cup, and the violence he showed covers him.
- The reach — the king is never named. The woe is a riddle. It points past Babylon to world powers that do not improve, right to the end of the age.
- The end — the song is not only judgment. It leads on to the glory of the Lord covering the earth and the glorious reign of Christ.
Thou art filled with shame instead of glory; drink thou also, and let thy foreskin be uncovered the cup of Jehovah's right hand shall be turned unto thee, and a shameful spewing shall be on thy glory.
Habakkuk 2:16 turns the fourth woe back on Babylon. The man who poured the drink for others must now drink himself. Two questions follow: why does God answer corruption with public shame, and whose hand holds the cup?
The woe begins with a conqueror who first weakens his neighbours and then falls on them. One writer traces the whole movement of verses 15–17, from the motive behind the drink to the outcome:
A fourth woe comes from a vision of the corruption, followed by violence, that marks what the enemy does. With deceit and cunning they trick the nations into a helpless condition. This prepares the way for attacking them with violence, to seek their own glory. In the end they will be filled with shame instead of glory. The hand of the LORD will make them drink the cup of judgment. They would be overwhelmed by the violence they had shown to others.
He wanted glory; he gets shame. His own violence turns back on him.
The drinking is not only about private excess. Commentators read the drunkenness as a figure for what conquest did to whole peoples:
The fourth woe shows the corruption which held sway in the Babylonian empire. Drunkenness here is a picture of how completely the Chaldeans laid low the nations they conquered. In their wicked efforts they stripped them of all they had. They spread shameless dissolution in every direction. For this they will have to drink the cup of fury from the hand of the Lord. Vile shame will cover them, and their glory will be blotted out.
Glory is the word at stake here. The oppressor's glory is set beside the Lord's:
This strophe describes the low and shameful abandon that marked the Chaldean nation. How can anyone speak of his glory, when the choir has just sung of the glory of the Lord? "You are filled with shame instead of glory." "A shameful spewing shall be on your glory," so runs the cry, full of mocking bitterness and avenging anger. All these corrupting things go together with violence. Since Adam's fall these evils have always supported and increased each other among men who join together in groups.
The wording quoted here is from an older translation; where it says "a shameful spewing," the ESV says "utter shame." Corruption and violence are one charge in this woe, not two.
The verse names the hand that turns the cup. One writer weighs what that hand means:
This invader has made the nations drunk with his success in power. So he made them a disgrace and a shame in the eyes of the sober, who are not drunk as they are. This is not fully fulfilled yet, but it will be. Power has been the characteristic claim of this invader, the man of the earth. So the Lord will show the portion of His power against him. That power is the power of Christ as the Man of God's right hand. "The cup of the Lord's right hand shall be turned to him," given him to drink. That cup is the portion of God's power in the hand of Christ for the Jews. The end is "The Lord is in His holy temple; be silent all the earth before Him." Blessed be His Name!
The ESV says the same: the cup in the LORD's right hand "will come around to you."
The verse tells the drinker to strip and stand exposed. Does that shame stop with Babylon's own manners?
Here we see the most grievous corruption added to violence. No doubt the Chaldeans spread a shameless collapse of morals. But I agree with those who give the words a larger and deeper meaning than such personal excesses, followed by disgraceful exposure when judgment comes on the nations.
So commentators differ on how far the words reach. Both readings end in the same place: God brings the shame, and He brings it out into the open.
- Poured — The woe starts with a plan. The conqueror uses "deceit and cunning" to leave the nations helpless, so violence can follow and he can take his glory.
- Drained — The cup comes back. The violence "they had shown to others" now overwhelms the oppressor — the same cup, in his own hand.
- Stripped — Drunkenness pictures how he "laid low" the nations he robbed. His own glory ends "blotted out."
- Exchanged — Glory and shame trade places. Set beside the glory of the Lord, the oppressor's glory cannot stand.
- Turned — The cup is not chance. It is "the portion of God's power in the hand of Christ." The song ends where all talk must end: the Lord in His holy temple, the earth silent before Him.
For the violence [done] to Lebanon shall cover thee, and the destruction of beasts which made them afraid; because of men's blood, and for the violence [done] to the land, to the city, and all that dwell therein.
The fourth woe against the Chaldean invader ends with a sentence: what this power did to Lebanon will come back and bury it. Violence is the repeated word, and one question stands out: why does God name a forest and its animals beside the blood of men?
This line closes a picture of a nation that first corrupts and then crushes.
A fourth woe comes from a vision of the corruption, and then the violence, that marks what the enemy does. With deceit and cunning they deceive the nations into a helpless condition. This prepares the way for attacking them with violence, to seek their own glory. In the end shame will fill them instead of glory, when the LORD makes them drink the cup of judgment from His hand. The violence they had shown to others would overwhelm them.
The older wording can mislead. It does not describe violence belonging to Lebanon, but violence aimed at it — and the same grammar governs the second half of the verse.
You will find that with kha-mas (violence), the word that follows names who suffers the violence. It is the violence done to land, city, and inhabitants. This is the character of the invader — the transgressor — the proud man.
Lebanon is a mountain range known for its timber and its wild animals. The felled trees and the frightened beasts of this verse are not poetry only.
The western range is the Lebanon that Scripture usually means. It is the range Solomon took cedar and fir trees from for the temple. Of the cedars only a few remain... Wild beasts still live in the glens and peaks as they did in Old Testament times.
The cedar also carries weight beyond its timber.
In Scripture its typical use is always to denote power or exaltation, if not pride... When judgment comes on the great of the earth, Isaiah calls it the day of the LORD upon the cedars of Lebanon.
Where the ESV says the violence "will overwhelm you," older translations say it will cover him. One writer sets that covering beside another covering promised in this chapter.
The glory of the LORD will cover the earth. But the violence of man will not be forgotten. It will fall upon him and cover him. Notice how often this word is repeated. Violence gets violence in return, as we have already seen in chapter 1.
The verse ends by naming blood, land, city, and people. One writer ties those words to a people God had handed over for correction, and to the limit He set on the power that carried it out.
God had answered him: the Chaldean would punish Israel for this violence. So the moment would come for the nations to avenge the violence of the Chaldean against Israel. In this way, in God's governmental ways, one act of vengeance follows the other. No doubt "the land, the city, and all that dwell in it" means Palestine, Jerusalem, and its people... God never loses sight of His people. The Chaldean had looted and murdered the nations. Those unrighteous acts would meet a just revenge. How much more, then, when he poured out his violence on Israel... When it pleases Him to chasten them, then woe to those who, in doing so, pursue their own advantage.
Does this woe describe only the Chaldeans' own vices? One writer says no.
No doubt the Chaldeans spread shameless corruption of manners. But I agree with those who read these words more widely and deeply. They mean more than such personal excesses and the shameful exposure that follows when judgment comes on the nations.
The same warning reaches past one empire.
While all this applies first of all to the Chaldean, it is also a prophecy about the future. The world powers stay the same to the end of the times of the Gentiles. It was true then, as it is true now, and will be true in the future throughout this present age.
- Violence done. The phrase means harm done to Lebanon, to the land, the city, its people. It names the invader by what he destroyed.
- Violence measured. God keeps the account: felled forests, terrified animals, spilled blood, a ravaged land. God writes nothing off.
- Violence returned. What he poured out comes back and covers him. The same word that names his crime names his sentence.
- Violence remembered. God chastened Israel with this power, yet the power still answers for its cruelty. He never loses sight of His people.
- Violence outlived. In the end the glory of the LORD covers the earth; his own record is all that covers the violent man.