Shall not all these take up a proverb about him, and a taunting riddle against him, and say, Woe to him that increaseth that which is not his! how long? -- and to him that loadeth himself with pledges!
God's answer to Habakkuk turns to the fate of the plunderer himself, and the sentence comes as a song. The nations the Chaldeans had stripped sing woe over them — which raises two questions: why judge a nation God Himself had used, and who pronounces the sentence?
The two words in the verse carry different weight. One of them is rare, and it points to speech that hides its meaning:
The word chidah is translated 'proverb' only once, in Hab. 2:6, but it is often translated 'riddle.' It means 'problem' — a hidden way of speaking that hides the sense under figures of speech. The word usually translated 'proverb,' and used for the Book of Proverbs, is mashal, which means 'comparison, likeness.' Proverbs are short sentences meant to catch the attention and stay in the memory.
Because the song works by figure rather than by name, commentators read it as reaching past its first target:
This song against the Chaldean brings us to the last days. The king it speaks of is never named, because the traits it shows in him are not his alone. It is a proverb, a picture in symbols, that must be understood; it is a riddle that must be solved. It leads us on to the setting up of Christ's glorious reign.
Verse 6 begins a run of woes. Each one is built the same way — a sentence, then its reason. God had used this nation, yet He will not spare it:
Then we find a remarkable series of stanzas, from verse 6 to the end of the chapter — many woes one after another, with a reason attached to each case… God must judge the evil before He can bring in the blessing with power… The reason why God must deal with the Chaldean flows straight from His moral nature. He cannot support one whom He had used as His instrument, once that instrument dared to exalt itself to the dishonour of God.
The words "all these" point to the nations. God hands them the song:
The oppression and injustice of this nation cries aloud to God for judgment. As the LORD had used the Chaldeans to chastise His people, and the nations, so now He uses the nations to judge the Chaldeans. It is the nations He uses to take up a taunting proverb against these oppressors and to pronounce these woes on them.
The "how long?" in the song is not new. The prophet had already cried it himself:
The "how long" from the mouths of the singing oppressed ones seems to match what the prophet himself had said about Israel (ch. 1:2). Here the nations utter this cry.
The second half of the verse turns on a word with two senses: goods held in pledge, or heavy mud. Some older translations say "thick clay."
The first "Woe" falls on the man who collects other people's goods, things that do not belong to him. He loads himself with a burden of goods held as pledges for loans at interest… The play on words — "pledges" or "thick mud" — shows that this detestable looting could only bring the Chaldean shame. He would gain no "advantage" but contempt, because his act was so low. Such behaviour is detestable in God's eyes. How much punishment could leaders spare themselves and the nations they rule, if they saw how low such deeds are!
The song predicts no random ruin. The punishment matches the crime, and it still works that way:
Then follows a taunting song in verses 6-7. Divine retribution is coming for them. The spoiler is going to be spoiled. You can read this retribution in all history, and it still goes on. What is true of people is true of nations: "whatever one sows, that will he also reap."
This warning is not only for empires. It reaches any man who piles up wealth:
The things that will leave us cursed, if we have nothing else, cannot make us blessed… How many have pulled down their souls to build up a fortune! A ship may be so laden with gold that it sinks; many a man's gold has sunk him to hell. The rich sinner seals up money in his bag, and God seals up a curse with it. "Woe to him … that loads himself with thick clay" (Hab. 2:6).
- Riddle — the taunt is a chidah, a hidden way of speaking. It hides its sense under figures, so it never names its target.
- Reach — with no king named, the picture stretches past one Chaldean to proud powers everywhere, and on to Christ's reign.
- Reason — each woe gives its own cause. God cannot back a tool that lifts itself up to His dishonour.
- Reversal — the plundered nations become the singers, and the spoiler becomes spoil: what a man sows, he reaps.
- Weight — stolen gain is not treasure but thick clay. The load a man piles on himself is what sinks him.
Shall they not rise up suddenly that shall bite thee, and they awake up that shall vex thee, and thou shalt be for booties unto them?
God had used the Chaldeans of Babylon to punish His own people and other nations. Verse 7 sits in the mocking song those crushed nations now sing over him, as his victims rise and turn on him.
God does not pronounce these woes Himself. He puts them in the mouths of the peoples the Chaldean crushed.
The oppression and injustice of this nation cries out to God for judgment. The LORD had used the Chaldeans to punish His people and the nations. Now He uses the nations to judge the Chaldeans. He uses them to take up a taunting proverb against these oppressors, and to pronounce these woes on them.
The woe just before this verse falls on a man loaded with goods that are not his. The word for what he holds hides a second meaning.
The first "Woe" is pronounced over him who collects the possessions of others, goods that do not belong to him. He loads himself with a burden of goods that he pledges against interest... The play on words — "pledges" or "thick mud" — shows that this hateful looting could only lead to shame for the Chaldean. He would gain no "advantage" from it but contempt, because his act was so low.
Those who rise are his creditors, and the debt is everything he took from them. They wake up, and now he is the one who trembles.
This man laid hold of other people's goods to enrich himself. Suddenly those he had robbed would attack him. They would bite him like a thief set on by dogs, and in turn he would fall prey to them.
The word "suddenly" was not a figure of speech. Belshazzar was Babylon's last king.
Babylon did fall suddenly in the night of Belshazzar's feast. Compare Jeremiah 51:39-41.
Why does God turn on the very nation He had used? The answer lies in what God Himself is like.
God must deal with the Chaldean. The reason flows simply and necessarily from the moral nature of God. He could not keep supporting an instrument He Himself had used, once it dared to exalt itself and dishonour Him.
What happens to the Chaldean is not a one-off act of revenge. Writers read it as the ordinary way God governs nations.
Divine retribution is coming for them. The spoiler is going to be spoiled. This is the retribution you can read all through history, and it still goes on. What is true of people is true of nations: "whatever one sows, that will he also reap."
The pattern is older than Babylon. God had done the same with Assyria long before.
God may use the Assyrian as "the rod of my anger" to punish His people. But the proud Assyrian did not know God's ways. He never realised that he was only God's instrument. His pride, his evil thoughts and his evil deeds brought God's just judgment down on him (Isaiah 10). It was the same with the Babylonians!
Verse 7 belongs to the first of five woes in this chapter. Their reach does not stop with Babylon.
From chapter 2:3 we see that this revelation with its five woes (Hab. 2:6-20) not only refers to the coming invasion of the Chaldeans but that it applies also to a future day.
- Loaded — the woe falls on a man buried under goods that are not his. The play on words ties his "pledges" to thick mud, so his gain is his shame.
- Bitten — his creditors are the nations he stripped. They rise like dogs on a thief, and the plunderer becomes the plunder.
- Suddenly — the timing is the point. Babylon fell in the night of Belshazzar's feast, unwarned and unready.
- Broken — God had used the Chaldean as His rod. But He will not keep backing an instrument that exalts itself against Him.
- Repeated — this is how God rules history, and a day still to come will show it again. Whatever a power sows among the nations, it reaps.
Because thou hast plundered many nations, all the rest of the peoples shall plunder thee; because of men's blood, and for the violence [done] to the land, to the city, and all that dwell therein.
Habakkuk 2:8 gives the reason behind the first "woe" in the taunting song against Babylon. The nation that stripped others will be stripped itself, and the charge is bloodshed and violence — which raises two questions: why does God turn on the power He used, and who carries out the sentence?
God had raised up the Chaldeans (the Babylonians) to punish His own people. That did not make them safe. One writer traces the judgment back to God's own character:
God must deal with the Chaldean, and the reason flows straight from His moral nature. He cannot go on supporting someone He had used as His instrument once that instrument dares to exalt itself and dishonour Him.
Notice who carries out the sentence. The nations that suffered are the ones who now judge:
The oppression and injustice of this nation cries aloud to God for judgment. As the LORD had used the Chaldeans to chastise His people, and the nations, so now He uses the nations to judge the Chaldeans. It is the nations who take up a taunting proverb against these oppressors and pronounce these woes on them.
What happens to Babylon is not a one-off. It follows a rule that holds for nations as much as for people:
Divine retribution is coming for them. The spoiler is going to be spoiled. You can read this retribution in all history, and it still goes on. What is true of people is true of nations: "Whatever one sows, that will he also reap."
The verse calls the plunderers a remnant: what is left of the nations Babylon devoured. One writer reads Babylon's fall as a picture of something still future:
Verse 8 follows on from the verse before it and confirms it. This man had plundered. The remnant of the nations will be spared to see Christ take the throne, and they will in turn rob the plunderer. Let us not forget that Babel's fall is only a symbol of what will take place in the last days.
The word "peoples" is a wide one. Another writer explains what it covers:
Am-mim (peoples) are the mass of the people, the populations. So it does not matter who these are — they might be Jews or Gentiles.
The second half of the verse states the grounds. A close look at the Hebrew shows who is who. The land, the city and the people are not doing the violence. They suffer it:
So we have "because of bloods of Adam," that is, of man, and "violence of land, of city, and dwellers in it." At first I found this difficult, because the Assyrian shall not touch Zion. But this is character and conduct, not place — there is no "the." In Hebrew the word khamas (violence) is followed by the object of the violence. It is the violence done to land, city, and inhabitants. This is the character of the invader — the transgressor — the proud man.
Commentators differ on how far to pin down the place. Darby reads the phrase as the invader's character, not one location. Another writer ties it to Israel, and finds comfort there:
God had answered him that the Chaldean would punish Israel for this violence. So the moment would come when the nations would avenge the Chaldean's violence against Israel. In God's governmental ways, one revenge follows the other… God had to set His people aside for a time. But He will renew His relationship with them as soon as the judgments are over. He never forgets those who truly belong to Him. When it pleases Him to chasten them, then woe to those who, in doing so, pursue their own advantage.
The address is Babylon, but the portrait is not finished with Babylon:
While all this applies primarily to the Chaldean, it is likewise a prophecy concerning the future. The world powers remain the same to the end of the times of the Gentiles… We can expect no improvement among the world powers… So these verses describe the world's condition down to its very end.
- Instrument. God used the Chaldean to chastise His people. His own nature stops Him backing an instrument that exalts itself against Him.
- Reversal. The hand that struck is struck. God used Babylon against the nations; now He uses the nations against Babylon.
- Rule. The spoiler is spoiled. You can read this retribution across all history: nations reap what they sow, just as people do.
- Reason. The charge is the blood of men, and the violence done to land, city and people. They suffered that violence; they did not do it.
- Reach. The picture runs past Babylon to the world powers at the end. And God never forgets His own — so woe to any who exploit His chastening of them.
Woe to him that getteth iniquitous gain to his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the grasp of evil!
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
Thou hast devised shame to thy house, by cutting off many peoples, and hast sinned against thine own soul.
Habakkuk 2:10 belongs to a series of woes against a conquering power that built its greatness on other nations' ruin. The charge is personal. The man who schemed to secure his house has built shame into its walls. The one he harmed most is himself.
The verse belongs to the second of five woes, and it turns on what a ruler does with what he has seized. One writer traces where this greed starts and where it ends:
The second woe goes deeper into the matter. It may begin with nothing more than wanting greatness for himself, or coveting what belongs to another. But it ends in lifting himself up above every enemy. He could have simply thrown his gains away instead. As it is, he spends them as selfishly as he won them.
Setting the nest on high is a bid to be out of reach. One writer ties this pride to a king who boasted about the city he had built:
The second woe is because of their greed and their drive to make themselves great. Like Edom, a hateful pride drove them to build their nest high. They imagine they are safe, thinking they can keep away "the power of evil." But their proud plans would end in shame, and their security would collapse into confusion. It is well known how Nebuchadnezzar showed this spirit. One day this proud monarch walked in the palace of the kingdom of Babylon. "The king said: Is this not great Babylon, which I have built as a royal house by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty?" The humbling that came on the king points ahead. So the Lord will humble the proud world-power into the dust (Dan. 4).
The verse says he devised shame. The plan itself produced it, and the cost in human life is counted:
The second woe answers his greed. That greed drives him to rob others to build up his own house and to set "his nest on high." So he seeks to rule over the nations and make himself safe from attack. To reach that end he will stoop to "cutting off many peoples." He will crush nations and kill millions if that satisfies his lust for power. But he has to learn that all this ruthless wickedness will turn to his own shame.
Older translations end the verse with "you have sinned against your own soul." The ESV says he has forfeited his life. Either way, the damage comes home. One writer applies the charge to rulers in every age:
Anyone can apply these charges to himself, but from start to finish they are aimed at the great powers. A terrible and heavy responsibility rests on them. In history we see again and again that rulers invade another nation's land by force and conquer it to enlarge their own power. They build the greatness of their own house out of what they have taken from others. They build their nest high. Did not Napoleon, and many other emperors with him, work to extend their power at the cost of others?… In the end such plans bring nothing but the downfall and shame of these ambitious rulers. They discovered that they had sinned against their own soul (v. 10).
God allowed His people to be crushed for their sins. That did not clear the oppressor:
God allowed injustice and oppression to crush His people because of their sins. Even so, the way the oppressor acted cried out to heaven, and brought judgment on his own head. Woe to him! Even apart from God's dealings with His people, He is the one who judges the earth and frees it from the oppressor and the wicked.
One writer notes that these woes reach past the invaders of Habakkuk's own day:
From chapter 2:3 we see that this revelation with its five woes (Hab. 2:6-20) not only refers to the imminent invasion of the Chaldeans but that it applies also to a future day.
The opposite of this verse is not a smaller house but a different one:
The believer who wants to serve God never thinks of enlarging his own house. His joy and his honour consist in this, that he, like David, gathers the building materials for the house of his God.
- Gain. The woe starts with greed for one's own house, and the ruler spends what he seizes as selfishly as he won it.
- Nest. Building high is a bid for safety — the spirit of the king who boasted over "great Babylon" and was humbled.
- Shame. He cut off many peoples to secure his house. Instead he built disgrace into it.
- Soul. The ambitious ruler discovers that the one he sinned against was himself.
- Builder. The alternative is David's ambition: not enlarging your own house, but gathering material for God's.
For the stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it.
This verse explains the second "woe" of Habakkuk 2, a warning to a conqueror who built his house from what he took. Now the building materials turn witness against him.
One writer traces how greed does not stay small. It ends in a man lifting himself above every rival.
The second woe goes deeper. It may begin with nothing more than building himself up, or coveting what belongs to another; but the end of it is his own exaltation against all adversaries. He could have simply thrown his resources away. Instead he uses them as selfishly as he won them, to "set his nest on high." Violence follows in its wake.
That high nest costs lives, not money.
Covetousness calls forth the second woe. It leads him to rob others to establish his own house, in the effort to set "his nest on high." So he seeks to be supreme over the nations and safe from attack. To reach this end he does not hesitate to stoop to the "cutting off many people." Nations may be crushed and millions killed, if that gratifies his lust for power.
The stone and the beam are not neutral. They come from homes he ruined, and that is what gives them a voice.
But he has to learn that all this ruthless wickedness will turn to his own shame. The very stones and beams of the houses that he has ruined will be a witness against him and cry out for his judgment.
The building looks impressive. Its foundation is deceit.
In the end such plans bring nothing but the downfall and shame of these ambitious rulers. They discovered that they had sinned against their own soul (v. 10). Ambition and pride had founded this beautiful building on deceit. Every stone and every beam of it became a living testimony against the oppressor.
Habakkuk is not alone in giving a voice to what cannot talk. One writer lists other cries the Lord hears.
There was a cry from Abel's blood. There was, we also learn, a cry from Sodom (Genesis 4 and 18). There is a cry from the unpaid wages of the hired worker (James 5). Even stones may have a voice in the ear of the Lord (Habakkuk 2:11; Luke 19:40).
Another writer reads the beam as a witness against evil among God's own people. He then draws out the wider principle.
Habakkuk also in his short prophecy speaks of the beam out of the timber as having a voice. "And the beam out of the timber shall witness against it" — against the evils then current among the professed people of God (Habakkuk 2:11, in an older translation). The apostle Paul, too, writing to the church at Corinth, reminds them that "There are, it may be, so many kinds of voices in the world, and nothing is without voice" (1 Corinthians 14:10, margin of an older translation). Nothing is without voice to us if we have ears to hear.
The charge is not aimed at one ancient ruler only. It reaches every power that grows the same way.
Although each can apply these accusations to himself, they are from beginning to end directed at the great powers. A terrible and heavy responsibility rests on them. In history we see again and again that leaders of governments invade the land of other nations to enlarge their power. They build the greatness of their own house out of what they have extorted from others.
Behind the fall of every such house stands a fixed principle of God's government.
We live in a day of grace; but grace does not set aside the government of God… This government of God may not take the form of direct intervention, for this is the day of God's patient grace. Christ is waiting until His enemies are made His footstool. Still, God cannot be indifferent to evil, and it remains true that what men sow they reap.
So what should a person build with? One writer points to a different kind of builder.
By contrast, the believer who wants to serve God never thinks of enlarging his own house. His joy and his honour are in this: like David, he gathers the building materials for the house of his God.
- Build — the second woe targets a man building his own house high and safe with what he stripped from others.
- Cost — he pays in people. Nations are crushed so one nest can sit high and safe.
- Voice — the materials testify. Stone, beam, Abel's blood and unpaid wages all reach God's ear.
- Verdict — what he built for safety becomes the evidence. He has sinned against his own soul.
- Alternative — the one who serves God never enlarges his own house. He gathers materials for God's house instead.
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.
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.
What profiteth the graven image that the maker thereof hath graven it? the molten image, and the teacher of falsehood, that the maker of his work dependeth thereon, to make dumb idols?
Habakkuk 2 pronounces a series of woes on a conquering power — the Chaldean, or Babylon — and this verse opens the last of them. The charge comes first, and the sentence follows — because of what the charge is.
Notice a slight change of order in what follows. It may be because this is the last woe pronounced here on the enemy. So the difference is on purpose: the sin comes in before the woe, because it was that flagrant. In the other cases the woe came first, and the reason for it followed. Here the sin was idolatry. It was not merely a sin against men — not greed, not violence, not the corrupting of others for selfish ends. It was the making and worship of carved images, an insult to God Himself, who had handed over power to the Chaldean. There is no room for other woes after this.
The verse calls the idol a "teacher of lies." A thing that cannot speak still teaches, and its lesson points a person away from the true God.
The final woe on this nation comes from its greatest sin — a sin directly against God. The idolatry, and the teacher of lies, lead men to trust in a false god and so deny the true God. This would bring overwhelming judgment on this wicked nation.
What does an idol give back to the man who made it? One writer answers by taking the image apart — mouth, eyes, hands, feet, throat.
What were they, these idol-images? Simply matter — silver and gold — shaped by men's hands! Mouth and eyes are there. Both are things we say "speak," and in different ways "witness" for the man himself — a sign of what is in his heart. But the idol gives its worshipper no response by word or look. Worse, it takes in nothing. It does not hear the voice that cries to it. It does not notice the smell of incense or sacrifice. It can stretch out no hand to help. No foot of its own will stir to bring relief. Not even a murmur of sound is in the idle throat. What can these senseless gods do but drag the men who bow before them down into beings as senseless? And this is the just penalty on those who can leave God to follow what are plainly their own inventions.
The verse says the maker trusts what he made. One writer takes the workshop out of the ancient world: the tool can be the mind, not the hands.
The root thought of all idolatry is the same, and I might say in passing that this idolatry in Israel is really idolatry in the human race... But the root of all idolatry is self-will; it is making a god of our own. It starts with self and makes a god — not always out of silver, and not always with our hands. In this enlightened age you would say there is very little danger of people fashioning gods with their hands. Ah, but there is a tool more cunning and skilful than the hands: the mind of man. Wherever a man puts self in the place of the will of God, you will find the human mind busy making a god to please itself. And it does this in the name of the Lord, in the name of the true God.
The woe never names the king it is aimed at. One writer reads that silence as deliberate, and follows the passage far past ancient Babylon.
It is remarkable that in this whole picture the Spirit of God carefully hides the name of the king of Babylon. It is a "riddle" that reaches far beyond the historical judgment on the Chaldean, right on to the time of Christ's glorious reign. From the book of Revelation we know that in the last days another Babylon will appear on the stage as a last unfolding of idolatry. Her golden cup will be full of abominations (or idols). The Roman Empire, the last form of the great world empires, will insist on the same idolatrous demands as the ruler of the first empire with the golden head (Rev. 17:4; 13:14-15; Dan. 3:1). All the prophets brand this idolatry as a shameful stain (see Isa. 44:9-20; Jer. 2:27; 3:9, and others).
The verse ends with idols that cannot speak. Set them next to the true God, and the difference is that He speaks — and He opens other mouths too.
They would learn that the true God is anything but a speechless idol. He is One who has spoken to us by His Son. More than that, by His Spirit He opens mouths that were once silent, so that they speak for Jesus Christ the Lord.
- Made — The idol starts in a workshop, or in a mind. Its maker "trusts in his own creation," so he leans on himself.
- Mute — It cannot hear, see, help or speak. So it pays back nothing, and drags its worshippers down to its own senselessness.
- Lying — A speechless thing still teaches. Its lesson is a lie: trust a false god, and so deny the true One.
- Flagrant — This is why the charge comes before the woe. It is not a crime against people but a direct insult to God — and it rises again in a last Babylon.
- Answered — The idol cannot speak. God has spoken by His Son, and He opens once-silent mouths to speak for Him.
Woe unto him that saith to the wood, Awake! to the dumb stone, Arise! Shall it teach? Behold it is overlaid with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in the midst of it.
Habakkuk 2:19 closes the last of the woes God speaks over the Chaldean oppressor, and this one answers an insult aimed at God Himself. A man shouts at a block of wood to wake up — so why is this the final woe, and what does such worship do to the worshipper?
One commentator explains why this last woe breaks the pattern of the ones before it.
There is a deliberate difference here. The sin is named before the woe, because it was so blatant. In the other woes the punishment came first, and then the reason for it. Here the sin is idolatry. It was not just a sin against people — not covetousness, not violence, not the corrupting of others for selfish ends. It was the making and worship of carved images, an insult to God Himself, who had handed power to the Chaldean. God must make him feel such a return. There is no room for other woes after this… As usual, the first thorough departure from God is fatal.
One writer traces where the king's pride finally reached, and how far this passage looks ahead.
The boundless pride of Babylon's king had lifted itself against the Lord Himself. It no longer struck at the nations, or even at the people of God. Against the only true God he had set his deceiving images of wood, iron, silver and gold. And this became the main cause of his final destruction. It is remarkable that in this whole picture the Spirit of God carefully hides the name of the king of Babylon. It is a "riddle" that goes far beyond the historical judgment on the Chaldean. It reaches forward to the time of Christ's glorious reign.
The verse points to the gold plating, then to what is missing underneath.
Man could mould the metal into human form and shape it after the noblest of God's creatures on earth. But where was the life, where the will, where the power?… Mouth, eyes, ears, nose, hands, feet, throat — all were there. Nothing was missing on the outside. Yet they lacked one thing: the breath of life. That came from God, and man with all his will could not give it. Like a corpse with all its limbs complete, there was no life.
The verse asks whether such a thing can teach. One writer lists what the idol gives back, and what that costs the worshipper.
The idol gives no response to its worshipper, by word or by look. It takes in nothing. It does not hear the voice that cries to it. It does not notice the smell of incense or of sacrifice. It can stretch out no hand to help. It will not stir a foot to bring relief. Not even a murmur of sound is in its idle throat. What can these senseless deities do but drag the men who bow before them down into beings as senseless? And this is the just penalty on those who can forsake God to follow their own inventions instead.
It is easy to read this woe as a description of somebody else, far away and long ago. One writer refuses that comfort and widens the definition.
In our day people may scoff at the gods of the Chaldean. They may view those who serve such gods as living in deep darkness — and no doubt they are. But are not many returning to this state of things at terrific speed?… To put confidence in anything but the living God is idolatry. Scripture even calls covetousness idolatry (Col. 3:5), because it shows that something has displaced God in the affections of the heart.
The idol has no breath and no voice. The next verse turns from the idol to the Lord Himself.
The judgment that overtakes this wicked nation establishes a great and blessed fact. Despite all the failure of God's people and the growing wickedness of the world, "The LORD is in his holy temple." In His presence, every mouth that opens in rebellion to blaspheme His holy Name will at last fall silent.
- Made. Someone must make the idol before anyone can pray to it. The man who shouts "Awake!" is talking to his own handiwork, plated in gold and silver.
- Dead. The image has every feature except the breath of life, which only God gives. It is a complete body with no one home.
- Deadening. You grow like what you worship. Bow to something with no life in it, and it drags you down into its own senselessness.
- Disguised. Idolatry means trusting anything other than the living God. That is why Scripture calls covetousness idolatry too.
- Living. This woe comes last because it strikes at God Himself. It ends with the Lord in His holy temple, silencing every mouth raised against Him.
But Jehovah is in his holy temple. Let all the earth keep silence before him!
Chapter 2 piles woe after woe on a cruel empire, then ends not with another woe but with one quiet line about where God is. That line sets the living God against the lifeless idols just named, and it raises two questions: where is this temple, and why must the earth fall silent?
The verse turns from lifeless idols to the living God. That contrast carries its whole force.
Notice the contrast: their idols cannot speak, but Jehovah, the God of Israel, is the living God. He is in His holy temple, and from there He takes note of what people do. He is the Sovereign, the only Ruler. The nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are counted as the dust on the scales (Isa. 40:15).
The final woe names a sin of a different order.
Here the sin is idolatry. So it was not only a sin against people — not greed, not violence, not corrupting others for selfish ends — but the making and worship of carved images, an insult to God Himself, who had handed world power to the Babylonian… There is no room for other woes after this… The last verse of the woe shows how the scene changes after it.
Writers differ on where the "holy temple" is. One reading places it above, untouched by whatever is happening to God's house on earth:
The conquests of the Babylonians would come to nothing, and so would their famous buildings. They made others drunk to deceive them, and were drunk themselves, and that would end in shame, just as their idols did. Jehovah is in His holy temple above, whatever the state of His house on earth. Silence!
Another takes it as the actual temple in Jerusalem:
He will be "in His holy temple," in His temple at Jerusalem. These words do not point to heaven, but to His house on earth (Micah 1:2; Ps. 11:4). From that moment the glory of the Lord that had left the temple (Ezek. 11:23) will have returned (Ezek. 43:4). The whole earth will be silent before Him. He will rule, and because of His majesty no one will dare to speak in His presence.
The silence is more than quiet. It is the end of every argument against God.
The judgment that falls on this wicked nation proves a great and blessed fact. Despite all the failure of God's people, and the growing wickedness of the world, "The LORD is in His holy temple." In His presence every mouth that opens in rebellion to blaspheme His holy Name will at last be stopped.
One writer describes what the prophet sees behind the command.
The prophet sees Jehovah rising up, as it were, out of the dwelling of His holiness. He comes out in judgment to carry out the purposes just announced. Thinking of the effect on people, the prophet cries, "Be silent, all flesh, before the Lord." For when the day of His wrath comes, who will be able to stand?
The silence is not the last word; the earth filled with the knowledge of God is.
Woe to him! Even apart from God's dealings with His people, it is He who judges the earth and rescues it from the oppressor and the wicked. His carved image will not help him. What can a silent stone do for the man who set it up? But Jehovah was in His holy place, in His temple. 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.
One writer turns the verse into a test of daily speech.
The tongue reveals the state of the soul faster than anything else. When we stay in the presence of God, our speech is neither evil nor excessive. "The LORD is in His holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before Him" (Hab. 2:20).
- Contrast — Idols cannot speak. The LORD is the living God, in His temple, taking note of what people do.
- Cause — Idolatry closes the woes. It insults God Himself, not only people, and no further woe can follow.
- Silence — God stops every mouth that opens against Him. The hush is the end of argument, not just of noise.
- Reach — The call goes out to "all the earth." Commentators differ over whether the temple is above or in Jerusalem, but both read the silence as worldwide.
- Result — The hush gives way to glory. The earth is filled with the knowledge of His glory, as the sea bed is covered by its waters.