©Clay Eldridge
Chapter 1:5-11 (ESV) - “Look among the nations, and see;
wonder and be astounded.
For I am doing a work in your days
that you would not believe if told.
For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans,
that bitter and hasty nation,
who march through the breadth of the earth,
to seize dwellings not their own.
They are dreaded and fearsome;
their justice and dignity go forth from themselves.
Their horses are swifter than leopards,
more fierce than the evening wolves;
their horsemen press proudly on.
Their horsemen come from afar;
they fly like an eagle swift to devour.
They all come for violence,
all their faces forward.
They gather captives like sand.
At kings they scoff,
and at rulers they laugh.
They laugh at every fortress,
for they pile up earth and take it.
Then they sweep by like the wind and go on,
guilty men, whose own might is their god!”
Question to consider: Why do you think God chose the Chaldeans (Babylonians) to judge Israel?
All of the battles throughout scripture were fundamentally about the God of Israel conquering the gods of the nations. As I mentioned yesterday, the kings were considered to be the image of the gods they worshiped. Israel was unique in its origins because the LORD ruled Israel through His appointed judges before finally granting their cries for a human king. The human king Israel chose was Saul, a descendant of Benjamin who was tall, rugged, and handsome but foolish. The king God chose to replace Saul was David, a descendant of Judah who was small, ruddy, and insignificant but had faith in the LORD.
You would think that the people would have learned from the contrast of the two kings to only allow kings who honored the LORD, but Israel went headlong into darkness to the point where God was going to answer Habakkuk’s cry for judgment by sending the Babylonians to destroy them.
We’ll get into Habakkuk’s reaction to this news tomorrow, but God’s description of Babylon was that of a ruthless country who sought to conquer the world. Psalm 2:1-4 says, “Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying, ‘Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.’ He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision.”
When the LORD spoke to Habakkuk of their laughter at fortified cities and being guilty people whose own strength is their god, I think He had this Psalm in mind. The Babylonian horsemen were noted for going headlong into battle with the speed of a leopard and the fierceness of a pack of wolves attacking their prey at dusk, swooping in with overwhelming force. They feared no god, no king, and no fortified city.
Despite the fact that they were the most fearsome nation on earth, it would take no effort for God to stop them. The Babylonians would think they had conquered the God of Israel, but it would be God who used Babylon as His sword against Israel. Nebuchadnezzar would find out how little power he really had when he would one day proclaim that he built up his own kingdom for his own glory and majesty. On that day God drove him “from among men and so that he ate grass like an ox, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven till his hair grew as long as eagles' feathers, and his nails were like birds' claws.” (Daniel 4:33)
Dear heavenly Father, please help us to remember that even the fiercest enemies in all of creation are no match for You. You are working out all things for Your glory, and You alone are worthy of our reverence and fear and praise. Please comfort us with the peace that You have given us in Christ Jesus. Amen.