©John Yerkes
Chapter 2:2-5 (ESV) - And the Lord answered me:
“Write the vision;
make it plain on tablets,
so he may run who reads it.
For still the vision awaits its appointed time;
it hastens to the end—it will not lie.
If it seems slow, wait for it;
it will surely come; it will not delay.
“Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him,
but the righteous shall live by his faith.
“Moreover, wine is a traitor,
an arrogant man who is never at rest.
His greed is as wide as Sheol;
like death he has never enough.
He gathers for himself all nations
and collects as his own all peoples.”
Question to consider: Whose greed was as wide as Sheol?
The opening statement of today’s passage reminds me of Deuteronomy 27 where Moses told the people that after they crossed over the river Jordan, they were to plaster over large stones on Mount Ebal and write the Law of God very plainly so it could be seen by everyone who came into the land. The LORD’s vision of Babylon being used to judge Israel was so sure to come to pass, Habakkuk was to write it on stone tablets so that people could plainly read the warning and run.
While it may seem slow in coming, it was sure to come, and the end would be swift. This has been the LORD's description of judgment throughout time. His delay was always due to His mercy and patience in giving people time to repent and be ready. Once the time of judgment came, it came quickly and completely. One example was in the days of Noah. God gave the people 120 years to repent while the ark was being built and Noah was continually warning of the flood. Once the ark was completed and loaded, God sealed the ark, and the flood came swiftly and wiped out the earth. It would be another seven years before Babylon would come to conquer Judah, and within ten years, Jerusalem was attacked and destroyed in a few months. Despite warnings from Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Habakkuk, those in Jerusalem listened to the false prophets who said God would protect them.
Habakkuk had raised the question of whether there would ever be an end to the merciless killing of nations if Babylon was allowed to destroy Judah. The LORD reassured Habakkuk that the soul of Babylon’s king was puffed up, and that God’s righteous continue to live by faith. The LORD comforted these faithful through Jeremiah by saying that they would be exiled to Babylon for seventy years, and that He would prosper them while they were there. He also reassured them that He still had a future for them and would ultimately establish a new and everlasting covenant with them— the promise of Christ.
As for the king of Babylon, the LORD described him as an arrogant man who would be conquered by his drunkenness and greed. His conquests would never be enough to satisfy him, and his quest to gather for himself all nations would be his undoing. This judgment was decreed in Daniel 5 when king Belshazzar, the son of Nebuchadnezzar, took the golden vessels from the Jerusalem temple and "drank wine and praised the gods of gold and silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone," (Daniel 5:4) and the hand appeared which wrote on the palace wall. The LORD’s detailed woes against Babylon will be the topic for tomorrow’s discussion.
The one who would ultimately gather people for Himself from every tribe and nation was Christ Jesus who is gentle and lowly in heart and offers rest for our souls. His yoke is easy, and His burden is light. He will reign in righteousness forever.
Dear heavenly Father, thank You that Your word is so reliable it could be written in stone, and that You have given to us the righteousness of Christ by faith. Help us to remain faithful in waiting for Christ’s return to put an end to sin and death. Amen.