If we watch sports we probably are aware of the “trash talk” that commonly occurs. Trash talk is defined as “disparaging, taunting, or boastful comments especially between opponents trying to intimidate each other.”[1] An example of trash talk would be one racecar driver saying to another, “I hope you enjoy the view of my bumper cause that’s all you’re gonna see in the race.” There is a section of Habakkuk, specifically Habakkuk 2:6–20, that we could categorize as “trash talk.”
As we examine Habakkuk 2:6-20 we’ll see the word “woe” used five times (vv. 6, 9, 12, 15, 19). The word “woe” is translated from the Hebrew word howy which begins each of the five “woe oracles” in Habakkuk 2:6–20. A woe oracle announced the failure and future doom of a nation.[2] A woe oracle was a way to announce that the funeral for a nation was just around the corner.[3] These woe oracles are oracles of judgement that are classified as “taunt.” A taunt “is an utterance that mocks or jeers the opponent.”[4] It’s a put down. It’s trash talk. In addition to saying bad things are going to happen, a taunt is also a personal attack on the nation and its leaders. God “rubs it in” to make it hurt, to make it sting, and to make it personal.[5]
Let’s briefly examine each of these five woe oracles that God establishes against Babylon.
God begins his list of wrongdoings of the Babylonians with how they took money that wasn’t theirs. God declares their extortion wrong, “Woe to him who gets evil gain for his house to put his nest on high, to be delivered from the hand of calamity! You have devised a shameful thing for your house by cutting off many peoples; so you are sinning against yourself. Surely the stone will cry out from the wall, and the rafter will answer it from the framework” (Hab 2:6–8).[6]
The next issue we learn God has with Babylon is that they have been taking homes that weren’t theirs. The Babylonians have been exploiting others, “Woe to him who gets evil gain for his house to put his nest on high, to be delivered from the hand of calamity! You have devised a shameful thing for your house by cutting off many peoples; so you are sinning against yourself. Surely the stone will cry out from the wall, and the rafter will answer it from the framework” (Hab 2:9–11).
A kind, gracious, and loving God objects to how Babylon was taking cities by violence. This was an example of Babylon’s unnecessary extravagance. “Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed and founds a town with violence! Is it not indeed from the Lord of hosts that peoples toil for fire, and nations grow weary for nothing? For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea” (Hab 2:12–14).
God’s issue with wine is that drinking excess wine inhibits good behavior.[7] The Babylonians are enjoying too much alcohol. God condemns their excess use of liquor,“Woe to you who make your neighbors drink, who mix in your venom even to make them drunk so as to look on their nakedness! You will be filled with disgrace rather than honor. Now you yourself drink and expose your own nakedness. The cup in the Lord’s right hand will come around to you, and utter disgrace will come upon your glory” (Hab 2:15–16).God condemns the excess use of liquor and then condemns Lebanon, “For the violence done to Lebanon will overwhelm you, and the devastation of its beasts by which you terrified them, because of human bloodshed and violence done to the land, to the town and all its inhabitants” (Hab 2:17).
As if plunder, pride, projects, and poured wine weren’t bad enough, next God describes powerless gods. The Babylonians had a habit of taking idols for worship and giving esteem to dead idols. As we read about the powerless gods we see a silence before idols, “What profit is the idol when its maker has carved it, or an image, a teacher of falsehood? For its maker trusts in his own handiwork when he fashions speechless idols. Woe to him who says to a piece of wood, ‘Awake!’ To a mute stone, ‘Arise!’ And that is your teacher? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all inside it” (Hab 2:18–19). As we read about the powerless gods we see a silence before idols as well as silence before God,“But the Lord is in His holy temple. Let all the earth be silent before Him” (Hab 2:20).
From Habakkuk’s prophecy we learn that it’s by faith we suffer. While this passage is a woe oracle (specifically a “taunt song”) against Babylon, the reality is that the faithful and the righteous are going to suffer through it.
Many of us know good kids that suffer in their childhood because of bad parents or harsh siblings that do terrible things to them. Our heart often breaks for those kids because we know there’s nothing they did to cause their troubles. That’s the same scenario for Habakkuk.
Habakkuk is going to suffer unjustly because of the wrong actions of others. He will join men like Daniel (605–535 BC in Babylon), Ezekiel (592–570 BC in Babylon), and Jeremiah (627–585 BC in Judah). Each of those men endured the wrath of Babylon against Judah.
The candid words of Joni Eareckson Tada in a recent online video are relevant. “Suffering is not much good in it [sic]. But it will teach you who you are. It’s a textbook that will show you the stuff of which you are made. And sometimes it’s not very pretty. Suffering will squeeze that out of you. We say we know Christ, well okay, the next time you suffer and suffer hard, find out what comes out of your mouth and that will show how much you know Jesus. And so in that sense, it’s good, in a strange way.”[8]
Suffering is a fact of the Christian life. But this is important: We don’t worship a God that we carry around (like a lifeless idol), we worship a God that carries us. And he will carry us through our troubles. That’s why sometimes living by faith through suffering means we just take it a week at a time, a day at a time, or an hour at a time. It’s by faith we suffer and it’s by faith that we rely on God to carry us through it.
[1] Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 11th edition, 1331.
[2] Amos 6:1-7 is good example of a woe oracle toward Israel.
[3] Gary Smith, Interpreting the Prophetic Books (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel, 2014), 37–38.
[4] Lyland Ryken, Symbols and Reality (Wooster, OH: Weaver Books, 2016), 50.
[5] Ibid., 49–52.
[6] Scripture taken from the New American Standard Bible, Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission.
[7] The Bible warns about the evils of strong drink (Prov 20:1; 21:7; 23:20-21, 29-35; Rom 13:13; Gal 5:21; 1 Thess 5:7). According to Scripture drunkenness and sensual behavior go hand-in-hand (Gen 9:20-27; 19:30-38; Rom 13:11-14).
[8]“Joni Eareckson Tada’s Songs of Suffering: 25 Hymns and Devotions for Weary Souls” https://youtu.be/0H9ztsfGfRM Accessed May 4, 2023.