Bible Mountain Essay on Habakkuk 2:12-14

Humans are naturally selfish. If a person never receives any correction, he will use any method to accomplish his goals with no concern about who might get hurt. He will go through life with the attitude that the end justifies the means. He will only care about justice if he is on the short end of justice. The only time he will care about another person is when that person can do something for him.

The Chaldeans had that attitude. They enlarged their borders using violence and bloodshed. They didn’t care who got hurt. Yahweh issued a woe against them that serves as a warning to us. We should not be selfish. We need to look out for other people as well as ourselves.

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Transcript:

Humans are naturally selfish. If a person never receives any correction, he will use any method to accomplish his goals with no concern about who might get hurt. He will go through life with the attitude that the end justifies the means. He will only care about justice if he is on the short end of justice. The only time he will care about another person is when that person can do something for him.

The Chaldeans had that attitude. They enlarged their borders using violence and bloodshed. They didn’t care who got hurt. 

Yahweh issued a woe against them that serves as a warning to us. We should not be selfish. We need to look out for other people as well as ourselves. Yahweh can cause our work to be futile.

Habakkuk opened his book by asking Yahweh why He tolerated the sin and violence of His people. Yahweh told Habakkuk He was raising up the Chaldeans to judge them.

That caused Habakkuk to ask Yahweh why He used a nation more wicked than the Israelites to judge the Israelites. Yahweh assured Habakkuk that eventually the Chaldeans would also face justice. 

Then Yahweh pronounced some woes. The first woe is found in Habakkuk 2:9-11 and is against those who are greedy for evil gain. The second woe starts in verse 12. 

Hab. 2:12 ¶ “Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed

And founds a town with injustice!

We see in chapter two verse 8 that when Yahweh assured Habakkuk that one day the Chaldeans would face justice, He condemned the Chaldeans because they caused human bloodshed and did violence to the land.

Here in verse 12 Yahweh pronounced a woe against anyone who builds a city with bloodshed or injustice. The Chaldeans were clearly doing both of these.

Since humans are naturally selfish, it is common for people to use any method to gather wealth or gain power over other people. Being selfish means caring about ourselves more than other people. Being selfish means hurting other people to get what we want. 

If Yahweh disapproved of the Chaldeans using bloodshed and injustice to expand their power and influence, we should assume He would disapprove of us using those methods to grow our wealth and power.

Hab. 2:13 Is it not, behold, from Yahweh of hosts

That peoples toil for fire,

And nations grow weary for nothing?

Toiling for fire means toiling for things that are burning up, which means having nothing left after the toil. Growing weary for nothing means expending energy and having no benefit from the effort. Yahweh is the one who causes peoples and nations to work futilely. This means He can cause us to have nothing at the end of our toil. 

Yahweh warned that since the Chaldeans were using bloodshed and injustice to pursue their goals, eventually, they would have nothing. Likewise, if we use injustice to pursue our desires, we may actually end up with nothing. 

Hab. 2:14 For the earth will be filled

With the knowledge of the glory of Yahweh,

As the waters cover the sea.

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Someday everyone will know the glory of Yahweh, and then we will experience the futility of pursuing wealth and power at all costs. 

Humans naturally want to do what the Chaldeans did. We want to pursue power and wealth. Furthermore, we want to have more of those than other people, so sometimes we trample on other people in order to get more of what we want.

Yahweh made it clear the injustice and bloodshed employed by the Chaldeans was wrong. We must assume it is wrong for us to use those methods. 

There is nothing wrong with a person collecting possessions or having a position of authority. It is acceptable for nations to have strong armies to protect themselves. However, if we use those things to treat people unjustly, then we cross a line we should not cross. If we are going to acquire wealth or employ power and influence, we need to do so with justice. We need to treat all people with fairness, even people who cannot do anything for us. 

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“Scripture quotations taken from the (LSB®) Legacy Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc.  LSBible.org and 316publishing.com.”