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Habakkuk 2:5  (King James Version)
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<< Habakkuk 2:4   Habakkuk 2:6 >>


Habakkuk 2:5-8

First Woe: Dishonest gain by oppression. This breaks the eighth commandment particularly; the Chaldeans were stealing. They were oppressing people and plundering what was theirs as they advanced through the conquered nations. Notice that verse 5 begins with the cause of this sin: drunkenness (a figure of both addiction and muddled thinking) and pride, resulting in covetousness.

Richard T. Ritenbaugh
Habakkuk



Habakkuk 2:4-5

If we look at this in reverse, is it not saying that the proud are going to die? But the just will live by faith. Indeed, the just are humble. The contrast goes unstated, but it is nonetheless there, between the just person and the proud person. The just person submits to God by faith.

This is written in a way that indicates that the proud cannot live by faith. A proud person will live by his desires rather than in faith, humbly submitting to God. His desire is not to submit to God. Why? Because the spiritual qualities that the spirit in man can generate are essentially confined to the things of men: sight, sound, touch, hearing, and smelling—and being "tuned in" to demonic influences (Ephesians 2:2). Man's spirit is earthly; it has fleshly conceptions that never quite grasp the right, that is, godly concept. With all of his intelligence, man never quite puts the Word of God together correctly. He always misses it, and the miss may be as good as a mile. His relationship with God never quite has the proper footing. The proud meet with God more or less as equals, which is not a right basis.

Paul writes in Romans 7:18, "For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells." How can godly faith be generated from something in which is nothing good? How can godly righteousness come from something that has no good in it? How can anything that is godly—that leads to salvation and can be taken through the resurrection into the Kingdom of God—come from a spirit that is not holy?

What do we have that we have not received (I Corinthians 4:7)? What, then, do we have to be proud about? In the humble person is a proper recognition and acceptance of the fact that he is totally dependent on God for everything that can be taken through the resurrection. Does not Jesus say in John 15:5, "For without Me you can do nothing"?

The things of the Spirit of God are concerned with unseen things—things the eyes, ears, nose, mouth, hands cannot sense. They are heavenly things, spiritual things. We look for a city whose builder and maker is God (Hebrews 11:10). Our faith is in promises that have not yet materialized. Faith in these promises can make great demands on us, ones that we would never submit to or ever meet but for the gifts of God's Spirit. God's Spirit gives direction to our lives, motivating us to live by standards that we would never otherwise live by.

John W. Ritenbaugh
Faith (Part Seven)



Habakkuk 2:5-20

This section is part of God's answer to the prophet's second question, and it is primarily directed at the particular circumstances of Habakkuk's day regarding the Chaldeans. Obviously, we can derive symbolic spiritual meaning regarding ourselves and modern-day Babylonians. The passage, verses 5 through 20, is a series of five woes that God pronounces on the Chaldeans for their particular sins. The five woes are five particular infractions of the commandments that God promises to punish them for, and in the end, this consoles Habakkuk. Knowing that the Chaldeans would not get away with their depradations of Judah, he is reassured that this was indeed the God he knew and understood. The Chaldeans would get what was coming to them.

These five woes succinctly describe modern society, which in the church we call Babylon. God chooses to describe these particular sins of Babylon, and their primary theme is gain, filthy lucre. It is no coincidence that our modern society is founded on the same shaky foundation. Everybody wants to get his "due" however he can. He will get it by oppressing others, by plotting and coveting, by promoting violence, by promoting debauchery and getting other people in trouble and shaming them, and so forth. Their idol, of course, is gain.

This passage, then, has present-day implications. Just like Habakkuk, we can be comforted that, though the wicked seem to have the upper hand now, God is not blind to what they are doing. He has seen their wickedness, and they will have to give a full account for their evil deeds.

Richard T. Ritenbaugh
Habakkuk


 
<< Habakkuk 2:4   Habakkuk 2:6 >>



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