Woe to him who says to wood, 'Awake!' or to silent stone, 'Arise!' Can it give guidance? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, yet there is no breath in it at all." Woe to himThe word "woe" in Hebrew is "הוֹי" (hoy), a term often used by the prophets to pronounce judgment or lamentation. It is a strong expression of distress or condemnation, indicating the seriousness of the offense. In this context, it serves as a divine warning against idolatry, emphasizing the spiritual peril and moral folly of those who turn away from the living God to worship lifeless idols. who says to wood, ‘Awake!’
The absurdity of speaking to a piece of wood is highlighted here. The Hebrew word for "wood" is "עֵץ" (etz), which can refer to a tree or timber. The act of commanding a wooden idol to "awake" underscores the futility and irrationality of idolatry. Historically, wooden idols were common in ancient Near Eastern cultures, often carved and overlaid with precious metals. The prophet mocks the idea that such an object could possess any power or consciousness. or to silent stone, ‘Arise!’
The phrase "silent stone" uses the Hebrew "אֶבֶן" (even) for "stone," emphasizing its inanimate nature. Stones were also used in idol-making, sometimes shaped into figures or altars. The command for a stone to "arise" is equally nonsensical, as stones are inherently lifeless and immobile. This highlights the contrast between the living God and the dead idols, reinforcing the message that only God can truly respond and act. Can it give guidance?
This rhetorical question challenges the belief that idols can provide wisdom or direction. The Hebrew root "יָעַץ" (ya'atz) means to advise or counsel. In ancient times, people often sought guidance from idols through divination or oracles. However, the prophet points out the absurdity of expecting insight from something that cannot think or speak, contrasting it with the true guidance that comes from God. It is covered with gold and silver
The use of "gold" (זָהָב, zahav) and "silver" (כֶּסֶף, keseph) refers to the practice of adorning idols with precious metals to enhance their appearance and perceived value. This embellishment, however, is superficial and does not impart any real power or life to the idol. The prophet critiques the misplaced trust in material wealth and external beauty, reminding the audience that true worth and power come from God alone. but there is no breath in it
The Hebrew word for "breath" is "רוּחַ" (ruach), which can also mean spirit or life. This phrase underscores the lifelessness of idols, contrasting them with the living God who breathes life into His creation. The absence of "breath" signifies the complete lack of divine presence or power in these man-made objects. This serves as a powerful reminder of the futility of idolatry and the necessity of worshiping the one true God who is the source of all life and wisdom. Persons / Places / Events 1. HabakkukA prophet in the Old Testament who dialogues with God about the problem of evil and injustice in the world. 2. Idol MakersIndividuals or cultures that create and worship idols, which are lifeless objects made of wood, stone, gold, or silver. 3. IdolsObjects of worship that are crafted by human hands, often representing false gods or deities. 4. Chaldeans/BabyloniansThe nation used by God as an instrument of judgment, known for their idolatry and oppression. 5. JudahThe southern kingdom of Israel, facing judgment and invasion due to their unfaithfulness and idolatry. Teaching Points The Futility of IdolatryIdols, despite their ornate appearance, are lifeless and powerless. They cannot provide guidance or life, contrasting with the living God who speaks and acts. The Danger of Misplaced TrustTrusting in anything other than God, whether material wealth, status, or human wisdom, is akin to idolatry and leads to spiritual emptiness. God's Sovereignty and JudgmentGod pronounces woe upon idolaters, reminding us that He alone is sovereign and will judge those who turn away from Him. The Call to True WorshipBelievers are called to worship God in spirit and truth, recognizing His supremacy and rejecting all forms of idolatry. Living by FaithIn a world filled with false gods and distractions, Christians are encouraged to live by faith, trusting in God's promises and His ultimate justice. Bible Study Questions 1. How does Habakkuk 2:19 challenge our understanding of what we place our trust in today? 2. In what ways can modern-day idolatry manifest in our lives, and how can we guard against it? 3. How does the futility of idols, as described in Habakkuk 2:19, compare to the attributes of the living God found in other scriptures? 4. What practical steps can we take to ensure our worship is directed solely towards God and not towards "idols" in our lives? 5. How does the message of Habakkuk 2:19 encourage us to live by faith, especially in times of uncertainty or injustice? Connections to Other Scriptures Exodus 20:3-4The Ten Commandments prohibit the making and worshiping of idols, emphasizing the worship of the one true God. Isaiah 44:9-20This passage mocks the futility of idol worship, highlighting the absurdity of creating gods from the same materials used for mundane purposes. Psalm 115:4-8Describes idols as having mouths but not speaking, eyes but not seeing, and those who make them will become like them. 1 Corinthians 8:4-6Paul discusses the reality that idols are nothing and that there is only one God, reinforcing the futility of idol worship. Romans 1:21-23Paul explains how humanity exchanged the glory of God for images resembling mortal man and creatures, leading to idolatry. People HabakkukPlaces Chaldea, LebanonTopics Arise, Awake, Behold, Breath, Covered, Curse, Dumb, Gold, Guidance, Inside, Laid, Lifeless, Midst, Mute, Overlaid, Piece, Plated, Revelation, Saying, Says, Silver, Spirit, Stir, Stone, Teach, Teacher, Unbreathing, Wake, Wo, Woe, Wood, WoodenDictionary of Bible Themes Habakkuk 2:19 4333 gold
4363 silver
4366 stones
4552 wood
5534 sleep, spiritual
8126 guidance, need for Habakkuk 2:6-20 9250 woe Habakkuk 2:18-19 8771 idolatry, objections Habakkuk 2:18-20 5168 muteness
8023 faith, necessity Library September 15. "Though it Tarry, Wait for It, for it Will Surely Come, and Will not Tarry" (Hab. Ii. 3).
"Though it tarry, wait for it, for it will surely come, and will not tarry" (Hab. ii. 3). Some things have their cycle in an hour and some in a century; but His plans shall complete their cycle whether long or short. The tender annual which blossoms for a season and dies, and the Columbian aloe, which develops in a century, each is true to its normal principle. Many of us desire to pluck our fruit in June rather than wait until October, and so, of course, it is sour and immature; but God's purposes …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth The Crowned Christ Reigning
(Revelation, Chapters xx: 4-xxii.) "On this side of the river and on that was the tree of life, bearing twelve fruits." "A garden is a lovesome thing, God wot! Rose plot, Fringed pool, Ferned grot-- The veriest school Of peace; and yet the fool Contends that God is not-- Not God! in gardens! when the eve is cool? Nay, but I have a sign; 'Tis very sure God walks in mine." Day Is Coming. It's a long lane that has no turning. Every valley leads up a hillside to a hilltop. Every storm ends in sunshine …
by S. D. Gordon—Quiet Talks on the Crowned Christ of Revelation Of Inward Silence
Of Inward Silence "The Lord is in His Holy Temple, let all the earth keep silence before him" (Hab. ii. 20). Inward silence is absolutely indispensable, because the Word is essential and eternal, and necessarily requires dispositions in the soul in some degree correspondent to His nature, as a capacity for the reception of Himself. Hearing is a sense formed to receive sounds, and is rather passive than active, admitting, but not communicating sensation; and if we would hear, we must lend the ear …
Madame Guyon—A Short and Easy Method of Prayer Of Rest in the Presence of God --Its Fruits --Inward Silence --God Commands it --Outward Silence.
The soul, being brought to this place, needs no other preparation than that of repose: for the presence of God during the day, which is the great result of prayer, or rather prayer itself, begins to be intuitive and almost continual. The soul is conscious of a deep inward happiness, and feels that God is in it more truly than it is in itself. It has only one thing to do in order to find God, which is to retire within itself. As soon as the eyes are closed, it finds itself in prayer. It is astonished …
Jeanne Marie Bouvières—A Short Method Of Prayer And Spiritual Torrents A Sermon on a Text not Found in the Bible.
MR. JUSTICE GROVES.--"Men go into the Public-house respectable, and come out felons." My text, as you see, my dear readers, is not taken from the Bible. It does not, however, contradict the Scriptures, but is in harmony with some, such as "WOE UNTO HIM THAT GIVETH HIS NEIGHBOUR DRINK." Habakkuk ii. 15; "WOE UNTO THEM THAT RISE UP EARLY IN THE MORNING, THAT THEY MAY FOLLOW STRONG DRINK."--Isaiah v. 11. "TAKE HEED TO YOURSELVES LEST AT ANY TIME YOUR HEARTS BE OVERCHARGED WITH SURFEITING AND …
Thomas Champness—Broken Bread The Season of Epiphany.
"This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth His glory; and His disciples believed on Him."--John ii. 11. The Epiphany is a season especially set apart for adoring the glory of Christ. The word may be taken to mean the manifestation of His glory, and leads us to the contemplation of Him as a King upon His throne in the midst of His court, with His servants around Him, and His guards in attendance. At Christmas we commemorate His grace; and in Lent His temptation; …
John Henry Newman—Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. VII The Sum and Substance of all Theology
Note: On Tuesday, June 25th, 1861, the beloved C. H. Spurgeon visited Swansea. The day was wet, so the services could not be held in the open-air; and, as no building in the town was large enough to hold the vast concourses of people who had come from all parts to hear the renowned preacher, he consented to deliver two discourses in the morning; first at Bethesda, and then at Trinity Chapel. At each place he preached for an hour and a quarter. The weather cleared up during the day; so, in the evening, …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 62: 1916 Habakkuk-On his Watch-Tower
"Lord, teach us to pray."--Luke xi. i. "I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower."--Hab. ii. i. HABAKKUK'S tower was not built of stone and lime. Hiram's Tyrian workmen, with all their skill in hewn stone, and in timber, and in iron, and in brass, had no hand in building Habakkuk's tower. "The Name of the Lord" was Habakkuk's high tower. The truth and the faithfulness and the power of God--these things were the deep and broad foundations of Habakkuk's high tower, into which he continually …
Alexander Whyte—Lord Teach Us To Pray Meditations Before Dinner and Supper.
Meditate that hunger is like the sickness called a wolf; which, if thou dost not feed, will devour thee, and eat thee up; and that meat and drink are but as physic, or means which God hath ordained, to relieve and cure this natural infirmity and necessity of man. Use, therefore, to eat and to drink, rather to sustain and refresh the weakness of nature, than to satisfy the sensuality and delights of the flesh. Eat, therefore, to live, but live not to eat. There is no service so base, as for a man …
Lewis Bayly—The Practice of Piety "Hear the Word of the Lord, Ye Rulers of Sodom, Give Ear unto the Law of Our God, Ye People of Gomorrah,"
Isaiah i. 10, 11, &c.--"Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom, give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah," &c. It is strange to think what mercy is mixed with the most wrath like strokes and threatenings. There is no prophet whose office and commission is only for judgment, nay, to speak the truth, it is mercy that premises threatenings. The entering of the law, both in the commands and curses, is to make sin abound, that grace may superabound, so that both rods and threatenings …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning Letter vi (Circa A. D. 1127) to the Same
To the Same He protests against the reputation for holiness which is attributed to him, and promises to communicate the treatises which he has written. I. Even if I should give myself to you entirely that would be too little a thing still in my eyes, to have recompensed towards you even the half of the kindly feeling which you express towards my humility. I congratulate myself, indeed, on the honour which you have done me; but my joy, I confess, is tempered by the thought that it is not anything …
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux—Some Letters of Saint Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux Faith
What does God require of us, that we may escape his wrath and curse due to us for our sin? Faith in Jesus Christ, repentance unto life, with the diligent use of all the outward means, whereby Christ communicateth to us the benefits of redemption. I begin with the first, faith in Jesus Christ. Whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood.' Rom 3: 25. The great privilege in the text is, to have Christ for a propitiation; which is not only to free us from God's wrath, but to …
Thomas Watson—The Ten Commandments How to be Admonished are those who Give Away what is their Own, and those who Seize what Belongs to Others.
(Admonition 21.) Differently to be admonished are those who already give compassionately of their own, and those who still would fain seize even what belongs to others. For those who already give compassionately of their own are to be admonished not to lift themselves up in swelling thought above those to whom they impart earthly things; not to esteem themselves better than others because they see others to be supported by them. For the Lord of an earthly household, in distributing the ranks and …
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great Humility is the Root of Charity, and Meekness the Fruit of Both. ...
Humility is the root of charity, and meekness the fruit of both. There is no solid and pure ground of love to others, except the rubbish of self-love be first cast out of the soul; and when that superfluity of naughtiness is cast out, then charity hath a solid and deep foundation: "The end of the command is charity out of a pure heart," 1 Tim. i. 5. It is only such a purified heart, cleansed from that poison and contagion of pride and self-estimation, that can send out such a sweet and wholesome …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning Question of the Contemplative Life
I. Is the Contemplative Life wholly confined to the Intellect, or does the Will enter into it? S. Thomas, On the Beatific Vision, I., xii. 7 ad 3m II. Do the Moral Virtues pertain to the Contemplative Life? S. Augustine, Of the City of God, xix. 19 III. Does the Contemplative Life comprise many Acts? S. Augustine, Of the Perfection of Human Righteousness, viii. 18 " Ep., cxxx. ad probam IV. Does the Contemplative Life consist solely in the Contemplation of God, or in the Consideration …
St. Thomas Aquinas—On Prayer and The Contemplative Life The Second Commandment
Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am o jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of then that hate me; and shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments.' Exod 20: 4-6. I. Thou shalt not …
Thomas Watson—The Ten Commandments The Right Understanding of the Law
Thou shalt have no other Gods before me.' Exod 20: 3. Before I come to the commandments, I shall answer questions, and lay down rules respecting the moral law. What is the difference between the moral laud and the gospel? (1) The law requires that we worship God as our Creator; the gospel, that we worship him in and through Christ. God in Christ is propitious; out of him we may see God's power, justice, and holiness: in him we see his mercy displayed. (2) The moral law requires obedience, but gives …
Thomas Watson—The Ten Commandments Habakkuk
The precise interpretation of the book of Habakkuk presents unusual difficulties; but, brief and difficult as it is, it is clear that Habakkuk was a great prophet, of earnest, candid soul, and he has left us one of the noblest and most penetrating words in the history of religion, ii. 4b. The prophecy may be placed about the year 600 B.C. The Assyrian empire had fallen, and by the battle of Carchemish in 605 B.C., Babylonian supremacy was practically established over Western Asia. Josiah's reformation, …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament Links Habakkuk 2:19 NIVHabakkuk 2:19 NLTHabakkuk 2:19 ESVHabakkuk 2:19 NASBHabakkuk 2:19 KJV
Habakkuk 2:19 Commentaries
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