and wealth indeed betrays him. He is an arrogant man never at rest. He enlarges his appetite like Sheol, and like Death, he is never satisfied. He gathers all the nations to himself and collects all the peoples as his own. and wealth indeed betrays him.Wealth offers power and security but cannot preserve the soul or shield anyone from God’s judgment. Babylon’s riches, gained through conquest and plunder, strengthened its confidence while concealing its coming ruin. Those who trust in riches will fall, for possessions easily become rivals to faith and obedience. Mrk 4:19 but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness…
Pro 11:28 He who trusts in his riches will fall,…
Pro 23:4-5 Do not wear yourself out to get rich; be wise enough…
He is an arrogant man never at rest. Babylon’s rulers pursued dominion without restraint, moving from one conquest to another. Pride drove them to exalt themselves above God, as Nebuchadnezzar later learned when the Lord humbled him for his self-glory. Rest belongs to those who submit to God; the proud remain restless because ambition can never be satisfied. Pro 21:24 Mocker is the name of the proud and arrogant man…
Isa 57:20-21 But the wicked are like the storm-tossed sea,…
Isa 48:22 “There is no peace,” says the LORD, “for the wicked.”
He enlarges his appetite like Sheol, The conqueror’s desire for territory, tribute, and captives resembled the grave, which continually receives the dead. No victory could quiet Babylon’s hunger for more. Ecclesiastes likewise warns that the lover of wealth is never satisfied with wealth. Isa 5:14 Therefore Sheol enlarges its throat and opens wide…
Pro 27:20 Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied; so the eyes of man…
Pro 30:15-16 The leech has two daughters: Give and Give.…
and like Death, he is never satisfied. Death continues its work without being filled, and Babylon’s violence seemed equally endless. Yet God had appointed a limit for the empire’s power. The greed that consumed nations would finally bring Babylon under divine judgment. Ecc 4:8 There is a man all alone, without even a son or brother…
Ecc 5:10 He who loves money is never satisfied by money…
Ecc 1:8 All things are wearisome; the eye is not satisfied…
He gathers all the nations to himself Babylon brought many peoples under its authority, including Judah after Jerusalem fell in 586 B.C. The empire treated nations as possessions to be seized rather than peoples accountable to their Creator. God sees every act of imperial pride and oppression. Jol 3:2 I will gather all the nations and bring them down…
Isa 5:26 He lifts a banner for the distant nations…
Isa 10:14 My hand reached as into a nest to seize the wealth…
and collects all the peoples as his own. Babylon claimed ownership over kingdoms that belonged to God alone. Its dominion was temporary, but the Lord’s kingdom endures forever. Christ gathers people from every nation not through oppression, but through redemption, and all nations will finally stand before Him. Dan 7:14 And He was given dominion, glory, and kingship…
Psa 72:11 May all kings bow down to him and all nations serve him.
Psa 72:8 May he rule from sea to sea, and from the Euphrates…
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. The Proud ManRepresents those who are arrogant and greedy, often interpreted as the Babylonians or any oppressive power. 3. SheolIn Hebrew thought, the realm of the dead, often depicted as insatiable and ever-consuming. 4. DeathPersonified as an entity that is never satisfied, symbolizing the endless greed and destruction of the proud. 5. Nations and PeoplesRefers to the various groups that the proud man seeks to dominate and control. Teaching Points The Deceptive Nature of WealthWealth can lead to a false sense of security and betrayal, as it often fails to deliver true satisfaction and peace. The Restlessness of PridePride leads to a constant state of unrest and dissatisfaction, as it drives individuals to seek more power and control without ever finding contentment. The Insatiable Appetite of GreedLike Sheol and death, greed is never satisfied. It continually seeks more, leading to destructive behaviors and consequences. The Consequences of ArroganceArrogance leads to the exploitation and domination of others, as seen in the proud man's gathering of nations and peoples. God's Opposition to the ProudScripture consistently teaches that God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble, encouraging believers to seek humility and contentment in Him. Bible Study Questions 1. How does the imagery of Sheol and death in Habakkuk 2:5 help us understand the nature of greed and pride? 2. In what ways can wealth betray us, and how can we guard against this in our own lives? 3. How does the restlessness of pride manifest in today's society, and what biblical principles can help us find true rest? 4. What are some practical steps we can take to cultivate humility and contentment in a world that often values power and control? 5. How do the themes in Habakkuk 2:5 connect with the teachings of Jesus on wealth and humility, and how can we apply these teachings in our daily lives? Connections to Other Scriptures Proverbs 27:20This verse speaks to the insatiable nature of human desires, similar to Sheol and death, highlighting the theme of never being satisfied. Isaiah 5:14Describes Sheol as enlarging its appetite, paralleling the imagery in Habakkuk of insatiable greed and consumption. James 4:6Discusses God's opposition to the proud, aligning with the critique of arrogance in Habakkuk. Ecclesiastes 5:10Addresses the futility of wealth and the dissatisfaction it brings, echoing the betrayal of wealth mentioned in Habakkuk. Revelation 6:8Personifies death and Hades, similar to the imagery in Habakkuk, emphasizing the destructive power of unchecked ambition and greed. People HabakkukPlaces Chaldea, LebanonTopics FALSE, Abideth, Appetite, Arrogant, Assemble, Assembleth, Betrays, Can't, Captive, Collecteth, Collects, Cruel, Curse, Dealer, Death, Desire, Desires, Doesn't, Enlarged, Enlarges, Enlargeth, Full, Furthermore, Gather, Gathereth, Gathers, Getting, Grave, Greed, Greedy, Haughty, Heapeth, Heaps, Hell, Home, Itself, Keepeth, Makes, Moreover, Nations, Nether-world, Peoples, Pride, Proud, Rest, Satisfied, Sheol, Soul, Stay, Takes, Transgresseth, Treacherous, Underworld, Wide, Wine, Yea, YesDictionary of Bible Themes Habakkuk 2:5 5839 dissatisfaction
5939 satisfaction
6134 coveting, prohibition
9040 grave, the Habakkuk 2:4-5 5786 ambition, negative
8805 pride, results Habakkuk 2:5-6 5870 greed, condemnation 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 2:5 NIVHabakkuk 2:5 NLTHabakkuk 2:5 ESVHabakkuk 2:5 NASBHabakkuk 2:5 KJV
Habakkuk 2:5 Commentaries
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