“Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him,
but the righteous shall live by his faith.
“Moreover, wine is a traitor,
an arrogant man who is never at rest.
His greed is as wide as Sheol;
like death he has never enough.
He gathers for himself all nations
and collects as his own all peoples.”
Habakkuk 2:4-5
Judgement on Babylon
As God answers Habakkuk’s complaints, he describes Babylon in Habakkuk 2:4-5. Whether you take the words quite literally or more symbolically, you will probably come to the same general conclusions.
God speaks of Babylon as if the empire was an individual – arrogant and ungodly, with an insatiable appetite for power.
The words probably describe quite literally the behaviour of the individual leaders of Babylon: proud, godless, drunken, gluttonous and overbearing.
When a male bird performs his mating dance, he will often puff out his chest and fluff up his feathers so that he looks bigger and more attractive. Several translations use “puffed up” or “lifted up” in this passage, and we can easily recognise in those expressions the pride of Babylon with an inflated opinion of its greatness.
Pride
Throughout history, all kingdoms have tried to demonstrate their greatness through construction and art. Yet all empires come to an end. In the end, the air leaks out of the balloon and all that “puffing up” can be seen for what it is. Their power and influence fade away and what they built is all that is left. The great pyramids of Egypt, the Colosseum of Rome, Ankor Wat, Machu Picchu, Mesa Verde and so many other great constructions have all
been left to the ravages of time and thermodynamics. Stone lasts, but the power of empires doesn’t.
Pride is a terrible problem for humans. It seems to be a strange component of our self-awareness that makes us think that we have made ourselves what we are. Somehow we delude ourselves that we deserve recognition for the abilities we have, as if we are responsible for them!
Of course, we have had nothing to do with it at all. If we are clever, it came from God. If we are strong, that also came from God. If we have good eyesight, God gave it. If we are flexible, it came from God. If we are good-looking or good at cooking, these came from God as well.
True, we can help or hinder the development of those skills, but even that ability to learn through practise came from God. Our very life and all of our mental and physical powers came from God.[1] So what is there for us to be proud of? Nothing at all – but we still are!
Babylon’s pride would be punished by God – and the uninhabited ruins of Babylon still stand as a testimony that the punishment was meted out.
The word of God came to Zephaniah at much the same time as it came to Habakkuk, and his prophecy has a few references to pride also. These are good for us to think about.
“…I will remove from your midst your proudly exultant ones,
and you shall no longer be haughty in my holy mountain.
But I will leave in your midst a people humble and lowly.
They shall seek refuge in the name of the Lord,
Zephaniah 3:11-12
Once God removes the proud, only the humble will remain. Are we proud or humble? Is there anything we can do about it? Yes, there is. God said:
Seek the Lord, all you humble of the land,
who do his just commands;
seek righteousness; seek humility;
perhaps you may be hidden on the day of the anger of the Lord.
Zephaniah 2:3
We can look for humility. Practise it. Develop our skills of humility.
Pride is being pleased with what we are. In short, it is having faith in ourselves – just as Babylon did. God contrasts this with people who are righteous. They live by faith – faith in God, not themselves.
Many years ago, King Nebuchadnezzar, at the height of his power, looked out over Babylon from the roof of his palace and said:
“Is not this great Babylon,
which I have built by my mighty power
as a royal residence
and for the glory of my majesty?”
Daniel 4:30
Now Nebuchadnezzar is dead. All that is left of Babylon is an uninhabited ruin.
