Friday 21st July
Read Habakkuk 1:8-11
“Their horses are swifter than leopards,
fiercer than wolves at dusk.
Their cavalry gallops headlong;
their horsemen come from afar.
They fly like an eagle swooping to devour;
9 they all come intent on violence.
Their hordes advance like a desert wind
and gather prisoners like sand.
10 They mock kings
and scoff at rulers.
They laugh at all fortified cities;
by building earthen ramps they capture them.
11 Then they sweep past like the wind and go on –
guilty people, whose own strength is their god.’” (NIVUK)
The language used to describe the headlong advance of this inexorable mighty force tumbles over and over with imagery of speed and overreach, leapfrogging over obstacles and blowing past them like the wind. It paints a picture of a nation that recognises no boundaries, and, if they do recognise them, ignore them completely and disdainfully. They are like a desert sandstorm rushing towards and overwhelming those who oppose them.
But at the end of this stunning picture of ancient military blitzkrieg, as this force sweeps past like the wind, a judgement is made – ‘guilty people, whose own strength is their god’ (v11). Just as they transgress national boundaries (‘from afar’ (v8)) and city boundaries (v10) they transgress the very order built into creation – they are transgressors by nature. They are guilty. The open question at the end of this oracle is how long will they go unpunished – perhaps even if they will be punished? They may seem unchecked by Yahweh, but this makes them no less guilty.
This is a hard thing to reconcile. The psalmists often wrestled with the prosperity of the wicked whilst the righteous are oppressed. It is perfectly all right to ask this question. Saints have cried out like Habakkuk before and after Jesus. “They called out in a loud voice, ‘How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?’” (Revelation 6:10) (NIVUK). Is this what it looks like to hunger and thirst for righteousness?
