Thursday 27th July
Read Habakkuk 2:6-8
“‘Will not all of them taunt him with ridicule and scorn, saying,
‘“Woe to him who piles up stolen goods
and makes himself wealthy by extortion!
How long must this go on?”
7 Will not your creditors suddenly arise?
Will they not wake up and make you tremble?
Then you will become their prey.
8 Because you have plundered many nations,
the peoples who are left will plunder you.
For you have shed human blood;
you have destroyed lands and cities and everyone in them.” (NIVUK)
If Babylon is ‘greedy as the grave’ (v5) then justice demands that those exploited will rise up and plunder them. Once understood as a biblical principle, the lex talionis is everywhere through the prophets. It is not simply a reversal of fortune, but a punishment that fits the crime.
It is tempting to read these woes and cheer on the just comeuppance of those who are so cruel. But we are reading about the build-up of power and empire, the exploitation of weak people and the transfer of their wealth to people accustomed to a certain standard of living and affluence. The land itself cries out against the privileged elite of Babylon – it is injustice writ large.
There is no hint that the victims of Babylon are virtuous themselves. Nevertheless it is sobering to realise that justice against those who benefit from the dispossession and exploitation of others through systematic oppression is only delayed. The corporate guilt accrued is real. Affluence and greed are everywhere. Are we in debt?
