"5" Critiques of Power (Habakkuk)

On the FIFTH day of Christmas we get to look at Habakkuk and his five critiques of empire. Habakkuk was a prophet who is set during the final decade of Israel’s southern kingdom. This period was marked by widespread injustice and idolatry. Babylon is a rising and visible threat on the horizon. In his proclamation, he does not address Israel, but rather finds his prophetic frustration aimed at God. Habakkuk wrestles with a profound dilemma: how can we believe in a good God when the world is filled with suffering? The problem of evil - something that has plagued the philosophical mind for millenia. And so Habakkuk writes poems of lament, almost prayers, seeking to draw God’s attention to the injustice surrounding him. 

The structure of the book itself feels like a back-and-forth argument between Habakkuk and God. Life in Israel is clearly horrible - the Torah has been neglected, violence and injustice are taking over, and the leadership is corrupt. God responds by saying, “I know. I am bringing Babylon to bring justice.” What?! Habakkuk is shocked. Babylon is even worse. How is that any better! They deify their military and treat humans like animals. The unchecked growth of the economic system of empire is exploitative. Habakkuk wants to know, how in the world could God use something corrupt as a tool for justice? The violence of empires only begets more violence—a reality that persists today.

Habakkuk lists five woes that he sees in Israel and in the nations, five problems with how the system is set up to run and function. I read these while prepping a class for youth group students and had to stop and just sit in the profundity of their modern relevance. The five woes are: 

• Unchecked greed and growth

• unjust economic practices

• slave labor

• irresponsible leaders

• Idolatry

Habakkuk could very well show up in the United States today and give, from God, these five woes to us and to our leaders (on all sides of the political spectrum). God is done with those of us “who heap up what is not your own!” (2:7). The ones who take and take and take at the expense of others - the Have-Lots. Those who will not inherit the Kingdom of God for they already have their lot. God is done with our unjust economic practices, that is modern, late-stage capitalism. The kind that forces one to decide between life saving medicine and food. An economic system that exploits the world’s poor to enrich the privileged few. The system that allows for people to exist without house, food, and dignity. The system that allows us to be far enough away to not have to worry or think about those poor people. “Alas for you who get evil gain for your house, setting your nest on high to be safe from the reach of harm!” (2:9) God is done with our exploitation of labor. Whether literal slave labor, as we see in the treatment of those incarcerated in masses in the United States, or the poor and low wages given by multinational corporations who extract wealth at the expense of their labor force. “Alas for you who build a town by bloodshed and found a city on iniquity!” (2:12). God is done with selfish leaders who twist their words and their actions to take advantage of those beneath them. Whether at the national, global level or within organizations and institutions. Woe to you leaders who use your power to force those under you to be silent. To sign NDA’s to not share the abuse. Who offer money as compensation for complicity. Who have no problem running over those who are angry and against you. “Alas for you who make your neighbors drink, pouring out your wrath until they are drunk, in order to gaze on their nakedness!” (12:15). God is done with your leadership style that strips away agency and dignity so you can protect your own petty power. Finally, God’s final woe given to Habakkuk is the biggest - Idolatry. The engine that drives nations, that is power, money, and nationalism. There is no room in the Kingdom of God for this sort of engine. 

Habakkuk eventually, after a prayer and commitment to joy in the face of idolatry and horrid leadership from the nations, offers a stark reminder. All nations become Babylon. All people in power become greedy and corrupt. But Habakkuk reminds those early listeners and us that a future exodus is coming where God will defeat evil, humble the proud, liberate the oppressed, and proclaim favor and hope to all. 

Habakkuk ends with “For the leader; with instrumental music”. Why? Because this song of liberation against the enemy of power, privilege, greed, and ego is one that we are all supposed to take up an instrument and play along. Joining together in a vast symphony of God’s redemptive and liberating work in the world.

Let us challenge the status quo of empire and seek to liberate all from the exiles we have made for ourselves and others.