The righteous one (v 4)

Let us look at the content of the vision that God gave to Habakkuk. God said, “Behold, as for the impudent one, his soul is not right within him; but the righteous one will live by his faith.” ASV translation says, “Behold, his soul is puffed up, it is not upright in him; but the righteous shall live by his faith.” (1) The proud one is the person who does not believe the word of God. The cause of unbelief lies in conceit and pride. A person who lives by putting his own thoughts first will have his heart drift away from God and will eventually reap destruction. (2) However, the one who believes God’s word and lives according to it is a believer and a righteous person. Habakkuk could not understand why God would use the Chaldeans to judge Judah. In response, God commanded Habakkuk to believe that everything was proceeding according to God’s plan and that, in the end, all problems would be resolved. The believer confesses, “There are things that I cannot understand now, but even so I believe God’s promises.” Verse 4 is quoted in Romans 1:17 and Galatians 3:11. “For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written: ‘But the righteous one will live by faith’” (Rom. 1:17).

The destruction of the Chaldeans (v 5)

Next, God prophesies that the sinful and arrogant Chaldeans will surely be destroyed. Several causes of their destruction are listed. (1) The sin of drunkenness caused by wine. “Furthermore, wine betrays an arrogant man, so that he does not achieve his objective.” It is well known in history that the Chaldeans were drinkers of wine. Drunkenness and pride are like twins (ref. Dan. Ch 5). (2) The sin of greed. “He enlarges his appetite like Sheol, and he is like death, never satisfied. He also gathers to himself all the nations and collects to himself all the peoples.” The Chaldeans plundered many nations and gathered wealth to themselves. However, no matter how much they gathered, their greedy hearts were never satisfied. From God’s perspective, their greed is like “Sheol” and like “death.” “Sheol” is the place where the dead go. The greed of the Chaldeans opens its mouth wide like Sheol and endlessly swallows up the peoples and wealth of the nations. This greed itself becomes the seed of their destruction. In 2:6-20, the destruction of the Chaldeans (Babylon) is prophesied (we will study this next time). Drunkenness, arrogance, and greed are also sins of modern people. Let us recall this exhortation from Paul: “The night is almost gone, and the day is near. Therefore let’s rid ourselves of the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let’s behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and debauchery, not in strife and jealousy” (Rom. 13:12-13).