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"Woe to him who covets evil gain for his house"

Text: Habakkuk 2:9

THE SECOND WOE PRONOUNCED

A second woe was pronounced on the Chaldeans. This was a sobering word to them.

“Woe to him who covets evil gain for his house,
That he may set his nest on high,
That he may be delivered from the power of disaster!
You give shameful counsel to your house,
Cutting off many peoples,
And sin against your soul.
For the stone will cry out from the wall,
And the beam from the timbers will answer it.”
Habakkuk 2:9-11

1. “Woe to him who covets evil gain for his house”

a) The problem of evil gain starts from the sin of coveting.

b) The conquering Babylonian covets building a nest on high.

i) He thinks that if he builds his nest high enough he would be safe from attacks.

ii) He thinks that the power of disaster cannot reach him.

iii) He is sadly mistaken!

2. “You give shameful counsel to your house”

a) The Babylonian rulers began by getting others to think in the same way.

b) Others soon followed the desire to covet the wealth of other nations.

c) This was “shameful counsel” for the following would have to be done before ambition could be achieved.

i) Many people would have to be “cut off”.

ii) Many people would perish because of the wicked activities of the Chaldeans.

d) Sin against your soul.

i) The human conscience would have to suffer death.

ii) The Chaldeans would be immune to the pitiful cries of the conquered.

iii) They would have sinned against their own souls when they followed their covetous pursuits.

3. The personification of the houses conquered and demolished

a) The Babylonians were highly destructive in the wars they waged against their enemies.

b) They tore down fine buildings with their stone walls and the beams made of wood.

c) The wood and stones would cry out against the wanton and wicked carnage perpetrated by the marauding Chaldeans.