6.4 The Structure and Literary Genre of the Book of Habakkuk
6.4.5 The Woe Oracles Given as Taunts (2:5-20)
The answer to Habakkuk‟s complaints is followed by the woe oracles which are given as taunts to the oppressor (2:6-20). Patterson (1991:70) takes this series of woe oracles to be an explanation to the meaning of God‟s second response (2:2-4) suggesting that it is part of God‟s answer to Habakkuk‟s complaints. It can also be considered a kind of interlude between the really meaningful materials in chapter one and three, which has led them to say that the book is a product of many authors. In this poem, the enslaved peoples and nations are
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called to taunt the oppressor (2:6a). Sweeney (2000:473) observes that the form of the rhetorical question (2:6) actually constitutes an assertion that everyone should indeed engage in such ridicule against the oppressor. Their respective fortunes are reversed (cf. Isa. 14:1- 21); the nations get the last taunting word, conveyed in the style of funeral laments (see
“Alas” in 2:6, 9, 12, 15, 19; cf. 1 Kgs 13:30; Jer 22:18).
Each oracle starts with the word
yAh
– hoy which means “woe.”67 The word describes the actual funeral lament and is often translated as “alas.” it is also translated as “ho” or “ha” or“ah!” meaning a cry for attention. Generally in prophets the word
yAh
– hoy is interpreted as“woe to you,” which in Hebrew was thought to have the same force as in a curse. In the present case, each oracle has a specific focus that describes the crimes perpetrated by “the wicked” and the different responses to them. And as Patterson (1991:19) puts it, each of the woes in this unit is formed in accordance with the traditional elements of invective (2:6, 9, 12, 15, 19a), threat (2:7, 11, 13, 16, 20), and criticism (2:8, 10, 14, 17, 18, 19b). This series of woes, says Brueggemann (2003:242), is a condemnation of community-destroying antineighbourly acts, which in the long run are unsustainable in the Torah community.
The first woe oracle is directed towards those who obtain goods dishonestly (2:6b-8). It accuses the oppressor of greed and plundering that which belongs to other people. The second deals with building fortunes and power structures on unjust gain (2:9-11). Baker (1988:64) says that the oracle condemns not only exploitation for personal gain, but also for national or dynastic overdoing because the oppressor established his dynasty firmly by means of force and cunning. The third oracle is the doom of evil and violence (2:12-14). It accuses the oppressor of bloodshed. Baker (1988:65) states that the very foundations of the centres of society were founded on bloodshed (cf. v.8; Nahum 3:1, especially referring to Nineveh;
Micah 3:10, to Jerusalem) and wickedness (cf. Isaiah 59:3; Micah 3:10).
The fourth oracle is a woe against debauchery; it indicts the oppressor for terrible treatment of the subjugated nations (2:15-17). The world conqueror is now condemned for leading others, the neighbours, into wickedness by causing them to drink intoxicants. The fifth woe is
67 Gowan (1976:52) observes that each oracle begins with the word “woe” except for the last oracle in 2:18-19, which begins abruptly and has its “woe” in the middle rather than at the beginning. He suggests that if verses 18 and 19 were interchanged it would look exactly like others.
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the doom of idolatry (2:18-20). This oracle points to the oppressor‟s idolatry and failure to recognize Yahweh (cf. 1:11, 16; 2:13a) as the root cause for the atrocities outlined in this taunt song (Sweeney, 2000:477). The oppressor seeks own security not only through violence and plunder, but also through resorting to powerless idols. This series of woes is designed to show that ultimately sin, evil, crime, oppression, debauchery, greed and idolatry are doomed to destruction (Smith, 1984:111).
6.4.5.1 The Use of Woe Oracles in Habakkuk
Gowan (1998b:96) observes that most of the uses of the word “woe” (
yAh
–hoy) in the prophets convey connotations of a curse, and it is true that there is no indication of grief in some of them, but frequently enough they appear in contexts of death and lamentation (e.g., Jer. 22:18; 30:7; 34:5). In addition, Barker and Bailey (1998:330) assert that the word hoy shows that the action under prophetic condemnation has seeds of death within it. Because of this, some scholars take Hab 2:6-20 to be a funeral song sung not for the oppressed but for the oppressor; the woe oracles are a taunt funeral song meant to ridicule the oppressor (see Gowan, 1998b:96 and Szeles, 1987:35-6). Gowan (1998b:96) argues that in Habakkuk, the emotion is clearly joy because a tyrant is dead (2:10). Judah is not mourning the impending fall of her overlord, but uses the literary form of a funeral song to mock her.Although the oppressor looked unbeatable when Habakkuk uttered this prophecy, the woe oracles revealed that God‟s power would bring her low by 539 BCE when the Persian army under Cyrus defeated Babylon (Baker, 1988:62). Gowan (1998b:96) asserts that one of the major themes of funeral songs – the reversal of fortune – power turned to weakness – runs through the first four stanzas (cf. 2 Sam. 1:19, 25; Isa 14:4, 11, 16). He says that Habakkuk may be seen as using the language and themes of a funeral song, but for a brutally new purpose. Here, God is sanctioning a suffering people to sing a mock funeral song in advance over the tyrant who has oppressed them (Gowan, 1998b:96). Borrowing the words of Leggett (1990:105), the prophet celebrates ahead of the doom of evil and final triumph of God in the world. Thus, the poem ends with a liturgical formula in 2:20 (cf. Zeph. 1:7 and Zech. 2:17) and God is portrayed as residing by His almighty power in His holy temple where the powerlessness of idols is contrasted with His power.
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Barker and Bailey (1998:349) suggest that this is a fitting conclusion to the woe oracles because it depicts God as a deity who is ready to respond to the needs of His people.
Habakkuk has been making demands of God, asking questions of God, and retreating to his watchtower to wait for God‟s answers, impatient at God‟s silence; but now he hushes himself and the entire world, willing to let God act in God‟s time and willing to wait for God to open His mouth when God chooses (Barker and Bailey, 1998:349). Leggett (1990:106) says the call for silence is a call for reverent submission to His mysterious purposes: “Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations” (Psa 46:10; cf. Zech 2:13). This implies that all the forces that oppose God will ultimately be silenced, even though now the forces of evil still rage (Smith, 1984:112).Here, we note that the certainty of judgment is based on the fact that the world belongs to God and that it is always under His control.