5 “Look among the nations, and see;
wonder and be astounded.
For I am doing a work in your days
that you would not believe if told.
6 For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans,
that bitter and hasty nation,
who march through the breadth of the earth,
to seize dwellings not their own.
Habakkuk 1:12-13
12 Are you not from everlasting,
O Lord my God, my Holy One?
We shall not die.
O Lord, you have ordained them as a judgment,
and you, O Rock, have established them for reproof.
13 You who are of purer eyes than to see evil
and cannot look at wrong,
why do you idly look at traitors
and remain silent when the wicked swallows up
the man more righteous than he?
Sometimes we let familiar, biblical phrases become part of our doctrine only to find out that the application of such phrases are hermeneutically unsound. So, for a few paragraphs, I intend to show how a failure to use proper context leads to confusing interpretation of the Bible and inconsistent doctrinal stances.
Let me set the stage before working to make a hermeneutical point about the passage above. Habakkuk is a prophet of God who is amazed and even frustrated that God would allow the people of Judah to dishonor God so much. He wonders where the justice of God is. He wonders why God is not, as the law has promised, judging the rebellious nation for their sin. This is found in the first 4 verses of chapter 1.
When God responds, he tells Habakkuk to be ready to be shocked. Habakkuk has no idea what is coming. God is about to do something amazing, something unheard of. God is going to use the Chaldeans, the Babylonians, to come in and judge the nation for sinning against God. That is verses 5-6 above.
Then Habakkuk is shocked and even more dismayed. Of all the nations that God might choose, Habakkuk cannot stomach the concept of God using Babylon to punish Israel. In verses 12-13, the argument Habakkuk is basically making is, “No way; they’re worse than us!” Later in the book, God will show that he is both planning to use the Babylonians and to judge them for their wickedness.
Now, let me make the hermeneutical point that has my attention. Have you ever heard someone talk about and even express wonder at the fact that God cannot look upon evil, his eyes are too pure? That concept comes from Habakkuk 1:13 which asks, “You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong, why do you idly look at traitors and remain silent when the wicked swallows up the man more righteous than he?” Time and time again, I get questions like, “If God is too pure to look on evil, how could Satan have been in his presence in Job 1?” Sadly, those questions come from an over-application of Habakkuk 1:13 that goes well beyond the author’s intent.
Look at the verse in its context. Habakkuk is expressing his utter chagrin that God might use the Babylonians of all people to judge Israel. So, speaking poetically, Habakkuk is trying to say, “Hey God, you are better than that. You can’t use those awful people to judge us. You can’t dirty your hands by using them as tools.” Habakkuk is not trying to make some sort of theological point about God not somehow being able to look at evil. The point he is trying to make is that, to Habakkuk’s mind, using the Babylonians as a tool for God’s will seems to be unthinkable.
Think hermeneutically. What is the author intending to communicate to his readers with that sentence? He wants his readers to grasp that Habakkuk, like many people, struggles with the fact that God uses what appears to be dark and evil to accomplish his plan without himself being tainted with darkness or evil. God uses the evil actions of evil nations to swirl together to somehow accomplish perfectly righteous ends. God does not do evil. God does not author evil. God is not corrupted by evil. God is holy. And this concept of God working his will in this way is just beyond what human minds can fathom. God is god and we are not. God is totally good, even when we cannot understand how that can be.
The hermeneutical point that I want to make ,then, is to show how a single verse like the one above is very often taken to mean far more than the author intends to communicate. To pretend that God somehow cannot see evil is inconsistent with the fact that God is omniscient. He knows us. He knows our thoughts. He never fails to see us, even when we are evil.
Now, don’t get me wrong, God is pure. His purity cannot b compromised by the evil that you and I do. In fact, were you and I to be thrust into the unveiled presence of God without a covering for our sin, we would be destroyed by his holiness. God told Moses that we cannot look on him and live. God will never be corrupted by us, but he will eventually destroy all sinful corruption from the world.
So, my caution here is to be careful as you read and apply passages. Whenever you come across a verse like Habakkuk 1:13, don’t take it out of the flow of the author’s discussion. Yes, I know that many phrases like “you who are of purer eyes than to see evil” are really catchy and will preach well. But please, let context and author’s intent drive the way that you handle the passage. Don’t rip phrases out of their context and make your theology from them. While the one I’m using as an example is not greatly harmful, it is confusing and inconsistent when taken out of the prophet’s poetic meaning. And the truth is, God’s word is far better, far stronger, far more powerful than our pithy little quips. God’s word does not need for you and me to find meaning beyond its clear meaning in its true context.
Pastor Travis Peterson 