Unlike the East Semitic Akkadian-speaking Akkadians, Assyrians, and Babylonians, whose ancestors had been established in Mesopotamia since the 30th century BC, the Chaldeans were not a native Mesopotamian people, but were late 10th or early 9th century BC West Semitic Levantine migrants to the South Eastern corner of the Region, who had played no part in the previous 3,000 years of Mesopotamian civilization and history.
God sent a message to Habakkuk about this type of people: " .. I am rousing the Chalde'ans, that bitter and hasty nation, who march through the breadth of the earth, to seize habitations not their own. Dread and terrible are they; their justice and dignity proceed from themselves. Their horses are swifter than leopards, more fierce than the evening wolves; their horsemen press proudly on. Yea, their horsemen come from afar; they fly like an eagle swift to devour. They all come for violence; terror of them goes before them. They gather captives like sand. At kings they scoff, and of rulers they made sport. They laugh at every fortress, for they heap up earth and take it. Then they sweep like the wind and go on, guilty men, whose own might is their god!" 1:6-11.
The spirit that govern these people define them as a nation. Whoever behave in the same manner will have at the end the same reward as them for their evil actions.
God then said, "Behold, he whose soul is not upright in him shall fail, but the righteous shall live by his faith. Moreover, wealth is like wine, treacherous and deceitful. The arrogant men are proud and restless -like Death itself they are never satisfied making his greed as wide as Sheol. He gathers for himself all nations, and collects as his own all peoples. But before you know it, Woe to him who heaps up what is not his own -for how long? and loads himself with pledges! Will not your debtors suddenly arise, and those awake who will make you tremble? Then you will be booty for them. Because you have plundered many nations, all the remnant of the peoples shall plunder you, for the blood of men and violence to the earth, to cities and all who dwell therein. Woe to him who gets evil gain for his house, to set his nest on high, to be safe from the reach of harm! You have devised shame to your house by cutting off many peoples; you have forfeited your life. For the stone will cry out from the wall, and the beam from the woodwork respond."
God continue saying, "You are doomed! In your fury you humiliated and disgraced your neighbors; you made them stagger as though they were drank. You in turn will be covered by shame instead of honor. You yourself will drink and stagger. The lord will make you drink your own cup of punishment and your honor will be turned into disgrace."
What we have to understand with this teaching is that nothing is being left without care because God is the One who truly care for the righteous and sincere of heart.
No comments:
Post a Comment