LESSON 10A
Dante goes to hell
Remember reading Dante’s Divine Comedy in literature class?
Dante, still considered the greatest Italian poet, was born in 1265 and died in 1321. He is most famous for his epic poem we call The Divine Comedy.
The poem is written as a vision of man’s final destiny. There are three parts: Purgatorio, Inferno, and Paradisio. As Dante tours each of these divisions, he is led by his personal guide, Virgil.
Most of us enjoy the Inferno (hell) best because of its description of how “the punishment fits the crime” in a literal sense.
There are 9 circles in hell. In the 4th Circle Dante places those who are being punished for their greed. Dante determines greed by people’s attitude toward material wealth.
There are two types of greed recognized for punishment in the circle. The first is avariciousness – avarice is the greed of hoarding riches. (Dante listed a number of famous Italians in this circle, including well-known clergy, cardinals and even some popes...maybe that is why generations of readers have preferred reading about hell!)
The second type of greed is prodigality – to be prodigal means to waste, to squander wealth, like the Prodigal son. They do not have the proper relationship to wealth either.
Here is their punishment: Those in hell because of their greed spend eternity in jousting matches, fighting with great weights strapped to their chests, pushing each other…forever and ever….screaming out “Why do you hoard?” and “Why do you squander?”
Virgil tells Dante it is useless to talk to them because they have lost their individuality and are almost unrecognizable. They have become part of their possessions. The weights are bound to them for eternity.
(Frankly, I had been confused as to why Dante put the Hoarders and the Squanderers together. Yes, I know they both have inappropriate relationships to material goods and so that sin unites them…but why are they punished the same way?
As I was preparing this lesson I think I understand – Dante put them together in hell so they could annoy each other –throughout eternity —seriously! Picture it: the Squanderer is upset because he can’t get loose of his material weight - he wants desperately to squander it – throw it away – but he can’t. It is fixed to him forever….forever….
And the Hoarder is repulsed by the Squanderer. He wants to get those valuable material goods away from squanderer so he can attach them to himself….so he can hoard even more. But he can’t…he will spend eternity attached to his own possessions and can’t even get more, though he desperately wants to….forever…forever…
LESSON 10
We are still in Part IV of the Outline: God’s Answers Habakkuk’s 2nd Complaint.
The rest of chapter 2 concludes this part of the outline.
It was in Verse 4 that we found that well-known, sometimes unappreciated, golden nugget regarding our salvation: the just shall live by faith –
Put it on a sticky note on your brain - it is a phrase you “hide in your heart.”
Put a reminder on your mirror – thank Him every morning when you get up and every evening when you lie down.
We live by faith because He is faithful.
In verse 5 God explains that it is Babylon
Now in the following verses, 6-20, of chapter 2 we find the rest of God’s answer to Habakkuk.
At the end of chapter 1 (Habakkuk’s 2nd complaint) we read the prophet’s words: Is he to keep on emptying his net, destroying nations without mercy?
How does God answer this question?
God answers by issuing are five “taunts” or “woes” in this section that are directed at Babylon
Each one is voiced as if from the mouths of those oppressed.
The 1st woe
GREED and DESTRUCTION
Habakkuk 2:6-8
Will not all of them taunt him with ridicule and scorn, saying
Woe to him who piles up stolen goods and makes himself wealthy by extortion!
How long must this go on?
Will not your debtors suddenly arise?
And will they not wake up and make you tremble?
Then you will become their victim.
Because you have plundered many nations, the peoples who are left will plunder you.
For you have shed man’s blood; you have destroyed lands and cities and everyone in them.
There’s not much else to be said. How could the accusations be any plainer?
The Babylonians enrich themselves at the expense of others. Like the neighborhood bully they imposed heavy pledges (extortion) on the conquered nations, as they did to Jehoiachin.
And it was not just money. They robbed Judah Jerusalem
Notice “how long?” The same words used by Habakkuk in chapter 1:2 when he challenged God. Now God is challenging the Babylonians - directing His words to the King and ruler, Nebuchadnezzar, since he was responsible for the nation’s ruthless conquests.
There is a warning here, too, that someday the oppressed would rise up. Jehoiachin did, and a few others. But these were short-lived and ineffective, until 539 B.C. when the Medea-Persian Darius (the story is in Daniel 5) “that every night” (the night of the banquet) took over the kingdom.
And Babylon
The 2nd Woe
Injustice
Habakkuk 2:9-11
Woe to him who builds his realm by unjust gain to set his nest on high, to escape the clutches of ruin!
You have plotted the ruin of many peoples, shaming your own house and forfeiting your life.
The stones of the wall will cry out, and the beams of the woodwork will echo it.
Our thoughts go immediately back to chapter 1, verse 8, where Habakkuk compares the formidable Babylonians as “eagles that hasten to eat” (NKJV) or as the NIV reads “They fly like a vulture swooping to devour.”
Another thought is about Hitler’s special retreat, built high in the mountains of Germany , above Berchtesgaden
He called it “Eagles’ Nest.” Certainly appropriate. (He often symbolized his 3rd Reich with an eagle. Eagles do build their nest on high promontories to protect their young from predators.) The retreat was a gift for Hitler for his 50th birthday in 1939.
He called it “Eagles’ Nest.” Certainly appropriate. (He often symbolized his 3rd Reich with an eagle. Eagles do build their nest on high promontories to protect their young from predators.) The retreat was a gift for Hitler for his 50th birthday in 1939.
In May of 1945, American troops under Eisenhower, entered “Eagles’ Nest” and we have pictures of our soldiers sitting on the patio drinking all Hitler’s wine and celebrating the end of the Nazi horror. Hitler’s retreat could offer him no protection. Nor would there be a place of safety for the Babylonians.
According to the text here in Habakkuk, even the stones and beams will cry out against the Babylonians. There will be no retreat.
Verse 10: You have forfeited your life. The original Hebrew could also read:
“You have missed the mark!”
Instead of honor and prestige, the builders of these houses will reap shame and humiliation.
This is an eternal truth: there is no honor and security for a nation that builds its wealth on exploiting and oppressing other nations. In the end, the oppressing nation will come crashing to earth.
Is verse 11 talking about a “haunted” house? It reminds us of the blood of Abel crying out from the ground in Genesis 4:10. And of James 5:4 when the poor and oppressed cry out against their dishonest landlords.
The oppressor is never able to escape his deeds, not even in the intended sanctuary of his own home.
FUN PROJECTS FOR LESSON 10
1. Look at James, chapter 5:1-6. What phrases here remind you of Habakkuk?
2. Look at Isaiah 10:1-4. What nation is being denounced here? What specific people are being charged? (Or for sins are they being charged?
3. Look at Isaiah 10:5-11. God used the Assyrians as His rod to punish the Northern Ten Tribes of Israel (their capital was Samaria
