Shall not all these take up their taunt against him, with scoffing and riddles for him, and say,
Habakkuk 2:6
“Woe to him who heaps up what is not his own—
for how long?—
and loads himself with pledges!”
The Lord tells Habakkuk to pronounce woes against the Babylonians. He calls them a taunt (מָשָׁל, mashal), scoffing (מְלִיצָה, m’litzah), and riddles (singular חִידָה, chidah, plural chidot), all words related to the challenging sayings of the wise.
A Proverb
The first word, mashal, is more commonly translated as proverb or parable, like describing Solomon speaking 3,000 proverbs (1 Kings 4:32). Its verbal root carries the idea of comparing. “I have become like (mashal) dust and ashes” (Job 30:19). “To whom will you liken me and make me equal, / and compare me (mashal), that we may be alike?” (Isaiah 46:5).
While mashal is more often translated as proverb (like 1 Samuel 10:12, 24:13), it pops up in other ways, too. When Balaam pronounced blessings over the people of Israel, he “took up his discourse (mashal) and said” (Numbers 23:7, 18, 24:3, 15, 20-21, 23), describing each of his seven declarations with the same phrase.
At other times, the word pops up with a different translation like “taunt” or “byword”. For example: “I will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a reproach, a byword (mashal), a taunt, and a curse in all the places where I shall drive them” (Jeremiah 24:9, hinting at Deuteronomy 28:37). While that partially captures the meaning, remember that a mashal carries the idea of comparison. In this case, the people of Israel are an object lesson of what not to do. Similarly, the Apostle Paul says the people of Israel serve as an example for us (1 Corinthians 10:11).
Scoffing
M’litzah comes from the root verb לִיץ (litz), which means to scorn, brag, or deride. Job, in his anguish and under attack by his so-called friends, says, “My friends scorn (litz) me” (Job 16:20). “A worthless witness mocks (litz) at justice” (Proverbs 19:28).
The person who scorns (a scorner) is called a letz, a word which appears almost exclusively in Proverbs. “Toward the scorners (letzim) he is scornful (litz)” (Proverbs 3:34). The scoffer or scorner is grouped with the fool and the wicked person, who act in opposition to the ways of the wise.
A closely related word, m’litz, receives a seemingly unrelated translation, however. For instance, in Genesis 42:23, Joseph, concealing his identity, spoke to his brothers through an interpreter (m’litz). In 2 Chronicles 32:31, “envoys (m’litzim) of the princes of Babylon” met with King Hezekiah. It’s translated as “mediator” in Job 33:23 and Isaiah 43:27. These uses are why the NIV translates Job 16:20 as “My intercessor is my friend”. Which is it? How does scorning or speaking boastfully fit in such passages? Perhaps the neutral English words used veil the scorn hiding behind what’s going on. Why did Joseph use interpreters? Their purpose was to deceive his brothers of his true identity. In the case of Hezekiah, after the envoys leave from Babylon, Isaiah the prophet tells Hezekiah that Babylon will eventually take away everything from the king’s palace that the envoys saw.
Riddle
Chidah is well-captured by the translation: a riddle, or hard saying/question. The Queen of Sheba came to test Solomon “with hard questions” (chidot, 1 Kings 10:1). By contrast, God didn’t speak to Moses in riddles (chidot), but face-to-face (Numbers 12:8). Samson gave a riddle at his wedding (Judges 14:12-19), saying, “Let me riddle (verb), please, to you (plural) a riddle (noun)” (Judges 14:12).
Riddles and proverbs go well together. “I will open my mouth in a parable (mashal); / I will utter dark sayings (chidot) from of old” (Psalm 78:2). “I will incline my ear to a proverb (mashal); / I will solve (literally, “open”) my riddle (chidah) to the music of the lyre” (Psalm 49:4). God told Ezekiel, “Son of man, propound a riddle (chidah), and speak a parable (mashal) to the house of Israel” (Ezekiel 17:2). This actually uses the verb form of each along with the nouns (riddle a riddle and proverb a proverb).
Wise Proverbs
I have mentioned the book of Proverbs often with these words. Its opening line says, “The Proverbs (meshalim) of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel” (Proverbs 1:1). It then describes its purpose so people can obtain wisdom. “Let the wise hear and increase in learning, / and the one who understands obtain guidance / to understand a proverb (mashal) and a saying (m’litzah), / the words of the wise and their riddles (chidot)” (Proverbs 1:5-6). This is the only other place where these three words show up together.
To Ponder…
How do you use your words? Are they wise words? Are they to promote instruction and build people up (even if they are hard works to receive)? Or do they tear the others down, mocking them?
What does it mean to seek wisdom?