Habakkuk: When Stones Cry Out

“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 for 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.

Habakkuk 2:9-11

We are finally finishing the second woe of Habakkuk. We have seen his condemnation of those who unjustly establish their homes, which will ultimately lead to shame. The woe ends with one more image.

Screaming Stones

The second woe concludes with the construction materials of a house crying out. How had the Chaldeans built such an amazing city? They had plundered the nations. They had cut off conquered peoples. While their houses (and by extension, the city as a whole) are beautiful, they were built on the backs of those they conquered.

We saw the word for “cry out” (זעק, za’ak) back in Habakkuk 1:2 (see notes) as the prophet cried out to the Lord over the injustice and violence he saw around him. We see in this case that the stones and wooden beams of the house (some of the predominant building materials) will testify against their inhabitants (Biblical law always requires at least two witnesses to pronounce a sentence).

This verse sheds light on Jesus’ cryptic statement when he entered Jerusalem. “And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, ‘Teacher, rebuke your disciples.’ He answered, ‘I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out'” (Luke 19:39-40). What stones is Jesus referring to? What would they cry out?

I used to think that if the crowd’s praise was silenced, the stones would shout out praise instead. Perhaps that is the case, but given the context in Habakkuk, what light does that shed on his saying? The stones and the beams of the houses will cry out over the injustices of the land! Jerusalem was a beautiful city, but at what cost? The leaders of the city had grown wealthy at the expense of the common people. Even if the people were silent, the stones making up their homes would cry out and testify against them.

To Ponder…

If the walls of your house could talk, what would they say? What have they heard?

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