Stress Test Devotional April 28
April 28, 2024
HABAKKUK 1:7, 11 | 7 Dread and fearsome are they; their justice and dignity proceed from themselves.
11 Then they sweep by like the wind; they transgress and become guilty; their own might is their god!
The battle of Carcamesh in 605 BC established the Babylonian ruler Nebuchadnezzar II and his nation as the most powerful force on earth. Babylonian success meant tragedy and crisis for God’s people. King Josiah had discovered an early version of the book of Deuteronomy during a restoration project and instituted wide-spread reforms to abolish the allegiance to foreign gods, centralize worship in Jerusalem, and restore loyalty to the Mosaic covenant with Yahweh. But he was drawn to the whirl of international politics. When Assyria, cruel overlords to Judah, began to fade, he joined a coalition, including the Scythians, Medes, and Babylonians, that sacked Nineveh. The Egyptians, traditional enemies of the Assyrians, reversed course and defended them. Pharaoh Neco defeated and killed Josiah at Megiddo (see 2 Kings 23:29-30). But then at Carcamesh, Nebuchadnezzar routed the Egyptians and they were never again a power in the Fertile Crescent. Babylon imposed a new yoke upon Judah, harsher than that of the hated Assyrians. God’s people lost a great king, their hope of independence, and the momentum of reform.
What does Habakkuk say about the Babylonians, here called Chaldeans? Have you ever experienced an authority that had “power as its god” and ruled on its own terms?
