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Book 35 of 39 · Minor Prophets

Habakkuk

The Prophet Who Questioned God
Narrated book coming soon

Overview

Habakkuk is unlike most prophetic books. Instead of speaking for God to the people, the prophet speaks to God on the people's behalf, and argues with him. The book is a dialogue: two complaints by Habakkuk, two answers from the LORD, a series of woes against Babylon, and a closing psalm of trust. Nothing is known of Habakkuk beyond this book, though the musical notes in chapter 3 suggest a link with temple worship.

The setting is the late seventh century BC. Assyria had fallen (Nineveh in 612 BC), and the Chaldeans, the rulers of the new Babylonian empire, were rising. They defeated Egypt at Carchemish in 605 BC. Most date the book to the reign of King Jehoiakim (609–598 BC), when Judah was full of injustice and Babylon was about to overwhelm it. Some place it a little earlier, under Josiah's successors.

Structure: the first dialogue (1:1–11); the second dialogue (1:12–2:5); five woes against the oppressor (2:6–20); Habakkuk's prayer (chapter 3).

Part 1 — The First Dialogue (chapter 1:1–11)

Habakkuk's complaint (1:1–4). "O LORD, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear!" The prophet sees violence, strife and contention all around him in Judah. "The law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth": the wicked surround the righteous, and justice is perverted.

God's answer (1:5–11). The LORD is doing a work Habakkuk would not believe if told: "I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation." Babylon will sweep across the earth to seize dwellings not its own. Its horses are "swifter than the leopards" and "more fierce than the evening wolves"; its horsemen fly "as the eagle that hasteth to eat". It scoffs at kings, laughs at fortresses, and makes its own strength its god.

Part 2 — The Second Dialogue (chapters 1:12–2:5)

A harder complaint (1:12–17). The answer troubles Habakkuk more than the problem. God is everlasting and holy: "Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil." So why does he stay silent while the wicked swallow those more righteous? Babylon catches people like fish with hook and net, then "sacrificeth unto their net". Will it keep emptying its net and slaying nations without mercy?

The watchtower (2:1). "I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me."

Write the vision (2:2–5). The LORD replies: "Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it." The vision is for an appointed time: "though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come." The proud soul is not upright, "but the just shall live by his faith" (2:4). The arrogant, greedy man, never satisfied, gathers nations to himself, but he will not endure. This verse is later quoted in the New Testament (Romans 1:17; Galatians 3:11; Hebrews 10:38).

Part 3 — Five Woes (chapter 2:6–20)

The conquered nations taunt their conqueror in five woes. Plunder (2:6–8). Woe to him who heaps up what is not his. Those he plundered will rise and plunder him. Unjust gain (2:9–11). Woe to him who builds his house by evil gain to set his nest on high. "The stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it." Bloodshed (2:12–14). Woe to him who builds a town with blood. The nations labour only for the fire. "For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea" (2:14). Shameful violence (2:15–17). Woe to him who makes his neighbour drunk to look on his nakedness. The cup of the LORD's right hand will come round to him, and the violence done to Lebanon will cover him. Idolatry (2:18–20). What profit is a carved image? Woe to him who says to wood "Awake" and to dumb stone "Arise"; there is no breath in it. "But the LORD is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him."

Part 4 — Habakkuk's Prayer (chapter 3)

The plea (3:1–2). A prayer "upon Shigionoth", a musical term. "O LORD, revive thy work in the midst of the years... in wrath remember mercy." God comes (3:3–15). In poetry recalling the Exodus and Sinai, Habakkuk sees God coming from Teman and Mount Paran. His glory covers the heavens; plague and pestilence go before him. The everlasting mountains are scattered, rivers and sea are struck, and "the sun and moon stood still in their habitation". He goes out "for the salvation of thy people". Trembling and joy (3:16–19). Habakkuk trembles, but resolves to wait quietly for the day of trouble. Then the great confession: "Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines... and there shall be no herd in the stalls: yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation." "The LORD God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds' feet." The book ends with a note for the choirmaster: "on my stringed instruments".

Key themes, and the bridge to Zephaniah

  • Honest questions. Habakkuk brings his confusion about evil and suffering directly to God, and God answers.
  • God's sovereignty over the nations. God uses Babylon to judge Judah, but Babylon is also accountable and will fall.
  • Living by faith. "The just shall live by his faith": the righteous endure by trusting and remaining faithful while they wait.
  • Waiting. The vision has an appointed time; it may seem slow, but it will come.
  • Joy without circumstances. The final psalm finds joy in God himself even when every visible support fails.

Habakkuk moves from complaint to song without the danger being removed. Babylon would still come. The next book, Zephaniah, steps back a generation to the reign of good King Josiah, and announces the coming "day of the LORD" that Habakkuk had seen approaching.