HABAKKUK*

Habakkuk approached the Lord with a complaint about the evil he observed in the nation of Judah (1:2-4). When God responded that He will be bringing the Chaldeans to penalize Judah (1:5-11), Habakkuk complained that God's evil instrument of judgment violated His character and that the punishment was greater than Judah's crimes (1:12-17). God told Habakkuk to take His judgment by faith (2:1-20). Other Scripture indicates that Judah's sins were comparable to the sins of the Chaldeans. Habakkuk prayed for mercy in the midst of judgment (3:1-2). God promised to judge the Chaleans and other nations at His Son's Second Coming and to deliver Judah (3:3-15). Habakkuk exited his conversation with God in fear but also with trust (3:16-19). The experience changed Habakkuk from a complainer to a rejoicer.

  1. Background:

  1. Author:

The author is the prophet, Habakkuk (1:1). The only clues we have about Habakkuk are found in 3:19 where the indication is that his psalm was written to be used in the liturgy of the Temple ("For the director of music."). Perhaps he was a Levite. The Levites had this responsibility (1 Chronicles 15:16).

  1. The Situation:

There are several indicators of the circumstances surrounding the writing of Habakkuk:

  1. ". . . I am raising up the Chaldeans, . . . (Habakkuk 1:6)."

Knowing that the armies would come from Babylon (the Chaldeans; Habakkuk 1:6) and the nation was not yet destroyed, the setting of the book must have been between 612 BC and 586 BC. Prior to 612 BC, Babylon was under submission to the Assyrians. The Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem in 586 BC (J. Ronald Blue, Habakkuk, The Bible Knowledge Commentary, Old Testament, page 1506).

  1. "I am doing something in your days---You would not believe if you were told (Habakkuk 1:5b)."

There are two often-heard interpretations of this quote:

  1. Pre-612 BC

The first interpretation is that Habakkuk must have been written before 612 BC because, after that date, the warring tendencies of the Babylonians would not have been a surprise. Against this interpretation is Habakkuk 1:7-11. Habakkuk had already seen the Babylonians in action.

  1. Immediately Prior to 586 BC

This is the better interpretation. The quote indicates that the prophecy was to be fulfilled in the days of those who heard Habakkuk's prophecy. Since the fulfillment of the prophecy was the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BC, then the setting was contemporary to that date. This is because many would have died by 586 BC had the setting been prior to 612 BC. The disbelief of Habakkuk 1:5b would then refer to the surprise that God would use a sinful nation to judge Israel. The surprise is developed further in Habakkuk 1:13-17.

  1. The Reigns of Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah

The reigns of Jehoahaz (2 Kings 23:32), Jehoiakim (2 Kings 23:36-24:7; 2 Chronicles 36:5-8), Jehoiachin (2 Kings 24:9), and Zedekiah (Jeremiah 34:8-22; 37:5; 38:4-6) were evil. Jehoahaz began his reign in 609 BC and Zedekiah's reign ended in 597 BC (Gleason L. Archer, Jr., A Survey of Old Testament Introduction, page 496). During this time Israel had a chance to experience the horror of the Babylonian army as the last three kings were exiled to Babylon. The setting of Habakkuk was probably sometime during the reigns of these four kings.

 

  1. Schematic:

OVERVIEW OF HABAKKUK

 

  1. Interpretation:

Theme: God changes Habakkuk's character from a complainer to a rejoicer by impressing Habakkuk with His Providence.

"Worry is transformed into worship. Fear turns to faith. Terror becomes trust. Hang-ups are resolved with hope. Anguish melts into adoration (J. Ronald Blue, Habakkuk, The Bible Knowledge Commentary, Old Testament, page 1507)."

  1. Introduction (1:1):

The human author is the prophet, Habakkuk.

  1. Habakkuk's Complaint (1:2-4): God's Inactivity Makes Him Responsible for the Violence and Injustice in Judah. The Kingdom of Judah Exhibited the Following Conditions during Habakkuk's Lifetime:

    1. Pride: Jeremiah 13:9

    2. Greed: Possibly Jeremiah 8:1, 10

    3. Violence -- This is bloodshed: See Habakkuk 1:2c, 3c; Ezekiel 8:17-18.

    1. Immorality: See Jeremiah 3:8.

    1. Idolatry: See Ezekiel 8:3, 10.

  2. God's Response (1:5-11): There is a Judgment in the Making. God has been Active in Raising up the Chaldeans to Judge the Violence and the Injustice in Judah. God will penalize the Chaldeans for their evil attack on Judah.

  1. The Babylonian War Machine:

Destruction of Jerusalem -- Flavius Josephus, The Antiquities of the Jews, Book X, Chapter VIII, Paragraph 2, 5, 7. Josephus was a Jewish historian who lived during the first century AD.

". . . the enemy took Zedekiah alive, when he was deserted by all but a few, with his children and his wives, and brought him to the king. When he was come, Nebuchadnezzar began to call him a wicked wretch, and a covenant-breaker, . . . And when he had used these words to Zedekiah, he commanded his sons and his friends to be slain, while Zedekiah and the rest of the captains looked on; after which he put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him, and carried him to Babylon. . . . [He] pillaged the temple, and carried out the vessels of God, both gold and silver, and particularly that large laver which Solomon dedicated, as also the pillars of brass, . . . with the golden tables and the candlesticks: and when he had carried these off, he set fire to the temple . . . he also burnt the palace, and overthrew the city. . . . the king commanded the heads of the high priest and of the rulers to be cut off . . . When the king was come to Babylon, he kept Zedekiah in prison until he died, and buried him magnificently, and dedicated the vessels he had pillaged out of the temple of Jerusalem to his own gods, and planted the people in the country of Babylon, . . ."

  1. Inspired Interpretation: Habakkuk 1:5 is quoted in Acts 13:41. In Acts the quote is used as a warning to 1st century Jews that they may be inflicted with a punishment similar to that in Habakkuk because of their unbelief. Thus Habakkuk 1:5, which is a prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem by Babylon in 586 BC, becomes a prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem by Rome in AD 70.

  1. Habakkuk's Evaluation of God's Response (1:12-17): The Instrument of Judgment Violates God's Character.

  1. The judgment will be limited in intensity (1:12c).

  2. The identity of the instrument of judgment, the Chaldeans, is accepted (1:12d-e).

  3. The evil quality of the instrument violates God's character (1:13a-d).

Click here for a discussion of how evil interfaces with God. God can use evil without sinning. There is certainly truth in the doctrine concerning the Goodness of God. However, God did not provide a detailed elaboration of the doctrine to Habakkuk.

  1. The instrument of judgment is more evil than erring Judah (1:13e-f).

  2. The evil nature of the Chaldeans (14-16).

  1. Nothing can be done to stop the Chaldeans (1:17).

  1. God's Defense in Response to Habakkuk's Evaluation (2:1-20): "The Righteous will Live by Faith (4c)."

  1. Answer to D-3: The believer's life must be lived by faith (2:4c, 20).

  1. Habakkuk 2:4c:

Habakkuk is given a principle to live by when he faces Divinely ordained situations that tax the limits of his understanding.

Man cannot expect to fully understand God.

"When one thinks about it, it is really absurd for a being as ignorant as man to expect fully to understand the whole complex web of purposes which go to make up his God-given experiences . . . Who is man to pretend to understand the infinite wisdom and complexity of the divine purposes? It is man's desire to be as God which has been his undoing (John W. Wenham, The Goodness of God, pages 84-86)."

See also Job 42:1-6; Psalm 92:5; 139:17-18; Isaiah 55:8-9; Daniel 4:35; and Romans 9:14-24, 11:33-36a.

"(33) Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! (34) For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became His counselor? (35) Or who has first given to Him that it might be paid back to him again? (36) For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things . . . (Romans 11:33-36a)."

Verse 2:4c is repeated three times in the New Testament as inspired applications of the words in Habakkuk. In each case the reader would be puzzled at the unanticipated changes of events. God tells them just to take the changes by faith:

  1. Applications concerning justification.
  • Romans 1:17:

Salvation and righteousness come from God through faith.

  • Galatians 3:11:

Justification does not come by keeping the law. Justification comes through faith.

  1. Application concerning sanctification.
  • Hebrews 10:37-38:

The unsaved Old Covenant community was persecuting the Jerusalem Christians. The Old Covenant community was hoping that the suffering would influence the Christians to rejoin them. Paul promises that God will destroy the Old Covenant community and exhorts the Christians to have faith in that threat and keep separate from the old community.

  1. Habakkuk 2:20:

". . . the Lord is in His holy temple, let all the earth be silent before him:

This is a picture of the controlling Force of the universe, the seat of all knowledge, complete and utter righteousness. What can we say against Him? How can we complain? We cannot!

  1. Answer to D-4: God will use an evil instrument in His righteous judgment against an evil, not "erring," Judah (2:4-20). Notice that the conditions listed in this section (the five woes) are applicable to both Judah (see B, above) and to the Chaldean Empire.

The Five Woes

Woes

Judah

Babylon

#1--Pride

Jeremiah 13:9

Habakkuk 2:4-8

#2--Covetousness

Jeremiah 8:1, 10

Habakkuk 2:9-11

#3--Violence

Habakkuk 1:2c, 3c

Habakkuk 2:12-14

#4--Immorality

Jeremiah 3:8

Habakkuk 2:15-17

#5--Idolatry

Ezekiel 8:3, 10

Habakkuk 2:18-20

  1. Answer to D-5: God will judge all, both Judah and the Chaldean, evil doers (2:4-20).

  1. Habakkuk's Prayer (3:1-2): Habakkuk Expresses His Awe of God and Makes a Request that He Show His Mercy by Restoring Judah.

  1. God Responds with a Vision of Himself (3:3-15): Habakkuk's Appreciation of God is Increased by a Vision of God's Majestic Power and Mighty Works Directed into Mercy.

  1. The Majestic God comes in the Second Advent (3:3-7).

  2. The Powerful God then Delivers ("Saves") Judah from the Nations Who have Continued to Subject Them (3:8-15).

Judah never completely returns from the Chaldean exile until the Second Advent.

  1. Habakkuk's Testimony (3:16-19): Habakkuk Experiences Joy in the Face of Judgment.

Habakkuk fearfully anticipates complete destruction of Judah's agriculture. But he joyfully proclaims complete faith in God.

Romans 8:28: ". . . all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose."

*The graphic is of the Assyrian army but their method of doing battle was similiar to the Chaldeans.

HOME © 2002, Ken Bowles -- February 21, 2003, Edition

*The picture is actually Assyrian, not Babylonian. It is from the Gates of Shalmaneser III (ca. 810-782) and shows a battering ram.

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