Get Ready
This brief book is unusual for an Old Testament prophecy for two reasons: first, it is presented as a dialogue between the prophet and God; second, the prophet is complaining that God is not dealing with the people’s sin – the prophet is calling on God to judge and punish the Israelites.
Author
All we know is the prophet’s name. He provides no details about his life or ministry and there are no references to him in any other Old Testament book.
But there is a significant reference in the New Testament. Paul’s understanding of the Gospel, set out in his letters to the Roman and Galatian churches, that “the righteous will live by faith,” [Romans 1:17, also Gal 3:11], is a direct quote from Habakkuk [2:4]. The writer of Hebrews also quotes this verse [Heb 10:38]. And Paul uses another image from the prophet in his sermon in Antioch of Pisidia: “Look, you scoffers! Be amazed and perish, for in your days I am doing a work, a work that you will never believe, even if someone tells you,” [Acts 13:41, from Hab 1:5].
Context
Most scholars put Habakkuk in the time just before the end of the southern kingdom and destruction of Jerusalem (587 BCE). This makes him a contemporary of three other prophets: Jeremiah, Nahum and Zephaniah.
As the Assyrian Empire declined and the Babylonians (also Chaldeans) took their place, Judah experienced a period of relative security. But the Jewish leaders used this time to enrich their own situation at the expense of the poor. This is the “wrongdoing” that Habakkuk decried in his complaint to God [1:3-4]. In response God tells the prophet he is “rousing the Chaldeans, that fierce and impetuous nation,” to punish Judah for its sins [1:6]. The Babylonians destroyed the nation and took the Jews into captivity in 587 BCE.
Structure
Unlike the other prophets, Habakkuk gives us a dialogue between himself and God. There are three major parts:
- Chapter 1 opens with Habakkuk’s complaint about the injustice and wickedness he sees in the nation of Judah. God then tells the prophet he will punish the kingdom with the Babylonian army, which leads Habakkuk to question God’s plan to use a more evil power to punish the evil in Judah.
- In Chapter 2 God replies to both aspects of the prophet’s complaint and tells him to “write the vision, make it plain on tablets,” [2:2]. God says that the Babylonians are not his instrument of judgment because they are righteous – in fact they will fall just as surely as Judah, and “the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord,” [2:14].
- Habakkuk responds to this promise in Chapter 3 with a prayer of praise for God.
Major Themes
At first glance Habakkuk is similar to many other Old Testament prophecies: the people have sinned, God will judge – and punish – the sin.
Indeed, the leaders of Judah did not follow God’s commandments. Habakkuk saw violence, trouble, destruction, strife and contention. “The law becomes slack and justice never prevails. The wicked surround the righteous – therefore judgment comes forth perverted,” [1:3-4]. He wanted to know why God appears to tolerate this sin, or worse, why he seems to ignore it and ignore Habakkuk’s cries for him to act: “How long shall I cry for help, and you will not listen?” [1:2].
So God told the prophet he would punish Judah, using the Babylonian army.
But this raised an even greater question: How can a holy God decide to use such an evil people to judge and punish the Israelites? Does this mean God is actually condoning the Babylonian actions? God replies to the prophet’s question by assuring him that sin – regardless of who commits it – will be punished, but not necessarily as a person expects: “There is a vision for the appointed time; it speaks of the end, and does not lie. If it seems to tarry, wait for it; it will surely come and not delay,” [2:3]. God concludes his response by reminding Habakkuk, “The Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silent before him!” [2:20].
Habakkuk responds to God’s assurance with a prayer of praise for God’s glory and power: “His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise,” [3:3]. He ends his prophecy with a declaration of faith: “I will rejoice in the Lord; I will exult in the God of my salvation. God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, and makes me tread upon the heights,” [3:18-19].
Get into the Word
1. Who wrote this book? What do we know about this author? Where else do his writings appear? Why do you suppose he is quoted as he is? Why is this writer important to us today?
2. When did the prophet do his work? Where did he prophesy? Who else was conveying God’s word at this time? What was the political and military situation at the time? Who were the major powers? What effect did this have on the Israelite kingdom?
3. What makes this book unique among the prophets? How do you think his readers responded to this literary approach? Does it make the message easier to understand or more difficult?
4. How is this book organized? What are the primary sections? What subject does each section deal with? What is the common thread through each section?
5. What is the primary message of this book? What kind of sin does this prophecy deal with? How does the prophet describe his situation? What is the major concern the writer has about the situation? What does God seem to be doing about it? Why is this a problem for the prophet?
6. How did God respond to the prophet’s complaint? How was he going to judge the sin of Judah’s leaders? Who was going to be involved? Why did this lead to even more concern about God’s apparent response to sin? How does God answer the prophet on this question? Does this satisfy Habakkuk’s concerns?
7. How does the prophet react to God’s answer about Babylon? Why do you think he responded as he did? How do you think you would respond if you had been the one challenging God?
Bible Trivia
Some Biblical scholars think that Habakkuk probably was a priest or a temple singer or musician, because the prayer in chapter 3 is, “according to Shigionoth,” [3:1], and it is addressed “To the leader: with stringed instruments,” [3:19.
46: The prophet’s complaint & God’s reply – Habakkuk 1:1- 2:5
Get Ready
How good are you at waiting? Are you the type of person who can relax and let things develop at their own pace, or are you the type who expects things to happen right away? Is it harder to wait for something good to happen or for something bad to stop happening?
The Word
1The oracle that the prophet Habakkuk saw.
2 O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not listen?
Or cry to you “Violence!” and you will not save?
3 Why do you make me see wrongdoing and look at trouble?
Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise.
4 So the law becomes slack and justice never prevails.
The wicked surround the righteous —
therefore judgment comes forth perverted.
5 Look at the nations, and see! Be astonished!
Be astounded!
For a work is being done in your days
that you would not believe if you were told.
6 For I am rousing the Chaldeans, that fierce and impetuous nation,
who march through the breadth of the earth
to seize dwellings not their own.
7 Dread and fearsome are they;
their justice and dignity proceed from themselves.
8 Their horses are swifter than leopards,
more menacing than wolves at dusk; their horses charge.
Their horsemen come from far away;
they fly like an eagle swift to devour.
9 They all come for violence, with faces pressing forward;
they gather captives like sand.
10 At kings they scoff, and of rulers they make sport.
They laugh at every fortress, and heap up earth to take it.
11 Then they sweep by like the wind;
they transgress and become guilty; their own might is their god!
12 Are you not from of old, O Lord my God, my Holy One?
You shall not die.
O Lord, you have marked them for judgment;
and you, O Rock, have established them for punishment.
13 Your eyes are too pure to behold evil,
and you cannot look on wrongdoing;
why do you look on the treacherous,
and are silent when the wicked swallow
those more righteous than they?
14 You have made people like the fish of the sea,
like crawling things that have no ruler.
15 The enemy brings all of them up with a hook;
he drags them out with his net,
he gathers them in his seine; so he rejoices and exults.
16 Therefore he sacrifices to his net and makes offerings to his seine;
for by them his portion is lavish, and his food is rich.
17 Is he then to keep on emptying his net,
and destroying nations without mercy?
2God’s Reply to the Prophet’s Complaint
I will stand at my watchpost,
and station myself on the rampart;
I will keep watch to see what he will say to me,
and what he will answer concerning my complaint.
2 Then the Lord answered me and said: Write the vision;
make it plain on tablets, so that a runner may read it.
3 For there is still a vision for the appointed time;
it speaks of the end, and does not lie.
If it seems to tarry, wait for it; it will surely come, it will not delay.
4 Look at the proud!
Their spirit is not right in them, but the righteous live by their faith.
5 Moreover, wealth is treacherous; the arrogant do not endure.
They open their throats wide as Sheol;
like Death they never have enough.
They gather all nations for themselves,
and collect all peoples as their own. NRSV
Get into the Word
1. How does the prophet begin this book? Who is he talking to? What is he talking about? How does he describe his situation? Why does he think this is such a problem?
2. How does God respond to the writer’s complaint? What is God going to do about the wrongdoing the prophet had described? How does God describe the nation he intends to use to judge the Israelites?
3. How does the prophet respond to God’s plan? Why is this plan such a shock to the author [see Notes]? How does he describe what he thinks will happen? What images does he use when he questions God?
4. What does the prophet do after he asks his questions? How do you think his readers felt about such an action? How would you feel if you had been there?
5. How does God respond to the question? What does he tell the prophet to do first? What does he tell the prophet to do with the answer? How do you think the prophet felt about this direction? What ultimately happened to the Babylonian Empire?
Get Personal
Have you experienced God’s promise but then had to wait for it to be realized? How has God helped you to understand the role of faith in your walk with Jesus?
Notes . . .
1:1. Oracle — the Hebrew word also means “burden.”
1:2. How long — the prophet implies that God is ignoring the corruption and injustice in Judah, and ignoring his complaint about the situation. Compare Habakkuk’s description of Judah’s sin with Amos’ picture of wrongdoing in the northern kingdom a century earlier [Amos 2:6-8].
King David also used this phrase to preface some of his prayers for deliverance from his enemies: How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I bear pain in my soul, and have sorrow in my heart all day long? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me? [Psalm 13:1-2, also check Psalm 22].
1:3. Why do you make . . . — Habakkuk challenges God to do something about the sin, (compare this with Job’s complaint [19:7]).
1:6. Rousing the Chaldeans — God’s
answer is a shocker! He is going to use the Babylonians (Chaldeans) for his judgment of Judah – Ezekiel called them “the most terrible of nations,” [28:7]. Ironically, Abraham left “Ur of the Chaldeans,” [Gen 11:31], in response to God’s call.
1:13. Those more righteous — Habakkuk cannot understand why God would use a more heinous nation to judge the less evil actions of Judah.
2:1. I will stand — in an aside, the prophet says he will wait for God’s response to his question.
2:2. Vision . . . appointed time . . . wait for it — God’s tells Habakkuk the answer is in the future and he – like us today – must wait in faith, because “it will surely come.”
2:5. Wealth is treacherous — the Babylonians’ military success lulled them into complacency (which allowed the Persian army to take Babylon without a fight).
Memory Verse
The righteous live by their faith, [Habakkuk 2:4].
Memory Verse 2
The Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silent before him! [Habakkuk 2:20].
Next Lesson
Zephaniah 1: The Great Day of the Lord.
