THE BOOK OF HABAKKUK
Introduction to the Book
1. The date of writing
2. Who was Habakkuk?
The superscription - Hab 1:1
Habakkuk’s opening observation - Hab 1:2-4
1. Crying to God
2. The problem that the prophet sees
3. Consequences
God’s first response - Hab 1:5-11
1. Faith in what can’t happen
2. Parallels with Jeremiah
a. The state of the nation
b. The nation that comes as a judgment
c. How the Chaldeans are portrayed
3. Some specifics from Habakkuk
Habakkuk’s reply - Hab 1:12-2:1
1. From everlasting
2. God’s relationship to sin
3. Something fishy’s going on
4. Expecting a reply
God’s second response - Hab 2:2-19
1. God’s command
a. In written form
b. On tablets
c. Plain
d. So he may run
e. The time of fulfilment
2. Living by faith
3. The five woes
a. The first woe
b. The second woe
c. The third woe
d. The fourth woe
e. The fifth woe
Habakkuk’s last word - Hab 2:20
Introduction to chapter 3
Musical directions - Hab 3:1,19b
1. Shiggaion
2. Selah
3. To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments
The key to revival - Hab 3:2
1. The text
2. Revival
God’s coming - Hab 3:3-15
1. Teman and Mount Paran
2. God’s approach
3. God’s figurative battle
4. God’s literal battle
Habakkuk’s response - Hab 3:16
Habakkuk’s confession of faith - Hab 3:17-19
References and Sources
The Book of Habakkuk frightens me - and I mean that.
It’s not that the prophet’s message is good cause for us to realise that God dealt with His people on this basis many hundreds of years ago and so stand in awe of Him and His ways (if indeed it was the prophet’s message to the nation that’s here being recorded - most of it appears to have been recorded more as a specific recollection of the way YHWH had dealt with him rather than as a record of a message which was made known publicly in this format. Even though God does tell him to make the vision known publicly, this doesn’t necessarily mean that the entire Book was what was intended) but that we seldom, if ever, think about the application of these words to the present day Church and how God might once more find occasion against His people and have a need to judge them for their sin before Him through the outpouring of a judgment instigated by a people who are less intrinsically righteous than they are. As Habbaker observes in his own introduction to the Book, there were
‘...theological and moral problems for the prophet since the “cure” of a Babylonian invasion is worse than the “illness” of Judaean sin’
Primarily, we must apply the words to the generation of believers to whom the message came and see why God had something to do in that community which caused His prophet Habakkuk to object in strong terms - but, from there, we must also turn our attention to the present day and reject any application which we might like to place upon it as referring to the society in which we live, for this is to run away from the clear application which needs placing squarely upon the shoulders of the Church.
That, indeed, was Habakkuk’s message - not to a society in which there were believers but to a nation who had covenanted through their fathers to follow after and to be obedient to the Law of Moses as delivered to them at Mount Sinai. As such, the nation of Judah stands as a parallel to the Church, a holy nation of believers called from within the nations of the world and out from amongst them to stand as a pure priesthood of followers who would declare the works and character of God by their lives (I Peter 2:9)
And it’s this application for today’s Church which frightens me for, although many have sought to expound this Book to their congregations and to emphasise various aspects of its message to their hearers, if we ever truthfully thought that we were a nation of believers who were living in times similar to that of the prophet, we would have to admit that the Church is ripe for judgment to be poured out upon it by a nation which, although not as righteous as they themselves are (relatively speaking), are God’s instruments of judgment who, ultimately, will also be judged after executing all that the mind and purpose of God has determined.
Although speaking of the days of Moses, Paul’s words in I Cor 10:11 are equally applicable here for he notes that the record of events in the life of God’s people in times past should be a warning to us in the present day and that they’ve been
‘...written down for our instruction, upon whom the end of the ages has come’
It’s not enough to consign Scripture to a time which lies outside the bounds of our own experience - rather, understanding the application to the people to whom it originally came, we must transpose it forwards into our own generation to perceive the message that God has for His people today.
If God’s message to His Church today is the same message as that received by the prophet Habakkuk all those years ago (and as many preachers and teachers have declared during the years in which I’ve been a follower of Jesus Christ) then we shouldn’t grab maxims from it’s pages which tell us that we should live by faith (Hab 2:4) or that we should apply all that God tells us (Hab 2:2) - even though both of these are true.
But, rather, we should realise that to be in a ‘Habakkuk situation’ is to expect a pouring out of judgment upon us by a people who are less righteous than we are because of our failure to be faithful to the covenant which God has made with us through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
As the reader progresses through this short commentary - indeed, as any reader should understand as they read the contents of this short three chapter Book without the aid of any ‘outside’ help - they should be struck by the uncanny parallels which they can see around them in the life of the Church.
While I wouldn’t be so bold as to say that we find ourselves in a similar situation to that understood by the prophet through the revelation of the Word of God, we seem to be nearer that position than one where God is perfectly delighted with the lives we live and the way we react to what He demands from us as followers of His Son.
I would ask, then, that the following words are considered carefully rather than accepted wholly - let the reader settle it in his own mind whether the Church (and not the nation in which we live) stands in the same position as the nation of Judah and, if so, of the need for repentance from its way of living which, even though judgment seems certain and fixed, can still stay God’s hand to bestow forgiveness and mercy.
Introduction to the Book
The first thing which any commentator must do when approaching this Book is to learn not only how to spell the prophet’s name but where it is in the OT. It’s one of those books which seem to move about all over the place and might change it’s location whenever the preacher says ‘let’s turn to Habakkuk’ and you can’t find the contents leaf in the front of the Bible.
Many don’t bother finding it, in my experience - not if they want to save face amongst the other believers. It’s much more satisfying to turn somewhere near the Book that looks like it and then to smile broadly at those struggling around you than to trouble oneself with learning where it’s located.
This procedure works well until the speaker asks you to read a passage out from it to save his voice - after all, you were the first to find it so you might as well make a beginning while the others catch up. So, my advice to any of you reading this is remember where it is by the simple formula that it occurs two books before Haggai or, perhaps easier, five books from the end of the OT.
Find the beginning of the NT in Matthew and you’re certain of locating Habakkuk.
There are numerous considerations which commentators feel are necessary to be declared first before the text is dealt with. Items such as the date of composition, who the author was and the general overall message of the prophet are often brought together into a fairly brief introduction - brief because there’s very little which seems to be able to be said about them so that our conclusions are no more than wild suppositions for most of the areas about which we comment, with a few more likely and plausible theories that are rational and logical.
For the reader who wants to know these matters, any decent modern commentary will give the enquirer some thought-provoking ideas and much more detail than what I intend providing in this section. However, there are a few items that need dealing with and it’s to these which we must now turn our attention.
1. The date of writing
The title ‘date of writing’ is somewhat of an anomaly simply because we can’t be sure that the events were committed to parchment immediately upon the experience being received. However, Hab 2:2 must surely be an indication that the prophet was impressed with the importance of his entire experience (not just ‘God’s words’ because the prophetic announcements from YHWH seem to have come solely as a response to the concerns expressed by His servant) and that he committed them to ‘tablets’ at an early stage (tablets which could have been made from wood overlaid with clay if a more personal record was made which could be passed on personally to any he wished - and as distinct from ‘parchments’ which could have been made from either leather or papyrus. It’s more likely that the tablets were made from stone, wood or metal but the normal way for the personal retention of a message would have been soft clay which would have been hardened once the message had been inscribed into it. However, there’s a good case to be made for God having meant the tablets to have been large affairs that could have been set up at points where the people could easily read them as they passed by - for example, either on their way to the Temple on in its courts - and a more public demonstration of the message of God would have been expected to have been written on, perhaps, wood which would have made their production both cheap and easily transportable. The ‘vision’ which God refers to is probably only Hab 1:5-11 and not the entire first two chapters - see my comments on that part of the text).
Nowhere do we read of the prophet being told to declare the words which he was being told and as them needing to be brought to the hearing of His people. For this reason, the Book of Habakkuk isn’t to be regarded as a typical message given by God through one of His servants to any who would listen - rather, his own experience is commanded to be recorded and it seems necessary to accept that it would have been done so at a very early time after it had drawn to a close (which would be at the end of chapter 2 - the following chapter 3 seems to be more of an appendix to the oracle than part and parcel of it).
Therefore the date of composition should be fairly certainly fixed as within a few days of the conclusion of Habakkuk’s experience - an experience which could have lasted several days, weeks or even months for he notes that he was to take his stand to watch for a reply from YHWH (Hab 2:1) something which seems to be paralleled with waiting before Him in prayer until His voice is clearly discerned. It’s even possible that what we read in five minutes took the prophet his entire lifetime to complete - but we should expect that the contents of the book were committed to writing before his death along with the tablets which were for public display.
Although we’ve said much above concerning when it was written, we’ve actually said virtually nothing for we’ve still not placed the prophet into his time and culture and have, therefore, not given a decent enough context to the words which we’re about to consider.
There are details in the text of the Book itself which point towards certain higher and lower limits without it being possible to be any more specific.
The latest date for the Book’s completion has to be 586BC (though many newer commentaries and resource books now place the date as 587BC) when the final destruction of the city of Jerusalem took place under the hand of the forces of Babylonia (II Chr 36:11-21). But even 586BC is too late a date because of YHWH’s recorded words in Hab 2:3 (my italics) that
‘...still the vision awaits its time; it hastens to the end - it will not lie. If it seem slow, wait for it; it will surely come, it will not delay’
Clearly there was a warning here that what was being prophesied might seem slow in its coming and that it could easily have been ignored as not having happened within a short time period from when it was first committed to the tablets (the contents of the tablets being at least Hab 1:5-11). Therefore the reader will place his or her own interpretation of what they think a reasonable time must be meant as being the earliest date before 586BC when such a warning could be seen to be relevant.
Personally, I would have thought that a date of 591BC - five years before the destruction of the city - would be the least which could be expected but that, if I’m honest, a time period of much greater than five years is likely.
But what’s the earliest date that one could reasonably assess the Book to have been written? Habbaker turns to Hab 1:6 and assesses it as saying that
‘...an invasion of the Babylonians...is in the offing’
and goes on to suggest that a suitable period for the writing would be in the reign of Jehoiakim (609-598BC)
‘...for it was during his reign that the Babylonian presence was increasingly felt’
However, the logic isn’t too sound for YHWH is recorded only as stating that He was rousing the nation against Judah and not that they were, even now, sharpening their swords and eyeing the land with desire. His words could just as much be a declaration of purpose prior to the nation gaining pre-eminence in their area than it is a description of their existence as a world power and the imminence of their advance.
It would, though, place the oracle as being committed to writing at least 12 years before its fulfilment which is a reasonable time period.
It should also be noted that Habakkuk’s ‘Chaldeans’ is taken to mean the same as ‘Babylonians’ by Habbaker and others for they’re often linked in the OT as being one and the same people - it may be significant that the Babylonians are never mentioned throughout the Book, though, which would point towards a time of composition prior to their rise to pre-eminence when they were called such. Habsmith notes that
‘During the reigns of Nabopolassar and his son Nebuchadnezzar, the Chaldeans were called Babylonians...’
and the OT also affirms this by never translating the people of Chaldea as ‘Babylonians’ until after the first exile and then only four times (Ezekiel 23:15,17,23, Ezra 4:9). However, this is less than conclusive because ‘Chaldeans’ appears to be the way that the OT writers preferred to refer to those from the region of Babylon (in the RSV it occurs 81 times) even after they were more commonly referred to as ‘Babylonians’. It could only be used as a proof for a later date if God had referred to them as ‘Babylonians’ - ‘Chaldeans’ is inconclusive of a specific time period.
Habsmith interprets Hab 1:6 in a slightly different way than Habbaker but, although one would expect him to arrive at a different date, he mirrors the same general time period.
He understands God’s words to mean that YHWH was talking about the ‘rise of the Chaldeans’ rather than simply to the preparations being made by the already established nation, noting that, if this was correct, the time about which it was speaking would be
‘...between the fall of Nineveh (612BC) [when the Assyrian domination was effectively broken] and the battle of Carchemish (605BC) [in which Babylon defeated the other world power of Egypt]’
He goes on to observe that Hab 2:5-17 (especially Hab 2:8)
‘...reflects a time after the Babylonians had ruthlessly and violently overrun many small nations’
but, once again, this needn’t be the case for the prophetic word which runs from Hab 2:6 to the end of the chapter are ‘woes’ pronounced against the Babylonians (this is the traditional view but it’s far from certain) for a future date and can, therefore, be taken to be a reflection upon what they’ve done in the past as viewed from that time in the future. It’s only if we assume that Habakkuk can only record God as speaking of what the prophet already knew about rather than as speaking of something which God knew would happen that we have to interpret the words this way (it may also be that Hab 2:6ff isn’t meant to be taken as direct speech from God but simply inspired by Him).
Indeed, it’s God alone who describes the nation in ‘unrighteous’ terms and Habakkuk is left to observe only that it seems incorrect to judge the righteous nation by another who have been declared to him as being wicked and ‘less acceptable’ to Him.
Therefore, we needn’t place the writing of this Book within the constraints of any knowledge on the prophet’s part of the nature and character of the Babylonian kingdom who, at the time of writing, may not even have risen to be perceivable as a world power or even have threatened to be such.
While the logic of commentators is initially appealing, it can actually undermine an acceptance that God can speak to His servants about a time which has no obvious pointers in their own day (but, if I understand the position of the two commentators cited above, they wouldn’t deny that such a thing could take place - it just appears that, looking for evidence with which to date the Book, they’ve stepped beyond the bounds of what can be accepted).
Very often in today’s Church we hear of prophetic words which men and women can perceive as being rooted in the situations which they see all around them - but a prophet from God doesn’t rely on what they can naturally see and assess as being the logical outcome of forces presently at work.
Rather, they look solely to God and make pronouncements which aren’t obvious to the people of their own generation, their words being proven as being from YHWH Himself because they come to pass. Indeed, it would have been because Habakkuk’s words were unlikely to come about that, when they began to become ever more likely, his words could be accepted as being not from his own imagination but from the mind of God.
Therefore Zondervan’s observations concerning some scholars’ assessment of Hab 1:6 (yes, another interpretation of the verse!) is that it must be interpreted by recourse to Hab 1:5 (my italics) where God calls the prophet to
‘Look among the nations, and see; wonder and be astounded. For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told’
and concludes that it was
‘...wholly unexpected as to seem unbelievable to the people in their day’
If we accept Habbaker’s statement that the Babylonian Empire began to gain power from 625BC under Nabopolassar and that such movements towards power would have been reported in the land of Israel at some time in the near future afterwards, the date for the composition of the Book must be assigned no later than the middle of the reign of righteous king Josiah and, perhaps rightly, even expected to be towards the beginning of his reign (in truth, some may feel it necessary to assign it to the latter end of the reign of Manasseh because of the wickedness that was well-known amongst the nation. However, Hab 1:2-4 isn’t as damning as one would have expected had this been the case and there’s no message against the rulers as being bad influences on the nation).
This might not be acceptable to many readers simply because Josiah was a righteous king who reigned for YHWH in a way that very few of the other kings of Judah ever did (II Chr 34:2). But, even in his reign, prophets were raised up to speak to the nation concerning their wickedness before YHWH (notably Jeremiah - I will deal with this below) and the king himself perceived that God’s hand was set to overthrow the nation (II Chr 34:14-33), the prophetess Huldah declaring (II Chr 34:25 - my italics) that
‘Because they have forsaken Me and have burned incense to other gods, that they might provoke Me to anger with all the works of their hands, therefore My wrath will be poured out upon this place and will not be quenched’
Even in the time of king Josiah, therefore, judgment from God was already determined against the nation of Judah though, because of the commitment of Josiah towards YHWH, it would be delayed until after he’d died (II Chr 34:26-28).
The prophet Jeremiah raised a lamentation for Josiah upon his death (II Chr 35:25) which we might correctly interpret as being sadness for the loss of a king who’d done so much to draw back the children of Israel to the pure service and devotion of YHWH - but Jeremiah wasn’t silent during the king’s days (Jer 1:1-2) and, in case we’d like to think that all he had to say were positive declarations that YHWH would now bless the land, the record of his pronouncements in Jer 3:6-11 should be considered carefully.
In that day, YHWH asked the prophet to consider how the northern kingdom had fared by rebelling against Him (Jer 3:6-7), noting that the southern kingdom, Judah, had witnessed it and seen that He’d had to judge her for her faithlessness (Jer 3:7-8). Yet, even though the nation should have learnt by what befell them, they continued to run after false gods and to desert the One who’d they’d covenanted to serve (Jer 3:8-9).
Perhaps even more frightening is Jeremiah’s record of God’s words in Jer 3:10 for, under Josiah, the nation appears to have returned to a correct service of YHWH but, as He points out, they returned not with their whole heart
‘...but in pretence...’
YHWH concluding by pronouncing that
‘Faithless Israel has shown herself less guilty than false Judah’
God was also able to command His servant (Jer 36:2 - my italics) to
‘Take a scroll and write on it all the words that I have spoken to you against Israel and Judah and all the nations, from the day I spoke to you, from the days of Josiah until today’
so that it’s without question that, although Josiah had tried to bring back the nation to YHWH, there was still a hardness in the general life of the nation which rejected such a move and was more encouraged to dedicate itself to false gods. While devotion to the God of their fathers was ‘alright for Josiah’, it wasn’t for them and there must have been many who paid only lip service to what the king decreed.
Therefore Habakkuk’s observations concerning the depravity of the nation of Judah (Hab 1:2-4) is entirely in keeping with what we know to have been taking place, even though a bad king meant that the prophets were used by God to denounce the entire nation and that it’s these words which give us the impression that the people of Josiah’s time were generally decent enough citizens.
King Josiah may have been the brake upon a quick moral slide over the precipice but he never realised his desire to be the spiritual restorer of his people - this was through no fault of his own but through the hardness of the nation’s heart. And, as we noted above, the fact that the immorality of the nation is expressed in more reserved terms than other prophets who lived in the reigns of unrighteous kings (Hab 1:2-4), it would be an indication that there was at least some ‘salt’ which was restricting the outworking of all the desires of men’s hearts.
In conclusion, then, it seems more likely that a date of composition of 640-625BC should be attributed to the work when sin could still be seen at work in the nation but before God’s words (that those reading the declaration would be amazed that the Chaldeans were to be raised up by Him) would be nullified by the known events of the contemporary world.
2. Who was Habakkuk?
The easiest answer to the question posed by the header above is that your guess is as good as anybody else’s! There’s simply not enough reliable information concerning the man for us to justify more than a tentative guess - indeed, most of our guesses are so misleading simply because they’re based upon suppositions which are unprovable.
First and foremost, though, we know that Habakkuk was regarded as a prophet (Hab 1:1, 3:1) even though this superscription is more likely to have been written by a later copyist as an explanation of who the person was. There’s no reason to doubt it, however, even though his method of pronouncement to the nation wasn’t by the mouth but through the pen (Hab 2:2).
If he was, indeed, a prophet who declared God’s word to the nation, it seems surprising that only one pronouncement and one prayer have been recorded for us - but the reason could be simply that this message (Habakkuk chapters 1-2) was the only one which he was instructed to record so that it’s the only one which survives.
Having noted that Habakkuk was a prophet, we can say almost nothing more about him - he appears on the scene of Jewish history with neither father nor mother, nor even the location in the land where he lived (though we normally assume that, as his message was to the land of Judah, he must have been a resident there - his name may indicate otherwise).
We don’t know his occupation (though many have speculated that he was one of the Levites or priests in the Temple in Jerusalem because the final chapter of the Book was put to music - this means no more than we might say a poet was a rock musician because one of their writings was taken by a band and developed into a song! There is another note in one of the manuscripts of the apocryphal Bel and the Dragon - mentioned below - that he was a son of Joshua who was, himself, a Levite), how long he lived or, as we discussed in the previous section, we can’t be sure about when he lived and in what reign he prophesied.
Habsmith gives a fairly wide range of the opinions of commentators down through the ages, each of which seem to be able to be disregarded with a fair amount of certainty. Habakkuk’s name, also, is fairly unusual in that it doesn’t appear to be Hebraic (though Zondervan is certain that it is) and is more likely to be Akkadian (according to Habbaker), a word used
‘...for some plant or fruit tree’
even though Habsmith notes that some of the ancient rabbis associated his name with the Hebrew for ‘embrace’ - it could even have been an assumed name which lent the message further significance or importance and which, because we don’t live in the same culture, is lost on us.
Habbaker goes on to state that Akkadian speakers were
‘...intimately involved in the life of Israel at this period’
but his reference to his notes further on in the Book don’t exist! If this could be conclusively shown, it might even be possible to tentatively suggest that Habakkuk was an Akkadian by birth and that, having thrown in his lot with the people of God, was now being used by Him to speak to the nation. However, Habsmith is probably correct when he concludes only that it would
‘...indicate a high degree of foreign influence on Israel [sic ‘Judah’] at that time’
something which appears to have been true throughout the period which began with king Solomon and his ‘import’ of many foreign wives with their servants and cultures. In a recent Biblical Archaeology Review article (‘Biblical Detective work identifies the Eunuch’ in the March/April 2002 edition), it’s also pointed out that the word translated by the RSV as ‘chamberlain’ is
‘...a loan word...from Akkadian...’
which further demonstrates that during the reign of Josiah, Akkadian terms had begun to become a part of the Hebrew language, showing that to be called by an Akkadian name as Habakkuk was wouldn’t have been thought to have been out of place.
The area of Akkadia is, perhaps, even the more significant because it was the region where Chaldea and the Babylonians were located. The man ‘from Babylon’, therefore, is the one being used by God to warn His chosen people that they would be engulfed by them through their own sin. It’s fairly obvious, however, that Habakkuk isn’t glorying in the destruction that would be poured out upon Judah but is genuinely horrified by the thought and is, consequently, one who considers himself as being part of the children of God.
Peculiarly, Habakkuk appears again in the apocryphal Bel and the Dragon (Bel 1:33-39) at the time when Daniel is in the Lions’ Den. The writer observes that
‘...there was in Jewry a prophet, called Habbacuc [Habakkuk], who had made pottage and had broken bread in a bowl and was going into the field for to bring it to the reapers. But the angel of the Lord said unto Habbacuc “Go, carry the dinner that thou hast into Babylon unto Daniel, who is in the lions’ den”’
The prophet then objects that he’s never seen Babylon and neither did he know where the den was situated, so the angel miraculously transports him to the place whereupon the pottage is given to Daniel to sustain him through the night. Habakkuk is then immediately transported back to the land of Judah.
Although one might accept the story as being genuine, it plainly contradicts Scripture in Bel 1:31 for it states there that Daniel was in the lions’ den for six days when the Book of Daniel makes it obvious that his imprisonment only lasted one night (Dan 6:16-19).
The dates also don’t seem to add up for Daniel would have been taken captive to Babylonia c.605BC (Dan 1:1-7) and have been thrown into the lions’ den after the fall of Jerusalem (Dan 6:1) but Habakkuk seems to have had to have been alive after the fall of the city for a great many years. The date that we assigned to the composition of the Book of Habakkuk above also seems to deny this possibility but we should also note that it’s entirely possible that God chose Habakkuk and brought him forward in time to Babylonia and then, once his task had been completed, returned him to his own day and age (though there appears not to be any Scriptural precedent for an event such as this ever having taken place).
I am more inclined to believe, however, that the record contained in Bel and the Dragon is inaccurate and misleading.
Although we’ve been able to say very little with any certainty about Habakkuk apart from the fact that he was a prophet, his character revealed to us in the Book must mark him out to us as a breed apart - even amongst the faithful believers within the nation of Judah.
For Habakkuk was courageous enough to be honest about the state of the people of God (Hab 1:2-4 - something that Church leaders today seem to be all too frightened to do) and bold enough to call God to give an account of Himself as to why He was letting it happen - while he was continually petitioning Him to do something about it.
The reply he received wasn’t what he’d expected, however (Hab 1:5-11). But, instead of rolling over and accepting it as God’s will, he once more takes his stand to call God to account for His actions (Hab 2:1) after a further recognition of the holiness of God and His sovereignty in determining what’s necessary for His people (Hab 1:12-17), receiving a reply which gives Habakkuk the hope that at least some might heed the warning and turn from their rebellion against God (Hab 2:2-4) while God goes on to reassure His servant that the nation who were to be used as an instrument of judgment would themselves be judged once God had fulfilled His purpose for His people (Hab 2:5-19 - this is the traditional view. There appears to be more to the passage than my simple statement here makes out including uncertainty as to who the speaker is meant to be understood to be).
Finally, the prophet is able to accept the words in conclusion (Hab 2:20), realising that the will of God won’t be changed but that reverence is a fitting response to the work which would be outworked soon. His silence shows the reader that, although Habakkuk might not like what he’s heard, he is nevertheless willing to accept what he’s learnt and wait for it to come about.
It would appear - if we’ve got the dating of the Book correct (see the previous section) - that Habakkuk would have seen the beginning of the rise to power of the Babylonian Kingdom before his death and would have been content that the words which he’d received were about to come to pass, even though at the time of their first recording there was little evidence which could be used to support the pronouncements that he’d recorded on the tablets.
The superscription
Hab 1:1
Some of these notes are adapted from the web page here
The superscription to these first two chapters announces (Hab 1:1) that what follows is
‘The oracle of God which Habakkuk the prophet saw’
a line which is more likely to have been added at a later date than the original composition and by way of an introduction so that the reader would note the change of the author in the continuing text after Nahum (the original compilation of the works of the prophets would likely have been rolled together into one even though, as we noted above, the command from God was to record this vision on tablets as a more permanent record and likely as a public witness to the nation of Judah - this public witness may only have intended to be Hab 1:5-11). It’s also possible that the prophet himself could have headed his work as such but the words feel more like a third party note than a personal one, along with the superscription at Hab 3:1.
It’s probably right to think that it was prefixed with this at a fairly early stage in the transmission of the text otherwise the identity of the author may well have disappeared from remembrance. The brevity of the description, however, is such that much of the information which had been known about the author may have been either forgotten or not deemed to have been important.
For example, compare the superscription in the immediately following Zeph 1:1 or the previous Micah 1:1 which give a fair amount of detail - and even Nahum 1:1, although brief, can identify the channel through whom the word of God came as being ‘of Elkosh’.
Of the other minor prophets, only Obadiah, Haggai and Malachi are ones about whom just as little is recorded as here in Habakkuk - whether by design or simply through lack of knowledge is impossible to say.
The title ‘prophet’ is a wholly unremarkable one, used over three hundred times in the OT (Strongs Hebrew number 5030, M1277a) but it’s uniqueness here lies in the fact that it’s only the books of Haggai and Zechariah which open in a similar way by announcing that the one responsible for what follows is from one known as a ‘prophet’.
That’s not to say that the other nine of the twelve ‘minor’ prophets (Hosea to Malachi) shouldn’t be counted as such but it would appear that, even amongst the OT children of God, there was an acknowledgement that a man might be a prophet while another might be used in prophesy. This somewhat peculiar statement finds justification through the pronouncement of Amos in his own record of how God used him (Amos 7:14-15) where he’s apprehended as being a seer (Amos 7:12) but objects by declaring that
‘I am no prophet, nor a prophet’s son; but I am a herdsman, and a dresser of sycamore trees - and YHWH took me from following the flock, and YHWH said to me “Go, prophesy to My people Israel”’
Clearly, if Amos had considered himself to have been a prophet, he would have said so - rather, he objects to the label being placed upon him, assessing himself as an agriculturist rather than as being called by God to the function of a prophet. Even so, he was still assured that God was willing to use him to deliver a message to the northern Kingdom.
Although we use the label ‘the minor prophets’ to denote the short books which run from Hosea to Malachi, there’s good reason to pull away from such a description when it appears obvious in at least one place that the author refused to accept the calling of ‘prophet’ that others were laying upon him.
This title of ‘prophet’ has caused many to think of Habakkuk as being, in the words of Habbaker
‘...a professional prophet, one who earned his living serving as a prophet at the Temple or court...’
but to be able to show conclusively that such a group of people or type of person existed in OT times is impossible and more reliant upon what we might like to think took place. For this reason, Habakkuk should only be thought of as a prophet in the sense that he was a channel though whom God was continuing to make His will known to both individuals and the nation but that he was more intrinsically or (super-)naturally that sort of person than, for example, Amos who was used to pass on a message once or twice in his lifetime.
So Amos prophesied as directed by God for a particular moment but Habakkuk was a prophet who moved consistently in the revealing of the will of God to His people.
Habakkuk is also recorded as having seen (Strongs Hebrew number 2372, M633) the burdens which are about to follow, a fairly remarkable statement because most of what’s recorded here seems more like a conversation between two people than a series of visions which are witnessed passively by the prophet. Habbaker notes that the NEB and JB versions translate the word as a noun instead of a verb as it appears here, insisting that Habakkuk received them ‘in a vision’.
This is an incorrect assessment if by ‘vision’ one thinks of something more akin to the series of pictures and events that John saw on the island of Patmos in the NT (contained in the Book of Revelation) and we should realise that the word employed here in the OT means something more akin to ‘perceived’ or ‘realised’ - that is, the superscription is informing the reader that what follows was perceived by the prophet as being what YHWH wanted to say to him as a person and, subsequently, to any of the nation who were willing to listen (Hab 2:2).
This Hebrew word is closely associated with the word translated ‘seer’ in Amos 7:12 (previously cited above) because one who perceives what God had to say into a situation was thought to be a see-er of matters which had remained hidden and would have continued to be so had not a revelation from God been given.
Finally, we should pay particular attention to the RSV’s translation ‘oracle’ (Strongs Hebrew number 4853, M1421e) which is used over 60 times in the OT and a number of times in the prophets to introduce a specific word from YHWH (translated 57 times as ‘burden’ in the AV) but its precise meaning needs to be determined as it adds a certain explanation as to what the prophet was experiencing when he received and delivered this ‘burden’.
TWOTOT distinguishes between two words, each transliterated ‘massa’, and, though it notes that the secular usage
‘...refers to the load or burden upon the backs of such animals as the ass (Ex 23:5), mule (II Kings 5:17) and camels (II Kings 8:9)’
it distinguishes the religious usage by assigning it an alternative translation of ‘oracle’ as in the RSV’s translation in Hab 1:1.
If there are two different meanings behind the one word, then the image conveyed of a ‘burden’ being placed upon the prophet who received it may be misleading but, according to Baldwin, de Boer’s study of the occurrences of the word, failed to show any real difference in its usage when used of pack animals under carrying loads and prophets under the inspiration of God.
Therefore, quoting de Boer, Baldwin notes the word as meaning a burden that was
‘...imposed by a master, a despot or a deity on their subjects, beasts, men or things’
and notes that the word
‘...lays stress on the prophet’s sense of constraint in giving the message that follows. He would not have chosen to give it but he finds he has no option...It has been placed on him and, like the loadbearer, he has to accept it and discharge his duty. Like an ambassador he is given his message, and however unacceptable it may be he cannot alter it; hence the burdensome aspect of his calling’
This word definition is underpinned by a couple of Scriptures in Jeremiah where the prophet notes (6:11) that
‘...I am full of the wrath of YHWH; I am weary of holding it in...’
and (20:9)
‘If I say, “I will not mention Him, or speak any more in His name,” there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot’
and, in Ezekiel 3:14, the prophet says
‘The Spirit lifted me up and took me away, and I went in bitterness in the heat of my spirit, the hand of YHWH being strong upon me’
speaking about an inner turmoil that he was experiencing when under the anointing and inspiration of the Holy Spirit. What Habakkuk was thus experiencing here wasn’t so much a Sunday stroll in some magnificent park but a message which he found no escape from and which compelled him to accept its full implication.
Therefore, the prophetic word here is a weight placed upon the prophet which he’s forced to carry and bring to the necessary recipients by committing it to writing (Hab 2:2) in much the same way as any beast of burden is loaded with a weight that must be borne to whichever destination that the master chooses.
It may be disturbing for us to think of these ‘words’ as being ‘weights’ or compulsions which are difficult to oppose but that seems to be the intention of the word of YHWH as it came through prophets such as Habakkuk (and, similarly, to Zechariah and Haggai after him) and as confirmed in the experience of both Jeremiah and Ezekiel.
It wasn’t that Habakkuk had sat down and dreamed the message up, neither that he’d consulted the former prophets, reworked their messages and come up with his own brand of ‘spirituality’, but that a coercion or pressure had come upon him that he was at pains to despatch to whomsoever he was directed.
Such, therefore, seems to be the meaning behind the word ‘massa’, the burden of God which Habakkuk the prophet perceived as being from YHWH Himself.
Habakkuk’s opening observation
Hab 1:2-4
Many - if not most - of the prophetic words recorded for us in the Bible come about because God chooses to make His will known through His servants to His people. But Habakkuk’s message is wholly different for it begins with an observation by YHWH’s servant that goes unresolved through prayer and which prompts God to respond to the objections with an explanation and a revelation of the purposes chosen to bring about a judgment upon what’s being witnessed.
While David might turn to God to complain about the treatment he seems to be receiving (Ps 13:1-2, 22:1-2), Habakkuk forgets about his own condition and complains about the way that Israelite society - and, therefore, the children of God - is functioning.
We must pay particular attention to the basis for the prophet’s complaint for some commentators have decided that the ‘wicked’ here being described must be either the inhabitants of the nations which had settled round about Judah or the Chaldeans who were about to be used by God in His judgment upon the nation.
But Habakkuk’s eyes are firmly on the men and women who profess a belief and commitment to God and who have distorted the way He intended them to live so that their society has degraded into a violent and aggressive place where, although there was law, it wasn’t able to be enforced. Having a good law system doesn’t mean that the people become righteous with time for law will only work where men and women are willing to respect the decisions of the law and do all that’s expected of them.
There can be the most righteous of laws in any society but, unless there’s a respect for them, they’re as useless as any other group’s. Lawlessness isn’t the abolition of rules and regulations necessarily but it is the overthrow of their importance by the people who should be mindful of them.
1. Crying to God
Hab 1:2
To return to Habakkuk’s first observations in Hab 1:2, it’s plain that he’s not witnessed the people’s actions and ignored them for he’s able to justly observe that he’d been crying for help to God and shouting out when he’s seen an oppression - the problem, rather, is that, as far as he’s aware, YHWH has sat idly by and done nothing to alleviate the trouble by pursuing the wicked and re-establishing the righteous into all that’s rightfully theirs.
Habakkuk’s also grieved that God allows him (Hab 1:3) to
‘...see wrongs and look upon trouble’
when it would appear that he’d much rather live a quiet life away from such strife. I must admit that that sort of life really appeals to me and, should I ever come by vast sums of money (I’m not holding my breath because it’s unlikely ever to happen) I’d seriously consider escaping from the city life to some remote island where I could ship supplies in fortnightly and ignore the insanity of the world as it seeks to infiltrate and influence my own life.
Such thoughts of escape are tempting - and a good enough reason why I’ll never have the sums of money needed to achieve such a goal! But Habakkuk prays not to be taken away from the society which he regards as his home but that he might not have to look upon the unrighteous conduct that seems to unfold before his eyes daily.
The prophet’s words might be taken simply as a plea for blindness to descend upon him that, when he has to walk amongst the people, the events of the nation might not impinge upon his consciousness - a bit like the desire to stick your head in the sand so that nothing can be seen which offends you. But the appeal seems rather to be that which is put into words in the preceding verse (Hab 2:2) that, if God would only act and judge the wicked, society might be cleaned up and restored into being what He had originally intended it to be.
But, in case we turn our minds to our own societies and cultures in which we live and think that we must be living in times which are similar to those of Habakkuk, we have to wake ourselves up to the facts of the case here. For the prophet is complaining to YHWH about the moral decline of the people of God who, paralleled in the NT, must be taken to be a picture of the Church.
A society needs to be judged by the things it does and approves of but the strength of any society can be reckoned to be the spiritual health of the believers who reside within it. And, if those people are fighting amongst themselves as they were at this time period in history, there’s little that can be done to restore the nation back into a relationship with God - if the light-bearers have become darkness-imparters and those who should be salt have lost their taste, there no longer remains a witness for God in the society so that judgment becomes inevitable.
One thing the reader mustn’t do is to run away from the state of the Church as they see it where they live but be honest to its condition. For a great many years, we’ve tried to be positive, hiding the real problems under the carpet and emphasising the good things that are continuing in our midst - but this wasn’t what Habakkuk did. He didn’t rejoice before God that the Temple was still functioning, that sacrifices were being offered upon the altar according to the Mosaic Law or that, here and there, he could see hope in situations that it might get better.
Rather, he took a good, long look at those around him and how they were dealing with one another and cried to God for Him to come down and move against the wicked, to remove the unrighteous from the nation and heal it. The answer he got was wholly unexpected and, perhaps, the answer that we might receive were we to be in a similar situation might be equally unpalatable - but it was only when the prophet got honest with God that he was taken to the next stage of being able to receive the radical solution that was proposed.
2. The problem that the prophet sees
Hab 1:3
But what were the problems that Habakkuk saw in the nation?
Surprisingly, there are sins which we would have expected as being observed by God’s servant which go unmentioned. For example, there’s no accusation of murder (Ex 20:13), adultery (Ex 20:14), theft (Ex 20:15) or covetousness (Ex 20:17) - he doesn’t note that the sabbath isn’t being observed (Ex 20:8-11), that familial respect has broken down (Ex 20:12) or that the nation has sold itself over to serve foreign gods (Ex 20:3-6).
Instead, the observations the prophet has are traits which are destroying the correct functioning of the legal and judicial system (Hab 1:4), something which we might find puzzling. No doubt that there were transgressions in all the areas spoken against in the ten commandments but, for Habakkuk, the real problem is the nature of men and women because it’s this which is nullifying the upholding of the civil law which is based upon the Mosaic and, therefore, meant to be a reflection of the character and nature of God. Habsmith’s statement that
‘There was a growing crime rate’
misses the point entirely even though it seems to be an attempt to put into present day words what we might think to have been the case. It wasn’t that the powers that were in existence were lamenting the growing civil unrest within society and attempting to exert themselves through the legal system but that such transgressions of the law were going largely unpunished and untried because the law was being slackened and perverted (Hab 1:4).
In other words, the law had become nothing more than the tool of those who wanted to make sure that they got their own will done over and above the will of those who were more righteous than they were.
These traits that Habakkuk saw, then, amongst the people of Israel were:
a. Violence
Hab 1:2 and 1:3
Strongs Hebrew number 2555, M678a
TWOTOT notes that the word in the OT
‘...is used almost always in connection with sinful violence. It does not refer to the violence of natural catastrophes or to violence as pictured in a police chase on modern television’
They also note that the word’s use in Gen 16:5 where the RSV translates it as ‘wrong’ must necessarily carry with it the sense of injustice done to an individual. The word in Habakkuk, therefore, means something slightly different from violence per se but aggression that transcends the bounds of the civil and spiritual law, denying the will and character of God by the events that it gets involved in.
It’s use twice in this passage shows the importance of the word in describing what the prophet sees all around him.
b. Wrongs
Hab 1:3
Strongs Hebrew number 205, M48a
This word can be used in a purely neutral way where no connotations of sin are involved. Such a place is in the naming of Benoni where Rachel calls her new-born ‘son of my trouble’ and, in Deut 26:14, the RSV translates the word with ‘mourning’ where grief experienced through the loss of a loved one is in mind.
However, TWOTOT goes on to note that the word lays emphasis on
‘...trouble which moves on to wickedness’
and that it expresses
‘...the planning and expression of deception and points to the painful aftermath of sin’.
We might do well to harmonise these two concepts and see Habakkuk complaining that he sees not only the plots that are being devised but the result of their final outworking throughout the land.
c. Trouble
Hab 1:3
Strongs Hebrew number 5999, M1639a
This is the word more often used for labour and toil but TWOTOT notes that, like the verb form, it
‘...relates to the unpleasant factors of work and toil’
commenting on the root that it
‘...relates to the dark side of labour’
However, having looked at several places where the word occurs, it appears to me that, unless the word is defined in its context as referring to work and labour, it can mean general upset or hardship, the type that befalls all men. It can be used, however, not in a neutral way of what’s inevitable (Job 5:7) but of what’s brought about at the instigation of mankind (Job 4:8, 15:35, Ps 7:14, 10:7) and it’s this which seems to be in Habakkuk’s mind through its usage.
Certainly, Prov 24:2 speaks of evil men devising violence (the Hebrew word for ‘destruction’ which follows) and using their mouths to talk of ‘trouble’ where there’s a purpose in the actions which are being conceived. What’s in view is a concerted effort by individuals and groups to bring trouble upon others.
d. Destruction
Hab 1:3
Strongs Hebrew number 7701, M2331a
It’s difficult to be sure how this word is meant to be taken but, because it’s linked to ‘violence’ (see above) it probably carries with it the idea of something which has been brought about by an unrighteous or wicked deed.
In Job 5:22, however, it seems to mean simply a natural destruction because it’s linked to the word ‘famine’ and, in Is 13:6, it’s a word which is paralleled with the Day of YHWH and the desolation that His time of moving will bring about.
Here, however, we’re possibly right in thinking of an action rather than a result which brings another down and which has come about through the outworking of sinful desires.
e. Strife
Hab 1:3
Strongs Hebrew number 7379, M2159a
The word ‘strife’ seems straightforward enough to allow it to stand with little explanation. TWOTOT gives it the alternative interpretation of ‘controversy’ so that the idea becomes a disagreement which leads to heated exchange. Along with the following word, these go together well to show how peace had been stripped from Israelite society where peaceful relations had, perhaps, once existed.
f. Contention
Hab 1:3
Strongs Hebrew number 4066, M426c
The AV prefers to translate this word in the OT by ‘strife’. It’s never used before the Psalms and there only once - it’s main use being in Proverbs where it occurs 15 times of it’s 18 OT occurrences.
Perhaps a good word to describe it is also ‘animosity’ for in a few of the places what’s being described seems to be more a lack of harmony between two individuals that goes unresolved and, indeed, is stirred up to push them further apart. There needs only to be a problem on one side of the relationship for peace to be dispelled, so Prov 21:9 (Pp Prov 21:19) can speak about it being better
‘...to live in a corner of the housetop than in a house shared with a contentious woman’
where, even if one wanted, it would be impossible to find any real rest. Prov 22:10 also notes that an entire group of people can be troubled by one ‘scoffer’ who brings strife with them wherever they go - the only solution offered here is to remove the individual from one’s midst.
Habakkuk, then, saw disharmony about him where men and women seemed to no longer wish to live in peace and rest but were filled with the commitment to contend and dispute a great amount of matters that outworked themselves into personal wars. As I’ve said on previous web pages, setting the nations at peace - although a lofty and valiant ideal - will do nothing to remove war from the nations because the heart of a man and woman is set to contend against others even on a personal level. What we see amongst the nations is only the result of the heart of millions of subjects stretched throughout the land.
There are a couple of other passages which are worthy of mention here because they use a combination of the Hebrew words detailed above.
In Ps 55:9-11, David talks about his enemies who are pursuing him (Ps 55:1-2) and wishes that he had the wings of a bird that he might fly away to safety (Ps 55:6-8). But, instead, he prays for their destruction in a similar manner to the way that Habakkuk must have done (Ps 55:9a) going on to observe their characteristics by mentioning four of the words used in Hab 1:2-4 (Ps 55:9-10) - violence (Strongs Hebrew number 2555, M678a), strife (Strongs Hebrew number 7379, M2159a), mischief (‘wrongs’ - Strongs Hebrew number 205, M48a) and sorrow (‘trouble’ - Strongs Hebrew number 5999, M1639a).
David’s observations about the state of the city in which he found himself is not very far removed from the state of the nation that Habakkuk witnessed centuries afterwards and, if David’s location was within the borders of united Israel at the time of writing, it shows us that what was surfacing hundreds of years later was, in effect, a problem which had yet to be dealt with.
Jer 20:8 is part of Jeremiah’s message to Jerusalem which contained the declaration that there was violence (Strongs Hebrew number 2555, M678a) and destruction (Strongs Hebrew number 7701, M2331a) in its midst. Although the prophet is best thought of as continuing the message of God after Habakkuk had recorded his message onto tablets (see above), it shows that Jeremiah’s observations weren’t wholly dissimilar to those which impinged upon Habakkuk’s consciousness.
In summary, we aren’t looking at a series of calamitous events that have come upon a society and over which they have no control (as would be the case through an earthquake or hurricane) but, rather, a condition which has been brought about by the people themselves because they’ve set themselves to shun what makes for peace and to give in to the ways and actions that promote war.
It’s no wonder that the world finds itself increasingly representative of the traits that the prophet observed all around him because they’re without the influence of God on their lives.
But we would do better to consider the state of the Church with its backbiting and jockeying for position, of our striving for the highest places at the expense of others and our plotting to put down those in our midst who are happy to wholly follow Jesus - characteristics that we’ve learnt from the inner nature which we still choose to live from even though we’ve been redeemed and set free from it in the application of the crucifixion and resurrection.
The divisions which separate one believer from another even within the very same fellowships where they attend side by side should be enough to make us realise that, far from pointing the finger at those outside the Church, we should be eager to remove the possibility of the charge against us that we’re living in a similar way to the believers of Habakkuk’s day which was ripe for judgment.
3. Consequences
Hab 1:4
We should note that, primarily, Habakkuk is concerned with the destruction of the law - it would be going too far to think that the prophet means solely the Mosaic Law but, seeing as the civil precepts would have been built upon the character of God, the two different systems aren’t very far removed.
The legacy of the legal system instituted in Jehoshaphat’s day may well have been the system that was being employed even in the times of the prophet. The king had begun his reign by sending princes, Levites and priests out into the cities of Judah to teach them the Law of YHWH (II Chr 17:7-9) and, after a mistake which he made by allying himself with king Ahab of the northern kingdom of Israel and of being restored back to God through Jehu the seer (II Chr 18:1-19:3), he returned to the land to reform the legal system (II Chr 19:4-11) that Judah might have justice throughout their land.
So, II Chr 19:4 reads that
‘...he went out again among the people, from Beersheba to the hill country of Ephraim, and brought them back to YHWH, the God of their fathers’
and appointed judges in all the fortified cities of Judah to give the people justice (II Chr 19:5-7). His earlier actions may have done something to turn the nation back to the worship of YHWH by removing the false gods and teaching them the ways of the one, true God, but the practicalities of bringing justice to the nation had largely not been enforced, relying upon the positive response of the people to the message which had gone out to them to heed and to order their lives accordingly.
With the appointment of judges in the land, YHWH’s judicial decisions might begin to be applied and the mind of the nation gradually be changed to see that a lifestyle against the commands of the Mosaic Law wasn’t going to pay. His concern appears to have been to bring justice to each individual of the nation as part of their God ordained right.
Additionally, he appointed judges in Jerusalem (II Chr 19:8-11) for the cases which appear to have been considered to have been too hard for the other judges scattered throughout the land. Even if there wasn’t the expertise to determine cases at the extremities of his kingdom, there was a central point at which the harder matters could be heard and decided upon. This set up, incidentally, appears to have been the embryonic form of the judicial system that was in existence in the time of Jesus.
I can find no indication in the subsequent history of Judah which would indicate that this set up was ever revoked or improved so that it seems reasonable to assume that something very similar was in operation in the times of Habakkuk.
But, even though the system might have worked and, assuming that the laws were based upon God’s character, Habakkuk sees that what’s happening in the nation is sufficient to cause it to be ‘slacked’ and ‘perverted’.
It was the people, then, and not the judicial system which was failing for a good law system doesn’t mean that the people become righteous - it’s dependent upon them being obedient to the decisions of the law when they’re transgressors and operating outside the law. The law is of no use unless it’s enforced by those who are its subjects (in the same manner as a king cannot rule unless there’s obedience from those under him).
The RSV outworks the condition of the society with the translation (Hab 1:4 - my italics) that
‘...the law is slacked and justice never goes forth’
where TWOTOT prefers to define the italicised word (Strongs Hebrew number 6313, M1740) with ‘numbed’ and Habbaker ‘paralysed’. The prophet goes on to another conclusion, noting that the paralysis was because
‘...the wicked surround the righteous...’
leading on to a further conclusion that this had the effect of causing justice to go abroad perverted. This ‘perversion’ (Strongs Hebrew number 6127, M1680) is rendered by ‘twisted’ or ‘bent’ by TWOTOT and the idea is progressed beyond the realms of the law being simply impotent to it having become an active force in the promotion of wickedness throughout the land. Zondervan summarises the verse as denoting that
‘...the manipulation of the law courts to favour the wealthy points to a domestic evil...’
but it’s not the wealthy who are ever mentioned here - rather, it’s the wicked who negate the decisions of righteousness by their threats against those who dispense justice (assumed from the phrase that ‘the wicked surround the righteous’). Therefore, the decisions of the courts are ‘bent’ or ‘twisted’ to fit those who shouldn’t receive a favourable verdict. The Living Bible’s interpretation at this point is equally relevant for it announces that
‘...bribes and trickery prevail’
which, although reminiscent of our own present day legal system, may well be an accurate representation - that is, it wasn’t the simple facts of a matter that were decided upon but other incidentals upon which the entire decision of the court turned.
Where there should have been righteousness overflowing towards the oppressed and sinned against, there was in its place a system which awarded the decision to those who were willing to go to any lengths to get it. Not only was the law not applied, it had become a legal system that stood only to promote evil.
Likewise, authority in the Church - the universal Church as well as the local fellowship - was given to build up and to uphold what is right. When men and women are able to ‘play the system’ to rise to positions of pre-eminence or to get their will done at the expense of others, the Church is in no better a condition than it was in Habakkuk’s day.
God’s first response
Hab 1:5-11
This is the first of two speeches from God which are responses to a petition or complaint from His servant, Habakkuk. As such, they are unusual because they’re a prophetic reaction rather than an initiative from God to bring a message to His people regardless of what the prophet might see.
Although prophets were sent to the nation of both Israel and Judah - and, no doubt, Habakkuk was also - the only message which we have recorded as being brought to the nation is that which was an answer to an observation.
When Hab 2:2 speaks about writing the vision on to tablets to make it plain to those of Judah, we should think of just these six verses as being within that remit. It might be that the prophet felt it necessary to proclaim what had also happened before - and after - but God’s words seem to necessitate only the declaration that He was about to raise up the Chaldeans.
This might seem fairly strange to us - after all, in this message, there’s no opportunity given for repentance and, more importantly, God doesn’t mention the sins of His people that they might turn from them. Rather, there almost appears to have been an inevitability in what He’s about to do which, presumably, was to make them wake up to Habakkuk’s message as it began to be outworked in their contemporary society.
These six verses, then, are the vision that was declared to the nation.
God’s second response to His servant (Hab 2:2-5 - it’s not certain that Hab 2:6-19 is meant to be taken either wholly or in part as a Word from God and it could be a reaction by Habakkuk to God’s second response yet still inspired by the moving of God’s presence) tells the prophet only what to do with what’s been previously received, adding some assurances about the faithful within the land.
1. Faith in what can’t happen
Hab 1:5-6
If we were to anticipate the answer that the prophet was expecting as being the reassurance that God was well aware of the state of the nation and that He was going to judge the wicked sovereignly to leave the righteous standing secure in Him alone, then what God actually said must have come as somewhat of a shock. It appears that the option left open to God was to use a foreign power to judge His people and so to put an end to the wickedness that Habakkuk saw all around him. Habbaker comments accurately that
‘The hoped-for response to a lament...would be an oracle of salvation but here the response is an oracle of judgment’
So shocking is God’s will in the matter that YHWH has to announce to the prophet that he should ‘wonder and be astounded’ and that, even if He was to make known the intricacies of His intention (which, as we’ll see below, He wasn’t to do fully at this time), he wouldn’t believe it.
Indeed, because we know the subsequent events of history, it doesn’t come as too great a shock to us that the Babylonian army invaded the land of Israel and, eventually, subdued the land in 586BC when Israel’s rebellion continued even once they’d been converted into a vassal state.
But we should note Jer 25:15-38 here as encapsulating the fullness of all that God had intended to perform through the raising up of the Babylonians, for their appearance on the world scene meant far more than the judging of His own people. Rather, His mind was set to use the nation as His instrument of judgment throughout the earth and so radically alter the world systems that were then in existence, finally returning judgment upon the Babylonians’ own heads for the excesses and attitudes that would be committed (Jer 4:7,16 are also indicative of a work in the nations rather than just in Judah - these verses sit in the passage which was given in the days of Josiah as Habakkuk’s probably was and are equally relevant).
This judgment upon God’s people, therefore, must also be seen as only part of the judgment that was coming upon the entire earth and not think that God had only one intention in mind regarding the removal of wickedness from out of the nation of Israel.
So, although Habakkuk rightly understands God’s words to be saying that the Chaldeans would come up against his own people, he isn’t revealed the greater plan of God to bring them against the established nations of the world as an instrument of judgment (though he is informed that they will do more than just overcome Judah - Hab 1:6,10).
God’s opening pronouncement, then, that he would not believe the work He was planning even if he was told is dependent upon the prophet continuing to have the fulness concealed from him, even though he’s informed about how part of His will will affect the people of God.
The strength of the opening verse of God’s reply was also used in the NT in Acts 13:41 by Paul in Antioch of Pisidia (Acts 13:14-16) where he warns his Jewish hearers that the message of the Gospel was of a similar nature to the judgment revealed to Habakkuk and that it would be all too easy for them to respond in the same manner as those to whom the word of God had come (Acts 13:40) - that is, that although they might hear the message and understand the universal scope of the work, they would consider it either impossible or fanciful, hardening their hearts against the simplicity of the Gospel.
Paul quotes the first few lines as
‘Behold, you scoffers...’
which comes directly from the LXX translation of the OT where ‘the nations’ in Hebrew is so close to the word for ‘scoffers’ that it’s generally thought to have been a translation error. However, both make equal sense and Paul is accurately quoting the words as he knew them to be from the Greek version of the Bible that both he and his hearers would have been reading.
To Paul, then, his hearers were in danger of missing the free gift of God through their own imaginings which would have sought to undermine the possibility that the message that he was bringing to them was true. To Habakkuk, however, God’s word to both him and the nation was that the work of God couldn’t be perceived by their own mind, such was the wonder and unexpectedness of it.
These two uses, then, are set in contrast. In the former, it’s applied to truth revealed that could too easily be rejected because of its simplicity while, in the latter, to truth concealed which, if known, would show the nature of the complexity of God’s character and purpose.
Both, however, speak of a work of God that’s universal in scope - in the NT it refers to the all-encompassing provision of the cross for all men of every nation while, in the OT, it speaks of the judgment upon all the nations and of the reformation of the world order at the hands of God’s instrument of purpose, the Chaldeans.
I can imagine Habakkuk taking a long look at the affairs of the world after receiving this message from YHWH - an imagination which is, perhaps, purely fanciful even though he’s commanded to do just that in the opening words - and failing to perceive not only how the Chaldeans might rise to pre-eminence but also being assured as to what it was that God had determined to do. Similarly, the nation to whom this vision would have eventually been brought (Hab 2:2) must have found much of the prophet’s writings purely fanciful and strange.
It’s doubtful that the majority of them would have believed the message as being from God and so wouldn’t have waited for its fulfilment (Hab 2:2-4). Rather, confident that the prophet had declared to them something which had no relevance to themselves, they would have gone about their own business. But, when the Chaldeans began to rise to prominence in the world and then to begin to move against the nations that had at one time been secure, their minds must have turned towards thoughts of Habakkuk’s message and realised that the reality of its fulfilment was getting all the more likely.
An example of one who showed faith in the face of an impossibility must be Abraham - though I don’t mean the prophetic announcements concerning the birth of the child of promise, Isaac (Gen 15:4) but, rather, the statement by YHWH that his descendants would be slaves in a land for four hundred years and that, after that time, God would visit them and bring them in to all that He’d promised to Abraham’s descendants (Gen 15:13-16).
This belief in the Word of God passed down the line until Joseph, convinced that it would prove true even though they were the rulers and not the slaves at that time, gave directions concerning his burial that he might not come to a final resting place outside of the land given to Israel, his father (Gen 50:24-26, Ex 13:19, Heb 11:22).
As I’ve written above, the prophetic word might not seem as if it could be fulfilled when it’s first spoken but it shows itself to be a message from God because it comes about in spite of the known circumstances at the time of its giving. Therefore, the prophetic insights that the Church is given today are often only the extrapolation of what can be known of the circumstances that surround us.
Dangerous prophecy (dangerous in the sense that it takes real faith to both prophesy and to believe what one can’t see or perceive) is that which isn’t likely when one considers the situation that one finds oneself in. A former work colleague of mine used to say, when confronted with an event that seemed unlikely that
‘You wouldn’t believe it if you’d read it in a book’
and, even though it was meant to be a humorous statement, it’s particularly relevant here because that’s exactly what appears to have happened. The Israelites would have read the vision of Habakkuk displayed on the tablets in some public place or other (Hab 2:2) and turned back to their own affairs, giving it little or no response in their own lives through repentance and restitution.
The LXX’s translation, therefore, is all the more relevant for it explains the reaction that such a message would have received in those to whom it would have originally come.
The Church also seems to suffer not from giving itself over to prophetic messages which seem plausible but from an incapability to assess and test those words reputed to be from God that don’t have a solid basis in the things that can be seen around them.
In other words, we seem to lack faith and a discernment that can tell the difference between that which is purely an expression of our own understanding in any given situation and that which has come directly from God.
To give but one example here, I noted with bewilderment the ‘words’ that God had given to His people concerning the disaster of September 11th 2001 (that is, words which had been ‘received’ before the event) but that they generally went unheard of by the Body of Christ until after the disaster had taken place. In other words, while there might have been a belief that these things were to take place, it’s unlikely to have been very strong because the faith of those who received it didn’t proclaim it to the Body that each and every believer might stand in awe of God.
While most of us should feel fairly confident in understanding the way that things are going in this world, we desperately need to know what can’t be seen that we might not flounder and panic when God’s work comes upon us, having already prepared for that Day with a certainty of expectation.
2. Parallels with Jeremiah
Hab 1:6-11
There are certain considerations here which we would do well to parallel and consider in the light of a passage in Jeremiah (Jer 3:6-6:30), almost four chapters of denunciations which the prophet brought before Judah (Jer 3:6)
‘...in the days of king Josiah’
This is the only message which is addressed to the people in Josiah’s day. It’s clear that a new message begins at Jer 7:1 and, even though we might presume that the previous words (Jer 1:1-3:5) must have taken place in time order and, therefore, also in Josiah’s reign, we can’t be absolutely certain and must restrain ourselves from using them. It may also be that Jer 3:6-6:30 contains more than one message given at separate times but there appears not to be any good reason to have to divide it into sections.
We’ve previously noted that the prophet had prophesied during the righteous king’s thirty-one year reign (Jer 1:2) and that he began only thirteen years into it. One would have expected him to have pronounced good towards the children of Israel because of Josiah’s many reforms and encouragements for his people to return to YHWH and to serve Him wholly.
However, a message such as this one in Jeremiah shows that, although the king was regarded by God, the people had largely chosen to continue in their own way - a good enough reason not to push the date of composition of the Book of Habakkuk to a subsequent ruler’s reign because it seems fairly plain from Hab 2:5 that the Chaldeans shouldn’t have been expected to have been a clearly discernible world force at the time of its proclamation.
Jer 3:6-6:30, therefore, is a parallel passage to Hab 1:6-11 because it would appear as if they were delivered to the people at the same general time and in the same situation of rebellion against God, even though Josiah’s reforms had sought to pull them back to Him.
It’s plain from the language that Jeremiah perceived that God’s dissatisfaction with the southern kingdom of Judah was a necessary fact (Jer 3:6-11). In Jeremiah, however, the dissatisfaction comes about by the Word of God whereas, in Habakkuk, it comes as the prophet looks around himself and witnesses the nation’s actions.
It would be wrong to think Jeremiah had been blind to the real spiritual state of the nation but it does make us think that Habakkuk was the initiator in receiving God’s message to the nation whereas Jeremiah seems more to be a man who waited for a message and then responded to it accordingly - for example, Jer 4:10 sees the prophet vocally comparing what he’d heard other prophets say and calling God to explain why it appeared that He was double-minded.
a. The state of the nation
The state of the nation is similar in both places - though not identical.
Jer 6:7 is interesting because it uses two words that are also employed by Habakkuk of his observations of those people in the nation (Strongs Hebrew numbers 2555 and 7701, M678a and 2331a) and they’re coupled in both places though in a different order (Hab 1:3 - ‘destruction and violence’, Jer 6:7 - ‘violence and destruction’).
The summary in Jer 4:22 that the nation are
‘...stupid children...they are skilled in doing evil, but how to do good they know not’
is a good general description of what we read in Hab 1:2-4 while we find other phrases which detail a society in which every man and women seems to be set against everyone else. For example, Jer 5:26 speaks about wicked men who
‘...lurk like fowlers lying in wait. They set a trap; they catch men’
While Habakkuk notes that the wicked get the decision over the righteous so that the civil law is perverted, Jeremiah seems only to hint at it (Jer 5:27-28) commenting that the houses of the nation are
‘...full of treachery; therefore they have become great and rich, they have grown fat and sleek. They know no bounds in deeds of wickedness; they judge not with justice the cause of the fatherless, to make it prosper, and they do not defend the rights of the needy’
where it’s the strong and overbearing who get the decision rather than those individuals amongst them who are in need. Again, Jer 6:13 announces that every person is set after material wealth no matter whether the method is morally right or not - and, even though one might have expected some fear of YHWH amongst the prophets and priests, their hearts are set in the same ways as those who come to them for advice and direction.
Again, let’s stop for one minute and consider the application to the present day. Too often, we think of these words as being directed at the nation in which we live but, rather, we should think of them as being applicable to the Church. There will always be wickedness amongst those who openly confess they have no time or regard for God and His ways - but, amongst those who proclaim that their lives are set to follow Jesus, there should be none of this.
No believer should be striving after material riches (Mtw 6:24) or dealing falsely with one another (Jer 6:13). Even when it comes to the leadership of God’s Church, the message coming from God is often ‘peace’ to those who listen (Jer 6:14) when it should be ‘wake up and start serving God’. YHWH observes (Jer 5:30-31) that
‘...the prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule at their direction...’
noting that this is the only way that the people will have it but, even so, that it’s both ‘appalling and horrible’ in His eyes. Even a young Jeremiah was blinded by the voice coming from those who should have known better for, after having listened to God speak about the state of the nation, he responds (Jer 4:10) by declaring
‘...surely Thou hast utterly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying “It shall be well with you”; whereas the sword has reached their very life’
because this was the message which was being proclaimed to the children of God when they were continuing in their wickedness towards man and their rebellion against God. Indeed, the true prophets such as Jeremiah and Habakkuk who were announcing the message of God to the nation were being undermined by the belief in the people that God was impotent to act against them (Jer 5:12) declaring that the message of destruction which was being proclaimed would only come upon the people declaring it (Jer 5:13).
It may seem strange that the people might accept one message as being from God that He was going to move in their midst and then declare that God wouldn’t act against them because He was impotent, but we would underestimate those believers today who listen only for the ‘nice words’ thinking that Jesus’ sacrifice has made God into a doting father bereft of discipline (the ‘Here, son, have another sweet!’ mentality which negates both God’s wrath and justice), rejecting any message which might upset the cart and force His followers into the position of having to order their lives differently than the way they want to.
Initially, Jeremiah had refused to accept the declaration that God had made - in contrast to Habakkuk who started with a truer perception of the spiritual health of the nation - and he appears to have been encouraged by YHWH to seek out any righteous that he could find throughout the city of Jerusalem (Jer 5:1-2). Though he thought that his initial observations were due to the fact that he was looking amongst those least likely to honour God, he was appalled to discover that the corruption within God’s people ran all the way to the very top (Jer 5:3-5) and this even in the days of king Josiah who was at the head of an arguably righteous government!
Habakkuk had offered no message of hope to the nation - but Jeremiah was given words to encourage them to return and so avert the judgment of God. He recounts the history of their reaction towards His former servants’ message proclaiming (Jer 6:16)
‘...Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls...’
declaring their reaction as being
‘We will not walk in it’
Similarly, whatever the watchmen had proclaimed had been shunned (Jer 6:17). One has to think carefully about where the Church might be in the present day - I wouldn’t be so bold as to say that we stand on the verge of judgment or that we have fully rejected the witness of God’s Word to us as either a Body or as individuals but, just as in Jeremiah’s day, there are many messages from God in the local churches. But most of them are ‘encouraging’ while those who declare the words which ruffle feathers or upset the apple cart are swept under the carpet to be ignored.
Unfortunately, many individuals seem to like to prophesy destruction which serves only to confuse the issue, but a fellowship which pays more heed to nice words and forgets quickly the disturbing ones are more likely to be in a position which is similar to that of the Israelites in the days of Habakkuk and Jeremiah.
In that case, Jeremiah’s call to repentance is equally relevant (Jer 6:26 Pp 4:8,14) because we forget that the time for a change is now that the consequences of our own actions might not be reaped. As the prophet proclaimed in the hearing of the people
‘...gird on sackcloth, and roll in ashes; make mourning as for an only son, most bitter lamentation; for suddenly the destroyer will come upon us’
b. The nation that comes as a judgment
Habakkuk’s record of God’s Word (Hab 1:6) that
‘...I am rousing the Chaldeans’
has already been seen to have been an impossibility when considered from natural circumstances at the time that it was announced to him - hence the warnings that he should wonder and be astounded at what He was arranging among the nations.
Jeremiah also identifies the oppressor who was to be brought by God upon the land but with a less certain identity than one would have expected. The prophet had begun declaring God’s words c.627/6BC, in the thirteenth year of Josiah’s reign (Jer 1:2), when the Assyrians held the dominance in the lands north of Israel. We noted above that, from 625BC, Babylon began to grow increasingly strong until 612BC when the Assyrian capital of Nineveh was overthrown, three years before the end of Josiah’s reign.
One might say, then, that the ‘final ruler’ of the northern lands was in doubt until that overthrow or, perhaps, until the battle/overthrow of Carchemish took place in 605BC (after Josiah’s reign and, therefore, after the final date of composition of Jer 3:6-6:30) which effectively secured the total dominance of Babylon throughout the region when the Egyptian fortification was overrun by Nebuchadnezzar.
What God announces to His people through Jeremiah is naturally ambiguous for, although He mentions the direction of attack, He doesn’t name the Chaldeans as the people by whom it would come - unlike Habakkuk. So, God states (Jer 4:6) that He will
‘...bring evil from the north...’
a direction which is repeated elsewhere (Jer 6:1,22) and which must be understood to be the direction from which the attack would come and not - as has often been interpreted - the direction in which their attackers lived. Having a desert area to the east of the nation, an attack from the north meant only that their attackers were using a route north-west where there would be provision for an army before swinging due south to fall upon the land of Israel and Judah.
YHWH also describes them as coming from ‘a distant land ‘ (Jer 4:16), ‘from the farthest parts of the earth’ (Jer 6:22) and ‘from afar’ (Jer 5:15). This latter description is also tied up with the observation that the nation is
‘...an enduring nation, it is an ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know, nor can you understand what they say’
something which could have been equally true of both the Assyrians (Gen 2:14) and the Chaldeans (Gen 11:28). It seems, however, that God chose not to ‘name names’ as He did through Habakkuk - we might also say that an attack from the north was all the more likely because it had been Assyria who had overrun the northern kingdom of Israel only a hundred years or so prior to the prophetic word.
c. How the Chaldeans are portrayed
God’s judgment upon His own people wasn’t that they might lose their jobs temporarily or that they might not be as prosperous as they had been up to that point, but it involved the loss of everything that they’d placed their trust in. They were to have their houses and lands removed from them, some being exiled away into Babylon while others would be left impoverished in the land which had once been the place they’d been able to exploit others by their actions.
Neither was God’s tool particularly pleasant and Habakkuk goes on to record God’s description of them as a severe warning. Whether a reader (not a ‘hearer’ - Hab 2:2) would have believed them or not doesn’t alter the fact that these weren’t pleasant things to read. In ancient days, the main threat when powers went on the offensive in the world would be that they would be destroyed in an invasion and that those things which they were secure in would be removed from them.
Even worse would it be when the invading army were lawless (or, as in the case of the Chaldean, people whose justice proceeded from within themselves - Hab 1:7). While the children of Israel had been given clear instructions on their methods of war, both towards those found within their land (Deut 7:2) and those outside (Deut 21:10-14), the nations which were round about them didn’t fight by the same rules and the most that could be hoped for would be that the enemy army weren’t too rampant in their pillaging of the lands that they were overthrowing.
As was the case with most of the ancient societies, however, the armies which overthrew nations used their power over the inhabitants in shameful ways - and this was to be equally true of the Chaldeans who were to be sent by YHWH Himself against His own land and people as His instrument of judgment.
But it wasn’t just against Judah that they were to come. As we’ve previously noted from Jer 25:15-29, God had purposed to judge the world’s nations through the Babylonians and Hab 1:6 also notes here that the nation was to
‘...march through the breadth of the earth, to seize habitations not their own’
while Jer 4:16 sounds the warning to all the nations that God’s army is coming against them. The army is also spoken of in animal imagery - of leopards (Hab 1:8, Jer 5:6), wolves (Hab 1:8, Jer 5:6), eagles (Hab 1:8, Jer 4:13) and lions (Jer 4:7, 5:6). Had they been gerbils, hamsters and mice, no one would have been too afraid but God uses animals which were noted for their ferocity and aggression to convey what they should expect, describing them as having no weak link because they’re all mighty men (Jer 5:16).
The descriptive words are also important to note for they’re described as fierce and swift to devour (Hab 1:8), as a destroyer of nations (Jer 4:7), of being cruel and showing no mercy (Jer 6:23) and as being so quick that the reader is impressed with the impossibility of escape (Jer 4:13). The nation is also described as ‘bitter and hasty’ (Hab 1:6) and ‘dread and terrible’ (Hab 1:7), noting that their coming has the sole intention for the outpouring of violence against any they encounter (Hab 1:9).
Their success is also portrayed as inevitable so that they scoff at kings and make sport of rulers (Hab 1:10) because they know that no matter what’s arrayed against them, by their own power they’ll overcome. Therefore, there’s derision in their laughter against whichever nation they next encounter (Hab 1:10) for they know no defeat and are supremely confident of the final outcome.
So, their approach against the city of Jerusalem is to be feared and its inhabitants can have no confidence in any other outcome than that they’ll be taken captive and laid waste like all the others that have gone before (Hab 1:9, Jer 4:20, 6:6,23). Jeremiah’s description of the land under the Babylonians seems initially to be a picture of complete desolation. He describes the Babylonians as the people (Jer 5:17) who will
‘...eat up your harvest and your food; they shall eat up your sons and your daughters; they shall eat up your flocks and your herds; they shall eat up your vines and your fig trees; your fortified cities in which you trust they shall destroy with the sword’
It’s only Jeremiah, though, who goes on to see the wider picture that, even in wrath, there’s mercy - something that, although Habakkuk prays for it, he doesn’t proclaim as being an inevitable outworking of the judgment (Hab 3:2). So, even though there’s an unprecedented wave of desolation about to sweep over the land, YHWH still maintains (Jer 4:27 Pp 5:18) that
‘...I will not make a full end’
holding out the hope that there might be a returning by God to His people and a restoration of the nation following what appears to be an inevitable judgment because of the hard and unbending hearts of the people. It’s not that God wasn’t giving His people a chance to turn back to Him even at the time of the words being brought but that their fixed will seemed to be immovable and the natural confirmation that the possibilities here described were, in effect, inevitabilities.
However we might understand the descriptors used of the Chaldeans, it’s obvious that the wording is far from something to which the inhabitants of the kingdom of Judah were to look forward - rather, it was a clear indication that, should the message be fulfilled, those who had read the word would probably lose everything that they possessed.
Again, we need to think about how the words of YHWH to His holy nation (Ex 19:6) might apply to His Church (I Peter 2:9) in the new covenant. If the Church were ever to find itself in a similar state (I originally wrote ‘a similar apostate state’ before realising that the description was too hard. After all, Habakkuk observes simply that there’s no justice amongst God’s people and it’s this which serves as the basis not only of His complaint but of God’s declaration that He would do something about it. Jeremiah does mention all manner of sins which would also have been resident within the land but it’s primarily the lack of justice and of turning that system around to serve the wicked which is at the basis of God’s pronouncements in Habakkuk), a similar judgment could be envisaged at the hands of a people who could be equally as ruthless as the Chaldeans proved themselves to be.
In the Church today, however, such a position seems to be unacceptable to the people who profess faith in God - choosing to rather think about the positive aspects of Divine love - while there are many soothsayers and self-made prophets that continue to pronounce the imminent downfall and judgment that appears never to take place. As is often the case, a balance needs to be struck in these matters.
Judgment doesn’t come upon His Church just to destroy but to change and transform (I Peter 4:17-18 - taken slightly out of context) - judgment, however, is way beyond discipline where discipline should be taken as a milder form which seeks to wake up His people to their plight, and judgment is a demonstration of God’s wrath (the former term, though, can be used to denote the latter in the NT).
If God was on the move against His own Church, it should be evident firstly in the manner of life which His Church was living and their refusal to accept words from God which undermined the stability and security of the way of life which they’d chosen for themselves - that is, that which had been chosen and which went over and above the will of God in Christ.
Although the message would have gone out to His people, it would have been rejected and many of God’s true believers would then be expected to be shunned by those who meet together, even to the point of them being ridiculed and labelled as heretical, unorthodox or just plain loopy.
As the Church became more apostate (there - I’ve used it! At this point in the falling away from a true faith, the word seems more justified), battle lines would seen to be drawn against those who had the label of being alive (Rev 3:1) even in the form of people who were less intrinsically righteous than they, but all the while it would be God Himself who would be empowering them to oppose His people (Rev 3:3).
Eventually, we would expect church buildings to be closed and the witness of the Gospel to be ended in the region or locality (Rev 2:5) - even though there would still be men and women who were true believers and through whom a new move of God might take place at a subsequent time.
In the record of the early Church in the NT, it’s unlikely that such a problem had come to be a major one because God’s people were forcefully advancing throughout all the regions of the world. Although there were known problems in some fellowships which were addressed in some of the personal letters to them, it’s only in the Book of Revelation that these problems are seen to be coming to fruition where God is announcing that, unless something changes soon, He’ll step in and enter into judgment with His people.
A withdrawal of a christian witness in an area is not certain proof that God has come against His own people - and it’s certainly true that witch hunts normally find exactly what they’re looking for because they can interpret the evidence in whichever way they choose - so it’s much better that the warnings of God are considered carefully in both Habakkuk and Jeremiah that we might safeguard our own continued presence in the land in which we live rather than to apply this word to areas where fellowships have seemed to close.
3. Some specifics from Habakkuk
There are a couple of turns of phrase in Hab 1:5-11 that describe the Chaldeans which deserve to be treated separately because the depth of meaning isn’t obvious to the casual reader, even though they should cause us to sit up and take notice.
The first occurs in Hab 1:7 where YHWH notes of the Chaldeans that
‘...their justice and dignity proceed from themselves’
where the Hebrew word translated by ‘dignity’ (Strongs Hebrew number 7613, M1421j) is probably best understood by the English ‘exaltation’. In other words, it’s their status which is self-determined as the head of all the nations rather than for them to have considered themselves to be sovereign over the nations by the will of God.
This will be equally apparent when we consider Hab 1:11 below but, for now, we need to consider the first aspect of YHWH’s statement that justice (that is, what they consider to be right action and conduct and, therefore, civil law) come from their own mind rather than as a product of an absolute standard which they uphold.
Habbaker makes the statement that
‘The Babylonians were arrogant, setting themselves up in God’s place even as far as promulgating their own law and honouring themselves...’
whereas the Law that Israel had received had come as a direct revelation from God, the civil law being developed from the demands and expectations of the Mosaic Law. Present day society is the same, however, and what laws were made in former years came about often through the many men and women who feared God and tried to cause society to reflect His nature.
Legislation today reflects the will and expectation of those who attempt to determine what’s right and wrong by no absolute standard and who, it’s often been said, form the law to suit themselves. Their understanding of righteousness therefore becomes relative and one man’s sin is another’s justification.
If there are no absolutes by which to form law, legislation which is instituted has no firm basis and will shift as opinions change. One only has to consider the present day legislation in the UK concerning both drug use and euthanasia. Whatever position we take on the matter isn’t important at this point - what is important to note, however, is that the lines which were drawn are being rubbed out and placed elsewhere because opinions change.
Instead of asking God what the basis of human civil law should be, changes are brought in which reflect the mindset of those in power - a mindset which changes when the next Government are elected and which is generally less morally upright than those who have preceded them.
Gill goes one step further in his understanding of the phrase, commenting that the Chaldeans
‘...will not be directed and governed by any laws of God and man, but by their own’
although ‘their own’ are also ‘of man’. What’s being observed here, though, is that they pay regard to nothing except what they themselves approve which makes them ‘a law to themselves’.
The other phrase worth considering here is Hab 1:11 in which YHWH calls the Chaldeans
‘...guilty men, whose own might is their god’
though there’s some disagreement on the correct translation with the AV rendering the meaning that the Chaldeans render the power they have to their own god. Although this is possible, the phrase appears to be paralleled by Hab 1:7 noted above where it’s said of them that their exaltation is that which is a product of themselves - any humility that anyone else has raised them to their position of pre-eminence over the nations of the world would be shunned. This is paralleled in Zeph 2:15 where the Word of God against the Assyrians is that they proclaim
‘I am and there is none else’
thus making themselves out to be the rulers even over God (who, obviously, they would either refuse to accept or think of as being subservient to their own will). It seems best, then, to accept the RSV’s translation. Habsmith observes the meaning to be that
‘...they deify their own strength...’
going on to comment that it’s
‘...a common fault among major powers who attribute their position on the world stage to their own doings’
The Chaldeans, therefore, weren’t ones who suffered from an excess of humility. Just as their justice came from their own mind so too did their consideration of how great they were, thus setting themselves up as gods throughout the earth. This is less likely to be a characteristic of Western governments in their own countries than it is of nations who are venturing to overcome others.
Nevertheless, it is evident in the demonstration of power and judgment that’s currently being displayed by the Western allies towards those who are considered to be in opposition to the stability of their own society (I make no direct comments whether this is intrinsically either righteous or wicked - my point in mentioning it here is by way of observation only). In this case, the allies have set themselves up not only as those who are to dispense justice but who glory in their own power as being that which is served.
Whether the dispensing of justice and strength is based upon a revelation of the will of God and, therefore, in accordance with His will and purpose in the earth is what would determine whether it was that which caused them to act or whether it was the product of their own considerations.
It seems unlikely that it’s the former, however, and the danger is always that a nation or group of nations which continues to do as it pleases will turn to rely upon its own strength and power, its own expectation of what’s both right and wrong and so become independent of God’s absolute standard.
Any nation which does this puts itself ultimately in the place of the Chaldeans of the OT who were oblivious to the fact of God’s calling upon them to judge the then-known world order and thought that it had all come about through their own resources, cleverness and strength. Such a nation will be ripe for its own judgment once God has used it to fulfil His own will and purpose.
Habakkuk’s reply
Hab 1:12-2:1
Without meaning to sound too flippant in my assessment of this passage, it appears as if Habakkuk is unwilling to let God ‘off the hook’. Probably most men and women would have raised their complaint against what they saw around them (if, of course, they were even willing to do this) but then have accepted whatever God had replied.
Not Habakkuk.
Although he begins by stating his own understanding both of the character of God (Hab 1:12a) and of the word which has just come to him (Hab 1:12b), he goes on to return to a similar theme to his original complaint (Hab 1:13 Cp 1:2-4), appealing to the natural occupation of fishing to suggest that what God has stated as seemingly endless must be of finite proportions (Hab 1:14-17).
That the prophet expects an answer is surprising seeing as he once more is calling upon YHWH to give an account of Himself for those things which He’s purposing against His people - all the more so because he appears to have every confidence that God will turn back to Him and reply (Hab 2:1).
Most of us, I would suggest, ask God questions and hope that He might hearken to our voice and give us the words that we need - Habakkuk is somewhat different in that He expects God to answer Him even when He’s cornered Him into giving an account of Himself.
God Almighty is certainly not accountable to mankind for the plans which He Himself ordains and purposes for He does and no one can oppose - but Habakkuk has no concept of that in His own understanding that would keep him from approaching God once again to be answered.
1. From everlasting
Hab 1:12
It’s generally accepted by commentators that the Jews had no concept of ‘eternity’ - or, better, of an endless period of time. Rather, they’re thought to have envisaged human history as being defined by ‘ages’ in which God dealt with mankind on the basis of His own will and purpose.
Therefore, Habsmith comments that the word translated as ‘everlasting’ here (Strongs Hebrew number 6924, M1988a) is better understood to mean ‘ancient’ denoting a fixed, but lengthy, time period. But it’s difficult to read statements like that of Ps 90:2 (a different Hebrew word is used at this point - Strongs Hebrew number 5956, M1629 - which is often described as meaning ‘the vanishing point’) in which the author proclaims God, as the translation of the RSV renders it
‘...from everlasting to everlasting Thou art God’
especially when, preceding the statement, the declaration is plain that God is God even
‘...before the mountains were brought forth or ever Thou hadst formed the earth and the world...’
In other words, there appears to be the idea that God exists independently of the created order so that ‘eternity’ is more of a concept which relates to God’s position as Sovereign over time than of Him being within time, limited by it but, nevertheless, older than anything one might care to imagine.
Habakkuk’s next statement naming God YHWH (‘O YHWH...’) is a confession of His ever present nature where the title translates roughly to ‘I am’ (Ex 3:14), the revelation of the intrinsic nature of God to Moses.
TWOTOT cites Wolff (although they disagree with the concept) in his definition of the Hebrew understanding of time as being similar to
‘...the situation of a man rowing a boat. He sees the past as before him; the future is behind his back’
but this couldn’t be levelled as that which is to be true of God for He’s declared as knowing the end from the beginning (Is 46:10). That God speaks into this framework of time is necessary for us to understand but, even so, if God was ever considered to be restricted by the very concept that He created then He would cease to be over everything and in control.
Habakkuk’s declaration, then, is to affirm God’s unchangeability regardless of the passage of time, observing that He’s the ‘I am’ - not He who ‘was’ in times passed but who ‘is’ from as far back as one might like to recall. Therefore he can conclude that
‘...[the nation] shall not [cease to exist]’
because the unchangeable nature of God is the sole reassurance that His commitment to the nation of Judah will continue. Had the prophet been dealing with a human relationship it might have been imagined that there could be a change in purpose but, with God, His ever-present existence assures them of His ever-present commitment to them (Mal 3:6). Even though the prophet can understand the Chaldeans to be
‘...a judgment and...for chastisement’
he cannot imagine that God would send them against the nation to remove them utterly from off the face of the earth. In this, therefore, he finds hope, going on in Hab 1:13 to speak of God’s attitude toward sin - a verse which has given commentators a great deal of conflicting thoughts through the years.
Before we consider that verse, we should note that Habsmith translates the RSV’s
‘...we shall not die’
as
‘...You shall not die’
which refers to God Himself as not being able to end His existence. He cites this verse as being one of eighteen in the OT which the scribes felt obliged to ‘correct’ in their transmission of the documents to their own generation though it seems not to be declared what it was that they corrected it from. Habsmith’s rendering seems likely because it involves the alteration of only one letter - although whether this was ever the case is far from certain.
If the reader was to take the amended text and place it in context, it would mean much the same as that which the prophet had already been declaring - that is, God’s continue existence was assured and so the nation could feel confident that He wouldn’t forsake them or, worse, that there would come a time when He wouldn’t be around to stand in the gap on their behalf.
Why the scribes should feel horrified to think that Habakkuk might have declared that God wouldn’t die, however, is far from certain - simply because it’s an established truth of the Scriptures that YHWH is the ever-present, the ‘I AM’, of all Creation.
2. God’s relationship to sin
Hab 1:13
This verse has been the centre of a great deal of controversy because of the identification of the ‘wicked’ which is then sometimes transposed onto Habakkuk’s own statements in Hab 1:2-4. Habbaker sees the first reference in Hab 1:13 to be directed towards the wicked of the prophet’s own nation (or, perhaps better, to be inspired by his consideration of the nation) before his mind projects itself forward into a consideration of the Chaldeans who were ‘more wicked’ than even ‘wicked’ Judah were, objecting to God’s choice of that nation because it seemed to continue to promote the very sin which God was setting about to judge.
Others would see the ‘wicked’ throughout this verse as having to be a reference to the Chaldeans which, upon further extrapolation, is further applied to Hab 1:2-4 with the argument that the ‘wicked’ must be one and the same in both places.
If this is the case, however, it makes little sense why God should send the nation against Judah and then for the prophet to declare that God was just in the use of judgment and of a chastisement (Hab 1:12) when it would so obviously be the case that he wasn’t at all if Judah were a people after God’s own heart.
We’re in danger of missing the depth of argument here if we try to rationalise the verse. It seems most likely that Habakkuk has in mind both the state of the nation of Judah and the prophetic word which has just come to him concerning the Chaldeans and it’s hard to choose between whether the entire verse is meant to be taken as referring to one at the expense of the other.
It seems that the prophet’s mind is flitting between the two facts as he understands them - on the one hand, he sees the people of Judah as worthy of judgment and yet, on the other, a nation which is to come against them which seems to be more intrinsically wicked than Judah has become.
And that’s his dilemma because the prophet thinks that God will only use the righteous to bring about the purpose of His will when, in effect, He’ll use whomsoever He pleases. We can get some understanding of the ‘spirituality’ of Judah from Jer 12:1-2 where the prophet finds incomprehensible the way it is within the nation, asking
‘Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all who are treacherous thrive?’
going on to observe that it’s God who’s established them and given them the ability to be fruitful and prosperous. Yet they still have a superficiality of knowing God for he observes that
‘...Thou art near in their mouth and far from their heart’
The Chaldeans, on the other hand, had no fear of God (Hab 1:7,11) relying upon themselves for everything that they were about to achieve. Surely, then, a nation which has some witness to YHWH must be better off than one which has none?
But the problem is that the image of God has been perverted.
Asaph - a great many years before the times in which both Jeremiah and Habakkuk lived - observed the wickedness of the nation (Ps 50:19-20 - and in a time, like the reign of king Josiah, when there was a righteous leadership on the throne of the kingdom) and then announced God as saying (Ps 50:21)
‘These things you have done and I have been silent; you thought that I was one like yourself’
In other words, they felt that YHWH was reflected in the things which they were doing - they had an image of God which they were being truthful to even though it was incorrect. Whether a nation has the name of God and attributes their success to Him or whether it doesn’t regard Him and His ways at all, the state of both nations is equally precarious.
When Habakkuk complains that God continues to look after ‘faithless men’ and is silent
‘...when the wicked swallows up the man more righteous than he’
he’s saying that God should institute some kind of grading structure in which the more prosperous one is or can become, the greater their acceptability before Him - that their acceptability or righteousness is what causes them to be ‘prosperous’. As we know from the NT, though (Rom 3:22-23)
‘...there is no distinction; since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God’
The present day Church can’t say, therefore, that it should continue to exist because it bears the name of Jesus and has a better way of life than those who live round about it. As Jesus said of the fellowship in Sardis (Rev 3:1)
‘...you have the name of being alive, and you are dead’
What’s important is whether the Church is alive - not whether it’s less dead - and a group of believers in an area who have forsaken only some of the truth is worse off than the world who’ve never received any of it.
In other words, we might think of God’s choice of the Chaldeans as being of a nation who didn’t know any better - while Judah was a people who should have. Especially after it had seen what YHWH had done to the northern kingdom of Israel and had opportunity to repent of its ways, Jeremiah recording God’s words (Jer 3:11) as declaring Israel ‘less guilty’ because they had had no example to wake them up to His prophets’ words.
In summary, we might take Hab 1:13 as being both true if applied to the state of the nation of Judah as the prophet witnessed it and to the situation about to take place in which God would send the Chaldeans against His own people. Both affairs, says Habakkuk, seem to be incomprehensible when viewed in the light of the known character of God - hence his complaint and questioning of YHWH.
3. Something fishy’s going on
Hab 1:14-17
Habakkuk now argues his case from the contemporary occupation of fishing. I’ve considered the use of various different nets in the Biblical record in my commentary on Matthew under the header ‘Come and Follow’ and the reader is advised to refer to that page for background information if necessary - but there’s no need for us to define the type of fishing intended in this passage for it gives little further illumination to the prophet’s meaning.
The concept of the ensnaring of prey in a net is in fairly common use in the OT though the net being referred to isn’t always the one employed in fishing - the nets mentioned are also used for ensnaring animals such as the antelope and deer (Is 51:10) or even birds (Prov 1:17, Hosea 7:12).
It has a variety of uses, though, and can be used as a metaphor in a negative and positive manner where the sinful act of man or the righteous intervention of God is in mind. In Eccles 9:11-12, though, it’s used in a neutral way as an observation by the author that time and chance happen to all men regardless of the type of person they are, going on to observe that a man
‘...does not know his time. Like fish which are taken in an evil net, and like birds which are caught in a snare, so the sons of men are snared at an evil time when it suddenly falls upon them’
where the term ‘evil’ is meant to be understood as referring to a time not that’s considered to be inherently sinful but something that isn’t welcomed as being what a man or woman would want for themselves (a use for ‘evil’ which many believers have yet to come to terms with - its translation in the OT as always referring to sin is incorrect, especially when there are numerous places in the AV that refer to God as doing ‘evil’ against men - Jer 18:8, 21:10, 23:12, 39:16, 44:11, Ezek 6:10, Amos 9:4, Micah 2:3).
The picture of civilisation corresponds to that which Habakkuk uses as a metaphor where men and women are seen to be fish in a great sea from which they’re ensnared at random times by nets which are considered to be outside their control.
God also speaks of His people as fish indirectly in Jer 16:16-18 where He notes that He’s sending for both fishers and hunters against them because of their sin. This idea of judgment is also present in Amos 4:2-3 where YHWH is speaking to the northern kingdom of Israel before its subjugation by Assyria, informing them that
‘...the days are coming upon you when they shall take you away with hooks - even the last of you with fishhooks. And you shall go out through the breaches every one straight before her...’
God was declaring that He was to raise up fishers to capture His people and to lead them away from their land - like a man removes fish from their natural environment for their own personal benefit and enrichment, thinking nothing of the welfare of the fish (see also Ps 66:11 which refers to the children of God and Ezek 32:2-3 which is God’s word against Pharaoh).
The wicked are also envisaged as being fishers of men (a term which is, of course, equally applicable to God’s servants in the NT - Mtw 4:19) although the OT passages think of them more in the light of catching animals and birds.
In Ps 10:3,8-9, the wicked are envisaged as sitting at a trap waiting for something to fall into it with all the patience of a genuine hunter expecting a meal. Indeed, Ps 10:9 speaks of him drawing the poor man into his net which seems to imply a scheming on their part to bring about their own purpose rather than to rely on pure chance.
David must have found himself numerous times in situations where he feared for his own safety. In Ps 140:5 he observes that
‘Arrogant men have hidden a trap for me and with cords they have spread a net - by the wayside they have set snares for me’
in Ps 141:9-10 he also prays to God that He might keep him
‘...from the trap which they have laid for me and from the snares of evildoers! Let the wicked together fall into their own nets, while I escape’
and observes at another point of his life in Ps 57:6 that, although there was a trap prepared for him
‘...they have fallen into it themselves’
The picture that Habakkuk uses in Hab 1:14-17, though, is best seen as a cross between the wicked’s action against the righteous and God’s moving against the ungodly - which appears to be the problem that the prophet is having in reconciling what He intends to do. After all, God is known to save His people from the net in the time of trouble as it states in Ps 31:3-4 where David prays to God to be taken
‘...out of the net which is hidden for me...’
because
‘...Thou art my refuge’
If God is now on the side of the wicked - here considered to be the Chaldeans of Hab 1:6 - that means that His hand is with the wicked in their plans and that He’s even empowering them to bring about the purpose of His will against His own people who are ‘more righteous’ relatively speaking than are the invading army.
Habakkuk begins by a consideration of mankind as being ‘like the fish of the sea’ (Hab 1:14) with no ruler over them (in the sense, probably, of their rejection of YHWH as the head of all things and of their commitment to follow His example). Hab 1:15 is immediately expected to be read as God being the subject and that the prophet is now referring to Him bringing the fish from the sea - however, when one reads all the last three verses, it’s plain that the Chaldeans must be referred to.
It’s the Chaldeans, then, who are pictured as the fisherman, removing men and women from their environment and of making themselves rich and prosperous at their expense. The fact that they worship their own skill is a backwards reference to Hab 1:7,11 where their self-sufficiency is recognised.
Habakkuk’s problem at this point, though, isn’t that he fails to accept that God might unite Himself with the wicked to bring judgment upon His people (which he’s put into words in his question of Hab 1:13) but that he wants to know the time limits around their overthrow of God’s people. He rhetorically asks (Hab 1:17)
‘Is he then to keep on emptying his net and mercilessly slaying nations for ever?’
but is expectant of a reply from God to avert his fears that the land might be overrun forever. Perhaps the prophet had the worry in the back of his mind that God might have chosen another nation in place of His own for the question seems strange without it - God had already made it plain that the Chaldeans were coming as a judgment against Judah and Habakkuk had acknowledged it (Hab 1:12) but, if they were coming to dispossess, that meant the likelihood that an opportunity to return might never come.
Better, though, is the thought that sees the basis of this question as being the need to know how long YHWH intended to ally Himself with the wicked against the ‘relatively righteous’ of Judah. This appears to be the answer that’s given in the reply from Hab 2:5 where judgment poured out upon the oppressor is detailed.
In summary, Habakkuk has asked two questions which will be answered from Hab 2:2 in God’s second reply. Firstly, he’s concerned about the ‘relatively’ righteous of Judah and why the wicked will be g