Bible Commentaries
Habakkuk 1

Verses 1-19

II

THE BOOK OF HABAKKUK INTRODUCTION AND INTERPRETATION

The theme of this chapter is the prophecy of Habakkuk. As regards the author, nothing more is known of him, no reference is made to him in any other portion of the Scriptures besides what is given in Habakkuk 1:1. The name is a little peculiar. It means to embrace, or to be embraced. It found its application to the prophet in that he kept very close to God. Apparently he was well known, for he styles himself "the prophet," which may or may not imply that he was prominent in prophetic circles. But it does imply that he was well known. He was a contemporary of Jeremiah, although they make no reference whatever to each other. Thus while Jeremiah was preaching his great sermons and seeking to lead Israel back to God, Habakkuk was also grappling with another great problem.

The date of this book is almost certainly in the reign of Jehoiakim between 609 and 605 B.C. We put it subsequent to 609 B.C., because the conditions which the prophet describes could hardly have existed during the reign of Josiah. We put it before 605 B.C., for it seems altogether likely that he wrote before Nebuchadnezzar inflicted that terrible defeat on Pharaoh-Necho at Carchemish and became the supreme ruler in western Asia. In the book of Habakkuk, Chaldea, or Babylonia, was the rising power, but had not yet come to its highest pinnacle of greatness. The evil conditions of the time fit the earlier half of the reign of Jehoiakim.

The prophecies in the book of Jeremiah seem to imply that exactly the same evils existed then as were depicted by Habakkuk. We also find that he makes no reference to Assyria or Nineveh, its capital, which shows that Nineveh was destroyed at this time, and the power of Assyria was forever crushed. He does refer to the Chaldeans, and it was shortly before and after the destruction of Nineveh that the Chaldean power was rising to its place of supremacy. Putting things together then, it seems most likely that it was written between the years 609 and 605 B.C. in the reign of Jehoiakim.

The style of the book is almost classical. Habakkuk is one of the most original of the Hebrew writers. He is a sublime poet. Though we have only one of his poems preserved to us, it is one of the finest poems in Hebrew literature. He is a literary genius of the highest type, almost equal to that of Isaiah. There are many textual difficulties in his prophecy; the text has in some places suffered corruption, as we shall see as we proceed with the study of it.

It is well for us to note at this point that there were four great prophets prophesying or preaching in this period. There was Jeremiah, one of the greatest of the prophets; there was Zephaniah, whom we studied in our last chapter; there was Habakkuk, who perhaps did comparatively little preaching, but who lived during that period; and then in Jeremiah 26 there is reference to a certain prophet named Uriah, who prophesied the destruction of Jerusalem, fled into Egypt to escape the wrath of Jehoiakim, was brought back to Jerusalem and slain. These four prophets were contemporaries. Jeremiah was saved because he had a friend among the princes; Zephaniah was a prince himself and therefore he escaped; Habakkuk, we know nothing about; he probably was in obscurity, as he seems to be more of a writer than a preacher. Uriah suffered martyrdom at the hands of the wicked and unscrupulous king.

Jeremiah’s problem was to warn Israel of her sins, predict the coming destruction, prophesy of the preservation of the remnant and the restoration to their own land again after the exile, and – thus be the means of preserving religion among the exiles, securing their return and preparing the way for the glorious age that should follow. The prophecy of Zephaniah was very similar to that, but the prophecy of Habakkuk is different. Habakkuk is not a preacher in the same sense in which Zephaniah and Jeremiah were. It is no part of his talk to warn the people of their sins, to warn them against the impending destruction at the hands of Babylon, to seek to induce, if possible, repentance on their part and to promise a future return and restoration. That is not his problem.

In Habakkuk we see what is called speculation in Israel. I am not sure that we have the beginning of speculation here, but we certainly have speculation, or we have an instance of the mind of a prophetic man, dealing with one of the most perplexing problems that could ever occupy the attention and thought of a mortal being. It is not how Israel shall escape the punishment of her sins, but it is this problem: Why does God allow this evil to exist? How is it that God can allow Israel to go on in this state? How is it that God permits this moral evil? And then when he projected that problem, he received his answer from Jehovah, and the answer is this: Israel is allowed to go on in her iniquity, but God is going to raise up the Chaldean power to punish her for her sins, and she must suffer destruction because of those sins at the hands of that power.

Then another question comes upon the horizon. The Chaldeans were terrible and ruthless warriors, worse than the Jews in Judah and Jerusalem, and how can a holy God who has pure eyes – too pure to look upon evil – how could he permit such a nation as Chaldea to swallow up a nation vastly better than themselves? In answer to this question he takes his stand upon what he calls his watchtower, the watchtower of history, to observe God’s providences and see what God is going to do. God gives him a vision and tells him to write it on a tablet. What did it mean? It is the settlement of the great problem troubling the mind of Habakkuk. Habakkuk gets his answer, and the answer is that the nation of the Chaldeans carried within themselves the principle of death, and must perish through their iniquity as truly as Judah must perish because of her iniquities. The triumph of the Babylonian power is but temporary.

God in the future will work out his principle of righteousness, providence will vindicate itself, and in Habakkuk 3 we have the prophet’s vision of God marching through history, and he pictures him as few poets have ever pictured God in his providential management of the world and its affairs. The question is then, How can God, holy and pure and righteous as he is, permit this evil in Judah and in Babylonia? It will be observed at once that it is a profound question, one of the most perplexing questions that ever troubled the human mind. Habakkuk is not the only one who has asked that question. How is it that God permits the colossal evils that have been going on for millenniums in this world? What is the meaning of it all? Such questions have troubled many minds.

The following is a convenient analysis of the book of Habakkuk:

Introduction: The title, (Habakkuk 1:1).

I. The prophet’s problems (Habakkuk 1:2-2:4).

1. The prophet’s cry (Habakkuk 1:2-4).

2. Jehovah’s answer (Habakkuk 1:5-11).

3. A new problem (Habakkuk 1:12-17).

4. The prophet’s attitude (Habakkuk 2:1).

5. Jehovah’s explanation (Habakkuk 2:2-5).

II. The prophet’s proclamations (Habakkuk 2:6-3:19).

1. The vision of destruction in five woes (Habakkuk 2:6-20).

2. The prophet’s prayer and psalm (Habakkuk 3:1-19).

The prophet cries against injustice and oppression (Habakkuk 1:2-4). Abominable iniquities were prevailing in Judah and Jerusalem under the reign of that wicked king. The prophet was unable to restrain himself, and he broke forth, "O, Jehovah, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear?" This cry is not necessarily the cry of prayer; it is the cry of distress, the cry that arises from a heart which feels that something is wrong, feels it deeply, and cries out to God because of it. It may include prayer, but it is not primarily prayer. He has been crying to God because of this iniquity and God doesn’t seem to be listening: "Thou wilt not save! How long must I continue?"

"I cry out unto thee of violence," and that word "violence" is the word they used when any great crime was being committed, as murder or robbery. It is one of the strongest words in the language. Instead of crying, "Murder," he would say, "Violence." It means that the worst of evils prevailed in the city and in the land. "And thou wilt not save I" How long is God going to stand this condition of affairs and not save us from it?

Then he raises another question: "Why dost thou show and cause me to see iniquity, crookedness, perverseness? for destruction and violence are before us; and there is sin and contention." That was the condition of affairs in the reign of Jehoiakim. The law found in the Temple not long before this and which was promulgated under good King Josiah and accepted by the nation, with the king at its head, "is slackened, and justice doth never go forth; for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore justice goeth forth perverted." It will be observed that the sins mentioned here are those that Amos charged against Northern Israel, that Jeremiah and Micah especially charged against Southern Israel, the same conditions, and the same iniquities prevailing. Such is the prophet’s cry.

There is a great difference of opinion among interpreters regarding this oppression, violence, and perversion of justice, as to how it arose. Some maintain that it was because of the oppression of the Chaldeans; and others that it was the oppression of Egypt, for during this time Judah and Jerusalem were swaying between these powers; at one time Assyria, then Babylonia, and then Egypt. But this explanation does not fit the case. It was not a case of foreign oppression. Foreign oppression did not cause the law to be slack and justice and judgment to be perverted. Foreign oppression would not necessarily affect the social, commercial, and religious life of the people. The prophet had in mind evidently the actual condition of Israel during the reign of Jehoiakim when wickedness prevailed among the people, especially in Jerusalem itself.

Jehovah’s answer to the cry of the prophet (Habakkuk 1:5-11) is that he is going to raise up the nation of the Chaldeans and they are going to be the means of punishing Israel for her sins. God calls attention first of all to the great wonder he is going to perform: "Behold, ye among the nations, and look and wonder marvelously, for I am working a work in your days," which shows that the Chaldeans now rising up on the horizon had not yet attained their greatest height. "Behold, I am working a work in your days, which ye will not believe, though it be told you."

Assyria and Nineveh had been crushed and it was almost inconceivable to them that another nation would be raised up, almost as cruel and as rapacious as was Nineveh herself. He has done that many times in history and since the days of Habakkuk. What a wonder that people have not believed, although it has been told them. In Habakkuk 1:6 this is explained: "I raise up the Chaldeans." Let us note particularly the description of this nation: "that bitter and hasty nation," swift in their movements, could strike blows where they were least expected, "that march through the breadth of the earth to possess dwelling places that are not theirs." That was the purpose of all their conquests, to seize upon possessions not theirs, the same as was the purpose of Assyria and Nineveh. "They are terrible and dreadful; their judgment and their dignity proceed from themselves," not from any higher source. "Their horses are swifter than the leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves; their horsemen shall spread themselves, and shall come from afar; they shall fly as the eagles that hasteth to devour." A very vivid description of the swiftness with which the Babylonian army marched.

They shall come for what? Habakkuk 1:9, "They come all of them for violence; the set of their faces is forward; and they gather captives as the sand. Yea, he scoffeth at kings, and princes are a derision unto him; he derideth every stronghold; for he heapeth up dust, and taketh it." They will gather the people together like heaps of dust, no matter whether kings, princes, or strongholds, the Chaldeans will gather them together as they would gather dust in their hands. "Then shall he sweep by as a wind, and shall pass over, and be guilty," or commit sin, "even he whose might," whose strength, whose prowess, "is his god." There is such a thing as a deifying of force, the worship of strength, or a man making his strength his god, or a man making money his god. Why? Because money is power. The Babylonian made his might his god; he worshiped his strength, and Babylonia is not the only nation that has done that same thing.

Habakkuk (Habakkuk 1:12-17) expresses a very beautiful faith in God and a very high and holy conception of him: "Art not thou from everlasting, O Jehovah my God, my Holy One? we shall not die." He voices the consciences of the very best people of Israel, God’s people. "We shall not die. O Jehovah, thou hast ordained him [the Chaldeans] for judgment; and thou, O Rock, hast established him for correction." That is why the Chaldeans have been raised up. Then he goes on: "Thou that art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and that canst not look on perverseness," and this is what gives rise to his problem, "Wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and boldest thy peace when the wicked swalloweth up the man that is more righteous than he; and makest men as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping things, that have no ruler over them?" He goes on with his description: "He taketh up all of them with the angle, he catcheth them in his net, and he gathereth them in his drag: therefore he rejoiceth and is glad."

Here is a nation that treats every other nation and people as if they were mere fish of the sea; he casts his great conquering net in and brings it up full, as mere fish to be devoured or thrown away. How can God look upon such things as that, such a nation treating God’s own people in this way? That is his problem. Then he goes on with the description, verse Habakkuk 1:16: "Therefore he sacrificeth unto his net, and burneth incense unto his drag; because by them his portion is fat, and his food plenteous." Then the question arises, "Shall he therefore empty his net, and spare not to slay the nations continually?" Is God going to let such a rapacious and insatiable monster go like that, devouring the people forever?

The prophet’s attitude toward this question (Habakkuk 2:1) was a waiting attitude, or the attitude of faith and honesty. The prophet in receiving an answer to this great question as to what providence means by permitting such, says, "I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and look forth to see what he will speak with me, and what I shall answer concerning my complaint." I will take my stand upon my tower where I can observe what God is going to do and what God will answer to my complaint; how he will answer my question.

Jehovah’s explanation of the new problem is that the Chaldean principle is the principle of death, but the righteous have within them the principle of life: "Jehovah answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tablets, that he may run that readeth it." Let the people see what is coming; write your vision plainly so that when a man sees it and reads it, he will run. And when the vision was written and they saw it, they felt like running. The vision, he says, is for the appointed time, this is a vision of coming destruction, the coming judgment, the overwhelming power of the Chaldeans: "The vision is for the appointed time, it hasteth toward the end, and shall not lie." It is true, though it tarry, wait for it: it will surely come, it will not delay. Now he repeats the statement, making it emphatic, to impress upon them the fact that that vision which Habakkuk saw of the coming destruction of judgment must certainly come.

I think you will find in Habakkuk 2:4, the greatest text in Habakkuk and one of the greatest texts of the Bible: "Behold, his soul is puffed up, it is not upright in him; but the righteous shall live by his faith." Behold, the soul of the Chaldean is puffed up, elated with mirth, with self-sufficiency; "but the righteous one shall live by his faithfulness." This is the text upon which Paul bases his theology and his interpretation of Christianity, and he uses it more than once. Let us try to find the interpretation of it: "The righteous shall live in his faithfulness." The word here is "faithfulness," not merely faith. The root of it is the word which means faith, and from which we get our word "amen". It means faithfulness, integrity, perseverance, and especially, steadfastness. Applied to business life it means integrity and steadfastness; to family life, faithfulness of father and mother, husband and wife, and child. Applied in every other respect we can interpret it by the word "faithfulness".

Paul says, "The just shall live by faith," that is, the soul shall find forgiveness and new life in Jesus Christ through the exercise of faith in his gospel. It implies there also the doctrine of perseverance and steadfastness. The just man, the righteous man shall live by his faithfulness, not merely by believing once in Jesus Christ, or believing once in God, but lie shall go on living by that faith in steadfastness and perseverance in his belief.

This is the great characteristic of Job, that he was proved to be steadfast, and the finest commentary, explanation of the doctrine of perseverance, or the preservation of the saints, is the book of Job. That is the principle of life, the principle by which the righteous shall live, by which Judah and Israel shall live, but the principle that animates the soul of the Chaldeans is pride, self-sufficiency, which unbalances all his powers and is the principle of death. It is suicide. That is the vision upon the tablet, great and eternal principles: that sin is suicide; that faithfulness is life. This is Habakkuk’s great contribution to the Old Testament theology.

Jehovah illustrates his answer in Habakkuk 2:5. The proud, treacherous, insatiable Chaldean shall become a proverb to the nations: "Yea, moreover, wine is treacherous, a haughty man, that keepeth not at home," means this: As wine will make a man drunk, it also makes him treacherous, with a tendency to wander away; so the Chaldean, drunk with his conquests, proud, self-sufficient, wandering everywhere wherever he can find anything to satisfy his lusts for conquest. As wine creates an appetite never satisfied, so the drunkenness that comes from conquests enlargeth his desire as Sheol, the underworld, with its insatiable maw that is never satisfied, "but gathereth unto him all nations and heapeth unto him all peoples." It is conquest, the lust for dominion and power, that is as insatiable as death and Sheol.

Habakkuk 2:6 says that the nations would take up a parable against him, a taunting proverb. Here he pictures the downfall of Babylon, who because of her greed, oppression, and plunder should have nations rise up against her and taunt her. Five songs, or five woes, follow:

1. The plunderer shall in turn be plundered, Habakkuk 2:6-8: "Woe to him that increaseth that which is not his! how long? and that ladeth himself with pledges!" That is, making himself a debtor to all these nations by taking their possessions; and by continually treating the nations this way, he made all the nations his creditors, and he himself was debtor to them all. "Shall they not rise up suddenly that shall bite thee, and awake that shall vex thee, and thou shalt be for booty unto them? Because thou hast plundered many nations, all the remnant of the peoples shall plunder thee, because of men’s blood, and for the violence done to the land, to the city, and to all that dwell therein."

2. A house built by evil gain shall witness against its owner, Habakkuk 2:9-11: "Woe to him that getteth an evil gain for his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the hand of evil!" That is a picture of many businessmen and other men of the present age, who set up a nest for themselves on high to be reserved for a rainy day. "Thou hast devised shame to thy house, by cutting off many peoples, and hast sinned against thy soul. For the stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it," a figurative expression, that the house built thus will witness against its owner.

3. The capital built by blood shall be as fuel to the fire, Habakkuk 2:12-14: "Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood, and establisheth a city by iniquity!" just as Nineveh and Babylon were established by iniquity. "Behold, is it not of Jehovah of hosts that the peoples labor for the fire, and the nations weary themselves for vanity?" That is the case because Jehovah hath decreed it. "For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of Jehovah, as the waters cover the sea," a fine text, which goes to show that the city being built by blood shall be burned, shall be destroyed, but Jehovah’s cause will triumph.

4. The producer of drunkenness and shame shall in turn be put to shame, Habakkuk 2:15-17: "Woe to him that giveth his neighbor drink, to thee that addest thy venom and makest him drunken also, that thou mayest look on their nakedness!" What is the meaning? Not simply giving one drink and compelling him to drink, but it means that he oppressed the people, brought them down to degradation, weakness, and shame, in order that he might gloat over their wretched, shameful condition, the figure being drawn from Noah when he got drunk and lay in his tent in a shameful condition.

Now Chaldea was to make all nations drunk, bring them down to shame and degradation and gloat over their condition. Then the woe follows: "Thou art filled with shame, and not glory; drink thou also, and be as one uncircumcised; the cup of Jehovah’s right hand shall come round unto thee, and foul shame shall be upon thy glory. .For the violence done to Lebanon shall cover thee, and the destruction of the beasts, which made them afraid; because of men’s blood, and for the violence done to the land, to the city, and to all that dwell therein."

5. The gross idolatry of Babylon disappoints the idol maker, Habakkuk 2:18-20: "What profiteth the graven image, that the maker thereof hath graven it; the molten image, even the teacher of lies, that he that fashioneth its form trusteth therein, to make dumb idols?" Then he says in Habakkuk 2:19, "Woe unto him that saith to the wood, Awake; to the dumb stone, Arise! Shall this teach? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in the midst of it." Compare that with Isaiah 44 for a description of idolatry. Then he goes on: "But Jehovah is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him." A splendid contrast that is, one of the finest in all the world’s literature, between the idols of Babylon and Jehovah, the living God.

Habakkuk 3 is in the form of a poem, picturing the theophany, the appearance of God as he is executing his vengeance in the world and saving his people: the picture of God appearing on the horizon of history, combining the elements that we find portrayed in the deliverance from Egypt, the bringing of Israel into Canaan, and some of the great historical deliverances that followed. A company of Savants in France gathered together and each one was to bring one of the finest quotations of poetry that he could discover, and Benjamin Franklin appeared with them on invitation and contributed his part to the program by reading this poem of Habakkuk. They were enraptured, wanted to have it published, wanted to know whence it came, who wrote it, where it was found, and thought it the finest thing they had ever heard. Franklin simply referred them to this book in the Bible.

In this proclamation concerning righteousness the viewpoint is that of the majesty of Jehovah, and the consequent triumph of his people. In the first movement the prophet declares his recognition of the divine interference, his consequent fear, and breathes a prayer for the revival of Jehovah’s work (Habakkuk 3:2). He then proceeds to celebrate the greatness of Jehovah as manifested in his dealings with his ancient people. This k a review of God’s work in the history of Israel, in an exalted strain of poetry, Habakkuk 3:3-15: At Sinai (Habakkuk 3:3-4); the plagues in the desert (Habakkuk 3:5) ; the terror of the nations at Israel’s coming (Habakkuk 3:6-7); crossing the Red Sea and the Jordan (Habakkuk 3:8-10); Joshua at Bethhoron (II) ; conquest of the land (Habakkuk 3:12-15). In the last section of the poem the prophet expresses fear and faith concerning the judgment. The contemplation of the judgment on the "puffed up" had filled him with fear, yet he triumphed in God. Describing the circumstances of utter desolation, he declares his determination in the midst of them to rejoice (Habakkuk 3:16-19). This view of the mountaintop faith of the prophet here furnishes a fitting conclusion of our study of this prophet. May his faith and spirit possess us!

QUESTIONS

1. What is the biblical information concerning the author of Habakkuk?

2. What is the date of this book and the circumstances fixing it?

3. What of the style and literature of this book?

4. What four great prophets of this period were contemporary and what the problem of each?

5. What other question arises in this connection?

6. Give an outline of this book.

7. What is the cry of the prophet, what its nature and cause, what the prevailing condition, what the theories respecting this oppression and what the real state of affairs?

8. What is Jehovah’s answer to the cry of the prophet, what the destructive work of the Chaldeans and the characteristics of their army (Habakkuk 1:5-11)?

9. What of Habakkuk’s faith in Jehovah and what new problem arises here (Habakkuk 1:12-17)?

10. What is the prophet’s attitude toward this question (Habakkuk 2:1)?

11. What is Jehovah’s explanation of the new problem, what specific charge to the prophet and why this special commission?

12. What was the writing on the tablet and what Paul’s use of it?

13. How does Jehovah illustrate his answer (Habakkuk 2:5)?

14. What was to be the attitude of the nations toward this devouring monster?

15. What is the first woe (Habakkuk 2:-8)?

16. What is the second woe (Habakkuk 2:9-11)?

17. What is the third woe (Habakkuk 2:12-14)?

18. What is the fourth woe (Habakkuk 2:15-17)?

19. What is the fifth woe (Habakkuk 2:18-20)?

20. What is the literary form of Habakkuk 3, what the contents Hi general, and what historic incident of the use of this poem?

21. Give more specifically the contents of this poem?