Habakkuk

1. THE PROPHET’S PERPLEXITIES AND GOD’S EXPLANATIONS (1:1–2:20)

A. First perplexity (1:1–4). 1:1. Habakkuk introduces his prophecy that his words are an oracle or pronouncement from God. A similar superscription introduces Habakkuk’s prayer and praise in 3:1.

1:2–4. Habakkuk cannot understand why God is ignoring the rampant corruption in Judah. He has often cried to God in anguish but has received no answer (1:2). Because the call-answer motif is used often in the OT to express communion between God and the believer, Habakkuk may fear that God’s failure to answer indicates that Habakkuk is out of fellowship with God.

The Hebrew words for Judah’s sin in 1:2–3 involve the ideas of malicious viciousness, utter wickedness, and perversity. They depict a general condition of oppression and contention, which is most applicable to the time of Manasseh (see 2 Kg 21:1–16; 2 Ch 33:1–10). Because Manasseh rejected God’s sovereignty over his life, it is small wonder that Judah was filled with violence and immorality. For Judah’s law ultimately resided in the revealed teaching of God, whose standards were to permeate every area of the believer’s life. Accordingly, justice and righteousness, the twin expressions of God’s legal and judicial holiness, were openly perverted (1:4).

B. First explanation (1:5–11). 1:5–6. God’s reply is puzzling. He tells Habakkuk that he will punish wicked Judah by using Chaldeans (the Babylonians, 1:6). Since the Neo-Babylonian Empire would not be a force to be reckoned with until much later, such a threat seems unbelievable (1:5). In fact, although full judgment would not descend on Judah for more than half a century, the forces that will spell Judah’s doom are already being set in motion. Whether Habakkuk lived to see the rise of the Chaldeans is not known, but Manasseh’s summons to Babylon (2 Ch 33:11) would portend Babylon’s later dealings with God’s people. The pronoun “your” with the noun “days” is plural and therefore does not indicate specifically Habakkuk’s lifetime. The words are to be taken in a general way.

1:7–11. Verses 7–11 describe the coming Babylonian army to reinforce God’s dire pronouncement. They will be a formidable and fierce people noted for their cruelty and arrogant spirit (1:7). Armed with a sizable cavalry, they will move swiftly across the land and with all the cunning of a ferocious wolf that uses the gathering twilight to attack the sheepfold (1:8). The army covers vast distances with the speed of an eagle set for the prey. The image changes in 1:9 to depict the army as a desert storm. Just as the east wind carried sand in its cyclonic winds, so the Babylonians will gather numerous prisoners.

Habakkuk 1:10 underscores the audacity and rapacity of the coming Babylonian host. The verse describes the siege methods typically used by armies in the ancient Near East (cf. 2 Sm 20:15; 2 Kg 19:32; Jr 32:24; Ezk 17:17). In 1:11 Habakkuk turns his attention to the Babylonians’ unbridled conceit. Elated by their successes, they will sow the seeds of their own destruction with their reckless pride.

Thus, God’s reply to Habakkuk is one of assurance. He is already dealing with Judah’s sin, but the full realization of his activity will come in God’s own appointed time and way.

C. Second perplexity (1:12–17). Habakkuk has heard God’s response, but he cannot reconcile God’s holiness with God’s determination to use the wicked Babylonians to destroy God’s people. Rather than waiting for God’s purposes to unfold, Habakkuk presumes to instruct God. He has charged God with negligence and indifference (1:2–4); he will now charge God with using evil to overcome evil, since a holy God could not carry out such a plan.

1:12–13. Habakkuk first reaffirms his belief in God, the everlasting Lord, the Holy One, Israel’s Rock, and his very own God (1:12). Having demonstrated his allegiance to God, Habakkuk points out the paradox that a holy God could use a wicked nation to execute his purposes (1:13). Yes, Judah is wicked, but Babylon is even more so. In making his point Habakkuk utilizes some of the same Hebrew words used to describe Judah’s sin. Can God not see the danger of using such a treacherous and wicked nation?

1:14–17. Habakkuk complains that God’s plan will render Judah and the surrounding nations as helpless as fish and sea creatures, which fishermen catch with hooks, nets, or a dragnet (1:14–15). Unchecked by any foe, these Babylonian “fishermen” will know no god but their own nets (1:16). Habakkuk fears that the great success of the Neo-Babylonian army will instill such pride that the Babylonians will live recklessly and riotously, believing only in themselves and raw power.

Habakkuk ends his second questioning on a note of lament and deep dismay. He wonders whether such arrogance and ferociousness, once unleashed, will go on, mercilessly unchecked (1:17).

D. Second explanation (2:1–20). 2:1–3. Having protested God’s explanation, Habakkuk assumes the position of a prophetic watchman (cf. Is 21:8; Jr 6:17; Ezk 3:17; 33:2–3). Habakkuk will wait in earnest anticipation for God’s second response (2:1). As a watchman stands ready at his post to receive news from afar, so Habakkuk will prepare his soul for God’s message.

The Lord’s reply comes quickly. Habakkuk is told to write down God’s revelation for all to read (2:2). This is especially important because the fulfillment will take some time. As the time approaches for its realization, however, it will be like a swift distance runner lunging for the finish line. Regardless of how slowly the fulfillment of God’s word seems to move, it will come in God’s appointed time with sudden finality (2:3). Therefore, Habakkuk’s words will truthfully bear witness to God’s divine government.

2:4–5. God now discloses a great and hidden purpose in his ordered government. God is superintending the issues of the day, thereby allowing the righteous and the unrighteous to be clearly distinguished. Though God permits unrighteous people to thrive and may even use them to execute his mysterious purposes, the arrogance and self-will of the wicked will ultimately carry them to destruction. Habakkuk should see that the Babylonians fit into this category. As is so often the case with the wicked, their success will produce an intellectual giddiness that will only be fed by the wine of their drink (2:5). The Babylonians’ riotous lifestyle will bring about an insatiable lust for power and plunder that will be as seemingly unquenchable as the thirst of death and the grave. Unlike the wicked, the righteous are consumed by neither power nor greed nor pride. Rather, “the righteous one will live by his faith” (2:4). [“The Righteous One Will Live by His Faith”]

2:6–8. Having made clear the reasons for his patience with humanity over the long course of history, God now tells Habakkuk that the Babylonians will nevertheless reap the fruit of their unrighteousness (2:6–20). God presents the self-destruction of the Babylonians in a series of pithy taunt songs in the mouth of those they have oppressed. Five woes are pronounced. Prophetic woe oracles consisted of three elements: invective (or strong denunciation), threat, and reason(s) for the judgment.

In the first woe (2:6–8) God declares that the Babylonians will be despoiled. As the Babylonians plundered others, they too will be plundered.

2:9–11. In the second woe God reports that the Babylonians will be dishonored. Those who build their kingdoms by unjust gain will be brought to shame. The once-mighty Babylon would become a heap of ruins whose very stones bewail its former grandeur.

2:12–14. In the third woe God states that the Babylonians will be devastated. The Babylonians had built their proud city with the blood-bought spoils of other nations that would all be used eventually for their enemies’ siege fires. Surely all nations who oppose God will one day be destroyed by the Lord.

2:15–17. In the fourth woe God announces that the Babylonians will be disgraced. Here Babylon is likened to a man who gives his neighbors intoxicating wine in order to make sport of them by denuding them (2:15). Yet Babylon, the ones who have caused disgrace, will be disgraced (2:16). The picture here is of one who is so overcome with drink that in his stupor he lies naked in his own vomit.

All of this is the Lord’s judgment. For the wine will be found in a “cup in the LORD’s right hand” (2:16). The right-hand imagery indicates distinct emphasis, honor, or definiteness of act. Therefore, Babylon’s judgment is both certain and severe.

The cup is often used as a figure of that which God appoints for humanity, be it a blessing (Pss 16:5; 23:5; 116:13) or a judgment (Ps 75:8; Is 51:17; Jr 25:15–17; Ezk 23:31–34; Rv 14:10).

Two further charges are laid against proud Babylon: it has greatly deforested Lebanon and has spilled the blood of man and animal alike in its insatiable thirst for world domination (2:17).

2:18–20. In the fifth woe God proclaims that the Babylonians will be deserted. What little spiritual consciousness the Babylonians had resulted largely from thousands of years of pagan polytheism. Worst of all, in the hour of God’s judgment, Babylon will be forsaken by its idols.

Habakkuk 2:20 stands both as a final word to the fifth woe and as a word for all humanity. It is better to pay homage to the one who inhabits the heavens than to trust in false gods.

2. THE PROPHET’S PRAYER AND GOD’S EXALTATION (3:1–19)

A. The prophet’s prayer (3:1–2). Habakkuk’s prayer in this chapter is a prayer psalm. The Hebrew word for prayer used here (3:1) designates five psalms (Pss 17; 86; 90; 102; 142) and is also used of the collected psalms of David (Ps 72:20). Habakkuk’s prayer psalm is genuinely personal and yet designed for the sacred liturgy, as further indicated by the final footnote at the end of the chapter and the recurring use of the musical term selah. The phrase “On shigionoth” likely refers to a song that can be set to several tunes.

Habakkuk recalls God’s past mighty deeds on Israel’s behalf and pleads for God’s mercy (3:2).

B. The prophet’s praise (3:3–15). Habakkuk turns now to praise the Lord. In so doing, he draws on a body of poetic material from the days of Moses. These epic poems told of God’s deliverance of his people from Egypt, his preservation of them in their wilderness wanderings, and his triumphant leading of them into the land of promise. There are two poems here, the first describing God’s leading his people from the southland toward the place they would cross the Jordan (3:3–7) and the second commemorating the exodus and early incidents within the promised land (3:8–15).

3:3–7. The approach of God from the southland at the head of his people and in company with his heavenly train is detailed first. The two localities mentioned in 3:3a mark the Transjordanian southland. Teman is the southernmost of Edom’s two chief cities. Paran designates not only a mountain range west and south of Edom and northeast of Mount Sinai but also a broad desert area in the Sinai peninsula. The event described here echoes Dt 33:1–2 and Jdg 5:4, where “Seir” parallels Mount Paran and Edom, and the importance of Mount Sinai is underscored.

Israel’s God comes filling heaven and earth with his radiant glory, far greater than the brilliance of the rising sun or the glaring blaze of the sun at midday (3:3b–4). This theophany of God’s awesome majesty was also accompanied by a manifestation of his power in plague and pestilence (3:5). However glorious God’s coming for his people might have been, it was horrible for his enemies.

The first poem closes with a further discussion of the effects of God’s powerful activity. A violent shaking convulsed the earth so that the mountains tumbled downward (3:6). God’s age-old paths collapsed before his power. Likewise, the inhabitants of the area were struck with terror at the presence of Israel’s God (3:7).

3:8–15. Verses 8–15 describe God’s further victories involving his use of natural forces. The whole imagery of 3:8–11 is somewhat difficult, but the point appears to be that God is the mighty warrior who uses his celestial weapons on behalf of his earthly people.

Habakkuk 3:12–14 portrays the great victory of Israel’s almighty deliverer. These verses focus on God’s redemption of his people out of Egypt at the time of the exodus. God is seen moving in great fury against the enemy, defeating him, disarming him, and destroying him with his own weapons. In all of this God’s purpose is to be seen in his desire to save his people. The term “your anointed” (3:13) is not used elsewhere of Israel, so it most likely refers to an individual, such as Moses or the Messiah. The imagery implies that the leader of that enemy army was smashed with a blow to the head that crumpled him, as a heavy weight delivered to the roof of a house crushes it from top to bottom.

Habakkuk 3:14 is particularly picturesque. The enemy’s self-confidence is compared to that of certain brigands who lurk with eager anticipation in dark, secret places so as to set upon unsuspecting passersby. Israel’s overconfident enemy, however, will be rudely disappointed.

Habakkuk closes this psalm with a reminder that Pharaoh’s ambitions sank in the Red Sea (3:15; cf. Ex 15:1–12).

Summary. The point of the double psalm is clear. Just as God led his people victoriously out of mighty Egypt, through the Red Sea, and on to Sinai, up from Sinai and through the wilderness, through the Jordan River and into the promised land, so he can and will yet lead his people in triumph over their enemies—but in his appointed time, way, and strength.

C. The prophet’s pledge (3:16–19). Having heard God’s replies and the message of the psalms, Habakkuk can feel his heart pounding (3:16). Such stark terror grips the prophet that he shakes convulsively, from quivering lips to trembling legs. The prophet who questioned God’s purposes now stands silent before the Lord of all the earth (cf. Jb 42:1–6); he will wait quietly and patiently for those purposes to be realized.

Although judgment must come because of Judah’s sin, and though all of Judah’s produce fail, Habakkuk will trust in God (3:17–18). More than economic issues are in view in verse 17, for each of the commodities speaks of deep spiritual principles upon which the basic covenant between God and his people has been established.

Habakkuk’s closing words are vastly different from his opening ones. In contrast to his harsh questions and accusations, the prophet now surrenders to God’s purposes for Israel and the nations. God’s patient answers and the further revelation of God’s person and power have humbled the prophet. Habakkuk declares that he will live triumphantly and faithfully through it all. He will rest secure in the strength that God alone can supply (3:19).