A. THE PROPHET
Actual knowledge about Habakkuk is very slight. Only his name is mentioned in the book, and in the Bible only here. There are traditions which are largely fanciful but perhaps with some grain of historical truth. Even the derivation of his name admits of several possibilities.
First it is very similar to an Assyrian word (humbakuku) which is the name of a flower. It is further related to a Hebrew word which means “to clasp or embrace.” This was favored by Jerome and followed by Martin Luther, who turned it to an interesting interpretation: “He embraces his people, and takes them to his arms, i.e., he comforts them and holds them up, as one embraces a weeping child or person to quiet it with the assurance that if God will it shall be better soon.”1
Jerome interpreted the name as indicating the prophet's love for God or that he wrestled with God in argument. The Rabbinic tradition also favors “embrace” as the root meaning of his name, and presents Habakkuk as the son of the Shunammite woman whom Elisha restored to life (II Kings 4:16-37). This is partially based on the possibility that the abstract form of his name may mean “darling.” But here we are in the realm of fancy.
It is conjectured from 3:19 that Habakkuk was officially qualified to take part in the liturgical singing of the Temple, i.e., was a member of the Temple choir. The musical arrangement of c. 3 adds support to this view. If this is the case, he belonged to one of the Levitical families who were charged with the maintenance of the Temple music.
Habakkuk is an example of the rare occurrence in which one of the prophets is actually called “the prophet” (1:1; nabi). This leads one to believe that he was recognized as a professional prophet.
There is one further source of information entitled Laws of the Prophets. It dates from about the latter part of the fourth century, but its authorship is uncertain and it is considered quite unreliable. This work relates that, when Nebuchadnezzar came up against Jerusalem, Habakkuk fled to a place called Ostrakine on the Egyptian coast. After the Chaldeans had left, it continues, Habakkuk returned to his own land, where he died and was buried, two years before the Jews returned from Babylon in 537 B.C.
B. HIS PERIOD
Habakkuk's message is timeless, yet his time provokes the questions he asks. He was a contemporary of the great prophet Jeremiah and his book is traditionally dated around 600 B.C., not long before the Babylonian captivity in 586 B.C. The question of date is far more important in the study of this book than many others. In fact it is intimately bound up with the interpretation of the message. If we could determine definitely who the peoples actually were who caused Habakkuk's concern, we could more accurately locate it historically. This turns out to be one of the knotty problems of the Old Testament. There are no extra-canonical sources by which one can pinpoint who the enemies were, so the student must depend entirely on the content of the prophecy itself, and this is far from decisive. The major problem here is identifying the “wicked” whom he denounces in the first paragraph (1:4). The only general agreement about the date seems to be that the book falls sometime between 697 and 586 B.C.
The Dead Sea Scrolls, a collection of writings discovered in 1947-48 near the Dead Sea, have been highly influential in much Old Testament study. Included is a commentary on the Book of Habakkuk. This commentary is considered to be the earliest “witness to the text of Habakkuk perhaps by many centuries.”2 It is dated by scholars in the first century B.C. Consequently it would have considerable bearing on the more modern interpretations of Habakkuk.
Taylor points out3 three matters which he claims the Scrolls have confirmed:
(1) Chapter 3 was not an original part of the book. It was not included in the commentary which dealt only with cc. 1—2. The manner in which it was rolled prohibited the objection that c. 3 might have been torn off. However this does not say that Habakkuk was not the author of c. 3. In fact, the position of J. H. Eaton is that Habakkuk composed it later as a liturgical psalm and it was subsequently added to the original work. This seems sound.
(2) The use of the name “Chaldeans” in 1:6 is genuine. This has been one of the major points of discussion. By using a word closely related as a substitute (chittim) some scholars have endeavored to interpret the avengers which the Lord was using as the Greeks of Alexander the Great. The Dead Sea Scrolls commentary would have had every reason to use this substitute word but rather retained the traditional reading. This seems quite decisive in limiting the interpretation of the passage to the period of the Chaldeans.
(3) The Book of Habakkuk appears to have had a number of variant texts up until the first century B.C. This allows for a great deal of assumed composition over the years which many scholars have exploited to the full. It is clear that the text of Habakkuk has varied in copying, but much of the shifting of passages to fit various theories is quite arbitrary and imaginative.
C. HIS PROBLEMS
Two problems face the prophet. Both have to do with the ways of God with men. Habakkuk is one of the few men who have been bold enough to wrestle and argue with God. Perhaps the key verse is 2:1—“I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved.”
The crucial answer is in 2:4b—“But the just shall live by his faith.”
Outline
I. Habakkuk's Complaint, 1:1-4
B. The Prophet's Problem, 1:2-4
B. The Instrument of God's Work, 1:6-11
III. Habakkuk Questions God's Answer, 1:12-17
D. The Fate of the Greedy, 2:5-6a
A. The Merciless Capitalist, 2:6b-8
B. The Wealthy Villain, 2:9-11
C. The Deceitful Ruler, 2:12-14
D. The Drunken Exploiter, 2:15-17