Habakkuk’s First Complaint and the Lord’s Answer (1:1–11)

How long, O Lord? (1:2). Faced with the evidence of rampant social injustice, internal corruption, and the incompetence of their kings, Habakkuk raises the question of how long the people must wait for God to intervene to relieve them of this “violence.” This lament expresses a deep emotional outburst that asks whether Yahweh, in allowing such a situation to occur, has committed an unjust act against the people: “The wicked hem in the righteous so that judgment is perverted” (1:4b).9 In the tumultuous period prior to the Battle of Carchemish in 605 B.C., which will change Judah’s political fortunes once again, Judah’s kings may not have been able or even willing to control the forces of chaos and injustice that fill the prophet with such indignation.10

Justice is perverted (1:4). Concern over injustice is also found in the assessment of the righteous sufferer in the Babylonian Theodicy, who cries out that “God does not block the progress of a demon.”11 Despite what appears to be a challenge to God over the current state of affairs, the prophet is not questioning his faith. Instead, he reaffirms it by demonstrating a belief in Yahweh’s ability to do something about the situation.

Habakkuk’s statements regarding social injustice are similar to those made by the eighth-century prophet Amos (Amos 2:6–12; 4:1; 8:4–6). Both prophets condemn political and economic leaders, who choose to exploit the labor of the poor while indulging their own desires. Egyptian wisdom literature is similarly replete with accusations against injustice perpetrated at high levels. Thus The Eloquent Peasant of the first intermediate period of Egyptian history (2258–2052 B.C.) describes how “justice flees” while magistrates show partiality, the “peace-maker … makes grief,” and the grain merchant does not give fair measure.12 Still, in the face of such corruption, the peasant can make the claim that “justice is for eternity” since it comes at the gods’ command and transcends the actions of individuals in this life.13

Advocating a patient view rather than expressing rash demands for action is a common theme in ancient Near Eastern wisdom literature and is appropriate to the time of the Assyrian hegemony and Neo-Babylonian expansion.14 Rather than seeking out the “heated man,” who sparks quarrels and hauls a load of falsehood as his freight,15 the “cooled headed” man pauses to consider both his words and his actions. With this admonition, the emphasis placed by the prophet on “living by faith” (Hab. 2:4) becomes the ultimate resort of an oppressed people.

I am raising up the Babylonians (1:5–6). In response to Habakkuk’s cry for answers to his people’s plight, God in turn responds (1:5–11) by saying that the Babylonians (lit., Chaldeans), then moving to supplant the remnants of the Assyrian empire, have been chosen to punish Judah as well as the other nations (cf. Isaiah’s similar reference to the Assyrian threat in Isa. 10:5 and the assertion in the Cyrus Cylinder that Marduk “named” Cyrus and the Persians to capture Babylon and restore the proper celebration of the New Year’s Akitu festival).16

Cyrus cylinder

Caryn Reeder, courtesy of the British Museum

Bent on violence (1:8–9). The Assyrian annals are filled with accounts of their rampaging armies as they ruthlessly smashed all opposition and took thousands of prisoners. Spear-welding cavalry were employed as a shock force, leading the charge in battle ahead of the infantry. Their mobility was also useful in wooded country, where archers were ineffective.17

The kings were also fond of describing themselves with bestial powers: Sennacherib “raged like a lion” as he ordered an invasion of Babylonia and set out before a mighty host “like a mighty wild ox.”18 They also attempted to frighten their opponents with a rhetoric of intimidation, such as that used by King Sargon II, who boasted that he “poured out his awe-inspiring radiance upon all lands,” or Ashurnasirpal II, whose enemies are said to cringe before the splendor of his weapons.19 This strategy has been termed the “ideology of terror.”20 Exemplary punishments were often used to instill fear, including flaying alive, impalement, cutting off body parts, or burning alive.21

Earthen ramps (1:10). The annals of the Assyrian kings contain details of their capture of walled cities (see 2 Kings 19:32; Isa. 37:33; Jer. 6:6). A siege, which could take many months, involved various attack strategies designed to both demoralize the defenders and physically weaken their defenses. Note, for example, Sennacherib’s description of the siege of Jerusalem in 701 B.C.: “I besieged forty-six of his [Hezekiah’s] fortified walled cities … using packed-down ramps and applying battering rams, infantry attacks by mines, breeches, and siege machines.”22

Siege ramps at Lachish

Caryn Reeder, courtesy of the British Museum

The siege ramp was designed to counteract the construction of mounds of earth placed against the city walls that made any approach too steep for wheeled towers or the effective use of battering rams against city gates. Once this artificial leveling took place, archers could shoot directly into the battlements and those operating the ram could work with safety inside the protective covering of the wheeled tower.23 The Assyrians had found that it was much more effective to conclude a siege by penetrating the city than to starve it out through blockade.24

Strength is their god (1:11). The ultimate indictment of the Neo-Babylonians is their utter disregard for law, for the sovereignty of other nations and their rulers, and their single-minded mission to garner loot as they sweep like the wind through an area, overwhelming it with their fierce horsemen and chariots. The translation of this phrase is uncertain, and a number of alternatives have been suggested.25 If the NIV translation is retained, the charge may reflect the pain of those faced with the rapine committed by invading armies, despite the fact that Babylonian inscriptions invariably give credit for military victories to the strength provided to kings by their gods. Thus Nabopolassar extols Nabu and Marduk for aiding him to remove the Assyrian yoke from his land.26