TEXT [Commentary]

  D.   Second Explanation: God Controls All Nations according to His Purposes (2:2-20)

1.   Preliminary instructions and guiding principles (2:2-4)

2 Then the LORD said to me,

“Write my answer plainly on tablets,

so that a runner can carry the correct message to others.

3 This vision is for a future time.

It describes the end, and it will be fulfilled.

If it seems slow in coming, wait patiently,

for it will surely take place.

It will not be delayed.

4 “Look at the proud!

They trust in themselves, and their lives are crooked.

But the righteous will live by their faithfulness to God.[*]

NOTES

2:2 tablets. Ewald (1875) suggests that the tablet in question was customarily erected in marketplaces. Such tablets were set up so that public notices could be written on them. Since the Hebrew noun is plural, Laetsch (1956) proposes that these tablets might have been erected in any public place, including locations along highways or in temple courts. Keil (1954) thinks that the reference is general—the definite article referring to the particular tablets that Habakkuk was to inscribe. Though this observation is valid, Laetsch’s point concerning the erection of tablets has the advantage of historical parallel (cf. 1 Macc 14:25-49). For other scriptural examples of the motif of revelation inscribed on tablets, see Exod 31:18; Isa 8:1; 30:8; Jer 17:1. The NIV takes this to refer to a message that a herald would have taken and run with from one village to another.

a runner can carry the correct message to others. J. M. Holt proposes that this part of the command is to be taken metaphorically, the running being understood as living obediently (cf. Ps 119:32; 1 Cor 9:24-27; Phil 3:13-14). This suggestion raises the question of whether the command to write the revelation is to be understood literally or figuratively. The traditional interpretation takes the command to be literal and assumes that its main purpose is that of preserving (Armerding 1985) or disseminating (Laetsch 1956) the message. Keil (1954) opts for a figurative understanding, proposing that all of the passages dealing with prophetic activity and writing on tablets are also to be understood figuratively.

Whether literal or figurative, certainly all of the emphases that the commentators have suggested are true to the text. The message is to be clearly understood, assimilated, preserved, and propagated. The imagery of running suggests that even the most hurried passerby may see and quickly understand it (Driver 1950) and then herald its message to others. The idea of tablets brings to mind the lasting quality and applicability of a message that is geared for a “future time” (2:3).

2:3 This vision is for a future time. The emphasis is that the vision is a witness to the appointed time, for it testifies truly concerning that end (cf. Patterson 1991:174-175). Roberts (1991:110) remarks, “The vision is a witness to what God is going to do at a set time in the future. Because God’s intervention is to take place in the future, the testimony about it is to be written down and preserved as a witness until the events of that day confirm it.” By slightly modifying the Septuagintal reading here, the author of Hebrews (Heb 10:37-38) elucidates a messianic application in the text (Lunemann 1882:315).

it will surely take place. It will not be delayed. The force of the Hebrew in the first thought is caught nicely by the NLT. The appointed end is fixed! The verb “delayed” can also be understood as “be late,” the point in either case being that the divine plan is unswervingly on schedule.

2:4 proud! The first line of 2:4 is notoriously difficult. Many suggestions have been made as to the understanding of both the syntax and words involved. (For the difficulties posed by 2:4, see Patterson 1991:211-223.) The NLT’s rendering, “proud,” captures well the arrogance connoted by the Hebrew word.

crooked. Lit., “not straight/upright” (lo’ yasherah [TH3808/3474, ZH4202/3837]). Robertson (1990:174-175) remarks, “This position of pride and self-reliance also excludes from the proud the possibility of finding a righteousness outside himself. For he has presumed to define himself as the source of his own goodness.”

the righteous will live by their faithfulness to God. Robertson (1990:175-176) points out, “The concept of righteousness . . . in the OT develops a distinctive flavor in that it is bound inseparably to the idea of judicial standing. . . . In Hab. 2:4b, the term for the justified or ‘the righteous,’ ” (tsaddiq [TH6662, ZH7404]), “contrasts with the reference to the soul of the proud, which is not ‘upright’, ” (yasherah [TH3474, ZH3837]), “in the immediately preceding phrase. The soul of the proud is not morally upright (yasherah) in him; but the one who is legally righteous (tsaddiq) shall live.”

The word translated “faithfulness” has been treated variously by scholars, both as to etymology and as to whether the noun has an active (truthfulness) or passive (trustworthiness) meaning. More than likely both active and passive meanings are inherent in the word.

COMMENTARY [Text]

Once again, the Lord reminded Habakkuk that his ministry was God-inspired (2:2). The message that he was to record was nothing less than the revealed Word of God—he could be certain that it was a true word and a word that entailed responsive faith to wait for its fulfillment, for it speaks of a yet future time when all of God’s predetermined plan will be consummated (2:3). God’s instructions to Habakkuk reinforce the theological outlook of the whole Bible. The Scriptures are God’s objectively verifiable revelation. They are inerrant in their original text, and their truths span the whole of earth’s existence and human history (2 Tim 3:16; 2 Pet 3:5-10). Accordingly, God’s word demands a proper response in faith on the part of those who claim his name. Further, these verses make it clear that the message should be passed on in order that all may read, heed, and react properly to it.

Habakkuk was also told the basic guiding principles upon which the operation of divine government unalterably proceeds until the coming of that final appointed time (2:3). God informs Habakkuk of the characteristic makeup of the wicked. Their basic problem is an underlying selfishness that shows itself in an arrogant and presumptuous attitude. Therefore, it can be said that what the wicked desire is not upright. Spiritually, morally, and ethically, the ungodly presumptuously ignore the path of God’s righteousness to follow the way of selfish desires in the everyday decisions of life.

The upright are those who walk unwaveringly in accordance with God‘s standards. Fundamental to the use of the word translated “righteous” (2:4) is the concept of God’s own righteousness, the truth that God’s decisions and actions always conform to his holy and just nature.

The Hebrew noun translated “faithfulness” or “faith” (2:4; ’emunah [TH530, ZH575]) emphasizes firmness of belief and integrity of character, as well as the acts that flow from them. In reference to people of genuine faith, it denotes “a personal attribute of man, fidelity in word and deed . . . and, in his relation to God, firm attachment to God, an undisturbed confidence in the divine promises of grace” (Keil 1954:73). Taking both words together, Habakkuk 2:4 indicates that because the believer is one in whom God’s righteous character has been reproduced, he can be expected to conduct himself in a manner consistent with his renewed being.

With regard to the terms “righteous(ness)” and “faith(fulness),” Keil (1954:73) tells us that it is impossible to mistake the reference to Genesis 15:6, which says that Abraham believed God, and God reckoned it to him as righteousness. Although the nature of Abraham’s faith and his standing before God have been subjects of intense discussion among biblical scholars, the force of the words and the context makes clear that “Abram accepted the Word of the Lord as reliable and true and acted in accordance with it; consequently, the Lord declared Abram righteous and therefore acceptable” (Ross 1988:310).

The well-known statement concerning the patriarch’s faith lies behind Habakkuk’s words; consequently the idea of a genuinely righteous man with right standing before God would not be foreign to the prophet or his audience. Scriptural precedent thus reinforces the blending of active and passive meanings in ’emunah (faith[fulness]). The force of the words accordingly becomes all the stronger: A genuinely righteous person will live out the faith in faithful activity.

The crucial nature of Habakkuk 2:4b can be seen in its impact upon the believing community, Jew and Gentile alike. As Cranfield (1975:101) points out, “This is a great text. It could even be called the great text of the Bible. To understand it is to understand the Christian gospel and the Christian life. It is so important that it is picked up by the New Testament writers, twice by Paul (Rom 1:17; Gal 3:11) and once by the author of the Book of Hebrews (Heb 10:38).” C. L. Feinberg (1976:211) may not be too far wrong in dubbing this text the “watchword of Christianity,” the key to Habakkuk, and “the central theme of all the Scriptures.”

Luther’s appreciation of Romans 1:17 originates in Paul’s application of the text of Habakkuk 2:4b. Rather than stressing the faithfulness of the righteous believer, Paul understands the essential truth of the text to be “It is through faith that a righteous person has life”—that is, in an ultimate sense, such a believer really lives. The apostle emphasizes that the person’s right standing before God is not based on works (Eph 2:8), not even those of the law (Gal 3:11), but only on genuine faith.

That the New Testament writers were aware of Habakkuk’s intended meaning seems certain by the citation of his words in Hebrews 10:35-39, where, quoting the text of the Septuagint (and supplying to the Greek text the pronoun “my” after “righteous ones” and inverting the final two words of the verse, “My righteous ones will live by faith[fulness]”), the author of Hebrews applies the outworking of the believers’ faith to their living in the certain hope of Christ’s coming.

Thus the New Testament writers variously stressed two resident theological truths in Habakkuk 2:4b: (1) The righteous ones are deemed so because by faith they have right standing before God (Rom 1:17; 4:1-25; Gal 3:11; cf. Gen 15:6), and (2) the ones who have faith will be faithful (Heb 10:35-39). Faith and faithfulness, therefore, are twin aspects of a living reality. Genuine faith will be lived out in faithfulness to God and his precepts (cf. Jas 2:17-24). How crucial it is for all people everywhere to forsake arrogant self-preoccupation and to receive God’s righteousness. Only then will they be those who are truly alive and so can live faithful and productive lives before their Creator. Craigie (1985:94) appropriately observes, “Habakkuk said it clearly: the meaning of our life and the possibility of righteousness flow from a commitment to God, in faith and in continuing faithfulness.”