Habakkuk has been called “the doubting Thomas of the Old Testament,” “the grandfather of the Reformation,” “the prophet of faith,” and “the free-thinker among the prophets.” Had they known each other, there is no question but what Habakkuk and Job would have been bosom friends. It is evident that he lived in the period of the rise of the neo-Babylonian Empire (c. 625 bc), for the Chaldean invasion of Judah was threatening (1:5-6) and the iniquity of Judah was increasing.
Habakkuk was contemporary with Jeremiah at home and with Daniel abroad, having undoubtedly prophesied in the reigns of Jehoahaz and Jehoiakim. The state of things recorded in 1:2-4 coincides with the conditions in Jehoiakim’s time, and the threatened invasion of the Chaldeans (i.e., the Babylonians) answers to the facts recorded in 2 Kings 24 and 25.
A key word for the book is justice, while Robert Lee has stated its message as “God’s consistency with Himself in view of permitted evil.” Eric W. Hayden has summed up the book’s message as “Living the Life of Faith,” while its key verse is 2:4– “The just shall live by his faith.”
It has been suggested that Habakkuk seems more concerned with solving a problem than with delivering a message. Nevertheless, we can learn a valuable lesson from him, for when he was faced with a seemingly unsolvable problem, he took it to God instead of forsaking his faith as some would do and have done. Habakkuk’s problem centers upon the same theme taken up in Psalm 73–namely, why a just, holy and omnipotent God at times permits the wicked to flourish and the more righteous to suffer at their hands. In other words, the theological question at stake is how God’s patience with evil can square with His righteousness. With Job the problem was personal; with Habakkuk it was national. Having learned that the Chaldean nation was merely a tool employed by God to chasten Judah for its own shameful cruelties and the idolatry of the days of the wicked kings, Manasseh and Amon, the prophet’s perplexity was only intensified. How could God punish a nation by a less righteous nation?
It is well to remember that war is God’s scourge, and with it He chastens rebellious nations. Habakkuk’s problem is perennial and is as pertinent today as it was in his day. The answer to the problem is disclosed in the book’s key text of Habakkuk 2:4, the main thrust of this prophecy showing how God’s troubled prophet took his doubts and difficulties to the Lord, and how he found his answer.
The late J. Vernon McGee said that Habakkuk “had a question mark for a brain.” It is certainly true that the prophet began his book with a question mark (1:3), but he closed it with an exclamation point (3:18-19).
While Jonah related his personal experience in prose, Habakkuk related his in poetry. Dr. Merrill F. Unger has commented that “Habakkuk, like Nahum and Isaiah, is couched in sublime poetry, reflecting the classical era of Hebrew prophecy. The magnificent lyric ode of chapter 3 contains one of the greatest descriptions of the theophany in relation to the coming of the Lord which has been given by the Holy Spirit, awaiting fulfillment in the day of the Lord (cf. 2 Thess. 1:7-10).”
A Simple Outline
1. Faith Tried (ch. 1)
2. Faith Taught (ch. 2)
3. Faith Triumphant (ch. 3)
Some Notable Notes
Martin Luther has given a striking definition of Habakkuk’s name, which can hardly be improved upon. “Habakkuk signifies an embracer,” he wrote, “or one who embraces another, takes him into his arms,” i.e., he comforts them and holds them up, as one embraces a weeping child, to quiet it with the assurance that if God wills it shall soon be better.
What Habakkuk wrote concerning himself, which is very little, explains the resemblance of his prophecy to the Psalms. He was not only a prophet (1:1), but also one of the Levitical choristers in the temple (3:19). His description of the majesty and self-revelation of God in chapter 3 stands supreme, and the fact that the whole of the book is written in a strongly lyrical character makes its structure nearer to the Psalms than any other of the prophetical writings.
The book is unique in that two-thirds of it is a conversation between the prophet and his Lord.
Habakkuk’s prophecy must have been a favorite of the Apostle Paul’s, for in the New Testament he quotes from it three times, that is, if Paul was the human author of the Letter to the Hebrews (cf. Rom. 1:17; Gal. 3:11; Heb. 10:38). To this might be added the fact that in Romans 1:17 the emphasis is on “just”; in Galatians 3:11 it is on “faith”; while in Hebrews 10:38 it is on “live.”
W. Graham Scroggie has said of Habakkuk that “His first complaint is because of the apostasy of Judah, and his second is that the Lord could and would use as the instrument of chastisement such a wicked people as the Chaldeans. The Divine reply to the latter complaint is the heart of the book (2:4). It announces the Divine principle of righteousness which, in effect, is ‘The unjust shall die: the just shall live.’ This principle is applied, first to the Chaldeans (2:5-20), and then to Judah (ch. 3). In the first application a five-fold ‘Woe’ is pronounced against the Chaldeans, and the second application is a sublime Theophany and its effect. The text of the effect (3:16-19) is one of the finest sections in the Bible.” Thus Habakkuk began his prophecy with a sob, but ends it with a song; he opened in gloom, but ends in glory.
Today, since there has never been a darker hour in the history of the world, God’s people need to read Habakkuk’s prophecy again and again in these critical, complex times. He reminds us that God is still on the throne, and that no matter what the outward appearances may be, His all-wise and loving purposes cannot be thwarted.
Deep in unfathomable mines
Of never-failing skill,
He treasures up His bright designs
And works His sovereign will.
Endnotes
1. Robert Lee, The Outlined Bible.
2. Eric W. Hayden, Preaching through the Bible, II, p. 171.
3. J. Vernon McGee, Briefing the Bible, p. 59.
4. Merrill F. Unger, Unger’s Bible Handbook, p. 425.
5. W. Graham Scroggie, Know Your Bible, I, pp. 195-96.