Habakkuk (Part 1 of 1)

Habbakkuk 1 – “I Will Work a Work In Your Days”

Introduction (v.1)

The prophecy of Habakkuk has a wonderful message for believers today and will well repay careful study and contemplation. Set against the background of an impending Babylonian invasion of Judah, the prophecy reaches forward to the restoration of Israel, the coming of Jesus, the gathering of the saints and the destruction of the latter-day mani­festation of Gentile power.

We are told nothing about the prophet himself except that his name was Habakkuk (= embrace); neither are we given precise details as to the time when the message was revealed. Had it been important for us to know these things, then doubtless they would have been revealed. What we are told is that the pro­phecy was “seen” (v.1) by Habakkuk at a time of great apostasy in Judah (v.2-4), that Judah was about to be invaded by the Chaldeans (v.6) and that this invasion would take place “in your days”, i.e. in the lifetime of the prophet’s contempotaries (v.5). From this we may conclude that Habakkuk received this message from God some time in the last twenty-five or so years of the kingdom of Judah. He would then be contemporary with the prophet Jeremiah.

How Long? (v. 2-4)

Verses 2-4 comprise a question. It was a time when the wicked prospered. “Violence” (v.2), “iniquity”, “spoiling”, “strife” and “contention” abounded (v.3). There was seemingly no justice. The laws of God wete openly disregarded, apparently with impunity. Jeremiah, when he viewed this same situation, declared, “Oh that I had in the wilder­ness a lodging place for wayfaring men; that I might leave my people, and go from them! for they be all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men” (Jer.9:2). Seeing this, he was led to ask, “Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? wherefore are all they happy that dealvery treacherously?”(Jer.12:1). So, too, Habakkuk asks, “0 Yahweh, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear!”

At the end of every age, as apostasy has prevailed among the people of God, the faithful have asked this question. Those who today “sigh and cry” for similar reasons will find exhortation here. Such a situation as that which faced the prophet, and that which faces the faithful today, constitutes a time of trial. It is easy to look on the apparent success of those who “seek for ease and glory, where thou, their Lord, art not” and to feel some degree of envy. The psalmist gives voice to the feeling when he writes, “I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked” (73:3). But the Psalmist came to the realisation, as all men of faith must do, that “they that are far from thee shall perish” (v.27). The present is the time for being guided “with thy counsel”, no matter how hard the road. It will be “afterward” that the faithful will find their ease and glory in the age to come (v.24).

It is not that God forgets His children at times such as those in which Habakkuk lived. God is not deaf to the prayers of men of faith. Rather is it that He is longsuffering – He waits for the erring to turn to Him. “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffer­ing to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Pet.3:9). While He waits for the erring, the characters of the faithful are being tried and developed. Such is the wonder of God’s ways.

Thus it was in Habakkuk’s day. To him there appeared to be a delay in the administration of divine justice and he asks, “How long?” The answer is given in verses 5-11.

The Answer (v. 5–11)

It is the same answer that could be given to any brother or sister today who might ask the same question. To those whose faith is wavering, who are beginning to wonder if God has forgotten, the answer given to Habakkuk has a special relevance. “How long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear?” asked the prophet. – “BEHOLD YE AMONG THE HEATHEN” (v.5). That is God’s answer. Observe the signs of the times. Watch carefully and diligently and faith will not waver. Rather will faith be strengthened and the individual be led by the exercise to “regard, and wonder marvellously” (v.5).

Thus it was in the time of the prophet. Movements were already taking place among the nations that would bring judgment upon the wickedness of Israel. “Lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation…” (v.6). Isaiah, many years before, had prophesied of the coming of the Chaldean (or Babylonian) domination Of Judah (39:6-7). Micah, too, had spoken of the coming Babylonian captivity from which they would be redeemed (4:10). But God’s message through Habakkuk, although speaking of the same coming Babylonian captivity, was more urgent than that through the former prophets – “I will work a work IN YOUR DAYS…” (v.5). The Chaldeans were already consolidating their kingdom in the north. Already they had a reputation as “a bitter and hasty nation”. This was the great sign of the times. The prophecies of Isaiah and Micah were about to be fulfilled! Habakkuk and his contemporaries were living on the very threshold of the outpouring of God’s judgments upon them, and the amazing thing is that they would “not believe, though it be told you” (v.5) There is undoubtedly a lesson in this for us today.

God says in v.6, “I raise up…”.  He rules in the kingdom of men and we must always remember this. Though at times events in the world around us look black, God is in control. In those days Nebuchadnezzar was the instrument in God’s hand for the judgment of His disobedient people- “Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant” God calls him in Jer.27:6.

The description of Nebuchadnezzar’s forces in vv.7-11 bears many simila­rities to Jeremiah’s contemporary prophecies. For example, they are said to be “swifter than leopards” and to “fly as the eagle” (v.8, cf. Jer.4:13, 5:15 and compare both with Deut.28:26,49). Verse 9 describes them as being like the east wind (cf. Jer.4:11, 18:17). Many other points of contact are there for the inter­ested student to trace out. The invasion of which these prophets spoke took place around 606 BC when Jehoiakim became Nebuchadnezzar’s servant. His rebellion brought a further invasion during the reign of Jehoiachin who was replaced by Zedekiah. He also rebelled and in 586 BC Nebuchadnezzar invaded for the third time, destroying Jerusalem with the temple and carrying into captivity all except a poor remnant who remained in the land (2 Kings 24 & 25). These were great events ABOUT TO HAPPEN in the time of Habakkuk, events to which the signs of the times clearly pointed.

What then? (v.12-17) 

Having received this revelation of the impending judgment of Israel by the Chaldeans, the prophet is moved to ask another question – a question which is answered in ch.2. These final verses of ch.1 really, then,provide the introduction to the next chapter; but it is necessary to look at them briefly at this point. Having been told of the coming of the Chaldeans, there are two great issues to be resolved in the prophet’s mind. Firstly, what would happen to Israel in consequence, and, secondly, what would happen to the Gentile oppressor.

  1. ISRAEL – This comes in v.12, a verse which can only be appreciated by those who see the connection between the name of God and the covenants of promise. The sense of the verse is – “Thou art Yahweh, there­fore we shall not die.” No matter what Nebuchadnezzar might do, the future of Israel was assured, for it was bound up with the name of the Almighty Himself. Yahweh means “He who will be”. Centuries before, when God was about to deliver His people from Egypt, He had elaborated concerning His purpose with them. “I AM YAHWEH (He who will be), and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments: and I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God.. .1 will give (you the land) for an heritage: I AM YAHWEH (He who will be)” (Ex.6:6-8). By the time of Habakkuk this purpose of God had not been ful­filled. But God is Yahweh, the One who will be, and therefore that purpose would one day be fulfilled; the Jews would not be annihilated by Nebuchadnezzar – therefore “we shall not die”, says the prophet. Exactly the same point is made in Ma1.3:6 when God declares, “I am Yahweh (He who will be), I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.” Thus in speaking of the ultimate restoration of the people of Israel, when His purpose with them will be fulfilled, God emph­asises that it will be done “not for your sakes, 0 house of Israel, but for mine holy name’s sake” (Ezek.36:22).Having received this revelation of the impending judgment of Israel by the Chaldeans, the prophet is moved to ask another question – a question which is answered in ch.2. These final verses of ch.1 really, then,provide the introduction to the next chapter; but it is necessary to look at them briefly at this point. Having been told of the coming of the Chaldeans, there are two great issues to be resolved in the prophet’s mind. Firstly, what would happen to Israel in consequence, and, secondly, what would happen to the Gentile oppressor?
  2. THE GENTILE OPPRESSOR – Thus the ultimate destiny of Israel was certain. But what about the Gentile invader, this one who had been established for Israel’s correction (v.12)? This is the great question of the last few verses. The prophet sees Israel as shoals of fish caught up in the net of the power from the north (v.14,15), but (and here is the question) “Shall he therefore empty his net, and not spare to slay the nations continually? (v.17 RV). Would this desolator of Israel (and the surrounding nations) continue indefinitely? What would happen to Israel’s oppressor? Having asked this question, the prophet proceeds in ch.2 to stand upon his watch, waiting for God’s answer, which comes when “Yahweh answered me, and said…” (2:2).

Wider Application

We shall take up the answer to the prophet’s question in our next article. At this point it is necessary to retrace our steps over the ground already covered, for it seems that there is more to ch.1 than a mere description of the Babylonian invasion of Israel.

The Babylonian was the first of a series of desolations of Israel. When Nebuchadnezzar came against Israel God said,

“I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it: and it shall be no more, until he come whose right it is; and I will give it him” (Ezek.21:27).

The work was continued by Greece and Rome and is not finished yet. There have been partial restorations as there is today. But through it all the Gentile has been supreme. This view of things will help us to see the message of Habakkuk ch.l.

In the New Testament period there were a few Jews in the land, and the rest were still scattered. The Grecian phase of Gentile domination had given way to the Roman. Still wickedness prevailed in Israel, and so Paul takes up the message of Habakkuk ch.1 –

“Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish: for I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you” (Acts 13:41).

Habakkuk ch.1 was still being fulfilled. The Chaldean had commenced the work; Rome continued it. In those days too there had been “a man” who had declared it unto them. He, too, had spoken of the Gentile oppressor who”shall fly as the eagle that hasteth to eat” (Hab.1:8) when he warned, “Wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together” (Matt.24:28).

It doesn’t end there. Habakkuk’s message reaches down to our own day. He speaks of the Gentile oppressor as changing his mind and passing over (1:11), which is reminiscent of the latter-day power from the north who “thinks an evil thought”, deciding to invade the land of unwalled villages (Ezek.38:10) and who, in invading them, is said to “overflow and pass over” (Dan.11:40).

So it seems that Habakkuk ch.1 embraces the whole period of Gentile dominion which began with Nebuchadnezzar’s overthrow of the kingdom of God. The great question which is answered in ch.2 is not, What would happen to Nebuchad­nezzar’s empire? – but rather, Would Gentile dominion which had commenced with Nebuchadnezzar continue indefinitely? Only if we rightly apprehend the compre­hensive nature of the question being asked will the answers in chs.2 and 3 reveal their message to us – a message so relevant to our own times. Gentile dominion would not – will not – continue indefinitely. “He shall come to his end, and none shall help him” (Dan.12:45). The particular phase of Gentile dominion, when the great image falls to be ground to powder, will be the Russian, of which chs. 2 and 3 of Habakkuk have much to say.

History Repeats Itself

  1. The evidence, of which we read and hear daily, of the breakdown of authority in the Western world, is one of the most signal signs of the imminence of divine intervention. Just such a violent, anarchic scene prevailed over the Roman world during the two years prior to the fall of Jeru­salem in AD 70. The same kind of breakdown of law seems to have characterised the years before the Flood.
  2.  China, as she did when the Barbarians, and later the Mongols, moved westward and southward, is again acting as a bulwark against Eastern expansion, driving Russia in directions we have long anticipated.