Habakkuk

Habakkuk was a prophet who lived in Judah during the reign of Jehoiakim (c. 609-598 BC). Although he was the son of Josiah, one of the most faithful kings, Jehoiakim was an oppressive and covetous ruler who “filled Jerusalem with innocent blood” (II Kg. 24:4). Under Jehoiakim’s evil reign, the law was paralyzed, justice was perverted and the wicked hemmed in the righteous (Hab. 1:4).

Punishment was on the way

The prophet was grieved and cried to God to know why He permitted wickedness to prosper: “0 LORD, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! even cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save!” (1:2). We are blessed God answered him, as faithful men have always pondered these issues. Why does God seem indifferent in the face of evil? Why does evil seem to go unpunished?

Unknown to Habakkuk, his cry for relief was already being answered. God was fully aware of the problems in Judah. He had earlier made a decision to punish Judah because of the evil Manasseh had done. His decree had not been rescinded; it had only been postponed because of the reverence for God’s law shown by Josiah (II Kg. 23:25-27; 22:16,20). The Chaldean’s were already poised to attack. They were a bitter, hasty, terrible people who would come to do violence (1:6-9). This punishment was exactly suited to Judah’s sins: the idolatrous and wicked people would reap what they had sown.

Habakkuk complains again

For the prophet, God’s judgment had a discouraging side. Although he welcomed the news the wicked would be punished, he couldn’t understand why the punishment was coming through such a wicked nation: “Wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he?” (1:13).

Questions similar to this have long puzzled mankind. Couldn’t God see the depravity of the Chaldean’s? Skeptics use God’s methods as an excuse not to believe in Him. Yet it is man’s limited understanding of God’s ways that causes the difficulty. Skeptics fail to consider the whole picture. Content to draw a negative conclusion based on limited facts and prejudices, they discard both God and His message. Only increased reading of the scriptures can cure man’s unbelief (Rom. 10:17).

God’s answer

God showed Habakkuk a vision and said: “Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time.. .though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry” (2:2,3).

At God’s appointed time, Babylon would be punished. Before that time, however, the Chaldean’s would do much evil with many nations suffering at her hand.

There were many reasons Babylon invited God’s wrath — pride, drunkenness, theft, greed, violence and idolatry marked her ways. These are the works of the flesh (Gal. 5:19-21) and bring the downfall of all who practice them whether they be nations or individuals.

Thus the Chaldeans came against Judah and Jerusalem, plundering as they came, as God worked judgment and correction through them (Hab. 1:12). God was ruling in the king­dom of men and was setting up the basest of men (cp. Dan. 4:17).

Live by faith

God told Habakkuk not to be upset. Neither the wicked in Judah nor the proud Babylonians would endure. In the meantime, Habakkuk, and others like him, must faithfully endure, for “the just shall live by his faith” (2:4). Paul would later say to the Corinthians that “we know our labor is not in vain in the Lord” (I Cor. 15:58). Peter would say, “but let none of you suffer as a murderer.. ,let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator” (I Pet. 4:15,19).

During this very time period, Daniel and his friends provided dramatic examples of the principle. When saved from the lions, Daniel told the king it was because he had done no hurt to the king because he believed in God (Dan. 6:22,23). His three friends were also faithful. They told the king God was able to deliver them from the fiery furnace, but whether or not He did so, they refused to become idolaters (Dan. 3:16-18).

The answer given by God — the just shall live by faith — has its ultimate fulfillment in Christ at his resurrection (Rom. 1:16,17; 4:13) and for all the faithful when they stand accepted by the Master (I Cor. 15:58; II Cor. 5:10). We must wait for the promise and go on living by faith.

A song of praise

With his two questions now satisfactorily answered, Habakkuk is ready to offer praises to the Lord. He accepts God’s will but pleads the vision be hastened and that God’s wrath be tempered with mercy. His prayer is a psalm accompanied by stringed instruments (3:19) and emphasizes God’s saving acts of old, such as the deliverance from Egypt and Joshua’s victory at Gibeon. “In wrath remember mercy” is his plea.

Some events in Habakkuk’s prayer may have a future fulfillment as well, since ancient Babylon has its latter-day counterpart (Rev. 17:5). As the Old Testament Babylon subdued Israel, the New Testament “Babylon” (Rev. 17) will do likewise, only to be finally defeated by “the Holy One from mount Paran.”

Habakkuk’s faith is well expressed in the closing verses of chapter three (3:17-19). Though the invasion of the Babylonians would leave Judah desolate, Habakkuk, reassured by God’s answers, grew confident. He would “rejoice in the LORD…joy in the God of my salvation” (3:18).

Encouragingly, Habakkuk’s questioning attitude gives us, the latter-day believers, an assurance the evil in our world is not going unnoticed and will be dealt with. God has set in order a process by which the pride of man will come to naught and His glory will fill the earth. Like Habakkuk, we pray the day will come quickly.