The book of Habakkuk is not a biblical book many people read. But it is a book that should be read because it is a book for our times. This book speaks to difficult times when things have been going bad for a while and are on the cusp of going really bad. Its message is one that believers today need to hear and heed. The book is hidden deep within the minor prophets toward the end of the OT. It is worth flipping through the pages to find it and slowly meditatively reading it.
The book of Habakkuk is unique among the prophetic books in the Old Testament in that there are no typical prophetic oracles in the book. The short book of Habakkuk is a prayer encounter the prophet had with the Lord. The first verse in the book reads, “The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet saw.” This tells us two things. First, this prayer is considered an oracle. An oracle is usually construed to be a spoken message from God given by a prophet or a written version of a spoken message. Second, this is a vision that Habakkuk saw. The book of Habakkuk is not a conventional oracle or vision, but it is an inspired message from God. We have the opportunity to listen in on this prayer exchange between the Lord and his prophet.
Historical Context
Habakkuk does not give us any of the usual historical markers, such as names of kings or events that would date the prophecy. But from the content of the exchange between the prophet and the Lord, we know that the Caldeans will be used by the Lord to bring judgment upon Judah and that this was surprising, even shocking. The Caldeans destroyed Jerusalem in 586 BC, so the book must be before that time. Also, Habakkuk is deeply troubled by the wickedness and violence in Judah, which will probably rule out the heyday of King Josiah. Josiah brought great reforms in the twelfth year of his reign. The time of Habakkuk was probably the early years of Josiah or during the reign of his father Amon or his grandfather Manasseh, both of whom were evil kings. This was a time when the people of Judah turned away from the Lord and did evil, which grieved the prophet’s heart. He went to the Lord with his concerns as those who fear the Lord do.
Flow of the Book
The book, being a prayer, moves from the prophet’s cry to the Lord’s answer and back again. It is a prayer conversation between the Lord and his prophet. The book can be viewed in three sections: (1) The First Prayer Complaint & the Lord’s Answer (1:1-11), (2) The Second Prayer Complaint & the Lord’s Answer (1:12-2:20), (3) Habakkuk’s Humble Prayer Response (3:1-19).
The First Prayer Complaint & the Lord’s Answer (1:1-11)
Habakkuk’s Cry (1:1-4)
Habakkuk, the prophet of the Lord and the man of God, is greatly burdened as he observes the spiritual condition of the people of Judah. They had strayed far from the Lord and violated the covenant in many ways. They had broken the two central commands of the law: love the Lord your God and love your neighbor. Habakkuk looked around at the lives of the people and saw violence, strife, and contention. Justice was perverted so that the law of God was paralyzed. The prophet had prayed and preached to no avail for some time for the Lord to intervene.
It seemed to Habakkuk that the Lord was allowing the state of affairs to continue and even worsen with no response. Why does the Lord not change things? We assume he is not when we can’t see the Lord working. The Lord has his own timing. But we can get discouraged. Habakkuk was discouraged, frustrated, and deeply grieved. Time and again, he prayed. Did the Lord hear? But even in the face of his pain and confusion, Habakkuk persevered in prayer.
The Lord’s Answer (1:5-11)
Then, like a sudden thunderstorm, the answer from the Lord rolled into Habakkuk’s heart. The answer was not something Habakkuk expected. He wanted the Lord to change the people’s hearts so everything could run smoothly. The Word came that the Lord was already at work but in a shocking way. He was raising up the wicked and violent Caldeans to swoop in like a fierce animal for its prey. This completely caught Habakkuk off guard. The Lord described their military might and cruelty with chilling effect. The Lord’s answer caused him more pain than the condition of the people. This could not be the way of the Lord. There must be something he misunderstood.
The Second Prayer Complaint & the Lord’s Answer (1:12-2:20)
Habakkuk’s Reaction to the Lord’s Answer (1:12-2:1)
With little time to process what he experienced, Habakkuk reacted to the Lord’s answer to his prayer. He began with a rhetorical question: Could it be possible for the Lord to abandon the covenant relationship with his people? The mighty and wicked Caldeans would swiftly blow through and destroy tiny Judah with no trace. That could not happen. Surely, this was only for reproof and discipline. Would the Lord allow those more wicked than his people to judge them?
Habakkuk used a clever metaphor to describe the rapacious Caldeans as fishermen franticly taking in peoples and nations like fish caught in the dragnet. They were so good at what they did that they worshipped their ability to defeat nation after nation. It brought them great fame and wealth. They were like gods in their own eyes, proud and boastful.
Habakkuk was called by the Lord to be a spiritual watchman on the wall of his people. He takes his stand to see what the Lord says to him in response to his concerns (2:1). How would he argue his complaint against the Lord’s rebuke?
The Lord Answers with a Vision (2:2-20)
The Lord begins his response to Habakkuk with a command to write the vision on tablets so that those who read it may run with it. The vision will be awesome and amazing. It will come in its time. It may seem slow but Habakkuk must wait for the Lord. Those who run are heralds for the vision of the Lord, towards which the plan of God is moving.
The vision begins with a statement about the Caldeans’ arrogance and their king, but those who fear the Lord must trust him. The righteous shall live by faith. The days ahead will bring judgment on Judah, defeat, destruction of the city of Jerusalem and the temple, and finally exile. The righteous who suffered through this time would, of necessity, live by faith. The future will not look good from their perspective. Trusting the Lord’s promises will carry them through.
The last half of Habakkuk 2:4, “The righteous shall live by faith,” is quoted in the New Testament three times: Romans 1:17, Galatians 3:11, and Hebrews 10:38-39. It applies to those who, by faith in Jesus Christ, receive the righteousness of God. This verse shows the Old Testament roots of the doctrine of Justification by Faith, which is the ultimate fulfillment of this grand vision.
The Lord continues his vision to Habakkuk by declaring five woes against the Caldeans. God used the Caldeans to judge Israel, but they were not immune to judgment for their own evil. The Lord’s just judgment would surely fall on them. The instrument of God’s judgment would become the object of God’s judgment. The Lord is holy, righteous, and just.
Within two of the five woes, the Lord reveals amazing realities that demonstrate his greatness and glory. After the third woe, the Lord makes a startling and awesome statement, “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” The glory-hungry Caldeans will fall, as do all glory-seekers. But in the future, according to God’s eternal plan, the knowledge of the glory of the Lord will cover the earth. In the future, when the plan of God is complete, all will know the eternal glory of the Lord. All that is happening in Judah during the time of Habakkuk and all that happens when the Caldeans come and defeat Judah is working towards that day. The nations are clay in the hands of the Lord.
Then, after the fifth and final woe, the Lord makes another startling and awesome statement. This statement concludes the fifth woe and summarizes the entire section. “But the Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him.” No one can answer the Lord. He answers all glory-seekers and unrighteous boaster by closing their mouths. God is in control of the universe and his plan of salvation.
Habakkuk’s Humble Prayer Response (3:1-19)
Habakkuk’s Plea for Revival (3:1-16)
Habakkuk is deeply touched by the Lord’s last answer. A grand vision of Israel and the world emerges. Habakkuk can now see God’s awesome plan for the ages laid out before him. He responds in humble prayer.
Habakkuk first makes three prayer requests that flow out of this deeper, fuller vision of the Lord’s work. These are prayers we must pray today in our moment. The first prayer request is for the Lord to revive his work again in his day. Habakkuk had read and heard of the mighty work of the Lord in days past. The prayer is for the Lord to revive that work in his day. The second request is that the Lord will make this vision known. This is the key to revival. As people get a renewed sense of the Lord’s greatness and his eternal plan, their lives are transformed and revived. The third and final request is for the Lord to remember mercy in the wrath that is coming on Judah for her sins. Through the ruin and destruction of God’s wrath, the covenant people will emerge who will carry forth the work of God. They will be the ones who will read Habakkuk’s vision and run with it (2:2).
Habakkuk then looks back at the history of God’s people and recounts the story of the exodus of the children of Israel from Egypt and the conquest of the land. This was a day of the Lord’s redemption of Israel and judgment on mighty Egypt who oppressed them. Habakkuk longs for the day when the same work of God is applied to the contemporary situation of his day (3:16).
Habakkuk Resolve to Rejoice in Suffering (3:17-19)
In the meantime, Habakkuk is resolved to rejoice in the Lord no matter what. Even if the worst happens, the Lord is the sovereign Lord of all things. He has his purposes that people cannot fully understand. Whatever the future brings, he will live by faith in the transforming grace of the Lord.
Major Themes in Habakkuk:
The Sovereignty of God: The ways of this world are often beyond understanding. They seem to be out of control. But the Lord is sovereign over the affairs of all people. He has a plan he is bringing about in his own time and in his own way. Habakkuk looks at the condition of the people of God and is dismayed. They stray far from the Lord. He seemingly does little to allay the situation. Yet, when the Lord reveals his plan to Habakkuk, he finds it less comprehensible than the wickedness of the people of God. But in all these things, God is perfectly sovereign, working out his purposes in perfect harmony with his character and plan. The response to the inscrutable circumstances of life is trust in the sovereign hand of the Lord.
The Holiness of God: A fundamental attribute of God’s character is his holiness. The idea of the holy is that God is unique and separate from all he has made. He is other than all created things. The idea of separateness means that God is separate from all moral impurity. He is perfectly righteous in all he does. When his holy people turn from him in unholiness, he moves to cause them to return to him. When nations act in wickedness, the Lord, in his holiness, brings judgment upon them.
Walk by Faith: The great prayer exchange between the Lord and Habakkuk was possible because of Habakkuk’s faith relationship with the Lord. Yet, when the Lord revealed his plan to Habakkuk, he found it very hard to grasp. It challenged many of his ideas of the Lord’s ways and purposes. To be righteous before the Lord, Habakkuk must live by faith (2:4). He trusts the Lord even when he doesn’t understand.
Conclusion
The rise and fall of kingdoms and powers are the expression of the Lord’s sovereign plan for history. God is working out all things in his time and in his way. The fact that the Lord’s ways are often painful and confusing for us does not change the truth of his plan. We need a bigger and deeper vision of the Lord and what he is doing. Habakkuk received that vision and ran with it by faith. We must follow in his footsteps in our day. God is doing things that would shock us if we could see it all. But as in Habakkuk’s day, the righteous are called to live by faith.