Date:
Habakkuk does not provide any information regarding the kings who were reigning during the time of his ministry but probably he ministered during the reign of Jehoiakim (609-598 BC) and just before the time of Nebuchadnezzar's first invasion of Jerusalem (605 BC). This would date his prophecies somewhere between 609 and 605 BC.
There are three reasons why we can infer this:
1. There are references to the coming Chaldean (Babylonian) invasion (1:6-10). Although there were three invasions (605, 597, 586 BC), it appears that none had occurred yet but God tells the prophet that He is raising up these fierce people to administrate His judgment.
2. There is no reference to Assyria either as an enemy or for judgement, suggesting that Nineveh had already been destroyed (that was in 612 BC).
3. There is no reference to the moral and spiritual reformation that had take place during the reign of King Josiah (640-609 BC). But there is continual reference to the moral decline of the nation which occurred during the reigns of the two kings who followed — Jehoahaz and Jehoiakim.
So Habakkuk’s ministry would date somewhat after 609 BC but before 605 BC.
Historical Background :
The northern kingdom, Israel, had been destroyed by the Assyrians in 722 BC. The southern kingdom, Judah, had been miraculously delivered from the Assyrians during the reign of Hezekiah when Isaiah was exercising his prophetic ministry. But that deliverance was nearly a hundred years prior to this, around 701 BC.
The Assyrian Empire had recently been destroyed by the Babylonians, who also had defeated Egypt. The dominant power now was Babylon.
Recently, Josiah had been king over Judah, from 640-609 BC. Although he was the son of a wicked king, Amon, and grandson of Judah’s most wicked king, Manasseh, Josiah was a righteous man and was greatly used by God to institute national reforms. The Scriptures testify of Josiah, He did right in the sight of the Lord and walked in all the way of his father David, nor did he turn aside to the right or to the left (2 Kings 22:2).
Josiah oversaw the renovation, cleansing and rededication of the temple which included tearing down idolatrous altars which had been erected in the temple. He ordered the destruction of altars dedicated to false gods around the nation and drove out the men and women who had been leading the nation in worshipping powers of darkness.
Most amazingly, while the temple was being repaired, the Book of the Law was discovered in the temple. (That would be the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible, also known as the Torah, written by Moses). These Holy Scriptures had been lost for at least a generation. But now the word of God was read and King Josiah led the nation in repentance and the renewal of covenant with the Lord. He reinstituted the Passover and God’s blessing was upon him and on the nation.
Unfortunately, the reforms under Josiah had only a superficial impact on the soul of the nation. For many people, revival did not involve a depth of repentance or reverence for the Lord.
Then, in 609, the Egyptian army marched through Judah to fight against the Babylonian army at the Euphrates River. Josiah stepped outside his anointing, needlessly confronted the Egyptians and was killed. Jehoahaz became king and was quickly replaced by a man named Jehoiakim. He was an evil king, a foolish man and a poor ruler. The peace and spiritual reform of Josiah’s reign were quickly overturned. Violence, injustice and spiritual apostasy again flourished.
This was the setting for the ministry of Habakkuk. He was a contemporary of Jeremiah and may have known him.
Person:
Though Habakkuk tells us nothing about himself directly, we know he must have possessed a keen sense of the holiness of God. Revelation of God’s moral purity forms a central theme of this book. The prophet’s own personal holiness is revealed in his anger at the sin and injustice which were rampant in his nation.
Habakkuk asks serious questions of the Lord. He is bold in his conversation with God, which reveals confidence in his relationship with God. He believed God would listen and answer him.
Habakkuk had an artistic temperament. The entire book was written as poetry. The notation at the end of chapter three reads, For the choir director, on my stringed instruments (3:19). Chapter three was set to music, possibly this entire book. It may be that Habakkuk was a Levitical singer and obviously he played a stringed instrument.
Book:
Rather than a series of prophetic statements to people or nations, the first two chapters are a dialogue between the prophet and God. The prophet expresses his dismay over sin, which seems to flourish unchecked in Judah. He does not understand why God is not bringing correction in Judah. Then, when the Lord reveals that He is bringing judgment through the Babylonians, Habakkuk questions God’s use of people even more evil than Judah as an instrument of divine judgement.
God’s response is that the righteous must live by faith, trusting God even when we do not understand what He is doing. God promises that His wicked instrument of judgment, Babylon, will itself be punished, and there is a day coming when the glory of God will be revealed across the earth.
The prophet concludes the book with one of the most beautiful prayers in the entire Bible, evidently set to music, in which the prophet sings his faith in the Lord. His journey is not from questioning God to understanding God. His journey is from doubt to worship.
Our personal application of this book is that when we do not understand what God is doing in our world or in our own life, we may still worship Him. And as we worship God, He will build our faith. And as we grow in faith we will be able to transcend our questions and doubts.
Exposition, Chapter 1:
1:1 “The oracle which Habakkuk the prophet saw.”
The word oracle, massa, refers to something that is lifted, carried. Therefore some translations render massa as burden. Whose burden is this? It is Habakkuk’s burden — he is oppressed by the violence, injustice and wickedness of his nation, burdened by the rapid decline into darkness following the years of reformation and revival under King Josiah. And he is burdened by what appears to be God’s lack of response.
But the prophetic burden is also the Lord’s burden — God feels the weight of Judah’s sin pressing against His moral purity, pressing against His high purpose and calling for His covenant partner. Judah was joined to God in covenant — surely the sin of the nation burdened the Lord.
Massa can also refer to something that is sung or announced, for instance, a prophetic utterance. Habakkuk has received a word from God which may have been sung in its pronouncement (surely chapter 3 was sung). Note that this prophecy was given to the prophet in the form of a vision — he saw it.
1:2 “How long, O Lord, will I call for help, and You will not hear? I cry out to You, ‘Violence!’ Yet You do not save.”
The spiritual revival and restoration which had been enjoyed under King Josiah were quickly lost following his death and now the nation is descending again into violence, injustice, idolatry. Habakkuk desires that the Lord send correction and revival but it appears that God is unresponsive. The prophet gives utterance to his burden concerning the condition of his nation and what he perceives as God’s lack of response. How long, O Lord? … I cry out to You …Yet You do not save.
This is the cry of the intercessors in every generation who see the violence of the tyrant outlaw and the arrogance of the God-rejecting worshippers of idols, who feel deeply the anguished suffering of the oppressed, who wonder how God can allow such terrible injustice to go unpunished. “Where are you God? I’m calling for help — are you listening?”
The basis of a healthy prayer life must be the confidence that God is present in history, present to each of us and is listening because He does see and He does care. The Lord said to Moses, I have surely seen the affliction of My people who are in Egypt, and have given heed to their cry because of their taskmasters, for I am aware of their sufferings (Ex. 3:7).
In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried to my God for help; He heard my voice out of His temple, and my cry for help before Him came into His ears (Ps. 18:6).
I love the Lord, because He hears my voice and my supplications, because He has inclined His ear to me, therefore I shall call upon Him as long as I live (Ps. 116:1,2).
In fact, the Lord invites us to call on Him, Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I shall rescue you, and you will honor Me (Ps. 50:15).
Call to Me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know (Jere. 33:3).
His promise is, He will call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him (Ps. 91:15).
We have a great High Priest who understands our weakness, our need, our circumstances (Hebr. 4:15), who not only hears and understands us, He lives to make intercession for us (Hebr 7:25) — He prays for us and with us.
The key is not only confident faith but also patient faith, I waited patiently for the Lord; and He inclined to me and heard my cry. He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay, and He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God; many will see and fear and will trust in the Lord (Ps. 40:1-3).
Yet there are times when our pain is so intense, the suffering and the crisis seem so great, the confusion so encompassing, that prayer becomes almost an accusation. So it was that David cried out, How long, O Lord? Will You forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me? (Ps. 13:1).
So it was that the Psalmist cried out, Will the Lord reject forever? And will He never be favorable again? Has His lovingkindness ceased forever? Has His promise come to an end forever? Has God forgotten to be gracious, or has He in anger withdrawn His compassion? (Ps. 77:7-9).
So it is that the martyrs under the altar of heaven cry out with a loud voice, How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who live on the earth? (Rev. 6:10).
Habakkuk cries out to the Lord, “Where are You?” His pain is intensified by the possibility, as we will see, that God will respond to Judah’s sin by using an even more wicked nation, the Babylonians, as the instrument of His righteous judgment in Judah. How can God use evil people to judge evil people? This is the ethical dilemma confronting and troubling the prophet.
The prophet’s demand that God respond, that God answer to man for the plans of God, might sound almost arrogant but it is not. God invites our questions, desires that we call upon Him, though humbly, reverently. Truly, Habakkuk’s questions and our questions are the trusting cry of a child to his Heavenly Father; the cry of a covenant member to the covenant Maker. It is God who chose us, God who initiated revelation, relationship and conversation.
We expect this God to hear us, to respond, to disclose Himself, to reveal His purpose, to shine light into our darkness. A child cries, “Daddy, it’s dark in here. Please turn on the light.” So do we cry to our Creator Redeemer and He hears us.
1:3,4 “Why do You make me see iniquity, and cause me to look on wickedness? Yes, destruction and violence are before me; strife exists and contention arises. Therefore the law is ignored and justice is never upheld. For the wicked surround the righteous; therefore justice comes out perverted.”
Habakkuk has the moral clarity to see the sin prevailing in his generation. He sees,
a. wickedness, destruction and violence (3)
b. strife and contention (3)
c. the law is ignored, justice is not upheld (4)
d. the wicked surround the righteous (4)
e. justice is perverted (4)
He is asking, “Why do you allow me to see all this evil while you do nothing about it?”
In a fallen world, people with moral clarity see the dissolving of reason into irrationality, the disintegration of peace into chaos and law into disorder. In a fallen world, we do not need to cultivate thorns, weeds or desert — they occur naturally. When the gardner fell from grace, creation fell into death and decay. It is not merely that the wicked surround the righteous but that evil prospers with a dynamic vitality which threatens to out live, out grow and overpower the good. People with moral clarity see this and are troubled.
There are surely times in every generation when the existence of a righteous remnant appears like a distant, flickering candle in dark wind, when hope of God’s kingdom on earth seems only a vague, fleeting dream. Yet the unshakeable conviction, the abiding trust that evil will not prevail, that God will have His way is the gateway through which generations of the faithful have passed on their journey to that kingdom.
So it is that God responds to the prophet.
1:5,6 “Look among the nations! Observe! Be astonished! Wonder! Because I am doing something in your days— You would not believe if you were told. For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans, that fierce and impetuous people who march throughout the earth to seize dwelling places which are not theirs.”
God responds to the prophet’s questions: I am doing something you won’t believe. The Lord is not ignoring the rampant sin in Judah but neither is He sending revival or restoration. He is sending judgment and the Chaldeans will be His instrument of judgment. Who raised up the Chaldeans? The Lord, ruler of nations, Lord of history. God claims responsibility for the coming disaster.
The Chronicler of Israel’s history said, The Lord, the God of their fathers, sent word to them again and again by His messengers, because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place but they continually mocked the messengers of God, despised His words and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against His people, until there was no remedy. Therefore He brought up against them the king of the Chaldeans who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion ( 2 Chron. 36:15-17).
God had warned Israel and Judah through many prophets for many years but the covenant people mocked the messengers of God, despised His words and scoffed at His prophets. So the Lord sent judgment.
Let’s recall what Judah believed about God:
a. God is Creator of all that has life and existence.
b. God acts in history, working out His purpose and exercising His sovereign will.
c. God formed a people for Himself who would not only know His will but would yield themselves as instruments of the outworking of God’s purpose in history. God called this people into covenant with Himself, making them a special people in all the earth. This covenant relationship involved blessings and divine revelation but also responsibilities and accountability.
Now a time of accountability, a time of judgment is coming and God reveals that He is not limited to working through Israel, especially when Israel resisted God, disobeyed the Lord and violated the Covenant. God is able to use any and all kingdoms and nations, able to exercise His power and work out His purpose in spite of and through any and all the rulers and powers of this world. Whether they worship God or even acknowledge God’s existence, God will still cause the nations to serve His purpose.
For instance, God called the Persian King Cyrus, His anointed, and said, For the sake of Jacob My servant, and Israel My chosen one, I have also called you by your name; I have given you a title of honor though you have not known Me (Isa. 45:4). God used Cyrus to issue a decree that Jews could return from exile and rebuild their temple and their nation. God called him to a specific purpose even though Cyrus did not know the Lord.
God says to Habakkuk that He will bring judgment on sinful Judah and he will use a nation that does not even know Him.
1:7,8 “They are dreaded and feared; their justice and authority originate with themselves. Their horses are swifter than leopards and keener than wolves in the evening. Their horsemen come galloping, their horsemen come from afar; they fly like an eagle swooping down to devour.”
This nation that God will use to judge Judah is not a God-reliant people — Their justice and authority originate with themselves. They are self reliant. They are not God-fearing people. They are self righteous people, living as autonomous beings, as if there is no God in this universe or king on earth who will hold them accountable. They are swift like leopards and powerful like wolves in the evening hunting their prey, like eagles swooping down to devour.
1:9 “All of them come for violence. Their horde of faces moves forward. They collect captives like sand.”
These Chaldeans are violent people, a horde marching irresistibly forward gathering captives like sand. They were the dominant military power at that time.
1:10 “They mock at kings and rulers are a laughing matter to them. They laugh at every fortress and heap up rubble to capture it.”
They laugh at the rulers of nations and their fortresses. This speaks of their pride, mocking all authority and strength but their own.
1:11 “Then they will sweep through like the wind and pass on. But they will be held guilty, they whose strength is their god.”
These are pagan worshippers of idols — their strength is their god. But, though they are God’s instrument for judgment against Judah, nevertheless, they too will be held guilty. They are not unaccountable. The God who uses them as an instrument of judgment will also judge them, whether they know or recognize Him or not. They will be judged for their actions. It is they who choose to conquer, to use violence to obtain their prosperity. God uses them to further His own purpose but it is they who choose to act in unjust, violent ways. Therefore, God, the righteous Judge, will judge them.
1:12 “Are You not from everlasting, O Lord, my God, my Holy One? We will not die. You, O Lord, have appointed them to judge; and You, O Rock, have established them to correct.”
The prophet remembers and confesses that God is everlasting, the Holy One. One translation reads, My God, my Holy One, You will never die, parallel to the thought of the everlasting, eternal nature of God. In contrast to the mortality of sinful man is the eternity of a holy God.
This could also be understood as a statement of incredulity: Holy God, how could we die? We are your covenant nation, how could Judah perish?
However, most translators prefer, We will not die. This is an inspired statement of faith in the midst of despair. Judgment is coming but because God is everlasting, if a remnant remains faithful to God then they too will not die.
Habakkuk hears what God is saying — that God has appointed the Chaldeans to judge the unholy covenant nation. God is the Rock, the only fixed point of permanence in this turbulent, shifting world and He will establish His sovereign purpose in history. But Habakkuk does not understand why God will do this. How can God use an even more wicked nation to judge the wickedness of His covenant people?
1:13 “Your eyes are too pure to approve evil, and You can not look on wickedness with favor. Why do You look with favor on those who deal treacherously? Why are You silent when the wicked swallow up those more righteous than they?”
The prophet understands that a holy God cannot approve evil, His eyes are too pure to even look on evil. But he is perplexed — if God is too pure to look upon evil then how can God look with favor on those who act treacherously? Whether sinful Jews devouring their fellow Jews or pagan Chaldeans devouring up Judah, how can God be silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than they? How can God use a wicked nation to bring judgment on a wicked nation? How can a holy God use an unholy instrument to carry out His holy purpose?
We also hear a trace of nationalistic pride in Habakkuk. Judah is surely sinful but the Chaldeans are more sinful, he assumes. How can God use the more sinful to judge the less sinful. But in fact, Judah’s guilt was greater because Judah had far more light than the Chaldeans — the holy Scriptures, prophetic revelation. To whom much is given, much is required. Sinful Judah will be judged and in turn, sinful Babylon will be judged, each in their own time.
1:14-17 “Why have You made men like the fish of the sea, like creeping things without a ruler over them? The Chaldeans bring all of them up with a hook, drag them away with their net, and gather them together in their fishing net. Therefore they rejoice and are glad. Therefore they offer a sacrifice to their net and burn incense to their fishing net; because through these things their catch is large, and their food is plentiful. Will they therefore empty their net and continually slay nations without sparing?”
Now Habakkuk blames God for the condition of humanity: why have you made people like this, like the fish of the sea, like creeping things without a ruler over them? Life is cheap, people are as disposable as fish and creatures that crawl on the ground and the Chaldeans are gathering multitudes into their conquering nets.
In fact, God did not create the death and decay, the violence and depravity of this fallen world. God did not create the tyranny of the tyrant nor did God create the oppression of the oppressor. Fallen humanity, ruled now by the god of this age, created this present darkness.
The conquest of the tyrant-conqueror and the slaughter of the slaughterer is motivated by lust for wealth and power. People are swept up in their nets, their military / political / economic systems, controlled and manipulated as workers, consumers and finally, consumed by the system itself.
The Chaldeans, as with all in every generation who are motivated by lust and greed, worship their nets — the symbols and tools of their prosperity. By them the conqueror lives in luxury and his food is rich. They offer a sacrifice to their net and burn incense to their fishing net. Their god is their wealth, their power — their means of acquisition. And they will continue to slay, to plunder nations until God brings destroying judgment.
But in every generation, God surely does bring judgment and then, at the return of Christ, there is the final cleansing. The Apostle John heard the pronouncement of that day, And another angel, a second one, followed, saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, she who has made all the nations drink of the wine of the passion of her immorality … And the kings of the earth, who committed acts of immorality and lived sensuously with her, will weep and lament over her when they see the smoke of her burning, standing at a distance because of the fear of her torment, saying, ‘Woe, woe, the great city, Babylon, the strong city! For in one hour your judgment has come.’ And the merchants of the earth weep and mourn over her, because no one buys their cargoes any more (Rev. 14:8, 18:9-11).
Habakkuk did not know that someday the entire world system, characterized as Babylon the great, will sometime be entirely destroyed and the kingdom of God established across the earth. He does not see that day, at the end of history. He sees his present day and asks, Will they therefore empty their net and continually slay nations without sparing? In the midst of evil, it is sometimes difficult to remember the sovereignty and the faithfulness of God. But before this conversation is over, the prophet will remember the sovereignty and the faithfulness of God and will sing one of the most beautiful songs of faith in the entire Bible.
May we also remember that God sees, God hears, God understands. And even when we do not understand, may we sing His praise.
Study Questions
1. Does it ever seem to you that God is not responding to the evil around you?
2. Is there evidence in the Bible, in history and in your life that God is responsive to human suffering?
2:1 “I will stand on my guard post and station myself on the rampart; and I will keep watch to see what He will speak to me, and how I may reply when I am reproved.”
The words guard post may be rendered watchtower or rampart. This is the position of the watchman, the soldier at his post, alert, guarding the city. Spiritually, it is the prophetic intercessor, discerning the times, listening for the voice of God, watching for the movement of God in his generation, focusing all his senses on the presence and promise of God.
1. The watchtower is a place of warning. The prophet discerns the evil in his generation, the lack of repentance or accountability, knows a just God must judge, sees judgement coming and sounds the alarm.
2. The watchtower is also a place of spiritual retreat, a refuge above the chaos, a place where the prophet gains perspective. It’s not a place of escape or avoidance but a secret place of communion where he can hear the whisper of God more clearly than the roaring violence and lies of a collapsing world. He listens for revelation from God that will make sense of it all.
Indeed, at the heart of the prophet’s demand, How long O Lord (1:2) is not arrogance but faith, faith that no matter how evil appears to triumph over good in the present moment, no matter how the lie seems to prevail over the truth, no matter how pervasive the momentum of chaos and disintegration, God is still sovereign and the blueprint of divine purpose is still weaving through and in history.
Habakkuk is a man with questions, a man who does not understand what is happening in his day but at heart he is a man of faith, believing that God is able and willing to communicate, to reveal His plans and purposes with those who are discerning. He believes the words of the prophet Amos, Surely the Lord God does nothing unless He reveals His secret counsel to His servants the prophets (Amos 3:7).
We see Habakkuk’s trust in God’s desire to disclose Himself, I will keep watch to see what He will speak to me. The prophet has retreated to the watchtower because he expects a response. God does want to reveal His purpose in the world but we must stand in places where we can hear. God wants to be heard but not all are listening. God wants to reveal but not all are standing watch for revelation, not all are listening in the quiet place of holy communion.
God is at work in history but God transcends history. God does reveal Himself in time but is, Himself, timeless. We are creatures of history, journeying through time and time-bound. But we journey best when we slip the bonds of time and rise into everlasting moments with the eternal God. We each need our watchtower, our place and time of communion with God.
3. The watchtower is also a place of personal correction. If we are communing with God then we are being called out of our ignorance and prejudice, out of sin and faithlessness, out of discouragement and hopelessness.
Habakkuk is there on the watchtower to reply when I am reproved. So for each of us. If there will be any change in the evil circumstances around me, it will begin with God correcting me. If there will be any revival in the church, any reformation in society, any breakthrough of God into our generation, it must begin in the hearts of those who are praying for breakthrough and willing to be corrected, reproved.
The Holy Spirit performs this work in us as we open our hearts to holy Scripture. Paul said to Timothy, All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness (2 Tim. 3:16). Regarding the word of God, Paul said that it performs its work in you who believe (I Thes. 2:13).
Jeremiah was so devastated by the prophetic revelation given to him concerning the coming destruction of Jerusalem and so shattered by the rejection of his prophetic ministry that he wished he had never been born (Jere. 15:10). His discouragement became so great that the Lord reproved him, saying, If you return to me, I will restore you so you can continue to serve me. If you speak good words rather than worthless ones, you will be my spokesman. You must influence them; do not let them influence you! (NLT, Jere. 15:19).
If we want to speak a prophetic word to our generation, we must first let that word do its work in us. The watchtower is a place of warning, a place of spiritual retreat and of personal correction.
2:2 “Then the Lord answered me and said, ‘Record the vision and inscribe it on tablets, that the one who reads it may run.’”
Then the Lord answered me. God is not hiding and He is not silent. Through Jeremiah the Lord said, Call to Me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know (Jere. 33:3). Through the Psalmist the Lord said, He will call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him (Ps. 91:15).
God answers when we call but we must be willing to call and be patient to listen. God speaks through His written word, the holy Bible. God gives strong impressions as we pray, as we worship Him, as we listen to friends who know and love the Lord. God speaks through circumstances which He divinely ordains.
The Lord commands Habakkuk to record the vision and inscribe it (make it plain) on tablets.
Why record the vision / inscribe it (make it plain)?
1. So that the one who reads it may run. Breakthrough begins when God answers. To the person who stands watch, God answers and we receive strength to run, to endure, to persevere, to press on: Yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary (Isa. 40:31).
2. Write it down plainly as a testimony against the voice of doubt. People and our own humanness may say, “You think you heard from God. It was just your imagination. You’re only chasing wind.” But when God calls into being the word that we heard, we have a testimony.
3. Write it down as a witness against the lies that flood and deceive every generation.
4. Write it down because the prophetic word revealed to Habakkuk will became historical reality. This written record will be a testimony of the sovereignty of God in the history of nations. The Lord said through Isaiah, Remember the former things long past, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things which have not been done, saying, ‘My purpose will be established, and I will accomplish all My good pleasure’ (Isa. 46:9,10). When prophecy becomes history, we stand in awe of the majesty of God.
2:3 “For the vision is yet for the appointed time; it hastens toward the goal and it will not fail. Though it tarries, wait for it; for it will certainly come, it will not delay.”
Moffat's translation reads:
The vision has its own appointed hour
it ripens, it will flower
if it be long, then wait
for it is sure and it will not be late
The NLT translation reads,
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.
1. The vision is future: Yet for the appointed time. Though the promise of God may not be fulfilled in this hour, it has its appointed hour. God knows the seasons He has appointed for the fulfilling of each detail of His purpose, from the beginning to the end.
2. It hastens (pants) toward the goal and it will not fail. The picture is of a marathon runner breathing hard as he pushes toward the finish line. The verb tense is imperfect, describing an action that is not yet completed but moving toward fulfillment. God’s purposes in history have a beginning and an end, a fulfillment which is appointed and established.
3. Though it tarries: God is never slow nor late but He does not move according to your calendar or mine. The Lord is patient, we must be too. God is saying to Habakkuk and to each of us, “This is a long race. I want you to run at My pace, breath in union with My breath.”
a. Wait for it but wait in faith, believing that God is able to do what He has promised.
b. Wait with expectant passion. Who knows, the next great breakthrough in the kingdom of God might be today.
c. Wait in quiet, childlike trust. Don’t try to answer questions ahead of God’s revelation. Refuse vain speculations. David the Psalmist said, O Lord, my heart is not proud, nor my eyes haughty; nor do I involve myself in great matters, or in things too difficult for me. Surely I have composed and quieted my soul; like a weaned child rests against his mother, my soul is like a weaned child within me (Ps. 131:1,2). Lean into the Lord in child-like faith.
4. It will certainly come. There is a certainty to the purposes of God in history and He assures us of His ultimate triumph in our lives and in this world. Jesus said, I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it (Matt. 16:18). The gates, the strategies, the powers of hell cannot prevent any of God’s good purpose.
5. It will not delay. God's timing is perfect, in spite of how history appears. The Apostle Peter reminds us that if the purpose of God seems slow in fulfillment, it is not that God is lacking in any way but rather, it is His mercy and patience at work (2 Pet. 3:9). God’s purpose moves resolutely, steadily, hastens toward the goal.
2:4 “Behold, as for the proud one, his soul is not right within him; but the righteous will live by his faith.”
The prophet began by asking: How long O Lord (1:2). Now God answers: The righteous will live by his faith.
1. The proud one is proud because his soul is not right. Though the historical reference is to the proud Chaldean conquerors, this also refers to all unbelievers in every generation, secular humanists who proudly trust in themselves, in their idols of wealth and power, false philosophies and false religion, who who live autonomously as if there is no God to whom they are accountable. His soul is not right — it has been moved out of alignment by his pride.
2. But the one who is in right relationship with God, the righteous, will live by his faith (or, faithfulness). The word faith or faithfulness refers to fidelity, stability, that which is established.
What is faith? Now faith is the assurance (substance) of things hoped for, the conviction (evidence) of things not seen (Hebr. 11:1). Faith generates a lifestyle — the faithful will will live by (their) faith: Great faith is simply believing that God is who He says He is and that He does what He says He does. Great faith is simply trusting in a great God. Though we do not see all the answers, all the solutions, we live by faith that God has a plan and is working it out in history according to His calendar. We live by faith because we know God, we know the One in Whom we have believed.
2:5 “Furthermore, wine betrays the haughty man, so that he does not stay at home. He enlarges his appetite like Sheol, and he is like death, never satisfied. He also gathers to himself all nations and collects to himself all peoples.”
Now the prophet describes the man of the world, drunk by his pride, who enlarges his appetite like Sheol (Sheol is the Hebrew concept of the place where the dead dwell). This man is like death, never satisfied. The thought is similar to Prov 27:20, Sheol and Abaddon (the place of destruction) are never satisfied. The greed of the God-rejecting man is demonically stimulated — like hell, he enlarges his appetite, always wanting more, like death he is never satisfied.
The immediate reference is to the proud Chaldean conquerors but in a general sense, this is the worldly man of whom the Apostle Paul spoke, whose god is his appetite (Phlp. 3:19). Completely seduced by and conformed to the appetites of the world system, he always seeks to enlarge his possessions and gathers to himself all nations for his own consumption.
The ultimate expression of this insatiable appetite will be the Antichrist, who will employ every instrument and weapon of Satanic seduction and coercion to draw the world into his grasp, demanding even worship as if he were God Almighty. But in every generation this anti-Christ spirit is at work through the petty tyrant-outlaws who rise up, who build their empires and then fall into dust.
Now the Lord pronounces a series of woes on those who are motivated by the greed of the world system, who oppress and plunder to satisfy their unquenchable desires. These woes announce the judgement of God on the wicked. It is not simply that the plunderers of this world encounter destruction as one encounters natural law. They encounter God. A just and holy God will judge them.
2:6 “Will not all of these take up a taunt-song against him, even mockery and insinuations against him and say, ‘Woe to him who increases what is not his — for how long — and makes himself rich with loans?’”
Again, the near historical reference is to the Chaldean conquerors who were scooping up nations like fish in their nets. But the Lord’s warning is to every tyrant-outlaw who increases what is not his. The phrase — makes himself rich with loans —carries a sense of threat. It refers to those who threaten violence if their demands are not satisfied. It can also refers to excessive taxation and criminally exploitive economic policies.
God’s response is to announce woe to the plunderer, the looter. In a universe that conforms to the moral goodness of its Creator, there will be a confrontation, an accounting. There will be justice. The confrontation with justice begins within the lifetime of the conqueror for he always carries within himself the seed of his own destruction. Motivated by pride and unquenchable appetite, the conqueror always over-reaches and is broken by his own lust and greed.
Notice the phrase, for how long. Every empire builder believes his kingdom will endure but it does not. He and his empire are like grass that flourishes in the morning and withers by evening.
2:7,8 “Will not your creditors rise up suddenly, And those who collect from you awaken? Indeed, you will become plunder for them. Because you have looted many nations, all the remainder of the peoples will loot you— because of human bloodshed and violence done to the land, to the town and all its inhabitants.”
The day of reckoning is coming when the plunderer will be plundered, Because you have looted many nations, all the remainder of the peoples will loot you. So it was that the Assyrian conquerors were looted by the Babylonians who were looted by the Persians who in turn were looted by the Greeks who were looted by the Romans and so on down through history.
This is not simply the law of reciprocity — “What goes around comes around”. More than that, it is God who speaks woe against them. It is God who will judge them. It was the Lord who ordained the Assyrians to judge Israel. It was the Lord who ordained Babylon to judge the Assyrians and Judah. God used the Persians to judge Babylon and send the Jews back to their homeland.
Isaiah says of the Lord, He it is who reduces rulers to nothing, who makes the judges of the earth meaningless (Isa. 40:23).
The Psalmist testifies, He rules by His might forever; His eyes keep watch on the nations; Let not the rebellious exalt themselves (Ps. 66:7).
Mary the mother of Jesus rejoiced in the God who has brought down rulers from their thrones, and has exalted those who were humble (Luke 1:52).
This is the God of whom Daniel spoke, It is He who changes the times and the epochs; He removes kings and establishes kings (Danl. 2:21).
2:9 “Woe to him who gets evil gain for his house to put his nest on high, to be delivered from the hand of calamity!”
The second woe is spoken against him who gets evil gain for his or builds his house by unjust gain. These are people who gain their wealth through injustice, unethical business practices, “white collar crime”. These are not the plunderer or looter as in the previous woe. Not everyone pillages with the brazen violence of a marauding army. Some merely deceive and exploit with lies, seductive words and soft cunning, as the old song put it, “Some folks rob you with a gun and some with a ball point pen.”
But this evil is just as great as the other and judgement is just as certain. He thinks he is secure, building his nest on high. But there is no security in unjust gain. This is reminiscent of the words of Jeremiah, Woe to him who builds his house without righteousness and his upper rooms without justice, who uses his neighbor's services without pay and does not give him his wages (Jere 22:13).
We are reminded of the words of James, Your gold and your silver have rusted; and their rust will be a witness against you and will consume your flesh like fire … Behold, the pay of the laborers who mowed your fields, and which has been withheld by you, cries out against you; and the outcry of those who did the harvesting has reached the ears of the Lord of armies (James 5:3,4).
Injustice cries out to God and just as no amount of wealth or military might will deliver the conqueror in the day of God’s judgment, neither will political clout or judicial bribes or legal treachery or verbal deception deliver from the judgment of a God who defends the poor and the powerless. In Proverbs we read, Do not rob the poor because he is poor, or crush the afflicted at the gate; for the Lord will plead their case and take the life of those who rob them (Prov. 22:22,23).
Though the unjust man uses all his skill and wealth to put his nest on high, he is not so high that God cannot reach Him. In God’s time he will fall. Always, Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall (Prov. 16:18).
2:10 “You have devised a shameful thing for your house by cutting off many peoples; so you are sinning against yourself.
Again, the Chaldeans are the immediate target of this warning; they had destroyed many nations. But the God-rejecting humanist in every generation is also included. The prophet assures one and all, You have devised a shameful thing for your house ... So you are sinning against yourself. Those who plunder, who rob and steal and exploit, who prosper at the expense of others, are actually devising their own destruction.
Did the Chaldeans go unpunished? No. Nor did their conquerors nor those who conquered the conquerors. Woe to him who gets evil gain for his house, the prophet warned in verse 9. Now in verse 10, You have devised a shameful thing for your house by cutting off (killing) many people. They are sinning against their own self because they are bringing the judgment of God on their life. Sin against anyone is ultimately sin against oneself for by it we incur the judgement of God.
2:11 “Surely the stone will cry out from the wall, and the rafter will answer it from the framework.”
Even the stones that comprise the wall will cry out in affirmation of the basic, universal foundation of justice and morality. After Cain killed his brother, the Lord said, What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to Me from the ground (Gen. 4:10). The Apostle Paul also expresses this thought: For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now (Rom. 8:22). Creation groans, cries out under the polluting weight of human sin. The gardener fell from grace and the garden degenerates into weeds, thorns, plague and violent catastrophe. The earth, violated by Man the plunderer, now cries out for justice.
2:12 “Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed and founds a town with violence!”
Now the third woe is pronounced. Woe to the society whose economic system is built on injustice and the bloodshed necessary to enforce that injustice; whose political system and power structure is in agreement with exploitation and compatible with violence; whose laws protect corruption and whose religion numbs people to the cry of the needy; whose artisans glamorize and excuse their personal and national crimes. Even as the prophet pronounces judgement on the individual who sins, so also on the city and nation. Corrupt souls build corrupt socieites and all will be held accountable before the justice of God.
2:13 “Is it not indeed from the Lord of hosts that peoples toil for fire, and nations grow weary for nothing?”
Their labor will come to nothing, will be consumed by fire. Indeed, they are laboring only for the all consuming fire of judgment and this is from the Lord of hosts. The Lord has destined their futility. All the cities of man go the way of ashes and dust, for they oppose the purpose of God.
2:14 “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.”
In ancient times, the ancestors of the Chaldeans attempted to build a memorial to their own glory on the plains of Shinar (Gen. 11:1-9). God frustrated their plans, confused their language and dispersed them across the earth. So it is in every generation that the self-glorying schemes of the God-rejecting empire builders are cast down and dispersed. But in contrast to the Chaldeans and petty tyrants who labor only for their own glory, there is the resolute, unconquerable purpose and power of God moving all of history to this one great point of fulfillment, For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord. So it will be when Christ returns.
2:15 “Woe to you who make your neighbors drink, who mix in your venom even to make them drunk so as to look on their nakedness!”
Woe to those who seduce their neighbor into degrading practices, even to make them drunk and strip away their covering, whether it be clothing or dignity or resources or discernment. This is not just a matter of individual sin. Economic systems can be based on violent or soft seduction, violent coercion or soft manipulation. Aspects of the entertainment industry and the arts are entirely motivated by the impulse to strip away traditional foundations of virtue, truth and morality. The election process is based less on truth and fact, more on a drunken, venomous attempt to bewitch, intoxicate and seduce the voters.
People become so drunk through the ceaseless images of commercial, artistic and political manipulation that gradually, human virtue, dignity, discernment and wisdom are stripped away. What remains is a vulnerable soul subject to enslavement. God pronounces woe on those who reduce human souls to such vulnerability and enslavement.
2:16 “You will be filled with disgrace rather than honor. Now you yourself drink and expose your own nakedness. The cup in the Lord’s right hand will come around to you, and utter disgrace will come upon your glory.”
Now you yourself drink. You made your neighbors drink the cup of your poison. Now you will drink it from the Lord’s right hand. Every empire builder carries in his soul the seed of his own destruction. Every empire of man is corrupt at its core and will eventually collapse in on itself. When a star has consumed the fuel at its center, the outer weight of the star will cause it to collapse in on its empty core. This creates a mass so dense that even light cannot escape and so the collapsed star becomes invisible mass, a black hole. So with the empires of God-rejecting humanity — they dazzle with brilliant light and glory for a season. Then comes the imploding disintegration into darkness and dust.
This universe is founded on moral law which is based on the moral justness of its Creator and these laws are just as true as the laws of electricity and nuclear energy. When these laws are violated, judgment is released not only from the hand of God but from the very structure of the universe. We really do reap what we sow. Those who exploit will be exploited. Those who stripped others of their resources and their dignity will experience the same fate. Their end is pronounced — utter disgrace will come upon your glory.
2:17 “For the violence done to Lebanon will overwhelm you, and the devastation of its beasts by which you terrified them, because of human bloodshed and violence done to the land, to the town and all its inhabitants.
The conquering armies of the Chaldeans had devastated the forests and the creatures and the people of Lebanon. But the violence they poured out will come back upon them, will overwhelm you says the Lord. So it was that Babylon was reduced to rubble.
Thus it has always been. In the past century, Hitler reduced city after city to ruins. But in the end, his capital city of Berlin was left with scarcely one stone upon another. The monuments to Nazi pride and power were reduced to ashes and dust.
2:18 “What profit is the idol when its maker has carved it, or an image, a teacher of falsehood? For its maker trusts in his own handiwork when he fashions speechless idols.”
The final woe concerns idolatry, the human propensity to make gods of created things, to worship the work of our hands whether it is wealth or power or false philosophies or false religion. In a sense, idolatry is the root of all the other woes. All oppression, injustice and exploitation begin with some form of god-making rising from the heart of the dehumanized idol builder.
Idolatry is the delusion which causes humanity to call that which is not God, a god. Idolatry is the ultimate arrogance — to worship that which we have created by which we confer god-like wisdom and glory to ourselves, our creations, our philosophies.
What profit is the idol? God asks. It is a teacher of falsehood though it is speechless. How dangerous when its maker trusts in his own handiwork. When falsehood is our teacher, we can only be deceived. This is the great tragedy that comes upon the worshipiper of idols, Those who make them will become like them, everyone who trusts in them (Ps. 115:8).
2:19 “Woe to him who says to a piece of wood, ‘Awake!’ to a mute stone, ‘Arise!’ and that is your teacher? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all inside it.”
Woe to him who expects any help or wisdom from a piece of wood or a mute stone. Though it is overlaid with gold and silver … there is no breath at all inside it. We can make idols but we cannot give them life. Therefore, they can give nothing back to us. How many men and women have poured their lives into the idol of fame, power, wealth, false philosophies and false religion only to discover, too late, that their breathless idol could give nothing back.
2:20 “But the Lord is in His holy temple. Let all the earth be silent before Him.”
In contrast to the dead idols there is this fixed, unmoving reality at the heart of human history — the true and living God, sovereign over time and empire. The idol is visible in all its gold and false glory but God is in His holy temple, His true glory cloaked in unapproachable light.
The idol evokes loud applause from the adoring crowd of star chasers and worshipful fans. The true God commands that the earth be silent before Him. He does not command cheering crowds. He commands reverence. And in that silent worship, we sense the awesome glory of God.
For those of us living in time and history, the dumb and dead idol seems more visible, more persuasive, more powerful than the ever living, all wise God who transcends time and history. But this God who allowed Himself to be incarnated in the womb of a peasant girl, who was born in a barn and killed on a crude wooden cross, whose resurrection was hidden from the governments of His day — this God continues to incarnate His life and purpose in history.
And He will have His way, this God who spoke a universe into being, who who sits above the circle of the earth … who reduces rulers to nothing (Isa. 40:22,23); this Lord who has been seated far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come (Eph. 1:21). He will have His way.
The prophet began by asking, How long O Lord (1:2). God responded by declaring that the righteous will live by his faith (2:4) and promising ultimate judgment toward the Chaldeans and every builder of godless human empire. He promises a someday when the glory of God will fill the earth and all the earth will kneel in silent worship before the awesomeness of God.
Now the prophet can simply rest in the assurance of God’s presence and power. In chapter 3, he will sing one of the most beautiful songs of faith in the entire Bible.
Study Questions
1. In the long run, does evil prosper?
2. Does wealth gained through injustice endure?
3. Why or why not?
3:1 “A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, according to Shigionoth.”
Habakkuk began this dialogue with God by asking, How long O Lord? (1:2). How long will the unrighteous triumph? How long will the wicked prevail? I don’t understand what you are doing — how long before you respond with judgment and restoring grace? Where are you?
The Lord answered, The righteous will live by his faith (or by his faithfulness) (2:4).
Faith, as the writer to the Hebrews reminds us, is the assurance (evidence) of things hoped for, the conviction (substance) of things not seen (Hebr. 11:1). Great faith is simply trusting in a great God. Like Habakkuk we often do not see all the answers to the complex issues of life but we believe that God is working out His purpose in our lives and in history according to His timing. Therefore, though we cannot walk by sight we commit ourselves to walk by faith.
In response to this exhortation to live by faith, Habakkuk lifts up a poetic prayer of praise, according to Shigionoth. The only other use of this term is its singular form in the heading of Psalm 7, A Shiggaion of David, which he sang to the Lord. David sang that psalm when his life was threatened. So some commentators believe that the words Shigionoth and Shiggaion refer to a song sung with great passion in the face of adversity with an expectation of victory.
So this is the prophet’s worshipful response to the exhortation of God to walk by faith in the midst of adversity and unanswered questions. Obviously it was sung to a melody, as we read in notation at the end of the chapter, For the choir director, on my stringed instruments (3:19).
3:2 “Lord, I have heard the report about You and I fear. O Lord, revive Your work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make it known; in wrath remember mercy.
This is first of all a prayer song for revival. An alternate translation reads: I stand in awe of your work O Lord; in the midst of the years, revive it. Habakkuk is praying, “Lord, I have heard of the way you delivered Israel from slavery in Egypt, how you led them through the desolate wilderness and provided, made covenant with them, brought them into the promised land as your covenant people. Now O Lord, step into the midst of my time and revive your work.”
We need revival:
1. When we don’t understand what God is doing in our day and faith gives way to doubt and the quest for truth is compromised by worldly wisdom.
2. When commitment to God’s purpose gives way to complacency and we begin to pardon our own apathy and self indulgence, no longer desiring to delight our Heavenly Father, when acquiring wealth or power becomes more important than the favor of the Lord.
3. When we begin to drift from communion with the Lord and are filled with ourselves again; when we open our hearts to degrading art forms; when holiness gives way to world-mindedness.
4. When prayer is replaced by activity and worship becomes mundane and boring.
5. When we hear God mocked and are not grieved.
6. When we see human misery around us and do nothing, when the cry of the poor and the lost is unheard.
7. When we become self sufficient, forgetting our dependence on the Lord who said, I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing (John 15:5).
Revival is when Jesus reaches into His church and removes every obstruction that would prevent Him from reaching out through His church to touch the broken and the lost. Revival begins with a move of God in me that would cleanse me of anything that would prevent the release of Christ through me.
Habakkuk prays for revival and prays, In wrath, remember mercy. He knows judgment is coming but prays that in the midst of necessary wrath, there will also be mercy. He understands that God is holy and must judge sin but he knows the Lord is merciful and always offers mercy before judgment. He understands that mercy triumphs over judgment.
Habakkuk is awed by God’s mighty works, of whom it is said, For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea (2:14). He is in awe of this God of whom it is said, The Lord is in His holy temple. Let all the earth be silent before Him (2:20). This is the God who creates and destroys, who in His wrath pulls down but in His mercy lifts up.
Awe is the only fit response to the activity of God in history. The prophet prays that the Lord will revive His work, not let it be destroyed. He knows judgement is coming but prays, Even in wrath, remember mercy.
3:3 “God comes from Teman, and the Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah. His splendor covers the heavens, and the earth is full of His praise.”
Habakkuk now reviews the history of God leading Israel through the wilderness toward the land of promise (Teman was an Edomite city to the south, Mount Paran was located in the Sinai desert). In redeeming Israel from slavery, preserving them through a desolate wilderness, delivering them from deadly enemies, God revealed His glory from heaven, and His praise filled the earth. (Selah is a word of undetermined meaning, possibly meaning musical pause).
3:4 “His radiance is like the sunlight; He has rays flashing from His hand, and there is the hiding of His power.”
In the wilderness, God manifested His glory over Israel by day and by night. He manifested His power through miracles. Hidden behind the glory of God is the power of God.
3:5 “Before Him goes pestilence, and plague comes after Him.”
It is this God of power and glory who releases judgement on earth. Judgement is not a contradiction of mercy. A merciful God released the Hebrew people from slavery. The power exercised in judgement on Egypt was Good News, unless you were a slave holder resisting the purpose of God on earth. But God also released pestilence, and plague in Israel when the people rebelled against Him. This was not in contradiction to His mercy. God judged the sin of His covenant people so He could preserve them from their self destructive choices.
God always offers mercy before judgment. But judgment is certain when mercy is refused.
3:6 “He stood and surveyed the earth; He looked and startled the nations. Yes, the perpetual mountains were shattered, the ancient hills collapsed. His ways are everlasting.”
When God met Moses on Mt. Sinai, There were thunder and lightning flashes and a thick cloud upon the mountain … Mount Sinai was all in smoke because the Lord descended upon it in fire; and its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked violently (Ex. 19:16,18). Before the presence of God the mountains were shattered and the hills collapsed. The fabric of time and creation is ripped in pieces before the majesty of God. But in contrast to frail, transient creation, God’s ways are everlasting.
3:7 “I saw the tents of Cushan under distress, the tent curtains of the land of Midian were trembling.”
The Cushites and Midianites were people groups living in the Sinai peninsula. At the presence of God, the dwellings of the people trembled as if a mighty wind shook the earth. So it is that kingdom rise and fall. Socieites look so strong in their day of glory; then they crumble and are blown away like dust. There is no permanence except what is established in God.
3:8 “Did the Lord rage against the rivers, or was Your anger against the rivers, or was Your wrath against the sea, that You rode on Your horses, on Your chariots of salvation?”
The picture of God riding on the chariots of salvation over the rivers and seas is a picture of the God who is Lord over creation. The Red Sea and the Jordan river opened at the command of the Lord and Israel passed through.
God is also Lord over nations. Sometimes in the Bible the stormy sea is symbolic of the chaos of nations in rebellion against God. But God stills the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, and the turmoil of the nations (Ps. 65:7). God rides over the tumult of nations like a mighty warrior in His chariot.
3:9-11 “Your bow was made bare, the rods of chastisement were sworn. Selah. You cleaved the earth with rivers. The mountains saw You and quaked; the downpour of waters swept by. The deep uttered forth its voice, it lifted high its hands. Sun and moon stood in their places; they went away at the light of Your arrows, at the radiance of Your gleaming spear.”
Habakkuk praises the majesty and sovereignty of God the Creator and God the Judge. The mountains quake at His presence, the sun and moon stand in their places before the radiance of God. The God who judges nations is Creator of all, sovereign Lord and ruler over His creation, over all of time and all of history.
Mount Sinai trembled when God descended (Ex. 19:18). The sun stood still at the command of the Lord through Joshua (Josh. 10:12-14). This is the God of whom Amos prophesied, He who made the Pleiades and Orion and changes deep darkness into morning, who also darkens day into night, who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out on the surface of the earth, the Lord is His name. It is He who flashes forth with destruction upon the strong, so that destruction comes upon the fortress (5:8,9).
God the Creator of the heavens and earth, Creator of light and darkness is also the God who turns darkness into light and light into darkness. He creates but also destroys; gives light, truth, revelation, but also removes these gifts when people will not listen or see. He is our stronghold and refuge but also a destroyer of fortresses built on anything other than the power and truth of the living God.
3:12 “In indignation You marched through the earth; in anger You trampled the nations.”
Why has God trampled the nations? Why does God crush the power and judge the pride of the kingdoms of man? Habakkuk tells us in the next verse.
3:13 “You went forth for the salvation of Your people, for the salvation of Your anointed. You struck the head of the house of the evil to lay him open from thigh to neck. Selah.”
For the salvation of Your anointed, You struck the head of the house of the evil. A merciful, loving, holy God sweeps through time and history judging everything which would destroy the object of His love — His anointed. This is Good News or Bad News, depending on whether we live our lives in a love relationship with God or in rebellion against Him.
The intervention of God in history was good news for the Israelite slaves. It was bad news for the Egyptian slave-makers. It was good news for the covenant worshippers of God. It was bad news for the Canaanite worshippers of false gods. It is good news for all who love the light. It is bad news for all who embrace darkness.
The word anointed is related to the Hebrew word Messiah. For the sake of His Messianic purpose in history — to redeem a people who will know and worship Jesus — and for the sake of the redeemed, God moves in history to crush anything that exalts itself against the Lord.
In Psalm 2 we read of nations taking counsel together against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying, “Let us tear their fetters apart and cast away their cords from us! He who sits in the heavens laughs, the Lord scoffs at them. Then He will speak to them in His anger and terrify them in His fury, saying, ‘But as for Me, I have installed My King upon Zion, My holy mountain (Psalm 2:2-6).
So it will be some day when Christ returns and is installed on His holy throne in Jerusalem as King of all kings and Lord of all lords. That day is not yet but 2,000 years ago John heard this shout in heaven, The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever (Rev. 11:15).
3:14,15 “You pierced with his own spears the head of his throngs. They stormed in to scatter us; their exultation was like those who devour the oppressed in secret. You trampled on the sea with Your horses, on the surge of many waters.”
At the Red Sea the Egyptian army stormed in to devour the covenant people of God but the Lord trampled the Red Sea and made a way for His people. Many times throughout Israel’s history, and throughout the history of the church, the powers of darkness working through the armies of man have stormed in to scatter the covenant people of God. Over and again the Lord has trampled upon the proud, chaotic sea of a world in rebellion against Him.
He is Lord over creation and Lord over history.
3:16 “I heard and my inward parts trembled, at the sound my lips quivered. Decay enters my bones, and in my place I tremble. Because I must wait quietly for the day of distress, for the people to arise who will invade us.”
Habakkuk is confident now that God will have His way in history but he also knows that the great day of deliverance is future. For now, the prophet waits with trembling and dread for the day of distress, for the people to arise who will invade us. He awaits the coming invasion by the Chaldeans. It is the judgement of God on his own people and he knows it is coming. He waits quietly, trusting the righteousness of God in judgment and the mercy of God to restore. The prophet is now truly a man of faith.
An alternate translation reads: Because I must wait quietly for the day of distress to come upon the people who will invade us. Both translations are historically correct. God did judge His own rebellious people with the violent instrument of the Chaldeans. And God judged the Chaldeans with an even mightier nation.
3:17-19 “Though the fig tree should not blossom,
and there be no fruit on the vines,
though the yield of the olive should fail,
and the fields produce no food,
though the flock should be cut off from the fold,
and there be no cattle in the stalls,
yet will I exult in the Lord;
I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.
The Lord God is my strength
and He has made my feet like hind's feet
and makes me walk on my high places.
In the midst of judgement and counter-judgement, as God works out a kingdom purpose which at times seems impossible to understand, as the violent pride of nations washes across the land like the ebb and flow of storm tides, how shall the righteous live? That has already been answered (in 2:4): The righteous will live by his faith.
So now the prophet closes with this immortal hymn of faith.
Even if the harvest fails and I am destitute, even if everything I expected and hoped for fails, yet will I praise the God of my salvation. Who else can deliver us? His faith is not based on the harvest, though God is Lord of the harvest. His faith is not based on blessings, though God is Lord of all blessing. His faith is based on God Himself.
We are reminded of the time when Jesus was speaking some very difficult words and people were abandoning Him and He asked His disciples if they too were leaving Him. Peter answered, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life (Jn. 6:68). Yes, even if right now I do not understand what you are saying or doing in the world or in my life, yet will I praise the God of my salvation. My faith is in You, O Lord.
Habakuk sings, The Lord is my strength. Who else will strengthen us? This is the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist (Rom. 4:17). This is He of whom the Apostle Paul said, If God is for us, who is against us? (Rom. 8:31).
Habakuk sings, He has made my feet like hind's feet and makes me walk on my high places. The mountain goat walks confidently on dangerous mountains and so may we walk confidently in dangerous times and places because of the grace of our present Lord.
High places also refers to communion with the Lord. He lifts us up into the heights of holy communion, even in times of challenging adversity. This is the God whom the Apostle Paul proclaims, who, Being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been save), and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Eph 2:4-6). We have been seated with Jesus in the heavenlies. Even in the midst of destruction, we walk in high places.
Habakkuk testifies, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation. The word rejoice is gil which carries a sense of dancing, leaping, spinning with great passion. Though destruction was imminent, though it looked like everything around him would fall, he chose to rejoice in the Lord — “I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.” Even in a time of judgement, God is still the God of his salvation and so his act of praise is an expression of faith.
For many who have gone before us, the vindication of their hope and faith was not in this life. While cities and empires collapsed around them, there were looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God (Hebr. 11:10). They planted in faith but never saw the harvest. They saw only persecution, suffering, rejection. But they died believing, the Spirit of God in them testifying of a better day.
We do not understand all that is involved in the timing of God, the historical process. Some seeds are planted shallow and bloom quickly. But some seeds are planted deeper than human understanding or memory, so deep we doubt their ever blooming and begin to doubt even the seed itself. But concerning the fulfillment of God’s planting on earth, the Lord declared to Habakkuk, it will certainly come and though the time seems long, it will not delay (2:3).
How can the prophet be so certain? Then the Lord answered me and said, he testified (2:2). He heard from God.
The Apostle John wrote, What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life … what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also (I Jn. 1:1,3).
Those who have touched God in prayer, in worship and in His holy word, those who have seen and heard from God, they know.
Study Questions:
1. What is the difference between walking by sight and walking by faith?
2. In what we is our praise of God an expression of faith?