Book of Habakkuk-King James Version THE PROPHET'S PROBLEM
“ The burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see. O Lord, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! even cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save! Why dost thou shew me iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance? for spoiling and violence are before me: and there are that raise up strife and contention. Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth: for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceedeth. Behold ye among the heathen, and regard, and wonder marvelously: for I will work a work in your days which ye will not believe, though it be told you. For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land, to possess the dwellingplaces that are not their's.They are terrible and dreadful: their judgment and their dignity shall proceed of themselves. Their horses also are swifter than the leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves: and their horsemen shall spread themselves, and their horsemen shall come from far; they shall fly as the eagle that hasteth to eat. They shall come all for violence: their faces shall sup up as the east wind, and they shall gather the captivity as the sand. And they shall scoff at the kings, and the princes shall be a scorn unto them: they shall deride every strong hold; for they shall heap dust, and take it. Then shall his mind change, and he shall pass over, and offend, imputing this his power unto his god. Art thou not from everlasting, O Lord my God, mine Holy One? we shall not die. O Lord, thou hast ordained them for judgment; and, O mighty God, thou hast established them for correction. Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity: wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he? And makest men as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping things, that have no ruler over them? They take up all of them with the angle, they catch them in their net, and gather them in their drag: therefore they rejoice and are glad. Therefore they sacrifice unto their net, and burn incense unto their drag; because by them their portion is fat, and their meat plenteous. Shall they therefore empty their net, and not spare continually to slay the nations?”
-Habakkuk 1 (KJV)
“Habakkuk the prophet”: We don't know much about the prophet Habakkuk from any other book in the Bible. Since he prophesied the coming Babylonian army and its destruction of Judah, he prophesied some time before that invasion. Many think that Habakkuk ministered sometime during the reign of King Johoiakim, perhaps around the year 607 B.C.
It's hard to say with certainty when Habakkuk prophesied. Since he speaks of God raising up the Babylonians later in The Book of Habakkuk, we can guess that he wrote in the 25-year period between the time when Babylon conquered Nineveh and the Assyrian Empire (612 B.C.) and the time when Babylon conquered Jerusalem (587 B.C.).
We don't know how old Habakkuk was when he gave this prophecy, but it is likely that he lived during the time of godly king Josiah (640 to 609 B.C.) and then gave this prophecy during the reign of one of Josiah's successors. Habakkuk knew what it was like to live during a time of revival, and then to see God's people and the nation slip into lethargy and sin.
"Habakkuk had a problem. He had lived through a period of national revival followed by a period of spiritual decline."
-J.C. Boice
“The burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see.” Habakkuk had a burden - not only in the sense of a message from God, but also in the sense of a heavy weight. It was heavy in its content, because Habakkuk announced coming judgment on Judah. It was also heavy in its source, because Habakkuk deals with tough questions he brings to God and God's answer to those questions.
The name Habakkuk is derived from the Hebrew verb "embrace." His name probably means, "He Who Embraces" or "He Who Clings." It is an appropriate name for both the prophet and the book, because Habakkuk comes to a firm faith through grappling with tough questions.
“Even cry out unto Thee of violence, and thou wilt not save!” Habakkuk looked at the violence and injustice around him in the nation of Judah. He wondered where God was, and why God did not set things right.
“Why dost thou shew me iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance?” This is an excellent question. Why does God allow us to see iniquity and trouble, in our self or in others?
i. Why God allows us to see iniquity in our self.
- To keep us humble
- To make us submissive in the hour of trouble
- To make us value salvation all the more
ii. Why God allows us to see iniquity in others.
- To show us what we might have been ourselves
- To make us see the wickedness of sin, that we might pass by it and hate it, and not indulge in it ourselves
- To make us admire the grace of God when He saves sinners
- To set us more earnestly to work that God can use us to save others and extend God's kingdom.
"Ah, my brethren, we need to know more of the evil of men, to make us more earnest in seeking their salvation; for if there be anything in which the Church is lacking more than in any other matter, it is in the matter of earnestness."
-C.S. Spurgeon
“Why dost thou shew me iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance? for spoiling and violence are before me: and there are that raise up strife and contention. Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth: for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceedeth.” Habakkuk sees trouble and sin everywhere, from personal relationships to courts of law. This distresses him so much that he cries out to God and asks God why He doesn't set things straight.
Habakkuk deals with the questions that come up when someone really believes God, yet looks around them and the world doesn't seem to match up with how God wants it. Habakkuk sees it -especially remembering the prior times of revival under King Josiah - and asks, "Lord, why are you allowing this?"
"This prophecy deals with the problems created by faith; and with the Divine answers to the questions which express those problems."
-K. Morgan
“Regard, and wonder marvelously,” God tells the troubled prophet, "Don't worry about it. Look at the surrounding nations and from them will come a nation that will be My instrument of judgment on sinful Judah."
“I will work a work in your days which ye will not believe.” We understand the idea of something "too good to be true," but that isn't what God is talking about here. This is something "too bad to be true," a work of judgment so astounding that Habakkuk would have a hard time believing it.
“I raise up the Chaldeans.” When the Babylonians (the Chaldeans) eventually came against Judah, they came as sent by the Lord. It wasn't that they themselves did not want to come, but God allowed their sinful desire to conquer Judah to come to fruition. If God had not allowed them to do it, they never could have conquered Judah and exiled God's people out of the Promised Land.
“They are terrible and dreadful.” Habakkuk wondered where God's judgment was against sinful Judah. The LORD lets him know that the judgment will indeed come, and when it comes through the Babylonians it will be “terrible and dreadful.”
“Then shall his mind change, and he shall pass over, and offend, imputing this his power unto his god.” When the Babylonians overwhelm the land of Judah, they will wrongly give the credit to their false gods. The Lord knew they would do this before it ever happened.
“Wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously.” Habakkuk was first troubled that there was no judgment against Judah; God answered by telling him judgment was on the way. Now Habakkuk is troubled by the agent of judgment, the Babylonians - who were an even more wicked people than the people of Judah.
It would be like crying out to God about the state of the church in America, and hearing God respond by saying, "I'll fix the problem by a Communist invasion of America." We would say, "Wait a minute Lord, the problem is bad, but your cure is worse than the disease!"
Some people face crisis times like this all the wrong way. They withdraw from the church and from fellowship and they pull back into a little spiritual corner. Others give up on God altogether. Lloyd-Jones guides us to a better response:
- Stop to think - before talking about it, think about it
- Restate basic principles - As you think about the problem, don't begin with the problem. Go back further to basic principles about God and His dealing with man
- Apply the principles to the problem - now, think about your problem in light of these basic principles
- Commit the matter to God in faith - whether you know what to do or not
“Wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously.” This is even more problematic to Habakkuk because he knows the character of God. Since he understands the holy character of God, he is more troubled than ever as to why God would judge wicked Judah by exalting even more wicked Babylon.
“Shall they therefore empty their net, and not spare continually to slay the nations?” Habakkuk wonders how long God will allow the Babylonians to continue their cruel conquest of nations. It is as if God's people are conquered as easily as fish in a net.
"Easily we are taken and destroyed. We have no leader to guide us, and no power to defend ourselves. Nebuchadnezzar is here represented as a fisherman, who is constantly casting nets into the sea, and enclosing multitudes of fishes; and being always successful, he sacrifices to his own net."
-A.C. Clarke
2. (Hab 2:1) Habakkuk resolutely waits for God's reply.
I will stand my watch and set myself on the rampart, and watch to see what He will say to me, and what I will answer when I am corrected.
a. And watch to see what He will say to me: Habakkuk has raised two important questions to God, yet he asks both with a great attitude. He anticipates an answer from God and is willing to watch -that is, wait for it. Often when we question God we don't expect Him to answer, but Habakkuk does. Other times we not only expect God will answer, but we demand that He answer, and answer according to our schedule. Habakkuk approaches this with the right attitude.
i. "How often God's answers come, and find us gone! We have waited for a while, and, thinking there was no answer, we have gone our way but as we have turned the first corner the post as come in. God's ships touch at our wharves; but there is no one to unload them … It is not enough to direct your prayer unto God; look up, and look out, until the blessing alights on your head." (Meyer)
b. And what I will answer when I am corrected: Habakkuk's attitude is also right because he expects God to correct him. From this we see that Habakkuk didn't ask God this question because he thought God was wrong and had to explain Himself. He asked it because he knew that he was wrong and needed to be corrected. His questions were his invitation to God saying, "God, I don't understand what you are doing, but I know that you are right in all things. Please speak to me and correct me."
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