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Introduction
The book of Habakkuk is the eighth of what are called “the twelve minor prophets” (Major and Minor Prophets).
- As for the major prophets, Jeremiah and Daniel were contemporaries of Habakkuk.
- As for the minor prophets, Nahum and Zephaniah were contemporaries of Habakkuk.
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Habakkuk 1
Chaldeans Used to Punish Judah
Hab 1:1 – An “oracle” was a word from the Lord. Habakkuk is using it as a synonym for “vision.” Both are the stock-in-trade of a prophet.
Hab 1:2-4 – Habakkuk pours out his complaint to the Lord. The Lord’s answer comes in verses 5-11.
Hab 1:5-11 – The Lord’s response to Habakkuk’s cry is that He will use the Chaldeans to punish Judah’s sins. As Jerusalem was the capital of Judah, so Babylon was the capital of Chaldea. Thus the terms “Chaldeans” and “Babylonians” are, generally speaking, used as synonyms by the prophets. Thus what God is describing here to Habakkuk is what would happen in 586 BC when King Nebuchadnezzar would devastate Jerusalem and take its citizens captive to Babylon (The Babylonian Exile).
Hab 1:5 – The apostle Paul quoted this verse in a statement he made to a synagogue gathered for the sabbath in Pisidian Antioch (Acts 13:14-43). This city was located in Asia Minor; that is, modern-day Turkey. Having been invited to speak that day in the synagogue, Paul declares the gospel of a crucified and resurrected Messiah to those assembled. Concluding his message, Paul quotes Hab 1:5 – a passage his hearers surely recognized.
Acts 13:38 “Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through Him forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you,
Acts 13:39 and through Him everyone who believes is freed from all things, from which you could not be freed through the Law of Moses.
Acts 13:40 “Therefore take heed, so that the thing spoken of in the Prophets may not come upon you:
Acts 13:41 ‘BEHOLD, YOU SCOFFERS, AND MARVEL, AND PERISH;
FOR I AM ACCOMPLISHING A WORK IN YOUR DAYS,
A WORK WHICH YOU WILL NEVER BELIEVE, THOUGH SOMEONE SHOULD DESCRIBE IT TO YOU.‘”
Through Habakkuk, God was warning the Jews well ahead of time that, because of their sins, they were going to be conquered by the Chaldeans. Through Paul, by quoting Habakkuk, God was warning his fellow Jews that they, too, were going to be conquered – but this time by the Romans. The Babylonians conquered Jerusalem in 586 BC (according to Habakkuk and other prophets), and the Romans conquered it in 70 AD (according to Paul and other apostles). (Key Dates for Ancient Israel) Thus, in both cases, the word of God is not just a sword – it’s a two-edged sword (Heb 4:12; Rev 1:16). That is, it’s good news for those who believe but bad news for those who don’t.
It’s not that God has to do anything to punish those who don’t believe because the gospel is like a life preserver. It is presented to us in order to keep us from drowning. If we accept the life preserver, it keeps us afloat. If we reject it, it’s not that the life preserver drowns us; it’s that we were already in the process of drowning, and that process just continues without a life preserver to arrest it.
Likewise today, the world – us included – is drowning in its sins. The gospel of Jesus Christ will save us. If we reject that gospel, there is nothing to save us. Nature takes its course. Therefore, the gospel remains a two-edged sword even in our day: good news for some and bad news for others. Therefore, let us fully embrace the salvation on offer to us or…glub, glub, glub…continue on our not-so-merry way down.
As Paul would later write to his fellow Jews:
Heb 2:1 For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it.
Heb 2:2 For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience received a just penalty,
Heb 2:3 how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?…
Everyone goes to heaven, but we make life hell on earth, and we end up with an inferior seat in heaven, when we refuse to believe the good news God has made known about Jesus Christ in the Bible.
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Habakkuk 2
God Answers the Prophet
Hab 2:1-2 – The prophets “kept watch” to see a “vision” which they could then “record” so that we can “read” and then “run.” In saying this, Habakkuk was, in effect speaking for all the prophets. And for the apostles, too, because once Jesus went to heaven, they had to relate to Him as to God since He was no longer flesh and blood standing before them (2 Cor 5:16). Therefore, the prophets and apostles are like miners who dig in the dark for gold which they then come out of the mine and lay before us for the taking.
Hab 2:3-4 – Paul was especially fond of this passage, as he quotes from it four times in his letters. These two verses from Habakkuk are clearly foundational to his understanding of the subject of faith. We take a look at all four, each with some context.
First, here’s the longest section of the passage that Paul quotes. It’s found in his special letter to his fellow believing Jews – proving that even believers can be exhorted to believe more.
Heb 10:35 Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.
Heb 10:36 For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised.
Heb 10:37 FOR YET IN A VERY LITTLE WHILE,
HE WHO IS COMING WILL COME, AND WILL NOT DELAY.
Heb 10:38 BUT MY RIGHTEOUS ONE SHALL LIVE BY FAITH;
AND IF HE SHRINKS BACK, MY SOUL HAS NO PLEASURE IN HIM.
Heb 10:39 But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul.
Heb 11:1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
Heb 11:2 For by it the men of old gained approval.
Heb 11:3 By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.
Paul goes on for a whole chapter listing out examples of faith found in the Old Testament, reminding his fellow Jews that faith is not something they should consider a departure from the way God has always led them.
Next, the quote is also found in Paul’s introductory remarks in his long and magnificent letter to the church in Rome – a large group, heavily populated with Gentiles.
Rom 1:13 I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that often I have planned to come to you (and have been prevented so far) so that I may obtain some fruit among you also, even as among the rest of the Gentiles.
Rom 1:14 I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish.
Rom 1:15 So, for my part, I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.
Rom 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
Rom 1:17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “BUT THE RIGHTEOUS man SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.”
Therefore, in these first two quotes of Habakkuk, Paul has established that faith is essential for both Jews and Gentiles.
Next, Paul is contrasting the way of faith with the way of the Pharisees, which was to treat faith lightly and instead focus on compliance with Mosaic rituals like circumcision, sabbath keeping, and temple worship.
Gal 3:10 For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written, “CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO DOES NOT ABIDE BY ALL THINGS WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OF THE LAW, TO PERFORM THEM.”
Gal 3:11 Now that no one is justified by the Law before God is evident; for, “THE RIGHTEOUS MAN SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.”
Gal 3:12 However, the Law is not of faith; on the contrary, “HE WHO PRACTICES THEM SHALL LIVE BY THEM.”
Gal 3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us–for it is written, “CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO HANGS ON A TREE”–
Gal 3:14 in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
This last one is not as easy to recognize because the NASB translators don’t make any of these words all caps as they normally do when quoting an Old Testament passage.
Gal 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.
Gal 2:21 “I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly.”
Here’s how I would have rendered it:
Gal 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I LIVE BY FAITH in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.
Gal 2:21 “I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly.”
It seems clear to me that Paul was personalizing Habak 2:4 by putting himself in the place of the believer and also showing that Jesus was the specific and appropriate object of that faith.
Faith is something everyone has; we’ve just been putting it in all the wrong places. It belongs in Jesus Christ and Him alone.
Hab 2:5 – “Sheol“ ***** That death was “never satisfied” demonstrates what a monster it was before Jesus redeemed us from it.
Heb 2:14 Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had Heb 2:15 and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.
Thus did Jesus fulfill Psalm 23.
Ps 23:4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I fear no evil, for You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
Hab 2:14 – This is the ultimate goal for the gospel. We were closer to it in the apostles’ time. We were even closer to it at the time of America’s founding. We have lost ground, we have been set back. But we will not give in to the darkness. There is only one way forward and it is to run to the gospel of light, which is to return to “the glory of the Lord.”
Hab 2:20 – This fits well with Isaiah 66:1-2.
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Habakkuk 3
God’s Deliverance of His People
Hab 3:1 – This chapter is like a psalm. It surely is a “prayer.”
Hab 3:2 – See Ex 9:26 and accompanying BSN note for an example of “mercy in the midst of wrath” from Egypt’s plagues. Consider also Noah’s family in the flood. Another way of describing the same idea is “refuge in the day of trouble” from the previous book.
Nah 1:7 The LORD is good,
A stronghold in the day of trouble,
And He knows those who take refuge in Him.
For more expressions like these, see The Eye of the Storm.
Hab 3:13 – “You struck the head of the house of evil” reminds us of His promise after Adam and Eve sinned in the garden of Eden.
Gen 3:14 The LORD God said to the serpent,
“Because you have done this,
Cursed are you more than all cattle,
And more than every beast of the field;
On your belly you will go,
And dust you will eat
All the days of your life;
Gen 3:15 And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her seed;
He shall bruise you on the head,
And you shall bruise him on the heel.”
Hab 3:17-18 – Good advice! Let us not be “summer soldiers and sunshine patriots!” Messiah deserves better!
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